I just got through looking at the market results for the day and it is the same old story. No one knows what to do about a damn thing. So be it! I am tired of watching the dumb bunnies in their struggle to fight the inevitable.
Maybery and somne others are making great strides in their prepping routines. I am enjoying their works. These guys have a crack at surviving the coming bad times.
I am still going for beans and corn from my garden. I am admonishing others to do the same or something close to it.
I do see a lot of money being spent on pistols that I would never buy. If I have to go out and the area is not secure I will go with a shotgun. I can go get my mail with a shotgun in my hands. I can go with a lookout also. I ain't paying $700 for a pistol to handle the job.
A couple guys are doing the camping trailer thing. Dragon is doing a Yurt. People are using their imaginations and their personal talents to handle their need for shelter in case of hard times.
The real good news is that people are prepping. And they are doing a prety good job of it. There are people who are helping other people and you don't find that at the bank or at Walmart. Help from people is a great step down the road of survival. The way things look right now I am going to keep going along with my prediction of food riots this Summer.
Not only do I have the inside track on the weather, courtesy of Dragon, but I now have the knowledge of floods in the corn belt. The floods are going to raise hell with our food production this year and the USA doesn't produce much of anything anymore BUT food. If we can't produce food then we are sunk. Face it.
Our landmark buildings in Nu Yawk Sity are being sold. So long, America. The Chrysler Building and the Flatiron Building have been sold. "Good morning America, how are ya'? Don't you know that I'm your native son. I'm the train they call the City of New Orleans and I'll be gone 500 miles when the day is done." Man. This country really used to be something. But we had progress, you see. And our country has been sold out from under us. And I am saddened by that. We were the country with broad shoulders. We had the steel from our mills and the steel of our souls. I hate to see some of it go. But, it's a new class and the blackboard has to be completely cleaned. Let's see know...the East and West coast will be sold off piece meal. That leaves the middle where I live. I'll hold out as long as God allows. And I think he will allow.
*********
HERE'S A POST FROM WOLVERINE
*************
One Cheap Dinner
This story starts back a couple months. My youngest son had taken a load of scrap down to the yard for a little extra cash. While he was at the non-ferrous yard a guy comes in trying to scrap out a pair of case iron frying pans. The man is told those go across the road to the ferrous yard and he says screw it, he will toss them in the dumpster if that is ok. My son, being that same quiet, shy, type that his father is, asks the guy if he can have them. Number Two son tosses the nine inch fry pans into his truck and brings them home. We put them out in the barn in the barter stuff.
Ok, today I get home from work and find Number One son here. He came up to use my computer and print out some stuff and to get some food. After we chat for a while he decides to go to a neighboring town and do some dumpster diving. He has always had good luck there for some reason and figures, WTF, he had the time. I ride along for moral support and to act as a lookout I guess.
We pull around back of the store and the dumpsters a brimming with stuff. We find sweet corn, potatoes, blueberries, raspberries, bananas, melons, tomatoes, mushrooms, bread, donuts and a load of meat. Some stuff is cool to the touch and some is the temps as the 80 degree ambient air. We are selective and gather the stuff that we feel is still safe to eat. We both lamented the fact that the meat was hot to the touch. We also left the tomatoes since there is a national recall because of the salmonella outbreak. They are probably fine, but why…..
Number One grabs some chicken out of the freezer from an earlier raid on the same dumpster and we start dinner. Number One likes to cook, is good at it, and can make a great meal out of almost nothing. He makes a Lebanese sauce for the chicken and starts grilling them. I dice up a couple potatoes and toss them in the only frying pan in the house. I then cut up a package of mushrooms and realize that we only brought one frying pan with us when we moved back to the farm. I ran out to the barn and spotted the two barter pans. I took them over to a sand pile and scrubbed them out, washed them up in the sink and set them on the store to warm. A coating of oil and they were ready to go. (Yes, I know I needed to bake them and all that but I didn’t have the time. Besides, you would be surprised what you can sometimes do and it still works.) The mushrooms went in a pan and those were cooking away.
Number One son come back in from the grill and puts a handful of backpacking French onion soup in the spuds. He adds some spices and juices to the mushrooms and spuds and then we wash the fruit and make up three fruit bowls to go with dinner. The wife comes home from work just as we are setting the last of the food on the table.
Dinner was grilled Lebanese chicken, browned potatoes with French onion soup sauce, sautéed mushrooms, and three fruit salad in a bowl. Pumpernickel bread and butter were served as well, but no one ate that. Every single item on the table except the butter came out of a dumpster. Our only cost was the spices and ingredients that we used for the cooking. Even one of the fry pans came out of a dumpster as it were. More meals or at least parts of meals will come from the items we still haven’t used up yet.
One cheap meal a week and how much money could you save? I know we saved a fair amount on the grocery bill today. These times call for some non-traditional thinking. My wife laughed when we told her where her dinner came from, but we still can’t tell her until after she has eaten or she won’t eat. Still she has come a long way. If my wife can learn to laugh at a dumpster dinner then there is hope for all your spouses. As for Number One son and I; we are always on the lookout for one cheap dinner.
Wolverine
********
HERE IS A REPLY FROM RANGERMAN
*********
. . interesting.
My father runs the transfer station for a small town. I don't know how much stuff I've scored through him, but it's a lot. I have a nice Echo weed wacker that I've been using for 5 years that came from the transfer station. A woman was throwing it out, my father was helping her, he set the weed wacker to the side, she left, he tried it, and it fired right up. I've had no problems with it for 5 years, and I still use it.
We recently replaced our small, old television with a larger, old television from the transfer - works great. Lumber, I've scored tons of lumber from the transfer station, salvaged concrete blocks, etc. I've even received a soldier's kevlar helmet and nice camo netting that a game warden was throwing out. This doesn't count the numerous old Nintendo game systems, and misc. other tons of stuff that he's given me to place on eBay where I've sold stuff for big money. I sold an old cast iron kids John Deere tractor for $200+ on eBay - from the transfer station. An old set of brass horse stirrups for $150+. I sold an older marine Garmin GPS from the transfer station for $100. The list goes on. I split the eBay profits with him.
Talk about scrap metal, he and his co-worker salvage all of the gas grill covers, copper, electrical wire, etc. until they have a pickup load, and they usually score about $700 - each! It takes 8-10 months to get that much, but still. People throw out old doors all the time, and he has a guy that makes signs, gives my father $5 for each old door. There was a cedar swingset maker that would throw out 4x4 and 4x6 scrap pieces of cedar up to 4' long. I use them for container gardening. I use salvaged metal fence posts to hold up the fencing that keeps the deer out.
You'll particularly like this one. This one woman came to the transfer station a few years ago, my father was helping her unload her trash, he tossed one bag into the compactor and heard an abnormal *ting* sound. She left and he went to investigate, opened up the trash bag and found - I'm not kidding - a 9mm Astra handgun. The barrel was removed and sawed in half with a hacksaw, and the recoil spring was toast. My father, having retired from the law enforcement field years ago, had a past co-worker of his run the serial number - no problems. This was just their way of getting rid of it. He gave it to me, and I called all over God's creation before I finally found a replacement barrel and recoil spring for 90-some bucks.
I presently have a variety of items including an old stereo sound mixer, another Nintendo, and a really old electric massage . . thingy . . that I'm waiting to list on eBay, probably in November as people gear up for the holidays.
I've yet to eat any of the food, though . . .
- RM
********
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
DOWN IN THE GARDEN
Hot day. 85 to 90 degrees out there. Wife wanted to peel dpown to a halter top. I told her not to but she did anyway. So much for MY authority! But she promised to just be a small amount of time and I relented. And she found purslane this morning. Man was I happy to see that stuff coming up. It is good and good for you. Superfood.
Wife was laying down her plastic mulch this morning. And it is working. She loves it and I gave her a lot of praise for that idea. No weeds in the middle of the rows. She was mulching her tenth row when I left the garden. About 50 to go. But it beats the hell out of hoeing the damn things.
My beans looked pretty good, though I had expecteed them to look like little bean skeletons. The Beetles had not done as much mischief as I had imagined they would. I sprayed them with HANDMAIDEN SPRAY anyhow, at least I sprayed 9 rows of them before I ran out of spray. Between the plastic mulch and the Handmaiden Spray I ought to get a crop of beans this year. I really want those shell-outs for my prep stash. I don't think I can be run out of beans and rice this year. I keep mine in a 35 gallon garbage can and it is so full I can't get the lid closed and will have to by another can. Early next week may see that development. I am almost scarred by my thinking to get lots of protein in my stash. The Handmaiden can take care of the vitamins and minerals quiet well but I want the protein. My corn ain't doing too bad and I am about ready to give it a shot of fish emulsion. Corn is a big eater. Takes lot of nutrients out of the soil. You gotta put it all back in there if you want to be a successful food grower. Fish emulsion helps on the Nitrogen. Corn is high in Nitrogen and that is how come it has so much protein. The beans put Nitrogen back in the soil beause they are Legumes and thus fix the Nitrogen right on the spot.
The Handmaiden's Spray is a recipe she found and we are trying. Best to experiment now while we can still buy stuff than later when maybe we can't. Her recipe is:
2 complete heads of Garlic, chopped very fine.
1 pretty good sized Onion, chopped very fine.
2 tablespoons of finely ground Cayenne pepper.
You put this concoction in a large pot with 1 gallon of water and bring it to a boil. Then you cut the heat off and let the brew steep for a couple of days. With a lid on it. You don't want this stuff permeating your home. Believe it.
