Self Sufficiency Part 2 - Canning at home

Being aware that there are many points of failure in the food chain and learning what they are is not being paranoid. It's simply having knowledge of the system that supplies you with the things you need to live from day to day. Our view of “prepping” is what we consider positive and balanced. We don't sit around in fear waiting for the end of the world. What we do is kind of what our great grandparents did. We endeavor to be as self sufficient and self reliant as possible. Producing and storing our own food is the same as money in the bank. You think nothing of buying auto insurance, medical insurance or even live insurance. Okay so what about food and water insurance? FEMA recommends that you keep a 72 hour supply of food and water. Most people don't even keep a seven day supply of food and water. I think a months worth of food is a good start and a bare minimum. It takes a little organization but it's easy.

Q – How do I find out how much food is needed for a given amount of time for my family?

A – There are several food storage calculators available on the Internet:

About.com Food Calculator

The Food Guys Food Calculator

Living Providently Food Storage Calculator

Q – Won't the food we store simply spoil eventually?

A – That depends on you. All food will eventually spoil if it's not used. The key is to store what you eat and eat what you store. You have to rotate your inventory. Incorporate what you store into your families menu. As you use something out of your supplies, replace it. Use the oldest first.

Q – Where can I learn to can food?

A – There are hundreds of books available on canning. There are also several videos on YouTube:

How to Can Tomatoes and Vegetables

How to Can Fruits and Vegetables

Pressure Canning 101 vs Water Bath Method

I hope this helps.  Feel free to post any questions comments and suggestions.

Regarding the "Free Shit Army"...

The folks who are getting the free shit don’t like the folks who are paying for the free shit because the folks who are paying for the free shit can no longer afford to pay for both the free shit and their own shit.

And, the folks who are paying for the free shit want the free shit to stop and the folks who are getting the free shit want even more free shit on top of the free shit they are already getting!

The people who are forcing people to pay for the free shit have told the people who are RECEIVING the free shit that the people who are PAYING for the free shit are being mean, prejudiced, and racist.

So, the people who are GETTING the free shit have been convinced they need to hate the people who are paying for the free shit by the people who are forcing some people to pay for their free shit and giving them the free shit in the first place.

We have let the free shit giving go on for so long that there are now more people getting free shit than paying for the free shit.

… shit

 

Author Unknown

Renewal a post apocalyptic tale by J. F. Perkins

Post Apocalyptic Literature can be a very positive and reassuring form of entertainment. Much of the post apocalyptic literature tends to be dark tales of men and women fighting to stay alive in a world filled with death and destruction, but there are exceptions. The “Renewal” series by J.F. Perkins is one of the most uplifting tales of hope I've ever read. I've always said that history has demonstrated that when society crumbles, it reforms almost spontaneously. People tend to come together and work together in times of strife. There are those who see turmoil as a means to power and tyranny, but that's where the spirit of humanity has it's greatest opportunity to overcome adversity as well. The story is the story told from a kid's perspective. It also demonstrates some of the problems and solutions in survival situations. There is a heavy emphasis on community building, The people in this story are deeply rooted in American values. “Renewal” is a real page turner. It's just one of those books that you can't put down.

My wife just finished Renewal by J.F. Perkins and here's what she had to say:

“I really liked it. I had stopped reading the post apocalyptic books because they were stressing me out. However, I did not find this book stressful at all. It immediately drew me in and I was fascinated by the characters. I found it hopeful without it being unrealistic. I would hope that we would be able to form a similar community to Teeny Town here. We have been working on developing relationships with people that have the same values as the good guys in Renewal. And we have been working on getting the resources in place in case we ever truly need them.”

Here is what the author J.F. Perkins has to say about Renewal:

“The Renewal Series begins with a young man in a post-Breakdown America. He is a Reclamation Engineer, tasked with recovering usable land from the ruins of old real estate development. On his very first solo assignment out of training, he stumbles across a secret community in the wilds of Coffee County, Tennessee that changes everything he thought he knew about the world around him. He meets the leader of this community, who is a generation older and who lived through the events of the Breakdown, almost forty years in the past. The older man reveals his family’s story as our young engineer is pulled into a series of adventures that promise a struggle to define the direction of a future trying to recover from the cataclysmic events of the past.”

