Working the Land: 3 Essential Natural Gardening Tips for Beginners 

Long ago, it was common for people to work their own land. In fact, where most citizens today can tell the difference between fast food restaurants, a century ago, most people could discern the difference between edible and non-edible plants with ease.

Unfortunately, as society has progressed, very few people can identify fruit or vegetable bearing plants, nor can they tell which leaves, roots and seeds are good for humans to eat. But if you’re interested in gardening or homesteading, these are skills that you must learn.

Today, we have everything that we need made available to us via our local supermarkets. But if you want to begin growing your own fruits and vegetables, you have to learn the art of gardening, and methods for keeping your plants safe and healthy.

Here, we’ll focus on natural methods of gardening and keeping plants healthy as they grow

When you set out to build a garden, there’s much more to it than simply digging a few holes and dropping seeds on the ground. This is a process that requires a strategy and a schedule, and you’ll need to stick to it in order to be successful. 

First, when choosing a location, you’ll want to follow the path of the sun over your property throughout the day. And you’ll want to keep in mind that a vegetable garden needs around 6 hours of direct sunlight on average per day. 

With this in mind, you don’t want to choose an area that receives ample shade or an area that floods. Once you have your areas marked out, the next step is to choose the best area where you have easy access to the garden. 

As long as your garden is easily accessible, you’ll be able to transport water, fertilizer, and materials without difficulty, and you’ll be more likely to tend your garden a bit more often if it’s in a convenient location. 

If you dig into your garden area and you see rich, dark soil, then you’re in luck. Chances are, the nutrient content in your chosen location is perfect to grow plants. But if not, you’ll need to buy soil rich in nutrients in order for your plants to grow sufficiently.

After you assess the nutrients in your base soil, add nutrient-rich soil if needed and ensure that this is spread around evenly and thoroughly. 

Once you have your soil in place, it’s time to plant your seeds or seedlings. Just be sure to dig deep enough in reference to the grow chart that corresponds to your chosen plants. Once all of your seeds or seedlings are planted, ensure that you give them a nice shower to saturate the ground with water to help them begin growing. 

You’ll want to avoid using any caustic fertilizers, especially at the beginning stage. Natural alternatives for fertilizer include a variety of compost and natural fertilizers like manure and guano, but these can be added after a week or so.

As your garden grows, you’ll begin to notice visitors. And these visitors can come in…

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EPIC, Coalition Urge FTC to Issue Rules Protecting Consumers Against Data Abuse and Discrimination

consumer protection data protection DPA FTC

EPIC, Coalition Urge FTC to Issue Rules Protecting Consumers Against Data Abuse and Discrimination

Today, EPIC and a coalition of 44 consumer advocacy, civil rights, and media democracy groups urged the Federal Trade Commission to initiate a rulemaking to promote civil rights and protect against abusive data practices. “Companies use personal data to enable and even perpetuate discriminatory practices against people of color, women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, religious minorities, persons with disabilities, persons living on low income, immigrants and other marginalized groups,” the letter explains. The letter calls for a rulemaking that would address the collection, use, management, retention, and deletion of personal data. “This country faces a deepening crisis of data abuse and discrimination,” John Davisson, Senior Counsel at EPIC. “But the FTC has the power to set industry-wide rules that will rein in exploitative data practices and protect privacy and civil rights. We join the president and members of Congress in urging the FTC to use that power as soon as possible.” EPIC has frequently challenged the FTC over its failure to address consumer privacy harms, has filed a rulemaking petition with the FTC on commercial AI use, and has long advocated for the creation of a U.S. Data Protection Agency. EPIC also published a report on the FTC’s unused statutory authorities, What the FTC Could Be Doing (But Isn’t) to Protect Privacy, in June.

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Wild Horsemint Leaves Sore Muscle Rub Homemade Healing Recipe

This Wild Horsemint Leaves Sore Muscle Rub Homemade Healing Recipe is a blessing from Mother Nature and a knowledgeable homesteader who generously good-spirited shares with the whole homesteading community this pain relief sore muscle rub home remedy.

Muscle pain is one of the biggest problems that people complain about after a long, hard day at work. Overusing muscles in the back, legs and arms are some of the most common reported by homesteaders and farmers.

While if you were to go to the doctor every time you have a sore muscle and get prescribed a painkiller, chances are you would have a medicine cabinet full of pills. This home remedy is just what you need.

This article was designed to introduce the reader to a unique recipe for an all-natural rub that is designed to reduce the pain associated with muscle issues.

Dried Horsemint Leaves – Monarda punctata – Whole Leaves  – can be bought here

This article was written in hopes to offer the reader a much healthier alternative to expensive over the counter or prescription preparations that contain a lot of possibly dangerous chemicals.

