Passing on Family Prepping and Gardening Experience, by J.L.

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Continuous Learning

I officially became a prepper during the Y2K experience, but upon reflection I have been prepping most of my life. I have always been fascinated with how things work. Learning became a lifelong occupation. I sometimes wish that I could focus on one discipline and become an expert. But looking back at the age of 61, I suspect that I’ve always had a little ADD (attention deficit disorder). Because of that, over my life, I have been involved in most phases of construction. I’ve been a welder, an instrument technician, a tree worker, an environmental analyst, and a manager in a large power company. Currently, I currently own multiple businesses, after retiring four years ago from the corporate world. My hobbies include gardening, woodworking, reloading, and doing as much shooting as I have time for. We raise chickens, bees, and have a year-round greenhouse.

I believe, in a TEOTWAWKI or even a SHTF moment, what we have in our head is the most important piece of survival gear we possess. I am amazed, in every job I have had, how the skills and knowledge that I learned in my other pursuits helped me out. And I am baffled at how few interests and skills other people have developed.

Continue reading“Passing on Family Prepping and Gardening Experience, by J.L.”

Letter: Heating Oil and Kerosene Uses

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Hello Jim:

I wanted to write a note about an idea for heating. We use a Nestor-Martin as well as a napoleon oil stove to heat. These are very, very efficient. They burn one and a half to three gallons maximum per day and can heat a 2000 square-foot home. They require no electricity in their gravity fed from oil tank. I’ve heated with wood most of my life. (There is nothing like a wood fire.)

To give you an example of how much the world has changed, in the late 70s and 80s as a Boy Scout our troop raised most of our funds from going in the woods felling trees and selling firewood. Nowadays, the Scouts have been watered down to car washes and cupcakes sales. We had professional woodsmen guiding and overseeing us to minimize the danger, but the danger was there nonetheless. We also did paper drives in the late 70s-’80s. When the paper price spiked, everyone in our town was helping us out. We could fill three or four tractor-trailers in a weekend. Unfortunately, this is a sad truth. Baden Powell would be ashamed. Wood does not have a very long storage lifespan before it becomes punky and loses as much of its caloric value.

Continue reading“Letter: Heating Oil and Kerosene Uses”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This column is posted on Tuesdays. Here, we present news and announcements from around the American Redoubt. We also mention companies in the region of interest to preppers. Today’s focus is on the proposed Scotchman Peak wilderness area.


Idaho (Scotchman Peak)

First, over at Redoubt News, we read: Scotchman Peak Still A Hot Topic. JWR’s Comments: This proposed wilderness area straddles the Idaho/Montana State line. (On the map, look east of Clark Fork, Idaho.) The Wilderness designation will eliminate motorized access to a huge swath of National Forest. But presently the lower elevations have well-established roads. These are  National Forest roads that are open to the public. Built during logging, those roads were indirectly paid for by your tax dollars. Not surprisingly, the self-proclaimed “caring” leftists have other plans. They intend to deny back-country access to non-backpacking older Americans.

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SurvivalBlog reader TTABS posted a fun rafting video a couple of years back.  But I didn’t discover it until this week: Rafting Idaho’s Lochsa River – Row Adventures

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

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”.

Digital Face Reconstruction

Remember the days when it was important to get the victim or witness of a crime to a sketch artist as quickly as possible so they could remember the facial features? The sketch artist of the future is here now and it’s a bit different. Researchers are now able to use brain scans and direct neuron recording to identify and recreate “faces” with uncanny accuracy. I guess I’m okay with the brain scans, but the “direct neuron recording” is a bit disturbing to me. Nobody is sticking needle probes into my brain. The technology is in its infancy so maybe they’ll fix that. Thanks to B.B. for the link.

Eye-in-the-sky

Miami-Dade is considering a flying platform at 25,000 feet to use war-time technology to constantly monitor and photograph large areas of the city and then use that footage to track down suspects after a crime occurs. This means blanket surveillance for everyone outside and within the airborne camera’s 25-square-mile field of vision. But don’t worry, it’s just to catch the bad guys. This technology would never be used against you. Ahem.

