From Piglets to Bacon- Part 5, by Animal House

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I’m a grandmother who has plunged into raising pigs, and I’ve worked with them from the time they were piglets all the way until they were full grown 400 pound hogs. Then, I’ve butchered two females and processed the meat myself. In the four proceeding parts, I have described this journey– from the animal selection to providing a secure pen, food, and water as well as developing my plan for butchering and processing. There has also been a difference between the plan and reality, and I’ve explained both. Well, actually, I’m now describing my real experience with processing. So, let’s wrap this up.

Processing and Preserving the Pork (continued)

We have gone over curing and processing hams and curing bacon. Currently, we are in the midst of talking about my favorite– bacon! I gave you a recipe for maple flavored bacon in the last part of this article series. Now, let’s talk about improving it further with smoke.

Smoking the Bacon

If you have a smoker, you can use it to smoke your bacon.  I like to use hickory or apple/fruit wood shavings for flavor. Follow the directions of your electric, gas, or propane device. Smoke the cured bacon until it reaches an internal temperature of 150°F. Watch the temperature carefully or your product will be dry and tough. I have never used a home-made, fire-fueled smoker, so I can’t give you much counsel on it, except to check the internal temperature and humidity frequently.

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The Editors’ Preps for the Week

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To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!  This week’s emphasis is on Spring cleaning

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,
We’ve had fairly mild weather for the past week here at the Rawles Ranch. Despite some recent dustings, the snow is now melting faster than it is accumulating. And of course the days are starting to get longer. We can see spring on the horizon. My darling wife (Avalanche Lily) is getting her typical late winter itch to start the vegetable garden. Given our northern climate, that will be mostly sprouting indoors until March, and then only starts inside the greenhouse until at least May.

Healthy Hooves

On Thursday we rotated our horses and cattle into a new winter pasture. We typically do this in the late winter each year, to get them off of any sodden loafing areas. The intent here is to reduce any risk of hoof rot. As usual, when we turned them out to change pastures there was much joyous galloping around and kicking up of heels (well, hooves, that is).  That little ritual is always fun to watch. This time, one of our Jersey cross heifer calves was feeling particularly rambunctious. She started to chase a pair of doe mule deer around the newly-occupied pasture. This brief, playful chase took place on about a foot of compacted snow. Seeing that gave us a good chuckle.

All but one of our pastures at the ranch is partially wooded. In the new pasture there are plenty of clear spots (with no snow) beneath fir and cedar trees. Hopefully these fresh loafing spots will keep hooves healthy.

Cabin Fever

We have been doing some spring cleaning and organizing at the ranch house. We are all feeling a bit of Cabin Fever. We can hardly wait for the snow to come off.  It will be great to be able to get out away from the house and tackle some chores like fence maintenance and firewood cutting.

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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 “HJL”. Front and center today is devastating news on the Browning Hi-Power.

Browning Hi-Power Fades Away

We received very sad news today from reader S.M. that Browning has decided to end Hi-Power production. One of John Moses Browning’s finest co-designs has long been a standard and no other handgun has come close to it’s popularity and production. It actually served on both sides of the war in WWII and has seen service duty in more countries than any other handgun. It is still my favorite firearm today and I consider it one of the most beautiful and refined designs ever made. I hope that Browning brings it back due to public outcry. You can still obtain them as there are many in current dealer inventories, but they are now technically out of production.

Water Generator

Waterotor Energy Technologies has a rotor designed to extract energy from slow moving water sources. The rotor is reportedly able to extract half of the available energy and does supposedly does not impact wildlife because of the slow moving design. If you have a retreat that has a body of slow moving water on it, this may be an interesting energy option for you. Combined with modern inverter technology, this could potentially power an off-grid retreat with ease. Thanks to B.H. for the link.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will cause their captivity to return, and have mercy on them.” – Jeremiah 33:25-26 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – February 09, 2018

