February 2023 - Page 8 of 8

Feeling Magical At 1908 Flower Farm

In March of 2022, Brenna and Paul Nystuen became the official owners of a homestead in the Nystuen family for over 100 years. Situated in Minnesota, the duo now run the homestead as 1908 Flower Farm.

“Paul grew up coming to his grandparents’ dairy farm every weekend and working on projects with his dad and grandpa,” explains Brenna. She originally bonded with Paul over a shared appreciation of the outdoors and farmland. “He thrives in this environment.”

We spoke to Brenna about discovering a passion for flowers and how they successfully transitioned from growing produce to producing flowers. We also touched on the charms of Madame Butterfly Snapdragon Mix blooms.

Finding a Focus in Flowers

Recapping their path to running a flower farm, Brenna says that in 2020, she and Paul moved to the family farm. But that same week she lost her job due to COVID-19 cuts and circumstances.

“I was devastated but motivated to find something new and more in line with my love of the outdoors,” she recalls. “I got a job at the local flower shop in town.”

By 2021, the Nystuens had devoted their garden to vegetables. But, Brenna says, they found “we couldn’t keep up with how big it was and how much it produced. We had big dreams on canning and freezing things, but it just didn’t happen. We ended up donating most of it.”

However, in 2022, Brenna’s boss asked if they had any interest in growing a few flowers for her business. “So in that moment, our passion grew,” says Brenna.

Finding Popular Blooms

“Since we are still new to the flower farming business, we are still trying to find what is the most popular,” says Brenna, when asked about the 1908 Flower Farm’s offerings.

“As a flower shop, we try to carry fun and not-your-standard-everyday flowers,” she continues. “Cosmos and Forget-Me-Nots were my personal favorite to grow and to use in arrangements. The customers that come to the flower shop love that we carry local and fun flowers in general.”

2023 Flower Plans

For 2023, Brenna says that she’s personally excited about adding Madame Butterfly Snapdragon Mix flowers to the collection, along with Sweet Peas. She adds that Paul is “excited for our Tulips to bloom,” plus Celosias, Poppies and a range of Sunflowers.

Just Do It!

Looking back at their formative attempts to grow flowers, Brenna says, “The biggest lesson we learned last year was that it is okay to fail. There was a lot that we didn’t do right and failed at. But we just went back to the drawing board and researched what went wrong and made notes for next year. The other thing we learned is, just do it.”

FTC Fines GoodRx $1.5 Million for Unauthorized Disclosure of Health Information

The FTC this week announced a major enforcement action against GoodRx over health privacy violations, fining the company $1.5 million and forcing it to halt transfers of health data to third parties for advertising purposes. GoodRx is a digital health platform that offers prescription discounts and telehealth services. According to the FTC complaint, GoodRx violated both Section 5 of the FTC Act and the Health Breach Notification Rule for sharing sensitive user data with third-party advertising platforms. After promising its users that it would “never share personal or health information with advertisers or other third parties,” GoodRx nevertheless shared sensitive personal information with third-party advertising companies and platforms without providing notice or seeking consent from its users. GoodRx further exploited the personal information it shared with Facebook, using Facebook’s ad targeting program to target advertisements to GoodRx users based on their health information.

In addition to the $1.5 million penalty, the proposed court order prohibits GoodRx from disclosing user health information to third parties for advertising purposes. The order also requires GoodRx to obtain affirmative express consent before any future disclosure of health information to third parties, noting that “consent” achieved through manipulative design (otherwise known as dark patterns) has “the substantial effect of subverting or impairing user autonomy, decision-making, or choice, does not constitute Affirmative Express Consent.”

EPIC has long fought to safeguard health privacy, both under HIPAA and other laws. EPIC has advocated for stronger reproductive privacy protections, including through the establishment of data minimization requirements. EPIC and coalition partners have also urged the FTC to investigate Google and Amazon’s use of manipulative user interfaces. EPIC previously filed a complaint with the D.C. Attorney General explaining how Amazon employs dark patterns when customers try to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions, continuing to collect, retain, and use misdirected subscribers’ personal data.

