John's Outdoorsy & Preparedness Blog

Home Gardening Update 3.13.11

2011-03-13T22:30:00.000-07:00

I just thought I'd post a little update on the container garden I started wayyy back in November. November was too late to be starting these things so most everything didn't do very well and didn't grow much at all over the winter, but now that it's getting toward spring things are really ramping up their growth.

My broccolil and cauliflower both died except for this one tiny little broccoli plant in the middle of this pic that is hanging on to life but not growing very large at all.

The big frilly green leaves are carrots which are getting almost big enough to harvest.
On the left and in the front is lettuce but neither of those ever did well and the one on the left is bolting so I'm just going to let it.

Here's another pot full of carrots, plus some bolting salad greens of some kind in the center. I'm not sure what exactly it is because I got it from the community garden without knowing what it was.

Here we have my Bush Goliath tomatoes, which at first glance don't look very good but... when you look closer you see a ton of little tomatoes popping up all over the place!

Next up is what used to be some perpetually tiny bell pepper plants. My theory is that the container I had them in was not deep enough for their root system so they stayed tiny and feeble. They WERE alive however, until aphids infested damn-near all of my plants. I acted swiftly with a self-made non-toxic pesticide and everything else was fine after that but these guys were really badly injured, so much so that I'm not sure if they'll ever come back.

I did take one however and use it as an experiment to resuscitate it. I've got it under an overturned fish-tank which should work as a mini-greenhouse. I've given it root-growth supplement and compost and have a grow-light on top to keep it nice and warm when the sun doesn't do a good enough job of that.

It's like a baby in an incubator :'(

These are my Spanish Yellow Onions. They took a long time to do anything as well, staying small throughout the winter but now they're starting to grow. Still not near big enough to harvest though.

Over here around this broken pond I'm going to grow from left to right: Mint, Dandelion greens, strawberry, and chamomile. In this pic the seeds have been spread and watered. The power extension cable you see is for the grow light for the incubator-bell-pepper. The branch tossed on the mulched bed on the right is to keep my dog from pooing on my mulched bed.

And lastly on this side I've broken up & aerated the soil but haven't planted anything yet or even decided what to plant. Probably some kind of flowers that have an herbal medicinal use.

By the way if I didn't mention it last time, the reason I have a lot of things in containers and nothing in the ground yet is because I rent and last year I was worried about tearing up the ground of a property I don't own, but this year IDGAF. If they don't like it I'll tear it out when I move, but honestly it's going to look nice and be useful for food and herbal medicine so they shouldn't complain.

Soil Cube Seed Starting.

2011-03-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

In addition to going to the community garden today, I started some seeds for my own home garden since the seeds I ordered finally came in. I wanted to start earlier but the seeds took some time to get to me. Oh well. NBD.

First of all here is what I got (all from reimerseeds.com)

UC 157 Asparagus
White Spear Onions (bunching onions)
Mountain Mint
Wando Sweet Peas
Alexandria Strawberries
Dwarf Greek Basil
Dandelion
Roman Chamomile
Valerian

This was the first time I was able to use a new seed-starter tool that I got called the Soil Cube Tool. This is one of many little tools that compact soil into a little cube for starting seeds in, rather than using a plastic or peat seed-starting trays.

Plastic starting trays and cups are problematic in that the roots tend to hit the plastic and then start circling in a tangled clump inside the container, then when you plant that, the roots can still continue this root growth that has been "trained" by having it in the plastic pot and it can end up getting choked up in it's own roots. The way to help prevent this is to physically tease the roots out before planting, but that can cause damage and either way you're going to get some root-shock which means a delay in growth.

Peat is supposed to be nice because it's biodegradeable and you can supposedly just put the whole thing in the ground and the roots will grow out through the peat as it decomposes. Truthfully though, this can have the same problem as the plastic in inadvertently training the roots to grow in a compact tangled clump and frankly, I haven't found the peat pots to decompose all that well anyway.

Soil cubes or blocks differ in that there is no container whatsoever, the soil is the container. Since there is no edge to the "container" the roots will simply stop growing when the hit the edge. Plants roots have their own intelligence that will keep them from popping roots out of the sides of the soil cube. Instead, it will make the root system a bit more robust within the cube which serves to hold the cube together when it's in that form and when placed into the ground will just take right off and grow out into the soil, eliminating root shock. As for watering, you just water lightly, but the compaction and the fact that the roots hold it all together make the whole cube pretty decently held together.

FYI: Though the tool may be modern, the method is nothing new. The Aztecs did something similar way back int he day.

Here is the Soil Cube tool. It is made up of two square pieces of (PVC?) plastic with a handle and a spring press. You fill the plastic compartments with the soil mixture, place it on a flat surface, and press down firmly to compact the soil within the compartments. You then lift up the tool and press down again to slide the compacted soil cubes out of the chambers.

Above is the soil mixture I used. They recomend the following soil mix recipe:

3 parts peat moss
2 sand and perlite mixed
1 part garden soil
2 parts compost
a touch of lime and fertilizer

I used some of those ingredients, but did not measure parts at all. I just threw it in there, mixed it up and got it wet to an oatmeal consistency as recommended.

Here is what the soil cubes look like when they come out of the tool. Built into the tool is a couple of nuts which create little depressions, all set for putting the seeds in. They're not very deep though so for some seeds you may have to take a stick and make them bigger.

Anyway, you plant your seeds, cover with more soil and use some included wooden tongs to place them in your seed tray. I use my own grow-light system made from a plastic storage bin.

They almost look like brownies or something huh? lol. The ones in the middle are strawberries, which it is recommended to just very lightly cover with peat rather than "bury".

Link: Organic Lawn Care For the CHEAP and LAZY! :)

2011-02-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

Great article by Paul Wheaton, permaculture expert enthusiast extraordinaire!

Lawn care simplified. Have the best looking lawn on your block with less mowing, less watering and less money. The cheapest lawn care AND the laziest lawn care.

Make sure to check it out :)

http://www.richsoil.com/lawn-care.jsp

New Gear: "SaberCut" Pocket Chain Saw

2011-02-22T14:07:00.000-08:00

Another new bit of gear I got is a "SaberCut" pocket chain saw.

It's a 24 inch chain with bi-directional teeth built-in and flat nylon handles on each end. You wrap the chain around the thing you want to cut and pull back and forth to cut it. It comes in a nylon pouch with a belt loop and a buckle closure. The pouch feels a little flimsy but it's not as if some super sturdy pouch is really required for an item like this so it does the job just fine. I should also mention the slight detractor that the nylon handles can sort of hurt your hands if you're pulling really hard, but if you've got some climbing or gardening gloves to give your hands a little extra padding that helps.

I keep mine strapped to the bottom of my right-side backpack strap to have it easily available whenever I need it. So far I've used it on a very annoying woody vining plant in my backyard (approx. 2in diameter) as well as long fallen branch on a hiking trail that I frequent (approx 3in diameter) and both times it worked just fine for my purposes. The saw teeth can bind every once in a while if you're holding the two ends very narrowly though so I'd say it's best to hold them nice and wide for best results.

Overall, it's not a bad item if you need a compact cutting tool, not the best either but does what it's supposed to.

Total weight of case and saw together is 6 ounces.

