Sometimes, You Have To Fight – B.B.
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Time to remember who the real crooks are: Inside Bill Clinton’s nearly $18 million job as ‘honorary chancellor’ of a for-profit college – P.M.
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Venezuelans Are Separating Food from Waste as More People Forced to Eat from Garbage – B.B.
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Wrong, Wrong, Wrong! Public university lays off 79 IT workers after they train H-1B replacements – D.S.
“If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government that is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” – James Madison
On March 2nd, 1836, Texas declared its independence from Mexico. Today is coincidentally also the birthday of Sam Houston.
Today is also the birthday of Moe Berg, American baseball player and clandestine agent. (He died in 1972). His biography The Catcher Was a Spy is fascinating reading.
And this is the birthday of libertarian economist Murray Rothbard (born 1926, died 1995). His book For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto is highly recommended.
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Today, we present another entry for Round 69 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $15,000 worth of prizes for this round include:
First Prize:
Second Prize:
Third Prize:
Round 69 ends on March 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.
As a regular follower of this blog, I, and as I imagine most readers, are very familiar with the results of an EMP. This is one of the most discussed topics in the survivalist blogosphere, for good reason. Electricity brings all of us a much easier life, and to prepare for the loss of such is difficult both physically and mentally, not to mention costly. With my electronic devices, those that I continue to use daily, my preparations lie between letting them become paper weights with the effects of an EMP to properly protecting those that are of value and having back-up copies of important documents (electronically and physically). From my understanding of an EMP or a similar event, like a strong solar flare, my limited preparations on this front should protect my key data with some devices reverting to expensively purchased junk.
What I had failed to take into consideration is the breakout of cyber warfare. An overview of the nature of cyber warfare is warranted, although before I start I would like to say my knowledge of such is limited. The majority of my previous knowledge came from corporate cyber attacks. However, I just finished reading Richard Clarke’s 2012 book Cyber War: The Next National Threat and What To Do About It Richard Clarke is the former National Coordinator for Security, Infrastructure Protection, and Counter-terrorism for the United States. Clarke worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan and has a good understanding of this subject. This book is an enlightening read (although politically slanted towards Democrats), and while I wanted to highlight a couple of key points it does not make the leap to the potential impact of the average individual. To summarize, cyber warfare is the directed attack against a nation from one or other nations or other collected rogue groups (such as ISIS or Anonymous). These attacks will take many forms, including denial of services, theft of knowledge, turning off critical infrastructure, and sabotage, but all of it will be the result of technical interference to our extremely wired world. Another good summary I just found yesterday is online.
At this time, the government is frantically trying to keep the genie in the bottle and has regular cyber attack exercises:
While the government is working to protect themselves and critical infrastructure, such as utilities and banking, the average citizen must rely on commercially available security and the Geek Squad at Best Buy. Many of these attacks will not be emanating directly from the foreign enemy but from Trojan programs, such as Logic Bombs, already implanted in domestic computers and similar devices, including all of the ones that we individually own. (Even if you claim to be off grid, you are reading this post somehow on some device.) These programs are implanted through multiple nefarious means from participation in websites, email, and every sort of inter-connectivity to the Internet.
The threat that I found more surprising is the self-destruct programs that may potentially be implanted in devices as well. Many routine household devices– phones, security, and appliances– and automobiles are becoming connected to the Internet. While this allows the usefulness of these devices to be increased, such as the ability to check your home security while out of town or something as simple as preheating your oven on the way home from work, there are also significant security breaches that are very rarely mentioned. Mr. Clarke provides an excellent, and from his understanding a completely feasible, example regarding cyber warfare. Imagine a copier within a company, which is bidding on a job. The copier, through an illegally implanted program using basic recognition software, is sending copies of any document with specific wording referencing the job off-site. At a certain point, those who are stealing the information believe they have enough to sabotage the bid and then send directions to the machine to overheat and start a fire with secondary effects of setting off the sprinkler system or worse.
In my limited dealings with cyber attacks, it is well known that hackers can penetrate and disable equipment from remotely operating someone’s camera to tapping into the electrical grid and other utilities, creating an EMP-like event. It has been also proven that many foreign organizations, most noticeably China, has made a concerted effort on corporate espionage and has been routinely stealing secrets. A good example of this is the Sony hack in 2014, where hackers demanded Sony’s release of the comedy film The Interview because the main plot was to assassinate the leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Un. This hack was a wake-up call to the impact that nation states can have on cyberspace. It is disturbing to say the least.
