August 2022 - Page 3 of 5

An Emergency Plan Is Essential To Keeping Chickens

When it comes to disasters and preparation, psychologically it might be good to consider the quote from Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde (1854-1900): “To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.” From the strings of tornadoes that routinely ravage the Midwest and South to the recurring and intensifying cycle of wildfires and flooding along the Pacific Coast, disasters can strike at any time and have devastating consequences for humans and animals alike.

Local officials and disaster preparedness groups often advise to have evacuation plans and provide lists of supplies that everyone should have on hand. However, these measures rarely take animals into account and almost never consider backyard chickens in emergency prep.

Whether our chickens are kept as companions, sustainable food sources or a combination of the two, keeping our feathered friends safe and healthy during a disaster is important.

In this column, we’ll discuss how to best prepare to care for chickens when an emergency occurs.

The Dangers You Face

Understanding the types of disasters that occur in your area is an important step in preparing for them. Generic evacuation plans and emergency kits will only get you so far when preparing for helping chickens in specific emergencies.

Both authors of this column live on the West Coast, so wildfires, floods and earthquakes are primary concerns. Severe earthquakes often disrupt transportation routes, so evacuation might not be an option and extended stores of food and water are needed.

During a wildfire, expedient and safe evacuation is the No. 1 priority. Flooding can damage transportation and affect your ability to find viable land to raise your flock on. While reading this column, keep in mind the specific risks you and your flock face, and adapt the information presented to prepare for them.

To Stay or Go

As previously mentioned, whether you evacuate or wait the disaster out depends on the specific disaster you face and a gazillion other variables that you can’t predict with 100 percent accuracy. As we are all well aware, some situations call for waiting and some situations require immediate evacuation. Therefore, prepare for both.

Having some level of situational awareness will be essential toward making the best decision possible. When it comes to pets, many people stay longer because they don’t have a viable plan in place for their animals. This increases the risk for you, your pets and first responders.

Local emergency response officials will typically communicate with residents about what they should do, evacuation routes, etc. In order to be prepared “to stay or go,” have a checklist so you can easily prepare, evacuate, stay or both. Things to have on your checklist include the following.

Communication Essentials

Assume the internet won’t be functioning. Having multiple evacuation plans in place and old-fashioned maps (aka paper maps because the internet may be down) can help to expedite evacuation…

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8 Tips On Moving Home After Living Abroad

Moving back home after living abroad can be a disorienting experience. Things in your hometown have likely changed since you moved away, and this can be a complicated reality to encounter.

If you find yourself worrying that you won’t fit in at home again, remember that you’re not alone. Most people have mixed feelings about returning home after a long while, but there are ways you can navigate through this confusing time.

Below, we’ve compiled a list of 8 small things you can do to make this transition easier.

1. Plan Ahead

Long-distance moves are always challenging, and moving back home after living overseas can be especially tough. From saying goodbye to your friends and peers to navigating the practicalities of an international journey, this is a time when you will likely have a lot on your plate.

At a time like this, planning ahead can help keep you organised. You’ll already be going through a difficult change, and leaving everything for the last minute will only overwhelm you further. Making to-do lists, searching for cheap flights, sorting out paperwork early, and packing beforehand are simple ways to make the move easier for yourself.

In addition, make sure to hire professional movers with Muval to ensure your stuff remains safe and sound during your long-distance move.

2. Reach Out And Reconnect

If you’ve been away from home for a long period, you’ve likely lost touch with some family and friends in your hometown. If you want to rebuild your social circle and reconnect with your old friends, reach out to them before you move back home.

Contact people you care about and let them know you’ll be back in town soon. Arrange coffee dates, shopping trips, or even a casual night-in to help you catch up on all that you’ve missed. After all, there’s no one better than your loved ones to help you feel at home again.

3. Manage Your Expectations

It is likely that you’ve changed a lot since you moved away, and it’s important to remember that the places and people back home might’ve changed, too.