Renewal is available at:

http://www.amazon.com/Renewal-ebook/dp/B004YX8P4M/ref=sr_1_fkmr2_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329010733&sr=8-1-fkmr2

Self Sufficiency Part 1 - Overview

A lot of people are asking for information on prepping and self sufficiency lately.  Many are concerned about being prepared for a wide spectrum of possibilities:

• War
• Pandemic
• Economic collapse
• Earthquakes
• Forest fires
• Asteroid impacts
• Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP)

Or something as simple as losing your job. It doesn’t matter what the “event” is. If you survive the “event”, we all need the same things to keep ourselves alive: water, food, shelter and a means of defense. It doesn't really matter If you live in the city, suburbs, dessert or mountains, your needs will be the same.

Some people run out and buy huge quantities of freeze dried food, massive generators, 50 pound sacs of rice and beans. It can cost a small fortune and it's really not the best solution. There are some very basic simple things you can do.

Copy Canning is an excellent way to get started.  When you go to the store to buy something like a can of peaches, by two instead. Put one away and use the other can. You will be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you will build up quite an inventory.

Here are a few basic tips that will help:

1 – Only buy food you would and do normally eat.

2 – Keep an inventory of what you have.

3 – Rotate you inventory using the oldest products first.

4 – Store your supplies in a cool dark dry location. It will help extend the shelf life of many foods.

5 – Try to replenish your inventory when items you need are on sale.

6 – Large Tupperware tubs work great for food storage.

7 – Learn how to can fruit and vegetables.

8 – Start a garden. Even if you rent an apartment you can grow tomatoes and such in a small balcony.

9 – Learn how to cook and bake with basic ingredients.

10 – Keep some cash on hand. In an emergency odds are cash will be your only option. If the power is out your ATM card won't work.

11 – Keep your fuel tank at least half full.

12 - Have several flashlights and a good supply of batteries.

13 – Take a Basic first aid and CPR class.

The list could go on. I'm sure that you can think of other things. 

Over the next few weeks I'll be covering several topics related to preparing to deal with disasters and emergencies.   I'll also provide you with links to a host of related information.  

Citizens can can now be ordered to decrypt their encripted hard drivesl

American citizens can be ordered to decrypt their PGP-scrambled hard drives for police to peruse for incriminating files, a federal judge in Colorado ruled today (January 23, 2012) in what could become a precedent-setting case.

Judge Robert Blackburn ordered a Peyton, Colo., woman to decrypt the hard drive of a Toshiba laptop computer no later than February 21--or face the consequences including contempt of court.  Judge Blackburn wrote in a 10-page opinion today "I find and conclude that the Fifth Amendment is not implicated by requiring production of the unencrypted contents of the Toshiba Satellite M305 laptop computer,"  U.S. Department of Justice, which argued, that Americans' Fifth Amendment right to remain silent doesn't apply to their encryption pass phrases.

Big Brother Is Keeping Tabs On Your Gardens And Animals

We received a survey this week from the USDA (FORM NACS-01).  It starts off with a cover letter stating that the National Agricultural Classification Survey (NACS) is required by law.  If you do not reply, you may be personally visited or you may receive a telephone call.  The form states that a response is required by law.  However, nowhere does it indicate what law you will be breaking if you do not respond.  The entire document is carefully worded to make it seem as though you are required to answer all of their questions. 

The questions include items such as if you have received any agricultural income in the last year, how much land you own, if you have any fruit, berry or nut crops, how many vegetable or melon crops you have, if you have a nursery or a greenhouse, if you have bee hives, cattle, hogs, pigs, sheep, lambs, goats, kids, horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, burros, chickens or turkeys and if so, how many, if you have internet access or high speed internet access.  They also want to know the ethnicity and sex of the people who run the operation.

Personally, I don't think any of it is their damn business.  We finally decided we will send it back with a question as to what law we will be breaking if we do not answer the questions.  After all, a question is a response.  Therefore, I would think we will be in compliance.  Even during the census all they are allowed to ask you is how many people live in your home.  

Here is a link to the document

Just once I'd like to be caught up around here.