Another aspect of cyber warfare is hardware modification. In the same book as referenced above, the U.S. intelligence agencies, through a Soviet defector, became aware of a list of sophisticated weapon components that the KGB was looking for. (The names used identify the timeframe.) Instead of preventing the KGB from acquiring the items, the CIA instead worked to funnel them the items on the list but with modifications that would be extremely difficult for anyone to interpret until the item was utilized, whereupon it would malfunction. While this plan was successful for the CIA, it has also become a known espionage tool, and it is impractical to believe that enemies would not utilize this tool or take it to the next level. This is relatively easy to do when some of the silicon chips today are imprinted with minute details. It is no secret that the majority of our commercial hardware, whether directed towards private citizens or government agents, is procured through China. While some may dismiss the potential change to every computer, only one change has to be made downstream and all computers are modified. It is more difficult to determine detrimental designs when they all look the same and work.
Additionally, in June of 2016, the U.S. government gave up authority over IANA (International Assigned Naming Authority) to a private company ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) without a great deal of fanfare from the media. Senator Ted Cruz opposed this transfer and as part of his press released suggested the plan would “allow 160 foreign governments to have increased influence over the management and operation of the Internet.” This was done by the Obama administration after a known hacking penetration of his presidential campaign by China. In September of 2016, this letter provided by the Free Beacon identifies the concerns of key intelligence officers in Washington regarding this transfer.
Walking through these various examples, it is not difficult to take a small leap and in the event of a hostile or open war with a foreign country, we could find those tools that we rely upon for information– our computers and televisions– to be interfered with, creating and replicating malware, and in a worst case scenario starting on fire or causing surges to the power grid. If it is possible to create a program that can wipe out your system or cause a fire, which I believe it is, why wouldn’t hostile governments try to implant into every device globally and activate as necessary. My own devices have software that detects virus and bugs on a regular basis. Larger corporations have hundreds to thousands of breeches on a weekly basis.
This has radically changed my thought process on electronic devices. Think of a government designing super weapons. A Chinese intelligent agent devises a plan that utilizes America’s weaknesses (dependency on television for information and foreign manufacturing of such devices) that would be fully activated in any emergency situation to propagate and disseminate attacks on government and primary civilian targets with a final blow to disable the device itself and hopefully creating secondary damages and further straining an already strained system. All of this could be accomplished at a fraction of the cost of a nuclear device but be significantly more devastating without poisoning the ocean or your atmosphere with a radioactive cloud. It would also have a crippling effect on communications and morale. It sounds like a game changer for any war. Any device that connects to the Internet, whether it is your smart phone, computer, or refrigerator, at some level must be considered compromised. It can be utilized for false propaganda, and it is not difficult to imagine all of our devices turning on at the same time and having communist-friendly, Hollywood bimbo share with us the advantages of cooperation and the benefit of the People’s Republic. It can be used as a surveillance device, utilizing recording and locating technology; however, even something without these recording and locating capabilities can still infer data. A television that is connected without any other technology can identify if you are watching something (i.e. somebody is there), that you still have power, and what you are watching. Finally, it can be utilized as a weapon, either propagating programs that are affecting someone else’s computers or potentially cause issues of their own.
So, I started this article discussing EMP; many of you are probably wondering why, at this point, as it has no reference to EMPs at all. A devastating cyber attack could result in an EMP scenario in two ways. First, the attack ultimately disables the grid, resulting in a power outage, or the attack is so disabling that the government mandates the temporary shutdown of the grid. Many of our preparations for an EMP, such as alternative communications, physical documents vs. electronic, protected devices, et cetera are equally useful for a cyber attack as well, and while some may need to be reviewed we can instead focus on preparations specifically designed around cyber attacks. In addition to an EMP thought process, a cyber attack may leave the grid operating but in a weakened state. It would be anticipated that certain functions will be targeted, such as government, banking, media, and logistics– all of which are very dependent upon cyberspace. The general motto of this site to be prepared should help insulate you and your family.
Hugh,
Our primary heat for our home is wood. When I bought our home in 2011, I replaced a used wood stove with a brand new Blaze King model called the King. The company offers the Princess, the Queen, and the King. All three can be regular or catalytic type. Ours is the catalytic version.
