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A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your First Keyhole Garden

A Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Your First Keyhole Garden

Discover the process of building a self-sustaining garden with this comprehensive guide.

Ever wondered about a garden that can water and fertilize itself?

Introduction to Keyhole Gardens

This simple concept is realized through a keyhole raised bed, which can be easily constructed with minimal tools and affordable materials. Keyhole gardens are gaining popularity worldwide and can be made using bricks, stones, or rocks to hold the soil in place. Organic materials from the garden (like lawn clippings and leaves) and kitchen scraps that would typically be composted are added directly into the central core to nourish the surrounding soil.

We decided to build a keyhole garden at Valhalla, with the intention of constructing more if our first attempt is successful. Here’s a step-by-step visual guide on how we approached our first keyhole garden project. Keep in mind, this guide documents our experience during our initial attempt and is not a definitive set of instructions for creating a flawless keyhole garden.

Step 1: Marking the Garden Circles

We first marked two circles on the ground with an entry space between them, then dig a shallow trench following the outer circle (click on any of these photos to enlarge).

We marked two circles on the ground with spray paint, one smaller and one larger, using string and a central stake. The entryway between the circles is wider than usual for easier access to those with mobility challenges. We then dug a narrow trench along the outer circle, about two to three inches deep.

Step 2: Laying the First Row of Bricks

We placed the first row of bricks at a 45 degree angle so they’re resting on each other. We packed dirt on both sides for stability while angling each brick inward towards the center.

We placed bricks at a 45-degree angle in the outer circle trench, angling them slightly inward and stabilizing them with dirt on both sides. The first row was completed quickly using the available bricks at Valhalla.

Step 3: Building the Compost Cage

We built a round cage in the center using4' tall woven wire, a few pieces of old pipe, and wire ties.We built a round cage in the center using 4′ tall woven wire, a few pieces of old pipe, and wire ties.

We secured three old pipes into the ground and wrapped a 4-foot high wire mesh cage around them, creating a round cage and fastening the wire to the stakes with wire ties. This is where compost materials, like leaves, grass, and kitchen scraps, will be added.

Step 4: Lining the Bottom of the Bed

We lined the bottom of the bed withpaper and cardboardWe lined the bottom of the bed with paper and cardboard

We lined the bottom of the bed with paper and cardboard to prevent weed growth and created a temporary barrier inside the cage to keep dirt out during construction. The paper…

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Is the Next Pandemic Coming? What to Expect and How to Prepare – reThinkSurvival.com

The COVID-19 pandemic proved that the world is vulnerable to contagious diseases despite advancements in medicine and technology. These viruses move quickly from person to person, so a world population of 8 billion will have difficulty stopping the spread of any contagion no matter how we respond as a nation.

COVID-19 appears to be fading, but what if other viruses are waiting in the wings? It only takes one person to spread a disease thousands of miles each way. A second pandemic could be looming, so it’s best to understand what it could be and how to prepare.

What Could Cause the Next Pandemic?

COVID-19 is the most significant pandemic of our lifetimes. It’s a once-in-a-generation (or more) pandemic, like the Spanish flu. However, it’s not the only virus the population is susceptible to. These are among the biggest threats to humans.

Coronavirus

Many people refer to COVID-19 as the coronavirus — however, that term refers to a family of viruses. The coronavirus family includes COVID-19 and others you’ve seen in the past. For example, the Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) emerged last decade and severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) had an outbreak in the early 2000s.

Coronaviruses are dangerous because they’re relatively new to humans. Scientists didn’t take them seriously until SARS 20 years ago. Now, disease experts find that viruses easily mutate and are more common than previously thought. COVID-19 likely came from bats, typical hosts of coronaviruses. Bats compose about 20% of mammals, increasing the likelihood another pandemic will come from them.

[Editor’s note: Or it came from somewhere else; I’ll let YOU decide where that could possibly be.]

Nipah Virus

Bats are carriers of numerous diseases, one of which could be the Nipah virus. Currently, this disease is a problem in South and Southeast Asia. However, it has cause for concern because its mortality rate is about 73%, with a low sample size.

The World Health Organization (WHO) gives the Nipah virus a low risk at the global level but a high risk at the national level in Bangladesh. Experts have precautions to protect against the disease, but no vaccine exists to combat it. Bats are carriers of the Nipah virus in addition to typical farm animals, like pigs and horses. 

