Mississippi Preppers Network

ARE YOU CRAZY!!

2012-01-12T23:20:00.000-06:00

by talon2012

Are you Crazy!!!!!

Hey man, what are you doing?
I’m planting my garden.
Well your garden can wait I got tickets to the big game today.
I can’t man I got to get this planted...
Man. You’re crazy you’re going to miss the biggest game of the season.

Storms happen when you least expect them, sometimes from your neighbor or your family. You try to explain why you do the things you do over and over again. Still they think you’ve lost your mind. How do you explain that there is a need to prepare for the unexpected emergency? Let’s step back and take a look at what you do.

You stock pile food, you have all these storage building in your yard, you build fires with no matches maybe even practice building traps too. These are all violable survival traits, and good things to know. Just imagine you are in someone else’s shoes and don’t know about prepping for an emergency. You would think it was crazy too. Trying to tell some people to prep for an emergency is like talking to a brick wall.

Can you remember why you started to prep? Was it because you were involved in an emergency before, or did someone you know tell you to get a survival kit.

Most of us know that we are supposed to have at least three days of non perishable food on hand. Do your friends or family know that, or do they even care. The scenario above actually happened. He got mad because I wanted to plant my garden said I was crazy for missing a game, but when harvest time came around asked me for some of my tomatoes, I always have more than I can use so spread the wealth so to speak. I asked him why he doesn’t plant a small garden in his yard; his answer was he didn’t want to mess up his lawn. I think to myself can you eat that lawn. But should I think he’s crazy for not prepping for some unknown emergency? Likewise should he think I’m crazy for doing what I do, of course not? It’s obvious that he doesn’t truly know or understand why I prep.

Sometimes having to explain our prepping priorities makes us feel make uncomfortable or ashamed or just plan foolish, answering questions about prepping cuts in to our time. That is something that preppers and survivalist don’t have time for do we. We are like ants always working for what might happen, This past spring during the great flood of 2011, We lost our home, so did my friends, we had a camper to live in, so No shelter for us, my friend did not. We had food clothes, my friend only had what they could carry. I saw him in town the other day and he told me he had bought a camper with the money he received from fema, but he said he goes through two bottles of propane every four days. I told him one bottle will last me a month maybe longer.

Because I cook out and use solar heat oil lamps so I don’t use much propane. Guess what now he’s interested. All the years before he called me crazy.

Now he wants to know about this stuff, funny how it took a disaster to wake him up.
All of a sudden I’m Mr. Amazing. Question is do I have time to help him. The answer to that is a big NO. Will I let him and his family go broke on propane electric bills and such the answer again is No. So what will I do? Give him something that will last a lifetime…….. KNOWLEDGE…… tell him where to go for help. Take him hunting and fishing when I go. Show him my solar heater and cooker Make prepping understandable and he will be able to help himself.

I’ve made it a priority to tell someone about being prepared everyday. That’s what Noah did in the bible, he told them the flood was coming. But they didn’t listen until the water was up to there necks. The point is tell someone, whether or not they care. You should see some of the peoples faces when I ask standing in line at the grocery store, I’ll say hello, I was wonding if you had at least three days of food stored for an emergency, or I’ll ask do you know where your flashlight is or extra batteries. They really do look at you like your crazy, but it gets them thinking. They may think I’m crazy for asking but I’ve done the exact thing Noah did I’ve planted a seed in there mind that will make them think about being prepared in an emergency. Who’s crazy now huh, Try it the next time you have a chance. Have a few cards or flyers with some links and maybe some survival advise too help them, because

What you say and do just might have saved that persons life in the future.

Talon2012
http://www.a1tunicafishingsite.com

Prepping 101 Links and Retrospect

2012-01-04T09:11:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday season. I'm sorry that I haven't posted in a while. This Redneck Wine Glass was a gift and I think I need a whole set of these.

Now those of you who already know the story of this glass, I'll be quick, I promise. My husband's friend was shopping with his wife, they saw this in a gift shop with a $16 dollar price tag. He left, hit the dollar store and $2 later and some epoxy had the same thing. I would love a set of these over Waterford Crystal any day.

In my last post I was asked not to forget about the new people to prepping. I haven't forgotten.

I have dug through some past posts and this is by no means complete just a starter. First question is why do you want to prep? More About Prepping covers some of this. Who do you include in your Preps? Who is Included hits on this, it may seem simple at first. Immediate family members think you are nuts? We are right there with you with How to Get Others into The Prepper Mindset. What Kind of Foods Should I Store? That explains itself. Should I clear up my debt first? There is Debt and Preparedness, a lot of people do not think they have anything they can scale back on, this guest post by Tim is an eye opener, Two Different Views on the Same Problem. I urge you if the light bulb just went off in your head, do not whip out the credit card and put yourself into debt by ordering BOBs (Bug out bags), #10 cans of food and MREs. You may feel you are behind but you can build slow and will be amazed at how quickly it adds up. Here is Bare Bones to work on. You don't want your food preps to spoil so here is a quick article Oh the Humidity of it All. Hey, I don't live on a homestead, how am I supposed to do this? Honey, neither do I, a great article from Marica, Prepping in Small Spaces. This is just a starter and I will be bringing up more beginner topics and links. Prepping also relies heavily on your preference for things. Using myself as an example, I do not store #10 cans of food. I store the same size I normally use. I only store the foods we eat and it doesn't take long to educate yourself to cook as you usually do outdoors without electricity or gas. In fact you learn real quick when a category 5 hurricane hits lol. Please use discretion when talking about your preps. We have some like minded friends we talk to, but when an emergency hits, how many people would you like to show up at your door? I'm not saying not to help anyone but please keep in mind, people who are desperate to show up will be desperate to do anything to get what they need. We have comments areas on blogs and message boards if you feel you are alone in this or need/want to talk about prepping and there are other places online. Safety first! I am looking forward to a great new year with all of you!

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It's Chilly Down Here!

