The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

17

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 the post-flood food crisis in the Corn Belt.

Food Crisis in the Corn Belt

G.P.  sent this: A Food Crisis Is Here: Trouble For Farmers In The Corn Belt. JWR’s Comment: As soon as we saw the headlines about the floods, we could see this coming.,The Law of Supply and Demand cannot be escaped.  Retail grain and beef prices will surely rise. So stock up!  Here is a sbippet:

“Corn planting is already behind on schedule. The weather in the United States has made farming difficult as of late, while bankruptcies soar and flooding continues. As the weather in four of the top six states for corn production couples with the skyrocketing number of bankruptcies of American farmers, we could be on the precipice of a food crisis. And to make matters worse, none of the weather is expected to improve, putting even more financial pressure on the already stressed farmers according to the latest Crop Progress report is issued Monday by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), according to an AccuWeather analysis.”

Middle of U.S. Awaits Severe Weather

Middle of country on high alert for potentially deadly severe weather outbreak.

Trudeau Has ‘Secret Plan’ on ‘Sweeping Gun Ban’

Meanwhile, in Canada:  Trudeau Has ‘Secret Plan’ on ‘Sweeping Gun Ban,’ MP Clement Says
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men?

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear;

Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely.

Break their teeth, O God, in their mouth: break out the great teeth of the young lions, O Lord.

 Let them melt away as waters which run continually: when he bendeth his bow to shoot his arrows, let them be as cut in pieces.

As a snail which melteth, let every one of them pass away: like the untimely birth of a woman, that they may not see the sun.

Before your pots can feel the thorns, he shall take them away as with a whirlwind, both living, and in his wrath.

The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.

So that a man shall say, Verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.” – Psalm 58 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 17, 2019

2

On this day in 1769, George Washington launched a legislative salvo at Great Britain’s fiscal and judicial attempts to maintain its control over the American colonies. He brought a package of non-importation resolutions, drafted by George Mason (pictured), before the Virginia House of Burgesses. This initiated a chain of events that led to Britain’s House of Lords demanding that men involved in the extra-legal Massachusetts convention of towns be tried in England. Britain’s plan backfired and created an American identity where before there had been none.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  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:

  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:

  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.

Round 82 ends on May 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.

Our Garden Produce Roadside Stand, by R.J.

9

For the past 10 years, my wife and I have been selling our produce out of a small (4 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and 5 feet high) open-faced vegetable stand which is located on our property next to a public road. The stand contains a variety of produce, priced to sell. It is unmanned, thereby relying on human honesty to pay the asking price. Our efforts have been most rewarding in more ways then just giving us a little extra spending money. We are eating better, have more meaning in life, are healthier, and often have discussions with our customers about “what in the world is going on these days”.

This article, I will share:

  • Garden and orchard size and layout.
  • We grow what we eat and what sells.
  • Steps in seed starting to transplanting to harvesting.
  • What it takes to improve the soil each year.
  • Challenges, mistakes, and do-overs.
  • Why we continue putting up a garden every year
Garden and orchard size and layout:

Located on a westerly 10% downhill grade meant that the vegetable garden needed to be built on raised beds facing North and South. This enabled exposure to the maximum sunlight while allowing for most of the beds to be relatively level. Fifteen beds are 5 ft wide and 60 ft long with a 3 ft walkway between each bed. To keep deer out of the garden, it is enclosed in a 7 ft high fence, 140 ft by 80 ft. To prevent rabbits from getting under the fence, it is buried one foot deep. Not all rows are perfectly level; therefore, some mild terracing is required for growing areas to retain water evenly.

The orchard is located just south of the garden, and contains 31 trees, each 15 ft apart. It is enclosed in a 7 ft high fenced area, 175 ft by 80 ft. Seven dwarf trees were planted in 1998, and 24 were added in 2006. The orchard consists of twenty four apple trees, six pears, and one plum.Continue reading“Our Garden Produce Roadside Stand, by R.J.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

10

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 HK91 rifles. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start with this at Gold-Eagle: Tariffs Terror: Stocks Crash And Gold Price Soars

o  o  o

The Only Gold The US Will Show: The “Working Vault” At West Point

Economy & Finance:

At Wolf Street: QE Party Over, Bank of Japan Stealth-Tapers Further

o  o  o

After Shares Collapse, Mini Bank-Run Begins as UK Lender Counts Cost of Broken Trust

