Wertz’s Farm Market Canned Meat, by Pat Cascio

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I’d like to clear up a misconception that some readers have. Number one, I’m still not Jim Rawles; many readers just refuse to understand this. I am who I say I am, and you can Google my name if you’d like. Secondly, neither Jim Rawles nor Hugh Latimer have ever once demanded that I write an article on any product or, for that matter, ever asked me to not write about any product. Third, I am not an employee of SurvivalBlog. I am an independent journalist. I write articles for SurvivalBlog, and if Mr. Rawles or Mr. Latimer like my articles then they accept them and I send them an invoice for my work. So, I’m not under the control of anyone. I’m a freelance writer, and Jim and Hugh kindly awarded me the title of Senior Product Review Editor, which was very nice of them.

So, when you are reading one of my articles, it is my words, the article was submitted by me, and no one associated with SurvivalBlog asked or demanded I review the products. With that said, I sometimes see a new product being advertised on SurvivalBlog that catches my attention and I request a sample to test for the readers. Other times, perhaps Jim or Hugh will alert me to a new product or advertiser and I take it upon myself to test their product. I’m sincerely appreciative that they keep me alerted to some products I might have otherwise not paid any attention to.

Some time back, Hugh Latimer told me about Wertz’s Farm Market canned meats, and it caught my attention. Now, understand this; this is not freeze-dried or dehydrated meats or meat substitutes. It is genuine 100% meat– pork and beef products that are shredded and cooked and canned, and it has a 15 year shelf life. You have to do nothing, except open the can and eat it as-is or use it in some other dishes. This is federally inspected meats, and it can be shipped across state lines.

The Wertz Family has been raising beef and other products on their farm since 1852. Yes, you read that correctly; I said 1852! Since 2002, they stopped using hormones and all other drugs on their calves to raise only drug-free beef! Some of the beef cuts they sell consist of porter house, t-bones, rib steaks, rolled rump roast, ground round, sirloin, and ground beef patties. Their pork cuts are whole hog sausage, smoked pork chops, bacon, hams, kielbasa, polish sausage, smoked sausage, Cajun sausage, and baby pig links.

I know a little bit about beef. When I was a teenager, I used to work after school in my uncle’s janitorial business, and part of what he did was clean meat packing houses in the Chicago area. To be sure, they had contracts with many of the major meat packing houses, and I worked in many of them. This took place after business hours, and we had to clean the meat-cutting rooms and stainless steel cutting tables, plus the floors and walls. Many of the meat packing houses would leave us some cooked meat to eat; it was outstanding. So, I’ve had more than my fair share of beef products, fresh from the meat packing houses.

Don Wertz was kind enough to send me some of their shredded beef and shredded pork, canned and fully-cooked, to sample and do a possible article on for SurvivalBlog readers. My mother-in-law, who passed some years ago, used to can beef fresh from her farm and give to my wife and me. It was the most tender beef you’d ever eat. It was in big chunks in glass canning jars, and you could pull it apart with a fork; no knife was needed, ever! It made great beef stew and a savory gravy to put over mashed spuds. The moment I opened the Wertz’s canned beef, the aroma of my mother-in-law’s canned beef can rushing into my mind. Yum!

We used to raise and train German Shepherds. I gave it up some years back because it was a lot of work, but we still have three German Shepherds in our home. They all were going absolutely crazy from the aroma of the canned beef. I drained off the little bit of juices from the beef and set it aside, and it made a welcome addition to their dried kibble meals. They surely gobbled it down and were looking for more. To be sure, it only took a tablespoon of the juices over their kibble to make it disappear in short order.

I do a lot of to cooking around our homestead, because my wife still works full-time and I’m home. However, I always try to find as many “heat n’ eat” meals as possible, because I don’t like spending a lot of time in the kitchen. While I do have some really great dishes I cook, they take quite a bit of time and clean-up, and I prefer something that is really quick to prepare with an easy clean up but is still tickles the taste palate!

After opening the Wertz’s shredded beef, I thought about making some Mexican dish, but I didn’t want to start mixing too many ingredients, so I went with some pulled beef sandwiches. I just added some of my favorite BBQ sauce, mixed it in the bowl with the beef, and tossed it in the microwave oven to heat it up. Five minutes later, my wife, our oldest daughter, and I were enjoying the most tender BBQ pulled beef sandwiches we’d ever eaten. Add in some chips or whatever your favorite side dish is, and that is good eating, if you ask me. Or course, all the dogs were sitting around the table, like they always do, hoping for a taste of whatever we were eating. They all got a small taste of the BBQ beef sandwiches, too; we treat our dogs too well.