2011-10-20T13:20:00.000-05:00

This weather is greatly welcomed after the hot summer we have had. It makes me think of soup, hot chocolate, cinnamon and allspice. It also makes me think how thankful I am that we are almost out of hurricane season. I have a mental list of all the things to accomplish before it gets too cold out. Trees and shrubs have already been trimmed and need a dose of fertilizer. Sweet potatoes are doing well, everything else-- not so well, so I need to make notes in my garden book. Greenhouse needs to be cleaned out and winterized. Winter clothes and food supply need to be beefed up a little bit.
I'm also excited because soon I get deer meat! Yep, it's that time of year again and you have to hear about it. That means making more freezer room but I will do it gladly and maybe do a happy dance while I'm doing it. I got caught short on ground deer last year but it's not going to happen this year. I was a little put out because I thought that I would be losing my new, much larger garden plot but it looks like I will have it a while longer. How are your plans coming along?

Some of the blogs have gone quiet lately. Wolverine has talked about this on the main AP blog. Maybe some people have moved on, or more people have gravitated to the message boards. I have a hard time keeping up with the message boards but I try on occasion. I don't post as much because I feel I'm repeating the same thing over and over again. I haven't given up on prepping, I'm still chugging along. I think it takes a lot for a prepper to come out and blog because it takes away some of your anonymity. With the clown parade that is going on for the presidency (current office holder included), it's hard to stay optimistic. A friend of mine wrote on his blog that he had to put his war in perspective. That struck a cord with me, after thinking about it a bit, I figure as long as I continue to hold on to my basic theory to take care of my and mine, I have my war in perspective and can remain optimistic. I'll be around, y'all have a nice day.

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What is our unemployment and poverty rate?

2011-09-19T09:15:00.000-05:00

The latest Census Bureau puts us at 15.1 percent poverty level. The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts us at 9.1 percent unemployed. The Bureau of Labor Statistics had us at 9.6 percent for last year. Since January of 2011 they expanded their data to include people unemployed for up to five years instead of two and our unemployment rate is 9.1 percent? Our poverty level is a new record high since 1993. In 1993 our unemployment rate was 6.8 percent down from 7.4 percent in 1992 with a poverty rate of 14.3, and our poverty rate was 14.4 percent in 1992. I understand that population increases will effect numbers from 1990's until now. But here is the breakdown as I see it:

2010-2011
Census poverty level....................15.1%
Unemployment ............................ 9.1%

2008-2009
Census poverty level....................14.3%
Unemployment............................. 9.3

How do they contact people who have been unemployed for up to five years?

I guess this is why I will never have a career in statistical analysis.

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Never Forget

2011-09-11T09:07:00.002-05:00

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Living With Lee

2011-09-03T12:19:00.000-05:00

So far so good. Not too much flooding yet but the storm is starting to travel east from Louisiana. If you can, stay off of HWY 90. A lot of sand being blown around. By now I hope everyone has the supplies they need since Lee plans on hanging around until Tuesday. Good luck everyone and be safe!

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The Record Heat Waves

2011-07-22T16:11:00.003-05:00

With the record heat waves and drought across the nation, the American Preppers Network hopes that you have been prepared. Disasters of any type can and do happen anywhere, at anytime, and without warning. We are now witnessing and will continue to witness a prime example of how one disaster can cause a chain reaction leading to other disasters. Here are some potential disasters to be aware of as a result of the drought and heat waves.

1) Water shortages. Water is the number 1 most important necessity to survival. The average human can only survive 3 days without water, and even less in a heat wave. I hope you've stored some. If the water system shuts down or does not have enough, you could turn on the tap only to have a few drips. If you run into a situation where there is not enough municipal water supply to your home, start looking for other sources of stored water.

Your hot water tank may have 30 - 50 gallons of water stored.
The top supply tank to your toilette is typically clean water that you can use.
Your plumbing in your house could have a few gallons. Open a higher faucet in your house as in a shower, sink, or upstairs source to relieve pressure, then open a lower outside faucet to retrieve water from your plumbing system.

Don't short change yourself on water! Make sure you have plenty for personal consumption. If you stop sweating, that means you are dehydrated!

Got Water?

2) Heat. Heat poses many risks, including but not limited to:

Heat Stroke. Watch family members closely, especially the elderly, watch for slurred speech and disorientation. When in doubt, call for help. Time lost is brain lost. Never leave pets or children in a vehicle, and keep them out of the direct sun. Drink lots of water.
Fire. Fires are much more common in the heat. Things dry out and become more flammable. Keep dry brush and trash picked up. Do not store fuel in or around your house, and keep well ventilated in a cool area out of the sun. Keep grass cut short, especially if your city is rationing water and not allowing watering of lawns. Do not store any flammables in the direct sun or in your attic.
Vehicle breakdowns. Avoid driving unless it's absolutely necessary, or drive at nite. Check your fluid levels and make sure your oil and coolant are topped off. Bring extra oil and coolant with you in case you need it. DO NOT top off your fuel tank! Make sure your tires are property inflated and not over or under inflated. Bring extra water with you in case you do break down. Drive with the A/C off when going uphill. Watch your vehicles tempature when climbing grades. If your car starts to overheat when going uphill, pull over at a safe location to let it cool. Check to make sure your thermostat is working before you make your trip.

3) Blackouts. The nations grids are maxed out. With everyone using A/C, expect rolling blackouts. If you are in a blackout, you can wrap sleeping bags around your refrigerator or freezer to help insulate it. To conserve power, only use what you absolutely need. Keep lights turned off and keep your A/C set to the warmest temperature that you can safely stand. Do you have a generator? Be prepared to use it. Do you have plenty of non-perishable food stored? If there is an extended blackout, you may need it. Stores and gas stations will be shut down in a blackout. Do you have an emergency battery powered radio and flashlights?

4) Food Prices Expect food prices to increase. Especially meat. Many ranchers are butchering all of there livestock as there is not enough food and water to care for them, this means shortages in the future. Produce crops are drying up. Prices of corn, wheat and other grains will increase. Even produce grown in unaffected areas may increase in price as well due to demand. If the blackouts are too severe, stores, gas stations and truck stops may close down temporarily disrupting the supply chain and preventing food from making it to the stores.

Stay safe during this heat wave and dought. This is a serious and potentially devastating national disaster.