The all-natural remedy included in the article contains a list of all of the necessary ingredients that are needed to get started.

It also includes a complete, easy to read and to follow step by step preparation guide.

All of the information is presented in a way that makes it really easy to read and understand.

Click here to read about how to make a batch of Wild Horsemint Leaves Sore Muscle Rub Homemade Healing Recipe: http://sensiblesurvival.blogspot.com/2012/06/make-homemade-muscle-rub-from-wild.html

 

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Shotgun barrels probably don’t have to be as long as they are.

My shotgun and I have been together a long time. I received it for my twelfth birthday about 70 years ago. I was raised in a farming community. It was expected that a young man would contribute to the food supply whenever possible. My family considered a shotgun to be a piece of precision farm equipment that you used to get food. When I lived with my grandfather on his small farm in rural Midwest he positioned a firearm at each downstairs window. When we looked out in the morning if there was a critter poaching from our garden we could open the window slightly and collect a main course for lunch. If we got a rabbit it meant I did not have to catch one of the free-roaming roosters for lunch.

In those days in rural America people did not have indoor plumbing. Water came from the well. You went out and pumped for it. You wonder about personal sanitation and how often we took showers. The first shower I experienced was when I was in high school and had to take a gym class. Warm water coming out of the wall, what a concept. The privy was between the house and the barn. Grandpa got up early about 3 and went down to the barn. Not everyone had electricity in those days. It was a status symbol to see a light burning above the farm door. Not much time for a big breakfast. In the evening there was the milking so not much time then either. The big meal was the midday. There would be the main course usually chicken from free-roaming to table in less than two hours. There were always potatoes and apple kuchen for dessert. We ate well. That was when we had a leisurely meal and talked about important things.

The elementary school had three rooms: one for first and second grade, one for 3, 4, and 5 the last room was for grade 6 and above. By 5th grade you had learned to read, write, and arithmetic which is what schools taught in those days. Often the youths were needed on the farm so quit after the fifth grade. At age 12 I got my hunting license without an adult accompanying me. You could drive a tractor on the county road at least up to the next field. Young women could marry at that age. It was pioneer country. It was a different world.

I was proud of my shotgun. I took very good care of it. When a relative passed I acquired a rifle and shotgun as a hand-me-down. The local gunsmith said the rifle was not in good enough shape to shoot and advised I take it to the local lake about a mile away and throw it in. The shotgun was in good shape as shotguns do not wear out like rifles do. I already had mine so I gave it to a cousin who did not have one. There…

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Real Life Survival Stories: The Mystery of The Third Man Factor

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by Aden Tate

Author of The Faithful Prepper and Zombie Choices

Being involved in prepping, some readers are likely naturally curious when it comes to tales of survival. Often in survival stories, there’s something unexplainable that helps people to get through extreme scenarios. The following stories all share something known as The Third Man Factor.

“Who is the third who walks always beside you? When I count, there are only you and I together. But when I look ahead up the white road, there is always another one walking beside you.” T.S. Eliot, The Wasteland and Other Poems

The Third Man Factor is the widely reported, mysterious phenomenon of feeling a presence during extreme situations. Survivors recall experiences of being guided or helped by the sometimes seen, sometimes heard, shadowy form.    

Below are just a few real-life stories in which the survivors recount their miraculous encounters with these guardians. 

1898 – Joshua Slocum 

Aboard his ship, the SpraySlocum attempts to become the first person to circumnavigate the globe alone. However, food poisoning has left him incapacitated, and a violent storm has left the weakened sailor without much hope for making it through the night.

It’s in the middle of this storm that Slocum experiences something phenomenal. An unexpected visitor. Claiming to “come to aid” him, the visitor tells Joshua, “Lie quiet…and I will guide your ship tonight.”

Slocum makes it through the night without the waves swamping his ship. Later, he would write a book about his experience, an international bestseller, Sailing Alone Around the World.

1914-1916 – Ernest Shackleton

After the ice leaves Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton and his crew trapped on an ice floe for 15 months, the men realize they will have to escape by sea if they ever wish to see humanity again. Using small whaling boats, the men set sail into the unknown, landing at the uninhabitable Elephant Island three days later.

Shackleton’s only hope is to continue sailing on to a whaling depot 680 miles away. Shackleton sets sail for 14 days, taking five other men with him, miraculously reaching South Georgia (island home of the whaling depot).

However, they’ve landed on the wrong side of the island in the middle of a hurricane. Taking two others with him, Shackleton now mountaineers through the heart of the mountain, reaching the whaling depot on the other side the following day.