Goat Meat [Chapter 11] Raising Goats | Homestead Handbook | Homesteading Simple Self Sufficient Off-The-Grid

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Keeping A Conservation Flock: 3 Threatened American Chicken Breeds

When it comes to poultry classification, the American class of chickens is perhaps the best known category in the United States. Consisting of yellow-skinned, dual-purpose birds, American-class chickens tend to be intermediate in temperate, size and foraging skill when compared to small breeds such as the Leghorn and large breeds such as the Brahma. American-class hens lay brown eggs, tend towards broodiness, and are good mothers.

The American class includes such breeds as the Plymouth Rock, the Rhode Island Red, the Wyandotte and the Lamona, among the most widely kept breeds in the U.S.

Despite the popularity of the American class, several of its chickens breeds are faring poorly and face extinction. Since the majority of American class birds are reared in the U.S., this threat is even more severe as there are few breeding flocks elsewhere in the world. We recently discussed the three American-class birds rated as critically endangered by the Livestock Conservancy.

The trio of chicken breeds presented here all rate as Threatened. Each has fewer than 1,000 breeding birds in the U.S. and an estimated global population of less than 5,000. Consider aiding in their conservation by raising these as your backyard flock.

Buckeye

The Buckeye holds a very special place in the history of American chickens: it is the first and only North American breed developed by a woman. In the late 19th century, Nettie Metcalf of Warren, Ohio, bred her Barred Plymouth Rock hens to her Buff Cochin rooster, producing chicks that grew into what she considered to be large, lazy birds.

The following year, she bred her Plymouth Rock-Cochin pullets to a Black-Breasted Red Game rooster. This produced offspring with maroon feathers and a black tail. In 1902, Mrs. Metcalf exhibited a pair of her birds at the Cleveland, Ohio, poultry show, calling them “Buckeyes” after the state nickname.

Buckeyes were recognized by the American Poultry Association (APA) in 1905.

In the 1950s, when poultry production began to be commercialized, the Buckeye fell out of favor and went nearly extinct. Today the chicken breed has somewhat recovered but it is still threatened.

Buckeyes are very friendly, active birds who do best when they have room to roam. They are excellent mousers, rarely feather-pick each other, and are very cold hardy due to their pea combs. Buckeye hens lay up to 240 eggs per year and are excellent mothers.

Buckeye roosters are known for their wide range of vocalizations, including what sounds very much like a dinosaur-esque roar.

New Hampshire

Developed in the early 1900s, the New Hampshire is a relatively new breed of chicken. It is often mistaken for the Rhode Island Red, and rightly so. New Hampshire poultry breeders started selectively breeding Rhode Island Red hens that feathered and matured earlier than other Rhode Island Reds.

Due…

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Can You Eat Rats in an Emergency? Surviving by Any Means Necessary

Emergency food shortages are a real possibility.

What will you do when your pantry is empty? You’ll need to improvise. Fortunately, you can hunt down a healthy meal easily enough. The forest is full of food, and one of the best protein sources is the oft-overlooked rat.

You can definitely eat rats in an emergency. In fact, you might even acquire a taste for them. As long as you choose rats that are safe to eat, there’s no reason to worry about the quality of your fare.

The prospect of eating rats can seem daunting at first. However, this is one culinary adventure you don’t want to miss out on.

Is Rat Meat Safe to Eat?

Most people balk at the idea of eating rats because they’re associated with sickness and filth. But while it’s true that rats can carry numerous illnesses, like monkeypox and hantavirus, that doesn’t mean you can’t eat them safely.

Rats are considered somewhat of a delicacy in many Asian, African, and South American countries. Some cultures prize their meat and will catch them in traps or breed them as livestock for food. The practice may have started out of necessity, but it’s a surprisingly sustainable way to get protein.