I wasn’t quite sure what to do with the canned pork, but I wanted a quick meal. During a SHTF scenario, you might not want to spend a lot of time cooking or using your precious propane stove and propane supplies. I love Mexican food, and I’m a fair hand at preparing many of our favorite dishes. One is a Chipotle burrito. I have a secret Chipotle sauce ingredient that I pried out of the hands of the fellow who used to manage and cook at our favorite Mexican restaurant before it was sold and he moved on. It only takes a few minutes to prepare, and we keep a good supply of it mixed and ready to go in the refrigerator. So, I heated up the canned pork, added it on tortillas, rolled it together, and heated up my Chipotle sauce. It, took a few minutes to grill some onions and mushrooms. Then, I added the onions and mushrooms over the top of the rolled burrito, and poured the Chipotle sauce over the entire thing, tossed it in the microwave with some grated American cheese over it so it would melt, and it was ready. The total prep and cooking time was less than 10 minutes, and it was as good as any Chipotle burrito we’ve ever had.

You can use shredded beef, chunked beef, sliced chicken, pork, or any kind of meat you want for this burrito, with the magic Chipotle sauce over the top of it all. We are talking eating as good as it gets, and it all takes but a few minutes to prepare. The Wertz’s canned pork made it just that much easier to prepare and eat.

There are any number of places selling freeze-dried or dehydrated meats, and they are pretty good, once you get them re-hydrated. Then, there are the TVP Textured Vegetable Protein canned “meat” substitutes. We have a lot, and I mean a lot of this TVP in our survival food supply. For me, I have to let it “cook” for a long time on the stove, or it gives me a lot of gas. While it tastes okay, don’t kid yourself; it is not the same taste as genuine meat. Still, it’s better than nothing, right?

If you want genuine meat in your survival food supplies that has a long shelf-life, you really need to check out the Wertz canned meats. It is ready to go right out of the can, and it tastes delicious. You can use it in some of your own recipes. I think you’ll be as impressed as I was with the canned samples I tested for our readers. Check out the Wertz website for their full menu of canned meats. You are getting a lot of meat for the money, and it is prime cut meats, not end or leftover cuts. Be sure to add some to your stockpile!

– Senior Product Review Editor, Pat Cascio

Saying Goodbye to the Worst Camo Pattern, Ever

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In 2015, with the rollout of Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP)—a slight variation of the Crye Multicam pattern, the U.S. Army announced that it is nearing the end of issuing the much-hated Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP, also known as the Army Combat Uniform or ACU), a conspicuous grayish blob pattern that is actually prominent against most natural backgrounds. The transition from the UCP to OCP Multicam is taking four years. The last day that the UCP uniforms are still authorized for wear for the U.S. Army will be September 30th, 2019.

All that I can say is, good riddance to the blob! In my estimation, the UCP is about the worst uniform issued since the French used sky blue tunics and pants in World War I. In the context of survivalism, the grayish UCP utility uniform is suitable for use perhaps only in sagebrush country. Because UCP uniforms and packs will be hitting the surplus market in huge numbers in the next two years, they will be bargain priced. I fear that some preppers might be tempted to buy them, just to “look military.” But unless you live in a region that is dominated by sagebrush, I must warn you: Don’t buy them! And if you think that you might be able to re-use them by adding more appropriately colored spray paint, then choose your paint very wisely. Many varieties of spray paint (even some “flat” types) on cloth are reflective to infrared (IR) and show up like a beacon to both active night vision equipment and to FLIR scopes. A study by HyperStealth Biotechnology Corporation found that one exception that has low near-IR reflectivity is Krylon Ultra-Flat, sold as “Krylon Camouflage.”

If you live in a forested region, the tried and true M81 Woodland BDU pattern is probably best. Alternatively, the British DPM 85 or 95 pattern or the very similar pre-2014 Dutch (a DPM-ish woodland pattern) also works quite well in the woods. But if you live a region with a mix of grasslands and woods, or even in arid country then the OCP Multicam is probably the best all-around choice, short of buying or making a ghillie suit to match your local flora.