Crimean-Congo Hemorrhagic Fever

Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever doesn’t come from bats but raises concerns because it’s found in ticks and livestock. Cattle, sheep, goats and other animals are essential for food and other supplies, so this pandemic could cripple supply chains.

WHO measures its fatality rate between 10% and 40%. It occurs regularly in Africa, West Asia and Southeast Europe. There is no vaccine for Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, and it’s difficult for scientists to discover infections in ticks and livestock.

Disease X

Scientists are familiar with the previous three diseases. However, a pandemic comes from unknown viruses, which scientists call disease X. Humans have studied animals like bats for centuries, but it’s challenging to know every disease that…

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How to Make Homemade Dog Food for a Healthy Pet

As a pet owner, you want to make sure your furry friend is well-fed and healthy. But have you ever wondered what goes into the commercial dog food you buy from the store? What if there’s an emergency and you can’t buy any commercial dog food? The good news is that you can make your own homemade dog food to ensure your pet is getting the best nutrition possible, even in tough times. Here’s a simple recipe for balanced homemade dog food that’s easy to make and will keep your dog healthy and happy.

The Importance of Natural Dog Food

Before the rise of commercial dog food, people fed their dogs with table scraps or homemade recipes. But with the advent of canned horse meat after World War II, the pet food industry took off, and now there are hundreds of dog food varieties available. However, the trend is now going back to natural dog food, especially after the poisoned grain episode from China and the increasing cost of dog food.

As a pet owner, you can take advantage of this trend by making your own natural dog food. With a degree in Animal Science, I decided to put my education to a practical use and develop a recipe for homemade dog food. My recipe is simple, balanced, and versatile, and my German Shepherds love it. Plus, it’s far less expensive than canned or dry food. Here’s how to make it.

The “Third Recipe” for Dogs

This recipe is called the “Third Recipe” because all the portions are in roughly thirds; Rice, Vegetables, and Meat. Dogs are omnivores, which means they eat all sorts of stuff, not just meat. A meat protein diet will make a dog hyper and overly aggressive and can also damage their kidneys. Feeding dogs is not an “exact” science, but the basics of good nutrition are covered in this formula and are inexpensive to feed.

Ingredients:

  • White rice boiled with an optional chicken bullion cube
  • Vegetables (frozen or canned or fresh): green beans or peas/carrots or mixed vegetables
  • Meat: chicken, turkey, tuna, beef or wild game or eggs

Instructions:

  1. Boil white rice with an optional chicken bullion cube to provide carbohydrates for energy and easy digestion. You can substitute potatoes occasionally, but avoid pasta, as it can ruin a dog’s teeth.
  2. Use frozen or canned or fresh vegetables, such as green beans or peas/carrots or mixed vegetables. Green beans are the best all-around vegetable since they are fibrous, full of nutrients, and pulls particles through the digestive tract. Vegetables like corn and lima beans aren’t broken down in the digestive tract and are a waste of money. Shop around for the lowest frozen vegetables or seal-a-meal or can your own. Broccoli is fine if you are willing to perish from dog gas attacks.
  3. Use chicken, turkey, tuna, beef, wild game, or eggs for the meat portion. Be careful not to rotate types of meat until you have a feel for what your dog can tolerate. I always cook…

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Refrigerator Pickles | A Homesteading Guide To Pickling | Homesteading Simple Self Sufficient Off-The-Grid

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Central Bank Digital Currencies Would Bring Hyperinflation

There are many excuses often used to explain inflation. However, the fact is that there is no such thing as “cost push inflation” or “commodity inflation.” Inflation is not an increase in prices, it is the destruction of the purchasing power of the currency.

Cost-push inflation is more units of currency going to relatively scarce real assets. The same can be said about all other, from commodities to demand and my favorite, “supply chain disruption.” More units of currency going to the same goods and services.

The monster inflation we have endured these years first arrived through asset inflation and then through consumer prices. Now, governments and statistical bodies are tweaking the calculation of CPI to disguise the loss of purchasing power of the currency and central banks had to hike rates after the disaster created in 2020, when the massive increase in money supply went to finance bloated government spending and created the mess we live today.