A rescue operation saves every single…

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Senate Dials Back Plan to Force SSN Collection by Payment Services, As EPIC Urged

Financial Privacy IRS

Senate Dials Back Plan to Force SSN Collection by Payment Services, As EPIC Urged

The Senate Finance Committee has significantly scaled back a proposal in the pending budget reconciliation bill to expand the mandatory reporting regime for private financial information in the United States, a move that EPIC and peer organizations called for last month. The original proposal would have required peer-to-peer apps and services to provide the IRS with Tax Identification Numbers and other data for accounts with inflows and outflows of more than $600 per year. Because most individuals do not hold a separate TIN from their Social Security Number, this plan would have forced private entities to collect the SSNs of millions of Americans. The revised proposal raises the threshold from $600 to $10,000, a significant step toward recommendations by EPIC and other privacy and consumer rights group. “At minimum, the expanded reporting requirement should be scaled back to apply only to business accounts or individual accounts with a high de minimis threshold, adjusted for inflation over time,” the coalition wrote in its letter to the Senate Finance Committee. U.S Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also praised the change.

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How to save on flowers

If you’re preparing for a wedding, anniversary, or any other function where you need flowers, then the most important thing you need is to know where to get the best arrangement at the lowest price. Saving on flowers doesn’t mean you compromise on quality. You only need to have the right things in place and work with the right company. 

If you’re choosing your bouquet, then this article comes in handy

Reuse blooms

You see, your ceremony happens at several places or locations. Take, for instance, a wedding happening in the garden or church/ any other venue. Then there’s the reception where the real celebration happens, where you receive the guests, and the rest of the program happens. If that’s the case with you, your guests won’t see the reception first, and therefore you can get the flowers and use them at the wedding venue. Then someone will be on stand-by immediately you step out after exchanging vows. So, same bouquets, different venues. That means you don’t need to get flowers for every venue; it’ll be a waste of resources. 

Focus on areas of high concentration

During the function, there are those locations where the camera remains focused for the longest time. In a traditional wedding set up, for instance, it’s at the front of the hall. That’s where the guests of the day and the host (you) are seated. That’s the area that makes great impact even for the attendees. Think of other things you can do in the seemingly blank spaces. There are endless ways you can cover up the empty areas creatively- you can even use lighting. Then concentrate on areas that will be photographed much. 

Go for small arrangements.

When it comes to bouquets, you can have them arranged in whatever sizes you need. You have gone to places and seen huge arrangements. But you don’t need those big arrangements to make the intended impact. Experienced florists know how even to use small flower collections and still make the intended impact. You can also go for the bud vases; they work ‘wonders’ when it comes to minimizing the amount of flowers you need. 

Mix up

Whatever the arrangement, you have to think of how you’ll add depth to the room. That’s where it becomes so essential to work with a local florist because you can walk with them to the venue and allow them to suggest the centerpieces that will add warmth. You could also do a perfect mix with candles -compare the cost of getting the candles yourself or asking for some from the florist. 

Don’t be tied to a single bloom.

You could be obsessed with Peonies, and yes, they are great, but the suckers are pretty expensive. 

Very few people can afford such, and after all, why spend so much on something when you have an alternative that has the same impact? 

When choosing flowers for your big day- could be your day or for that special one, it’s good you balance between cost and the impact of your choice from a local Flower Delivery. You…

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11 Meat Processing Mistakes You Are Probably Making Right Now

As preppers, many of us hunt and process our meat ourselves for a sense of accomplishment and security, among other reasons.

Your first hunt and kill might get sloppy when it comes time to process the meat. Most folks have no idea the mistakes they are making when processing animals.

It’s not as simple as having a sharp knife and cutting skills. Meat processing requires a lot of strength, precision, and knowledge to do it right.

Here are 11 meat processing mistakes you are probably making right now, and how to correct them.

Not Raising Livestock

While you may be a wild game hunter, it is a great idea to raise livestock on your homestead. There are endless reasons to keep your own animals, including:

  • Constant food source
  • Great for the environment
  • Know where your food came from
  • Teach children about animals and farming
  • Animal bonding time

At the very minimum, you could feed the local wildlife such as rabbits and squirrels to keep them around your homestead.

11 Meat Processing Mistakes You Are Probably Making Right Now

Hunting these little animals could mean your family can live to see their next meal in an emergency.

Keeping cows provides milk and meat. Keeping chickens provides eggs and meat. Keeping goats also provides milk and meat.

Any of these animals are great farm animals to keep on your homestead with proper care.

Discarding All Animal Fat

Humans need fat to survive. We cannot survive on lean meat alone because our bodies would still enter starvation mode after a while.

Discarding All Animal Fat

Animal fat from meat or freshly caught fish are necessities for survival.

When processing your animal, be sure to save the fat. It can be rendered down into lard for cooking oil, it can be added to soups or stews for extra richness, and it can be spread on toast in place of butter.

