A Gravity-Fed Rainwater System, by Tractorguy

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(Standard Disclaimer: Use the information given below AT YOUR OWN RISK. The author accepts no responsibility for any negative outcomes of the application of the following information.)

We are all familiar with the axiom that we can live thirty days without food, but only three without water. We are indeed fortunate that, in most locations the Good Lord rains it down on us once or twice a week — all we have to do is catch it in something. Much has been written and many ideas forwarded about rain water collection. However, most of these fall short after the water has been collected, when we need to move it to where we use it, especially in a grid-down or off-grid situation where there is no electrical power.

The typical rain catchment system is a barrel or cistern which stores the water at or below ground level. Water is heavy, and requires a great deal of energy to lift and transport it to a higher level to a sink, toilet, or shower where it can be used. Since rainwater originates many hundreds of feet above the earth, it behooves us to take advantage of the ‘head’ or natural pressure that it is delivered in and not perform our collection efforts on the ground where the ‘head’ is zero.Continue reading“A Gravity-Fed Rainwater System, by Tractorguy”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at a potential corn crop failure, due to flooding. (See the Commodities section and the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

A bell just rang. Did you hear it?  The ratio of the spot price of silver to the spot price of gold just hit another  high point. As of June 4th, 2019, one Troy Ounce of silver cost $14.76 and meanwhile one Troy Ounce of gold cost $1,323.10. That equates to a ratio of 89.64-to-1. So this is a great opportunity to ratio trade out of gold into silver!

o  o  o

Gold Prices Explode Higher

Economy & Finance:

Markets Are Screaming Rate Cuts. It’s Fed’s Turn to Respond

o  o  o

I’ve never been a chartist, but Mike C. wrote to mention this interesting analysis of the S&P 500, by Clive Maund:  BLOODBATH LOOKS IMMINENT – FULL DEFENSIVE MODE…

o  o  o

How Top Gamers Earn Up to $15,000 an Hour

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 6, 2019

2

The 70th anniversary of 1984 won’t be in 2054. It is today. On June 6th, 1949, George Orwell’s novel of a dystopian future, Nineteen Eighty-Four was published. The novel’s all-seeing leader, known as “Big Brother,” became a universal symbol for intrusive government and oppressive bureaucracy.

The 6th of June is of course also remembered for both D-Day and for the birth of Dieudonné Joseph Saive (born 1899.) He was the designer of many well-known firearms including the Browning Hi-Power, the FN49 and co-designer (along with Ernest Vervier) of the very popular FN-FAL, which was issued to the militaries of more than 90 countries.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Perennial Vegetables: A Must Have, by D.P.

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In this article, I’ll explain why I consider perennial vegetables a “must have” for my self-sufficiency garden.

It was during the time I lived in Kamakura, Japan, a once short-lived capital of Japan about an hour southwest of Tokyo, the place where both of my sons were born, that I learned to garden. Fell in love with it really. At that time my wife and I lived in a small duplex. All rooms were floored in tatami mats (straw mats). You couldn’t wear shoes on them, one of the few customs which the Japanese wouldn’t allow under any circumstances. The smell of straw filled the air and it just felt right walking barefoot on the dried grass mats.

Behind our apartment was an empty lot owned by our landlady, Suzuki-san. It was empty except for bamboo and weeds of all kinds. We were very close with our landlady and it turned out over time that she would let me use the entire lot, about half a soccer field, as a garden on the condition that she could get some of the veggies. It turned out great and there were many weekends we were all out there picking weeds or picking vegetables together.

At the time I grew different vegetables with varying amounts of success. Corn, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, onions, garlic, green beans, arugula, lettuce, spinach, peanuts, taro, soybeans, peppers, carrots. All of it was grown organically without fertilizer. I’d compost what I could, used cow manure (not sure if could be considered organic or not) and used Neem oil as a pesticide with moderate success (and lots of picking off insects by hand).