Central banks know that inflation is a monetary phenomenon and that is why they are hiking rates and tightening as fast as governments allow them. However, central banks have lost a significant amount of an already low credibility by first ignoring the inflation risk and later using the base effect and transitory excuse, only to react late and slowly.

This has happened in a world where the excess in money supply growth has a number of back-stops and limits that prevent a massive increase in consumer prices through the destruction of the artificially printed currency. With quantitative easing there are a number of limits that stop inflationary pressures: as the transmission mechanism of monetary policy is the banking channel, it is our demand for credit what puts a break on inflationary pressures.

The only thing that saves citizens from much higher prices is the fact that the transmission mechanism of monetary policy is independent and diversified. Now imagine for a second if that transmission mechanism was direct and had only one channel, the central bank itself.

A central bank digital currency would be issued directly to your account within the central bank. As such, it is surveillance disguised as money. The central bank would know exactly what you use the currency for, how much you save, borrow, and spend and where. It can make the currency fungible to avoid the ludicrous but often repeated “problem” of “excess savings”. Furthermore, with increasingly political central banks, they may even penalize those who spend in a way that they deem inappropriate of benefit those that do what they recommend. The entire privacy system and monetary limit mechanism would be eliminated. Even worse, when the central bank makes the mistake of printing way too much money as they did in 2020 the impact on consumer prices would be direct. With an increase in money supply that exceeded 20% in a year, we would be suffering close to 20% levels of inflation as the limits to the transmission mechanism are destroyed.

Now imagine if there was only one account,…

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Foraging for Fun & Survival

(Continued from Part 2.  This concludes the article.)

Hopniss-Apios americana
Hopniss is in the legume family, and produces edible tubers. In southern climates the season may also be long enough for it to produce edible pods resembling beans. Some plants in the bean family can cause allergic reactions and so can hopniss. Most people are not affected but you will want to start with a small serving. This is a plant that I am still looking for so I can give it a try. Hopniss was an important food crop for native peoples and has 3 times the protein of potatoes. I do not have a full nutrition profile for hopniss.

Prairie Turnip-Psoralea esculenta
Prairie turnip was a staple food of the plains tribes, and is still harvested to this day as a traditional food. I’ve never tried it but know of it and wanted to throw it in for our more westerly readers. The rest of us will probably have to purchase seeds and attempt to grow them in the garden if we want to try them. Many people consider it a delicious food item.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size

100g

 Daily Value

(%)

Calories

 156 8%

Total Fat

 .4g 1%

Saturated Fat

 – –

Total Carbohydrate

 36g  13%

Dietary Fiber

 8g 29%

Protein

 2.6g 5%
Herbs: Get Your Vitamins!

Purslane-Portulaca oleracea
If you are a gardener, then you’ve seen purslane. It loves to colonize bare open soil in mid-summer. This is one of my favorite “weeds” because it tastes so good. I always leave a patch of it growing in my garden and munch on it while working. It has a crispy, succulent texture with a mild sweet flavor, and in hot weather has a bit of a lemony hint (due to an acid in the plant produced in warm weather). Purslane is high in vitamin C as well as other vitamins.

Miner’s Lettuce-Claytonia perfoliata
I’ve thrown Claytonia in here as a shout-out to the West Coast readers where it is the most prevalent. There are other species of claytonia that can be found elsewhere. They are a cool season plant, and in zone 7 where I live they can be harvested in early-late spring and again in fall-early winter. Claytonia is my kids’ favorite salad plant. They will eat it straight out of the garden. It has a crispy succulent texture similar to purslane without the lemon tang. If you carefully clip the leaves, the plant will flush again for multiple harvests. I have purchased seeds from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and grown them in my garden. It is high in vitamin C (gold rush miners used to eat it to stave off scurvy), vitamin A, and is a good source of iron.

Wood Sorrel-Genus Oxalis
There are hundreds of plants in this Wood Sorrel…

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When Are Fruits and Vegetables in Season? | Homesteading Simple Self Sufficient Off-The-Grid

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Foraging for Fun & Survival

(Continued from Part 1.)

Foraging Best Practices

1.) Make sure you are collecting in a legal manner. Many state forests or public lands allow foraging for personal use (not for profit/resale) and as long as the plant is not endangered/protected. It is your responsibility to find out those details.