Accepting this change and approaching it with the right mindset will help make your move easier. In fact, you can even look upon this as a new opportunity to explore your hometown in a way you never have before!

The most important thing is to give yourself time and space to adjust. If you’ve been away for a long while, reintegrating into your old lifestyle will take some time, so remember to be kind and patient with yourself.

4. Do What You Love

If you feel restless, bored, or lonely once you move back home, try not to succumb to those feelings. A great way to reconnect with your hometown is to re-experience the things you enjoyed before you moved away.

Hit up your favourite local breakfast spot, drive down old childhood roads, or take a stroll through the market to get familiar with your town again. You can even plan a day out with your friends or family to reintroduce yourself to the neighbourhood…

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Recipe of the Week: Mrs. Alaska’s Puddings. Make savory puddings.

The following recipes for puddings are from Mrs. Alaska. Her long-running blog is: Alaska Bush Life, Off-Road, Off-Grid.

Why buy boxed pudding mix with fake flavors when you can make this comfort food from scratch in just three minutes (really!) from common pantry ingredients that are superior. Enjoy it warm or cold, alone or with fresh fruit.

Once you make these simple puddings, I imagine that one can figure out how to make savory puddings, too, for example, with chicken broth, for people who are sick, or have toothaches, or have swallowing issues.

Chocolate pudding

Ingredients for one serving. Multiply, as desired:

1 cup milk (we use 2/3 water and 1/3 dry milk)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa (if you use sweetened chocolate chips, decrease the sweetener)
1/4 to 1/3 cup sugar, honey, or other sweetener, to taste preference
2 TBS corn starch

Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients together in a cooking pot.
Turn on the stove to medium.
When warm, add the milk (or water).
Stir almost constantly once the liquid is hot, for 2-3 minutes.
It will thicken slightly when hot, and more when cold.

Vanilla pudding (or with berries, bananas, etc)

Because unsweetened cocoa is bitter, it requires more sweetener. Any other pudding recipe requires less sugar or honey.

Personally, I make straight vanilla pudding and then top with fresh fruit rather than cook the fruit into it. You choose.

The ingredient list for vanilla (or other pudding) is the same as above but obviously no cocoa and less sweet. Start with 2-3 TBS of sugar, honey, or another sweetener.
Add 1 tsp vanilla and stir. Taste. Adjust.

Savory Puddings

I admit: I have never made any of these. But when my mother was in the hospital, most of her foods were pureed into pudding-like consistencies. I use an immersion blender to smooth out split pea soup. Readers might like to practice making savory puddings with broth and soft veggies, before it is necessary.

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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!

The Only ‘National Security’ Necessary Is the Elimination of the ‘National Security State’?

By: Gary D. Barnett

“I’m afraid, based on my own experience, that fascism will come to America in the name of national security.”

~ Jim Garrison

“National Security” is just the excuse for every form imaginable of tyranny, totalitarianism, privacy destruction, abuse of freedoms, aggression, terror, and war. Every time I hear this deceptive and scurrilous term, I cringe knowing that lies, deceit, and horror are on the horizon. It is based completely on false fear; fear planted in the minds of the people in order to force (goad) them to run to government and the state for protection from fabricated enemies. It is the state’s go to argument when additional control is sought, and it has worked nearly every time it has been tried. It is currently the mainstay of this fascist state called America, and it is still effective. The term ‘national security’ is nothing more than sheer propaganda based on unwarranted fearmongering.

One has to wonder, given that this country has never been aggressively attacked on its home soil by any foreign aggressor state, how the term ‘national security’ ever became the default reasoning for any and every aggressive war waged by this government against countries around the world. It is not just war against other innocent countries that has been waged, aggression in the name of national security has been levied against the American population almost continually, whether in the case of desired war, disasters, ‘pandemics,’ bogus ‘climate change’ risks, state and federal emergencies, and any number of other deceptive means of control.