It's a new year and there's a lot of work to be done around here.  It seems that we just finished harvesting, processing and storing last years crops.  It's time to get things rolling around here for the coming year. Here's a sample of what needs to be done this winter:

• We've got a new hen house to outfit.
• Turn the old  hen house into a rabbit house.  
• Cull many of our old laying hens.
• Hatch or buy some new birds to replace them.
• Change the oil, hydraulic fluid and lube our tractor. 
• The 136' fence around one of our gardens has to be replaced. 
• There are four new gates that need to be hung not to mention setting the poles to hang them on.  
• The bee hives need to be readied for spring. 
• Two new sixteen foot above ground planters need to be built south of our other raised grow beds.  
• There are burn piles to be burned. 
• Compost piles to be turned. 
• I need to split the rest of the firewood we cut last fall and stack it in the wood shed.
• The new sink system needs to be installed and plumbed on the patio, but before I can install the sink, I need to relocate a cabinet that's in the way.
• Two of the roads around the property need to be re-cut and leveled.
• Several large trees need to be cut down and bucked into firewood.  
• The roof and one wall on our pump house need to be repaired.
• The rabbit butchering station needs to be set up.
• A goat enclosure and shelter needs to be built.
• The fire break on the west side of our ridge needs to be extended.

And that's just what needs to be done before we start working on the gardens. We also work our day jobs.  Farm life is not for the lazy.

In the end we reap the benefits of our labor.  We know where most of our food comes from and how it was grown.

Fire Pits Of Doom

Okay here we go again with the nanny state stuff. Scientific American magazine begins their article with “The Environmental Dangers of Backyard Fire Pits.” and “These popular landscape features may have a global impact”. They go on to weave a tail of how it may impact people who have heart and lung disorders. Really? According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), so-called fine particles are the most dangerous components of wood smoke from a health perspective, as they “can get into your eyes and respiratory system, where they can cause health problems such as burning eyes, runny nose and illnesses such as bronchitis.” Oh my goodness! Just think of all the children in scouting (boy/girl scouts etc.) that have cooked their meals and roasted marshmallows over the years that that are now confined to respiratory recovery units. Their little lives forever altered by they side affects of making s'mores with their friends and families.

I have about had it with being told what to do by bureaucratic agencies who are run by political appointees. What pathetically uneventful and sterile lives we would all lead if we believed this tripe. Tell you what, if the campfire is burning your eyes, pull your head out of the fire!

Hey, here's a thought: Isn't carbon neutrality the end all of the climate change debate? A backyard fire pit is burning recently grown trees that have sequestered carbon and is releasing it back into the atmosphere - carbon neutral.

Pretty soon we will be told that baking bread is going to be bad for the environment also. We've got to stop this cultish environmental madness. Just the fact that the folks from the EPA even care about the backyard fire demonstrates radical and fanatical environmentalism. The EPA and these "Scientists" have become the modern day high priests creating sin and penance taxes to line the coffers of their politician masters.

Harry's Solar Company

The Solar thing just got a little more interesting.......REALLY!
The Tonopah Solar company in Harry Reid's Nevada is getting a $737 million loan from Obama's DOE. The project will produce a 110 megawatt power system and employ 45 permanent workers.  That's costing us just $16 million per job.
 
One of the investment partners in this  endeavor is Pacific Corporate Group (PCG). The PCG executive  director is Ron Pelosi, who is the brother to Nancy 's husband.He is the uncle of California 's Lt. Governor Gavin Newsome(sp)

Don't ask any questions, just move along folks.....nuthin' crooked  goin' on here.

Do you feel lucky?

An anomaly was in the world for a relatively short time. A small bird hatched late last spring. Due to a birth defect it was unable to fly. I don't think that it was even aware that it was a flying animal. It ran along the ground and hopped up into smaller trees when it felt threatened. It made a living feeding on the grain that other birds scratched out of one of our bird feeders. My wife and I would see it feeding and jumping around our porch patio and yard every day for months. Then in mid November, it just disappeared. We looked for it for days, but it was truly gone. I'd been noticing a fox hanging around for the last few weeks. We could only surmise that it provided a meal for one of them.