After a couple days you take it to the garden and spray your beans and what ever else is getting eaten by the bean beetles. I got 9 of my 36 rows done with my gallon of juice. The rows are about 25 to 30 feet long to promote pollination so that ought to give you a rough idea of what a gallon will cover. I did not spray lightly. No way in hell was I gonna spray lightly. I wanted those damn beetles OUT OF THERE! The onion and garlic odor is pretty prevalent but you can stand it. Not TOO bad. The woman is down at the garden still putting her plastic mulch on the ground and covering it with rocks. She wants out of all that hoing and I can't say as how I blame her. She is putting it down in rows that need hoing right now. Lay down the plastic strip, put lots of rocks on it to keep it from blowing away, and let nature take it's course. Forget the hoe.
We are expecting up to 4 inches of rain over the next 2 days. This will put us well over the 40 inch mark for the year so far. But those big corn counties are gonna take a huge hit if this crop gets flooded again. There is big trouble with the crop right now and another deluge is goona kick the corn crops ass I am afraid. About 4 years ago my good friend took his wife and kids on a little vacation up North for some time during the Summer. Fished a while up on the norethern tip of Lake Michigansd and then went on a little tour from Niagra Falls to Montana. He stopped in Deluth, Minnesota and watched the big ocean freighers get filled with corn. A big long line of them, running into the loading area 24 hours a day, filling up with corn. They took it all over the world and fed lots of people. Ain't gonna be as much this year. The world had better get prepared for another way to feed itself other than american corn. I have no idea what this globalist President is going to do or promise to do with this years crop. He is capable of selling us out to the world market. A lot of countries stopped exporting when food shortages hit early this year. They said it was because they had to see what they had for their own people first and then they might export. Will this government take the same view? I sorta doubt it. You show power where you have power and we ain't got much power except for food and war. We export a lot of war and in the past we have exported a lot of food but the food may have to stop. Or else we will have riots because we got sold out again. I think corn is going for $7 a bushel on the futures market right now. Let it go to $10 or $12 a bushel or more and the S will HTF.
I have tried my best to get people to grow food this Summer. We are living in perilous times and you MUST look out for yourself. Uncle Sam will disown you when times get tough, unless you want to go to the camps.
***********
A FRIEND HAS WRITTEN A RANT FOR US
***********
Back when, Fob James was the '10th Amendment Governor' of Alabama. He
was going to work within the system and straighten out the incipient
tyranny of Washington.
Well, we see how that turned out. The governor of Montana is the only
truly outspoken politician that I see today.
Meanwhile, back when, this rowdy, roughhewn, plain speaking redneck,
yours truly, was loudly expounding how politics and politicians had
brought us to the mess we were then in, and it was foolish to think
more of the same would do anything positive, anything to correct the
situation.
I maintained that a blunt uprising of the citizenry with overt threats
to remove ANY politician who said or did anything contrary to our
rights was the only hope short of outright violence. I espoused
active measures to make war-- video and audio tape war-- on them all.
And that the efforts should be common, numerous, and protected by
sheer force of numbers.... any or all of whom could well be armed.
And that the overt threat of an armed populace should be emphasized
and publicized, not minimized. That the armed body of the American
people should loudly and publicly demand that our government place its
feet back on the path that Jefferson set forth-- 'to secure these
rights, governments are instituted among men'.
But there was the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, we
have seen the World Trade Centers bombed once and then attacked again.
All the while, government was consolidating its power, increasing its
presence, over ever-diminishing protests by citizens. The Ron Paul
candidacy offered the last hope, and it was crushed by what many
suspect to be outright fraudulent and organized efforts by 'the powers
that be'.
Now we come to a time where a malfunctioning semiautomatic rifle,
lawfully owned, has landed a man in federal prison for 2-1/2
years--Olofson. Now we come to a time when a 'conservative' court,
egged on by a 'conservative' president and a document written by a
'conservative' solicitor general is going to result in a finding, in
Heller, the DC Gun Ban case, of a 'right' which can be made 'subject
to reasonable restrictions and regulations'. Which means, any damned
thing they want, for ANYthing is possible once the principle of RIGHT
is officially abandoned.
So now, 'law' and 'constitution' and 'right' is going to mean 'any
damned thing they can conceive' in response to whatever Hegelian
provocation they present when they want something else restrictive
passed against us. 'The right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed' has come, will soon be publicly proclaimed by
the highest court in the land, from which the only appeal is through
violence, to be 'subject to reasonable regulation'.
And now it nears the point of desperation. Now, it is easily
conceivable that one day soon, those of us who own battle rifles, M1
Garands, M1 Carbines, SKSs, ARs, AKs, Mini 14s, Mini 30s....
whatever.... face the real possibility of their being declared, like
the 12 gauge semiauto shotgun 'Street Sweeper', subject to NFA
licensing-- that is, the same as machine guns, short barreled
shotguns, short rifles..... and explosives, et al... the standard
armament of any militia, given up by our grandfathers and great
grandfathers. Franklin Roosevelt killed the 2nd Amendment, with the
'Machine Gun Act' of 1934. When Americans were made subject to
taxation and licensing in order to 'legally' own effective firearms,
then the 2nd Amendment was dead. When will our bolt guns, long range
rifles with good optics, be declared 'subject to reasonable regulation
and restriction'?
The British feared riflemen-- men with rifled muskets capable of
accurate aimed fire at astonishing distances, for the day. How long
before our present masters realize what a true offensive capability
these modern 'deer rifles' present?
It has taken this long for the 2nd Amendment to be officially
pronounced dead, and have its grave prepared.
And now, that the horse has escaped, it is time to prepare to close
the barn door?
Anything, any restriction, any regulation is now going to happen. The
'gun show loophole'... that is, private sale of a firearm by one
citizen to another... is soon to be outlawed, and any 'transfer' must
be made through an FFL with a 4473 and a background check. Should any
transfer happen outside that framework, the seller will be found
guilty of a felony. And we see through Olofson that convictions on
absurdities are quite easily accomplished by zealots in the Dept of
Justice and federal judges who are in cahoots with the tyrants.
Ammunition will be declared 'criminal' to possess if not stamped with
the 'identifiers'. Reloading will be a thing of the past. 'Preban'
ammo will be required to be 'discarded'. Reloads will be required to
be discarded.
Firearms which do not stamp ammo they fire with unique identifiers
will be outlawed.
Optics capable of mounting on a firearm?
All this is not going to happen 'tomorrow'. But when the Supreme Court
issues their decision in Heller, and they WILL declare the right to
keep and bear arms 'subject to reasonable regulation and restriction',
the door will be opened to any manner of abomination a tyrant can
conceive and 'call reasonable'.
We did not act when we were strongest, when we were most organized,
when perhaps it could have been done without overt violence, simply by
asserting our strength. The NRA and other such organizations did not,
and still do not propound that a stoppage to the loss of our rights
must... MUST be done.
Now, most likely, any resistance will be by individuals, any such
individuals will be demonized as 'crazies' and 'violent criminials'
and any resistance will be crushed, either by force of arms or by
force of a corrupt Dept of Justice and a corrupt judiciary and
supported by local, county, and state 'law enforcement'. That's what
they do, isn't it? 'Enforce' the king's will?.
And, further, we see that the government has debased our currency,
allowed a situation to develop where food and water may well become
scarce, or worse, and developed a pure police state infrastructure via
a Hegelian exercise called '9-11', and has instituted a 'war on
terror' which has no basis and certainly no end. It is common to find
highways and byways subject to 'roadblocks' to 'check our papers'.
Even the Wall Street Journal warns the citizenry that it's time to
'stock the pantry'.
And the next 'terrorist act' cooked up by the tyrant will result in
draconian steps.... FURTHER draconian steps against we, the people.
Have mercy. So... is it 'time, yet'? Or.... past time, and past opportunity....
Mike Kemp
*************
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Wife was laying down her plastic mulch this morning. And it is working. She loves it and I gave her a lot of praise for that idea. No weeds in the middle of the rows. She was mulching her tenth row when I left the garden. About 50 to go. But it beats the hell out of hoeing the damn things.
My beans looked pretty good, though I had expecteed them to look like little bean skeletons. The Beetles had not done as much mischief as I had imagined they would. I sprayed them with HANDMAIDEN SPRAY anyhow, at least I sprayed 9 rows of them before I ran out of spray. Between the plastic mulch and the Handmaiden Spray I ought to get a crop of beans this year. I really want those shell-outs for my prep stash. I don't think I can be run out of beans and rice this year. I keep mine in a 35 gallon garbage can and it is so full I can't get the lid closed and will have to by another can. Early next week may see that development. I am almost scarred by my thinking to get lots of protein in my stash. The Handmaiden can take care of the vitamins and minerals quiet well but I want the protein. My corn ain't doing too bad and I am about ready to give it a shot of fish emulsion. Corn is a big eater. Takes lot of nutrients out of the soil. You gotta put it all back in there if you want to be a successful food grower. Fish emulsion helps on the Nitrogen. Corn is high in Nitrogen and that is how come it has so much protein. The beans put Nitrogen back in the soil beause they are Legumes and thus fix the Nitrogen right on the spot.
The Handmaiden's Spray is a recipe she found and we are trying. Best to experiment now while we can still buy stuff than later when maybe we can't. Her recipe is:
2 complete heads of Garlic, chopped very fine.
1 pretty good sized Onion, chopped very fine.
2 tablespoons of finely ground Cayenne pepper.
You put this concoction in a large pot with 1 gallon of water and bring it to a boil. Then you cut the heat off and let the brew steep for a couple of days. With a lid on it. You don't want this stuff permeating your home. Believe it.
After a couple days you take it to the garden and spray your beans and what ever else is getting eaten by the bean beetles. I got 9 of my 36 rows done with my gallon of juice. The rows are about 25 to 30 feet long to promote pollination so that ought to give you a rough idea of what a gallon will cover. I did not spray lightly. No way in hell was I gonna spray lightly. I wanted those damn beetles OUT OF THERE! The onion and garlic odor is pretty prevalent but you can stand it. Not TOO bad. The woman is down at the garden still putting her plastic mulch on the ground and covering it with rocks. She wants out of all that hoing and I can't say as how I blame her. She is putting it down in rows that need hoing right now. Lay down the plastic strip, put lots of rocks on it to keep it from blowing away, and let nature take it's course. Forget the hoe.