A Horse of a Different Color

Preppers and survivalists who anticipate a breakdown of law and order need to think in terms of more than just the absolute ability to blend in to the background. They should avoid looking “just like the military issue”, because every Tom, Dick, and Harry out there will have access to that pattern. To explain: In a perimeter security situation where you need to rapidly distinguish friend from foe, retreat groups will need to set uniform standards that are fairly unique and hard for anyone else to replicate without considerable planning. This will minimize the risk of infiltrators just strolling into your perimeter. One such solution is easily sourced and cost effective: Simply standardize with wearing the pants from one camouflage pattern, and the shirts and jackets from another pattern. So, for example, you might standardize with OCP Multicam pants worn along with Woodland pattern shirts and jackets. This will provide effective camouflage yet also provide reliable friend-or-foe recognition at a distance.

Perhaps some SurvivalBlog readers would like to chime in with some other suggestions. – JWR

Recipe of the Week: Deer Stew, by ALC

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 pound deer roast
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 can cream of mushroom soup
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • 2 onions, chopped coarsely
  • 1 lb baby carrots
  • 4-5 medium potatoes, quartered

Directions:

  1. In a slow-cooking crock pot, combine deer with salt, pepper, garlic, and onions.
  2. Add cream of mushroom soup, tomato sauce, and enough water to cover meat.
  3. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours. (I usually cook overnight.)
  4. Add potatoes and carrots, cook an additional 3-4 hours until carrots and potatoes are tender.

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Useful Recipe and Cooking Links:

Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? Please send it via e-mail. Thanks!

Letter Re: Making a Bible

Hugh,

I have long wanted a homey Bible, one that I don’t have to be careful with, something to take when traveling, on camping trips, accidentally left in a hotel room or airplane, or just something comfortable to read while sitting on the easy chair. The typical Bible, being a book, is bulky, and I don’t always want the whole works, from Genesis to Revelations, there with me. I only want the books that I am going to be reading at the time. I’ve tried digital versions, but no matter how developed they have become, and there are some good ones, they just don’t fit my criteria for easy access.

What I want, ideally, is a notebook-sized Bible in easy-to-read Arial font, no italics, in a 3-ring binder. Such a Bible was something that I was going to have to compile myself as to my knowledge there isn’t anything like this to be had on the marketplace. After sampling numerous formats and styles I decided upon one with the help of several apps, programs. The first one is E-Sword, a free Windows-based Bible software program, also available on the Mac from the iTunes store for $9.99 by Rick Meyer. Although it is free for the Windows version, it requests a donation, which I did. There is a variety of Bible translations, versions, that you can download to E-Sword for free, but I have gradually settled upon the King James Version, KJV. It’s the poetry.

Within E-Sword you can copy an entire book of the Bible to the clipboard and then to a word processing program. I use Libre Office, which uses the ODT format (open document text). After getting it to look the way I want, the document can then be exported (converted) to a PDF file (portable document file– an Acrobat Reader format from Adobe.com) by clicking the icon on the tool bar. I have skipped over a multitude of steps in both of these programs to get to this point, all of which can be accomplished in a couple of hours, starting from scratch.

But here you’re not starting from scratch, you’re just going to print a copy. To print a 2-sided copy I have to be hardware and software specific. Unless you know of another way, you will need the Safari.app and a laser printer capable of 2-sided printing. To print, open it with the Safari.app, not Acrobat reader, and choose to print it 2-sided for efficient use of paper. The default is to print the page at 93% of original document size;, don’t change it. I have individual books of the Bible that can be printed out or a file called “Romans-Philemon” that eliminates half-filled page or blank page at the end of some of the books when printed.

I found a heavy-duty 3-hole punch that will do 30 pages at a time. Although this printed document can be fitted to a 3-ring paper folder, I prefer the 88 cent plastic folder with metal rings that can readily be opened to remove or add pages as need be. I like to add in some ruled notebook paper for notes, scribblings, and bright ideas.

PDF files can be uploaded to a Kindle@ reader and read as individual books, eliminating indexes and navigation chores in other Kindle@ reader Bibles. But here is a real treat; you now have a homemade audible version of the Bible! You have the option of listening to your PDF Bible, and it is very good quality narration. If you do not want to hear the verse numbers, you can choose to leave them out when formatting them in E-Sword. My use of this homemade Bible is the reason why my other big leather covered Bible now sits on the shelf dust-covered. – R.T.

Economics and Investing:

Pension Crisis Too Big for Markets to Ignore. Unfunded pension obligations have risen to $1.9 trillion from $292 billion since 2007. – G.G.

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Just a quick reminder: the Federal Reserve is almost insolvent. Excerpt: “So if bond prices fall by just 0.9%, i.e. interest rates go up just slightly, the Fed will be insolvent.”

