Recipe of the Week: Homemade Crockpot Thanksgiving Dressing, by L.H.

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I literally spent years working on this recipe, taking notes, and making changes after every less-than-stellar effort. (And there were a lot of these!) There were the years I served a brick of dressing (too many eggs), and the year I served green dressing (too much sage).Then I decided I needed to learn to make it in the crockpot to reserve the oven for the turkey and other dishes, and that was a whole ‘nuther learning experience. You get the idea. 

But I finally came up with what we think (and our family and guests seem to agree) is a really good basic bread dressing that comes out of the crockpot perfectly every year, every time. If you like an old-fashioned traditional bread dressing, and consider making homemade a “labor of love” as I do, I think you’ll like it.

Ingredients

  • About 16 oz. toasted/dried bread cubes (*see note below)
  • 4 Tbsp. butter
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 4 large stalks celery, diced
  • 1 1/2 tsp. sugar
  • 2 heaping Tbsp. sage
  • 1/2 tsp. thyme
  • 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. pepper
  • 3-5 c. chicken broth or turkey stock, divided
  • 1 egg

Continue reading“Recipe of the Week: Homemade Crockpot Thanksgiving Dressing, by L.H.”

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 Forever stamps sold by the U.S. Postal Service.

Precious Metals:

First, by way of the excellent The Daily Coin web site, we found this cross-post from The Daily Reckoning: The ONLY Gold Chart You Need

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Gold Steady Ahead Of US Data This Week, Weaker Dollar Supports

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Preparedness Notes for Sunday – June 25, 2017

On June 25th, 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand –marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. While complicated, the generally accepted reason for the battle is that the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills in 1875 led to the U.S. government disregarding previous treaty agreements. The gruesome fate of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. Meanwhile, the U.S. government increased its efforts to subdue the tribes. Within five years, almost all of the Sioux and Cheyenne would be confined to reservations. – HJL

Too Much Government Trying To Assert Control Over “We The People” , by J.S.

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[Editor’s Note: This article contains some controversial and uncomfortable topics and does not necessarily represent the opinions of the editors. However, there is much to consider here regarding the police state.]

I propose that there exists too much government trying to assert control over the U.S. citizens– “We, the people”. The burden upon the citizens is enormous, and the citizens have accepted it under the guise that it is necessary for our well-being and for the safety and well-being of those who protect us. Let’s take a look at the evidence.

Wisdom from U.S. Forefathers

“Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Give me liberty, or give me death!” – Patrick Henry

“The land of the free and the home of the brave.” – Francis Scott Key

“…a government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” – Abraham Lincoln

Continue reading“Too Much Government Trying To Assert Control Over “We The People” , by J.S.”

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”. Today’s feature is on government overreach, coinciding with today’s contest entry article.

Government Overreach

Reader H.L. sent in this article showing how three teenagers were handcuffed and detained for selling bottled water without a permit. She adds: “Please read carefully and understand how you are not free in America! As a child on our Vernon, CT farm Dad raised many great vegetables. I was at the roadside under the huge sign that said “L*******’s Farm”. I had a card table and umbrella, selling vegetables to passing motorists! It was not to make money, but that was not the point. Dad gave the neighbors extra vegetables, and we froze and canned lots and lots, but nothing went to waste. We gave some surplus to the pig and the turkeys. We sold the fresh picked surplus. It gave me, a shy child of 7 or 8, a chance to deal with adults and learn to make change!

Everyone benefited! Today, in most of America, local politicians shut down anyone, even young folks, from selling things. Often, it’s because they did not have an expensive permit! It is just another way for the towns and cities to tax the heck out of us. To throw their weight around. In many places you cannot even make cookies or some treats in your kitchen and give them away without a Health Dept. inspection and a permit, never mind trying to sell them to raise a little money to support your family.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day

“For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God. So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.” Romans 14:11-12 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday – June 24, 2017

June 24th the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. Wikipedia states: Several of his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

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I heard that fellow blogger Commander Zero just had an emergency appendectomy. (His appendix burst.) Please pray for a full, rapid recovery. Some details can be found at his Notes From The Bunker blog. – JWR

Preparing for a Flood– Part 3, by S.G.