We are expecting up to 4 inches of rain over the next 2 days. This will put us well over the 40 inch mark for the year so far. But those big corn counties are gonna take a huge hit if this crop gets flooded again. There is big trouble with the crop right now and another deluge is goona kick the corn crops ass I am afraid. About 4 years ago my good friend took his wife and kids on a little vacation up North for some time during the Summer. Fished a while up on the norethern tip of Lake Michigansd and then went on a little tour from Niagra Falls to Montana. He stopped in Deluth, Minnesota and watched the big ocean freighers get filled with corn. A big long line of them, running into the loading area 24 hours a day, filling up with corn. They took it all over the world and fed lots of people. Ain't gonna be as much this year. The world had better get prepared for another way to feed itself other than american corn. I have no idea what this globalist President is going to do or promise to do with this years crop. He is capable of selling us out to the world market. A lot of countries stopped exporting when food shortages hit early this year. They said it was because they had to see what they had for their own people first and then they might export. Will this government take the same view? I sorta doubt it. You show power where you have power and we ain't got much power except for food and war. We export a lot of war and in the past we have exported a lot of food but the food may have to stop. Or else we will have riots because we got sold out again. I think corn is going for $7 a bushel on the futures market right now. Let it go to $10 or $12 a bushel or more and the S will HTF.
I have tried my best to get people to grow food this Summer. We are living in perilous times and you MUST look out for yourself. Uncle Sam will disown you when times get tough, unless you want to go to the camps.
***********
A FRIEND HAS WRITTEN A RANT FOR US
***********
Back when, Fob James was the '10th Amendment Governor' of Alabama. He
was going to work within the system and straighten out the incipient
tyranny of Washington.
Well, we see how that turned out. The governor of Montana is the only
truly outspoken politician that I see today.
Meanwhile, back when, this rowdy, roughhewn, plain speaking redneck,
yours truly, was loudly expounding how politics and politicians had
brought us to the mess we were then in, and it was foolish to think
more of the same would do anything positive, anything to correct the
situation.
I maintained that a blunt uprising of the citizenry with overt threats
to remove ANY politician who said or did anything contrary to our
rights was the only hope short of outright violence. I espoused
active measures to make war-- video and audio tape war-- on them all.
And that the efforts should be common, numerous, and protected by
sheer force of numbers.... any or all of whom could well be armed.
And that the overt threat of an armed populace should be emphasized
and publicized, not minimized. That the armed body of the American
people should loudly and publicly demand that our government place its
feet back on the path that Jefferson set forth-- 'to secure these
rights, governments are instituted among men'.
But there was the bombing of the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City, we
have seen the World Trade Centers bombed once and then attacked again.
All the while, government was consolidating its power, increasing its
presence, over ever-diminishing protests by citizens. The Ron Paul
candidacy offered the last hope, and it was crushed by what many
suspect to be outright fraudulent and organized efforts by 'the powers
that be'.
Now we come to a time where a malfunctioning semiautomatic rifle,
lawfully owned, has landed a man in federal prison for 2-1/2
years--Olofson. Now we come to a time when a 'conservative' court,
egged on by a 'conservative' president and a document written by a
'conservative' solicitor general is going to result in a finding, in
Heller, the DC Gun Ban case, of a 'right' which can be made 'subject
to reasonable restrictions and regulations'. Which means, any damned
thing they want, for ANYthing is possible once the principle of RIGHT
is officially abandoned.
So now, 'law' and 'constitution' and 'right' is going to mean 'any
damned thing they can conceive' in response to whatever Hegelian
provocation they present when they want something else restrictive
passed against us. 'The right of the people to keep and bear arms
shall not be infringed' has come, will soon be publicly proclaimed by
the highest court in the land, from which the only appeal is through
violence, to be 'subject to reasonable regulation'.
And now it nears the point of desperation. Now, it is easily
conceivable that one day soon, those of us who own battle rifles, M1
Garands, M1 Carbines, SKSs, ARs, AKs, Mini 14s, Mini 30s....
whatever.... face the real possibility of their being declared, like
the 12 gauge semiauto shotgun 'Street Sweeper', subject to NFA
licensing-- that is, the same as machine guns, short barreled
shotguns, short rifles..... and explosives, et al... the standard
armament of any militia, given up by our grandfathers and great
grandfathers. Franklin Roosevelt killed the 2nd Amendment, with the
'Machine Gun Act' of 1934. When Americans were made subject to
taxation and licensing in order to 'legally' own effective firearms,
then the 2nd Amendment was dead. When will our bolt guns, long range
rifles with good optics, be declared 'subject to reasonable regulation
and restriction'?
The British feared riflemen-- men with rifled muskets capable of
accurate aimed fire at astonishing distances, for the day. How long
before our present masters realize what a true offensive capability
these modern 'deer rifles' present?
It has taken this long for the 2nd Amendment to be officially
pronounced dead, and have its grave prepared.
And now, that the horse has escaped, it is time to prepare to close
the barn door?
Anything, any restriction, any regulation is now going to happen. The
'gun show loophole'... that is, private sale of a firearm by one
citizen to another... is soon to be outlawed, and any 'transfer' must
be made through an FFL with a 4473 and a background check. Should any
transfer happen outside that framework, the seller will be found
guilty of a felony. And we see through Olofson that convictions on
absurdities are quite easily accomplished by zealots in the Dept of
Justice and federal judges who are in cahoots with the tyrants.
Ammunition will be declared 'criminal' to possess if not stamped with
the 'identifiers'. Reloading will be a thing of the past. 'Preban'
ammo will be required to be 'discarded'. Reloads will be required to
be discarded.
Firearms which do not stamp ammo they fire with unique identifiers
will be outlawed.
Optics capable of mounting on a firearm?
All this is not going to happen 'tomorrow'. But when the Supreme Court
issues their decision in Heller, and they WILL declare the right to
keep and bear arms 'subject to reasonable regulation and restriction',
the door will be opened to any manner of abomination a tyrant can
conceive and 'call reasonable'.
We did not act when we were strongest, when we were most organized,
when perhaps it could have been done without overt violence, simply by
asserting our strength. The NRA and other such organizations did not,
and still do not propound that a stoppage to the loss of our rights
must... MUST be done.
Now, most likely, any resistance will be by individuals, any such
individuals will be demonized as 'crazies' and 'violent criminials'
and any resistance will be crushed, either by force of arms or by
force of a corrupt Dept of Justice and a corrupt judiciary and
supported by local, county, and state 'law enforcement'. That's what
they do, isn't it? 'Enforce' the king's will?.
And, further, we see that the government has debased our currency,
allowed a situation to develop where food and water may well become
scarce, or worse, and developed a pure police state infrastructure via
a Hegelian exercise called '9-11', and has instituted a 'war on
terror' which has no basis and certainly no end. It is common to find
highways and byways subject to 'roadblocks' to 'check our papers'.
Even the Wall Street Journal warns the citizenry that it's time to
'stock the pantry'.
And the next 'terrorist act' cooked up by the tyrant will result in
draconian steps.... FURTHER draconian steps against we, the people.
Have mercy. So... is it 'time, yet'? Or.... past time, and past opportunity....
Mike Kemp
*************
Stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Monday, June 9, 2008
GLOBAL BANKING REGULATIONS???
NY Fed chief urges global bank framework
By James Politi in Washington and Gillian Tett in London
Published: June 8 2008 23:32 | Last updated: June 8 2008 23:32
Banks and investment banks whose health is crucial to the global financial system should operate under a unified regulatory framework with “appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity”, according to Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Writing in Monday’s Financial Times, Mr Geithner, a key US policymaker throughout the credit crisis and one of the main architects of the rescue of Bear Stearns, says that the US Federal Reserve should play a “central role” in the new regulatory framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and round the world.
“At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap,” Mr Geithner says, in an excerpt of a speech to be delivered today at the Economic Club of New York.
The credit crisis has heightened pressure on US policymakers to consider sweeping changes to a regulatory system for financial institutions which has commercial banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup regulated by the Fed and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers more loosely regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr Geithner called the system “a confusing mix of diffused accountability, regulatory competition and a complex web of rules that create perverse incentives and leave huge opportunities for arbitrage and evasion”.
However, legislation to overhaul US financial regulation is unlikely to start advancing through Congress until next year when the new administration takes office.
In his speech, Mr Geithner will also say the Fed is examining whether to make “permanent” some of the new liquidity facilities put in place during the credit crisis, and called for central banks to establish a “standing network of currency swaps, collateral policies and account arrangements” to bolster liquidity during a future crisis.
Meanwhile, Malcolm Knight, the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements, the Basel-based central banking group, told the FT that the financial system now faces a growing risk of exchange-rate volatility as investors and central banks grapple with the impact of rising commodity prices and other inflationary pressures.
“It is not clear if the rest of the world is going to continue to fund the US current account deficit at current levels of exchange rates,” he said. “The pattern of the exchange rates is subject to considerable uncertainty now.”
The comments are likely to be closely watched by investors and policymakers, since they come at a time of renewed market focus on the outlook for the dollar relative to the euro and other currencies. Last week, Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, broke with the US central bank’s traditional silence on currency matters to make clear that it does not want any further dollar weakness.
While the dollar rallied on Mr Bernanke’s remarks, it retreated later in the week after European Central bank comments suggested an interest rate rise and as the price of crude oil soared, heightening inflation fears.
“There is a perception that after a long period of quiescent inflation, things are changing,” Mr Knight said. “This is quite visible in terms of commodity prices in energy markets but also in terms of what is happening with other commodities too.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
"FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy | Terms
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2008.
