First for those planning a garden. Nows the time to put in some fruit trees and potatoes (known as tators) both of these will come in handy. By having a good garden, this cuts down on your grocery bill. Both fruit and tators have long been a survival tool.
I don't know how many of ya'll keep up with whats going on around us. There's a saying I like "just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get me". Listening to this spending bill the "messiah obama" (lean over and spit) has sold congress, makes me want to choke someone. Our Country has been sold out by a bunch of crooks -politicans - plain and simple. As a White Southern Male, I grew thick skin due to listening to all the "bad" things my kind as done over the years. The demorats and liberal sissies have unleashed the "pc" image on our youth, so that they grew up with guilt just by being born. Being Proud to be American has turned into something shameful nowadays. It is no longer a goal to work hard and suceed in this Country, too many people waiting on a handout. People don't want to work, they just want a paycheck. This is one reason we have so many illegals in this Country, Americans are too frigging lazy.
I believe that by the end of September/ early October we will see a food shortage. Our guberment has pushed us away from the small farms of yesterday. Most of the food we buy is from other Countries. When the economic situation gets so bad the stores can't get enough food, the sheep are gonna go nuts. This is why I prep. This is why I own guns and ammo. Ya ain't taking mine, simple as that. Also, there may come a time when the TRUE AMERICANS see the need for another 1776. I firmly believe this is what its going to take to get our Country back from (a overly large pig at the trough) Washington.
Look at who elected obama (leans over and spits) wino's, the unempoyed, people facing criminal charges (but not yet convicted) homeless people, the uneducated, the gays, liberals etc. This is who decided who will run our Country. Acorn ramrodded this operation. The same group who forced the banks into sub-prime lending, that started this ball downhill.
I hope we are ready. Rant over, for now.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Curing meat
I was going to attempt to build a smokehouse (old style) and give it a whirl. Back when I was youngen, we would gather up at a neighbors around first frost and buther hogs. Some of the meat was salt cured and the other was sugar cured. It was hung in the smoke house to finish off the process.
Anyhow, due to me having a Birthday recently, I had company come down to find out if I could still sit around a fire and drink beer with the younger folks. Since a couple of them are part of my "bug in" crew, should the SHTF, I felt that the need to prove I was up to the task was called for. Heck, my 78 year old daddy hung in there until after 10 pm. I made it until it was going on 1 am., I finally got my legs back under me good yesterday. WHEW!
When preparing meat for storage, tempture is everything. Below 40 degrees is good. Heat is what allows the nasty to come out. I am going to include a website that can explain it better and not take up as much room. http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/curing/curing-methods.htm
There are a couple of ways to prepare your meat, I like the Morton's Tender Quick. It is a mixture of Salt, Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate and Sugar. Then there are Praque Powders, #1 is a mixture of 1 part Sodium Nitrite and 16 parts salt (4 ozs. per 100 lbs. of meat), typical home use is 1 tsp. per 5 lbs. of meat. #2 is a mixture of 1 part Sodium Nitrate, .64 Sodium Nitrate and 16 parts Salt. This is used primarily for dry curing. If you salt cure, make sure you rub the salt in around the bone real good. This is where the meat will spoil.
Sugar Cure for Ham: 1& 1/2 pints salt, 1 /2 cup brown sugar, 3 to 4 tablespoons black pepper, 2 tablespoons Red Pepper, 1 joint ham (from a 300 to 400 pound hog). Mix together and rub in and pack on joint of meat. Spread some on newspaper and lay joint, rind down, on mixture. Wrap in paper and then in cloth (cheesecloth). Tie like a package. Hang where there is even temperature, a little cool, but not necessary. Hang with bone pointing down. It will drain a little. Leave for several months. When cured, slice and store in freezer if weather is hot. This can be smoked also.
