Month: January 2022

The following Aberdeen Beef-Bacon Pie recipe is from reader L.C.

Ingredients

• 1/4 pound sliced bacon, diced
• 3 pounds beef stew meat, in 1-inch cubes
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1-1/2 cups sliced carrots
• 6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 pie crust (see standard recipes, or use a store-bought crust)
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°.

In a fry pan or Dutch oven, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp.

Remove to paper towels to drain.

Brown the beef in drippings in batches; drain and set beef aside.

Add onion to the pan.

Saute until crisp-tender.

Add carrots, bacon and beef.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the flour, broth, and the Worcestershire sauce until smooth. Add to beef mixture. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer until meat is tender, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Stir in peas, salt, and pepper. Transfer to an ungreased 11×7-in. baking dish.

On a lightly-floured surface, roll out crust into a 12×8-in. rectangle. Cut slits in crust. Place over filling; trim and seal edges. If desired, brush with beaten egg.

Bake until crust is golden and filling is bubbling, 35-40 minutes.

SERVING

Let the pie stand for 15 minutes before serving.

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Do you have a favorite recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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After society crumbles, the ability to use the fiat currency which was in use before vanishes. Likewise, when politicians decide that certain people no longer should be able to purchase food, medicine, or healthcare, the ability to use the fiat currency which was previously stored becomes much more difficult. It’s in times like these that the ability to create a barter network matters.

What does this entail? Are there things I learned about this from living through the collapse of Venezuela? Absolutely, but first, we must understand that this is nothing unique. The creating of barter networks is absolutely nothing new.

Barter has history.

Trade is intrinsically tied to mankind. One doesn’t have to look far in ancient history to find semi-nomadic tribes living by the ocean exchanging seashells, salty fish, or textiles to get what they needed. When society returns to a primitive state, the means of exchange will as well.

In this article, I will limit myself to deal with physical bartering. Selco has covered pretty well the skills bartering topic in this article. Of course his experiences come from much more crude scenarios, if you will. Venezuela post-collapse was bad, but it wasn’t a literal war zone.

Like anything else, bartering has advantages and disadvantages. The main advantage? Not having to use money. This link elaborates on that.

What should you take in account for starting a bartering network?

Therefore, there are reasonable odds that all sort of people will end trying to barter all kind of goods. Once a critical mass of users is reached, some good measurements based on common sense are needed. And, of course, you have to be sure that bartering is for you.

The first factor to consider is this:

1. What platform are you going to use?

Are you going to use a social media profile? Is it safe to use social media to barter a couple of boxes of .22LR for 5.56 through this venue?

Is it safe attempting to exchange 5-oz of silver with someone who we don’t even know when SHTF? Should this person rip you off,  you can’t just go with the police to file a claim.” In this part of the world, it’s risky enough already even with a law enforcement infrastructure.

I would suggest those in smaller communities using an old-school style BBS message board, as a backup means for Internet-based barter/trading platforms.

Why? It’s much more likely to be “online” than the Internet! Just check this out. If anything happens to the web, we’re all pretty much…

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(Continued from Part 2.)

Cooking

Use a stove as long as you have electric power, natural gas, or propane. If you can find an old fashion wood-burning cookstove, great. This allows you to be able to cook when fuel or grid electrical power is gone. With a lot of gas stoves, the surface burners will work without electric power, but you will need to light them with a match or some other spark source. The oven will not work in modern models without electric power.

A camping stove, gas, propane, or charcoal grill can be used. However, you will need fuel supplies. And, of course, proper ventilation is a concern.

If you have a large propane tank then you can install a “wet leg” with this you can fill the smaller 15-20 pound propane tanks. This doesn’t go very fast, especially in the winter. In the summer, cool the small tank and it will fill a lot quicker.

There are also some cooking options with Sterno, in the short term. You can also cook in a fireplace. Even more basic is a and outdoor campfire. But leep it small as you don’t want to attract attention. Practice cooking with a Dutch oven with charcoal or hot wood coals. Anything you can bake in an oven you can do in a Dutch oven. Nothing beats cast iron. But you do need to practice, practice! Tongs to move charcoal or hot coals around, and leather gloves and a  lid lifter are very helpful. Cast iron does get hot, and stays hot. Dutch oven cookbooks are very helpful here. Again, practice! The base size is a 12 inch diameter,  6 quart. However, I would get the deeper 8-quart size, as you’ll find that it is easier to bake bread in it without burning the top of the bread. The range of available sizes includes 8 inch, 10 inch, 12 inch, 14 inch, 16 inch, and even a 20 inch. The size you want will depend on your needs. (Cast iron is heavy.)