We will start burning wood in September and burn through mid-April, and we have done this since we installed the stove. We burn only birch wood that has been split and stacked for a minimum of two years aged. I buy a load of logs that will have 66 logs in the load. The wood supplier guarantees a minimum of five cords in each load; I’ve never had less than six cords. The cost is $880 per load, and we could go and cut it ourselves if we wanted. I’ve seen home heating oil sell up here for as high as $6.60/gallon and as low as $2.45/gallon. We loose power every winter for at least two weeks and one year for three weeks at a time.
The catalyst has held up now with no signs of failure, though I do keep a spare, and it cost $200 when I bought it. Our model came with a glass front, which was a waste of money. It hasn’t broken, but the manner that the stove operates causes creosote to form in the fire box. This then ignites and burns inside the fire box. The gases given off by the burning creosote ignite and burn inside the catalyst; as a result the glass is perpetually black.
I clean the chimney cap once a year at the end of the burning season; there has never been creosote in the pipe from one inch below the cap location. When the stove is fully lit and burning hot there is no smoke, and it is common to see brown ice sickles form from the humidity flowing down the side of the pipe when it is 40 to 60 degrees below zero. At 70 or more degrees below zero, there are no ice sickles present, as most of the humidity has evaporated out of the air.
I do have a metal piece that sits atop the stove, and my wife keeps a pot of stew on it occasionally so we can cook or heat water on the stove if needed. I have a heat-driven fan that circulates the hot air and is silent; it works absolutely great for the house. If the power goes out, so what. We have heat, can cook, the Aladdin lamps are great for light, and the Coleman stoves we have bought over the years work fine for cooking. This stove, all totaled up, cost $4500, including all new pipe and professional installation, but it has saved us thousands of dollars in oil costs. This year oil dropped to $2.45/gallon so I filled the 500-gallon house tank and the 300-gallon tank I keep for other use, since it was so cheap.
Since this stove is so efficient, we burn on average 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cords a year depending on how cold it gets. The last three years, we have seen very warm temps averaging only 35 below zero at the lowest; this winter has seen on average 45 below with a three-day period a few weeks ago at 74 below zero. So far the power hasn’t gone out. I use a Honda E2000i generator for back up power since our needs are so few.
This is my first Blaze King. I talked to a lot of folks who lived here for many years and followed their advice for purchasing our stove. I have burned wood for over 30 years, and this is by far the best stove I’ve ever owned. We load it up usually around 9 PM before bed time, and it will burn almost to 11 AM the next day. The ash is a very fine dust and needs to be cleaned out only once a week, and this is a very easy in and out process. The wood is front load only, and I use 20″ length pieces of well-aged wood only. We never burn anything but well-dried wood in this stove, as it is our primary heat source.
We do not keep a water pot on the stove because the humidity will get into the crawl space in the roof, freeze, and collapse the ceiling; this is a very common problem in the arctic regions. The Blaze King company has contacted us in the past for advice on how to improve their product, but we cannot think of any way to do so. I did tell them the glass door option and gold trim is useless, except for sales, and that the electric fan option, which bolts onto the back of the stove, is equally as well useless since the heat driven fan we bought that sits on top of the stove is less expensive ($125.00 opposed to the $300.00 cost of the electric fan) and is silent in operation, even when the power is out.
In your areas “outside” USA, the Queen or Princess would be a good choice at less money and smaller size; however, when it hits 70 or more below, more heat is good. – M.H.
US Auto Dealers Forced To Rent First “Overflow Lots” In 37 Years Amid Inventory Glut. Is this one of the canary in the coal mine of a struggling economy? I think so. – H.L.
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America’s Share of the World Economy – G.T.
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China’s Richest Win, Mexican Billionaires Lose With Trump Effect
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Inflation Is Back, And Investors Are Again Turning To Gold
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NY Teamsters’ Pension Fund Goes Belly Up
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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.
Big Sur California Crisis. A few weeks of preparations for emergency isn’t enough for these Californians trapped without access to the outside world! The children probably don’t mind missing school, but only in Kalifornia would I imagine a $5,000 fine for trekking without permission! They treat their citizens as if they are mindless idiots! Maybe many are for electing the politicians they have who neglect their infrastructure while restricting such things as trekking, parental choice/rights, and guns in the hands of law-abiding citizens. – S.L.