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

Editors’ Quote Of The Day

“There is no word that has admitted of more various significations, and has made more different impressions on human minds, than that of Liberty. Some have taken it for a facility of deposing a person on whom they had conferred a tyrannical authority; others for the power of choosing a person whom they are obliged to obey; others for the right of bearing arms, and of being thereby enabled to use violence, others in fine for the privilege of being governed by a native of their own country or by their own laws.
Some have annexed this name to one form of government, in exclusion of others: Those who had a republican taste, applied it to this government; those who liked a monarchical state, gave it to monarchies. Thus they all have applied the name of liberty to the government most conformable to their own customs and inclinations: and as in a republic people have not so constant and so present a view of the instruments of the evils they complain of, and likewise as the laws seem there to speak more, and the executors of the laws less, it is generally attributed to republics, and denied to monarchies. In fine as in democracies the people seem to do very near whatever they please, liberty has been placed in this sort of government, and the power of the people has been confounded with their liberty.” – Charles de Montesquieu, The Spirit of the Laws (1748)

Preparedness Notes for Monday – June 19, 2017

June 19, 1834 was the birthday of Charles Haddon (C.H.) Spurgeon, who died 31 January 1892. He was a British Particular Baptist preacher. His sermons are still widely read, for good reason.

o o o

Summer is a great time to finish writing that article you have been planning on for SurvivalBlog. We are in Round 71 and there are nearly $11,000 worth of prizes on the line so get cracking and get it submitted!

CRKT Rakkasan, by Pat Cascio

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The CRKT Rakkasan was designed by Austin McGlaun as part of Columbia River Knife & Tool’s “Forged By War” program. Austin McGlaun is a military veteran who served in the 101st Airborne Division in Iraq and chose to donate 10% of net profits to the Green Beret Foundation.

CRKT- Rock-Solid Designs

Anyone who has seen my many knife designs knows that I like designs that are simple, uncomplicated, easy to manufacture, and tough. There are several knife companies producing some of my designs, with more on the drawing board. One company is Columbia River Knife & Tool (CRKT), of which I’ve been a fan of their knives since they first started out in the knife industry.

CRKT was actually started by two executives from another major knife-making company. They started out with some rock-solid designs and have continued to grow year-after-year.

While many will argue the point, you can get as good of a knife as you want from overseas. In this case, CRKT has many of their knives made in Taiwan. They actually own one of the plants and lease the other one. Every six weeks or so, an executive from CRKT makes a trip to Taiwan and spends a few weeks there to make sure everything is operating as it should be. They are very picky about their knives. One of the many benefits is that we, the knife consumers, get some great knives at super good prices. I like that.

Continue reading“CRKT Rakkasan, by Pat Cascio”

The Editors’ Preps for the Week of June 19th, 2017

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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,

The weather in the northern American Redoubt will be clear and dry with moderate temperatures, this week which will be excellent weather for outdoor activities.

In The Garden and Greenhouse

We’ll be continuing to pull weeds.  It looks as though I need to replant certain squashes.  I also plan to plant some more carrots, broccoli, and some turnips.

Around The Ranch

Jim will continue to work on the carpentry and plumbing projects which are nearly finished.  He will also be hauling firewood from our ranch’s woodlot.  Jim will have a shorter work week on the ranch since he needs to make a consulting trip at the end of the week.Continue reading“The Editors’ Preps for the Week of June 19th, 2017”

Letter: Kitchen Water Filter Advice

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Hi,
I listened to JWR on yet another interview (making the rounds) and wanted to know if you (or Hugh) would be able to suggest a water filter I could use for my kitchen sink.  I live in an apartment. Management informed me that a Water-Filtration System (as in reverse osmosis) is not allowed.

Is there anything, not super duper pricey, that I could attach to my faucet? Thanks! – T.N.

HJL’s Comment:

Many of our readers use a Berkey water filter. You can get these for under $300 from many of our advertisers. The advantage of the berkey type system is that it is gravity fed so you don’t have to have power. On the Latimer homestead, we use a Multipure Aquaversa system which can generally be had for about the same as a Berkey. The Multipure does require pressurized water. It’s a solid carbon block filter. You can mount it on your counter top or under your sink. It provides filtered water on-demand. We also have it attached to the ice maker in the refrigerator.

