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Before European settlers came to the Americas, much of North America was dominated by larger herds of bison.  While exact numbers are not known, estimates for the pre-1800 bison population range from 20 to 60 million.  Today there are only about 500,000.

Bison were a critical part of the grassland ecosystem.  They’re grazing patterns and manure helped to keep the soil rich and fertile.  Without the bison, America’s grasslands are slowly dying.

However, ecologists and ranchers have come together to find a solution.

Holistic Management

With careful, planned grazing, domesticated cattle can be used to mimic the patterns of bison to restore the Great Plains.

Churchill says he learned these techniques 20 years ago from Allan Savory, who advocates “holistic planned grazing.” Today, the Savory Institute trains ranchers around the globe to use holistic planned grazing to achieve their social and economic priorities. Savory Institute’s Byron Shelton says a key is knowing when to move animals on and off of grass.
 
“Once it’s bitten, if it starts to regrow, we move the animals away until it has regrown,” he esays. “That way we have the roots being the strongest they can to hold soil, hold the water, make the ecosystem function … and to make it viably profitable to have people who make a living and have healthy communities.”

Click here to learn more about holistic management.

It may seem counter-intuitive, since for so long we’ve been told that cattle cause overgrazing and desertification.  But we know it’s possible for larger herds of grazing animals to live on the grasslands, because 300 years ago millions of bison, elk, deer, and antelope lived sustainably on the Great Plains.  While it would be great to get the wild herds back, if we can’t do that we should at least do our best with cattle and holistic management.

What are your thoughts on holistic management?  Can cattle really be used to heal the grasslands?  Let us know in the comments.

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You have to have food. There’s no way around it. Once your stores of Mountain House and Piggly Wiggly canned vegetables run out, you’re going to have to find means of putting food on the table. If you’re in China, you spread the word about cannibalism. People in post-World War 2 Europe, turned to prostitution for a single can of food.

Lack of food makes people do stupid stuff.

Hunting is an obvious means of putting food on the table, but it’s often not as simple as it sounds. I spent all of the last deer season without ever seeing a single stupid deer. How many mornings did I freeze my butt off sitting on a log staring off into the distance only to see squirrel after squirrel?

Though it’s typically highly illegal to hunt many animals at night (there are exceptions, and I suppose I’m mainly thinking about deer), if we’re looking at a post-collapse, WROL environment, that’s not really an issue that you have to think about. And this being the case, I think that there is a case that can be made for why you would want to hunt at night and how night vision can help.

Let’s take a look…

Deer

I do think that Jericho had it right when they showed how collapse led to every bubba out there putting venison on the table, ultimately leading to a collapse in the white-tail deer population. However, you want to be that bubba.

Anybody with hostas can tell you how deer come out late in the night to eat everything you’ve just planted the day prior. Why? Because deer are partially nocturnal. Studies show that whitetail deer tend to graze in open fields until around midnight, bed down in the woods for a few hours, and then wake up and resume grazing a few hours before sunlight – only this time in “upper woodlands.”

There are some geographical and seasonal variations to this pattern, but more or less, that seems to be the general rule of thumb. So this tells you where to find them during this time, at least. Where I think this proves of benefit is that it eliminates your having to “waste” daylight during a WROL situation hunting when you could be using that daylight to complete other daily household chores, such as splitting wood, working a garden, etc.

With the ability to see at night, you could then set up shop on the opposite side of a large field and wait. Where you…

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Americans faces a data privacy crisis. For more than two decades, without any meaningful restrictions on their business practices, powerful technology companies have built systems that invade our private lives, spy on our families, and gather the most intimate details about us for profit. Through a vast, opaque system of databases and algorithms, we are profiled and sorted into winners and losers based on data about our health, finances, location, gender, race, and other personal characteristics and habits. 

Last year, in a significant step towards changing these harmful business practices, bipartisan leaders on the House Energy & Commerce Committee and Senate Commerce Committee proposed the American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA). The bill went through extensive negotiations between members of Congress of both parties, industry, civil rights groups, and consumer protection and privacy groups. ADPPA received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House Energy & Commerce Committee, where it was favorably approved on a 53-2 vote. 

Unfortunately, Congress failed to enact ADPPA last session, but state legislators can now take advantage of the outcome of those negotiations by modeling a state bill on the bipartisan consensus language in ADPPA. EPIC has crafted the State Data Privacy and Protection Act to provide that opportunity. 