Some of my happiest memories of that time were going out to the garden with my then 2 year old son and eating cherry tomatoes off the vine; digging under the peanut plants thinking they were dead just to find a buried treasure trove of peanuts to my surprise; digging up large numbers of huge potatoes and making my own French fries; and laughing my butt off at how pitiful my tiny, twisted corn cobs looked.Continue reading“Perennial Vegetables: A Must Have, by D.P.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”.  Today, we focus on LAPD Officers Contracting Typhoid.

Twitter Bans Analyst Who Exposed Antifa Ties

Some commentary by Vincent James: Twitter Bans Analyst Who Exposed Ties Between Media and Antifa. JWR’s Comment: Since I’ve personally been libeled by the SPLC, I am not surprised to read the allegation that they were a party to this manipulation.

YouTube Demonetizes Hundreds of Conservative Vloggers

This news coming from Vincent James does not bode well: YouTube DEMONETIZES EVERYBODY! Meanwhile, they are “mass deleting” thousands of videos, and completely removing a few channels. James references YouTube’s “Four Pillars” policy (recently re-stated in YouTube’s official blog), to wit:

“Over the past few years, we’ve been investing in the policies, resources and products needed to live up to our responsibility and protect the YouTube community from harmful content. This work has focused on four pillars: removing violative content, raising up authoritative content, reducing the spread of borderline content and rewarding trusted creators. Thanks to these investments, videos that violate our policies are removed faster than ever and users are seeing less borderline content and harmful misinformation. As we do this, we’re partnering closely with lawmakers and civil society around the globe to limit the spread of violent extremist content online.”

Read between the lines, folks. Wake up! This is a horrendous form of censorship and hive mind style manipulation and agenda pushing. This reminds me of Communist China’s Social Credit scoring. But in this case it doesn’t just harm individuals. By blacklisting content creators, they are also harming their hundreds of thousands of content viewers.

This purge is the 21st Century equivalent of Book Burning.

The Burger King Brexit Analogy

Here is British stand-up comedian Alastair Williams with a brief, brilliant analogy of Brexit. I laughed. A lot.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 5, 2019

On June 5, 1851, novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe published the first installment of Uncle Tom’s Cabin in The National Era. She was the sister of firebrand abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Garden Lessons – Part 2, by R.R.

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(Continued from Part 1. This installment concludes the article.)

There are numerous videos on the web about this process in building your seed-starting set up. It’s simple and again a one-time effort and expense. I’ve never even had to change a bulb after three years. I also have a surge protector that the three lights and three seed mats are plugged into. I then plug that surge protector into a timer so the lights and mats turn on/off automatically for around 10-12 hours each day.

The next thing you have to plan is: when to start what  seeds or seedlings. I’m just going to offer up what I do and what I’ve seen and what I plan to do going forward, based on what my family eats. I mentioned tomatoes  and peppers. Peppers take much longer to get going and I suggest starting those around six weeks earlier than your tomatoes. Tomatoes take around six to eight weeks for me, and they are quite bushy and healthy (6-8” and up) and ready to transplant to their final maturing place. Planning a calendar around when to do what will help immensely. I can fill up all my three shelves with starts of just different types of tomatoes and peppers (hot, sweet, etc…).

Containers: We use lots of containers for placing our starts in. Again, you can control the soil easier but they do dry out quicker than garden beds. If you plant tomatoes in containers, be sure to put the stakes in when you plant so you don’t disturb the root system later. I’ve also decided that I will only plant determinate type tomatoes in containers going forward. Look at your seed packets and find ones that are determinate as they grow bushier and less tall and leggy than indeterminate tomatoes.
Continue reading“Garden Lessons – Part 2, by R.R.”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on wilderness medicine. (See the Book section, Instructional Videos and Vlogs section, and the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