I got mine at a slight discount for a little under 25$ US at SawTac.com

New Gear: Maxpedition Volta™ Battery Case

2011-02-21T10:37:00.000-08:00

So another new piece of gear I've acquired is case to store spare batteries for my headlamp and flashlight. The Maxpedition Volta™ Battery Case is a 1000-denier nylon pouch with a velcro flap closure which attaches to a pack via MOLLE webbing.

Can I just take a pause for a second to say that I love MOLLE webbing? I don't understand why nothing non-military makes use of it's capability to securely attach extra accessories to a backpack. It seems like something that should be more widely used among general hiking and camping gear because there really are a lot of cool little add-on things you can use it for.

Anyway, inside the pouch comes a plastic case which can hold up to 8 batteries of size AA, AAA or CR123. (Apparently if one were so inclined it could also hold 5 shotgun rounds, or even a cell phone or iPod. I actually did put my phone in there once while hiking). The plastic case itself is actually two parts which can be detached from each other. I think I heard it described that some folks use the two sides for "new" and "spent" to keep track, but I don't use that method. I keep it full and just hope I can figure out which ones are spent. I've only had to change a battery out once so far so it hasn't been an issue yet.
I keep 4 spare AAA batteries in one side for my Petzl headlamp and 4 CR123 batteries on the other side for my little Leatherman LED flashlight.
The nylon pouch seems well built, the plastic case is not bad either. It does feel like the two halves of the case come apart rather easily, but if they're in their proper place inside the nylon pouch that won't be any kind of an issue anyway.

Some additional info: There's also a small grommet hole at the bottom of the nylon pouch for water drainage. I'm not sure if the plastic cases are watertight but I'd imagine they'd hold up okay for a short amount of time .
The velcro (or "hook & loop" since I think "velcro" is a specific brand) closure seems to stick out a bit, but it's secure enough.
Also the plastic case fits very snugly inside the pouch. You have to push it out from the bottom side of the nylon pouch to get it out so I'd say it's pretty secure.

I think it ran me about 15$US and I'm comfortable enough with that considering it doesn't feel like something I'm going to have to replace anytime soon.

New Gear: Original S.O.E. Gear Tear-off IFAK

2011-02-20T21:38:00.000-08:00

I've been in a mood to re-assess my preps lately and add to them and one thing I bought recently was a new medical pouch to mount on the outside of my backpack. This is my new "Original S.O.E. Gear" brand "Tear-off IFAK" medical pouch.
It consists of a panel that attaches right to my hiking backpack via MOLLE webbing, as well as a separate pouch that velcros on to the panel and is further held in place by buckled retention straps.
The benefit of having all of my first-aid stuff on the outside of my pack is that if I need it I can easily unbuckle the retention strap, grab it by the red handle (which denotes medical) and tear it away from the velcro backing to quickly retrieve everything at once and have it in an organized manner, rather than wasting time digging through my bags to find loose items. It also frees up room inside my bag so it's not so jam packed in there.

As for the contents and storage features, let's start on the outside.
On the outside is a small flat-ish pocket which can be held closed with the velcro that lines the edge. Inside of this pouch I keep a small waterproof pouch which used to be a "pocket medic" kit but I used up most of the contents. you can see this peeking out of the pocket in the image above, or in the bottom-right corner in the image below. Inside of this pouch I keep:

a multitude of different sized bandaids
disinfectant wipes
some tweezers and safety pins that came with the original med-kit.

The inside opens fully in a clamshell design for easy access to all of the contents. Even though my purposes are only basic first-aid and convenience items for hiking and camping, it's still really nice to have everything organized and easy to access.

The top half has three different sized sets of elastic straps, one large pouch, and one small pouch. In this area I keep:

Sunblock
Bug repellent spray
ibuprofen (pain relief)
generic benadryl (allergy relief)
hydrocortisone cream (itch relief)
triple anti-biotic ointment
hand-sanitizer

On the lower half is one large set of elastic bands and a big zippered mesh pocket. I haven't come up with anything to use keep in the large elastic bands yet, but in the mesh pocket I keep:

two 4x4 sterile gauze pads
two 3x4 non-adherent bandage pads
one set of assorted moleskin blister pads
bite & sting kit (a suction kit for such wounds)

A couple of things missing right now that I plan to include are some ace-wrap bandages (such as to wrap a sprained ankle), and some medical tape.

All in all I'm very pleased by the quality of workmanship that goes into Original S.O.E. products. I have no doubt this thing will serve me well on my camping and hiking this coming summer and will be something that will likely outlast me in it's usefulness.

New Gear: Snow Peak Mini Solo Titanium Cook Set

2010-11-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

A quick bit about a piece of gear I've purchased and used. I'm going to be periodically posting a lot of these in the near future.
This time it's the Snow Peak brand Mini Solo Titanium Cook Set.

This consists of a small titanium pot with a lid and a titanium cup, both of which fit together for storage, and the two pieces come in a mesh bag to hold them together. Each container has folding handles.
I got to use these items, or at least the cup, on a weekend survival training retreat that I took a couple months ago. We found and picked wild elderberry leaves and wild mint and made tea with them and though we used a different titanium pot to boil the water in, I did use my own cup to drink the tea and I have no complaints. The tea itself was ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS by the way :) Best I've ever had.

In order to maximize the use of space, I also keep some small supplies inside my titanium pot. Inside I keep a 7ft length of twine, an easy-sharpening tool for my blades, a 25ft length of 550 paracord, and two cliff-bars.

Home container garden update

2010-11-07T12:26:00.001-08:00

I don't know if this is really an update as I never posted the initial stuff on here, just on my social networking account, but I wanted to post my progress here since I've got multiple images to share.
Today I bought some more containers and potting soil to add to what I'm already growing.

I've tried to start from seed the following vegetables for a fall container garden:
- Carrots*
- Lettuce
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Yellow Onions*
- Bell Peppers*
- Tomatoes*

Those with asterisks* were planted a few weeks ago, but the other three were still sitting in their biodegradable seed trays, drying out and running out of space to grow, and therefore dying. I finally decided to try and save them and bought some containers, rocks for dainage, and potting soil.

This here is the mess I made getting everything done today.
There are two large black containers with Broccoli, Caulifower and Lettuce in them, a small black container with mixed salad greens (which I ate for lunch just before posting this), two long containers with bell peppers and onions, respectively, wich you can't really see behind two are two old fish/reptile tanks which I plan on using as mobile mini-greenhouses if I ever have a large enough space to do so.

I'll spare the images of the broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce plants as they're so tiny and non-green that they barely stand out in front of the potting soil, but here's a picture of the 7/8 carrots I planted. One definitely didn't make it so it's just 7 now. By the way, growing in an old kitty-litter container.

Here above are the bell peppers and below are the Spanish Yellow onions.

I was thinking of growing green onions as well, we use them a lot in our boiled chicken for enchiladas and tacos and whatnot, but I just didn't get around to ordering any seeds so just yellow round onions for now. They'll be good to cut up and put in the rice or ground beef.

Despite the fact that tomatoes are supposed to be a warm-weather crop, mine are doing, very well, better in fact that anything else if the health and size of the leaves are to be any indicator. Thanks to our warm southern california weather, these babies seem pretty happy, even though it's admittedly been getting a bit cold and rainy lately.