For some reason we were saddened by its apparent demise. You see, we raise chickens and turkeys and butcher them for meat. We usually buy them as chicks and raise them to butchering age ourselves. Even though we are in close contact with these birds, we don't feel a sense of loss when they are killed. I think I know why the passing of a small deformed bird has impacted us so. It was struggling to survive and prosper against tremendous odds. It seemed to be quite content to do what it was doing. It didn't have the capacity to comprehend adversity. It survived in spite of and completely unaware of the hand nature had dealt it. Then to have it killed by a predator a little higher up the food chain after surviving its disabilities, to us it seemed harsh. Then we realized that that's the way life works. There is no such thing as “fairness” in the real world. We are born, we live for a while and we die. There are no guarantees! Nobody owes us anything. If we prosper and live to into old age, we should consider ourselves lucky.

How’s all that hope and change working out for you?

The job market is in the toilet.  More and more of our domestic jobs are being outsourced to third world countries.  The national unemployment rate it over 9% and much higher than that among Hispanic and African Americans.  Our national debt is now putting the next several generations of Americans in hock to China and other people who are not necessarily our friends. 

That warm fuzzy feeling that all is well or at least okay in the world is being replaced by a sense of general apprehension.  

Have you noticed the price of food going up by leaps and bounds?   It has risen almost 30% across the board in 2011 alone.  As I write this it takes almost $1900.00 U.S. dollars to buy an ounce of gold.   How safe and secure is your job?  How’s that 401K doing since the market started tanking?  Does it bother you that we are giving billions of dollars in aid to people that hate us in places like North Korea while we have families here that are hungry?  

Apparently enough people are feeling the need to make at least some preparation for some kind of future event that even Madison Avenue and the big box stores are getting into the act.

Could it be that people are figuring out just how fragile the food distribution system is?  I can't say for sure.  The freeze dried food manufacturers around the world can't keep up with the orders.  Costco™ now has long term family survival food packages that are actually sold by the pallet.  Military surplus stores are doing a very brisk business these days.  Gun and ammunition sales are at an all time high.  Another interesting symptom of all this that many of the people who were the donors and contributors to food banks and soup kitchens are now some of the people being served by those organizations!  Food bank contributions around the holidays are shrinking every year as more people fall out of the middle class.

I’m not sure what the outcome of all this will be, but things are certainly not heading in a positive direction.  Here are some things that you can consider and may be a small part of the solution anyway:

·        

• Be as self sufficient as you can.
• Be as self reliant as possible.
• Be the change you would like to see.  Live as an example to others.  
• Plant a garden and grow as much of your own food as you can.
• Learn from each other.  The skills like gardening, canning and drying food are basic and should be learned and shared and learned by all.
• Learn to cook and bake.  Microwaving frozen foods is not cooking.
• Learn to defend yourself. (State, local, and federal laws taken into account)
• Avoid debt. (With the possible exception of a home loan).
• If something bad happens, deal with it the best way you can with the resources you already have.  Relying on politicians and government agencies to help you is what got us into this mess in the first place.
• Keeping at least some of your assets in physical silver or gold is not a bad idea.
• Learn first aid.
• Get to know your neighbors.  Form a mutual support network.

 Throughout history societies have blossomed, prospered and collapsed for various reasons.  We are no different today.  The veneer of polite civilization is and always will be fragile.  (Think “lord of the flies” etc). 

I’m just a regular guy that has taken a hard look at what’s going on around me. I’ve made the decision to try to be prepared for the future whatever it holds.  A disaster could be simply the loss of a job or as bad as a nuclear war, there’s no way to know.  Would planning for the future now and taking positive action now to cover  your back side in the future be a bad thing?   Even if nothing bad ever happened, wouldn’t you sleep better knowing have the skills and resources in reserve?

Rest in peace Mom...

Jean MacGregor Breeden August 27, 1925 to September 2, 2011....

As with everything else, life its self eventually comes to an end.  For those of us who were close to that person, there is a profound feeling of loss and an empty place left by their passing from our sight.  The absence of their usual activities that have become a part of our daily lives serves as a consent reminder of them.

Yesterday Virginia and I lost someone that was close to our hearts. She was a friend, a companion and a loving mother.  Thank you mom for the time we had with you and the children you brought into the world.