If you have tips, ideas, news, videos or pictures that you wish to share regarding this heat wave you can submit your article to americanprepper@yahoo.com. If your article is chosen we will post it on your states preppers network blog. Top articles will get posted on APN. The top article of the week will win a free flashlantern valued at $49.95 (made in the USA). Articles must be submitted before 7/29.

Feel free to copy and repost this article in it's entirety. Credit source as AmericanPreppersNetwork.com

Here are some free helpful pdf files to download

Fire and Heat Waves
- ARC - Are You Ready - Fire

- ARC - Are You Ready - Heat Wave

- ARC - Are You Ready - Wildfires

- Fact Sheet: Fires

- Fact Sheet: Fire Safe

- WildFires

Water
- ARC - Food and Water in Emergency

- Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water

- How To Make A Solar Still (Plastic Cover)

- Purification Of Water On A Small Scale

- Simple Solar Still For The Production Of Distilled Water

- Slow Sand Filters

- Water Purification

- Water Treatment

Fire Safety

- Fighting Fire

- Fire Safety

Get More Free Downloads here:
http://preppers.info/Free_Downloads.html

Hurricane Season/Generators

2011-06-07T10:07:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year again folks! Rather than repeating what has been posted in years past, here is the link to all hurricane posts on Mississippi Prepper. We are generator shopping which should have been accomplished already.
What do you need in a generator?
That depends on what level of discomfort you are willing to live with. We looked into the propane, whole house generators. It would cost us about $4,000. We decided to pass on this not just because of the expense but it does not increase home value as much as it cost and we had talked to a few people that have this and only a couple worked when needed.
Now what? Determine what you want to run on the generator. There are all sorts of calculators online for this. Refrigerators and freezers can be cycled and unplugged to run other things temporarily. I have other cooking resources that I do not need to worry about kitchen appliances and can also heat water so we can forgo the hot water heaters. Why do that if you can get a generator that can do it all? One storage, you have to store your generator when not in use and size is a factor. Two, and more important, gas. You have to have enough gas stored to run it. Gas only lasts so long, and having to have enough to run the generator for how long? Days? Weeks? Months? After a major hurricane obtaining gas is nothing short of a treasure hunt. I tend to be on the conservative side with my electric and am more so when running on a generator. Make a list of essentials to be run. Look up what wattage you need and how much gas you need to run it and go from there. Check prices and reviews. After purchasing your generator do monthly checks to make sure it is running well. NEVER hook your generator directly to your house unless you have a switch installed that just allows the generator to function through the electrical system of your house. Not installing a switch means you will charge the electric lines and possibly kill someone working on the lines after the storm. NEVER run it indoors or fill it while it's running. Keep it secure after the storm so it isn't taken.
I am sorry I have been remiss in posting on tornado prepping and flooding, my father had passed away and I have been in a funk but I'll try to be more helpful.

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Mississippi Preppers Roll Call - All Preppers Please Check In

2011-03-07T07:49:00.002-06:00

The American Preppers Network is conducting a network-wide roll call. Whether you are a member or not please check in and let us know what you are doing to prepare.

This is a good opportunity to network with other preppers near you.

Mississippi Preppers, to respond to the roll call please follow this link:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=431&t=9266

Reply to the Roll Call and let us know what you have been doing to prepare.

If you are not yet a member of the forum you can register here for free:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/ucp.php?mode=register

You say Potato....

2011-03-01T09:52:00.000-06:00

Went to the farm supply last week to pick up my seed potatoes. I love the farm supply and always spend more than I should, but I don't get there that often. The potatoes and green beans are in. Tomato plants are next. As a treat I picked up two more blueberry bushes to add to the meager sticks I bought last year. Word of advice spend the extra for more established fruit bushes. What have you got going on?

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Partial Shade Growing

2011-02-24T08:04:00.001-06:00

I realized after my last post I didn't include vegetables that can grow in partial shade. Here it is:

1.Salad Greens, such as leaf lettuce, arugula, endive, and cress.

2.Broccoli

3.Cauliflower

4.Peas

5.Beets

6.Brussels Sprouts

7.Radishes

8.Swiss Chard

9.Leafy Greens, such as collards, mustard greens, spinach, and kale

10.Beans

My fertile bed for tomatoes is partially shaded and they do fine. I think it gives them a break from the heat. The rule of thumb is if it is a root or bears fruit it needs full sun.
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Gardening Space

2011-02-16T07:53:00.000-06:00

Here in the south we are are known for our beautiful trees. Magnolias, Water and Live Oaks and the dreaded popcorn trees. I have four beautiful trees on my property but when you are trying to garden as much as possible they do get in the way. Oaks are slow to grow, but they do grow. In planning my garden one bed was placed too close to a Water Oak. Even though I have had several years growing in this bed this will be the last year and only half will be used. Next year I will lose my neighbors plot and my more fertile bed. I'm not discouraged though, where there is a will...
I am hoping to have constructed by the end of the growing season this year several smaller beds and will use more containers. When I lose my potato bed I will be growing in either barrels or tires.

Vegetables that can grow in containers are:
Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Green onion
Leaf Lettuce
Peppers
Radishes
Squash

Vertical options are:
Tomatoes
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Squash

Keywords in seed shopping for smaller varieties are: dwarf, compact, tiny, space saving, small, bush and slim.

Space under trees in the winter, when the leaves are shed, can serve for a greenhouse for winter growing. Here in the south you would have to treat it as a short growing season though. Some people have also grown mushrooms in the shade. As always explore your possibilities.

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Food, Clothes and Gas

2011-02-15T11:33:00.000-06:00

Food, clothing and gas all going up. I've been mentioning this on and off in previous posts. I hope that you are buying as cheap as you can and stocking up. It's warming up Mississippi! Time to get it ready and get it in the ground. While you are doing that make a side list of what you will need to store and process what you are growing when it comes in. Need more bags, buckets, canning jars or lids? Make a list and look for sales.
Clothes? Even if it means buying fewer items, buy well made, sturdy clothes. Hang them on the line to dry, the clothes drier eventually eats more than socks.
Gas? Watch your prices and drive where you need to go.
With prices rising, I would try to stock as much as you can hold, as cheaply as you can. I would save living off your stores completely without rotation for when you truly have to. I know that this is my opinion but I don't think we have seen the end of the price hike.
Ammo, another thing I would stock up on this year, why? Next year is an election year and we all know what that does to ammo pricing and shortages.