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Required reading for Men and Women. – T.P.
Ladies First: Taming The She-Beast
Guys, listen up: Manly Men
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Oklahoma’s earthquake threat now equals California’s because of man-made temblors, USGS says – G.P.
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First major “smart toys” data leak affects 2 million children – DSV
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‘Tsunami of sewage spills’ in Tijuana fouls U.S. beaches, may have been intentional – P.M.
“Every man has a property in his own person. This nobody has any right to but himself. The labor of his body and the work of his hands are properly his.” – John Locke
Camping Survival is having their Grand Re-Opening today, starting at 10:00 AM. Their new address is 1000 N. Horner Blvd, Sanford, NC 27330. There will be lots of giveaways and survival food tasting, and there might be a few of JWR’s books there as well.
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Ready Made Resource has what may be the most sought after hand held Ham radio: The Any Tone TERMN-8R does UHF, VHF, HF, AM, HF, NOAH, GRMS, and MURS with crossband repeat and is weather resistant.
Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover the price action of gold and examine the “what” and “why” behind those numbers.
The precious metal markets were robust during February, with strong retail and investment demand driving gold and silver to nearly four-month highs. Platinum and palladium continued the rally that has placed them as the #4 and #1 (respectively) best-performing futures contracts year-to-date. Over the last year, palladium prices have rebounded from a five-year low to jump over 60%.
Silver came in at #2 in the rankings, up 13% so far in 2017, with gold (+8%) also cracking the Top 10. While the Platinum Group Metals have outpaced their precious metal cousins, the gold rally has held steady in the face of a relatively strong U.S. dollar, making the surge that much more impressive.
Much of the global attention has centered on Europe as the populist wave sweeping across the continent’s politics erodes confidence in the European Union’s future. In addition to elections in The Netherlands and Italy, the focus of this movement is now set to play out in France’s presidential contest.
The nationalist party Front National (National Front) is now widely expected to be represented in the final round of the national vote by party leader Marine Le Pen. The daughter of the party’s founder, Le Pen has as consistent record of espousing curbs on immigration, traditional notions of French identity, and a return of sovereignty from the EU in Brussels. In addition to gaining in the polls, Le Pen has garnered attention for proposing to return France to a national currency– perhaps a “new franc”.
If Le Pen is elected and indeed negotiates a “Frexit,” pulling France out of the eurozone, this blow to the common currency would be an even more seismic shift than Britain’s exit from the EU political union. France is continental Europe’s second-largest economy behind Germany. As anxiety over the French election seeps into the financial markets, the spread between France’s 10-year bond and the German 10-year Bund has grown to its widest margin in over four years.
Speaking of Brexit, new Prime Minister Theresa May’s comments about a “clean break” from Europe have reignited calls for an independence referendum in Scotland. In 2014, the Scots voted by a 55% to 45% margin to remain a part of the United Kingdom. However, with most Scottish voters preferring to remain economically linked to the EU, holding another plebiscite may fracture the union between England (and Wales) and Scotland that has existed since 1707.
In other news from the U.K., Switzerland imported over 84 tonnes of gold from the country in January. This is surprising, breaking the trend of gold being imported into London’s vaults when prices are rising.
Elsewhere in Europe, protests broke out in Romania after the public became dissatisfied with promises that the government would rescind a recent decree by the premier that decriminalizes certain offenses categorized as corruption. The protesters in the streets numbered as high as 500,000.
The cash-strapped socialist dystopia continues to descend into chaos in Venezuela as it comes to light that the state-run oil giant, PDVSA, is months behind on crude oil and fuel shipments to China and Russia. These countries have oil-for-loan arrangements with the Venezuelan regime, which is teetering on the brink of collapse. Hyperinflation and a chronic lack of basic necessities has left much of the population without adequate food. The crumbling socialist economy has been extended a $55-billion credit line by Russia and China combined.
Those who can are grabbing U.S. dollars or gold to preserve what tiny sliver of purchasing power they have left.
In Turkey, investors and everyday bank account holders are piling into gold deposit accounts amid a crash in the value of the lira, the national currency. After fending off a supposed military coup last year, President Erdo?an has encouraged people to convert any savings in foreign currencies into gold or lira to support the currency’s value. Turkey actually produces more gold bullion coins on average each year than any other state mint, though these coins are almost all purchased domestically.