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“Take a community of Dutchmen of the type of those who defended themselves for fifty years against all the power of Spain at a time when Spain was the greatest power in the world. Intermix with them a strain of those inflexible French Huguenots, who gave up their name and left their country forever at the time of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. The product must obviously be one of the most rugged, virile, unconquerable races ever seen upon the face of the earth. Take these formidable people and train them for seven generations in constant warfare against savage men and ferocious beasts, in circumstances in which no weakling could survive; place them so that they acquire skill with weapons and in horsemanship, give them a country which is eminently suited to the tactics of the huntsman, the marksman and the rider. Then, finally, put a fine temper upon their military qualities by a dour fatalistic Old Testament religion and an ardent and consuming patriotism. Combine all these qualities and all these impulses in one individual and you have the modern White Boer.” – Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 16, 2019

On this day in 1868, the U.S. Senate votes against impeaching President Andrew Johnson and acquits him of committing “high crimes and misdemeanors.”

In February 1868, the House of Representatives charged Johnson with 11 articles of impeachment for vague “high crimes and misdemeanors”. (For comparison, in 1998, President Bill Clinton was charged with two articles of impeachment for obstruction of justice during an investigation into his inappropriate sexual behavior in the White House Oval Office. In 1974, Nixon faced three charges for his involvement in the Watergate scandal.) The main issue in Johnson’s trial was his staunch resistance to implementing Congress’ Civil War Reconstruction policies. The War Department was the federal agency responsible for carrying out Reconstruction programs in the war-ravaged southern states, and when Johnson fired the agency’s head, Edwin Stanton, Congress retaliated with calls for his impeachment.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  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:

  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:

  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.

Round 82 ends on May 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.

Property Scouting in the Redoubt, by Pickled Prepper

33

Like many others SurivivalBlog readers, I hope to one day move to the American Redoubt. In the summer of 2018, my wife and I took the first step: an eight-day trip to Montana and Idaho to look at properties, get a feel for the places in which we were interested, and to meet people. Our goal was not to buy a house or property this trip, but to start what may be a multi-year process that ensures that when we pull the trigger we hit our target rather than making a decision we come to regret. We also want to make sure a couple of Easterners like ourselves would be comfortable out there.

This is a report on that first trip, along with observations and lessons learned. Some of this may be obvious, but we hope it will help someone planning a similar trip next year.

Some Background

I’ve been a survivalist since my daughter was born some 23 years ago. We’ve been in a multi-family prepper group, we have a retreat in the mountains several hours away, and we have a good supply of beans, bullets and band aids. My wife is an avid gardener and very well organized. We’ve checked most of the prepper boxes, but while we live beyond the sidewalks on a couple of fenced acres with a well and septic, we’ve never lived on our retreat. Having the kids out of house and getting close to a potential early retirement presents an opportunity to address that.Continue reading“Property Scouting in the Redoubt, by Pickled Prepper”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

18

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 furniture with secret compartments for guns–such as the Bedbunker Gun Vault.

2012 Gun Ban is Keeping Maduro in Power

A Closer Look At The 2012 Gun Ban That’s Helping Maduro Stay In Power. (Thanks to Gregg P. for the link.)

John Wick: Parabellum

The third John Wick film (“Chapter 3 – Parabellum”) opens Friday, May 17th. I only consider the noteworthy because of the extensive live fire training that Keanu Reeves did with the folks at Taran Tactical. That level of commitment to realistic competition guns and realistic gun handling is a rarity in Hollywood!

$30,000 in Fines After Not Mowing Lawn

Reader DSV sent this one: Homeowner faces $30K in fines, foreclosure after not mowing lawn. The article begins:

“A Dunedin [Florida] man faces sky-high fines and possible foreclosure on his home after code enforcement cited him for overgrown grass in his yard.

Jim Ficken returned home last summer to find the grass in his yard grew more than 10 inches tall. Ficken spent most of his time in South Carolina helping take care for his late mother’s estate.

Ficken says the man who mowed his yard unexpectedly died and the grass hadn’t been cut.

City code enforcement officers noticed and started fining Ficken $500 a day, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Pinellas County. The fines mounted to nearly $30,000 before the city notified Ficken of the problem, according to Ficken.”