I've been looking around to see what everyone else is doing/writing about this also.
To expand your garden horizons check out Arizona Prepper.
Need to start a pantry? See Vermont Prepper.
Prep on the cheap? Texas Prepper has you covered.

Now on food shortages..Kellene Bishop is writing a series on this on Preparedness Pro that I don't think you will want to miss.

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Extreme Couponing

2011-02-06T15:44:00.001-06:00

by Belle

I saw a program the other night on TLC called "Extreme Couponing". It showed the stories of 4 different people who use massive amounts of coupons and say between 95-98% on their groceries every month. (All of the values that are given are approximate. I was too busy with my jaw dropped to write down the figures).This one lady have over $900 worth of groceries and with all her coupons only paid like $2 and change. This other man ordered 22 cases of total cereal and with his coupons and double coupons and in store sale, the cereal came out to be free. He said that he was going to donate all of that to his church food pantry. I saw these peoples garages and all of the shelving stocked with everything imaginable from food, detergent, TP and personal products- everything that you could need for years and all I could do was sit there and dream of how I would like something like that for myself and my family. Mind you, I do not think that I have that kind of time to put into that for those massive amounts of products, nor do I think that I could store all of that food for a family of three and actually use it before it expired. But if I learn to do this and save at least half of the money I spend ever month, I could use that money for other prepper things that I would not have coupons for; like that Honda generator that I have been eyeing. My Husband told me about a website called "The Grocery Game". It is a subscription service and they match the coupons from your paper and those you get in the ole mailbox and match them to the sales in the store. A real time saver. Starting this weekend, I am going to browse that site and see how it all works and them I am going to try my hand at this. I will keep you posted and after my first trip to the store doing this, I may just post the actual receipt. If you read this and you know about this from actual practice, any tips would be great. After I saw that show, all I could say was "Who Knew?"

To read replies to this post or make a comment follow the link:

http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=432&t=7449

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Tired of Winter?

2011-01-25T08:13:00.000-06:00

I placed my tomato seed order yesterday in hoping we will have an early final frost. I don't know about all of you but I am ready for winter to go! I am going to try out some Heinz seed this year, I'll let you know how it goes. I also ordered some grape and cherry that I hope will do well. I will put a couple in the beds but the rest will go into containers. They grew terrible last year and I wasn't the only one who had trouble. It irritated one of my neighbors so much that he is making a new bed this year and I quote "I need new dirt!" We may make a new bed this year due to a tree's growth spurt. I am also looking for a well producing straight neck summer squash because I am disgusted with what I planted last year. We still have the large bed on a neighbor's plot that we split the bounty with. I also have a list of other projects I plan to tackle that I'll share as soon as they are started, all geared towards a more productive food harvest (I hope!). Groceries have gone up another 3%, it's bad when you go to the market one week for milk then go the following week and it's a dollar more. But hey, job outlooks are supposed to look good this year and aid in the economic recovery. You will have to excuse me but I haven't figured out yet how to type an effective equivalent to blowing a raspberry!

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U.S. government commits avian holocaust

2011-01-22T09:50:00.005-06:00

U.S. government commits avian holocaust with mass poisoning of millions of birds

(NaturalNews) The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is engaged in what can only be called an avian holocaust through its Bye Bye Blackbird program that has poisoned tens of millions of birds over the last decade. The USDA even reports the number of birds it has poisoned to death in a PDF document posted on the USDA website.

Anticipating the USDA possibly removing that document, we have posted a copy on NaturalNews servers at:
http://www.naturalnews.com/files/US...

The original source URL of this file was:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_...

This document shows that, just in 2009, the following bird populations were poisoned and killed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, using taxpayer dollars: Follow link below to read more:
http://www.naturalnews.com/031084_bird_deaths_holocaust.html

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Hopes for the New Year

2011-01-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

I hope every one's holiday season went well. My hopes for my family are the same hopes for all of you, a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. Prosperous is in the eyes of the beholder I'm afraid, with government being as it is and I am curious as to what will happen with tax returns. As long as we have a roof over our heads, food in our stomachs and bills paid, I think we are prosperous. I think the more self-sustained we become the more prosperous we become.
Resolutions anyone?? My resolutions are the same for the most part, get out in the garden more, produce more of our own food and educate myself more on what we can do to be less dependent. Now is the time I start planning what will go in the ground and drool over seed catalogs. For those starting out, the key is to start. I've talked to many people who say they are planning to, going to, looking into it... start doing instead of burning up google.
One gift I got this Christmas from my husband is a Presto three piece regulator pressure canner.

I have never pressure canned before! I am looking forward to it! For those of you new to pressure canning as I am there is a good article by Jackie Clay (of course) at Backwoods Home Magazine. I don't want to forget the Mississippi State Extension Service's resources. Anyone with any tips they would like to share please jump in.
And if there are topics you would like to have covered drop me a line.

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Some Facts About Mississippi

2011-01-03T12:48:00.002-06:00

Do you know the States motto: Virtute et armis (By valor and arms). How about the origin of the name Mississippi: From an Indian word meaning “Father of Waters” Follow this link and learn a few other known and not so known facts about Mississippi: Mississippi: History, Geography, Population, and State Facts — Infoplease.com http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0108232.html#ixzz1A03QO45U
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Sing the health praises of parsley and sage

2010-12-25T13:06:00.000-06:00

Those of us who go back a few years likely remember the line about parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme in the huge Simon and Garfunkel hit song about two ill-fated lovers, "Are You Going to Scarborough Fair". Many have speculated that the reference to the four popular herbs was due to their use in Medieval Europe to help cleanse the air and ward off the infamous black plague. Others have thought that the reference to the four herbs was because the combination may have been used as a love potion. Whatever the reason for their inclusion in the popular song, the many health benefits of parsley and sage are worth loving and singing praises about in their own rights.

