In this article we are going to be looking at making noodles to catch catfish. This type of rig may not be legal in all areas, so check the local laws before you do anything.
Buy some noodles from the local china-mart. The noodles might be seasonal, and should be ...
A few days ago I asked the SurvivalistBoards Facebook group a question, "Name one thing a first aid kit is not complete without." Some of the answers were helpful, and some were not what I expected.
I would like to thank all of the subscribers for helping out with this list.
Anti-bacterial ...
The past 2 days have been spent working on my truck, and working on some jug lines for an upcoming camping trip. When I started thinking about how much time and effort I put into getting the juglines ready, I was a little set back.
After talking to my wife, I ...
Deer season is here, instead of grabbing a pack, throwing some random gear in and heading out to the woods, lets take a look at some items that should be considered. The way I look at it, your pack needs to contain everything you need to track a wounded deer, ...
This past weekend I decided it was time to organize the ammunition at the Bug Out Location. We had ammo stored in 3,,, 4 different locations, which made taking inventory a pain in the rear end.
My wife cleared off a wire shelf so I could bring it to the camp ...
Expect another bubble in mid-late 2011, but this time in the heart of america – our farms and our breadbasket. Over the past decade the prices of farmland has been steady rising. This year, due to failed crops in Russia, prices are at a nice high – but its not going to last. Because of the increased profits, farmers are spending more money, buying more equipment, and a lot of them are going deeper into debt.
Here is the problem, the currently high wheat and corn prices are being fueled by crop failures in Russia. Putin also signed an order blocking all grain exports until July 2011.
So right now, not only is one of the worlds largest grain producers not producing, they also have an export embargo in place.
Lets say in 2011 Russia has a bumper crop of corn, wheat, grains,,,. In July 2011 Russia dumps all its extra produce on the world market, prices come crashing down. American farmers are not able to pay back their loans due to the low market prices.
And it does not have to be Russia either. Lets say that China decides to get into corn, wheat or grain production on a massive scale. China has an almost unlimited work force, so why not use them for cheap labor. Instead of growing food here in the USA, why not have it grown overseas and shipped back? Everything else is made in China, why not the majority of our food?
Bubble pops.
Banks foreclose on small farms and sell the land to developers or large company controlled farms.
Good-bye vast majority of small family owned farmers.
When are people going to learn to stay out of debt?
This past weekend was opening deer season for rifle hunters. While I was at the deer camp, I noticed a few things that would make life a little easier at a Bug Out Location. Lets take a look at some of the items on the list and talk about the essentials and some considerations.
Running water – modern civilization is built off of several things: running water, sanitation and the ability to make hot water, only to name a few. Having a raised water tower makes most of the items on that list possible. Through running water we are able to wash our hands, flush our toilets, and run water through a hot water heater (propane powered of course).
Having a raised water tower is easier then a lot of people think. Farm supply stores sell water tanks is sizes like 250 gallon, 500 gallon and 750 gallon. With the help of some power tools, stainless steel or galvanized lag bolts, rubber strips for washers, drill bits, some 8 – 10 foot round poles for legs, PVC pipes and fittings, some hard work, sweat and custom engineering, its very possible to have your very own raised water tower. With the base of the tower just 5 – 6 feet off the ground, this can create enough pressure for people to wash their hands, fill a toilet, and maybe even run the water through a small hot water heater.
To keep the water tank filled up, pump water from a nearby creek with a solar powered water pump, or have a well put down and install a hand pump on the well.
With a “little” imagination, custom engineering, sweat and determination, just about anything is possible, and that includes running water without electricity.
Cucumbers – contain very little nutritional content, require lots of nitrogen and are not very drought tolerant. But on the plus side, certain types are high producers. There are a lot of hybrid cucumber seeds on the market. So when buying your seed be sure to be aware of what your buying hybrid or heirloom.
Not drought tolerant – cucumber roots run just under the ground. When the top of the soil dries out, the cucumber leaves may start to wilt. Allowing the leaves to wilt may stunt the growth of the plant.
Nitrogen – cucumbers LOVE nitrogen. Without it, the cucumber does not form properly and will be pointed on the end.
My personal cucumber seed stockpile includes 2 types – the pickling cucumber and the straight 8.