Flaxseed oil (edible) is the best for seasoning cast iron. (See: Cooks Illustrated.) First, clean and dry and then warm the cast iron to 200 degrees to open the pores in the cast iron. Carefully rub the oil over the surface, then in 350-450 degree preheated the oven, put the cast iron upside down in the oven over some foil to catch the oil drippings and bake it for an hour. Let it slowly cool for two  hours or more in the oven to further season it. They say to repeat this five times. Avoid soap and water for cleaning at first to give it more time to get a good surface, scrape and dry it. Over time, oils from cooking will produce a stick-free surface and you can then use some soap and water. Don’t store with the lid on tight, but put a folded paper towel between the lid and the pot to allow water to escape, and decrease…

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According to the American Academy of Dermatology, 10 to 50 million Americans develop allergic rashes to poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac every year. These plants grow almost everywhere in the United States, except Alaska, Hawaii, and some desert regions of Nevada.

Poison oak encounters

Nothing is better on a sunny spring day than taking your dog and going for a long walk in the woods. Enjoying the wildflowers and sounds of birds, sitting by bubbling creeks, and playing with your dog. Life is great. When you get home, your family pets your dog while you drop your clothes by the washer.

Unfortunately, a few days later, you and your entire family develop rashes from head-to-toe from exposure to poison oak. You contacted it on your hike, your dog brought it home on his fur and passed it along, and others touched your contaminated clothes. Life is no longer so great.

Poison oak is a widespread problem for both recreational users and workers in the outdoors. It has been reported that poison oak is the number one cause of workman’s compensation payments related to outdoor injury. Many U.S. Forest Service firefighters are forced to leave the fire line due to rashes from poisonous plants.

Captain John Smith first reported poison ivy in North America in the 1600s. In fact, later British explorers brought it back to England, where it was planted in gardens, much to the annoyance of unwary gardeners. Outside of North America, species of poison oak and poison ivy grow in China, Japan, and Malaysia.

Native Americans used poison oak as a black dye to cure warts, to weave baskets, to wrap acorn meal, and to cover and protect food stores. It is unclear if they developed immunity or handled the plant carefully, but they did not seem to suffer the effects we do.

Anyone who has ever experienced a rash from poison oak knows that it is something to be avoided. This is possible with some knowledge and a few precautions. This article will discuss the identification, prevention, and treatment of contact with poisonous plants. For simplicity, I will use the term poison oak to mean poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac.

Knowing how to identify poisonous plants is the first step in preventing an itchy rash. Poison oak, poison ivy, and poison sumac all are part of a family of 600 trees and shrubs that are found all over the world. Many are known to irritate the skin, including the Japanese lacquer tree, mango fruit, shells of cashews, and seeds of Ginkgo biloba.

Avoiding the Toxicodendron genus

Botanists have classified the poisonous varieties in the genus, Toxicodendron, toxico meaning poison, and dendron meaning plant. There is some disagreement as to how many separate species and varieties exist, but most botanists agree there are four main species: Western poison oak, Eastern poison oak, poison ivy, and…

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Consideration # 4: Pests & Diseases

Pests and diseases are a concern for any crop. They can drastically reduce your yield or even destroy your plants completely. Most people who grow corn plant special hybrid varieties that are resistant to many diseases and then they also spray their fields with various treatments throughout the season. This is because crop diseases are a huge problem when it comes to corn. The huge fields of it that are grown across much of the country every year mean that diseases can rapidly spread across vast swaths of land. Of course, the hybrid varieties are continually updated to handle new threats. But heirloom varieties don’t have this option, so they often suffer.

Because perennials are designed to survive year-after-year in the same spot, they usually have better disease resistance than annuals. Sunroots are no exception. They generally suffer from few if any serious plant diseases. This becomes especially important when access to modern chemical treatments goes away. I know there are all natural treatments that can work against certain problems, but only as long as you can stockpile the ingredients or produce them yourself. As they say “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”.

An important strategy that most gardeners employ to reduce diseases is to grow plants from a variety of botanical families. For example, tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers, and eggplants are all members of the Solanaceae family. Many diseases that attack one of these plants can spread to attack the others as well. (This is why when you are practicing crop rotation, tomatoes shouldn’t be rotated into a bed that contained potatoes last year). Jerusalem artichokes are members of the Asteraceae family. The only other commonly grown food plant in that family is sunflowers. So adding this crop can add to the diversity and resilience of your food supply.