The Turkish economy has plunged as a result of Erdo?an’s consolidation of power, which has given him dictatorial powers. Much like the Venezuelans, Turks are converting their cash to euro or gold, since the lira has become one of the most-devalued currencies among developed nations.
Tensions with the rogue state in North Korea have been on the rise after reports that Kim Jong Un’s regime carried out a number of political assassinations, including the killing of the Supreme Leader’s half-brother in Malaysia. The assassination was supposedly accomplished with a toxic nerve agent known as VX. Discussions between officials from the U.S. and China about reining in the North Korean dictator have predictably stalled.
One of President Trump’s earliest foreign policy moves was to slap more sanctions on Iran. The move comes as the ayatollahs violate the spirit, if not the letter, of the recent nuclear arms treaty.
The U.S. Treasury Department published a list of 13 individuals and 12 entities facing new restrictions, citing some for contributing to Iran’s ballistic missile program and others for links to terrorism (25 total).
In addition to pulling the U.S. out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (which was basically written by multinationals to put their interests above America’s), Trump has backed up his tough talk on trade with direct verbal confrontations with leaders in Mexico and Australia. Whatever one’s opinion of President Trump, there’s no denying that the upheaval his agenda is causing in the financial and economic establishment is welcome (and a great reason to buy gold).
On February 2nd, the data on central bank official gold holdings for December 2016 was released. Little Kazakhstan continues to buy gold to bolster its currency, adding another 3.36 metric tons. That extends the monthly gold buying streak by the Kazakh government to 51 months!
Other buyers included Belarus (5.52 mt), Mongolia (0.77 mt), and Malaysia (0.31 mt). Usual suspects, China and Russia, were both absent from the gold reserves market to end the year. China is shoveling money into the forex markets by the billions, trying to arrest the slide of the yuan.
Speaking of having a fire sale in an attempt to stop a currency crash, Turkey continued selling gold at a frantic pace to prop up the lira. (It isn’t working.) Another 19.41 metric tons of gold left Ankara in December. The Turkish government sold 97.35 metric tons of its gold reserves, just in the last six months of 2016.
In a case of the government trying to hide true silver demand, it seems that the Philadelphia Mint has been minting American Silver Eagles since 2015 to keep up with orders. It was known that the San Francisco Mint helps the West Point Mint with ASE production, but the fact that Philadelphia was also minting Silver Eagles was disguised by the U.S. Mint replacing the straps on the 500-coin “monster boxes”. Before, the straps said “West Point” or “San Francisco.” Now, they simply say “U.S. Mint.”
In other U.S. Mint news, it’s time to contact your Representative and tell them to co-sponsor the Purple Heart Commemorative Coin bill to honor those who have shed their own blood in the defense of the nation.
In related news, February 27th saw the 17th annual “Melting Of The Rings” ritual by U.S. Military Academy alumni. Retired Army officers, or their heirs, donate their West Point class rings to be melted down and used to make the Class of 2018 rings for graduating cadets. In this way, the spirit and devotion of the U.S. Army is passed on to the new generation. One of this year’s rings is that of General James M. Gavin, commanding general of the 82nd Airborne in World War II.
Across the Atlantic, Britain’s Royal Mint is seeing gold coins and bars flying out the door. Demand is up by 50% from this time last year. It seems Brexit + Trump = gold rush in the U.K.
On the other side of the world, the party isn’t slowing down at all at Australia’s Perth Mint. The mint recently reported that bullion sales for the 2015-2016 fiscal year that ended June 30 more than tripled.
In a totally different vein, the Dutch have sold their Mint. The government of the Netherlands has completely exited the business of making the nation’s circulating and commemorative coins, selling the Royal Dutch Mint to a Belgian company.
Regarding all the worries in the EU about Grexit, Brexit, and Frexit, not to mention that the euro may fail, Germany’s central bank is accelerating repatriation of the nation’s gold. Instead of taking until 2020 to bring the majority of German gold home, the Bundesbank plans to have it all repatriated by the end of this year.
The most recent research released by the World Gold Council (WGC) reinforced the narrative of gold’s resilience in the face of a stronger dollar. Despite an enthusiastic stock market rally following the election of Donald Trump, and an end-of-the-year interest-rate hike by the Federal Reserve that drove some demand away from the gold market in a typical winter swoon, the same forces that supported gold and silver’s 2016 performance are firmly in place thus far in 2017.