Before the letters start rolling in claiming that the sinking of the Lusitania, the Pearl Harbor attack, the Gulf of Tonkin false flag, and the 9/11 inside job were acts of pure aggression by outsiders, please refrain from such nonsense. They all, and many more, were set up and staged, and led to major wars of aggression by the U.S. against multiple foreign countries that had nothing to do with attacking America. In the process, freedom was destroyed. This has been written about by very many scholars for decades, and plenty of proof has been forthcoming. As I have stated over and over again, the United States has aggressively attacked many other countries, as well as Americans, and has prosecuted wars of aggression for 93% (an understatement in my estimation) of its entire history against those who never attacked or were a threat to this country; all under the pretext of ‘national security.’

In that effort, the vast U.S. national security state has been built on the blood and property of every American citizen, and has grown into a bureaucratic behemoth unimagined in earlier times. U.S. military spending matches the rest of the world combined, and dwarfs every country on earth by a huge margin. One would think that this insanity would guarantee that the U.S. had the most powerful military, and the highest sophistication of military weaponry, but that is likely not accurate by any measure, as many criminal corporations, politicians, foreign heads of…

How to Become Great At Shooting UNDER PRESSURE

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In my How to Become a Good Shot article, we touched on the importance of mastery of the fundamentals of marksmanship, how to measure your equipment and yourself with the 5 For 5 Dime Challenge, and the importance of a first round hit when ammunition could be in short supply.

In What You Need to Know About Rifle Slings, we talked about carrying your rifle, and how to use the sling to get steadier.

In the comments section, Misreading The River and Paul noted about shooting after carrying all day long, or under stress. In this article, I would like to address some exercises that while may not be actual combat, but give you an idea and how to train to shoot under pressure along with some additional exercises both physical and marksmanship.

Pressure

The infamous SHTF Mr. Mutant Zombie Biker (or MZB) is not just going to let you roll out your shooting mat, set up your bi-pod rifle, set rear bags and then stand perfectly still while you take a shot from the prone at him at 100yrds.

More like,

“AAAARRRRR! AAARRRR!”

And then rush you with his AR15 with the under rail mounted chainsaw, buzzing at full tilt while you roll out your mat. We all know how that ends in a 1980s style horror/slasher flick. That, and don’t go down into the dark basement to investigate that really creepy sound unarmed.

As I mention in How to Become a Good Shot, there are different competitions you can compete in to become a better shot.

Likewise, there are competitions out there that test the shooter from on the move, dynamic positions and field positions. 3-Gun Run competitions, Precision Rifle Series and its small bore rim-fire counterpart NRL22 (even has a air rifle division), IPSC and IDPA to name a few. There are also some shooting schools and academies like Gunsite, or the Sig Sauer academy.

However, how do you train for shooting under pressure in between competitions or after taking a class?

Or if there is not a event or class within reasonable driving distance (that is really questionable in these 5 dollars a gallon at the pump era)?

If you have the space and can set up your own mini-course, by all means.

But first, a friendly reminder of the 4 Primary Rules of Firearm Safety:

1. Always Keep Firearm Pointed in a Safe direction

2….

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Guerilla Gardening: What Is It, and Should You Do It?

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Guerilla gardening is the act of finding a small piece of land that is ugly and making it beautiful with plants. It is an act that intentionally uses public or private space to plant flowers or edible plants to be used in a community. It is rebellious, and sometimes illegal, but often worth it.

If you aren’t familiar with the term guerilla, it’s a play on words based on guerilla warfare. The term is summarized as a group of unofficial soldiers taking on a more distinguished military force.

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So guerilla gardening is an individual or group that is gardening as a rebellious act against a more prominent force. It’s human vs human as guerilla gardeners are often repairing a human issue.

Motivations for guerilla gardeners can vary. Some may choose to benefit pollinators in unused land, others want to combat food desserts and bring food to communities that need it, some just wish to create beauty, and others wish to make a statement.

There is a profound message when someone can take something discarded, ugly, broken, or wasteful and morphs the same space into something welcoming, imaginative, helpful, or useful.