They're actually a hybrid bush variety called "Bush Goliath," recommended by Jack Spirko of The Survival Podcast which I listen to on a regular basis. They're supposed to be better for container gardening because they grow in a bush rather than vine all over the place and they grow really nice big tomatoes, great for putting on sandwiches and burgers, which is what I tend to use tomatoes for more often than anything else.
Motivated by the success of this so far, I'm planning to grow some other varieties of tomatoes next spring/summer. Varieties better for putting in salads and making into sauce and paste so I can try and make my very own spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe sauce, and whatever else I can think to do with my own organic tomatoes.

Here's the aftermath of the salad I had for lunch. It used to be much bigger (it's actually three separate plants), but this is what it looks like after I've cut most of it off for my salad. It should grow back about 4-5 times before it stops so I've got some more tasty organic self-grown salad ahead of me.
I actually got these salad greens from the community garden I volunteer at.

This here is the remnants of my broccoli, cauliflower and lettuce. I took the best three of each and planted them in larger containers, but these look like they're done for. Either way though, I noticed that the clovers beneath my overturned fish/reptile tanks were growing pretty strong so I decided to water these dead looking guys and stick them underneath to see if I can possibly save them. Fingers crossed.
*******************************
I really would like to plant in the ground, put in raised beds, and do WAY more than this, but as I'm renting all I can do is stick to container gardening. This is good though. I'm learning that I really have to be more attentive to my plants if I want them to do well. I'm lucky I've got as much still healthy as I do have, considering I sort of neglected them quite often as far as watering and I took WAY too long to finally plant these things. Lucky for me I live in one of the most forgiving climates in the country here in southern California and the city I'm in was originally all agricultural land (and much of it still is).

Anyway, just wanted to post about my progress, for my own sake as much as for the interest of anybody else who might care. I'm very happy to be progressing toward my goal of learning to self-sufficiently grow my own food and I'm taking note of every lesson I learn in the process.

Gerber Gator Jr. Machete

2010-07-05T11:29:00.000-07:00

So one of the items I recently picked up is the Gerber Gator Jr. Machete. It's a 10" blade and it has a saw blade edge on the back.
I must say that I absolutely love this thing. It's leaps and bounds better than the cheapy 18" one I got from Harbor Freight in terms of weight balance, hand comfort and overall sharpness and chopping power.
The saw blade works very well and the ability to have both in the same tool is really convenient and made chopping up a monster vining bush in my yard into simple work.
The sheath this thing comes with is great too. it's got some rigidity to it and feels durable. The only thing I wish the case had is more capability to attach it to my backpack instead of just the standard belt loop.
This is the "Jr." 10-inch blade model, versus the standard 17-inch blade size. I went with this because I think it's a lot more versatile and easier to swing around. I was able to get into tight places on the bush I hacked down where an extra 7 inches would have made it impossible. The shorter size also makes it much more convenient for me to keep in or on my backpack. While I'm sure the extra weight at the end of the full-sized model would be great for a bit more chopping power, this one has enough weight to it for it's size and it's well balanced enough that it certainly gets the job done very well regardless.
Anyway this thing is great for yard work and I plan on taking it with me the next time I go hiking because there are some fallen branches on the trail I frequent that could use some clearing if someone hasn't got to it first. Also, it comes very nice and sharp but I haven't had to do any sharpening myself yet so I'm not sure how easy that will be. I'm a total novice so well see how that goes when the time comes that it needs it.

New Camelbak hydration pack. I'm stoked!

2010-06-04T22:53:00.000-07:00

So I've been hiking a lot more lately and unhappily using my little brother's old "Outdoor Products" hydration pack. The thing was flimsy, not very well made and felt like it did a really bad job of distributing the weight on my back, so I decided to invest (somewhat heftily) in a Camelbak hydration pack.

I went with the Camelbak H.A.W.G 500 (don't ask me what h.a.w.g. stands for). It's the second iteration of the H.A.W.G. and the "500" comes from the fact that it's made from 500 denier cordura nylon material, which is half the denier rating of the original's 1000 denier (which is what the best military equipment manufacturers use). Denier is a rating for strength in cloth products.

The 500D makes it lighter, which is great by me, and I don't really need something to be a full 1000D for my purposes anyway. The 500D material feels PLENTY tough in it's own right and loads tougher than whatever the hell the last pack was made of.

Having never owned or experienced a real Camelbak pack, I was a little wary of spending $125 on a hydration pack, but after getting this thing I'm a firm believer in the brand and the quality they put into their products.

This is actually from Camelbak's military line and I wanted it because I knew it should be made to last and the PALS webbing on it will be ideal for mounting a tear-away velcro first-aid kit (makes no sense to have to take extra time to dig into my pack if I or someone else get's injured.)

Anyway my pack is shown up there sitting happily with my 1-liter Camelbak water bottle and my Leatherman Wave.

Here's the product page for all the details:
http://www.camelbak.com/government-military/hydration-packs/hawg-500.aspx

Not forgotten

2010-04-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

I haven't completely forgotten about this blog, but I do constantly forget to post to it.
Since my last post I've stored some food in sealed mylar and food buckets. I can proudly say that if I were to lose my source of income I wouldn't have to worry about going hungry for a full month.
I've also purchased a firearm. A Remington 870 Express 12ga shotgun. I can now proudly say that I am supporting the inalienable and human right our nation recognizes of an individual to possess the means to both defend and provide for himself and those he loves.
I've also been doing more hiking and getting myself in better shape.
I've also found myself an awesome girl who is of like mind as far as having a goal of a self-sustaining lifestyle. Very stoked about that, hope it continues to go well.
I've also purchased various things for an emergency kit to keep in my car. With all these earthquakes happening lately you can't knock wanting to at least be prepared in case a big one hit our part of California.

I probably will continue to forget to post here, but I'll stop in as often as I remember.

Cheers!

Food Storage preps

2010-01-21T00:13:00.000-08:00

I'm finally going to be getting some food storage preparations taken care of. I'll be storing two 5gal buckets, one of rice and one of beans. In each food-grade bucket will 3 separate sealed mylar bags with the respective rice or beans and a few oxygen absorbers to help the food last much longer. The benefit of keeping it in three separate sealed bags is that if I open one I don't compromise the longevity of everything all at once. I bought a cheap sealer from Harbor Freight and the mylar bags online.

And I know this sounds like something the crazy old hermit does, but I see it as a very positive and practical thing to do. Food price ARE rising and, this is a way to eat tomorrow at today's prices. Not only that but it's a peace of mind thing. If I were to lose my job tomorrow and not have money to buy food, I could easily and very happily live off the rice and beans that I eat on a regular basis anyway. And in the worst case scenario such as a natural disaster (most likely to be an earthquake around these parts) I'd be well prepared, which eliminates a lot of the fear of such a thing happening and the panic that one might have if they had NO food in their house and the grocery store was trashed.

Life Goal

2010-01-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

They ask you when you're young what you would do if you had some enormous amount of money and they say that's supposed to help you determine what you might want to do for the rest of your life as a career.

I don't know that I've ever had a satisfactory answer for that which could be translated into a lifestyle before now. It might at one point have been to buy every material possession I could wish for, which is a sad thing because it means the person answering that might be doomed to be a consumer for the rest of their life, but thankfully my views have changed.