Pickling cucumber – is a high producing plant and makes a cucumber maybe 3 – 4 inches long. Despite its name, the Pickling cucumber does not have to be “pickled”, it can be eaten just like it is. But its small size makes it an ideal cucumber for Pickling. Pickling cucumber are an heirloom types, meaning the seeds can be saved and used in next years garden. Just 1 or 2 of these cucumbers makes a good side dish for a meal.
Straight 8 – makes a larger cucumber then the Pickling cucumber, and grows to about 8 inches long. Thus the name, Straight 8. The Straight 8 is an heirloom type cucumber so that the seeds can be saved from year to year.
One of the problems that I have, I need a daypack that is big enough to take on a day hike, take fishing, take on the 4-wheeler,,,,,, but easy put on and take off. This is where the Maxpedition Noatak comes in. The Gearslinger design means there is just one shoulder strap, so when your wearing cold weather gear, you just have one strap to put on and take off.
* Main: 11” x 7” x 4” with numerous internal pockets
* Front: 7” x 7” x 2” with internal keyper and sleeve pockets
* Front sleeve: 6.5” x 6.5” with anti-theft device on zipper
* Rear compartment: 8” x 12”
* Water bottle pocket: 7” x 2.5”; fits 32oz/1L bottle
* 1000-Denier water and abrasion resistant light-weight ballistic nylon fabric
* Teflon® fabric protector for grime resistance and easy maintenance
* high strength zippers and zipper tracks
* UTX-Duraflex nylon buckles for low sound closures
* Triple polyurethane coated for water resistance
* High tensile strength nylon webbing
* High tensile strength composite nylon thread (stronger than ordinary industry standard nylon thread)
* #AS-100 high grade closed-cell foam padding material for superior shock protection
* Internal seams taped and finished
* Paracord zipper pulls
* Stress points double stitched, Bartacked or “Box-and-X” stitched for added strength
Squash and Zucchini – Squash and Zucchini belong to the same family, and they have the same fertilizer requirements, so lets talk about them at the same time.
One of the benefits of Squash and Zucchini – they can be eaten raw. So you do not have to use precious fuel cooking Squash or Zucchini. For for the namesake of sanitation, lets cook your food to kill any bacteria on it.
Fertilizer – use a well balanced fertilizer such as 13-13-13. Your going to need nitrogen for leaf production and pot ash for the Squash or Zucchini to form.
On the plant there is a female and a male pod. Pollination usually occurs early in the morning while its still cool and the honey bees are out. The bee has to go from the flower on the male pod, to the female flower.
If you want to save the seeds from your squash or zucchini plants, do not plant the two species close to each other. The two types of plants will cross pollinate and the resulting seed will be a hybrid.
When squash and zucchini cross pollinate, the squash will have a green color in it and the zucchini will have a yellow color it in.
There are 2 main types of summer squash – cook neck and straight neck. The crook neck has a rough skin, the straight neck has a smooth skin.
Winter squash can be grown anytime, but a lot of people grow winter squash in the fall and then store it over the winter. Certain types of squash store better then others. Summer squash may store for only a couple of weeks, while certain types of winter squash may store well for months.
From my experience, Zucchini is a little more drought tolerant then Squash. A few years ago I had 2 rows of Squash and Zucchini planted side by side. We did not get any rain for probably 3 weeks. The Squash plants started to wilt and die before the Zucchini plants did.
Zucchini also seems to produce more food then a Squash plant. If you leave a Squash on the plant for a little too long, the outer skin gets a little hard. If you leave a Zucchini on the plant, it just grows bigger and bigger.
If I had to pick one or the other, I would pick the Zucchini over the Squash. Unless we were talking about winter squash. For long term storage, some of the winter squash can be stored for months.
Peas and Snap Beans – since peas and beans are so much alike, lets just group them together. In fact, there are debates saying that peas and beans are the same thing. I personally divide peas and beans into 2 groups – one you eat whole (snap beans) and one you shell to get the bean/pea out of the inside and eat it instead of eating the husk.
Peas and beans return nitrogen into the soil, so that makes them good for crop rotation. Before you plant a high nitrogen requirement crop, such as corn, plant some beans or peas at the same time, or the season before the you plant the corn.