Related: How To Stockpile Lard, The Calorie Rich Survival Food Of The Great Depression

That extra fat might save you on a hungry night.

Discarding Undesirable Cuts

As preppers, we want to use every last bit of the animal we are processing.

11 Meat Processing Mistakes You Are Probably Making Right Now

Being wasteful is harmful to the homestead, so utilize every last bit of the animal that you can. This means bones, organs, tough cuts, even feet!

Every part of the animal can be utilized for something, it just takes a little planning and ingenuity.

It also takes some trial and error, so if you are just beginning with meat processing, give yourself some time. Just remember that the entire animal can always be used for something or another.

Dull Knives

You not only need one sharp knife for processing, but you need an entire set of razor-sharp knives!

Dull knives will get you nowhere and can be pretty dangerous. Dull…

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Pickled Eggs, so pretty – The Homestead Survival

Pickled Eggs when pickled with beet juice are so pretty to have on the table halved or sliced. I really love the bright color. Once they are made you keep them in the fridge and the longer they are there the deeper the pink color goes till after a few weeks even the yolks get a pink to them.

These look pretty chopped up in a salad as well as halved. Today we share a great recipe for making these red boiled eggs.

Love pickled eggs? It’s easy to make them, and you can add spices like chilli flakes, turmeric, curry powder or mustard seeds to flavour and colour them. Popular bar styled food made at home with this easy no canning method. All you need is a nice big jar, hard-boiled eggs, and a brine to make the best-pickled eggs ever.

Beet pickled eggs with cardamom and anise

  • 1 beet, peeled and roughly chopped into 1 to 2-inch sized pieces, cooked (see recipe note)
  • 1 cup beet juice (see recipe note)
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 onion, sliced
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 1 star anise
  • 6 hard cooked eggs, peeled

Curried pickled eggs

  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3/4 cup water
  • 1/4 onion, sliced
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3 cardamom pods
  • 1 teaspoon mustard seeds (yellow or brown)
  • 1 tablespoon yellow curry powder
  • 6 hard cooked eggs, peeled
  1. Prepare the eggs:

    Peel the eggs and place in the bottom of a clean, quart-sized glass jar.

  2. Prepare the pickling liquid:

    In a medium saucepan, add the vinegar, water (or beet juice if using), the onion (and jalapeno if using), sugar, and spices. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, until the sugar has dissolved and the onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool a few minutes.

  3. Pickle the eggs:

    Pour the vinegar onion mixture over the eggs in the jar, covering the eggs completely. If you are making the beet pickled eggs, place some or all of the cooked beets in with the eggs in the jar (this will help to bring color to the eggs, and you will have pickled beets as well.) Secure close the jar’s cover. Refrigerate up to a month.

    The pickled eggs will be ready to eat after a few days. The longer the eggs sit in the pickling juice, the more the pickling juice will penetrate the eggs.

Tips for Pickled Eggs

  • Hard boil your eggs using a pressure cooker for perfect results every time.
  • Choosing a pickling spice without cloves will help keep the brine from turning brown.
  • You can substitute cider vinegar for the white vinegar for a different flavor.
  • Using red onion or a few slices of beets will make your eggs, pretty and pink!
  • Add extra dill or even a few slices of jalapeno for a little bit of zip!

FAQ

How long do pickled eggs last?

These pickled eggs will last in the fridge for 2 weeks in a well-sealed jar. For more tips, check out our guide about how to pickle safely.

Why are my pickled eggs rubbery?

To avoid rubbery pickled eggs, avoid overcooking the eggs when you’re boiling them. Follow our Hard-Boiled Eggs recipe to get perfect hard-boiled eggs every time.

How should I serve pickled eggs?

Pickled eggs are a great party appetizer! Serve them with toothpicks, or alongside a variety of toasts and crackers. You can also use them in your favorite egg salad recipes.

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EPIC Urges Canadian Privacy Commissioner to Ban Facial Recognition

EPIC Urges Canadian Privacy Commissioner to Ban Facial Recognition

In comments on the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, EPIC urged the Commissioner to ban police use of facial recognition. EPIC’s comments respond to the Commissioner’s recently published Draft Guidance on Facial Recognition for Police Agencies. The Draft Guidance is a set of non-binding recommendations that would govern how police agencies in Canada use facial recognition technology. EPIC’s comments argue that police cannot be trusted with facial recognition, that the Draft Guidance would not prevent abuses of the technology, and that the only privacy-protective approach to facial recognition is a complete ban. EPIC has joined a number of coalitions urging a ban on facial recognition including: an international letter opposing the technology, a statement of concerns on police use of FR, and EPIC’s Ban Face Surveillance campaign.

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