Freeze Dried Friday:

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Welcome to Freeze Dried Friday on SurvivalBlog! We’ve been making so many things in the Harvest Right Freeze Dryer that we want to share some of them with you. If you have something wonderful you’ve prepared in your freeze dryer that you would like to share with SurvivalBlog readers, take a photo of it and send it in along with a description. We might just feature you here!

Chamomile Tea

One of Mrs. Latimer’s favorite hot teas is chamomile. We started trying to grow it about 7 years ago and for some reason, never could get it to take off. Then four years ago we had a successful crop of it and it has been self replicating ever since. It is so prolific now that that it very nearly is considered a weed in some parts of the garden. Of course, it gets free reign since Mrs. Latimer likes it so much.

This week we ran a batch of Chamomile flowers through the Freeze Dryer. Like any other herb, the flavor is much stronger and more vivid when freeze dried rather than dehydrated. We don’t crush the flowers after they are dried so four trays of flowers generates four quarts of finished product.

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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  investing in Rare Earths. (See the Tangibles section, near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

CPM Group:  Precious Metals Outlook for 2017

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Top Four Platinum Stocks for 2017

Stocks:

Thursday’s headline: Dow drops 200 points, led by Cisco. By the time of the closing bell:  The DJIA was down 1.2%, the S&P 500 dropped 1.5%, and the NASDAQ Composite  Index fell 1.9%.  Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the Euro STOXX 50 declined 0.3%.  Oh, and gold was up nearly 1%, to $1,288.50.

o  o  o

DOT COM Bubble Do-Over?

 

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Some Alternatives to Health Insurance for Americans

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There are huge obstacles to President DJT’s Swamp Draining Attempt in Washington, DC.  One of the biggest fights revolves around replacing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). This is commonly known as Obamacare. There seems to be a log jam in Congress. This was in part instigated by the left wing of the Republican Party. (That’s is the majority of Republicans in both the House and Senate.) So, despite their rhetoric, it seems like they don’t want to do away with socialized medicine.  This is because the status quo concentrates both power and the flow of wealth through Washington, DC. For now, no real change seems capable of moving through the Swamp-Mired Congress. In this essay, I’ll be addressing making a change of our own. We can do so without waiting for Congressional action: Medical Cost Sharing.

How will this  be resolved by the Congresscritters?  Probably not anytime soon. Consequently, I expect to see health insurance premiums keep ratcheting upward. The “alternative plans” now being developed by the divided Congress probably won’t be much better than the current ACA.  And what about the recently-touted “Obamacare Light” program?  It doesn’t offer much hope of reduced costs for typical American families.

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Letter: Sealing a #10 Can

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Hugh,

A friend recently acquired the capability to seal #10 cans. He’s bought a supply of new cans and is still playing around with the concept. He offered me the opportunity to do a few cans of my own. The concept has intrigued me. What would you pack in a #10 can if you could choose the contents?

My preliminary thoughts

My thoughts are a #10 can would be good for stuff that must stay one or more of these:

  1. Oxygen free
  2. Dry
  3. Sterile
  4. Clean

Continue reading“Letter: Sealing a #10 Can”

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”. There is an interesting article on the failed state of South Sudan and lessons the KRI can learn today.

Charlottesville

Reader H.L. sent in the link to an interesting video that shows the media is once again lying along with this commentary:

“Short video shows that for the most part, those who asked for and received permit to march (the so-called Alt-Right came armed to protect themselves) were walking and the Left leaning group consisting of Antifa/Black Lives Matter and others came with signs and heavy sticks prepared to cause trouble. The Left also had cans filled with cement and someone had tear gas. There is some narrative and pointing out that one needs sometimes to watch as many videos and angles of such marches to see the truth. Those guiding the left want to tear down our form of government and replace it with Socialism and are well on their way to so doing! Thanks for government run schools and universities that are almost completely Socialistic/Communistic.