Insects can also do a lot of damage to crops. I wish I could say that sunroots were immune to this type of problem, but I can’t. I will say that this wonder crop doesn’t seem to be a target for slugs, Japanese beetles, caterpillars, or stink bugs (all of which are abundant in my garden). But aphids seem to like young sunroots better than anything else I grow. Early in the season I find clusters of them underneath the leaves on a regular basis. Left unchecked they slowly drain energy from the plant. Sevin™ spray seems to take care of them and the dust works even better. I also set out little trays of Terro™ to kill the ants that bring the aphids in. Given enough time, you could manually walk through your patch and crush the aphids by hand on the leaves. I’ve done that and the leaves are plenty sturdy enough to handle this. By mid-summer the plants seem to toughen up and the aphid problem starts to fade away.

Besides pests of the microscopic and insect kinds, we must also deal with larger four-legged ‘friends’. Because…

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“There isn’t anyone around who is willing to stand up and say, ‘I’m a fascist; I think fascism is a great social and economic system.'”

Everyone knows that the term fascist is a pejorative, often used to describe any political position a speaker doesn’t like. There isn’t anyone around who is willing to stand up and say, ‘I’m a fascist; I think fascism is a great social and economic system.”

But I submit that if they were honest, the vast majority of politicians, intellectuals, and political activists would have to say just that.

Fascism is the system of government that cartelizes the private sector, centrally plans the economy to subsidize producers, exalts the police state as the source of order, denies fundamental rights and liberties to individuals, and makes the executive state the unlimited master of society.

This describes mainstream politics in America today. And not just in America. It’s true in Europe, too. It is so much part of the mainstream that it is hardly noticed any more.

It is true that fascism has no overarching theoretical apparatus. There is no grand theorist like Marx. That makes it no less real and distinct as a social, economic, and political system. Fascism also thrives as a distinct style of social and economic management. And it is as much or more of a threat to civilization than full-blown socialism.

This is because its traits are so much a part of life—and have been for so long—that they are nearly invisible to us.

If fascism is invisible to us, it is truly the silent killer. It fastens a huge, violent, lumbering state on the free market that drains its capital and productivity like a deadly parasite on a host. This is why the fascist state has been called the vampire economy. It sucks the economic life out of a nation and brings about a slow death of a once-thriving economy.

Let me just provide a recent example.

The Decline

The papers last week were filled with the first sets of data from the 2010 US Census. The headline story concerned the huge increase in the poverty rate. It is the largest increase in 20 years, and now up to 15 percent.

But most people hear this and dismiss it, probably for good reason. The poor in this country are not poor by any historical standard. They have cell phones, cable TV, cars, lots of food, and plenty of disposable income. What’s more, there is no such thing as a fixed class called the poor. People come and go, depending on age and life circumstances. Plus, in American politics, when you hear kvetching about the poor, everyone knows what you’re supposed to do: hand the government your wallet.

Buried in the report is another fact that has much more profound significance. It concerns median household income in real terms.

“The fascist economic model has killed what was once called the American dream.”

What the data have revealed is devastating. Since 1999, median…

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Who would have thought that the humble paper clip could have so many uses? Like how to create necessary items, like a makeshift compass to find your way when you are lost.

Put the paper clip to use in cleaning the hard to get at areas in the house; and keep kids busy and entertained with arty projects based on paper clips.

Finding original uses for common items is a sign of a divergent thinker, according to researchers. We have listed 83 ways to use paper clips.

There are articles out there with lots more uses, but we thought we would hone it down to the more useful tips. Always have a few of the smaller and a couple of larger paper clips on hand in EDC. They are so small, but they may save the day at some point.

1. Create magnetic stationery

Wrap straightened out paper clips around pens and pencils and attach them to a magnetic strip on your fridge or at your desk (just not close to your computer). This saves going out and buying expensive magnetized stationery.

2. Rattle snake eggs/scuttling cockroaches

Watch this to see how a soda cap, paper clip, and a rubber band can be placed inside a card. When the person starts to open the card is rattles.

Usually, people don’t get to open it fully as they throw the card and run. It can be labelled as rattle snake eggs that have hatched, or cockroaches scuttling inside the card. It provides some priceless photos of the recipient’s reactions.

3. Chinese hair sticks

To secure a bun, straighten a large paper clip and stick it through the hair to keep it in place.

Ok, they aren’t decorated but they will keep hair up and out of your face while you work.

4. Box opener

Straighten a paper clip and slice through packing tape on boxes instead of pulling and tugging. Box tape is sooo hard to remove if you can’t slice through it, and usually when you need it a Stanley knife or ordinary knife don’t happen to be around.

5. Fidget toys

The first example on this video shows how to make a fidget toy out of colored paper clips. Use it the next time you are waiting in a doctor’s office.