Dining on the local rat population can help you around the homestead by decreasing the number of critters going after your grain supply. Furthermore, eating pesky rats will save you from sacrificing more valuable livestock, like cows or chickens.

Learn how safe, sustainable rat farms feed citizens in Thailand and get inspiration for your next meal.

It’s important to note that you should never eat a rat’s brain or organs. Bad bacteria like salmonella and leptospira hang around in their intestines and kidneys, while the brain may carry parasites that cause toxoplasmosis.

Additionally, rats can have many other parasites and diseases that affect the brain, spine, nervous system, and other organs systemically.

Some parasites and bacteria might die off when the rat is cooked, but some of them won’t.

You never really know what diseases a rat has without lab testing, so you can’t diagnose them with anything specific. Is eating rat brains really worth the risk? I say no.

Staying safe is paramount to your survival in an emergency, so leave the organs for the birds.

How to Choose Edible Rats

Although it may be tempting, you can’t start eating rats at random. You have to choose rats that are safe for consumption.

To determine if a rat is safe to eat, examine its diet and living conditions. City rats eat trash and often nest in sewers or other unsanitary places. They live a high-risk lifestyle that encourages disease, so eating sewer rats is generally a bad idea.

Country rats are a different story. They nest in cleaner places and primarily eat grains,…

Goat Milk Soap [Chapter 12] Raising Goats | Homestead Handbook | Homesteading Simple Self Sufficient Off-The-Grid

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Digestive Health Is Essential To Chicken Well-Being

Health is defined as the absence of illness or injury. Things that affect our birds’ health include bacterial or viral infections, scraps and wounds, heat stress, nutritional imbalances, etc. The primary system within the body that works to maintain health is the immune system, although the digestive system and microbes that live within it play a key role. A couple of physiological indicators show how important the digestive system is to the overall health of a chicken. The first is the dynamic nature of the intestinal cells.

The primary role of the digestive tract is to digest and absorb nutrients necessary to keep our birds alive and thriving. The secondary, yet still mandatory role, is for the intestinal cells to maintain a barrier so feed and other items ingested don’t enter the body and create illness.

To ensure the intestinal cells are at their optimal function, the body replaces them every couple of days. Even though birds have a relatively short digestive tract when compared to mammals, the intestinal tract is still the largest surface area in the body. This means their intestinal tract must maintain a barrier of the largest surface area in the body while still absorbing and digesting nutrients.

Microbes at Work

Plus, trillions of microbes live within the intestinal tract. Some of these microbes are good, some are bad and cause harm to our poultry, and some are neutral. These microbes play a vital role in helping with digestion and producing compounds that our intestinal cells can use.

Much is still unknown about the microbiome. But its role likely goes beyond the intestinal tract.

The dynamic role of the intestinal cell, the large surface area and the trillion of microbes is part of the reason about 70 percent of the immune system is in the intestinal tract. The digestive system is challenged daily with foreign invaders such as pathogens and allergens. So the presence of the immune system is essential.

The intestinal tract is also a place for the immune system to sample the environment to see what potential disease they could be challenged with.

It’s evident that the digestive system plays a key role in the overall health of our birds. But how do we tell if something with our bird’s digestive system went awry? Some of the following signs and symptoms are indicators of imbalances or disease in the intestinal tract.

Diarrhea

Diarrhea happens when something activates the immune system and is an attempt to clear the potential pathogen and prevent more severe disease.

Thus, the intestinal tract is flushed—aka, diarrhea. It is usually an early sign of disease or stress.

Reduction in Appetite

Reduced appetite is another early sign of disease or stress and can have a compounded effect on our bird’s health. For example, a heat stressed chicken will decrease their feed intake…

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What Are CBDCs? Here’s What the Central Banks Plan for YOU.

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Author of Be Ready for Anything and Bloom Where You’re Planted online course

An acronym that has recently been tossed around in an ominous whisper is CBDC. What is it, and how does it affect you?