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Guerilla Gardening in History

Many people have heard the story of Johnny Appleseed, but before there was language for it, he was an early guerilla gardener. There are some differing opinions about his story or motivations, but the agreed part is that he planted apple orchards along his journey, sometimes also selling or giving away apple seeds.

Born in 1774, John Chapman became a young traveler. He was an apprentice on an apple orchard in his 20’s. As he traveled the west, he planted orchards which was a ‘legal’ way to claim territory at the time. He also introduced people to medicinal plants to grow.

Whether his gardening was investment-motivated or motivated by other intentions, that is uncertain. However, history shows he seemed to care about people and animals, too, and used his unorthodox planting for good as well.

Once the term ‘Guerilla Gardener’ gained traction, it was connected to Liz Christy and her Green Guerrilla group in New York in 1973. Liz and her crew turned a run-down private lot into a garden that is still beautiful and now protected. In 1973 Liz petitioned the city of New York for access to make the lot a community garden for $1 a month.

They cleaned up the lot and transformed it into a beautiful garden, it has now become a protected community garden by law and won awards including the Urban Forestry Award and listed in the Bowery Historic District, and National Register of Historic Places.

In the middle…

FTC Announces Proposed Rulemaking on Commercial Surveillance and Data Security

Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPR) and request for public comment regarding commercial surveillance and lax data security practices. The FTC is specifically asking whether it should implement new trade regulation rules or regulatory alternatives the ways in which companies process consumer data and how they transfer, share, sell, or monetize that data in unfair or deceptive ways. The ANPR asks a series of questions in several categories (for example, Harms to Consumers, Discrimination, Remedies, Costs and Benefits, etc.) that commenters may address in their submissions and submissions will be due within 60 days (October 10, 2022). There will also be a virtual public forum on the matter hosted on September 8, 2022.

Alan Butler, EPIC’s Executive Director and President, responded to the announcement that “EPIC is thrilled to see the FTC taking action on harmful commercial surveillance and data security practices. For too long, the data practices of companies online have been dictated by large and powerful corporations, and users have been subject to invasive surveillance and dangerous profiling. It is time for rules that put users first and end these invasive and unfair business practices.”

EPIC has repeatedly called on the FTC to exercise its rulemaking authority to better protect consumer privacy. A recent EPIC white paper argued in support of using Section 5 unfairness authority to establish a Data Minimization Rule. In addition, EPIC has joined coalition letters calling for civil rights and privacy rulemaking and submitted a request for rulemaking on the use of artificial intelligence in commerce.

Wired UK: Will Europe Force a Facebook Blackout?

“My guess is that Meta is going to have to look at some form of geo-siloing if they want to continue to operate in the EU,” says Calli Schroeder, global privacy counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit digital rights research organization. Schroeder, who previously worked with companies on international data transfers, says this approach could mean Meta would have to create its own servers and data centers in the EU that aren’t connected to its broader databases.

Read the full article here.

Amaranth: The Ultimate Survival Crop

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Estimated reading time: 10 minutes

Amaranth is a resilient and valuable crop that has been used for centuries. With its ability to survive in harsh conditions, amaranth is the perfect plant for growing in difficult environments.

This article will explore the benefits of amaranth and provide tips on how to grow this superfood yourself.

Article continues below.

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What is Amaranth?

Amaranth is a tropical plant that produces brightly colored flowers. The plant is native to Central and South America, and it has been cultivated for centuries by indigenous peoples.

Amaranth is a highly nutritious grain that is high in protein and fiber. It is also a good source of vitamins and minerals, including iron and calcium. The grain can be cooked and eaten like rice, or it can be ground into flour and used to make breads and pastries.

Amaranth is gaining popularity as a health food, as it is gluten-free and has a low glycemic index. Additionally, amaranth leaves can be eaten like spinach, and the flowers can be used to make tea. With its many uses and health benefits, amaranth is an increasingly popular food ingredient.

What is the History of Growing Amaranth?

Amaranth is a flowering plant that has been cultivated for thousands of years.