I plan on my smokehouse to be 6' X 8', I will block it up on cinder blocks about 2'. My firepit will be dug down about a foot deep, leaving a foot above ground. I will use regular stove pipe to run the smoke and heat into the smokehouse. I will keep you posted on this project. Use hard wood for the fire. Hickory is best (for flavor) Oak burns good and Pecan won't burn as hot (which is good for temp. control. You want to keep the temp. to around 140 degrees.
Anyhow, due to me having a Birthday recently, I had company come down to find out if I could still sit around a fire and drink beer with the younger folks. Since a couple of them are part of my "bug in" crew, should the SHTF, I felt that the need to prove I was up to the task was called for. Heck, my 78 year old daddy hung in there until after 10 pm. I made it until it was going on 1 am., I finally got my legs back under me good yesterday. WHEW!
When preparing meat for storage, tempture is everything. Below 40 degrees is good. Heat is what allows the nasty to come out. I am going to include a website that can explain it better and not take up as much room. http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/curing/curing-methods.htm
There are a couple of ways to prepare your meat, I like the Morton's Tender Quick. It is a mixture of Salt, Sodium Nitrite, Sodium Nitrate and Sugar. Then there are Praque Powders, #1 is a mixture of 1 part Sodium Nitrite and 16 parts salt (4 ozs. per 100 lbs. of meat), typical home use is 1 tsp. per 5 lbs. of meat. #2 is a mixture of 1 part Sodium Nitrate, .64 Sodium Nitrate and 16 parts Salt. This is used primarily for dry curing. If you salt cure, make sure you rub the salt in around the bone real good. This is where the meat will spoil.
Sugar Cure for Ham: 1& 1/2 pints salt, 1 /2 cup brown sugar, 3 to 4 tablespoons black pepper, 2 tablespoons Red Pepper, 1 joint ham (from a 300 to 400 pound hog). Mix together and rub in and pack on joint of meat. Spread some on newspaper and lay joint, rind down, on mixture. Wrap in paper and then in cloth (cheesecloth). Tie like a package. Hang where there is even temperature, a little cool, but not necessary. Hang with bone pointing down. It will drain a little. Leave for several months. When cured, slice and store in freezer if weather is hot. This can be smoked also.
I plan on my smokehouse to be 6' X 8', I will block it up on cinder blocks about 2'. My firepit will be dug down about a foot deep, leaving a foot above ground. I will use regular stove pipe to run the smoke and heat into the smokehouse. I will keep you posted on this project. Use hard wood for the fire. Hickory is best (for flavor) Oak burns good and Pecan won't burn as hot (which is good for temp. control. You want to keep the temp. to around 140 degrees.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Being self sufficent
Hello Preppers. I'm back on my stump again. The more news I listen to or articles I read concerning our economy, just makes me think that the SHTF is gonna happen soon. As if we don't have enough to worry about in our own Country, just look South! Mexico is on the verge of collapse. Now is the time to start looking out for your own. I want to touch on a few things you can do at home, I'll start first with planting a garden. This is something even those living in the City can do. If you have a backyard, or just a patio, this can be done small scale. It doesn't take much and it can help out on the grocery bill, leaving you some loose change to buy extra ammo maybe.
For those new at gardening: http://www.vegetablegardeningguru.com/getting-started.html, this is a pretty good place to start. For those in rural areas, such as myself, I would suggest growing a little extra. You can always use food to barter for what you need or sell the extra for cash to buy extra ammo. I love to say that. Seriously though, If you grow extra you can swing by and drop off some beans or corn to a neighbor that could use it. This will buy you goodwill and give you a chance to recruit into your network.
For those asking themselves: what more can I do be prepared, check this out.
http://www.foodshortageusa.com/Article_03.html
I can't stress this enough, it's coming. Most stores purchase on credit. The "good" credit score is now 740. What happens when stores can't get credit? They can't buy food is what happens. What happens when you can't buy food? You go hungry. What happens when "other people" can't buy food? They take from those that have food - If they can.