************
Suddenly the regulations are very confusing. Even to these fucking dogs who lick the boot heels of the mighty. Suddenly the federal reserve wants uniformity in banking all around the globe. Man! You talk about an elitist dream. They can make the whole world bow to their wishes with this set-up. And the men behind the closed doors will reap the benefit. For their masters, of course. And you read it here on Staying Alive that the president was an insignificant player in this game. The guy who will head up this World Wide Banking Uniformity Program will make the president look like a preschool kid at recess. Whooo Eeeee. And I thought maybe globalism would take a hit from this economic malady that is encircling the globe. It appears they will use the malady to strengthen the cursed beast instead. A pox on their house.
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
By James Politi in Washington and Gillian Tett in London
Published: June 8 2008 23:32 | Last updated: June 8 2008 23:32
Banks and investment banks whose health is crucial to the global financial system should operate under a unified regulatory framework with “appropriate requirements for capital and liquidity”, according to Timothy Geithner, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
Writing in Monday’s Financial Times, Mr Geithner, a key US policymaker throughout the credit crisis and one of the main architects of the rescue of Bear Stearns, says that the US Federal Reserve should play a “central role” in the new regulatory framework, working closely with supervisors in the US and round the world.
“At present the Fed has broad responsibility for financial stability not matched by direct authority and the consequences of the actions we have taken in this crisis make it more important that we close that gap,” Mr Geithner says, in an excerpt of a speech to be delivered today at the Economic Club of New York.
The credit crisis has heightened pressure on US policymakers to consider sweeping changes to a regulatory system for financial institutions which has commercial banks such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup regulated by the Fed and investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers more loosely regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Mr Geithner called the system “a confusing mix of diffused accountability, regulatory competition and a complex web of rules that create perverse incentives and leave huge opportunities for arbitrage and evasion”.
However, legislation to overhaul US financial regulation is unlikely to start advancing through Congress until next year when the new administration takes office.
In his speech, Mr Geithner will also say the Fed is examining whether to make “permanent” some of the new liquidity facilities put in place during the credit crisis, and called for central banks to establish a “standing network of currency swaps, collateral policies and account arrangements” to bolster liquidity during a future crisis.
Meanwhile, Malcolm Knight, the general manager of the Bank of International Settlements, the Basel-based central banking group, told the FT that the financial system now faces a growing risk of exchange-rate volatility as investors and central banks grapple with the impact of rising commodity prices and other inflationary pressures.
“It is not clear if the rest of the world is going to continue to fund the US current account deficit at current levels of exchange rates,” he said. “The pattern of the exchange rates is subject to considerable uncertainty now.”
The comments are likely to be closely watched by investors and policymakers, since they come at a time of renewed market focus on the outlook for the dollar relative to the euro and other currencies. Last week, Ben Bernanke, Fed chairman, broke with the US central bank’s traditional silence on currency matters to make clear that it does not want any further dollar weakness.
While the dollar rallied on Mr Bernanke’s remarks, it retreated later in the week after European Central bank comments suggested an interest rate rise and as the price of crude oil soared, heightening inflation fears.
“There is a perception that after a long period of quiescent inflation, things are changing,” Mr Knight said. “This is quite visible in terms of commodity prices in energy markets but also in terms of what is happening with other commodities too.”
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008
"FT" and "Financial Times" are trademarks of the Financial Times. Privacy policy | Terms
© Copyright The Financial Times Ltd 2008.
************
Suddenly the regulations are very confusing. Even to these fucking dogs who lick the boot heels of the mighty. Suddenly the federal reserve wants uniformity in banking all around the globe. Man! You talk about an elitist dream. They can make the whole world bow to their wishes with this set-up. And the men behind the closed doors will reap the benefit. For their masters, of course. And you read it here on Staying Alive that the president was an insignificant player in this game. The guy who will head up this World Wide Banking Uniformity Program will make the president look like a preschool kid at recess. Whooo Eeeee. And I thought maybe globalism would take a hit from this economic malady that is encircling the globe. It appears they will use the malady to strengthen the cursed beast instead. A pox on their house.
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
THE CONVENTION IS OVER!
Our convention is over. Some good times and some interesting times. Some joy and some disappointment. But all good for what ails you. We had a time with a Oneness type who was ppreaching his thing. We are bascially Twoness around here. We believe in the Father and the Son. Interesting discourse.
Then we had our first evening meeting and I decided to let it all hang out on the situation of the world as it presently exists. I ran through the whole thing, top to bottom. And I got no rebuttal! Couldn't believe it. Generally the "steady as she goes guys" will come out with their standard line of thinking about how everything is going to be okay again, real quick. I was prepared to debate them and plow them under if necessary but no one seemed to want to take it on. Current events were too heavily on my side I reckon. The word is getting out that the dollar ain't worth a damn any more. The price of gasoline can be seen at every gas station. The word came out that only 4% of the people in this counry make $100,000 per year or more. The unemplyment rate is known by everybody. And the quoted inflation rate has nothing to do with the cost of staying alive in this country. The picture is pretty much a joke to those who want to paint a picture of recovery and future growth. When I got done they were mostly stifled. But then again, who can stand against a half way well informed survivalist? Not many. The facts were bearing me out and the rosy picture was a far off gleam from the past.
My talk was followed by a brother who generally paints a rosy picture. He is a business man and wants the price and the market to stay up there for his continued success. Not bad hopes, just limited possibilities. But it is good to listen to this kind of thinking. If nothing else it makes you aware of the thinking our fellow citizens are doing. But the brother who talked after me was not into talking a rosy picture. Surprised the hell out of ME! He was into talking about people behind closed doors in corporations who sign documants and make deals and control the world's goods and services. Secretive men, not known by the general public. Rich men who will have money and power no matter what. Men who love war because it is so profitable. Men who will do ANYTHING to make more money. "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." Men who control markets and commodities and Gold and Silver and precious stones. Men who would foster disease upon humanity to make a huge pile of cash from a cure. Despicable men. We will find them out one of these days and they will be in big trouble. Bit trouble indeed. There were other talks of interest but I have covered what I can remember with any accuracy.
Sunday afternoon was spent in talking about the Oneness Doctrine and it's shortcomings. One brother was particularly annointed and I felt the power of God hit me. I talked to my wife and she felt it also. Sunday night was spent in reaching out to the Spirit in hopes of a cure for the sick or a message for the future.
This fine Monday mornng is being spent catching up on the blog and getting the Handamiden out the door to get me some Beetle killer. We have some good home made recipes but I doubt their ability to go thorugh a small sparyer nozzle so I will use something from the store. If I had lots of pliable young backs I would use the homemade stuff but I don't so I will do the next best thing. If the situation was even worse than it is now I would apply by hand as best I can and go from there. I had a normal breakfast this morning and I am giving my body a break from the processed foods it has taken in the last couple of days. Thank God I can get back to foraged greens and home cooked food. That other stuff will kill you.
I personally feel that some heretofore unaffected people were touched by the reality of life this weekend. We had a small contingent from Georgia and the listened to every word spoken about the situation in the world economy. I watched them and they were very attentive. The Oneness people were the least interested in the current era of trouble. Jesus was going to save them. That was just about the extent of their involvement in current affairs. I reckon they are about 2000 years behind the times on the news.
The religions suffered at my hands, as usual. God got lifted up and religions got slammed. Pretty standard fare coming from me. I also got a remembrance of my mentor saying that the powers that be would turn the average american into a peon in the near future. This was 20 years ago. He was a very inspired man indeed.
I must go now and do something for a friend who has lung cancer. And I cannot be remiss in handling this. Have a good day and stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Then we had our first evening meeting and I decided to let it all hang out on the situation of the world as it presently exists. I ran through the whole thing, top to bottom. And I got no rebuttal! Couldn't believe it. Generally the "steady as she goes guys" will come out with their standard line of thinking about how everything is going to be okay again, real quick. I was prepared to debate them and plow them under if necessary but no one seemed to want to take it on. Current events were too heavily on my side I reckon. The word is getting out that the dollar ain't worth a damn any more. The price of gasoline can be seen at every gas station. The word came out that only 4% of the people in this counry make $100,000 per year or more. The unemplyment rate is known by everybody. And the quoted inflation rate has nothing to do with the cost of staying alive in this country. The picture is pretty much a joke to those who want to paint a picture of recovery and future growth. When I got done they were mostly stifled. But then again, who can stand against a half way well informed survivalist? Not many. The facts were bearing me out and the rosy picture was a far off gleam from the past.
My talk was followed by a brother who generally paints a rosy picture. He is a business man and wants the price and the market to stay up there for his continued success. Not bad hopes, just limited possibilities. But it is good to listen to this kind of thinking. If nothing else it makes you aware of the thinking our fellow citizens are doing. But the brother who talked after me was not into talking a rosy picture. Surprised the hell out of ME! He was into talking about people behind closed doors in corporations who sign documants and make deals and control the world's goods and services. Secretive men, not known by the general public. Rich men who will have money and power no matter what. Men who love war because it is so profitable. Men who will do ANYTHING to make more money. "The LOVE of money is the root of all evil." Men who control markets and commodities and Gold and Silver and precious stones. Men who would foster disease upon humanity to make a huge pile of cash from a cure. Despicable men. We will find them out one of these days and they will be in big trouble. Bit trouble indeed. There were other talks of interest but I have covered what I can remember with any accuracy.
Sunday afternoon was spent in talking about the Oneness Doctrine and it's shortcomings. One brother was particularly annointed and I felt the power of God hit me. I talked to my wife and she felt it also. Sunday night was spent in reaching out to the Spirit in hopes of a cure for the sick or a message for the future.
This fine Monday mornng is being spent catching up on the blog and getting the Handamiden out the door to get me some Beetle killer. We have some good home made recipes but I doubt their ability to go thorugh a small sparyer nozzle so I will use something from the store. If I had lots of pliable young backs I would use the homemade stuff but I don't so I will do the next best thing. If the situation was even worse than it is now I would apply by hand as best I can and go from there. I had a normal breakfast this morning and I am giving my body a break from the processed foods it has taken in the last couple of days. Thank God I can get back to foraged greens and home cooked food. That other stuff will kill you.