The first records of amaranth come from the ancient Aztecs, who grew the plant for both its grain and its colorful leaves. Amaranth was so important to the Aztecs that it was used in religious ceremonies and was even considered to be a sacred food.

After the Spanish conquest of Mexico, amaranth was largely forgotten until it was rediscovered by botanists in the early 1800s.

Today, amaranth is grown in many parts of the world, and its grain is increasingly being recognized as a healthy and nutritious component of a balanced diet.

With its impressive history and nutritional value, amaranth is sure to continue to play an important role in the world of agriculture for years to come.

Why is Amaranth the Best Survival Crop You Can Grow?

Amaranth is a versatile crop that can be used for many different purposes. Its leaves are high in nutrients and can be eaten as a green vegetable, while the seeds can be ground into flour or popped like popcorn.

Amaranth is also highly tolerant of drought and poor soil conditions, making it an excellent choice for survival gardens. Additionally, amaranth is relatively easy to grow, and its sturdy stalks can reach up to 10 feet in height.

For all these reasons, amaranth is an ideal crop to grow in any situation where food security is a concern. In a world filled with uncertainty, amaranth may just be the best insurance policy you can have.

Let’s take a closer look at its many benefits.

<img width="720" height="480" src="//www.w3.org/2000/svg%22%20width=%22720%22%20height=%22480%22%3E%3C/svg%3E" alt="Amaranth Flowers and Leaves"…

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PRESS RELEASE: EPIC Announces Recipients of its 2022 Champions of Freedom Awards

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) announced the five individuals it will be honoring at its annual Champions of Freedom Awards ceremony, to be held on September 21st in Washington, DC.

EPIC established the Champions of Freedom Awards in 2004 to honor individuals and organizations that have worked to safeguard the right to privacy, open government, and democratic values with courage and integrity.

The theme of this year’s ceremony is “Defending Privacy and Civil Rights.” As EPIC Board Chair Danielle Citron points out, “This is a particularly important time to recognize that privacy should be understood as a civil right, one owed each and every one of us and one essential to protect against invidious discrimination. This year’s awardees exemplify this commitment.”

EPIC will be celebrating public officials and leading experts who have shown their commitment to this fight by working tirelessly to strengthen privacy and civil rights protections in the digital age.

“Many of the technologies that have become essential to our daily lives can also create new risks to individual and civil rights. Our awardees this year have stepped up to challenge invasive data practices and discriminatory algorithms, to develop and propose new oversight mechanisms and technological protections, and to document the harms that these systems cause to marginalized communities,” says EPIC Executive Director Alan Butler.

This year, EPIC will honor the following awardees:

DC Attorney General Karl Racine
Champion of Freedom Award

For holding big tech companies accountable for data abuses, including by leading a bipartisan coalition of state attorneys general challenging deceptive location data controls, supporting automated decision-making anti-discrimination legislation, and challenging the anti-competitive behavior of online platforms.

Representative Yvette Clarke
Champion of Freedom Award

For consistently championing privacy and civil liberties, including by introducing the Algorithmic Accountability Act this session with Senators Wyden and Booker, opposing PATRIOT Act extensions under the Obama administration, opposing the original PATRIOT Act as a New York City Councilmember, and more.

Dr. John Abowd
Champion of Freedom Award

For making remarkable strides for privacy and civil rights by transforming the disclosure avoidance system at the U.S. Census Bureau through the introduction of differential privacy.

Dr. Safiya Noble
Privacy Champion Award

For her groundbreaking research on algorithmic discrimination that has drawn public attention to the ways in which digital technologies have magnified discriminatory racial, gender, and power dynamics.

Professor Sherry Turkle
Lifetime Achievement Award

For being a leading voice in the critical field of the psychology of human-technology interaction, including on how changing technologies have instilled changing notions of privacy — work pursued over seminal books such as The Second Self, Life on the Screen, Alone Together, Reclaiming Conversation, and most recently, The Empathy Diaries.

The ceremony will be held during EPIC’s Champions of Freedom Awards reception on Wednesday, September 21st from 7 PM to 10 PM…