Did I mention, buy extra ammo? Just kidding-sort of. Anyhow, for those that have a little room to spare, think about getting a few chickens and a rooster. This will give you extra eggs and meat. It's not hard to build a chicken coop and the excerise will be good for you. Do you have room for some rabbits? another good cheap source for food. The ideal situation would be to have a couple of hogs. These can be bred, giving you an excellent source of meat and another barter tool. I'll touch on both sugar curing and salt curing later. Smoking meat isn't all that hard and taste great. I'm 55 years old, I have lived like this in the past and still kicking. Cut the T.V. off for a couple of hours and git-er-done. Spring is coming so get those garden beds ready.
For those new at gardening: http://www.vegetablegardeningguru.com/getting-started.html, this is a pretty good place to start. For those in rural areas, such as myself, I would suggest growing a little extra. You can always use food to barter for what you need or sell the extra for cash to buy extra ammo. I love to say that. Seriously though, If you grow extra you can swing by and drop off some beans or corn to a neighbor that could use it. This will buy you goodwill and give you a chance to recruit into your network.
For those asking themselves: what more can I do be prepared, check this out.
http://www.foodshortageusa.com/Article_03.html
I can't stress this enough, it's coming. Most stores purchase on credit. The "good" credit score is now 740. What happens when stores can't get credit? They can't buy food is what happens. What happens when you can't buy food? You go hungry. What happens when "other people" can't buy food? They take from those that have food - If they can.
Did I mention, buy extra ammo? Just kidding-sort of. Anyhow, for those that have a little room to spare, think about getting a few chickens and a rooster. This will give you extra eggs and meat. It's not hard to build a chicken coop and the excerise will be good for you. Do you have room for some rabbits? another good cheap source for food. The ideal situation would be to have a couple of hogs. These can be bred, giving you an excellent source of meat and another barter tool. I'll touch on both sugar curing and salt curing later. Smoking meat isn't all that hard and taste great. I'm 55 years old, I have lived like this in the past and still kicking. Cut the T.V. off for a couple of hours and git-er-done. Spring is coming so get those garden beds ready.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Firearms
Far too many People equate Survivalism with hate groups or running off into the mountains to live in a cabin. This is far from the truth about the Survival movement of today. Survival equates with preparedness. One of the main problems with society today, is that too many people rely on the "goverment" to take care of them. They have lost the ability to fend for themselves.
It should be clear to everyone that our Country is in trouble. Our economy is tumbling down a steep hill without any brakes being applied. Our goverment has come up with an answer: More debt! 46 states are in dire trouble: http://www.cbpp.org/9-8-08sfp.htm, this is what I want to touch on today, a total economic collapse. ARE YOU PREPARED? Let's pretend for a moment.
Without the ability to restock all stores have limited supplies (remember the bread lines in Russia), to purchase anything, one must stand for hours in line outside. Soon food riots have started. Looters are breaking into buildings, this spills over into neighborhoods, where homes are being ransacked for food and other things. Not enough cops to protect all areas, they are used to protect "vital services". You are on your on.
I am lucky enough to live in a rural area. Pretty much isolated from the hordes but not from roving bands of thugs. I have a family to protect, shelter and feed. What do I need to accomplish this? First, I am a prepper. I have food supplies on hand to sustain my family for a limited time.
Second, I have firearms to enable me to forage more food.
Alot of People want machine guns and grenades. This is not needed. A shotgun, a .22 rifle, a sidearm (pistol) and a 30-30 rifle (or larger) With a .22 I can kill a deer (and have) but for big game its best to have something larger. A shotgun is good for both home protection and game for food. Alot of people don't know how to prepare game for eating: http://www.backwoodsbound.com/index.html , http://www.chuckwagondiner.com/ these are 2 excellent sites for recipes on wild game. This is a site that will explain feild dressing: http://www.state.tn.us/twra/pdfs/gamehandling.pdf, as with anything, pratice makes perfect.