I personally feel that some heretofore unaffected people were touched by the reality of life this weekend. We had a small contingent from Georgia and the listened to every word spoken about the situation in the world economy. I watched them and they were very attentive. The Oneness people were the least interested in the current era of trouble. Jesus was going to save them. That was just about the extent of their involvement in current affairs. I reckon they are about 2000 years behind the times on the news.
The religions suffered at my hands, as usual. God got lifted up and religions got slammed. Pretty standard fare coming from me. I also got a remembrance of my mentor saying that the powers that be would turn the average american into a peon in the near future. This was 20 years ago. He was a very inspired man indeed.
I must go now and do something for a friend who has lung cancer. And I cannot be remiss in handling this. Have a good day and stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Sunday, June 8, 2008
THE HANDMAIDEN SPEAKS
Beginning Foraging: How to Get Started with Free Wild Foods
By Patricia Boone © 2008
When I was a kid, we used to laugh at Euell Gibbons, the eminent forager, who seemed always to be saying, “This here is ___________________, it’s edible, you know.” The joke then was Gibbons saying, “This here’s a Volkswagen, it’s edible, you know.” And we laughed.
Well, I don’t laugh now, because I’ve become a weed-eater too. We live in southern Indiana, in a rich valley chock full of plants for good eating and good medicine. Right outside my door grow plantains, red clover, dandelions, persimmon trees, elderberries, lamb quarters, Walnuts, and within a short walk are a host of other edibles. Even in a city there are plenty of wild plants to harvest for eating and healthy teas.
OK, you know this. You’ve read it before. You already know dandelions, and probably lamb’s quarters and chickweed, as these commonly “infest” lawns and you‘ve probably tried your damnedest to kill them. So how do you get started on the rest of them? It can be tricky, and there are poisonous plants that look like the plant you want to harvest, so yes, you do have to be careful. But it isn’t so hard that you can’t learn some of the more common ones that grow around you. And once you see them, and have them imbedded in your mind--their appearance, smell, habitat, etc.--then you’ll recognize them from now on.
So how to start? I’ll recommend some books and websites that have been helpful to me. And let me state now that I’m a rank beginner. I make mistakes. Just a few nights ago I wanted to serve some milkweed shoots for dinner. I had gathered them, tried to carefully ID them to make sure they weren’t dogbane, but after cooking them as recommended by Sam Thayer (author of A Forager’s Harvest), they were too bitter and nasty to eat. I had not ID’d them carefully enough apparently. They must have been dogbane and not common milkweed as I thought. Mistakes happen--caution is necessary. The milkweed went to the compost heap, so it wasn’t all a bad deal.
The first thing I did to get started was to ask a local herb woman/biology teacher to take me on a walk to find some edible and medicinal plants. Mary Jo was agreeable and so off we went one morning last August. We found stinging nettles, jewelweed, Queen Anne’s Lace, horsetail, burdock, goldenseal, elderberry, wild ginger, lamb’s quarters, chicory, staghorn sumac and evening primrose. Another friend who used to wildcraft (forage) took me on another walk and we found wild yam, spicebush, pawpaw, greenbriar, wild grapes, witchhazel, mallow and comfrey. I didn’t learn to firmly ID all these plants to my satisfaction, so I’ll need my trusty books to keep working on it, but it got me started. And made me realize what a cornucopia this valley is!
If you have friends or aquaintances who go out mushrooming or foraging, enlist their help. See if your local colleges or universities are offering any variety of a “people’s university” where local folks teach classes on their hobbies--there might be some resources there.
Some good books to start you off, all of which have their pros and cons:
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants and Herbs, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (a Peterson Field Guide)--color photos and basic identifying information, as well as some lore and what part of the plants to use.
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and not so Wild) Places by “Wildman” Steve Brill. Terrific line drawings of the plants, tons of identifying information and a neat guide to how to cook and eat the plants.
The Forager’s Harvest: Edible Wild Plantsby Samuel Thayer--an excellent guide to some of Thayer’s favorites edibles, lots of photos and in-depth information. Thayer only discusses plants that he himself has foraged and eaten, and discusses them in detail. Photos of plants in various stages of their lifecycles.
Just Weeds: History, Myths and Uses, by Pamela Jones--a book of common weeds with entertaining stories about them all. Not great for identifying info, but full of fun and interesting information about the weeds, what they were used historically for, how to prepare, etc.
I don’t list these in order of importance--all of them have proven useful and informative. I have a lot more books on this, but these are the ones I keep and read the most. I buy them used, at garage sales, Goodwill, wherever I can find them cheap.
As I write more on foraging, I’ll get into other books and resources as well. Some of my favorite websites on foraging are:
“Wildman” Steve Brill’s foraging site--has a lot of the same info as his book, with color pictures.
Steve Brill‘s foraging pictures, with many pictures, sometimes at different times of the year--a terrific help for beginners!
Prodigal Gardens, a great website with lots of pictures, ID info, and recipes. Click on the Herbwalk for month-to-month foraging and cooking recipes.
Foraging the Edible Wild, a website dedicated to the great Euell Gibbons. Many interesting articles.
I usually pick a plant I’m interested in, say stinging nettles. I start reading about it in the books, look at the pictures, check the habitat of the plant, see if it is in my region of the country, and all of that. Then I look in the most likely places, ask valley folks if they’ve seen any, and try to find some. By this time I have a pretty good idea of what it looks like, and where it lives. Stinging nettles like creeks and riverbanks, disturbed habitats, horse barns (they like rich soil). Those are the places I looked first. When I couldn’t find any on my own, I asked local folks. They gave me suggestions, and then a friend showed me where a huge batch of them were growing. These weren’t stinging nettles (they stung alright, but the leaves were alternate rather than opposite), but they are nettles of some kind--probably slender or wood nettles. I’ve been gathering them ever since.
There are basic rules to foraging, all of which make sense. Don’t take all of them--leave enough so they can continue propagating and blessing you with future harvests. Don’t take too much from any one location. You’ll find some more guidelines here.
Pick a few easy-to-identify plants, see if they have any poisonous lookalikes--and if they do, then be extra careful. Better yet, leave a plant with poisonous lookalikes alone until you think you know what you’re doing when it comes to plant identification. I don’t take chances, but I do make mistakes as I said earlier. If it tastes bitter or nasty--then don’t eat it. Your common sense should tell you that.
Easy to ID, common, and usually prolific plants include lamb’s quarters, nettles, burdock, purslane, wintercress, red clover, and chickweed. If you’re a beginner, as I am, then look for these plants first. None of them have poisonous lookalikes, all are delicious and very nutritious.
There are many reasons to start foraging. I liked the idea of interesting free foods that were free for the harvesting. I believe with modern monoculture agriculture that the soil and the plants grown on that soil lack many essential trace minerals. Plants growing wild have never been sprayed with chemicals or the soil they grown in depleted by modern farming, have great nutritional value. These are not just “survival” foods--these are life-giving, delicious foods. There is a good deal of simple joy in foraging. Try it. You won’t be sorry.
************
Here are the URL's for getting the books the Handmaiden mentioned.
All the books are available used through Amazon Books:
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants and Herbs
http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Medicinal-Plants-Herbs/dp/0395988144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212954684&sr=1-1
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and not so Wild) Places
http://www.amazon.com/Identifying-Harvesting-Edible-Medicinal-Plants/dp/0688114253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213030027&sr=1-1
The Forager's Harvest
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0976626608/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
Just Weeds
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Just+Weeds&x=16&y=18
Websites:
Steve Brill's foraging site:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
Brill's foraging pictures:
http://foragingpictures.com/
Prodigal Gardens
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/articles.htm
Foraging the Edible Wild
http://community-2.webtv.net/Taimloyd/FORAGINGTHEEDIBLE/
Stay alive!
mboone@rtccom.net
By Patricia Boone © 2008
When I was a kid, we used to laugh at Euell Gibbons, the eminent forager, who seemed always to be saying, “This here is ___________________, it’s edible, you know.” The joke then was Gibbons saying, “This here’s a Volkswagen, it’s edible, you know.” And we laughed.
Well, I don’t laugh now, because I’ve become a weed-eater too. We live in southern Indiana, in a rich valley chock full of plants for good eating and good medicine. Right outside my door grow plantains, red clover, dandelions, persimmon trees, elderberries, lamb quarters, Walnuts, and within a short walk are a host of other edibles. Even in a city there are plenty of wild plants to harvest for eating and healthy teas.
OK, you know this. You’ve read it before. You already know dandelions, and probably lamb’s quarters and chickweed, as these commonly “infest” lawns and you‘ve probably tried your damnedest to kill them. So how do you get started on the rest of them? It can be tricky, and there are poisonous plants that look like the plant you want to harvest, so yes, you do have to be careful. But it isn’t so hard that you can’t learn some of the more common ones that grow around you. And once you see them, and have them imbedded in your mind--their appearance, smell, habitat, etc.--then you’ll recognize them from now on.
So how to start? I’ll recommend some books and websites that have been helpful to me. And let me state now that I’m a rank beginner. I make mistakes. Just a few nights ago I wanted to serve some milkweed shoots for dinner. I had gathered them, tried to carefully ID them to make sure they weren’t dogbane, but after cooking them as recommended by Sam Thayer (author of A Forager’s Harvest), they were too bitter and nasty to eat. I had not ID’d them carefully enough apparently. They must have been dogbane and not common milkweed as I thought. Mistakes happen--caution is necessary. The milkweed went to the compost heap, so it wasn’t all a bad deal.