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February 9th is the birthday of Major George Charles Nonte Jr. (Born 1926, died June 30, 1978.) I had the privilege of attending ROTC Basic Camp at Fort Knox in the same company with his daughter Yvette, in 1981. Some of the stories that she told me about her father were amazing. He was quite a guy. Cadet Yvette Nonte went on to a career in Army Intelligence, retiring as a Colonel. – JWR

o o o

We’ve been overwhelmed by the strength of the pre-orders for the waterproof blog Archive USB sticks. An unexpectedly large number of readers are availing themselves of our flat rate postage offer and ordering 2, 3, 5, and even 10 sticks at a time. We’ll go ahead and place a re-order with the USB stick contractor, to try to meet the demand. We are very grateful!

Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Friday – February 09, 2018”

From Piglets to Bacon- Part 4, by Animal House

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I’m a grandmother who has raised her own small livestock and grown two female piglets into full grown hogs. This is my story. In the first three parts of this series, I have told how I began raising pigs, the selection process I went through, preparing their pen and securing them, growing them, and my plan for butchering them. The process didn’t go exactly as expected, and I’m in the midst of telling you what actually ended up happening and what I learned along the way.

Butchering (continued)

Butchering is something I have never done so I was flying blind. With my book next to me, I tried to follow the step-by-step directions. Several hours later, by the time I got both sides divided into legs, loin, hams, ribs, belly, and sides as well as the spine and trotters cut, I was exhausted. We put the parts into clean hunting bags and put them in two coolers. Even though the overnight temperature would be in the 30s, we covered everything with ice and transported the coolers up to the garage using the UTV for the next day’s processing and packaging effort.

Size

Most hogs are processed at 200 or 225 pounds; my hogs were over 400 pounds. So when I say “shoulder”, it was two hour’s work to cut one into smaller, more normal size portions and then process and wrap those in freezer paper. I cut the Boston butt into three portions. I deboned most of the shoulder chops and loin, as I was saving the bones for bone broth. The pork tenderloin on this hog was 23 inches long and over four inches in diameter, and I cut it into portions for my family size. I divided the ribs and left an extra thick layer of meat on them. Then I had to figure out how to cut the pork belly for bacon. This took more time, because I was constantly referring to my book. The book now has well-greased fingerprints and slighty pink spots on many of the pages.

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Letter: Homesteaders with Livestock in Harsh Winter Climates

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Hugh,

As with so many of us who have livestock and live in regions where cold winter temperatures pose a challenge in keeping water troughs thawed. For so many of us the default has been to place a 1000 – 1500 watt heater in the stock tank which does a wonderful job. However, when you have many pens of animals and therefore many stock tank heaters, you can almost watch the electric meter spin as your electric bill increases day by day. At one time I wrapped several of our large 300 gallon galvanized tanks with a flexible foam material and covered much of the top with a board leaving a space for animals to drink from. This did reasonably well but posed some challenges when it came time to clean the tank.

Submerged Aerator

One day as I looked out into our backyard, which has a pond with a submerged aerator, I came up with an idea. The stream of bubbles from the aerator keep the pond from completely freezing over leaving a central open area. I then decided to apply that principal to our tanks. While I first tried a farm wide system with a single large air pump and a set of distribution air lines, I have more recently gone to placing an inexpensive (about $12) aquarium pump in an enclosed, protected container near each tank with air lines and stones submerged on the bottom of the tank.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest 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 JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on the Jerome Powell Appointment as the new Chairman of the Federal Reserve. (See the Economy and Finance section.)

Precious Metals:

GFMS: Gold Prices Could Hit $1,500 An Ounce In 2018

o  o  o

Gold loses its lustre as investors turn to stock markets

 

Stocks:

Icahn: The market will one day ‘implode’ because of these wacky funds using so much leverage

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Over at Alt-Market.com, economist Brandon Smiths asks (and answers): Is A Massive Stock Market Reversal Upon Us?