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For the past two days, we have looked at risk management strategies for floods in Part 1 and Part 2. Today, we conclude with the final risk response strategy and the final step in Risk Management– Risk Monitoring.

Scenario 4: A flood has happened.

The water has peaked and is now receding. You may be in several positions now. If you left early enough, then you got out in time with your bug out gear and family intact. Your house condition is most likely unknown, but regardless the area is quarantined and you won’t be able to get back for days or weeks. If you left by the skin of your teeth while watching your house torn off its foundation, you may have almost no worldly possessions left. Or maybe you stayed, braved the flood, and now your house has survived but unfortunately the rest of your neighborhood was destroyed and now you are trapped since the bridges and roads were washed out. There is no electricity or gas, and raw sewage is flowing across your yard.

How you proceed will depend on your situation. Hopefully when you look at those scenarios you can see which are more ideal. Pretty much any scenario not involving bugging out early has put you in a situation with less control. Remember, the best risk management strategy is Avoidance. Bugging out early can avoid many worse scenarios than staying in.

Continue reading“Preparing for a Flood– Part 3, by S.G.”

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 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 also welcome you to share your planned activities for increasing personal preparedness in the coming week. (Leave a Comment with your project details.) Let’s keep busy and be ready!

JWR

Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,

This has been a delightful summer week, here in the Northern American Redoubt. The weather was sunny with seasonal temperatures in the mid 70s- low 80s, which were perfect for outdoor work/living.

Jim completed one of the plumbing and electrical projects this week. There is one more plumbing project to do sometime in the next two weeks. He gathered in a large pile of four foot logs which will need to be gang-cut and split.

Continue reading“The Editors’ Preps for the Week”

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”. Since today’s focus is on the USS Fitzgerald collision, we’ll start with that.

Politics

The Democratic psychosis continues this week with several prominent Democrats saying the dumbest things. A Nebraska Democratic party official was removed from his job after a recording surfaced of him saying that he was “glad” that Representative Scalise was shot. It wasn’t enough though. He continued on the recording saying “I wish he was [expletive] dead.”

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Reader H.L. sent in this article detailing that at least 30 GOP congressmen have been attacked or threatened since May! Some have only received death threats while others have been accosted in public spaces as well as their own homes. Several have had their homes vandalized. Only some of the offenders have been arrested, but many have not.

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Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. Numbers 16:31-33 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday – June 23, 2017

On July 23, 1942, The Nazis continued their reprehensible and criminal behavior by making the first selections for the gas chamber at Auschwitz on a train of Jews from Paris.

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If you’ve been thinking about getting into Ham Radio for emergency communications, this is a good weekend to start. The Annual Field Day starts Saturday and many clubs will set up stations at public parks and locations. Sometimes they even feed the visitors! Check your local paper as most will run a classified ad or have a small write up. Learn, make friends, and most of all, have fun!

Preparing for a Flood– Part 2, by S.G.

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Yesterday, as we look at preparing for a flood, we started discussing risk response strategies for floods. Today, we pick up on the fourth risk response strategy.

Strategy 4: Mitigate.

Mitigation is when you make deliberate actions to reduce the severity or likeliness of an uncertain event. We are going to spend a lot of time here, in four sections. These will focus on what to do in four timeframe scenarios.

Scenario 1- A flood may happen sometime.

The best time to prepare for a flood or any emergency is well before it happens.

Most people, when it comes to flooding, are primarily worried about protecting their property. In my opinion, this is looking at the situation backwards. Your property is there to protect you, not for you to protect it. So any modifications or preparations you do to your property are for the benefit of your safety, not its. As such, the most important preparation you can make to your property is the mental preparation to leave if you need to.

Continue reading“Preparing for a Flood– Part 2, by S.G.”

Economics & Investing for Preppers

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Here is the latest economics news and investing news.  We cover market trends, stocks, and the precious metals markets. We also discuss hedges, derivatives, and obscura. 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 oft-interviewed hard money advocate Peter Schiff.


Precious Metals (Peter Schiff):

First up, there is this video:  Peter Schiff on Gold, Trump, QE, & Potential Recession. Schiff predicts that the Fed will be forced to revert to ZIRP. (Zero Interest Rate Policy.) He also says that QE4 is on the horizon.

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I’ve found that the timeframe adjustable charts at Bullionvault.com are quite useful.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing for Preppers”