The first thing I did to get started was to ask a local herb woman/biology teacher to take me on a walk to find some edible and medicinal plants. Mary Jo was agreeable and so off we went one morning last August. We found stinging nettles, jewelweed, Queen Anne’s Lace, horsetail, burdock, goldenseal, elderberry, wild ginger, lamb’s quarters, chicory, staghorn sumac and evening primrose. Another friend who used to wildcraft (forage) took me on another walk and we found wild yam, spicebush, pawpaw, greenbriar, wild grapes, witchhazel, mallow and comfrey. I didn’t learn to firmly ID all these plants to my satisfaction, so I’ll need my trusty books to keep working on it, but it got me started. And made me realize what a cornucopia this valley is!
If you have friends or aquaintances who go out mushrooming or foraging, enlist their help. See if your local colleges or universities are offering any variety of a “people’s university” where local folks teach classes on their hobbies--there might be some resources there.
Some good books to start you off, all of which have their pros and cons:
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants and Herbs, by Steven Foster and James A. Duke (a Peterson Field Guide)--color photos and basic identifying information, as well as some lore and what part of the plants to use.
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and not so Wild) Places by “Wildman” Steve Brill. Terrific line drawings of the plants, tons of identifying information and a neat guide to how to cook and eat the plants.
The Forager’s Harvest: Edible Wild Plantsby Samuel Thayer--an excellent guide to some of Thayer’s favorites edibles, lots of photos and in-depth information. Thayer only discusses plants that he himself has foraged and eaten, and discusses them in detail. Photos of plants in various stages of their lifecycles.
Just Weeds: History, Myths and Uses, by Pamela Jones--a book of common weeds with entertaining stories about them all. Not great for identifying info, but full of fun and interesting information about the weeds, what they were used historically for, how to prepare, etc.
I don’t list these in order of importance--all of them have proven useful and informative. I have a lot more books on this, but these are the ones I keep and read the most. I buy them used, at garage sales, Goodwill, wherever I can find them cheap.
As I write more on foraging, I’ll get into other books and resources as well. Some of my favorite websites on foraging are:
“Wildman” Steve Brill’s foraging site--has a lot of the same info as his book, with color pictures.
Steve Brill‘s foraging pictures, with many pictures, sometimes at different times of the year--a terrific help for beginners!
Prodigal Gardens, a great website with lots of pictures, ID info, and recipes. Click on the Herbwalk for month-to-month foraging and cooking recipes.
Foraging the Edible Wild, a website dedicated to the great Euell Gibbons. Many interesting articles.
I usually pick a plant I’m interested in, say stinging nettles. I start reading about it in the books, look at the pictures, check the habitat of the plant, see if it is in my region of the country, and all of that. Then I look in the most likely places, ask valley folks if they’ve seen any, and try to find some. By this time I have a pretty good idea of what it looks like, and where it lives. Stinging nettles like creeks and riverbanks, disturbed habitats, horse barns (they like rich soil). Those are the places I looked first. When I couldn’t find any on my own, I asked local folks. They gave me suggestions, and then a friend showed me where a huge batch of them were growing. These weren’t stinging nettles (they stung alright, but the leaves were alternate rather than opposite), but they are nettles of some kind--probably slender or wood nettles. I’ve been gathering them ever since.
There are basic rules to foraging, all of which make sense. Don’t take all of them--leave enough so they can continue propagating and blessing you with future harvests. Don’t take too much from any one location. You’ll find some more guidelines here.
Pick a few easy-to-identify plants, see if they have any poisonous lookalikes--and if they do, then be extra careful. Better yet, leave a plant with poisonous lookalikes alone until you think you know what you’re doing when it comes to plant identification. I don’t take chances, but I do make mistakes as I said earlier. If it tastes bitter or nasty--then don’t eat it. Your common sense should tell you that.
Easy to ID, common, and usually prolific plants include lamb’s quarters, nettles, burdock, purslane, wintercress, red clover, and chickweed. If you’re a beginner, as I am, then look for these plants first. None of them have poisonous lookalikes, all are delicious and very nutritious.
There are many reasons to start foraging. I liked the idea of interesting free foods that were free for the harvesting. I believe with modern monoculture agriculture that the soil and the plants grown on that soil lack many essential trace minerals. Plants growing wild have never been sprayed with chemicals or the soil they grown in depleted by modern farming, have great nutritional value. These are not just “survival” foods--these are life-giving, delicious foods. There is a good deal of simple joy in foraging. Try it. You won’t be sorry.
************
Here are the URL's for getting the books the Handmaiden mentioned.
All the books are available used through Amazon Books:
Eastern/Central Medicinal Plants and Herbs
http://www.amazon.com/Field-Guide-Medicinal-Plants-Herbs/dp/0395988144/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212954684&sr=1-1
Identifying and Harvesting Edible and Medicinal Plants in Wild (and not so Wild) Places
http://www.amazon.com/Identifying-Harvesting-Edible-Medicinal-Plants/dp/0688114253/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213030027&sr=1-1
The Forager's Harvest
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0976626608/ref=sib_dp_pt#reader-link
Just Weeds
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Just+Weeds&x=16&y=18
Websites:
Steve Brill's foraging site:
http://www.wildmanstevebrill.com/
Brill's foraging pictures:
http://foragingpictures.com/
Prodigal Gardens
http://www.prodigalgardens.info/articles.htm
Foraging the Edible Wild
http://community-2.webtv.net/Taimloyd/FORAGINGTHEEDIBLE/
Stay alive!
mboone@rtccom.net
Saturday, June 7, 2008
THE "ZIT" PEOPLE
I got to thinking about the fragility of the American people and I have concluded that they are the ZIT people. Squeeze them and they pop and are gone. Who cares? I'm tired of worrying about them. My conclusions are they they will die off or they wil be imprisoned in detention camps. They are wasteful. They are selfish. They do not have the good sense to look into a mirror and see themselves. A lot of men have devoted a lot of time and energy to warning these people, telling them to get ready for hard times and they have turned a deaf ear on those who show love for them. I can not help them. And those around me cannot help them. Stiff necked and rebellious people.
***********
I just want to say that this fuel crisis and food crisis and most of the troubles we are having is all contrived. The men behind closed doors sign the papers. You and I will never know who they are unless God would reveal them. They are cold heartless men. They care nothing about the poor or the hungry or the sick. They make money and they make it however they can. War is meaningless to them. But they like it over peace because there is more money to be made in war than in peace. They control huge amounts of cash and commodities, almost unfathomable amounts. They can cause shortages. They can cause surpluses. They can do damn near anything they wish. They run the world. We merely exist in their schemes. If they get tired of us they will do away with us.
My teacher, the man who was my Priest, knew of these men but didn't know their identities. Same as it is today. He was a very smart man and figured out that the only chance we had to escape the clutches of these bastards was to live in little communal villages, or what became known as Settlements and then Kinglets. We had to quit competing among ourselves. We had to have a unity beyond the normal range of human endeavor. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Mighty strong medicine. More potent than you might be able to swallow. But remember that little phrase "Divide and conquer!" It's done every day. And most folks think it is the way to go. They walk around ignorantly oblivious to the life they lead. It is the teaching of religions that allow men to profit from the lives of other men. It is religion that lets a government think it has the right to take money out of your paycheck. Don't believe that? Did you ever hear of the Divine Right of Kings? That bit of doctrine said that the King could do as he damn well pleased and it was your duty to go along with him. The King got his money and he got it from the filthy poor. So government had the right to tax you for its benefit and that carried over into other forms of government. Not a hard lesson to understand.
The gouge has been on the multitudes for centuries, hell, for millenia. It started out with the witch doctors and ended up with the Pope and the bishops and the priests and the Imams and the Mullahs and the Lamas and whatever you can think to add to the list. It has not been a new thing to mankind that a ruler would also declare his divinity. The God-King! Must not piss off the God-King for he might curse you! He might have your head cut off! Do you have a problem associating this with the IRS? Didn't think you would.
Most of our troubles are fabricated. They are made up. Just like Saddam's nasty weapons of mass destruction. A total fabrication. Just like the ship, the Maine, sunk in the port in Cuba to start the Spanish American war. A fabrication by SOMEBODY! So we have the dual crisis of fuel shortages and food shortages thrown upon us. Someone is making this up. It is not real. Some manipulations have been staged for the world to be fed this tale of woe and believe it. But the rice capital of the world, Stutgart, Arkansas, has plenty of rice, at least until it got sold off. Too many people were prepping and buying rice and beans to accomplish it and they got sent a little message. Keep this prepping shit up and we will ration your rice! Now why would anyone want to ration your rice purchases? Is it because they want a BIG HAMMER to fall on the rascally american public? Is it because we are to learn a lesson about how our masters want us to behave? Is this the ultimate Pavlovian Response conditioning?
*****************
I am looking for a solar powered electic system that will power our building. Consider it a 3 apartment, fully electric situation. It will take lots of juice. Electric cooking, heating, the whole ball of wax. If you know anything about this area please let me know via the normal email channel. The money will be there.
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
***********
I just want to say that this fuel crisis and food crisis and most of the troubles we are having is all contrived. The men behind closed doors sign the papers. You and I will never know who they are unless God would reveal them. They are cold heartless men. They care nothing about the poor or the hungry or the sick. They make money and they make it however they can. War is meaningless to them. But they like it over peace because there is more money to be made in war than in peace. They control huge amounts of cash and commodities, almost unfathomable amounts. They can cause shortages. They can cause surpluses. They can do damn near anything they wish. They run the world. We merely exist in their schemes. If they get tired of us they will do away with us.