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‘Real’ Performance Comparison

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Video: US Debt of $20 Trillion Visualized in Stacks of Physical Cash – H.L.

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Brussels and Soros ‘Defeated’ in Macedonia After Anti-Soros Protests Sweep the Country. This is how you deal with EU bureaucrats and Soros minions! I’m so proud of my country and people! Each day, for 26 days, thousands of people in all cities in Macedonia have been… – H.L.

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From Mike Williamson, SurvivalBlog’s Editor at Large: Gun-Totin’ Left-Wingers Demonstrate at the Arizona Capitol: Is Bloodshed on the Horizon? This has potential to be terrifying or hilarious. They’ve been to a range and learned gun safety, which is good. I see no evidence they’ve learned how to actually fight.

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Iran’s kamikaze drones show up in Yemeni civil war – H.L.

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And Fear No Darkness. “A consensus is beginning to form on the left that the key to understanding the Trump Insurgency is to be found in one Mr. Steve Bannon.” – P.S.

A related, earlier article on The Fourth Turning.

And the book The Fourth Turning (1997)

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Professor Takes Stance that State Government can Decide Property Rights of Private Owners – B.B.

HJL’s Comment: It’s interesting to note that the “…life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” from The U.S. Declaration of Independence actually was derived from John Locke’s “life, liberty, and property.” At the time, in England, the common man struggled to have private property, but in the young America, there was plenty of property, so the phrase became “pursuit of happiness” (which actually doesn’t mean what most Americans think it means.) Now private property, once abundant, is being challenged. In fact, if your land can be taken from you because you didn’t pay taxes on it, doesn’t that mean that you really didn’t own the land in the first place? Perhaps you were just paying rent to the government? Maybe it’s time to rethink this property thing.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“[W]hen you recall that one of the first moves by Lenin, Mussolini and Hitler was to outlaw individual ownership of gold, you begin to sense that there may be some connection between money, redeemable in gold, and the rare prize known as human liberty.” – Howard Buffett (1903 – 1964), Congressman from Nebraska, father of investor Warren Buffett, writing in The Commercial and Financial Chronicle, May 6, 1948

Household Basics in TEOTWAWKI- Part 8, by Sarah Latimer

I’m continuing my journey to consider some of the pantry basics (beyond meat, eggs, dairy, grains, fruits, and vegetables) that I will want to have available in the event of TEOTWAWKI. We’ve covered other pantry essentials, including baking soda, yeast, vinegar, salt and pepper (and other spices and herbs), coffee, and sugar/sweeteners to determine how we will provide them for our families in a TEOTWAWKI scenario. Some of these we will have to have stock piled, barter for, or find alternatives for, until they are manufactured again. Yet, other items are those we can make or produce for ourselves. This week’s basic item and possibly the final item on my list is oil, and it is a two-part article.

Oil

We use various types of oil for so many things on our homestead. In the kitchen, we use various types of oil for baking breads and treats, sauteing vegetables and meats, frying meats and vegetables, browning foods, making salad dressings and dips, and infusing herbs. For health and hygiene, we use oil for skin care, hair care, teeth, eye lashes, nails, digestion, to get rid of lice, for earache pain, soap making, deodorant, and more. In the home, oil can be burned for light and heat and is used for polishing metals and nourishing woods and well as for lubricating machines and hinges.

Foreign and Domestic Manufactured Oils

Just as with sugar in a TEOTWAWKI scenario, when the electric grid goes down, fuel is not available for mass transportation, and ships are only sailing rather than running by engine, we will not be the beneficiaries of the massive quantities and varieties of oils that are brought to us in North America from around the world.

Corn and Canola (Rapeseed) Oils/GMO Oils. While the U.S. has long been a major producer of corn, much of that corn production has been reallocated for non-food purposes, such as fuel, and what corn is grown is predominantly a genetically modified organism (GMO) variety as well. Rapeseed, used to make canola oil, is also generally a GMO also. Now, I don’t want to delve into the GMO debate in this article, but I know that I am not comfortable with the fact that scientists are cross breeding insects and plants to increase production and build plant strains that are not harmed by sprays used to kill weeds in the fields. In TEOTWAWKI, we won’t have our healthcare system available to us, and our bodies will be under much more stress than they currently are. In that time, we will need to feed ourselves and our families with the absolute healthiest, most whole, and pure subsistence we can make available. I avoid, or certainly limit, GMOs in our household currently, so I will not be storing or seeking GMO oils in a TEOTWAWKI situation, if there are any other options available.