One of the problems with peas and beans – wildlife love it. Deer and rabbits will eat the bean / pea plants down to nothing but a stub sticking out of the ground. To protect the bean and pea plants, plant some squash or zucchini with them. The pea / bean plants will provide the squash plants with nitrogen, and the squash plants will help protect the pea plants from deer. The squash and zucchini plants have little “hairs” on the stalks that the deer do not like.
Peas and beans are a good long term storage food crop. The old timers used to run a needle and thread through the pod, and hang it up to dry. Thus the name “string beans”. When it comes time to eat the beans, pull them off the string and boil until ready to eat.
Care must be taken when picking the beans and peas. If you pull too hard, part of the plant may break off. Sometimes I like to use scissors to cut the pea / bean pod off, so that the rest of the plant is not damaged.
Snap Beans are a high producing plant, the more you pick it, the more it produces. While you might get just a couple of pickings from purple hull or silver skin crowder peas.
My pea and bean stockpile contains maybe 4 or 5 different types of seeds – mainly purple hull pink eyes and about 3 different types of snap beans.
There are 2 different types of bean plants – runners and bush.
Bush beans – and we are not talking about the canned “Bush baked beans” either. These are bean plants that form a bush and do not form a vine.
Runners also called climbing beans – do just as their name implies, the vine climbs stuff. A lot of times people will plant their beans and corn together. The beans will supply the corn with nitrogen and the corn will give the bean vines something to climb on. Other people may plant their bean vines close to a fence so that the vines have something to climb on.
Personally, I like bush beans. Even though you have to dig through the bush to find the beans, it seems like you can plant more bush beans then you can runners in the same amount of space.
Fertilizer – when adding commercial fertilizer to peas and beans, try not to add add a lot of nitrogen. Use a well balanced fertilizer like 10-10-10 or 13-13-13. In most cases beans and peas do not need a lot of nitrogen, adding high nitrogen content fertilizer like 21-0-0 or 16-6-12 is a no, no. The exception might be if the soil is nitrogen deficient; but the only way to know that is if you have a soil test done.
Tomatoes- one of the the topics I love and hate at the same time. If you see some tomato seed at the local store – go ahead and buy some. If nothing else, you can say you have some tomato seed stocked up.
Tomatoes are rich in nutrients, they can be eaten raw, and their easy to preserve in jars.
One of the problems with tomatoes – the bugs love them as much as your do. When the tomatoes start to ripen, if their not picked before they turn red, the bugs will have a field day. So pick the tomato right when you see a little bit of red on it, and then put it on a window seal to finish ripening.
Tomatoes do well in a slow release organic fertilizer, like in rabbit, cow or horse manure. Some of my best results with tomatoes have been from either horse manure or miracle grow organic potting soil, and some 13-13-13 fertilizer. One year I spread a bunch of dried horse manure in a raised bead, mixed in some 13-13-13 and I had more tomatoes then my family and I could eat.
One of my favorite types of tomatoes has to be the Grape Tomato – these are bite sized tomatoes that go well with just about anything, kids like them, their a high producing plant and their supposed to be an open-pollinated / heirloom tomato.
On each branch of the grape tomato plant there might be 8 – 12 grape tomatoes. In other words, when it comes time to pick the grape tomatoes, your going to get hand fulls of them.
Tomatoes are pretty easy to transplant. Meaning they can be sprouted in a green house, and then transplanted outside after the last frost has passed. This lets people get a head start on the growing season.
Video about some tomatoes I planted in May of 2010.
This video was posted back in 2008. Its kinda blurry – sorry about that. I did not know how to use the video editing software enough to make the videos turn out any better. Shortly after this video was posted on youtube, I finally figured out the editing software and the video quality improved.
Spinach – maybe one of the best seeds that a survivalist can stockpile, and maybe one of the best plant choices.
Spinach is a relative easy crop to grow, the only “real” fertilizer requirement is nitrogen. So any kind of slow release organic fertilizer will be good – horse, cow, rabbit or chicken manure. I wont hurt to mix in some nitrogen fertilizer when you have it on hand, such as 21-0-0.
Spinach is a high producing plant – you cut the leaves off with a pair of scissors and the plant will produce more leaves.
Spinach can be eaten raw or cooked. This means you do not have to use precious fuel cooking / boiling the spinach before its eaten. However, its always good to cook your food to kill any bacteria that might be growing on the leaves.