PARSLEY

Parsley is an amazing medicinal herb with a world of health benefits. The root contains calcium, B-complex vitamins, and iron, which nourish the glands that help regulate the uptake of calcium. It is a source of magnesium, calcium, potassium, vitamin A, beta-carotene, vitamin C and vitamin K.

Among the many benefits reported for parsley are:

*It is a diuretic which helps the body produce more urine to keep the urinary system operating smoothly and which helps prevent problems such as kidney stones and bladder infections.

*It is wonderful for removing toxins from the body, such as heavy metals.

*It is an effective breath freshener. It is believed that the practice of including parsley on a dinner plate began due to its breath freshening abilities and not merely for its decorative effect.

*The root and leaves are good for the liver and spleen.

*It helps relieve bloating during menstruation.

*It provides relief for edema, often helping when other remedies have failed

*Parsley root and seeds help relax stiff joints, often making stiff and unmanageable fingers work again.

*It helps remove gallstones when used properly by taking a pint of the tea daily.

*It is beneficial for the adrenal glands.

*It is a powerful therapeutic aid for the optic nerves, brain and sympathetic nervous system.

*Parsley juice is an excellent tonic for the blood vessels.

Note: It is best to avoid large amounts of parsley if you are pregnant, especially the use of the volatile essential oil.

SAGE

Like rosemary, its sister herb in the mint (Labiatae) family, sage contains a variety of volatile oils, flavonoids and phenolic acids, including rosmarinic acid. The oils found in sage are both antiseptic and antibiotic, helping it fight infections.

Besides the antioxidant and other properties shared with Rosemary, sage`s other health benefits include:

*It is effective for symptoms of menopause, night sweats and hot flashes because of its estrogenic action and because its tannins help dry up perspiration.

*Sage helps provide better brain function and has been used in the treatment of cerebrovascular disease for over a thousand years. It helps provide better recall and research has suggested that it may be an effective option to help treat Alzheimer`s.

*There`s also compelling evidence that sage may be of value to people with diabetes for whom the hormone insulin does not work as efficiently as it should. Lab studies indicate that sage may boost insulin`s action.

* The ability of sage to protect oils from oxidation has also led some companies to experiment with sage as a natural antioxidant additive for cooking oils that can extend shelf life and help avoid rancidity.

In an upcoming article, we will also sing the praises of the other two herbs mentioned in the popular song - rosemary and thyme.

Sources included:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarbo...
http://www.healthy-holistic-living....
http://www.greenmuze.com/blogs/natu...
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/pars...

About the author

Tony Isaacs, is a natural health author, advocate and researcher who hosts The Best Years in Life website for baby boomers and others wishing to avoid prescription drugs and mainstream managed illness and live longer, healthier and happier lives naturally. Mr. Isaacs is the author of books and articles about natural health, longevity and beating cancer including "Cancer's Natural Enemy" and is working on a major book project due to be published later this year.
Mr. Isaacs is currently residing in scenic East Texas and frequently commutes to the even more scenic Texas hill country near San Antonio and Austin to give lectures in health seminars. He also hosts the CureZone "Ask Tony Isaacs - featuring Luella May" forum as well as the Yahoo Health Group "Oleander Soup" and he serves as a consultant to the "Utopia Silver Supplement Company".

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You Can't Go Home, Or I can't.

2010-12-09T10:10:00.000-06:00

I will do the clothing post at another time. My heart isn't in it right now and I don't think anyone was hanging on the edge waiting for it lol.
I am optimistic at the start of every new year and am usually happy to see the old one go, but this year I will be very happy to see this year retire. I got a call from my father's doctor telling me he was in the hospital, and that I need to be there. The short story is my father is home now recovering after six weeks, thankfully.
I haven't been back to Queens, NY in a long time.   It felt like the population quadrupled since I left and a trip from the airport to the hospital which would have taken 30 to 45 minutes years ago took an hour and a half and it wasn't rush hour yet. During the car ride, I thought about how many more people there were, how can they evacuate in case of an emergency, and that I could walk faster than how fast we were driving with all the traffic. My father stabilized that night and was able to move out of ICU. He lives in a neighborhood I have never been to and I was staying at his apartment. It was late and a neighbor of his came and picked me up, another neighbor cleaned Dad's apartment, and even though it was very late, another neighbor offered to cook me dinner. I was glad my Dad had so many wonderful friends and after hearing about them, finally was able to place faces with names.   My Dad's place isn't that different from thousands of others on a fixed income. He has a three room apartment in a basement. He is actually friends with his landlord, which is wonderful because he looks out for him also and considers Dad a part of his family. Every dime is watched down to the penny. The neighbor that offered to cook for me, she and her husband have been unemployed for a while. They all look after each other.
Walking into my Dad's house without him being there was odd. He is neat, always was. Pictures of me and my children were all over and all his cabinets and freezers were full. Dad has a nebulizer so there is a small generator available. I had to smile, Dad always felt rich when his cabinets and freezers were full, guess that is where I get it from. Since he has been ill, he has a scooter with a basket to get around because he doesn't want to rely on anyone, he hasn't been able to drive a car in years. His new scooter was due to arrive and he was angry because he was in the hospital. I joked with him that I was going to put a bumper sticker on it that said "It has a Hemi".
My old accent kicked in a little but an Uncle had commented " Miss Aggie, you sound like a southern belle" lol. I was also asked by a nurse's aid if I ate squirrel....I told her no I preferred possum lol. A lot of people were just curious as to what life was like living in the south which I got a kick out of, you would think I lived on Mars for crying out loud. Do you miss living in NY? No. I think that was the biggest shocker for people. What I do miss about living close together is that I would most likely have been living by my Dad and helping him. Where we lived most of our family had been a short distance away but that has all changed now. I do miss being able to walk to a store or a bunch of neighbors sitting out on a stoop. I did not miss the traffic, living with people so close to me, the garbage police, pollution, having to be mugger proof and almost stepping in dog crap on the sidewalk. I did not miss not having the right to defend myself, my home and my family. I did not miss the cost of living. It was great spending time with my Dad and my oldest son, though I wish the circumstances had been different. I visited my old neighborhood and could not believe how much it changed, and not for the better, it was a nice place to grow up.   I was a little sad knowing I would never live there again but I was happy to go home.
Mississippi, we may be ranked the dumbest, fattest, poorest state in the nation, with the highest rate in teen pregnancy, but we were ranked the happiest, and this Mississippian was damn grateful to be home.
God bless.

