Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 2, By Alaskan Gardeners

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We are continuing on with this article about my wife’s and my journey in mid-scale grain gardening. Yesterday, I explained our reasons for believing it was time to build self-sufficiency, and now let’s move on to the food production part, specifically our grain gardening efforts.

Definition of Mid-Scale Grain Gardening

Grain plots may vary in size, ranging from, at the minimum, a small plot using a rototiller or shovel and rake for soil preparation, hand sowing the grain, reaping with a scythe or sickle, threshing with a flail, and winnowing with a kitchen fan or a windy day. The small-scale plot is very labor and time-intensive per unit of grain harvested, and the total quantity of grain harvested may not meet the needs of a large family. By contrast a commercial operation may utilize hundreds of acres and a heavy investment in machinery (or utilize the services of a commercial harvesting crew). What I wanted was something in-between the minimum and the commercial operation.

Plot Size

I was seeking a grain plot size and the necessary equipment sufficient to, with a large safety margin, produce enough grain for one or more families every year. My grain garden has been about 15,000 plus square feet (roughly ⅓ acre). Normally, this area will produce enough grain each year to provide us with several years of consumption. This mid-scale grain gardening requires more mechanical equipment than the minimum, but it provides the advantages of much larger grain production and a large reduction in physical labor and time per unit of grain harvested, as compared to the minimum.

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Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 Republican Tax Reform Plan.

Precious Metals:

First off, there is this piece by Simon Constable, at U.S. News: If Precious Metals Rally, Then Pick Silver

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Stock Market:

Here is an opinion piece by Avi Gilburt (who is an Elliott Waver): Euphoria is extending the U.S. stock market’s gains
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JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on the Old Sneelock series of instructional videos on YouTube.

Books:

I may be biased (since I published it), but I highly recommend this inspirational and truly uplifting book: My Thailand Calling: Following Jesus Cross-Culturally: A Missionary’s Journey On The Frontiers.

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The Survival Medicine Handbook: The essential guide for when medical help is NOT on the way

Movies:

I’ve mentioned this film before, but it bears repeating: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

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Despite some quite unrealistic injections of 21st Century morality, this movie about WWII resistance operatives is worth watching: Allied.  (Warning: Definitely not one for the kids!)

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She well knows that by enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standards of freedom.” – John Quincy Adams

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – December 05, 2017

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On December 5th, 1964, the first Medal of Honor awarded to a serviceman for action in Vietnam was presented to Capt. Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York. Captain Donlon and his Special Forces team were manning Camp Nam Dong, a mountain outpost near the borders of Laos and North Vietnam. Just before two o’clock in the morning on July 6, 1964, hordes of Viet Cong attacked the camp. He was shot in the stomach, but Donlon stuffed a handkerchief into the wound, cinched up his belt, and kept fighting. He was wounded three more times, but he continued fighting–manning a mortar, throwing grenades at the enemy, and refusing medical attention.

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Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 1, By Alaskan Gardeners

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Food sufficiency is a large part of self sufficiency, so my wife and I pursued mid-scale grain gardening, though our home was in Alaska. Here is our story and how we have done this.

Breakdown of My Article

My article will cover the following:

  • Preamble: Why We All Should Become Increasingly Self-sufficient– The First Steps
  • Definition of Mid-Scale Grain Gardening
  • Crop Operations
  • Reaping and Drying
  • Threshing and Winnowing
  • Scaling Up Harvesting Operations
  • So, What To Do With All This Grain?
  • Disclaimer

Preamble: Why We Should All Become Increasingly Self-sufficient

People’s outlook and actions are largely a product of their experiences, both real and vicarious. My wife and I have spent most of the 23 years prior to 2007 visiting much of the world via sailboat, and our observations have made a big impact on our view of the world.

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SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on Quest Aircraft. (See the Idaho section.)

Region-Wide:

The fourth installment of the ongoing Amrican Redoubt article series at The Sandpoint Reader has been posted. ‘Keeping the faith’ — The role of religion in the American Redoubt.

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Accompanying this article in The Sandpoint Reader is another biographical sketch/interview: The American Redoubt, as told by Alex Barron, ‘The Bard of the American Redoubt’

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SurvivalBlog reader T.Z. sent us a link to this at Zero Hedge:  Mapping The United States Of Welfare. JWR’s Comment:  Just as we have seen with many other maps and charts of national demographics, the American Redoubt region predictably bucks most of the trends.