“Too many Americans do not realize they are PAWNS in the Globalist Game of Chess to destroy America and hollow out completely our Constitution and Bill of Rights. Only by reading, viewing and searching out the truth and making your own decision will you have the possibility of learning the truth! Americans have the right to think what they want, but they do not have the right to attack other Americans who are living peacefully. This goes for both sides. When people have not learned how to peacefully discuss their philosophies, they resort to violence. Violence tears nations apart and the government steps in and takes over! Economic freedom cannot thrive where there is such violence. Freedom for all is then lost! Remember How Hitler rose to power? History is one of the most important subjects to study. History usually repeats itself.”

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Lifetime Disaster Assessment, by M.B.

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Coming To Grips With a Life Changing Event

If you live long enough, you will undoubtedly face a life changing event. These events are not easy to plan for. And even if you know one is on the horizon, they always seem to catch you by surprise. I refer to these life changing events as sentinel events, because once they happen your life will be forever changed.

While I’ve practiced and taught strategic planning and business development in several different industries, including pharmaceutical sales and hospice/rehab/long-term care senior healthcare, I have survived several sentinel events in my own life. I generally feel as if I have come through them stronger and smarter because of my struggles. However, “no” that wasn’t a ringing endorsement of wanting to experience anymore of these type of events.

Losing your spouse, a child, your parents, or your career are all typical sentinel events that most people have to endure at some point in their lives. I once worked with a woman who had lost both her parents in a car crash as a teenager. She then went on to lose two of her three sons in the middle-eastern conflict Desert Storm in the early 90’s. I can’t even imagine how difficult and how emotionally devastating those sentinel events were for that dear lady. She had to be a strong  person  in order to survive and continue on.Continue reading“Lifetime Disaster Assessment, by M.B.”

Letter: Violence in Charlottesville

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HJL, JWR, Readers of SurvivalBlog,

My current hometown of Charlottesville, VA suddenly found itself thrust into the headlines. My home is less than three miles from the site where the events occurred. From my 4th floor apartment balcony I watched the state police helicopter hover for hours. It eventually disappeared from view as some unknown event caused it to crash.

Readers of SurvivalBlog are well informed; I will not rehash the events of the weekend of August 12, 2017 in Charlottesville. But I will add that all parties involved in this “rally” came prepared for a fight. What you probably won’t see in clips on the evening news is BOTH sides of the confrontation were heavily armed with clubs, bats, handguns, and rifles, and by the grace of God no shots were fired. It is my belief that, due to either a completely unhinged individual or actions of a group seeking to accelerate conflict, shots will one day ring out and a second civil war will erupt in this country.

The rhetoric from leaders in Washington over the past eight years, and some may argue the past eight months, has only served to foment severe hatred among the fringe elements of both parties, spawning the most dangerous of enemies: Extreme Ideology. Throughout the ages, we have witnessed extreme ideology in many parts of the world that often leads to outright genocide. Extremism knows no boundaries when committing atrocities, even within its own race, skin color or geographic location. I pray this never happens in our country, but after this weekend’s events, I urge you to continue to prepare, train, and plan. I believe we will only see more of this violence in the months ahead.

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 investing in firearms magazines. (See the Tangibles section, near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

Jack Chan: Silver Price Update

o  o  o

Gold Forecast for the Week of August 14, 2017, Technical Analysis

Stocks:

Top Four Gold Stocks as of August 2017

o  o  o

Do You Own Those Three Recession-Proof Stocks?

 

Commodities

Next, over at Knoema: Nickel Price Long Term Forecast (to 2030)

o  o  o

How the Commodities Bounce Could Finish Noble

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

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 new documentary film Lies Of Omission.  (See the Movies section.)

Books:

Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI

o  o  o

The Keto Diet: The Complete Guide to a High-Fat Diet, with More Than 125 Delectable Recipes and 5 Meal Plans to Shed Weight, Heal Your Body, and Regain Confidence

 

Music:

Stevie Ray Vaughan – Original Album Classics

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The Last Of The Mohicans: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

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Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – August 15, 2017

On August 15, 1961, two days after sealing off free passage between East and West Berlin with barbed wire, East German authorities began building a wall–the Berlin Wall–to permanently close off access to the West. For the next 28 years, the heavily fortified Berlin Wall stood as the most tangible symbol of the Cold War–a literal “iron curtain” dividing Europe. The wall has now been torn down for longer than it stood, but the scars in memory are still there.