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Welcome New Member

2010-12-06T10:14:00.002-06:00

Welcome our Newest Member to Mississippi:

Belle

Hi. My name is Belle and I live in NW Mississippi across the stateline from Memphis, TN. I have been prepping on and off since last year. By next week, I will buy a solar oven because if the SHTF, I need to be able to cook for my family. There are a couple of things that I am afraid of though; that I will run out of storage room (almost there since my house is only 1286 sqft), or worse that I will not have stored enough items. It is nice to be here and I will be combing through all of the posts for info.

Please welcome our new member by following the link below:
http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=563&t=184&start=390

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Mississippi Preppers Roll Call

2010-11-27T12:15:00.000-06:00

The Mississippi Preppers Network is conducting a Roll Call on our forum. If you are a prepper please check in.

* Here is a link to the Roll Call:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=431&t=6198

You have to be registered to check in. If you aren't registered please join here:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/ucp.php?mode=register

* If you are a HAM Radio Operator check in here:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=143&t=6219

* If you are an A.N.T.S. member please check in here:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=618&t=6220

Covering Your Rear......Literally

2010-09-22T07:55:00.000-05:00

It's time for a new series on Mississippi Prepper. As I look back on past topics I realized we can shoot it, we can stockpile it, we can prepare for it but can we cover it? If the SHTF and we are not prepared for this aspect of our survival...well folks things could get ugly quick lol. This will cover how to store clothing for people who can't grow or raise their own source, to those who can. What animals can do double duty as both fiber and meat source. Also how to prepare for more delicate matters of hygiene. More to come!

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Katrina and 9/11

2010-09-16T07:40:00.000-05:00

No I didn't forget. I don't think anyone has. I didn't post a memorial post because I quite frankly I was disgusted with the political agendas that attached themselves to both. To the victims and survivers of both events God Bless You. We will always remember.

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How to Join The Mississippi Preppers Network

2010-09-14T16:29:00.001-05:00

Come learn survival, preparedness and sustainable living with us!

The Preppers networks are all about volunteering our knowledge and skills with each other. We share ideas, tips and basically network with each other to survive any type of disaster whether natural, man made, or economic. Information that you learn and share with others will help everyone learn how to find "Freedom Through Teaching Others Self Reliance."

Joining the Mississippi Preppers Network is simple, and most of all, it's Free! To join, just follow these few steps.

1) Register to become a member of the American Preppers Network www.AmericanPreppersNetwork.net The registration page is here: http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/ucp.php?mode=register

2) Once you have your account, go to the index page of the forum and do your first post by introducing yourself in the new members area. http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/index.php

3) Once you know how to do posts, visit the Mississippi forum and introduce yourself. The Mississippi forum can be found by scrolling to the lower section of the index page where you will find a list of states, or you can go directly by following this URL: www.MississippiPreppersNetwork.net

4) After you've visited the Mississippi forum, follow this link to learn how to join the Mississippi Preppers Network group:
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=564&t=2738

APN's success depends on your contributions. If you would like to donate to our organization by becoming a Gold Member you can join the APN Gold Members club by following this link:
http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.net/page.php?p=apn-gold-membership&sid=5b241e92a767cdfbe7a345c54dd55127
Gold Membership is only $5 per month. For a list of Gold Member benefits go here

Thank you for your support!

What We Didn't Do This Weekend So Far.....

2010-09-04T15:05:00.000-05:00

We didn't hire a mechanic to find out we needed a new radiator cap on my van.
We didn't hire a contractor to replace a beam in the porch that carpenter ants inhabited.
We didn't eat at five star restaurants.
We didn't go away for an expensive Labor Day vacation.
We didn't have to go buy meat to grill since we are stocked up.
We didn't pay the electric company for using the dryer thanks to a beautiful weekend.
We didn't hire someone to mow the lawn.

What didn't you do?
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Getting Ready For Fall

2010-08-30T17:11:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long between posts. It's been very wet on the coast here lately and I think we are growing webbed feet. I have seedlings up and will be ready to go into the garden first or second week in September. I read an article in the the Wall Street Journal yesterday that stocks of manufacturers of canned goods, generators and survival gear are going up.
Also be on the look out for rising prices in beef, wheat, corn, rice, coffee and sugar. If you see a decent sale stock up.
Gun show was on the coast this past weekend. While I didn't attend, the
opinion of those who did said everything was $200 too expensive.

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Bleak Outlook

2010-08-14T11:09:00.002-05:00

All week I have been reading about high unemployment rates and an unrecovering economy. I heard a story a little while back on how a company was denied by the government to contract with India to make some kind of generator which would have provided jobs and generate millions because it wasn't green. Demand for our wheat is going up because Russia is holding on to theirs. Which is fine I guess, but if more wheat is sold overseas, how much will our prices go up to buy wheat? Big manufacturers are already expecting to increase prices of their goods because the price of purchasing commodities is going up. Economists are predicting less jobs than originally thought and don't see an increase until mid 2011....
Have we hit rock bottom yet? I don't think so. But it might rush up to meet us soon. But, we will be just fine, we know how long Lindsay Lohan was in jail, and the problems with the latest phone from Apple and how much Chelsea Clinton's wedding cost.

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What Kind of Food Should You Store??