Today if I were given an enormous amount of money, basically if I were "set for life," I would buy a big property. Not necessarily a big house, but a big property that I would use to give myself a truer liberty than most people in our country have today by making that home into something that helps me take care of some basic human needs myself, rather than depend on society for those things and stay trapped in the cycle of having to work a full-time job in order to pay to survive in comfort and security for the rest of my life. I want to grow all the food I could ever need and most of what I could ever want. I want to harvest rainwater and shape the land to make the most efficient use of water to keep reliance on public water to a minimum. I want to install solar panels on my roof, not because Al Gore says I have to, but to cut down on my reliance on the power grid and keep my electricity bill to a minimum. I want to find peace in putting work into the land and not have to live every two weeks on my paycheck and worry about what a horrible situation I would be in if I lost my job tomorrow.

To work toward this life I'm going to seriously start saving money. I know it will take me a long time to save enough to buy my own place somewhere, but if I reach that point it will have been worth it.

Lifesaver Bottle Water Purification System

2009-12-11T21:03:00.000-08:00

Not that we get a lot of water purity problems here in California, but this would have been REALLY useful for the people who had to suffer and wait 5 days for water when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. In fact, emergency hurricane situations and the persistent condition of dirty and diseased water in third-world areas is what inspired the creator of this system.

Anyway this is an awesome invention. The simplicity of use, capacity of use, and ability to filter any waterbourne virus or bacteria is really amazing. Just probably won't desalinate or remove chemicals.

The maker sets up options to purchase and send these things to donate to disaster victims as well.
Visit http://www.lifesaverusaonline.com/

Greening the Desert

2009-06-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

Amazing video of how permaculture can actually de-salt and green even a desert.

I Wish I Owned Land

2009-06-23T11:41:00.000-07:00

I really wish I owned land...
My backyard lawn does absolutely nothing but suck water and nutrients from the earth it sits on running up my water bill. I wish I could dig it all up and turn it into a beautiful living, self-sustaining, food-producing garden. It's been so long since I got my hands dirty and planted or took care of anything, but I'm renting and can't do a damn thing to the land.

Someday...

The H1N1 Swine Flu Scare: Oh Noes!

2009-04-30T09:25:00.000-07:00

This thing is kinda ridiculous.
On one hand we've got the media people blowing it way out of proportion and many people buying right on into that and getting all freaked out while on the other hand some people are completely oblivious and not taking it seriously at all.

The statement made by the President that this is "cause for concern, but not panic," is a very good way to put it.

So far this thing hasn't been any more deadly than the normal seasonal flu. Obviously you're going to want to cover your mouth when you caught or sneeze, wash your hands regularly, but that stuff is all common sense for any flu.

I'm more worried about what the government and citizens might do in an overreaction than I am about the actual flu itself.

Blues

2009-04-06T15:08:00.001-07:00

Well my employer today sent out an email to the company stating that we now have the option to
a) Take a pay cut
b) Take a sabbatical
c) Quit while you're behind

I'm definitely gonna opt for the first choice but this has got me a little concerned. I'm worried about the economy getting worse and I didn't expet it to start getting worse this soon. I'm not nearly as far along as I'd like to be towards being more self-sufficient and needing to rely less on money.

So far I've got a compost bin started but that's still going to take a while to really get going so I guess I'm going to probably just buy some compost to start me off with and start planting some food in my garden so I can reduce my food costs.

Just growing the little things we use in our cooking all the time will really help.
Garlic, onions, cilantro, peppers, maybe even potatoes and beans.

I'm probably going to consider cutting my cable if possible since all the shows I watch are streamed online now anyway.

This is all part of thinking like a prepper from a financial standpoint, I'm glad I've got the mindset and know what I need to do but I'm sorry that I'm not as far along toward making some real changes in my life as I'd like to be.

Oh well, hopefully the economy turns back around but honestly I don't think it will anytime soon.

On Gun Rights

2009-01-20T23:46:00.000-08:00

*Edit: Sorry for the false title initally posted. Fixed.Ugh! Work and having to think about moving into a new place has kept me rather busy.

Right now my thoughts have been dwelling on gun laws though.

I though of myself as fairly dissatisfied with both the liberal and conservative viewpoints, but leaning more toward the liberal side. This gun laws issue has brought me back to sitting between the two again.

Lately a lot of folks have been very concerned that President Obama is likely to make some "changes" to our gun rights. This has got people buying up whatever they can as fast as possible. I'm thinking of getting a handgun myself. I believe that denying people the means to defend themselves is atrocious, whether it was swords back in the day or guns today. To tell someone they can't have a weapon to defend themselves goes against our basic human rights since we were cavemen waving clubs around. Obviously some people (criminals) should NOT be allowed to have guns but I mean, does anybody really disagree on that issue? I really hope not.

I like this line from one of my favorite rappers, Talib Kweli where he says "Those who would trade in their freedom for their protection deserve neither."

I still do believe that guns are terrible in general. It seems to me that it would take so much less guts to pull a trigger than it does to stab or slice somebody and in that sense I believe the mere existence of guns contributes to violence but I still don't think that the basic human right to keep a weapon should be taken away.

I really do hope the gun nuts are just being paranoid and that Obama or his administration really doesn't do anything, but really, I am strongly considering getting a gun for myself either way, just in case, because as one Jack Spirko often says, The more people that own them the harder it will be for anybody to take them away. (Obviously not in a sense that we'll shoot whoever tries but that we'll stand up for our rights.)

Anyway, Cheers.

Monsanto

2009-01-10T15:29:00.000-08:00

The Setup
I haven't published anything in quite some time because I've been extremely busy with work and in my off-time the last thing on my mind was blogging. However, among my New Years resolutions is a pledge to manage my time better, re-arrange and balance my priorities, and consequentially spend more time learning about practical skills, nature, survival skills, and lastly the topic of this blog, growing our own food.

Among the many systems of dependence we have, our dependence on others for food is among the most dangerous. If you think about the basic human needs you'll probably come up first with things like food and water, then maybe shelter(both housing and clothing) and so on.
The fact that if we were suddenly stripped of the convenience of restaurants and supermarkets to feed us, most of us would barely know the first thing about procuring our own food, is alarming and frankly should be a bit frightening to you.

Realistically that's obviously not going to happen, but there is something else just as dangerous going on right now, and has been going on for some time.

I would hope that by now most people know that the food you buy is largely in some way genetically modified. They may not have messed with a cow's genes through science but you can bet they at the very least bred them to have a high milk yield. I'm not even going to get into the treatment of most farm animals, that's something I could write another, very large blog on. But hopefully you also realize that the the healthy fruits and veggies you eat are quite different from what our grandparents and great-grandparents were eating. This too can be attributed to the way the plants are bred but there is something going on that I don't think most people know about.

The Meat of the Situation
Before I start let me make it clear that this is not some crazy conspiracy theory. It may be a conspiracy, but it's not a theory. Even our national news stations have tried to get this story out, but unfortunately it doesn't seem to have been publicly exposed to the degree that it's had very much influence on people yet, partially because this company pays people off to keep thier mouths shut.

To get to the point, a company called Monsanto has been screwing with our food in ways that should give you legitimate reasons to be both scared and pissed, in ways that would require every one of us to be dependent on them for food and be absolutely incapable, even if we tried, of producing our own food, which goes WAY deeper than a violation of HUMAN rights, and enters the realm of being a crime against any and all living creatures.

For a very long time they've been going to work on the agricultural industry, modifying agricultural products to have a high yield, which sounds good if that's the only part you hear. Unsurprisingly that's the only part they advertise. The rest of the story is that they genetically modify many of these fruits and veggies to work hand-in-hand with the pesticides which Monsanto also owns patents on.