CBDC stands for Central Bank Digital Currency, and these are digital versions of a country’s currency. We’ve talked a lot here on the Organic Prepper about digital currencies and the dangers of a cashless society, and if the WEF has its way, we could be looking at just that – and soon. The governments of the world are hard at work creating tunnels and secret routes that all lead to one place – a one-world monetary system. This is all part of the Great Reset they’ve been touting.

The Central Bank has a plan to implement digital currency in the near future.

As always, it will be positioned as something beneficial to get the less critical thinkers on board first. Then, at some point, it could become the only legal tender that exists, and this will give the powers that be the ability to completely control every financial decision you make.

For the record, governments already have the ability to freeze personal bank accounts. This was tested in Canada last year during the Freedom Convoy when truckers protested Covid regulations. The bank accounts of donors to the cause were frozen without recourse. This actually happened to a friend of mine back in Canada, all because she made a $20 donation to the Go-Fund-Me, which was, incidentally, withheld from its intended recipients.

Anyway, a digital currency could mean such controls as automatic taxation or where and when you’re allowed to make purchases – all at the push of a button. The most likely way this will be rolled out is to “fight inflation” and “fix the economy.” As per the IMF:

A world with lower inflation (and even zero inflation) and no persistent recessions may sound like a pipe dream, but we argue that it is possible by transitioning to an “electronic money standard.” Such a transition requires eliminating the zero lower bound, which central banks can achieve using readily available tools. Breaking the zero lower bound implies that the optimal rate of inflation will be lower than in the presence of the lower bound. This will empower central banks to quickly restore full employment and, over the medium term, possibly move toward targeting full price stability with zero inflation.

Obviously, any kind of manipulation like this is false, and while there may be…

How To Protect Your Home Against EMPs

Electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attacks can have devastating effects on our modern-day society. The EMP, whether from a natural source such as a solar flare or man-made such as a nuclear weapon, can knock out all electronic devices within its range, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The consequences of such an event can range from widespread power outages to complete societal collapse.

As a prepper or survivalist, it is important to understand the dangers of EMPs and how to protect yourself and your family from the aftermath. In this article, we will discuss the different types of EMPs, their potential consequences, and how to defend against them in detail.

Types of Electromagnetic Pulses

There are three main types of EMPs: nuclear, solar, and non-nuclear.

Nuclear EMPs are the result of a high-altitude nuclear explosion. The blast sends out a powerful electromagnetic wave that can travel thousands of miles, frying all electronic devices in its path. This type of EMP is the most destructive and is a major concern for many governments around the world. A nuclear EMP attack could be carried out by a rogue state or non-state actor, and the effects would be widespread and long-lasting. The EMP would cause a sudden and complete loss of power, rendering all electronic devices useless. This would include not just consumer electronics like cell phones and computers but also critical infrastructure like power grids and communication networks.

Solar EMPs, also known as coronal mass ejections (CMEs), are caused by solar flares from the sun. These flares release massive amounts of energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation, which can disrupt or damage electronic devices on Earth. While solar EMPs are less destructive than nuclear EMPs, they can still have significant impacts on our power grids and communications systems. A large solar EMP event, also known as a “Carrington event“, occurs once every 500 to 1,000 years and can have devastating effects on our technology-dependent society.

Non-nuclear EMPs are caused by weapons that generate a strong electromagnetic field without using a nuclear explosion. These devices can be used in a variety of applications, including military operations, electronic warfare, and even cyber-attacks. Non-nuclear EMPs can be used to disrupt enemy communications and disable their electronics, making them an attractive tool for military operations. However, they can also be used by terrorists to cause widespread chaos and destruction.

Consequences of Electromagnetic Pulses

An EMP attack or a major solar EMP event can have far-reaching consequences. Some of the most significant effects include:

Power outages: EMPs can knock out power grids, leaving entire cities without electricity for weeks or even months. This would mean no lights, no air conditioning, and no refrigeration for food. It would also render electronic devices useless, as they would no longer be able to recharge.
Communications failures: All electronic communications systems, including cell phones, radios, and the…