Our weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.
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Mark J. in Oregon wrote:
“I run honey bees. I have 16 hives going. Russian bee genetics. I get the queens from Foley in Iowa. They don’t get the mites… they fly in 45 degree weather — snow and rain…. They don’t have hive collapse. The first queen I got was pure black. A called her “Natasha”. The workers are generally brown/black or pure black markings. I’m trying to avoid feeding sugar water and so forth…see how much they can produce without help. I usually fog two treatments, twice a year with oxylic acid, veg glycerine…a shot of vodka to help emulsify. You have to treat twice…first time kills the open mites. ~ 30 days later you fog again to get the mites that were laid with the eggs when the bees hatch. Mites like to lay in the drone brood the most.
I canned up some hot salsa out of the garden. Fermenting the store-bought chicken feed to make it ‘alive’ again. Trying the Southern home-made “7-Up / Sprite” recipe. That one is a handful of cleaned and trimmed pine needles in a quart mason jar. 1/4 cup sugar. Let it ferment for 5 days. All the old rural folks say it’s really good as far as taste.”
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Hamas Agrees to Ceasefire-Hostage Release Deal With Israel.
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Reader R.T. sent this summer gardening report:
“Our small backyard garden, not far from the central Minnesota and Wisconsin river border, has had it’s unique challenges this year; not enough sunlight, not enough rain and now too much rain and still not enough sunlight due to Canadian smoke and storms. Last summer drought-like conditions is to blame for our rhubarb patch and asparagus not even bothering to make an effort this year. Now with buckets of rain (which we maintain under the eaves) there is a lot of foliage but the tomatoes are small and struggling to ripen.
The green Provider beans that we got from SurvivalBlog vendor “Seed for Security” going out of business sale last year are living up to their name. Their eggplant seeds are also doing well. We’ve canned dilly beans plus have them frequently at meals. We decided to can, but not ferment, our cukes this year. We have switched to using the steam canner as it uses considerably less energy than the water bath canner with similar results. We’ve had to replant the beets several times until they sprouted, too dry at first. The dry weather attracted flocks of sparrows to burrow up the soil where we had planted to “bathe” themselves. Now the carrot worms are eating the tops. We haven’t had a problem with rabbits this year after fortifying the fence. Strong gusts of wind toppled our fruit-laden pepper plants, but they were rescued and survived.
We are very thankful for having the garden as we also have relied upon the local farmer’s market but due to the weather this year some products are not showing up and often the market has not shown up due to a stormy session. Like I heard Roseanne Roseannadanna say back when I used to listen to Saturday Night Live some 45 years ago “It just goes to show you, it’s always something. If it’s not a thing, it’s another.”
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The Reduction of Kerosene Lamp Emissions through Solar Lighting. (Thanks to F.J. for the link.)
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SaraSue sent this snippet:
“I took a mini-vacation to see my older sister. I have not left the farm since I purchased the farm, with two exceptions, a hospital visit and a wedding. I have a neighbor and friend who was thrilled to learn how to milk cows, and who did just that while I was gone for a few days – just four days, to be exact. I also have a young man who is my part-time farm hand who came over every day after school to feed and water the other animals. It could not have worked out more perfectly. Finding farm sitters is difficult to do, so I am grateful for these friends and do not take them for granted.
We are back into a “heat dome” where the temperatures and humidity are in the 90s, and it doesn’t cool down at night. It is absolutely miserable to work outside in this weather. It makes you wonder what on earth you are doing on a farm. This one should be short-lived, thankfully. The Goldenrod is starting to bloom everywhere, which makes me think we might have an early Fall. I pulled the pumpkins, and took all the melons to the chickens, after the squash bug scourge. Thankfully, the squash bugs aren’t bothering the watermelons or sweet acorn squash (so far). I planted Virginia peanuts as an experiment and soon I will pull those plants to see how many peanuts grew. I might not do a Fall garden, but we’ll see how I feel after the heat wave departs us. I have learned so much this past gardening year. Which reminds me to mention, each year one has to practice gardening in their location, adjusting to weather changes and various difficulties. It’s not a “one and done” seed sewing activity. It is a journey of learning your land and weather, taking advantage of bumper crops when you have them, etc.
I have had a couple of issues with the cattle due to our extremely wet weather year. The pastures are only now starting to dry out. One cow had hoof rot and needed treatment, and the other one had udder rot. Sounds horrible, but it is a fungus that grows when the area between the udder quarters never dries out due to wet pastures. The fungus should heal on its own as things finally dry out. It is not affecting her milk production or her health in any visible way. I had the vet out to do disease testing and pregnancy checking. My herd remains disease-free, and one heifer is bred back. I plan to breed the other cows in September when it cools down. I sold one young heifer calf to a friend who had asked for her way in advance. She now has two heifers that I have raised, and on her way to becoming a milkmaid. If things go as planned (dot dot dot), I should have a bumper crop of calves next Spring. We shall see. Stay busy y’all.”
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Reader F.J. mentioned a tidbit of bridge engineering knowledge.
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Reader C.N. sent this inquiry:
“I was wondering if you might be willing to share your opinion on the upcoming “tax holiday” on NFA items on the blog. I think your opinion on this for preppers would be worth sharing.
I’ve been researching a bit and I’m leaning towards getting an SBR .300 BO with suppressor for home defense application. And a .22 pistol silencer for training children and newbies to firearms. That would be a savings of 600 dollars and useful tools to have. Is that worth being on the registry? That’s a question. Normalization vs discretion seem to be at odds here.
The other thing, given that there is already a democrat house bill about bumping the tax to an inflation adjusted 4,000 dollar tax is the investment/legacy aspect. NFA items can be transferred to your heirs without a transfer tax. Which means if I get each of my children a .22 or multi-caliber silencer, they could inherit a tool that they won’t wear out that would be prohibitively expensive later.
I’m still weighing the matter in my head, I’m sure lots of survival blog readers are as well. Thought it was worth asking.”
JWR Replies: Your point is quite valid. If you don’t mind being on the Federal registry, then the zeroed tax represents a great opportunity. Take note that there is still a chance that the Hearing Protection Act will be included as an amendment to the next budget reconciliation bill. Presumably, the voting on that bill will take place before the midterm elections in November of 2026. So there is still a chance that suppressors will be removed from the NFA. I don’t believe that the attempted increase of the NFA tax to $4,000 has much of a chance of passage, so I think that we should leave that out of the equation, when deciding this issue.
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Reader L.E. wrote:
“I’m probably preaching to the choir here, but just in case any readers don’t already know this:
When siting an outhouse or family cemetery/burial area, always site them downhill from your dwelling and always at least 100 feet back from any water source like a lake, river, or creek.
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And lastly: Secret Epstein files will be made public for the first time ever… with a mandatory condition that could drive Trump supporters mad. JWR’s Comment: Am I the only one who feels like a beggar behind a big bakery who has just been tossed a tiny crust of bread?
Please Send Us Your Snippets!
Please send your snippet items for potential posting to JWR. or AVL. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.