My teacher, the man who was my Priest, knew of these men but didn't know their identities. Same as it is today. He was a very smart man and figured out that the only chance we had to escape the clutches of these bastards was to live in little communal villages, or what became known as Settlements and then Kinglets. We had to quit competing among ourselves. We had to have a unity beyond the normal range of human endeavor. "Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends." Mighty strong medicine. More potent than you might be able to swallow. But remember that little phrase "Divide and conquer!" It's done every day. And most folks think it is the way to go. They walk around ignorantly oblivious to the life they lead. It is the teaching of religions that allow men to profit from the lives of other men. It is religion that lets a government think it has the right to take money out of your paycheck. Don't believe that? Did you ever hear of the Divine Right of Kings? That bit of doctrine said that the King could do as he damn well pleased and it was your duty to go along with him. The King got his money and he got it from the filthy poor. So government had the right to tax you for its benefit and that carried over into other forms of government. Not a hard lesson to understand.
The gouge has been on the multitudes for centuries, hell, for millenia. It started out with the witch doctors and ended up with the Pope and the bishops and the priests and the Imams and the Mullahs and the Lamas and whatever you can think to add to the list. It has not been a new thing to mankind that a ruler would also declare his divinity. The God-King! Must not piss off the God-King for he might curse you! He might have your head cut off! Do you have a problem associating this with the IRS? Didn't think you would.
Most of our troubles are fabricated. They are made up. Just like Saddam's nasty weapons of mass destruction. A total fabrication. Just like the ship, the Maine, sunk in the port in Cuba to start the Spanish American war. A fabrication by SOMEBODY! So we have the dual crisis of fuel shortages and food shortages thrown upon us. Someone is making this up. It is not real. Some manipulations have been staged for the world to be fed this tale of woe and believe it. But the rice capital of the world, Stutgart, Arkansas, has plenty of rice, at least until it got sold off. Too many people were prepping and buying rice and beans to accomplish it and they got sent a little message. Keep this prepping shit up and we will ration your rice! Now why would anyone want to ration your rice purchases? Is it because they want a BIG HAMMER to fall on the rascally american public? Is it because we are to learn a lesson about how our masters want us to behave? Is this the ultimate Pavlovian Response conditioning?
*****************
I am looking for a solar powered electic system that will power our building. Consider it a 3 apartment, fully electric situation. It will take lots of juice. Electric cooking, heating, the whole ball of wax. If you know anything about this area please let me know via the normal email channel. The money will be there.
Stay alive!
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
SLOW START MORNING
A POST FROM WOLVERINE
It was good to hear from you. While I read your blog daily it is always nice to have that personal touch. While I am sure that everyone of the bloggers on the subject of survivalism are all Alpha males, we still share a lot in common and would most likely be friends if we lived near each other.
Friday when I went into work, at 0500, I noticed gas had dipped to below $3.70, the price I set in my mind to re-fill my gas cans. Earlier this year I used up some of my older stock, bought at $.207 a gallon. By the time I got off work gas had jumped back up and was at $4 again. I am still going to wait and try to catch it lower before I refill the supply. I do hate not having the cans ready to go, but I am still frugal enough to wait.
Where I differ from most is the thoughts on "record obscene profits". It is not Texaco (I know they merged and no longer exist, just an example) that sets the price for a barrel of oil, it is traders. The gas station owners are not making tons of extra money, their profit margins are nearly the same as every other year. When crude was $55 a barrel gas sold for $2 a gallon. At $110 dollars a barrel it sells for $4. If crude was still $55 and prices were $4 then yes, hang the bastards. I truly believe that the wrong people are being vilified over this.
Another area I differ from the crowd on is what should be the reaction. If you think "big oil" is making obscene profit then you should be investing in their stock to reap the rewards of the high dividends. Get some of your money back from those obscene profits. I also think that union members should be buying the stock of where they work and give their proxy to a member so he can be on the board of directors. Then when the board says they want to close the plant in Terra Haute the union guy can fight it, or explain it to the union. Either way, make the system work for you until the system changes.
I hear that the solution to the problem is to tax the obscene profits. Who in the hell thinks that the profits will be paid buy the company? You and I and every swinging dick out here know that the tax will be added to the cost of the product and we will be paying that tax. Once again the government is going to fix a problem and I will take it in the shorts. What part of FOR THE PEOPLE does government understand? NONE! Hey, if they want to tax obscene profits how about Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Madonna, and Harrison Ford? Hell, look at the obscene profits in sports and Hollywood. Movie and sports tickets have gone up more than gas in the last ten years and not a peep out of the public. Oh yeah, newspaper don't hype it.
If, as I do, you believe in capitalism then you have to let the oil companies run their business as they see fit, just like you let Hollywood and George Steinbrenner run their business the way they see fit. Michael, if Stay Alive suddenly gets hundreds of thousands of dollars from advertisers and donations should the rest of us scream that you are making obscene profits or should we congratulate you and try our luck and grabbing the brass ring?
Limited government should be what we want in everything. I hurt inside every time I hear someone say that the government should do something about a problem. Hell no they shouldn't. Look at how the government helped out by breaking up the phone company. When I lived in the city I got no less than three phone books put out in the sprit of competition. What a waste. I was left with two or three books to deal with. I used to pick up the phone and tell the operator I need help. Now they tell me to call my phone company. I thought I was! When my phone went out they told me to call a service company, they didn't deal with phones. Hell, at the farm growing up I dealt with one phone company that would send a guy out to fix the phone or give me a phone number I needed. The government helped us?
Airlines, trucking, and how many other things have they "deregulated" that have not cost us money? I hope you understand my point.
Ok, on a personal note, I finally got the slab poured so I can move the garage to the back of the farm and clear up my view and open up the garden area. The phone lines and cable lines got buried this week and some of the lawn was graded. I am hoping that in a month the lawn work will finally be completed and I can move on to getting more brush trimmed and trees planted. I need to add several fruit trees to replace the older ones. I do not want to wait until the older ones are done producing before I get the new ones going.
The youngest son is a week into his two months of training this summer. He is at a Fort out west and will not be home until just before he returns to college. While we miss him, we realize that he is getting some good training that will help him through the rest of his life. It is hard not to be a proud father watching him grow and become an Army officer. Maybe some day he and Theotherryan will cross paths. It would be good to have a couple of survival minded guys together.
Picked up a couple of books at a garage sale that will go in the survival library. One is Putting Food By, by Hertzberg/Vaughan/Greene. It is all about safe ways to preserve food. The other book is The Kitchen Garden Book, by Barr/Standard. It is a how to book on planting 32 items that you can mix and match into 500 different healthy meals. I am always on the lookout for any book that I think will help out in the survival library. Paying 25 cents at a garage sale beats the heck out of buying them new too.
Take care Michael. Keep on keeping on. Salvation is just around the corner, the government is coming to help.
Later,
Wolverine
*******
Michael sez:
I always enjoy hearing the views of our friend in Michigan.
******
This has been a slow starting day. A lot of blog writers have dropped out. That is upsetting in itself but it also makes my day a little duller. We got some weeding done to the garden this week but not caught up by any means. We have had too much rain! Then the heat of Summer finally arrives and here come the weeds! The Handmaiden is using plastic to place on the ground after it has been hoed. It seems to be doing a good job of keeping the weeds gone. I have an infestation of either Japanoses Beetles or Mexican Bean Beetles. I will take care of them very soon. I have no desire to lose my bean crop to some rotten Beetles.
We have a convention starting today. Don't know how many will be here but we already have folks in from Arizon and Missouri. Might be a lively conflab. We will certainly have plenty to talk about. Our convention is for the attendees and not for some speaker. The attendees get to do the talking. You can say anything you want but you are subject to question after you say it. That seems to keep things orderly and mannerly.
Things are looking up on the "hard times" front. This spike in the price of oil is making people fearful. What is going to happen when the price of gasoline makes it impossible to make any money because the drive to work is so expensive? We will discuss this issue further after the price of oil hits $150 a barrel. The main culprit, of course, is our federal reserve system which has the money supply inflated. The dollar is losing value and it just takes more dollars to buy the oil. And America no longer manufactures anything worth a damn so we have nothing to sell on the market to speak of except farm commodities. Farm commodities are getting pinched by rising costs so the farmers are taking it twixt the cheeks. Very shakey business. I have heard from survival food people that folks are buying to be able to feel comfortable. The paranoia is so deep that buying survival food makes a person calmer. Well, I am not stashing food to feel the tranquilizing effect. I am stashing because I want to eat when the globalist supermarket runs out of stuff to sell or the price is so dear that people can't afford it. Globalism is a shuck, folks. It's a scam. It won't work. The lines are too long and the conditions too varied. "Eat local!" will be the cry of the intelligent. There will be some more problems when America quits buying fuel. The commodity guys will be cut off from their cash cow of crude oil profits. Big oil may take a big hit! Ahh...it's so interesting watching the whore in her death rattle. But she deserves everything God gives her.
I am thinking about ordering next years seed for my garden right now. Who the hell knows about availability and price this Winter? As it stands, things could be cheap as dirt or precious and gold. Take your pick! Step up to the window and place your bet. Wanna be sure you eat? Buy your seed now! The same goes for ammo. If you need any ammo you had better get some of it while it is available. If this stupid gun grabbing Obama gets into office he will do his damnedest to make things safe for big government and do a gun grab. Screw the gun grabbers! Even that crooked Tom Delay from Texas has called Obama a Marxist. Funny how real political thought has been so limited these lawst few decades. But the handwriting is on the wall. Little Kinglets, little settlements, will be the look of the future. People will band together for security and help. Their individual leaders will be the governments of the future. And people vote with their feet. If a leader is in power some place and is repressive, there just won't be anyone to repress. They will be gone. Lots of places will be looking for joiners and a new home will be easy to come by for those looking. Bet on it.
I have not mentioned horses enough in this blog. When the hard times come, horses will be a tremendous help. They can do a lot of work. They can afford transportation. They can haul your goods to their destination. The Handmaiden reads a lot about the Amish and in her books are pictures of young girls sitting on a disc behind as many as 8 big draft horses. Quite a sight. Anyone who can train others in the use and care of horses will be a popular person in the days ahead. I strongly urge those with the potential to easily raise horses to do so. YOU TALK ABOUT BEING ABLE TO BARTER! Buggy horses are, I belive, made from a cross of a draft horse and an American Standard or a Quartrhorse. There are some old lines of Quarterhorses that are pretty big animals.