The second one on the video shows how two sewing machine bobbins and a paperclip make an easy fidget toy. Kids will love this one:

6. Cleaning gun

Watch the video that shows how to use a paper clip to clean stainless-steel gun barrels here:

7. Escape handcuffs

Watch this to see the first hack showing how to shape the paper clip to unpick handcuffs. There are 10 hacks here – showing how to make fishhooks, a makeshift lamp wick, safety pins and a whole lot more:

7. Cleaning around taps

That hard to get at ring around water taps in the kitchen and bathroom can be cleaned by bending open a paper clip into an S shape then straightening one end and using it to gently remove the gunk around taps.

If…

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Mindless Banter 79 – Q&A [PODCAST] | Survival Life <![CDATA[ window._wpemojiSettings = {"baseUrl":"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/72×72/","ext":".png","svgUrl":"https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/13.1.0/svg/","svgExt":".svg","source":{"concatemoji":"https://survivallife.com/wp-includes/js/wp-emoji-release.min.js?ver=5.8.3"}}; !function(e,a,t){var n,r,o,i=a.createElement("canvas"),p=i.getContext&&i.getContext("2d");function s(e,t){var a=String.fromCharCode;p.clearRect(0,0,i.width,i.height),p.fillText(a.apply(this,e),0,0);e=i.toDataURL();return p.clearRect(0,0,i.width,i.height),p.fillText(a.apply(this,t),0,0),e===i.toDataURL()}function c(e){var t=a.createElement("script");t.src=e,t.defer=t.type="text/javascript",a.getElementsByTagName("head")[0].appendChild(t)}for(o=Array("flag","emoji"),t.supports={everything:!0,everythingExceptFlag:!0},r=0;r = 2) {show_wpcp_message(alertMsg_IMG);return false;} if (elemtype != “TEXT”) { if (smessage !== “” && e.detail == 2) show_wpcp_message(smessage); if (isSafari) return true; else return false; } } ////////////////////////////////////////// function disable_copy_ie() { var e = e || window.event; var elemtype = window.event.srcElement.nodeName; elemtype = elemtype.toUpperCase(); if(wccp_free_iscontenteditable(e)) return true; if (elemtype == “IMG”) {show_wpcp_message(alertMsg_IMG);return false;} if (elemtype != “TEXT” && elemtype != “TEXTAREA” && elemtype != “INPUT” && elemtype != “PASSWORD” && elemtype != “SELECT” && elemtype != “OPTION” && elemtype != “EMBED”) { return false; } } function reEnable() { return true; } document.onkeydown = disableEnterKey; document.onselectstart = disable_copy_ie; if(navigator.userAgent.indexOf(‘MSIE’)==-1) { document.onmousedown = disable_copy; document.onclick = reEnable; } function disableSelection(target) { //For IE This code will work if (typeof target.onselectstart!=”undefined”) target.onselectstart = disable_copy_ie; //For Firefox This code will work else if (typeof target.style.MozUserSelect!=”undefined”) {target.style.MozUserSelect=”none”;} //All other (ie: Opera) This code will work else target.onmousedown=function(){return false} target.style.cursor = “default”; } //Calling the JS function directly just after body load window.onload = function(){disableSelection(document.body);}; //////////////////special for safari Start//////////////// var onlongtouch; var timer; var touchduration = 1000; //length of time we want the user to touch before we do something var elemtype = “”; function touchstart(e) { var e = e || window.event; // also there is no e.target property in IE. // instead IE uses window.event.srcElement var target = e.target || e.srcElement; elemtype = window.event.srcElement.nodeName; elemtype = elemtype.toUpperCase(); if(!wccp_pro_is_passive()) e.preventDefault(); if (!timer) { timer = setTimeout(onlongtouch, touchduration); } } function touchend() { //stops short touches from firing the event if (timer) { clearTimeout(timer); timer = null; } onlongtouch(); } onlongtouch = function(e) { //this will clear the current selection if anything selected if (elemtype != “TEXT” && elemtype != “TEXTAREA” && elemtype != “INPUT” && elemtype != “PASSWORD” && elemtype != “SELECT” && elemtype != “EMBED” && elemtype != “OPTION”) { if (window.getSelection) { if (window.getSelection().empty) { // Chrome window.getSelection().empty(); } else if (window.getSelection().removeAllRanges) { // Firefox window.getSelection().removeAllRanges(); } } else if (document.selection) { // IE? document.selection.empty(); } return false;…

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Becoming a livestock breeder could be one of the most lucrative and self-reliance boosting prepper side hustles that exist.

a few bantam chickens on ATV and some Peking ducks next to it

The benefits of not only having ample livestock on your survival homestead and honing the skills required to properly tend to them is the primary reason we enlarged our barnyard five years ago.