Wilderness and Rescue Medicine

o  o  o

NOLS Wilderness Medicine (NOLS Library)

o  o  o

Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine E-Book

o  o  o

MEDICINE FOR THE BACK COUNTRY, 2nd Edition

o  o  o

Auerbach’s Wilderness Medicine, 2-Volume Set

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

11

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in  scarce variants of the Ruger Mini-14 carbine. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold Prices Holding Near 2-Month Highs After U.S. ISM Manufacturing Survey Falls In May. JWR’s Comments: Gold and silver are not for timorous investors. The price swings can be large, and they can test the patience of many folks who are not willing to commit for the long haul. Remember: Precious metals are not “money-making” investments. Rather, they represent a store of wealth, as insurance against the inevitable decline of the U.S. Dollar and other fiat currencies.

o  o  o

Funds Increase Bullish Gold Positioning, Pessimistic Toward Silver

Economy & Finance:

10-year yield continues collapse on slowing growth fears, falls as low as 2.07%

o  o  o

Here’s the value of $1 in each state, according to new data. Not surprisingly, the five American Redoubt States fared quite well. (It is only in Washington–and I suspect that is just western part of Washington–where a Dollar presently buys less than a Dollar’s worth.) The high cost of business overhead is difficult to escape, on the coasts.

o  o  o

Steven Pearlstein: A new credit bubble gets ready to burstContinue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — June 4, 2019

4

On this day, June 4th, in 1944 United States Navy Task Group 22.3 captured U-505, a German submarine and with it an intact Enigma cypher machine. This was the first time since the USS Peacock seized HMS Nautilus in 1815 that the USN had captured an enemy vessel at sea. The sub, reunited with its periscope a decade ago, is displayed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.

Today is also the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, in 1989.  The Chinese government hasn’t changed much, since then.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  3. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  4. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

Gardening Lessons – Part 1, by R.R.

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So… You think that you can garden? Got the books, got some seeds, and you grew something once. Sure, it’s easy! Well, good for you. It hasn’t come easy for this guy. I’m the so called green-thumb in my house. House plants, no problem. Landscaping around the home, got that. Garden as if our life depends on, not so much. I managed lawn and landscaping crews for seven years during and after college. We did some major commercial work and I know more than the average homeowner about these things. I have to admit that vegetable gardening has been a whole different experience. I hope this article provides you all with some gardening lessons learned and hopefully some motivation to get moving and not wait for the apocalypse before getting some food growing.

I’ve been experimenting in the garden for eight years with some successes, a few accidental successes and plenty of failures. Failures are just lessons, right? I’ve always tried to learn from my own mistakes but more so learn from the mistakes of others. Mistakes cost time and money and I’d rather learn from the lost time and money of others if possible, in the garden and in life.
Continue reading“Gardening Lessons – Part 1, by R.R.”

Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced! (Round 82)

We’ve completed the judging for Round 82 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The winners are:

First Prize Winner:

First Prize goes to L.R. for It is Planting Time (posted in two parts on May 7 and May 8, 2019).  L.R. will receive the following prizes:

  1. A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize Winner:

Second Prize goes to SwampFox for Home Repair of Pre-1899 Guns (posted in two parts on April 9 and April 10, 2019). He will receive the following prizes:
  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  3. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize Winner:

Third Prize goes to PJA for Our DIY Solar Well Pump, posted May 28, 2019. He will receive the following prizes:

  1. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Honorable Mention Prize Winners:

Seven articles won Honorable Mention prizes in Round 82. These writers will each receive $30 Amazon purchase credits, funded by JWR:

Eccentricity: A Viable Solution, by Kit Law

Prepper Complacency, by Wood Tamer

1803: The Preps of Lewis and Clark, by S.K.

The Handloader Never Wants For Ammo, by Wingfootjr

Our Garden Produce Roadside Stand, by R.J.

Bullet Selection, by S.R.

Growing Shitake Mushrooms on Logs, by Dave S.

Round 83 of the writing contest is already underway. It will end on July 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.