Other than corn and canola (rapeseed) oil, which are predominantly GMO, what oils might still be produced in the United States or in our various regions? The U.S. produces a good quantity of peanuts. Peanuts are grown in the southeast, south, and all the way west to New Mexico. In fact, they are grown in 13 states– Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, and Virginia. According to the National Peanut Board, there were roughly 7,000 peanut farmers in 2010 and the United States produced between 200,000 and 250,000 metric tons of peanuts in 2010. The great news is that the U.S. exported more peanuts that the nation imported, so it sounds like our nation produces enough peanuts for our demand. However, not all of this peanut use is related to peanut oil, and when other imported oils are unavailable, we may find ourselves with an oil shortage. In addition to their use in making peanut oil, peanuts are used for peanut butter and making peanut brittle, and just roasted to eat alone as well as many, many other purposes. Just read about George Washington Carver for some of the hundreds of uses he discovered for the peanut. He was quite the survivor, student, clever scientist, teacher, and an inspiration to many of us who have read about him!

In a nut shell, I don’t believe that peanut oil will be able to solve my oil supply dilemma. I won’t be able to grow peanuts, and I don’t expect that peanut oil will be distributed to me or at least not to all of us in adequate supply when there is no grid to power the massive hydraulic presses and no fossil fuel-supported transportation system to distribute the oil and supplies. Even though I have no interest in corn or canola oil, these mass produced oils will have the same production and distribution issues as those I described for peanut oil– no power for the factories and no fuel for trucks.

Favorite Oils

I am a particularly big fan of coconut oil and olive oil for their taste, multi-purpose use in the kitchen and home, as well as their health benefits. They moisturize and nourish the skin, so spilled oil gets wiped up and rubbed on dry legs, elbows, and knees. I use these in cooking as well as in homemade healthcare/hygiene, infusing herbs in oil, and for home care purposes too. Coconut oil is imported, but it stores fairly well. I rotate multiple 5-gallon buckets of coconut oil in my garage/cellar, stored for two years without a problem. My absolute favorite coconut oil is Tropical Tradition’s gold label. I watch for their sales and/or free shipping and then buy it during the cooler months to ensure safety of the product during shipping. Tropical Traditions has wonderful service, and I feel great supporting their business and small, family farm producers!

I also like quality olive oil. Like coconut oil, it is imported, or at least a majority of it is imported in the U.S. Some olive oil is produced in California, Arizona, Texas, and Georgia, but this domestic production meets only a tiny fraction of the demand– 6 metric tons produced of the 335 MT consumed in the United States, according to the USDA query search on olive oil production as compared to consumption in the U.S. for the year 2016. That means these four states only produced 1.8 percent of the olive oil consumed in the United States last year and tells us that even if the current producers of olive oil were able to continue producing it after TEOTWAWKI (and many will not), we’d still have an enormous shortage plus access/distribution issues on top of that. I can’t grow olive trees where I live, so stocking up on and freezing olive oil into TEOTWAWKI is my best option for having it available for as long as possible.

Stocking up on coconut and olive oils may get me through the first two, three, or even four years of conservative use in TEOTWAWKI, but then what do we do? I’ve been looking at other oils that I can produce myself as well as oil alternatives, too.

For baking, I recognize that there are many recipes, such as for cakes, where apple sauce will substitute for vegetable oil quite nicely. I already use it in some recipes with pleasant results. This will work to reduce my demand for oil, but I will still need oil for other purposes, such as to saute vegetables and pan fry corn muffins and pancakes as well as for home use, healthcare and hygiene products, and so forth. I need to be self-sufficient in producing some kind of oil for this. Additionally, a healthier, unsaturated oil is preferred over one that is a saturated fat. I’ve been doing research into this for awhile. It has been an issue that has come up before in our household, but I really put my “problem solving cap on” to address this and am working toward this with great optimism. I think we are close, and I’ll gladly report when we have completed our full process of oil self sufficiency, though it will be a very small scale operation.

We own a Piteba cold-press oil expeller . According to the Piteba website, there are many seeds, beans, and nuts (some of which I am unfamiliar) that can be used to produce consumable oil. The website’s list includes: argane, almond, barbassu-kernel, beechnut, chia seed, cocoa beans, coprah (coconut), groundnut (peanut), hazelnut, hempseed, jatropha, linseed/flaxseed, moringa, niger seed, oil palm kernel, perilla seed, pistachio nuts, pumpkin seed, rapeseed (canola), safflower, sesame seed, soya bean, sunflower, tea tree, and walnut. We have several from this list that we can grow and use to produce oil, but like everything it is important to evaluate and test the process before depending upon it in a serious situation. Next week, we’ll continue looking at the solution for producing our own oils in TEOTWAWKI, and I’ll share my experiences in doing so and plans for continued oil self sufficiency.