And perhaps the best part of being a livestock breeder is the fact that it is a side hustle preppers can do anywhere, even if they have just a backyard or a small 10 acre farm to use for keeping the animals.

Livestock breeding as a career or beloved side hustle has been commonplace in rural areas (where all preppers should live) for generations. Raising animals to sell can bring profit regardless of what type of critters you choose to keep, but choosing as wisely as possible can increase your potential earnings exponentially.

The major plus side to this prepper side hustle, beside the obvious cold hard cash aspect of course, is constantly having a supply of meat, milk, and egg producing animals within arms’ reach during a disaster.

But, both the animals you choose to raise, and how sustainable the breeding and husbandry process is on your land, will play a significant impact in how much money you can make with this prepper side hustle and how long you can keep it going during a disaster as a means of barter.

What Is An Animal or Livestock Breeder?

Livestock breeders use their animal husbandry skills along with any knowledge of animal science and genetics to breed animals. Some keepers consider themselves far more of a farmer or a rancher than a breeder, in the most technical sense of the word.

A more formal breeding operation would involve a focused effort on breeding for specific genetic attributes of registered livestock or livestock guardian dogs that would be of show quality.

Livestock Breeding Laws

If you plan on raising any type of herd dog or livestock guardian dog, you may be subjected to state licensing requirements and annual litter maximums. Laws and regulations such as these were created to prevent “puppy mills” and the mistreatment of canine breeding stock.

While there is still no formal education or training background required to become a livestock breeder, the government will still require you to open your wallet and fill out some forms before moving forward with a dog breeding business.

Make sure to adhere to all local and state laws before starting any type of animal breeding business.

Some municipal areas in multiple state may regulate the number, type, and sex of animals that can be kept. For instance, even in some Right to Farm states it might be illegal to keep roosters if you live in an incorporated area.

Thankfully for prepping folks who live in an urban, suburban, and incorporated small towns (again, it is time…

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An SHTF scenario may not be the best time to bring a new baby into the world. But it’s going to happen. Without consistent access to contraception, pregnancy rates will likely increase. Someone you know will get pregnant when the SHTF, especially if it’s a long-lasting event.

While the idea of helping someone through pregnancy and childbirth may be frightening, remember this:

Pregnancy is a natural process. Women have been birthing babies since the beginning of time. A woman’s body is truly remarkable in its ability to grow another human.

Much common-sense wisdom about pregnancy and childbirth has been lost in today’s ultra-medical culture. Community midwives have been replaced with high-tech hospitals. Basic knowledge about the ins and outs of pregnancy has been turned over to medical professionals.

Somewhere along the way, pregnancy has become a medical emergency. And with a sky-rocketing cesarean rate, it’s no wonder people are terrified of being pregnant in an SHTF scenario.

If no doctors are available, it’s essential to be prepared. Your knowledge could make a world of difference.

Quick Pregnancy Overview

There’s no need for birds and the bees lesson here. I’m operating under the assumption that everyone reading this post knows where babies come from. But, it’s crucial to have a basic understanding of what comes next.

Traditionally, due dates are calculated based on the last menstrual cycle. Take this date and subtract three months. Then add seven days. This projects a due date that is 40 weeks away.

However, typical pregnancies last from 38-42 weeks. Very few babies come precisely when they’re “due.”

Pregnancy is broken into three trimesters. Miscarriage is most likely during the first trimester. About ten percent of all pregnancies end in a miscarriage, so this may be something you experience as well.

A woman’s uterus grows with the baby. By the time she is twenty weeks pregnant, the top of the uterus is typically even with the belly button. After that, it grows about an inch each week. You can use this measurement to get a rough due date if you are unsure of her last menstrual cycle.

Labor begins when it’s time for the baby to enter the world. Childbirth has three distinct stages: labor, pushing/delivery, and the delivery of the placenta. The labor stage breaks down into early, active, and transition. This corresponds with dilation.

The cervix thins and dilates, preparing for birth. When it’s dilated to 10 centimeters, it’s time for the pushing phase to begin.

Shortly after the birth of the baby, the placenta gets pushed out. It’s important to check this over and ensure there aren’t any pieces remaining inside.

Labor is complete after this stage. Then you can all switch gears and focus on recovery.

Prepping with Pregnancy in Mind

Now that you’ve had a quick overview, it’s time to dive into some practical basics. What can you do to be prepared for a pregnancy in a crisis?

…

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