Ok, back to firearms. A shotgun and/or pistol are good for home protection also. If you don't know how to properly handle a firearm, I recommend finding someone to teach you the basics. Its not hard or complicated and it may very well save your life or your family's life. I also recommend that you set up a network of People close by to form a watchgroup. In the event of wide scale unrest, travel is going to be hard. Check points will be set up and cars searched for weapons etc., you want someone close by to help out. Regardless of how good you are, you will have to sleep sometime. I am set up for a group of 10 (grownups) plus kids. I can easily isolate our homestead from entry by anyone we don't want in. Not everyone is this lucky, city dwellers will suffer the most, and while this is occurring, it will give me additional time to prepare for invaders.
With obama/biden in office I highly recommend buying guns/ammo now while you can. If you can't afford alot, check out your local papers (we have tell-n-sell) under sporting goods. Some good buys can be had in these. As always, I recommend printing out what you need so that you have it on hand when needed.
It should be clear to everyone that our Country is in trouble. Our economy is tumbling down a steep hill without any brakes being applied. Our goverment has come up with an answer: More debt! 46 states are in dire trouble: http://www.cbpp.org/9-8-08sfp.htm, this is what I want to touch on today, a total economic collapse. ARE YOU PREPARED? Let's pretend for a moment.
Without the ability to restock all stores have limited supplies (remember the bread lines in Russia), to purchase anything, one must stand for hours in line outside. Soon food riots have started. Looters are breaking into buildings, this spills over into neighborhoods, where homes are being ransacked for food and other things. Not enough cops to protect all areas, they are used to protect "vital services". You are on your on.
I am lucky enough to live in a rural area. Pretty much isolated from the hordes but not from roving bands of thugs. I have a family to protect, shelter and feed. What do I need to accomplish this? First, I am a prepper. I have food supplies on hand to sustain my family for a limited time.
Second, I have firearms to enable me to forage more food.
Alot of People want machine guns and grenades. This is not needed. A shotgun, a .22 rifle, a sidearm (pistol) and a 30-30 rifle (or larger) With a .22 I can kill a deer (and have) but for big game its best to have something larger. A shotgun is good for both home protection and game for food. Alot of people don't know how to prepare game for eating: http://www.backwoodsbound.com/index.html , http://www.chuckwagondiner.com/ these are 2 excellent sites for recipes on wild game. This is a site that will explain feild dressing: http://www.state.tn.us/twra/pdfs/gamehandling.pdf, as with anything, pratice makes perfect.
Ok, back to firearms. A shotgun and/or pistol are good for home protection also. If you don't know how to properly handle a firearm, I recommend finding someone to teach you the basics. Its not hard or complicated and it may very well save your life or your family's life. I also recommend that you set up a network of People close by to form a watchgroup. In the event of wide scale unrest, travel is going to be hard. Check points will be set up and cars searched for weapons etc., you want someone close by to help out. Regardless of how good you are, you will have to sleep sometime. I am set up for a group of 10 (grownups) plus kids. I can easily isolate our homestead from entry by anyone we don't want in. Not everyone is this lucky, city dwellers will suffer the most, and while this is occurring, it will give me additional time to prepare for invaders.
With obama/biden in office I highly recommend buying guns/ammo now while you can. If you can't afford alot, check out your local papers (we have tell-n-sell) under sporting goods. Some good buys can be had in these. As always, I recommend printing out what you need so that you have it on hand when needed.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Tips For Survival
There are a lot of subjects to be covered concerning preps. It is almost impossible to be completely stocked to cover all situations. Alot of People just don't have the money to invest in things they would need if we were faced with a end of the world as we know it (EOTWAWKI), I don't believe that is gonna happen. Iran may try to nuke us in the future and we will cover Radiation protection later on. My concern is a SHTF situation (doo-doo hiting the fan). I strongly believe, due to events in our Country, we will face this. This (SHTF) covers alot, from major storms to economic collaspe, this is what we need to prepare for.