Commodities:

No bull market ahead for commodities, Wells Fargo says

 

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A hundred and fifty years before, when the parochial disagreements between Earth and Mars had been on the verge of war, the Belt had been a far horizon of tremendous mineral wealth beyond viable economic reach, and the outer planets had been beyond even the most unrealistic corporate dream. Then Solomon Epstein had built his little modified fusion drive, popped it on the back of his three-man yacht, and turned it on. With a good scope, you could still see his ship going at a marginal percentage of the speed of light, heading out into the big empty. The best, longest funeral in the history of mankind. Fortunately, he’d left the plans on his home computer. The Epstein Drive hadn’t given humanity the stars, but it had delivered the planets.” – James S.A. Corey, Leviathan Wakes

Preparedness Notes for Thursday – February 08, 2018

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On February 8th, 1910, the Boy Scouts of America was incorporated. For 100 years, the BSA stood as a strong bulwark of conservative, libertarian, moral values. They successfully united boys from diverse backgrounds, different religions, and different ethnicities – uniting them based upon the principles required for a boy to become an upstanding man. The BSA was attacked from all sides for their righteous stance and even persevered and won their case (Boy Scouts v. Dale, 2000) in the Supreme Court. Sadly, they have in recent years caved from within. Their desire to fill the executive board with powerful industry executives, like Randall Stephenson (CEO of AT&T) and James Turley (CEO of Ernst & Young), have brought this once great institution to its knees. They have conceded the high ground on moral issues. Regardless, the first edition of the Boy Scouts handbook, 1911 is one of the prepper’s classic friends.

My Eagle Scout award still holds meaning to me, but its value is not because of what the BSA now represents; it holds value because of my hard work and what the institution once represented. – HJL

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SurvivalBlog 2005-2017 Archive – Greatly Expanded!

It’s finally here! We have the archive memory sticks in our hands! Sadly, the U.S. Postal Service is dragging their feet , so we don’t yet have all of the shipping supplies required to get them out. We are now taking pre-orders so that you can reserve your copy. We hope to be shipping next week. The archive is only available on USB drive this year. This is because the download would be so large and unwieldy that unless you have a high speed connection, it would be problematic. Gone also is the DVD version as the archive is now so large that it would now require a dual layer DVD (or two DVD disks). In addition, the SurvivalBlog logo is now laser etched on the waterproof thumb drive rather than silk screened, for durability. You can order your copy on the product page or simply click on the ad in our ad stack.

We will accept PayPal, credit cards, checks drawn on a U.S. bank, or postal money orders. Be aware that if you pay by Postal Money order or check, it will delay the shipping of your USB drive until the check or money order clears. (Up to three weeks, because of mail forwarding.) If you choose to pay by PayPal or credit card, you will be sent to PayPal’s site to complete the transaction. Once on their site, use the blue button to pay with your PayPal account or the gray button to pay with a credit card. Note that you do not have to have, or create, a PayPal account in order to pay with a credit card. (Although PayPal will try really hard to get you to set one up.)

The new 2005-2017 Archive is greatly expanded, with more than 30 additional bonus books. These sticks are already selling quickly.  They are priced at just $19.95 plus a flat postage/packaging/handling rate of $4 in the 50 States (or to APO/FPO addresses) whether you order one of them, or a dozen. The international postage rate is $14, also flat rate.

Last year, the limited edition of 1,000 waterproof sticks sold out in less than three weeks. We aren’t limiting it this year, but all orders are on a “first come, first served” basis. So order yours, soon!

Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Thursday – February 08, 2018”

From Piglets to Bacon- Part 3, by Animal House

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I am a grandmother who decided to raise her own small livestock, including pigs, and then to butcher them. This is my story. In the first two parts of this article series, I have already written about selecting and growing the pigs as well as told my plan for butchering two female hogs.

Slaughtering and Butchering (continued)

I laid out my plan in the last part of this article series and included the specific tools and materials required. I expected to complete the whole process of killing, cleaning, butchering, and packaging within two and half days or a max of three days. Now, let’s find out what really happened.