A word of caution is in order on the Multipure though. Multipure is a multilevel marketing program (MLM). The filter is one of the best made, but you really have to price shop as some vendors charge way over the suggested MSRP. If you really want to save money, you can also build your own from some of the articles presented here on SurvivalBlog such as “Do-It-Yourself Ceramic Water Filter, by The Architect”

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 world’s best-known cryptocurrency,  Bitcoin.

Precious Metals:

First, there is this, over at Kitco: Ignore the Hawkish Fed, There’s Still A Case for Gold – Traders

o  o  o

The Taipei Times reports: India plans gold policy revamp for US$19 bn sector


Alternate Currencies (Bitcoin):

Next, there is this over at SovereignMan: You won’t believe this stupid new [draft] law against Cash and Bitcoin

JWR’s Comments: Beware of putting too much of your wealth into Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.  When times get hard, governments get grabby. And of course Bitcoins stored by third party exchange services are vulnerable to hacking.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing for Preppers”

Editors’ Quote Of The Day

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“The Second Amendment is a doomsday provision, one designed for those exceptionally rare circumstances where all other rights have failed — where the government refuses to stand for reelection and silences those who protest; where courts have lost the courage to oppose, or can find no one to enforce their decrees. However improbable these contingencies may seem today, facing them unprepared is a mistake a free people get to make only once.” –  Justice Alex Kozinski, US 9th Circuit Court, 2003 

 

Killing the “HAKA”, by The Recovering Feminist

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Pushing Too Far

Have you ever wondered why God spared Job’s wife?

Have you nagged?

Ladies, can I ask you a few personal questions? It’s a question about nagging. Have you ever nagged a man so much that you pushed him too far? Basically, have you nagged him to the point where you regretted it? I’m not going to discuss the topic of abusive male aggression here or domestic violence. On the contrary, I’m hinting at the reality of how we, as women, have the innate ability to nag men. We all know how to do it. Some are more gifted than others. Have you wanted something very much and your way of asking (nagging) backfired? You pushed too hard. You were harsh, rude, demanding, and bitter about it. Have you ever done this to a man? If you answered “no”, then I highly suspect you are lying. If you honestly answered “yes”, then you understand what it means to push a man too far. So, if you have done this, did you learn your lesson and realize that you were wrong? Did you stop yourself the next time you were tempted to nag and say to yourself, “I know this way won’t work; I need to approach him instead with respect and love.”?

Fighting Our Weakness

Don’t get me wrong, I still nag my husband. Sometimes I do it like a champ. However, I know that I am wrong for approaching my husband this way, and I know that to approach him with love and respect is the better way. I do need to mention that there are men out there who are legitimately abusive to their wives, and there is no excuse for this. Both men and women are weak in different ways. We have to fight against our weakness and lean into the truth if we are going to find the peace that we seek in our closest relationships and in our own hearts.

Continue reading“Killing the “HAKA”, by The Recovering Feminist”

Letter Re: The Practical Application of Tactical Gear, Load and Weight Considerations

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Hugh,

I’ve been reading the MAX V articles about practical application of tactical gear, et cetera. This spurred me to add my .02 cents. During a 2014 deployment to Kandahar with the Air Force Reserve, I had an ankle injury that wasn’t serious enough to send me home but serious enough to slow me down for my entire tour. I had brought with me a Tactical Tailor H-harness and belt set, which I set up to wear under my armor. (Once the armor was on, I never felt it.) I kept one magazine pouch and a small admin pouch, used for power bars and band-ades, on the armor. Everything else was on the H-harness/belt.

Loading up the carrier with ammo pouches and extra crap looked high-speed for the younger troops, but I felt was additional weight to try to get on and off in a hurry. Also, with my age related ankle injury, I decided that should I have to ditch my armor to trade for speed, that keeping the ammo, canteen, and admin pouch with CLIF bars separate was the way to go and something to consider for the “old warriors” in the readership. Keeping in mind that during an emergency here when a person needs to ditch 30 lbs of armor to run an important message, or simply E&E an overwhelming foe, might be something to consider.

Mid-crisis is not the time to strip your plate carrier to reconfigure for weight saving. Pulling and caching the plates might work as well but would still require time that could be better utilized creating distance. – T.G.