2.) Ask for permission on private land just like you would if you were hunting. Be responsible, be reasonable, be considerate, and be ready for people to think you are a weirdo. When possible share a taste of your harvest. People will more readily understand why you are foraging if they know how delicious your passionflower fruit is that you just collected from the fencerow.

3.) Be careful not to overharvest and destroy a plant population. Understand the effects of harvesting on a specific plant. For example, fruits can be collected aggressively because you will not hurt the plants, and they will produce again the following season. You may still want to spread some seeds and spread the patch a bit. If you are digging wild leeks you must understand you are removing the entire plant and it will take much longer for the patch to regenerate. In these scenarios, it is best to only harvest where the plants are abundant, and harvest less than 10% of the plants to ensure the population of your patch does not decline. In my opinion, foraging is not a danger to plant populations. A diehard forager cares way more about the health of their favorite patch of wood nettle than any tree-hugging greenie ever will. Indifference is a bigger danger to our wild places. Foraging makes us care more about our environment, and the stewardship of the land.

Resources to Start Foraging

In this section I’ve highlighted a number of real experts who have helped me on my foraging journey.

Sam Thayer’s foraging books are all excellent and I have pre-ordered his field guide which will be released soon (Starve the beast: order directly from the author at www.foragersharvest.com or use the Survival blog affiliate link to booksamillion)

  • The Forager’s Harvest by Sam Thayer (detailed profiles, identification tips, harvesting, and preparation on 30+ plants)
  • The Forager’s Harvest DVD (next best thing to taking a class with Sam Thayer, but if you live in the midwest you might be able to make it to one of his classes)
    -Nature’s Garden by Sam Thayer (detailed profiles, identification tips, harvesting, and preparation on 30+ plants)
  • Incredible Wild Edibles by Sam Thayer (detailed profiles, identification tips, harvesting, and preparation on 30+ plants)
  • Sam Thayer’s Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants (available for preorder)
  • Northeast Foraging by Leda Meredith (over 200 plants included but not as much detail)
  • Tyrant Farms www.tyrantfarms.com (blog with info on foraging, wild food recipes, and other gardening & homesteading info)
  • Meat Eater Wild + Whole Foraging Section
High Value Plant Profiles

In this section, I will focus on 25 high-value wild plants. I have eaten most of them personally, and…

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TikTok is Not the Only Problem

The debate over the national security risk posed by the misuse of personal data, and whether a ban or restructuring of TikTok is a necessary policy intervention, has taken a new twist recently with the Biden administration now demanding that TikTok be sold from its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, and sold to a company based in the United States or face a potential ban in the U.S. The Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) has been conducting a review of TikTok’s foreign ownership and national security concerns surrounding the company’s data processing over the past two years. The recent call by the Administration for separation or prohibition is the latest in a series of proposals to address the threats to national security posed by TikTok.  

The national security concerns voiced by the Administration and members of Congress have largely focused on three issues: 1) the amount and type of user data collected by TikTok; 2) Chinese security law allowing government access to Chinese company-held data on demand; and 3) the potential for the Chinese government to use the app to spread misinformation or censor information critical of China.  

TikTok, like most U.S. tech companies, collects a substantial amount of data about its users, which, according to TikTok’s privacy policy, may include name, age, phone number, email, approximate location, IP addresses, contact lists, messages, biometric identifiers (like face or voiceprints), keystroke patterns, and information gathered from interaction with the app, such as user-generated content, interests, preferences, and associated metadata. It also draws substantial inferences from this data to enrich its user profiles.  

There are concerns that this data could be used by the Chinese government in espionage and surveillance activities. China’s National Intelligence Law, Cybersecurity Law, and other components of the interconnected cybersecurity and law enforcement regulatory package allow the Chinese government broad license to require Chinese companies and citizens to “support, assist, and cooperate” with Chinese intelligence work. Since “intelligence work” remains undefined, this could potentially allow the Chinese government unfettered access to data held by any Chinese company. Should China access TikTok’s user data, there is concern that the information could be used to target individuals for blackmail or as potential spy recruits. There is no evidence that China has accessed this data to date and TikTok’s CEO stated that the company would refuse such requests, but the legal issues remain a concern. 