It rained last night. The sun finally peeped over the horizon and I saw water on the road and a full creek. A sure sign of rain.
I got an email from Dragon and he wants to know of anyone who can build a motor to run on straight alcohol. He says he has a sustainable supply of alky but he needs some help in building a motor that will run on it straight.
The news media is all in a tizzy about Hillary giving a speech tonight. They think she will concede the primary to Obama and the wonderment is that she might bring solidarity within the rankks of the Democrat Party. Who gives a shit? I mean really. What the fuck do I care if Hillary gives speech or not? I have already explained that the US President is not too significant a figure on the world stage these days. We still have the means to wage war but that will diminish fairly rapidly. An attack on our shores will just about destroy the mighty nation we once were completely. And it ain't gonna happen while China is preparing to host the Olympics. That will come afterward.
I'll be trying to stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
It was good to hear from you. While I read your blog daily it is always nice to have that personal touch. While I am sure that everyone of the bloggers on the subject of survivalism are all Alpha males, we still share a lot in common and would most likely be friends if we lived near each other.
Friday when I went into work, at 0500, I noticed gas had dipped to below $3.70, the price I set in my mind to re-fill my gas cans. Earlier this year I used up some of my older stock, bought at $.207 a gallon. By the time I got off work gas had jumped back up and was at $4 again. I am still going to wait and try to catch it lower before I refill the supply. I do hate not having the cans ready to go, but I am still frugal enough to wait.
Where I differ from most is the thoughts on "record obscene profits". It is not Texaco (I know they merged and no longer exist, just an example) that sets the price for a barrel of oil, it is traders. The gas station owners are not making tons of extra money, their profit margins are nearly the same as every other year. When crude was $55 a barrel gas sold for $2 a gallon. At $110 dollars a barrel it sells for $4. If crude was still $55 and prices were $4 then yes, hang the bastards. I truly believe that the wrong people are being vilified over this.
Another area I differ from the crowd on is what should be the reaction. If you think "big oil" is making obscene profit then you should be investing in their stock to reap the rewards of the high dividends. Get some of your money back from those obscene profits. I also think that union members should be buying the stock of where they work and give their proxy to a member so he can be on the board of directors. Then when the board says they want to close the plant in Terra Haute the union guy can fight it, or explain it to the union. Either way, make the system work for you until the system changes.
I hear that the solution to the problem is to tax the obscene profits. Who in the hell thinks that the profits will be paid buy the company? You and I and every swinging dick out here know that the tax will be added to the cost of the product and we will be paying that tax. Once again the government is going to fix a problem and I will take it in the shorts. What part of FOR THE PEOPLE does government understand? NONE! Hey, if they want to tax obscene profits how about Derek Jeter, Tom Brady, Madonna, and Harrison Ford? Hell, look at the obscene profits in sports and Hollywood. Movie and sports tickets have gone up more than gas in the last ten years and not a peep out of the public. Oh yeah, newspaper don't hype it.
If, as I do, you believe in capitalism then you have to let the oil companies run their business as they see fit, just like you let Hollywood and George Steinbrenner run their business the way they see fit. Michael, if Stay Alive suddenly gets hundreds of thousands of dollars from advertisers and donations should the rest of us scream that you are making obscene profits or should we congratulate you and try our luck and grabbing the brass ring?
Limited government should be what we want in everything. I hurt inside every time I hear someone say that the government should do something about a problem. Hell no they shouldn't. Look at how the government helped out by breaking up the phone company. When I lived in the city I got no less than three phone books put out in the sprit of competition. What a waste. I was left with two or three books to deal with. I used to pick up the phone and tell the operator I need help. Now they tell me to call my phone company. I thought I was! When my phone went out they told me to call a service company, they didn't deal with phones. Hell, at the farm growing up I dealt with one phone company that would send a guy out to fix the phone or give me a phone number I needed. The government helped us?
Airlines, trucking, and how many other things have they "deregulated" that have not cost us money? I hope you understand my point.
Ok, on a personal note, I finally got the slab poured so I can move the garage to the back of the farm and clear up my view and open up the garden area. The phone lines and cable lines got buried this week and some of the lawn was graded. I am hoping that in a month the lawn work will finally be completed and I can move on to getting more brush trimmed and trees planted. I need to add several fruit trees to replace the older ones. I do not want to wait until the older ones are done producing before I get the new ones going.
The youngest son is a week into his two months of training this summer. He is at a Fort out west and will not be home until just before he returns to college. While we miss him, we realize that he is getting some good training that will help him through the rest of his life. It is hard not to be a proud father watching him grow and become an Army officer. Maybe some day he and Theotherryan will cross paths. It would be good to have a couple of survival minded guys together.
Picked up a couple of books at a garage sale that will go in the survival library. One is Putting Food By, by Hertzberg/Vaughan/Greene. It is all about safe ways to preserve food. The other book is The Kitchen Garden Book, by Barr/Standard. It is a how to book on planting 32 items that you can mix and match into 500 different healthy meals. I am always on the lookout for any book that I think will help out in the survival library. Paying 25 cents at a garage sale beats the heck out of buying them new too.
Take care Michael. Keep on keeping on. Salvation is just around the corner, the government is coming to help.
Later,
Wolverine
*******
Michael sez:
I always enjoy hearing the views of our friend in Michigan.
******
This has been a slow starting day. A lot of blog writers have dropped out. That is upsetting in itself but it also makes my day a little duller. We got some weeding done to the garden this week but not caught up by any means. We have had too much rain! Then the heat of Summer finally arrives and here come the weeds! The Handmaiden is using plastic to place on the ground after it has been hoed. It seems to be doing a good job of keeping the weeds gone. I have an infestation of either Japanoses Beetles or Mexican Bean Beetles. I will take care of them very soon. I have no desire to lose my bean crop to some rotten Beetles.
We have a convention starting today. Don't know how many will be here but we already have folks in from Arizon and Missouri. Might be a lively conflab. We will certainly have plenty to talk about. Our convention is for the attendees and not for some speaker. The attendees get to do the talking. You can say anything you want but you are subject to question after you say it. That seems to keep things orderly and mannerly.
Things are looking up on the "hard times" front. This spike in the price of oil is making people fearful. What is going to happen when the price of gasoline makes it impossible to make any money because the drive to work is so expensive? We will discuss this issue further after the price of oil hits $150 a barrel. The main culprit, of course, is our federal reserve system which has the money supply inflated. The dollar is losing value and it just takes more dollars to buy the oil. And America no longer manufactures anything worth a damn so we have nothing to sell on the market to speak of except farm commodities. Farm commodities are getting pinched by rising costs so the farmers are taking it twixt the cheeks. Very shakey business. I have heard from survival food people that folks are buying to be able to feel comfortable. The paranoia is so deep that buying survival food makes a person calmer. Well, I am not stashing food to feel the tranquilizing effect. I am stashing because I want to eat when the globalist supermarket runs out of stuff to sell or the price is so dear that people can't afford it. Globalism is a shuck, folks. It's a scam. It won't work. The lines are too long and the conditions too varied. "Eat local!" will be the cry of the intelligent. There will be some more problems when America quits buying fuel. The commodity guys will be cut off from their cash cow of crude oil profits. Big oil may take a big hit! Ahh...it's so interesting watching the whore in her death rattle. But she deserves everything God gives her.
I am thinking about ordering next years seed for my garden right now. Who the hell knows about availability and price this Winter? As it stands, things could be cheap as dirt or precious and gold. Take your pick! Step up to the window and place your bet. Wanna be sure you eat? Buy your seed now! The same goes for ammo. If you need any ammo you had better get some of it while it is available. If this stupid gun grabbing Obama gets into office he will do his damnedest to make things safe for big government and do a gun grab. Screw the gun grabbers! Even that crooked Tom Delay from Texas has called Obama a Marxist. Funny how real political thought has been so limited these lawst few decades. But the handwriting is on the wall. Little Kinglets, little settlements, will be the look of the future. People will band together for security and help. Their individual leaders will be the governments of the future. And people vote with their feet. If a leader is in power some place and is repressive, there just won't be anyone to repress. They will be gone. Lots of places will be looking for joiners and a new home will be easy to come by for those looking. Bet on it.
I have not mentioned horses enough in this blog. When the hard times come, horses will be a tremendous help. They can do a lot of work. They can afford transportation. They can haul your goods to their destination. The Handmaiden reads a lot about the Amish and in her books are pictures of young girls sitting on a disc behind as many as 8 big draft horses. Quite a sight. Anyone who can train others in the use and care of horses will be a popular person in the days ahead. I strongly urge those with the potential to easily raise horses to do so. YOU TALK ABOUT BEING ABLE TO BARTER! Buggy horses are, I belive, made from a cross of a draft horse and an American Standard or a Quartrhorse. There are some old lines of Quarterhorses that are pretty big animals.
It rained last night. The sun finally peeped over the horizon and I saw water on the road and a full creek. A sure sign of rain.
I got an email from Dragon and he wants to know of anyone who can build a motor to run on straight alcohol. He says he has a sustainable supply of alky but he needs some help in building a motor that will run on it straight.
The news media is all in a tizzy about Hillary giving a speech tonight. They think she will concede the primary to Obama and the wonderment is that she might bring solidarity within the rankks of the Democrat Party. Who gives a shit? I mean really. What the fuck do I care if Hillary gives speech or not? I have already explained that the US President is not too significant a figure on the world stage these days. We still have the means to wage war but that will diminish fairly rapidly. An attack on our shores will just about destroy the mighty nation we once were completely. And it ain't gonna happen while China is preparing to host the Olympics. That will come afterward.
I'll be trying to stay alive.
Michael
mboone@rtccom.net
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