Reality

In real life not everything goes according to plan. Since this was my first time harvesting a 400+ pound animal, I had no idea what the alternative was. I had to be flexible.

The Actual Killing and Moving Experience

First, my son shot the hog near the gate, but it died in the mud behind two pine trees. We could not get the tractor close enough to pick up the hog or chain it to the bucket. Plan B was to get my smaller farm utility vehicle with the winch and pull the hog out to a clearing where we could use the tractor to get it up to the barn. This worked well. I was so happy that I had the UTV. It saved the day.

Continue reading“From Piglets to Bacon- Part 3, by Animal House”

Letter: Scarlet Fever Warning

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Dear Mr. Rawles,

We just returned from a trip to our local urgent care clinic with our two-year old. He has had a fever of 102ish for over four days. Much to our surprise, he was diagnosed with scarlet fever. My wife and I were concerned with the flu or other related complications when he first became ill. We were not at all on the watch for scarlet fever. However,  his fever completely subsided on Sunday and his energy returned. But we found find him returning to be ill again today with a fever over 102.5. We thought it best to get him into the clinic ASAP.

We both completely missed the telltale sign of the rash which accompanies scarlet fever’s other symptoms, because I had a recent bout with poison oak on my forearms and thought I had transferred it to him on accident.

So when we Google searched the topic, we found out just today a little seven-year old girl died of scarlet fever with the flu in Indiana, and the UK is reporting the highest number of scarlet fever outbreaks since the 1960s.

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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 “HJL”. If you haven’t built a tape measure antenna before, you need to read this article today. It’s a great way to retire those old tape measures.

Jobs and Drugs

Reader H.L. sent in this article on how thousands of jobs in Ohio are going unfilled because potential employees can’t pass a drug test. While the manufacturing industry is expanding right now, the growth is stunted due to lack of a qualified work force (or perhaps lack of a sober workforce). H.L. adds:

“It is not just Ohio. Here in Connecticut, our long time electrician cannot find an apprentice. Either they do not want to learn/work and/or they cannot pass a drug test! Across much of America parents think their children need to go to four year college to learn a “white collar” skill. They often come out with a useless degree and lots of debt. The electricians, plumbers, and various “trades” pay really well and there is always work. Parents would be wise to expose both boys and girls at a young age to mechanical toys, etc. and see if they have interest in working with their minds and their hands. Add exposure to robotics and IT and their young adult might just be able to make a good living.”

Tape Measure Antenna

Reader P.S. reported that at his Ham Radio meeting over the weekend, his club made these $20 antennas out of PVC and sections of a metal tape measure. He was testing it from home and was impressed at how well it worked, even with his cheapest hand-held radio. He plans to make a few more just in case of an emergency. There is also a video.

Baseball Bats and Nail Guns

With the recent article and discussion on gun control on SurvivalBlog in mind, reader DSV sent in this article on how Australian citizens are arming themselves to protect those they love. They are forming citizen militias, but since they can’t arm themselves with firearms, they are using baseball bats, nail guns, paint-ball guns, brass knuckles and steel pipes. It seems a bit like Mad Max, but when you have nothing else, you use what you have. Anything is better than nothing and attitude is one of the most important aspects of self defense.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“A free people ought not only to be armed, but disciplined; to which end a uniform and well-digested plan is requisite; and their safety and interest require that they should promote such manufactories as tend to render them independent of others for essential, particularly military, supplies.” – George Washington

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – February 07, 2018

On this day in London, Benjamin Franklin published An Imaginary Speech in defense of American courage. The speech was intended to counter an unnamed officer’s comments to Parliament that the British need not fear the colonial rebels, because “Americans are unequal to the People of this Country [Britain] in Devotion to Women, and in courage and worse than all, they are religious.” Franklin’s response included his usual wit and acuity.

February 7th, 1867, is also the birthday of Laura Ingalls Wilder (died February 10, 1957). SurvivalBlog highly recomends the Laura Ingalls Wilder books which are awesome books as well as her biography.

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