According to the WGC, annual global demand for gold rose 2% in 2016, with the highest total tonnage (4,308.7) in three years. Over 1,000 tonnes of this total was made up by physical demand for coins and bars, which stalled somewhat during the third quarter in part because of a number of surprise measures by India’s government dampened seasonal gold purchases from the world’s largest consumer. Lower prices during the fourth quarter led gold sales to close on a strong note nonetheless. By February, gold prices in India have rebounded amid the traditional wedding season, while demand for silver from jewelers and other industries are raising regional premiums on the argent metal.
WGC data also showed that investment demand for gold was a whopping 70% higher year-on-year in 2016, climbing to its highest level in four years. Gold-backed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw the second-highest inflows on record, 531.9 “tonnes” of gold purchased (on paper, of course). This helped make up for sluggish gold jewelry sales and central bank purchases in 2016. At this point, Russia’s central bank is among the only monetary authorities that consistently adds gold to its reserves.
Paul Mladjenovic, the author of “Precious Metals Investing for Dummies,” went on the record in mid-February insisting that 2017 “will be a great year for precious metals”. Though the immediate post-election reaction of the markets to dump gold caught Mladjenovic off-guard, he believes the yellow metal isn’t done climbing yet this year.
For reasons of supply and demand (or, one could say, the disconnect between the two), the SRS Rocco Report pinpoints why the next major correction in the markets could send global gold demand through the roof.
As for the companies that mine the metal, the Canadian firm Klondex has captured the attention of investors with its uncommon talent for transforming unproductive mining projects into profitable operations.
Peter Schiff talks about “The Three Reasons Gold is Rising and the Dollar is Falling”. Basically, it’s 1) the establishment’s worry over Trump’s policies; 2) interest rate hikes by the Fed won’t be enough to keep up with inflation, making bond yields lower than inflation; and 3) the effects this growing inflation will have on the dollar.
Hedge fund superstar Stanley Druckenmiller is bullish on gold, after reaping big gains in the first half of 2016, then getting out right before gold weakened after the presidential election. Now, he’s back into gold in a big way, ready to ride the next wave up.
In the little ex-Soviet republic of Kyrgyzstan, the government wants every citizen to buy gold as an inflation hedge and preserver of wealth. In the last two years, the government has sold 140 kilograms of gold to its people. Kyrgyzstan has been one of the most progressive ex-Soviet nations, when it comes to an open currency.
Looking ahead, we wonder: will the Fed raise interest rates in March? Will it make any difference if they do?
We’re also watching fiscal policy out of the Trump White House. If we get some details on Trump’s proposed infrastructure program, it could move inflation expectations and help gold prices. There’s a chance that the price tag to “Make America Great Again” will be too high for Tea Party and “small government” Congressmen to allow. The whole Sequestration law passed to get the nation’s deficit under control will have to be amended or scrapped.
To wrap up this month, we have the story of another gang of clever thieves, this time in Britain. Their “heist movie”-style robbery went off without a hitch, until a nosy old neighborhood lady called the law over strange happenings.
Dear Latimers,
Your latest post on leavening bread is certainly of interest.
One of the concerns with store-bought yeasts is that they use bromides to kill off the bacteria in the yeast. Unfortunately, this de-natures some of the effects we should have in our breads, and the bromides are thyroid suppressants. Furthermore, guess what? We have thyroid deficiency in endemic proportions!
If we will go back to the leaven that the Hebrews have passed down since times immemorial, using methods that have proven themselves over millennia, it seems that we can be sustainable, and have better health.
Those bacteria that are killed in order to isolate and stabilize baker’s yeasts, well, many of these are needed to help render the proteins of the grains more digestible. Also, it has been shown that some of these bacteria are able to survive not only baking temperatures but even the firing temperatures of ceramic and still go on to reproduce. They dwell with everlasting burnings (Isa. 33).
Here is an article telling the way some have been able to have a natural, sustainable source of leaven.
Some years ago, we got a start of an old (many centuries old) Swedish leaven from a friend. Our goal was to make non-sour bread that was as well-leavened as if it were made with store-bought yeast. And, yes, with trial and error we succeeded!