I am including a website that covers alot of info that will be helpful if you find yourself in a SHTF situation. I would suggest that, as you browse through it, you print out what would be helpful to you and keep it in a notebook or folder for later use. If for some reason you lose electric power - you won't have the internet - but you will have the info you need handy anyhow.
http://www.mspong.org/cyclopedia/index.html
I am including a website that covers alot of info that will be helpful if you find yourself in a SHTF situation. I would suggest that, as you browse through it, you print out what would be helpful to you and keep it in a notebook or folder for later use. If for some reason you lose electric power - you won't have the internet - but you will have the info you need handy anyhow.
http://www.mspong.org/cyclopedia/index.html
Friday, January 30, 2009
Emergency Food Package
Will you be prepared to survive in an emergency situation? Power outage, storm, major riots etc., for some reason you have to hunker down and can't get to a store? This is a basic breakdown of what you should have on hand, at least 2 weeks worth.
1. Wheat (corn meal or flour)
2. Long grain white rice
3. Pinto beans
4. lentils (this contains 26% protien)
5. Black beans
6. Oatmeal
7. Powered milk ( dehydrated)
8. Salt and Sugar
9. Canned meats
10. Water ( 4 ea. 10 gallon containers)
11. Batteries
As you go along you can add to the list depending on taste, these store well up to a year but as a precaution you can pull from your "stores" and re-add when you go shopping. Water storage is important, if using plastic, check the bottom for the recycle symbol and number. The number designates the type of plastic. #1 is most common for water bottles. Suitable for 1-2 time use. #2, 3, 4, 5 are safe.
You can find purification kits. Katadyn micropur, 30 tablets for $12.95. This is the least "yuckie" tasting and can be found at http://www.rei.com/product/695229, if you have kids and females add some kool-aide to help with the taste.
1. Wheat (corn meal or flour)
2. Long grain white rice
3. Pinto beans
4. lentils (this contains 26% protien)
5. Black beans
6. Oatmeal
7. Powered milk ( dehydrated)
8. Salt and Sugar
9. Canned meats
10. Water ( 4 ea. 10 gallon containers)
11. Batteries
As you go along you can add to the list depending on taste, these store well up to a year but as a precaution you can pull from your "stores" and re-add when you go shopping. Water storage is important, if using plastic, check the bottom for the recycle symbol and number. The number designates the type of plastic. #1 is most common for water bottles. Suitable for 1-2 time use. #2, 3, 4, 5 are safe.
You can find purification kits. Katadyn micropur, 30 tablets for $12.95. This is the least "yuckie" tasting and can be found at http://www.rei.com/product/695229, if you have kids and females add some kool-aide to help with the taste.
Food Preps
Good Morning, Just sitting here drinking a cup of coffee before I head out to work. How many of you, right this moment, have any preps put up? If a ice storm moved in or a bad storm knocked your power out, Do you have enough put by to last you and your family until its cleared up and you could get to a store? What would you do if the economy dropped completely? There would be no food (or very little) to get, you might have to stand in line for a loaf of bread. This could happen - are you ready? or will you have to go to one of the FEMA Camps our Goverment is preparing ?
Another question for ya, What about security? Do you have a plan set up to protect yourself and/or family? Are you in a City or Rural? Are you prepared to deal with the road blocks and patrols that will be implemented in the event of total economic collapse? What about from roving bands of thugs, out to steal what they can until order is restored? These are things we need to prepare for. What will you do if the Goverment decides to disarm the Citizens? It happened during Katrina in Louisanna. Law abiding citizens had their weapons taken, leaving them at the mercy of the thugs. ARE YOU PREPARED?
Another question for ya, What about security? Do you have a plan set up to protect yourself and/or family? Are you in a City or Rural? Are you prepared to deal with the road blocks and patrols that will be implemented in the event of total economic collapse? What about from roving bands of thugs, out to steal what they can until order is restored? These are things we need to prepare for. What will you do if the Goverment decides to disarm the Citizens? It happened during Katrina in Louisanna. Law abiding citizens had their weapons taken, leaving them at the mercy of the thugs. ARE YOU PREPARED?
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