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

4

“Socialism is dying because governments have made promises they cannot keep. Now when people expect that they will be there, they suddenly find the promises have been constantly revised. They always point to the rich and how they will make them pay. Everything who thinks they cannot possibly be the rich cheer, but at the end of the day, their taxes never decline and the promised-land seems further and further away. While economically, all parties on the left, always offer crumbs to the poor, they are busy stealing from the public treasury and handing out favors to lobbyists who donate to their campaigns. Then they pretend there is also a considerable religious divide with the greedy rich and the warm and caring politicians who feels your pain. No matter what they say, somehow raising the taxes on the rich miraculously always somehow ends up raising everyone else’s taxes as well.

Socialism is dying and in the process this will only inspire violence. People believed in this system. They really believed those in power had their best interests at heart. Unfortunately, we are moving into this darkness where more and more people are beginning to realize that government is the number one problem – not Global Warming.” – Martin W. Armstrong

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 15, 2019

6

On May 15th, 1942, gasoline rationing began in 17 Eastern states as an attempt to help the American war effort during World War II. The main concern behind the rationing scheme was conserving scarce imported rubber, rather than fuel. By the end of the year, President Franklin D. Roosevelt had ensured that mandatory gasoline rationing was in effect in all 48 states.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  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:

  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:

  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.

Round 82 ends on May 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.

Growing Shitake Mushrooms on Logs, by Dave S.

9

My absolute favorite mushroom to eat is the shiitake. They are expensive to buy in the store, but the good news is that they are easy to grow at home. These flavorful and meaty delights are one of the most common mushrooms in the world and also the one with the most health benefits. Unlike any green plant, they have all of the essential amino acids. And they are  good source of vitamins. Shiitake mushrooms are great for building your immune system and are antibacterial, antifungal, and antiviral. They are a powerhouse of nutrients and contain about 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein and 10% fiber. They are a good source of B and D vitamins which are tough to find in the plant world.

The word shiitake means “mushroom of the oak”, but it can be grown on several different hardwood logs like sugar maple, beech and ironwood. I have had the best success growing them on red oak logs. I have found that I get a little less production on sugar maple and the taste of the mushrooms seems to be a little more bland on that substrate.

PREPARATION

The first step in the process is to cut and prepare the logs. I look for oak logs that are 4 to 6 inches in diameter, cut from healthy, disease-free trees that have few or no branches coming from them. Thick bark is better than thin bark. I look for logs that have a wide band of sapwood (the lighter color wood between the bark and center heartwood) since this is where the shiitake spawn will colonize. If you are not a physically strong person use logs on the thinner side since they can get quite heavy. The logs must have a fairly high moisture content for the mycelium to propagate, so these logs should be cut from two weeks to two months before they are inoculated and should be cut when the trees are dormant. I cut the logs 36 to 42 inches long (the thinner pieces are cut on the longer side and the thick pieces on the shorter side) and store them in a shady place. Typically I will cut the trees in March here in the Upper Midwest and inoculate them in mid-April. I lay them on old pallets to keep them up off the ground. It is not a problem if they get covered with snow.Continue reading“Growing Shitake Mushrooms on Logs, by Dave S.”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

11

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on Mystic Monk Coffee. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

The Sovereign Individual by James Davidson and Lord Rees-Mogg

o  o  o

Dark Agenda: The War to Destroy Christian America. Not surprisingly, David Horowitz has been banned by Twitter. You can hear Horowitz describe some of the main themes of his book, here.

o  o  o

Unfreedom of the Press, by Mark Levin. This book won’t be released until May 21st, but with pre-orders it is already ranked #7, overall on Amazon.com!

o  o  o

DIY Projects for the Self-Sufficient Homeowner: 25 Ways to Build a Self-Reliant Lifestyle

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

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 possibly jumping back into Bitcoin. (See the Cryptos section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll start with this: Why Is Basel III Creating A Buzz Among Gold Bugs?

o  o  o

Fund Manager Reveals His Top 10 Precious Metals List

Economy & Finance:

From Wolf Richter: Fed Launches ‘Rate Peg Instead of QE’ Trial Balloon for Next Crisis. Here’s a snippet:

“During the next crisis when short-term interest rates are already at zero – for the Fed, that is still the lower bound – the Fed might not do the type of QE it did during and after the Financial Crisis when it set a target to buy a fixed amount of securities every month.

Instead, during the next crisis, when 0% short-term interest rates are no longer enough to stimulate the economy, the Fed might announce a target for slightly longer-dated interest rates, such as one-year rates…”

o  o  o

At Zero Hedge: The “Muzzle” On Inflation
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”