2010-08-09T08:48:00.002-05:00

There is the main rule, store what you eat and eat what you store. So you have a list of what you and your family eat. Which route do you take? Freeze dried? Dehydrated? Regular canned food? What seeds should I have on hand?
There is a growing trend of families living off their #10 cans of freeze dried food. Which is good, right? Store what you eat, eat what you store. There are recipe books devoted to cooking with large cans of food, which I think is great. My concern is the higher sodium content of freeze dried/dehydrated foods and long term health effect. For natural disasters, or shorter term needs these options are fine and should be included in your food storage preps. If you are thinking of a "oh no, the shtf" outcome, I think that being lucky to come out on the other side of it, you should think of a way to survive it without added health risk specially if you are there all ready. You can store your own preps. Large bags of grain can be frozen for a day and packed in critter proof containers or vacuum packed. I have a food sealer that works great for this, you can grow and can your own produce, and you can rotate regular store stock cans of food. This is mostly what I do. I don't think that just going one route is the answer and you should consider all options before investing heavily in your food preps.
Now seeds. Should I store seeds? Yep. Same thing grow what you eat, eat what you grow. More so with seeds if you have a limited garden area or container garden. Do your homework, know what grows best in your region and when. Over to the left I have a link floating around there somewhere for the Mississippi Extension Service website and they are an excellent resource. I have a link for succession planting here! When buying freeze dried seeds look for one that has mostly what you eat, but when you can eat it. You would want to look for a combination of 30 day and 60 day crops for a smaller plot and 30,60,90(120) days for large plots. Apartment dwellers need to look up best seeds for container gardens, so many things can grow in containers and, in a big shtf scenario, seeds can be used for trade and currency.
What if we get nuked?? Well, stock up on your #10 cans. Rotate often. If we make it through, I'll be looking for you, probably with less teeth and hair and an unnatural glow but we'll all start over together.

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Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean

2010-07-23T11:01:00.003-05:00

From what I gathered this morning Tropical Storm Bonnie will barely be a tropical storm. It will be enough to cause BP a lot of trouble since they are evacuating and Lousianna is preparing for a category 1 hurricane. Now is the perfect time to beef up your hurricane supplies if you have not done so already. I am hoping this falls apart early and is nothing but a nusiance because it will really look like the shtf down here.

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Hot enough to boil oil

2010-07-10T08:16:00.003-05:00

After a huge bout of rain, the heat returns! World-wide press announces the oil well may be capped by the 27th of July. The local newspaper states it could be as early as Monday and never fear we could be enjoying "happy, fat shrimp" in three to six months. I don't know about that, just stop the damn thing from flowing. The U.S. Attorney General has sent notice to BP's lawyer to notify them 30 days in advance of transfer of assets. Why? From what I read on the web, BP would do well to declare bankruptcy and voluntarily break up the company into smaller pieces. Do they have to comply with the U.S. request? No. They received permission from our Government to drill, they aren't going to take all the blame in this no matter what is said with lawsuits looming.
If we have a hurricane, evacuation will be mandatory. The government is trying to set a new guideline in motion now that we have oil. I'm not sure how far inland would be effected since saltwater brought onshore from Katrina had damaged and killed trees 100 miles inland.

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Oil in Mississippi

2010-06-28T09:42:00.003-05:00

In the paper the other day it was stated that if you go out to fish and your boat has oil on it, it will not be allowed back into the harbor. The back bay is going to get pretty crowded as well as the lakes. With the oil in the gulf, it has given a little spin to our hurricane weather forecasts. Usually we would be told to watch, wait and we just don't know for sure if it will go toward us or away from us. This time around they let us know early it wasn't going to be a threat. Clark Howard, a millionaire tightwad who has a show on the weekend told viewers if they wanted a cheap vacation to go to the gulf. Sure Clark, if they don't care about beaches and boats and possibly getting stuck in a tropical storm or hurricane that's going to make this oil spill an even greater hazmat nightmare. I don't want our economy to go down the tubes...again, but did the state really think the oil was never going to show up? Everyone is so busy with their CYA tactics that I am just disgusted with the whole thing. If you haven't thought of it already, I'd add a few bottles of Dawn dish washing detergent to your hurricane preps for the aftermath and that is not just for the coastline, if we get a tropical storm or hurricane it's going to carry this oil far and wide.

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Hot enough for you?

2010-06-13T10:29:00.003-05:00

My garden looks like a jungle between combating weeds and my plants getting taller. Someone send some rain down! With our temps in the 90s and our heat index over 100 be careful out there! Some quick tips:

1) Stay inside during the hotest parts of the day.
2) Wear light loose fitting clothing and a sun hat.
3) Carry around and drink from the water bottle frequently.
4) Add a little more salt to your diet.

If I am not out weeding before 9 a.m. it's a bust for me, too hot. Some people are more sensitive to the heat than others so you need to be aware of how your body reacts. My neighbor yelled over "Hot enough for you?" I had to let him know it isn't this hot in hell lol. But oddly enough in the heat if you work with yarn, crochet, knit, weave, this is the time you want to work on things for the winter. I can crochet but am patiently trying to knit. It makes me crazy to think I can't do something and this is the umpteenth time I have started to knit.
Anyway, becareful and stay cool!
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Catching up

2010-06-10T08:10:00.004-05:00

I apologize for my lack of posting, I can't believe it's been so long!
As the state officials cry "the Coast is Clear", a friend of mine came in off his boat the other day to say there is oil in Pascagoula. The start of hurricane season has quite a few folks uneasy to say the least. A hurricane now would make the whole coastal area a toxic dump. The weather channel has been on the coast all week for "Hurricane Week" and has a lot of info on their site. Previous articles from Mississippi Preppers are to the right of this page under hurricanes. Sometimes though, you forget the simple things. One thing I forgot to suggest is to turn off your mains when you leave or when the storm hits. Turn off you main gas, water and electric. One home I know of didn't do this and didn't flood from the hurricane but the ice maker damaged everything.
As for the garden, things are coming in. Potatoes have been dug up, okra, eggplant, peppers, cherry tomatoes and squash have been filling the counter top here. Some of my varieties of smaller tomatoes got wilt but the rest are doing fine. Stink bugs have arrived and I've been diligent in spraying. I love this time of year, not just for the growing but for the sharing. Someone is always growing something someone else didn't and I've received cucumbers from one neighbor,and my fisherman neighbor brought me some beautiful trout the other day despite the oil spill.
We recently went on a trip to Missouri and the weather was wonderful. They have had a lot of rain before and after but on the way home we got to see a lot of tornado damage from a few weeks ago. I know we have hurricanes, but with tornadoes there is very little to no warning and a lot of destruction in a short time. It seem the oil spill has overshadowed out counties to the north and I hope they recover quickly.
On the plus side I finally got my deer meat lol.
I will post again soon and thank you for being patient! As always we are looking for writers and please leave your comments.