They actually started as an insecticide company, and have worked with their plants to make them work together with the insecticides they produce. The genes sequences in their plants are then patented so they own it indisputably.

They also work toward creating crops that stop producing after X number of yields unless they are treated with the right chemicals, in order to make sure they're constantly collecting royalties, and to make sure people don't take their patented plants and grow them independently without giving Monsanto any money. By genetically engineering the plants to die after a time, Monsanto wants to ensure that anyone who wants to grow their plants have to keep buying the seeds and/or pesticides from them.

You've probably heard of the insecticide called Roudup right? Well that's the insecticide that they own, which they've genetically modified thier plants to NEED to be treated with in order for those plants not to kill themselves.

While that's pretty bad in itself that they're basically trying to dominate an entire industry, the fact that they have no way of controlling their crops is where it really goes over the edge. Thanks to the natural system of cross pollination, the pollen that naturally distributes through the air or is taken from plant to plant by bees and other pollen carrying birds and insects (or the wind) makes it so that the patented genes from Monsanto's plants will inevitably spread to the crops of independent farmers. Once this occurs and Monsanto's genes are present in the small farmer's crop, Monsanto now OWNS that farmers crop because his plants have Monsanto's patented genes in them. Bye-bye independent farmer.

And again, that's NOT a theory either. They have done this. They have ruined the livelihood of many farmers in this way already and successfully payed them off to shut up about it. Thank God not all of them take the money.

And as if that wasn't bad enough, the fact that the plant is made to terminate itself has the potential for that gene spreading to every one of those kinds of plants in the world, forcing the entire global population of lets say, tomatoes, to be not only owned by Monsanto, but impossible to be grown independently. Imposible for mother nature herself to even grow successfully without some kind of unprecedented and dare I say impossible natural mutation to fight it off.

Corn, Soy and Cotton are the crops Monsanto says are their three core focuses. So don't think you're safe drinking soy milk. You're still contributing to this company. Even the very clothes we wear, almost all made from cotton, is in danger of being completely controlled by Monsanto.
They're also after Beets and if you're wondering why you should care about beats, it's because that's where a very larger portion of our sugar comes from, not traditional sugar-cane.

Beyond plant-life, Monsanto has also been hard at work on bovine (cow) growth hormones that are harmful to humans. They've also tried to patent a gene in pigs that they claim to have developed through breeding which makes the pigs more meaty. The problem here is that this gene has been in pigs naturally for probably as long as pigs have been around. If Monsanto were allowed to patent the gene sequences they want, it could mean that some small farm in Europe who's pigs had this gene naturally would now be the property of Monsanto, requiring the farmer to pay licence fees to Monsanto.

I think this entry has gotten long enough as it is and hopefully you get the idea.

I've you'd like to know more about what this company is up to there are a TON of videos on YouTube about it. Below I'll provide a link to a series of videos concerning their attempts to patent pigs, which in it's "more info" section contains a multitude of links to videos about similar atrocities by Monsanto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-ouf_gmA5o&feature=PlayList&p=BEF350CD4595E87F&index=0&playnext=1

Hiking stuff and some thoughts on survivalism.

2008-11-12T23:28:00.000-08:00

I haven't posted in ages it seems. Work has been increasingly more frantic and time consuming and keeping my eyes glued to the Presidential Election has occupied any other time I had, but I just wanted to show you some of the cool stuff I just bought.

I plan on going hiking sometime after I learn more about the local plant life so that I can so I got some cool boots, climbing gloves and a good tough belt, just because I'd rather wear something other than my beat up old Dockers belt ;)

The Boots: Altama 8" EXOSpeed boots

I looked all over for some good hiking boots that were nice and high at the ankle too keep the stickers out of my socks but couldn't find anything. Finally I looked around online and decided that you can't do much better than what our troops wear so I purchased these things on Amazon. They're good for all sorts of rugged (dry) terrain and they're up to par for ACU use.

The Gloves: Metolius 3/4 fingered Rock Climing Gloves

While I don't necessarily plan on any rock climbing per se, at least not to start with, I figure it can't hurt to keep some gloves handy just for the hell of it, plus they just looked cool. :)

The Belt: 1.75" SpecOps® "Better BDU Belt"

Again, I thought it would be good to have something army combat uniform style so through searching online I found this belt made by SpecOps that's apparently a "better" version of the BDU belt. I just think it's tough as hell and it has a heck of a hold. And I'm tired of going through belts. This thing feels like something that will last, and even though it looks a little funny, I don't think it really matters since my belt is always hidden under a shirt. As long as it works and fits and that second point is something most belts don't do for me since I'm so skinny so I'm very happy with this.

My thoughts and a note on one noteworthy point made by some survivalists:

While contemplating some realistic scenarios of hard times that survivalists prepare for, it is often said that it is unwise to look militaristic. The logic as far as I've gathered goes that if times get tough, you don't want to look militaristic to the military lest they think you're some kind of rebel that they're going to have to keep an eye on. If things really got serious you could even be locked up as a precaution. On the other hand, if you look able bodied and well prepared to people who are worse off than you it's possible that you could either have people begging you for help, or more desperate ones sticking you up for anything you've got. If you want to keep what you have, you don't go shouting about it while others have nothing.

Now, I understand that, but this is all based on the fear that we're going to turn into a Mad Max: The Road Warrior type of society. I don't rule that out, the basis of survivalism is improving your life and preparing for whatever happens, even if what happens is in fact, nothing. But let me stress that survivalism isn't solely about running around in tinfoil hats and screaming "the sky is falling," though you're free to do that if it feels right to you. But survivalism principles applied to your every day life can help you save money, do more with what you have, be self sufficient and knowledgeable in ways that can be very personally rewarding to you.

Personally I do see times getting tough. The economy is in a real bad spot and I don't think even Obama's earnest hope and desire to fix and change things for the better can get us out of it. I don't see it getting truly extreme, not Mad Max status, but even so it would be good to know enough to immunize yourself as much as possible against the economic situation, whether that's growing and preparing your own food, or picking up a beneficial skill to contribute to your community and perhaps trade services for goods or vice-versa. And even if nothing happens you'll be richer for what you learn!

I am behind in my studies and extremely busy at work, but I'm going to try to find time to read these two books that I bought on primitive skills and I'll try to do that and share some of what I learn as soon as possible, but we'll see how soon that really is.

'Till next time,

Cheers!

Botanical Gardens, Pt. II

2008-10-23T21:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah so here's the continuation of some of the pictures I took at the Botanical Gardens this weekend.
It was a really cool experience to check out different plants and see which ones were used as food or for other purposes by the native Americans. One thing I'd like to stress though is that this is in California, I can't guarantee that a plant that looks like one of these is the same thing in other climates or parts of the country, so always do the research and find out about the plants native to your area before taking it for granted that something is safe to eat!

This is the California Bay tree. The trunk looked to me like a sort of grayish color, rough, but not cracked deep at all, I'd actually almost call it smooth but that would be confusing after I said it was kind of rough, there's a little picture down there within the pic. Anyway, Native Americans used to burn the leaves in their sweat lodges in order to mask their scent when hunting. People who aren't hunters probably don't think about how unbelievably easy a deer (or many other animals) can smell a human, so this could be very important in the wild if you needed to hunt discretely.