The fact is that many of the “privacy” bills being considered (or even enacted) by state legislatures in recent years were drafted by Amazon, Microsoft, and other industry players who benefit from harmful commercial surveillance. As investigative journalists at the Markup found:

Through lobbying records, recordings of public testimony, and interviews with lawmakers, The Markup found direct links between industry lobbying efforts and the proliferation of these tech-friendly provisions in Connecticut, Florida, Oklahoma, and Washington. And in Texas, industry pressure has shaped an even weaker bill.

The Markup, Big Tech Is Pushing States to Pass Privacy Laws, and Yes, You Should Be Suspicious (2021)

And Reuters found that “[i]n recent years, Amazon.com Inc has killed or undermined privacy protections in more than three dozen bills across 25 states, as the e-commerce giant amassed a lucrative trove of personal data on millions of American consumers.” They did this not only by opposing strong privacy bills, but by pushing weak ones:

In Virginia, the company boosted political donations tenfold over four years before persuading lawmakers this year to pass an industry-friendly privacy bill that Amazon itself drafted.

Reuters, Amazon wages secret war on Americans’ privacy, documents show (2021)

While industry complains to Congress of a “50 state patchwork” of state privacy laws, they are quietly pushing their version of what a “privacy” law should look like in an increasing number of states. These laws allow Big Tech to continue on conducting business as usual – collecting endless amounts of personal data and using it in ways that defy consumers’ expectations. They simply allow individuals to access, correct, and delete personal data about them, or opt-out of certain uses of data – if they have the time and expertise to do so, which is not often the case. On their own, these aren’t…

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The following recipe for a Broccoli-Chicken-Rice Skillet Casserole with a cheese sauce is from reader H.S.. This recipe serves six adults.

Ingredients

• 3 cups chicken stock (or water)
• 1 cup brown rice (12 ounces
• 4 cups (12 oz.) broccoli crowns
• 2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
• 1 cup nonfat or low-fat yogurt (I use the Greek style)
• 3 cups shredded chicken
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste (optional)

Directions

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil in a medium pot. Add rice, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook for 20 minutes, then add the broccoli florets to the pot. Replace the cover and cook it for an additional 10 minutes. (Do not cook according to package directions; you want to undercook the rice.) Remove from heat and set aside.
2. As soon as you put broccoli in the rice pot, preheat oven to 400°F and start making the cheese sauce. Whisk flour and milk in a large skillet to combine. Bring to a boil over medium to medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of the spoon, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to low and stir in the Cheddar cheese until melted. Add yogurt. (And salt and/or pepper, if desired.)
3. Fold the rice and broccoli mixture, shredded chicken, and almonds into the cheese sauce. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized casserole dish (or if your skillet is oven-safe, just bake it in the skillet.) Mix the breadcrumbs and olive oil in a small bowl; sprinkle over the top of the casserole. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the topping is golden and the dish is warmed through.

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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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Do you find composting a challenge? If you do, loosen up and worry no more because this homesteader’s guide to composting will lead your path to a healthier and cleaner environment.

The Ultimate Homesteader’s Guide To Composting

What is composting? Composting is simply a process of decaying organic materials the natural way making the soil healthier and more suitable for planting. If you have been planning or looking for an inspiration to get started, here’s how to:

 

How Should You Begin:

1. Consider The Season

It doesn’t make a huge difference when it comes to indoor composting, but it certainly does when we’re talking about outdoor composting. My favorite time of composting is during fall. When there are lots of microbe-rich leaves available for kick-starting my compost project, I still need to consider my equipment will be in freezing temperatures in just a few weeks. Thus, I’m going to use some leaves to create an insulated layer for the outdoor composted I’m DIYing.

2. Consider Your Compostables

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How much organic matter does your family have to compost each day? How quickly does this add up? The goal of these questions is to determine how much you can realistically compost at one time in your current situation. For us, I know we have more organic waste than we could reasonably transform into compost for our small gardens. The thought has crossed my mind to sell or gift the extra compost but we would need to store the excess until it is moved. Hard to believe I know, but not many of our immediate friends are compost-curious.

Here’s a quick list of compostables you can consider to create an organic compost:

1. Dryer sheets
2. Soy, rice, almond, etc. milk
3. Pickles

See more here!

3. Get The Right Equipment

Luckily, a lot of things can be easily upcycled into incredible composters. You don’t need to go out and buy a fancy pre-fab kit. I thought over the many options and ultimately decided to go with something quite simple: two black garbage bins with lids. One is a size smaller and will fit almost perfectly into the larger one. The larger one will already be packed with insulation-providing leaves. Then, all that’s really left to secure is something – like a shovel or big stick – to stir the compost up with every few day.