Half the challenge of natural leaven is in cultivating it. We find that it needs to be kept at the right temperatures and fed often when it is growing. For livening the leaven, temperatures of 70-80 F are best. The leaven needs to be fed every three to four hours. Then, when it is lively, we feed it again with less water. Then, we put it in the refrigerator, where is can store for a week nicely and two weeks, if necessary.
The bread does rise slowly. From start to finish, making and baking bread can take from 8 to 14 hours, although we try to keep it going faster rather than slower.
One very interesting point is that Jesus said that a woman took leaven and put it in three measures of flour, until the whole was leavened. (Matt. 13:33 and Luke 13:21) We have found that this is the correct proportion for making bread! We use one cup of leaven, three cups flour, and add water.
Another benefit of the natural leaven is that added sweetening is not needed to feed the yeast. The only essential ingredient besides flour and water seems to be a little salt, but other ingredients and sweetening can be used if available and desired.
Some in our family are gluten intolerant, so we make oat bread, using the same Swedish culture grown in oat flour. It does not rise as high as wheat, but it is definitely leavened.
While many are trying to gather yeast from natural sources, we feel that the shortest route to sustainability is to preserve the old, tried-and-true cultures. Note that, while the Israelites were required to remove any leaven from their houses at Passover, there is not a specific decree that they must discard all leaven. However, their kneading troughs would need to be stored elsewhere, since they would contain the microbes.
In short, we are persuaded that the “old paths, where is the good way” are the solution to the yeast problem.
Take care and God bless. – C.F.
The Tyranny Of A Cashless Society Coming? – B.B.
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Taxpayers Foot $1M Bill to Clean Up Dakota Pipeline Protest Area – H.L.
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China Considering Financial Rewards to Encourage Second Children
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SurvivalBlog and its editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for details.
Books:
Photovoltaic Design and Installation For Dummies
How to Be Invisible: Protect Your Home, Your Children, Your Assets, and Your Life, by J.J. Luna
Movies:
The Reckoning: Remembering the Dutch Resistance
The Marx Brothers Collection (Includes: A Night at The Opera/A Day at The Races/A Night in Casablanca/Room Service/At the Circus/Go West/The Big Store)
Television:
Hunted (CBS Network.) The network’s publicists proclaim it: “The World’s most elaborate game of Hide and Seek.” This justifiably popular series includes some useful tradecraft and was recommended by J.J.S. of Radio Free Redoubt. It airs on Wednesday evenings.
Best of American Pickers: Mike And Frank’s Picks
Music:
The Very Best of Jean-Luc Ponty
Kate Wolf: Give Yourself To Love (Volumes 1&2 – Live In Concert)
Instructional Videos:
Bushcraft Fun in the Bush, Camp Projects
The Backyard Machine Shop – Machine Rescue Series
Lucas Botkin: Practical Glock 19 Upgrades for Efficiency and Effectiveness
Podcasts:
Canadian Outdoor Survival Podcast
Tom and Kris Camping Podcast, RVing and Tent Camping
Blogs:
Wheeling It (A full-time RVing blog.)
Gear:
Big Kahuna Portable Shower. (Great for car camping!)
Dometic 12VDC Vehicle Refrigerator (Great for car camping and road trips!)
Schumacher Electric Digital Portable Power Station 1200-Amp Jump Starter (Ideal for Bug-Out vehicles)
Or, if you don’t need one with an inverter or air compressor (or just want some add-on capacity): NOCO Genius Boost Plus GB40 1000 Amp 12V UltraSafe Lithium Jump Starter & NEBO LARRY Blue C.O.B. LED Flashlight AND Universal 2 Port USB Wall Charger
And if you want to assemble a big 12 deep cycle battery bank for a mobile system, then wire two of these, in series (or four of them in a series/parallel arrangement): Lifeline 220 Amp Hour 6 Volt Deep Cycle Battery
The Terrorist Leader of the ‘Women’s Strike’ – D.S.
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Showing once again that gun control can’t control guns: Guy Builds Shotgun Out of Items Purchased After Going Through TSA at the Airport – H.L.
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Skynet is only missing weapons: Boston Dynamics’ Handle robot dominates parkour on wheels in new footage – G.P.
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Sydney man charged over printing 3D pistols – A.S.
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The Fourth Turning: Where did Steve Bannon get his worldview? – P.S.
“If men are good, you don’t need government; if men are evil or ambivalent, you don’t dare have one.” – Robert LeFevre