This one is the Sword Fern. It's differentiated by the tubers, stolons, and rhizomes it produces, the last of which are edible. A Rhizome is a root-like stem that creeps along underground. Stolons are stems that creep above or barely right below the surface of the ground, popping new plants out of their nodes. Tubers, which are roundish-to-oblong food-stores for the plant. A potato is an example of a tuber. As far as I've found, only the rhizomes of the Sword Fern are edible.

This guy is the Black Hawthorne. It's characterized by being a very bushy vertically growing shrub (sometimes even a very small tree) with thin thorny branches and leaves that are serrated (not smooth). The serration can vary from large to small serrations. It also grows little white flowers with green-tinged centers.
The cool thing about this one is that it grows berries that are edible. The berries are reddish when growing and eventually become a deep purple or black when ripe.

The Dwarf Oregon-grape (the darker green plant in the picture below) as you can see attracts animals with it's dark blue grape-like fruits. They're not real grapes, though they resemble them, and while they are edible to humans, they're very bitter. The importance of knowing what plants attract animals is that animals can be food. Considering that most animals have a huge advantage over us as far as self defense mechanisms and the ability to detect and evade us with their heightened sense, it can be a big help to be able to locate a food or water source where you know animals will eventually come around. Anyway, these can also be distinguised by the fact that they bloom yellow flowers in the spring.

Didn't see much wildlife, just really really tiny lizards and a mob of crows...

Botanical Gardens

2008-10-19T22:58:00.000-07:00

Last night I went to a concert and got drunk... but today I shook it off and headed out to my local botanical gardens. I went there with the intention of starting to learn about the plant life native to my state (California) and what the native people used to use these plants for. I did learn a few very interesting things and I picked up a couple books on the subject as well.

I took some pictures so you can check stuff out now, but as I read these books I'll be sure to mention anything particularly cool that I find.

Here's the pics: (if I start doing this often I'll have to get myself a flickr account

This is Oregon Iris. According to the little placard it's fibers can be used for cordage. I guess you'd have to strip off the many leaf-stems on one of the main branches first and somehow strip that into fibers. I'm very interested in learning how this is done!

This is the California Buckeye. It blooms fruits in the summer and has snowy-white pink flowers. ATTENTION! This thing is TOXIC==POISONOUS!!! Good thing I saw it here first. If you were lost in the wilderness wouldn't you test out a fruit as harmless looking as this? According to the placard this was used by the natives as fish poison. I don't understand exactly what that means though. Used to poison a fish to kill it? Wouldnt that make it inedible? I'm very interested in finding out the specifics about this.

Ahhh the California Juniper. I'm used to seeing Juniper bushes used as hedges in front of many houses and in other public places. What I didn't know is that the branches and especially large dried-out trunks were prized for bow-wood, and the leaves were used as medicine, which is definitely something I'd like to learn more about.
More California Juniper. Up there is the leaves, down here is the bark.

Yucca Whipplei, aka "Our Lord's Candle." This is a very awesome plant. According to the sign: "Indian uses: food, stalk for tinder, leaf fibers for cordage & sandals." Again a plant I'm very interested in learning more about, specifically how to make it's prepared as food, and how to make sandals out of it's leaves! You know us Californians with our beaches and our sandal-rocking in February, haha...

That's all I've got time for right now but I'll try to post more tomorrow or the next day. Lots of studying to do though so we'll see...

One interesting thing to note: No palm trees anywhere. I remember hearing from a friend at some point that Palm Trees are not native to our area so I'd like to find out if this is true. It's just kind of interesting considering that the rest of the country probably associates Palm trees with California and Florida... I wonder if they're native to Florida for that matter...

Beerbread!

2008-10-12T17:33:00.000-07:00

Okay, so survivalism isn't just about knowing wilderness survival and stuff. It's also about surviving tough economic times like this. What would you do if the price of food rose astronomically? Wouldn't it be wise to make your own food if it was cheaper that way? Do you know what kinds of food preserve well and will last you for months if need be?

One of the things I heard about on Jack Spirko's "The Surival Podcast" is being self sufficient. Growing and making your own food to save money. One of those things is making your own bread and a fun little thing to try might be trying to make beer-bread, so as suggested, I gave it a shot.

THE INGREDIENTS: there are many different variations and you can really make the recipie your own by experimenting but here's what I used:

3 cups Flour (sifted)
1/4 cup Sugar
1 tablespoon fresh Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
1 (12oz) bottle of Beer
You'll also need a breadpan, wooden spoon, measuring tools(tbsp, tsp, cup) and butter to grease the breadpan.

**I added a little extra sugar, baking powder and beer.

THE STEPS:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix well. It'll be hard to do after the beer is added.

Add in the beer. As you stir, the beer with react with the dry ingredients to make the mixture very sticky and very hard to mix. Just put some muscle into it and use a good strong wooden spoon. You can add another couple ounces of beer if you want, I did and found it loosened everything up just a little and made it easier to stir.
Put it all in a greased breadpan and bake at 375 degrees for 50-60 minutes.
Let it cool for a while in the pan, then a little more out of the pan, then dig in!

NOTES & MODS:

Store in a nice dry place like any other bread. Got a breadbox? Cool. I don't :(

Whether it's a plus or a minus for you, don't worry about the alchohol, it dissolves once you bake it.

Make sure you sift the flour to make the bread lighter and fluffier, not like a brick.

Also note the crust is often hard. There are ways to change this (i think the melted-butter on top thing will, haven't tried it myself yet) but this is generally to be expected.

As mentioned before you can really tweak things and add things to make this recipie your own. The recipie I used suggested sprinkling extra sugar on top to make a nice sweet crust so I did.
I've also heard it recommended to pour melted butter and garlic-salt on top, or add garlic and/or herbs to the dry mixture. Either try your own experiments for look stuff up online for ideas.

It's remarkably quick and easy to make but it can be screwed up if you do things wrong, like don't sift the flour, or don't store it right. Mine was delicious the night I made it, but quickly wen't nasty because I don't have a good place to store it. It's worth mastering though b/c it's quick to make and it ends up being a good snack or dinner-side that's cheaper than buying something.

Ah! One last note!I don't think it matters what kind of beer you use, but it might be interesting to experiment with different kinds. I first heard that light beer works best so I used Miller, but while baking I read online that for folks who want to try heavier beer, you should add things like garlic and herbs and butter if you use heavier beers like Guiness. Anyway, have fun!

***Also: I took more pics, but my memory card was loose so most of them didn't save properly, hence no pics of the sticky beer-included mixture, nor the baking.

Charcloth

2008-10-06T20:11:00.000-07:00

0. the story
Today I made my own charcloth.

Charcloth is charcoal-like fabric that catches an ember or spark very well and retains that heat, burning slowly to make it useful for igniting kindling to start a fire.

It is made by burning the fabric used to make it in the absence of oxygen so that it gets all of the oxygen and moisture sucked out of it and gets charred without being consumed by actual flame. What's left over is a black brittle thin charred cloth.

I made my own today and will share the steps and specifics of how to make it with pretty pictures.

1. the materials

a. The right cloth. Use only 100% pure cotton cloth. T-Shirts work well, but make sure it's not too thin. Color doesn't really matter, but White is preferable because it makes it easiest to see the change that happens to the cloth.

b. Scissors

c. An tin container with an air-tight lid. Just think ALTOIDS. You can use one of those containers. Personally, I used a tin container that my Ren & Stimpy Uno cards came in.

d. A knife, or other sharp pointed metal object. I guess you could even use a good hard-tipped ballpoint, but don't blame me if you eff up your favorite pen. I said knife first. ;)

e. Matches or maybe a lighter. Something to start the fire.

f-g. A fire... which progresses to a burned down fire, or even a little tiny camp stove thingy. Anything that will burn very hot, Such as the extremely hot coals of dying fire.