I wish you well, until we meet again next week on SurvivalBlog!

Letter Re: Surviving Custer

HJL,

Almost all vehicles have a purely mechanical lock in the door for when the battery is dead or similar failure, and these are the simple flat keys which you can just keep with you in your wallet or keychain or hidden somewhere instead of the fat remotes and can be duplicated most places that do other keys. If you get a spare security key, you can keep it in the (locked) glove compartment or some other secure place; you’ll need the anti-theft feature of the fat key to start the car. There is also the common scenario where you lock your key in your car. – T.Z.

Economics and Investing:

Why This Market Needs To Crash – And likely will. – G.G.

HJL’s Comment: As the article points out, since 2009 over $12 trillion of new money has been injected into the world creating a massive price bubble everywhere. When it finally pops, it will be impossible to hide data, and the financial markets will implode. Eventually the bankruptcy will happen.

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Interview: Bix, Bitcoin, and the Bigger Picture. William Lehr had Bix on his show for an analysis of the bitcoin fork as it applies to the bigger picture of the impending banking collapse and the need for efficient transactions.

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Pension Crisis Too Big for Markets to Ignore – DSV

HJL’s Comment: Bringing this home – We have all heard that the pension crises will cause a financial crises for businesses, but what happens to the families that depended on the income that just won’t be there?

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Federal Premium Ammunition Lays Off 110 Workers at Anoka Federal Premium Plant, Cancels State Funding Incentives. It’s sad, but people have stopped buying and companies are laying off and who knows what’s left. It seems that since the election, many have bought much less and thus may cause businesses to close. They won’t need to write laws to control firearms, as the companies will all be gone. Be careful what you wish for. Business boomed before the election. Now look at what’s going on. ?- DSV

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Venezuela asks UN for help as medicine shortages grow severe – Link sent in by Prepared Grammy

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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.

Odds ‘n Sods:

Reader T.P. sent in this snitch linkwith this comment from the official NYC web site: “You can make a complaint about businesses that sell toy or fake guns that are not brightly colored. It is illegal to sell or offer a toy or fake gun that looks like an actual gun, unless the toy is brightly colored. Fake guns that are black, silver, or camouflage-colored are prohibited.” Another reason to flee the insanity!

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They Can See a ‘Stick of Butter from Space’ — The Billion Dollar Spy Agency You’ve Never Heard Of. The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) is to pictures what the NSA is to voices, and they are used domestically as well as internationally.

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If ever there was a reason to raid an organization: Immigrants Find Sanctuary In Growing Austin Church Network (The First Unitarian Universalist Church of Austin) – W.W.

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The America You Don’t Know. “There is a subterranean river of anger, rage and violence that flows just under the daily currents of American public life. It flows, unseen, much like the great rivers that live within our oceans and which control so much of the earth’s weather and climate.” – B.B.

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Alone in the Wild for a Year, TV Contestants Learn Their Show Was Canceled. “The remaining contestants on a reality television series have emerged after surviving 12 months in the Scottish wilderness — fending off hunger, infighting and fatigue — only to learn that the show stopped broadcasting after four episodes, the last of them in August.” – H.L.

Hugh’s Quote of the Day:

“But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:6-7 (KJV)

Notes for Saturday – March 25, 2017

March 25th National Medal of Honor day is officially observed on March 25th of each year.

On March 25, 1944, RAF Flight Sergeant Nicholas Alkemade survived a jump from a Lancaster bomber from 18,000 feet over Germany without a parachute. His fall was broken by pine trees and soft snow, and he suffered only a sprained leg.

This is the birthday of English film director David Lean, (of Doctor Zhivago fame), born in Croydon, England in 1908.

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Today, we present another entry for Round 69 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 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 that is good for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,195 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 with a hammer forged, chrome-lined barrel 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, which can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools and a compact carry capability in a hard case or 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. An infrared sensor/imaging camouflage shelter from Snakebite Tactical in Eureka, Montana (A $350+ value),
  6. Gun Mag Warehouse is providing 20 Magpul PMAG 30-rd Magazines (a value of $300) and a Gun Mag Warehouse T-Shirt; (an equivalent prize will be awarded for residents in states with magazine restrictions),
  7. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  8. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  9. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value).