4. Make It A Habit

Humans are creatures of habit – even when those habits aren’t the best. We’re used to tossing our tea bags, fruit peels and stale bread into the garbage. We’re used to bringing that garbage, in its plastic bag, out to the curb, to the garbage shoot, or to the collection bin.

Composting seems like more work simply because it is a little different. In reality, you’re just tossing the organic materials into a different bin. Instead of tying up a plastic bag and disposing of it,…

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February 28th is the birthday of famed Swiss investor and economic pundit Marc Faber (born 1946).

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 105 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000.
2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
3. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
6. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

1. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three-day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
2. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
3. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

1. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
3. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $800,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. Round 105 ends on March 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

 

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These days, everyone is rightfully worried about a massive economic downturn precipitated by the collapse of the US dollar. There is plenty of good evidence why everyone should be worried about this, not the least of which is that the dollar is about to be unseated as the world’s reserve currency.

That, plus rampant government spending, raging inflation, and massive political and social unrest has led to a seemingly perfect storm of conditions that will expose, in shocking relief, the shortcomings of fiat currency.

America may be exceptional, but our currency is certainly not exempt from the market and economic forces and it is just about time to pay the butcher’s bill.

Accordingly, every sane person and preppers in particular are scrambling to prepare for one of the most complex and deteriorating crises in the form of a currency collapse.

You’ll need more than a survival kit and a bug-out bag if you want to make it through.

To help you in that endeavor, we are bringing you a list of 10 things that you should own before the dollar collapses.

What Causes the US Dollar to Decline and Collapse?

There has been a veritable ocean of ink spilled by pundits, experts, authorities, and common people over the years concerning what “actually” causes the dollar to dip, decline, and finally collapse.

While it is true that the forces behind our modern economy are incredibly complex, the causes for a dollar collapse tend to be fairly straightforward in nature.

Remember, it might be one or more of these factors together that genuinely precipitates the dollar collapse!

Don’t consider yourself and your investments safe just because you cannot see one or more on the horizon.

War and Disaster

Devastating natural occurrences like earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods can wreak havoc on a currency’s worth as they may impede commerce plus impair essential infrastructures.

Mega disasters can have a regional impact that has far-reaching consequences.

War, as ever, is a destabilizing force that can likewise drain unfathomable amounts of money and tip economic balances.

Economic Slump/Recession

When a recession strikes, investors may become hesitant about the strength of a country’s economy, thus seeking more secure investments.

This can trigger an immediate decrease in demand for that currency, consequently reducing its value.

This will in turn ripple out into other financial sectors, sometimes creating conditions for another recession or depression and leading to the tanking of the currency.

Inflation

When inflation rises to an excessive degree, the worth of a nation’s currency can suffer. This is because their money holds less value as prices for commodities and services increase.

Consequently, the purchasing power of its citizens falls significantly and, in practice, their currency has been devalued out from under them. This is why inflation is usually called a “hidden tax”.

Social and Political Turmoil

When a nation experiences political volatility, investors become hesitant to invest due to uncertainty about…

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Camping is one of the great American pass-times.  It’s the ultimate way to experience nature and travel without breaking the bank.  But did you know there’s a way you can go camping on top of the world for less than the cheapest hotel room?

The US Forestry Service rents out old fire lookouts, sometimes for as little as $30 per night.  These cabins offer spectacular views of some of the most beautiful landscapes in this country.

 

Click to View More Photos

It’s a rustic way to travel, and amenities are few. And, because you’re at the top of a mountain,water is scarce.

But adventure cyclist Casey Greene has stayed in many cabins in Montana, Washington, and Idaho, and says it’s an experience like no other.

“They’re just incredible destinations,” he told The Huffington Post. “The fact that you get to climb a mountain and then you get to sleep up there in this little shack up top, watch the day unfold and see how the light changes the mountain — it’s pretty unique.”

Click here to learn more.

Would you like to camp in an old fire lookout?  Do you have any other great camping ideas?  Let us know in the comments.

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The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a D.C.-based nonprofit, is at the center of the multi-statehouse push among privacy advocates. The group has also been pressing lawmakers in Maryland and Michigan to introduce state versions of the measure, and hopes to make inroads in as many states as possible.

[…]

Caitriona Fitzgerald, EPIC’s deputy director, hopes that a state version of ADPPA creates an alternative to the industry’s push for weaker state privacy laws. The modified bill has a significant advantage over industry proposals because of Congress’ push last year, she said.

“It’s been negotiated by both sides in Congress, industry was looking at it, advocates were looking at it, so much of the work is done for them,” Fitzgerald said. “There’s probably some comfort in that for state legislators, that all those negotiations have already happened.”

Read the full article here.

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