The thing you don't want is a lot of huge crazy flames

2. the steps

a. Cut the cloth into pieces using your scissors, that will fit in your container.

b. Poke a teensy hole in the lid of the tin container with the sharp object. It should be very small. Not pinhead small, but small.

c. stick cloth in the container and close the lid.

d-e. Start the fire, at let it burn down

f. Place the container filled with cloth on the hot coals. Lots of white smoke will start billowing out of the hole

g. When it's all cool take it off and open 'er up! You haz charcloth!

3. the f.y.i.'s

a. You don't need a raging fire to heat the tin up. It won't hurt if the coals are flaming a bit, but it doesn't need to be like roaring fireplace.

b. The hole in the lid is very important! When you put the tin on the hot coals, it's going to heat up the inside of the tin, causing any oxygen and moisture inside to expand and spew out the of the hole in a white colored smoke. If you don't have the hole on the top, the expanding gasses will have nowhere to go, causing the lid to explode off, and the last thing you want is a hot tin object flying off into your face or anyone else's.

c. Since hot coals are obviously going to start cooling, you can put some more wood/coals around the tin to be lit up and keep everything nice and blazing hot inside that container. It needs to be hot enough to char the crap out of the cloth inside but again, not raging-fireplace-hot.

d. you're going to want to do this outside, not on your stove. Whatever ink or print on the container is probably going to melt off onto your stove or burn up into a rather bad-smelling toxicky smoke which you don't want that floating in your air.

e. When the white smoke stops billowing out from the whole in your lid, it should be good, but just leave it there until your container and coals have cooled enough to make it safe to touch and remove.

f. When all's cool you should have some nice charcloth inside! gratz!

g. The lid may be hard to take off, just so you know, because the metal might expand a bit, or any print on the tin might melt over the lid and container. Just put some muscle into it.

Appendix: Afterthoughts

I made the mistake of doing mine over a very violently burning fire because I had trouble controlling the flame. I think this made the process happen too fast because it burned through the coals and wood fuel very very quickly so it got very nice and hot, but it burned out too fast to make sure the process was thoroughly completed. Try doing it nice and slow if you can. It takes practice to get the kind of fire and heat you need to do this.

It might also take more than one try to find the right cloth. I used a very old undershirt t-shirt which was too thin so my cloth came out overly brittle.

Mine didn't hold an ember very well unless I assisted it by blowing to keep oxygen flowing to it.

I also found lots of shiny material inside my container with the cloth. I'm guessing it was the ink from the print on top of the can leaking inside through the hole and causing this chemical residue to be left behind.

Hopefully the next time I try this I will be more successful because I'll more evenly and effectively create a bed and nest of hot coals to evenly and thoroughly heat my container and use a thicker T-shirt.

Survival Websites

2008-10-01T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Survival Podcast
Yo, people. Just wanted to spread the word about a podcast I've been listening to.

This man in Texas runs a website at http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/.
His shows consist of a huge range of topics having to do with the various concepts of survivalism. Everything from keeping your head above the water if our economy fails, to self-sufficiency in food growing and hunting, to more hands-on skills for survival that you ought to know and even the mindset one should have.

A couple shows I liked:
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/how-to-survive-an-overview-of-modern-survivalist-philosophy
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/the-modern-finincial-survival-mindset

Survival Topics
Another very cool website is http://www.survivaltopics.com/ which offers almost strictly practical hands-on wilderness survival instructions, ideas and the like.
That's where I bought my firesteel and paracord, and where I've learned about quite a few of the things I really want to try which I will be posting about.

If anybody has any other cool websites on anything from plants and animals to camping and survival advice please let me know.

Firesteel and Paracord

2008-09-29T19:44:00.002-07:00

So I got in some supplies!
I ordered some Sweedish Firesteel and 550 Paracord from a great information resource I found, http://www.survivaltopics.com/.

Sweedish Firesteel
Sweedish firesteel is like other metals that are used to create sparks and in turn fire. The website I found it on reccomended it above the rest though. I'm not sure if that was only because the sell it there, or because it really is a cut above, but either way I'm happy with it.

It's really easy to use. It works just by scraping particles off of it with another hard object like a piece of metal or even a shard of glass! It creates a considerable shower of sparks when scraped the right way which will quickly ignite anything highly flamable (more on that stuff in another post).

Another great thing about it is that it's waterproof. It'll spark just fine even after it's been completely submerged in water (though obviously your kindling and timber needs to be dry to catch fire in the first place.

I didn't need to but I ordered the 5 pack. It was cheaper that way and you get a good size for any situation. For reference the thickest one is about the thickness of a good gel pen and the smallest is way tiny, Convenient to fit in a purse or a good size wallet. These do have limited uses but that big one would last quite a long long time if used efficiently.

550 Paracord
This is cord originally developed by the military (WWII I think?) for parachutes but it's become very popular since then because it's been found to work very well for all sorts of things. The number 550 comes from the fact that this grade of it (Grade/Type C or 3) is built to have a minimum breaking point of 550 lbs.

It's got a good nylon outer sheath and 14 inner threads braided first in pairs and then all together from there. The fact that it has these easy to get-at inner threads makes it very useful for even small things like sewing (repair clothing/gear) and even as fishing line. And the nylong sheath can be burned down to seal the ends after cutting to keep it from fraying.
I'm curious if it could be used to stich a wound shut but I don't know anything about what kind of materials are used for medical stiches. I'd be interested to find out though.

One thing to note is that it is a bit stretchy which could be either good or bad depending on what you need it for, but I like that aspect because I would imagine it would make good bowstring. I'll have to experiment with that.

It's suprisingly thin and light for something that can hold up to 550 lbs. So small in fact that I experimented with lacing one of my shoes and it fits very well in shoelace holes. I've got 50 feet of it in just a small bundle smaller than most TV remotes and it weighs just as little. It was relatively cheap too, only 7 dollars for that 50 foot section. I thinkI'll probably buy some more sometime soon so I can mess around and see what I can use it for.

My plans for the next week or two

2008-09-26T21:50:00.000-07:00

Within the next week or two I plan on doing a couple things based on what I've been learning.

For one, I'd like to get familiar with the local plants of my area (Southern California) so I'm going to visit a local nature preserve that's focused on highlighting the natural vegetation of the area and educating the public about it. I'll definitely take my camera along and try to get some cool pictures.

Secondly, I'm going to attempt to make my own charcloth, which is basically a like charcoal. It's made from cloth that's been charred so that it catches a spark very well, keeps it for a fair amount of time, and therefore is very helpful in starting fires. I just need to find a small gas micro-stove first and I'm not sure where to go. Should be fun though.

I also ordered some Swedish firesteel and 550 parachord which I'll talk more about when I receive them and take some pictures.

Failed Friction-Fire Hand-Drill

2008-09-26T21:00:00.000-07:00

So I tried a hand operated fire-drill yesterday, but failed.
You guys know what I mean right? It's basically the classic image of someone trying to start a fire by spinning a stick very fast between the hands, while applying downward pressure to help the friction. You cut a notch in the area you're drilling so that dust that comes off falls down into one place until that dust becomes so hot that you end up with a small coal.