Second Prize:

  1. A Tactical Self-Contained 2-Series Solar Power Generator system from Always Empowered. This compact starter power system is packaged in a wheeled O.D. green EMP-shielded Pelican hard case (a $2,400 value),
  2. 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,
  3. A gift certificate for any two or three-day class from Max Velocity Tactical (a $600 value),
  4. A transferable certificate for a two-day Ultimate Bug Out Course from Florida Firearms Training (a $400 value),
  5. A Trekker IV™ Four-Person Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $250 value),
  6. A $200 gift certificate good towards any books published by PrepperPress.com,
  7. A pre-selected assortment of military surplus gear from CJL Enterprize (a $300 value),
  8. A selection of canned meats containing a 10 pack of 28oz cans of Premium Beef and a 5 pack of 28oz cans of Premium Pork from Wertz’s Farm Market (a $300 value),
  9. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site, and
  10. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Third Prize:

  1. A Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. A custom made Sage Grouse model utility/field knife from custom knife-maker Jon Kelly Designs, of Eureka, Montana,
  4. 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,
  5. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  6. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  7. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances,
  8. Montie Gear is donating a Y-Shot Slingshot and a $125 Montie gear Gift certificate.,
  9. 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), and
  10. Fifteen LifeStraws from SafeCastle (a $300 value).
  11. A $250 gift certificate to Tober’s Traditions, makers of all natural (organic if possible) personal care products, such as soap, tooth powder, deodorant, sunscreen, lotion, and more.

Round 69 ends on March 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.

The Accidental Survivalist, by Athena

1

Allow me to first apologize for all of my ignorant assumptions about a survivalist lifestyle. I grew up in a life of prudence and subsistence, and I swore I’d never put myself in a position to have to homestead or subsist again.

During the hot summer at the canning tables and fish smoking racks, I swore I’d grow up to live in cities with abundant grocery outlets, fancy cafes, and pastry shops on every corner near my cute little apartment. Never again would my life rotate around a harvest schedule or my weekends spent in hunting tents. But life is funny and makes other plans, often without warning.

For twenty years I enjoyed city life, travel, and the modern conveniences of out-of-season foods with ridiculous transportation costs. Then a string of failed jobs and relationships made me re-think the direction I was moving. I took a job on the wild Oregon coastline and tried to remember what my own voice sounded like. Where had all the windswept tree music and tidal tones been for the last twenty years?

Then, by luck or accident, I stumbled across a piece of land in the Siuslaw National Forest. It was love at first sight, deep and powerful and full of a remembered magic from a childhood I’d tried to escape. I bought a cottage on a creek in the middle of nowhere. There is no cell service and patchy utilities with barely passable roads. There is no internet access or even cable TV. No, that means no satellite access either, due to the density of the forest. I was cut off from the city, my social life, and all commonly accessible conveniences. My agent tried to talk me out of it. My friends warned against it. Locals shook their heads and offered unsolicited advice on firearms I should purchase and opinion on the insanity of a single woman moving to the middle of the wilderness. Still, I was in love with the land, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.

The purchase process was long and convoluted. Getting resources out to the location was a much bigger challenge than expected. Service providers and contractors consistently turned me down for the difficulty of reaching the area.

Within the first month, I needed emergency roof repair from storm damage. The water heater blew and flooded the back room. The water pump went out, followed by the furnace in the worst part of the beginning winter chill, and I didn’t have a wood stove for backup. Then the road suffered several landslides, ice sheeting, and finally a couple of old growth trees across the powerline.

I suddenly, quiet by accident, realized-my childhood of subsistence and homesteading would not only save my life but provide a foundation for rebuilding my future in a more sustainable and positive way. But how would I make that happen?

After a bottle of whiskey and yet another emergency relocation of a rather large forest rodent that I couldn’t identify, plus another warning from the locals about a wildcat in the area, I decided it was time to make a plan. Repair bills were adding up and the list of improvements were chaotic and difficult to prioritize. I was over my head.

On New Year’s Day, 2017, I sat down with my bills, a list of improvements, and a long-term planning spreadsheet. I made notes on the things I thought I could remember how to do by myself and what things I knew I’d need help with. Then, I built out a goal to have my property become entirely self-sustaining by my 40th birthday. How could I earn extra income to help pay for expenses, while lowering my cost of living? How could I be off the unreliable power grid and still be safe and warm through the winter?