Idaho (Quest Aircraft)

Here is some news on an outspokenly pro-Christian Idaho airplane manufacturer: Quest expands its facilities.  The company was started as a way to make rough-field capable and amphibious STOL aircraft available to Christian missionaries. Quest Aircraft now employs more than 200 people and is headquartered in Sandpoint, Idaho. Yes, they are hiring!

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Innovation Ammunition Technologies (IAT), in Worley, Idaho is an ammunition maker and also build custom AR-15s, to customer specifications.
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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”. Featured in politics today is a win handed to President Trump on his travel ban. This has been a good week for Trump.

Politics

The supreme court ruled today that President Trump’s travel ban was allowed to go into full effect. Only two justices dissented (Ginsburg and Sotomayor). We’ve pretty much known all along that if the supreme court heard the case they would allow it. It is reassuring to know that there is some rule-of-law still allowed in this country despite the beating it took from the liberal media and lower-level courts. Interestingly enough, the Associated Press and other outlets original misrepresented it as a “Muslim” ban even though Venezuela and North Korea were on the list. Thank you fake news.

Survival Realty

There is a unique east coast listing on Survival Realty that might interest some. One of the 6 homes on Basset Island in Massachusett’s Buzzard Bay is up for sale. It has over 300 feet of shoreline and is on 3.1 acres. Being on an island, it affords rare privacy on the east coast but has full amenities. The listing does include a 21 foot SteigerCraft which you will need to get to the home.

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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.” – Thomas Jefferson

Kimber Ultra Carry II SP – By Pat Cascio

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In this article, we’ll take a close look at the Kimber Ultra Carry II SP 1911. This is one of the smallest 1911 based handguns chambered in .45 ACP on the market.

Limited, Discontinued Splash 1911

I’m sad to say, it appears that Kimber has discontinued this particular base model 1911 and gone to some upper crust, more costly, smaller 1911s. It’s too bad! The gun under review here is the Ultra Carry II SP, and the SP stands for “Splash”. It was a limited product run available for sale at a SHOT Show a few years ago. I believe these guns were done up in five different “Splash” colored frames. They were, if the information I received was correct, limited to only 300 guns in each color. The sample I have has a “Splash” of red on the anodized aluminum frame.

An 1911 in .45 ACP- Good For Me and Military Service Since WW1

Long-time SurvivalBlog readers will readily know that if I were limited to just one handgun for the rest of my life, heaven forbid, then it would be a 1911 in .45 ACP in one guise or another. There simply aren’t many handguns on the market with the long history of the 1911. It has served in every major conflict our military has been in since WW1, and it continues to serve today with SpecOps warriors.

Continue reading“Kimber Ultra Carry II SP – By Pat Cascio”

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 coming Dollar Decline.

Precious Metals (Dollar Decline):

First up–and most importantly–there is this at Zero Hedge: Russia, China, India Unveil New Gold Trading Network. JWR’s Comment: This news is another nail in the coffin for the Petrodollar. In the long term, the U.S. Dollar is losing preeminence as a global commodities exchange currency and reserve currency. Once the Dollar reaches a psychological breaking point, it will be substantially revalued downward. I’ve warned you before, folks: It it time to hedge out of U.S. Dollars and your U.S. Dollar-denominated investments. Tangibles–including silver–will be your safe harbor!

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Stock Market:

Next, this at Seeking Alpha: December 2017 Stock Considerations
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The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Every individual necessarily labors to render the annual revenue of society as great as he can. He generally neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. He intends only his own gain, and he is, in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was not part of his intention.” – Adam Smith

Preparedness Notes for Sunday – December 03, 2017

Today is the birthday of actor Brendan Fraser (born, 1968.) He often plays “fish out of water” roles. Preppers of course remember him from Blast From The Past.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today features another entry for Round 74 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 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. Two cases of Meals, Ready to Eat (MREs), courtesy of CampingSurvival.com (a $180 value), and
  8. 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 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. RepackBox is providing a $300 gift certificate to their site.

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, and
  6. 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).

Round 74 ends on January 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.