Finally, concerns have been raised that the Chinese government could use its access to TikTok’s inner workings to pressure the company into censoring content, removing content critical of Chinese government practices, or pushing propaganda, potentially influencing U.S. politics and society.  

Project Texas Proposal 

In the wake of executive orders issued by President Trump in 2020, TikTok drafted a proposal that they hoped would sufficiently address concerns about national security and prevent a ban or divestiture mandate. The plan, dubbed “Project Texas,” would shift certain functions to…

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Simple Sourdough Bread Recipe To Try At Home

7&&void 0!==arguments[7]?arguments[7]:window,c=this;this.name=e,this.funcName=i,this.parameters=null===n?null:p(n)?n:[n],this.isBlock=o,this.blockedBy=s,this.deleteWhenComplete=r,this.isError=!1,this.isComplete=!1,this.isInitialized=!1,this.proceedIfError=a,this.fWindow=l,this.isTimeDelay=!1,this.process=function(){f(“… func = “+e),c.isInitialized=!0,c.isComplete=!0,f(“… func.apply: “+e);var i=c.funcName.split(“.”),n=null,o=this.fWindow||window;i.length>3||(n=3===i.length?o[i[0]][i[1]][i[2]]:2===i.length?o[i[0]][i[1]]:o[c.funcName]),null!=n&&n.apply(null,this.parameters),!0===c.deleteWhenComplete&&delete t[e],!0===c.isBlock&&(f(“—– F’D: “+c.name),u())}},l=function(e,i,t,n,o,s,r){var a=arguments.length>7&&void 0!==arguments[7]?arguments[7]:window,l=this;this.name=e,this.path=i,this.async=o,this.defer=s,this.isBlock=t,this.blockedBy=n,this.isInitialized=!1,this.isError=!1,this.isComplete=!1,this.proceedIfError=r,this.fWindow=a,this.isTimeDelay=!1,this.isPath=function(e){return”/”===e[0]&&”/”!==e[1]},this.getSrc=function(e){return void 0!==window.__ezScriptHost&&this.isPath(e)?window.__ezScriptHost+e:e},this.process=function(){l.isInitialized=!0,f(“… file = “+e);var i=this.fWindow?this.fWindow.document:document,t=i.createElement(“script”);t.src=this.getSrc(this.path),!0===o?t.async=!0:!0===s&&(t.defer=!0),t.onerror=function(){f(“—– ERR’D: “+l.name),l.isError=!0,!0===l.isBlock&&u()},t.onreadystatechange=t.onload=function(){var e=t.readyState;f(“—– F’D: “+l.name),e&&!/loaded|complete/.test(e)||(l.isComplete=!0,!0===l.isBlock&&u())},i.getElementsByTagName(“head”)[0].appendChild(t)}},c=function(e,i){this.name=e,this.path=””,this.async=!1,this.defer=!1,this.isBlock=!1,this.blockedBy=[],this.isInitialized=!0,this.isError=!1,this.isComplete=i,this.proceedIfError=!1,this.isTimeDelay=!1,this.process=function(){}};function d(e){!0!==h(e)&&0!=r&&e.process()}function h(e){if(!0===e.isTimeDelay&&!1===n)return f(e.name+” blocked = TIME DELAY!”),!0;if(p(e.blockedBy))for(var i=0;i200||(f(“let’s go”),m(o),m(s))}function m(e){for(var i in e)if(!1!==e.hasOwnProperty(i)){var t=e[i];!0===t.isComplete||h(t)||!0===t.isInitialized||!0===t.isError?!0===t.isError?f(t.name+”: error”):!0===t.isComplete?f(t.name+”: complete already”):!0===t.isInitialized&&f(t.name+”: initialized already”):t.process()}}function p(e){return”[object Array]”==Object.prototype.toString.call(e)}return window.addEventListener(“load”,(function(){setTimeout((function(){n=!0,f(“TDELAY —–“),u()}),5e3)}),!1),{addFile:function(e,i,n,r,a,c,h,f,u){var m=new l(e,i,n,r,a,c,h,u);!0===f?o[e]=m:s[e]=m,t[e]=m,d(m)},addDelayFile:function(e,i){var n=new l(e,i,!1,[],!1,!1,!0);n.isTimeDelay=!0,f(e+” … FILE! 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