Here's an image. Borrowed it from http://blog.makezine.com/. All credit goes that-a-way. I didn't have the patience to make a crude ms_paint rendition of my own. ;)

Why Mine Didn't Work:
I actually expected to fail, otherwise I would have taken pictures.
I think the fact that I'm very very near the coast was a fair detriment to my attempt because of lots of moisture in the air during this time of the year and the fact that the wood pieces I used were not nearly as dry as I would have preferred.
Not only that but my drill wasn't very straight or smooth or easy to work with.

Maybe one Saturday before the fall really comes to So-Cal I'll try to find time to take a drive up to the mountains to find some better materials and I'll make a real attempt I'll take some pictures.

I'll also try other versions of the fire drill with bow and strap to help the process.

One Way to Sum It Up

2008-09-25T01:33:00.000-07:00

I think I'm going to have to do a blog about what survivalism is, but for now, I really like the way the guy who runs a podcast called "TheSurvivalPodcast" explains it.

His slogan is:

"Helping You Live the Life You Want
If Times Get Tough, Or Even If They Don’t"

Dependence Days

2008-09-25T00:34:00.000-07:00

As much freedom as we have, it's amazing how dependent we are on society for things that are absolutely necessary to survive.

Think about it. In order to survive we have to conform to society's rules and standards of normalcy to be accepted so we can get hired for jobs to pay for food and water we're not capable of acquiring ourselves, clothes we're not capable of making ourselves, and shelter we're not capable of building ourselves. That's a large chunk of what's literally necessary to our physical survival that we are dependent upon society for.

Before the institution of the Federal Reserve and the the institution of debt, our kin used to know how to hunt, fish, skin and cook an animal, how to build a house, how to make our own clothing, or shave a damn sheep for that matter. Today we're so overpopulated there's not enough land for us all to live that way so we work to pay for these things as well as stuff we don't need and can't afford, which we buy on credit to feed the big corporations.

I'm not saying I really want to shave my own sheep and make my own clothes, but ideally I do wish I could own my own land where I coud at least plant a garden and build a greenhouse to save money growing my own food and stick some solar panels on the roof to cut down the electricity bill. That right there would probably leave me with a good chunk of extra cash and a proud feeling of a little more real freedom and independence.

Baby Steps

2008-09-24T00:08:00.000-07:00

The first thing I've done is purchased a good multi-tool.

I've checked out all sorts of websites and blogs by guys who are eithor survivalists in the at-the-ready sense, or are hardcore nature enthusiasts who are into nature in general and like camping and surviving out in the wilderness, and most of them say one of the most important things you can have besides a good knife, is a good multi-tool. But even for no reason at all, they're convenient to have just in general.

A multi-tool for those who don't know is exactly what it sounds like, something with multiple tools for any job, but to liken it to a phrase more people are familiar with, think of a Swiss Army Knife, with all those cool little tools on there.

I went for one of the most popular ones out there (in the U.S. at least), the Leatherman Wave.

I think my Dad has one, or some other style of multi-tool made by Leatherman, and now I see why he was happy when he got it.

This baby is a beauty.

It's got one standard blade, a serrated blade, a saw and a combo wood and daimond coated file on the outside. On the inside is a set of needlenose pliers combo'd with wire-strippers, a pair of screwdrivers, a can & bottle opener, and scissors inside. Plus the handle has an 8inch ruler on it and a few other nifty little things reside here and there.

And ALL of these things are sturdy as hell. It's all stainless steel and made very tough to last. And let me tell you those blades are pret-ty damn sharp!

Now of course something like this could be used for various little outdoor needs like fashioning things from wood, gutting and skinning an animal to eat, etc. But something like this is also extremely versatile for use in all sorts of situations in normal life. Are you a techie or just like to tinker with things? Well you've always got screwdrivers and pliers to get things done. If you ride a bike, or even a motorcycle, it could be nice to have a few tools at your disposal in case you need to do any on-the-spot maintenance. Use the blade to cut an apple, the bottle opener to pop open a beer, or go ahead and file down a nail or something if you need to.

Basically multi-purpose multi-tool is just a badass thing to have, no matter what your reason. It'll likely come in handy sooner or later.

Why I'm doing this

2008-09-23T15:33:00.000-07:00

I've been growing increasingly more disturbed by the world around me for a long time. I'm 21 now but this has been slowly developing since I was a kid.
I don't like what I see around me here in my little city in California, in my country as a whole and in the world. Whether it's lack of interest in meaningful ideas in our music, movies and television, the state of our economy, the state of this 2008 Presidentail Election, the state of our country's image in the eyes of the rest of the world, or the state of many religions around the world including my own, I feel that there are a lot of things wrong out there and I can't help but feel that things HAVE to change sooner or later.

I just don't see how things can keep getting worse and not result in some rather large consequence. If you understand what's going on in the economy right now then you realize that we're in a horrible place right now.

While contemplating all of this one night, I was struck with a sense of fear and helplessness. For about a week, maybe more, I felt as though the very possible prospect of things getting worse and worse was looming like mountain-sized boulder over me and there was nothing to do to get out of the way or stop it. That analogy however is completely unfitting of how I felt after what happened next.

One night while lying sleeplessly worrying as I had been doing, I was struck with a sense of rebellion. Rebellion against feeling sorry for myself and sorry for the world around me. I decided, no, I told myself that I'm a fighter. I'm a strong-minded and strong-willed person like my mother and I don't just sit and take bullshit as it comes.

I decided that I could handle anything if I wanted to, so I could at least try to handle anything that came my way.

I may be short and scrawny but dammit I'm not somebody who just gives in to anything.

While searching for anything that reflected what I was feeling I came across the concept of survivalism.

It's basically the mentality that if the shit ever hits the fan, you want to be prepared for whatever it is and survive it. It is embraced by some religiouns who believe the end is near, but it's also been taken up by people since the 60's when there was the fear of nuclear attack looming over everyone. What I'm more interested in is the generic sense that while anything could happen, we don't have to take it lying down and there are always steps you can take to be prepared. Come to think of it I like the phrase "preparedness" more than "survivalism." Whether it's natural disaster, social unrest, economic crisis, terrorist attacks, there are always things you can do to be prepared.

I resent the media stereotypes of people with a preparedness mindset as anti-social nut-jobs. I don't think I need to be an antisocial nutjob to store food and grow my own to hedge against rising food costs, or to stay out of debt and save money to guard unforseen personal economic hardships, or to keep emergency supplies handy in case of an eathquake or some other natural disaster, or to know basic skills like how to build a fire, how to build a shelter, how to identify wild medicinal plants.

Here on this blog I'll be posting about things I learn and what I'm up to. Keep in mind I'm a total newb to this stuff so there a lot of people out there that know a hell of a lot more than me so I'm not claiming to be trying to help anyone other than myself but if any other n00bs are out there interested this blog is here.

Also if you want to send me other resources feel free. I'm going to be slowly scouring videos, podcasts, other blogs, books, websites and whatever else I can with what time I have. I do work 40hrs a week and go to a few hours of school per week so between that my free time is pretty minimal but I'm just going to do what I can, when I can.

This gives me something to occupy myself and I hope if anyone cares to read this junk, that you'll find it informative and/or interesting.

Thanks for reading.