Self-sustainability was always a long-term goal of mine, but I’d imagined it as independent wealth and world travel while pursuing my writing dreams. Okay, I needed to make a quick change of plans. Now self-sustainability will be a homesteading capability with producer options, while pursuing my writing dreams. It’s the same end goal but a different pathway to success. I put my project management skills to work and mapped out the order of events needed to turn a one and a quarter acre lot in the woods into a small homesteading paradise.

By my 40th birthday, I hope to be producing for myself, and for friends and family: Eggs, poultry, honey, trout, canned foods, seasonal mushrooms, and wine. I expect to have a guest tiny home and an artists loft on the lot for visitors and guest artists. I hope to be running on hydroelectric power from the creek and be heated only by wood throughout the winter.

It’s with this plan that I intend to be able to focus on my writing and publishing house, and I’ll be supporting myself financially through those means while my property supports my physical needs.

It’s a long way from the Paris cafes of my imaginings, but my love affair with the land and the desire to focus on my passion has re-configured my ideas about survivalist lifestyles. Being thirty miles from resources means, if I’m going to really make this work I need to prepare better. Preparation and prudence can offer me a chance to focus on my real work and afford me the chance to live in a small paradise to boot.

I realized that my childhood of subsistence and land work made me believe the survivalist lifestyle was misunderstood; because we were poor, I assumed survivalist living was about poverty. Because my father was anti-large government, I believed homesteading was about paranoia. Because my mother was anti-relationship, I thought self-sufficiency was about non-community and an introverted mentality. Hence, the apology at the beginning of this story. I was wrong on so many levels. I’m truly sorry for the assumptions of my childhood.

Basically, I’d drawn the wrong conclusion about being independent. It means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It is whatever you need it to be, and because of the versatility it appeals to all types for a multitude of reasons. Essentially, preparation and prudence is the gateway to a kind of independence that’s entirely new to me.

That being said, there’ve been no shortage of voices trying to convince me to return to the city and give up this life of forest and self making. They’re reminding me nearly daily that the coastal range forest is no place for a single woman. Yet it’s the promise of self making that draws me onward, shushing the arguments and asking instead for solutions to the challenges that don’t involve throwing in the towel.

I broke the process down to reflect the time needed for longer duration needs, such as applying for water permits in the state of Oregon for the hydroelectric turbine, and things like the garden, which will take time to establish. Short term and seasonal tasks can be woven into the timeline based on available funding and level of urgency.

For sure, I’m still figuring out how to be efficient. I’m still figuring out the weather patterns and road conditions, which are currently the most difficult piece of the puzzle. I’m still improvising the basic necessities when the power is out and the phone lines are down, which is fairly regular. I’m still figuring out how to navigate politely around the conversations of people intent on telling me I’m making a huge mistake or have no business being so far out of town. It’s a more frequent unsolicited topic than it should be, but it reaffirms my desire to be successful in the adventure.

Ultimately, the moment I saw the land, the creek, and the forest, I knew I was meant to live here. I was smitten. I didn’t mean to be a survivalist; I hadn’t planned on setting up a homesteading plan. It caught me by complete surprise. Hours on the Internet at the library and loads of books are helping me remember the basics. I’m certain that my childhood prepared me for the things I’ve needed to quickly acclimate to, and I’m grateful for the early teachings. I owe my parents a huge thanks, while I chow a lot of humble pie.

The more I build out the plan, the more I realize the gaps in my education, skills, and resources, and it’s forcing me to be more inventive, creative, and resilient. The adventure isn’t without irony or humor. The first time I chased the thieving raccoon through the woods in my skivvies to retrieve the vent cap, or danced across the kitchen to escape a lizard that had made his way up through the plumbing access, or the moment I found myself buying a chainsaw from a stranger in the parking lot of the furniture store, I realized I’m a long way from my old sense of normal. Normal needs a new relative.

When I walked into the hardware store and a helpful associate asked what he could grab for me, I said, “I need a gallon of rat poison, a tarp, and an axe.” He froze and looked momentarily worried. I realized, I may have been in the woods alone too long and added with a laugh, “Oh, don’t worry, I’m not a weirdo. I’m a writer.” He didn’t make eye contact for the rest of my visit. Perhaps I need to re-evaluate my approach.

This entire accidental survivalist enterprise is forcing me to rethink my early formative years in a new and appreciative light. It’s redefining my memory of my parents and what they gave me in preparation that I never thought to thank them for. This adventure is pushing my comfort zones wider and harder than any test I’ve ever set myself to, and I can’t help but admit I really enjoy the challenge.