Spinach does not take up a lot of room, its not like the plants grow 3 feet wide. This means that a lot of food can be planted in a small amount of space. This makes it a great choice for patio gardeners and other urban dwellers.
Plant the seeds about 1/2 inch deep and about 3 – 4 inches apart. Rows should be spaced 2 feet apart – or as much room as needed to walk between the rows.
Spinach does not need a “lot” of water, average needs are around 12 inches of rainfall during the growing season.
After cutting the leaves, extra fertilizer may need to be spread to ensure further leaf production.
Spinach likes a cool season with day time temps reaching the 70 and night time temps getting into the 40s. Which makes it ideal for fall or early spring planting.
Post your comments in this forum thread about growing spinach.
The election results of November 2 say 2 things, the American people are as gullible as a 6 years old, and they do not want change too bad.
Do you “really” think there is any difference between the democrap and republicant parties? Regardless of “Who” i in power, we still have:
Free trade
China still has most favored trade nation status
Coal burning plants still pollute our waterways
Illegal immigration is still a problem
Income tax
Health care is still an issue
When Obama was elected president, I thought that maybe, just maybe we can get this health care stuff fixed. That may we can get universal health care for everyone. But what it turned out to be, is a sales pitch for the insurance companies. When the people are forced to buy a product, something is wrong. The people that stand to get the most profits had their hand in the cookie jar.
Do the American people “really” think that voting a bunch of Republicants into office is going to make any difference? I seriously doubt it.
What really pisses me off, is when I go to a local lake, and there is a health advisory posted saying not to eat a certain amount of fish. What has this world come to when chemical plants and coal fired power plants can contaminant our waterways? What are we supposed to tell our kids and grand kids? That we did not care about their future? That we did not care about the planet? That we did not care if its safe to eat the fish? But for some reason, our government allows stuff like this to go on.
True change in government starts with just that “true change” – people have to change the way they vote. The people can not vote the same 2 political parties into office and expect true change.
I vote straight line Libertarian Party – because I vote for real change. If you want real change in government, I suggest you vote for someone besides the democraps and republicants.
Lets talk about stockpiling seeds and the value of having the ability to plant a survival garden. Stockpiling food – dried rice, beans, canned goods – is fine and dandy, but that is a none renewable resource. When you eat that can of beans, are you going to plant the can, and maybe it will sprout a canned bean plant, for you to pick more cans off of? I don’t think do.
Stockpiling food provides a family with a limited food source.
Having a garden can provide an unlimited source of food.
2,000+ years ago, did the Romans and Egyptians have canned foods and mylar bags? Nope, they raised what they wanted to eat. What about the Greeks and the Chinese, did they have mylar bags full of rice and beans? Nope, they raised what they ate.
There is nothing wrong with stockpiling food. It appears to me that a lot of survivalist put more focus on stockpiling a limited food source, then on learning how to develop an unlimited food source.
Types of seeds to stockpile:
Corn – maybe one of the most versatile crops grown today. The kernels can be ground to make a type of flour, or they can be dried for long term storage. Corn can be ground or fed whole to all kinds of livestock – cows, chickens, pigs,,,,,,.
One of the problems with corn, wildlife love to eat as much as humans to. Deer will eat the young sprouts, and raccoons will bend the stalks over to get to the ears. Corn also has its fair share of pest, like the Corn Earworm, grasshopper, Armyworm and the Wireworm.
Corn requires a lot of nitrogen fertilizer and water to grow properly. Some types of corn may require as much as 20 – 35 inches of rain fall during the growing season.
When buying corn seed, be aware that there are a lot of hybrid corn types on the market. So adjust your seed buying to match the types of corn best suited for your area. A lot of survivalist get on this “you must buy open pollinated / heirloom seeds.” Being able to save the seeds does have its advantages, but having corn that will grow in you area is more important. When it comes to drought, disease or pest, certain types of hybrid corn will grow better then heirloom. The best thing to do is to make a trip to the local feed and fertilizer store and talk to them about what are the best types of corn for your area.
My personal corn stockpile contains about 2 – 3 pounds of different types of corn seed. The seeds are bundled in 1/2 pound bags, and each bag contains a certain type of seed. I have stockpiled both hybrid and heirloom seeds.
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