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From Near the Murky Waters

2010-05-20T11:47:00.004-05:00

Our neighbors over at Bay St.Louis, now have visible, detectable oil. Some people are doubting we will get any on our beach, but maybe that is just being hopeful. So far our waters here will be open 20 miles out for another week. Lawyer ads are just flooding the television and air waves. BP is juggling the situation as fast as they can. A friend attended the four hour training, and I quote "that trains you for nothing." There is a sense of - we have to do something, when all we can do is wait. I think for the most part we are used to disasters that come quick, inflict damage, then go. We are resilient in our efforts to clean up and rebuild but a slow moving disaster well, I think some are ready to jump out of their skins.
On a non-related note, who has a garden in? How's it going? All this rain has made the garden spring up, fill in and produce. I have already been pulling peppers and tomatoes, squash and eggplants look very promising.

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More Oil Slick News

2010-05-10T13:05:00.002-05:00

Rumor has it that with all the wind that we are having most of the damage will be west of us. Another rumor is that BP has a gag order on the press because it would prejudice future lawsuits so the pictures you see in the paper will be limited. I wouldn't breath a sigh of relief because that sucker is still pumping out oil and well, the wind could change.
Aside from that, with all the disasters going on, I never made a huge the "garden is in" post. It has been in for a while now. We have the new bed we share with a neighbor and I have two beds going here. I'll have to take a picture of the new bed to show you.

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Volunteer Info

2010-05-06T08:35:00.001-05:00

Volunteer training:
•Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Jackson County Campus – Gymnasium
2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday
•Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Jefferson Davis Campus – Room U202
2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday to Saturday... See More
•Pearl River Community College, Hancock County Center in Waveland
2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m., Tuesday to Friday
This response training is hosted by local elected officials, BP personnel, community organizations and MGCCC. These training sessions will qualify volunteers to participate in pre-landfall beach cleaning to minimize impact to the beaches. Federal, state, and private entities are asking any volunteers to attend training to ensure their personal safety and well-being.

After completion of training, volunteers will be assigned to a beach location in the same county as their training. Those who attend the 2 p.m. training will be provided with a 4 p.m. meeting point, the 4 p.m. sessions will be given a 6 p.m. meeting point, and the 6 p.m. sessions will be given a 9 a.m. meeting point for the following day.

Here's a list of the beach clean up locations and times:

Hancock County

•2pm: Bay St. Louis
•4pm: Waveland
•6pm: Buccaneer State Park
Harrison County

•2pm: Pass Christian Central
•2pm: Pass Christian East
•2pm: Long Beach
•2pm: Biloxi Central
•4pm: Gulfport West
•4pm: Gulfport Harbor
•4pm: Gulfport West Central
•4pm: Biloxi East
•6pm: Courthouse Rd.
•6pm: Gulfport East
•6pm: Edgewater
Jackson County

•2pm: Ocean Springs Front Beach
•2pm: Shearwater
•4pm: Gulf Park Estates
•4pm: St. Andrews
•6pm: Pascagoula Beach West
•6pm: Pascagoula Beach East

BP Oil Spill

2010-05-05T12:51:00.002-05:00

Here is the latest oil spill picture. I haven't been vocal about this because I'm watching to see what happens like everyone else. What I know is that the equivalent of 60,000 barrels of oil is coming out a day and when it hits us it's going to be have an outstanding long term affect on our ecosystem and seafood industry. Never mind Washington and BP making sure BP is to blame, it's still going to do major damage to the gulf coast and beyond. We can only do what we can. Thanks to a life long resident and activist here on the coast I have the following information:
To volunteer: 1-866-448-5816. If you have a boat: 425-745-8017. To report oiled wildlife: 1-866-577-1401. Spill-related damages: 1-800-440-0858. If you can"t come help, PRAY!

Please Pray

2010-04-25T08:12:00.005-05:00

Our hearts go out to our neighbors in Yazoo, Holmes and Choctaw counties and also to the other 15 counties who were afflicted with tornadoes yesterday. The National Guard made a fast appearance thankfully and I pray that they can recover quickly and heal with time.

Home Improvements and Hurricanes

2010-04-15T09:56:00.003-05:00

The weather has been sunny and windy. The wind has not helped us in our quest to finish painting the house but the temperature is just right for other things. It's helpful to make a check list of the things that need to be done. I had been lucky in the past, for example, in my old house I went through hurricane George in 98, it took down a tree but I had minimal roof damage. Fast forward to June of 01 and along comes tropical storm Alicia. She caused way more damage and as I was having a new roof put on the roofer explained to me that I was a damn fool for staying in the house for any storm. It seems that when new plywood went on the house only every other board was nailed down! Then we had some rot in the corner soffits of the house. I had a bad feeling and had it fixed right before Katrina came calling. It was a good thing because if I hadn't, the roof on half the house probably would have blown off instead of just damage as it was the side that was hit the hardest. Also if my ceilings would have been screwed in instead of nailed in it probably wouldn't have had it come down. The subdivision I lived in and the one I live in now was built right after Camille. There are some things that were more up to code, like hurricane trusses and steel framed windows but corners were cut in other areas, like nailing sheet rock and only nailing every other board on the roof! After getting hit with Katrina, most home owners who still had homes pretty much knew where their weaknesses were. And please don't assume if you buy a new home, post Katrina, that your house was built with that in mind. There are some new subdivisions being put up with spit and glue, and right next to and around canals and water retention ponds. Doesn't make much sense to me.
Try to replace damaged wood, secure gutters, think about hurricane shutters and yard drainage. Make sure out buildings can be secured. Decluttering is a good idea also not just to get rid of stuff but to make room for things you have to put away in case of a hurricane. Not just for things outside but if you are in danger of flooding you will need clear spaces to put things up higher. An effort put in now can save you heartache, frustration and loss later.

Licensed Carry in Parks

2010-04-09T13:45:00.003-05:00

Starting July 1st, licensed gun owners can carry in parks in Mississippi. Here is the article in the Clarion Ledger and another from the NRAILA.

Bare Bones

2010-04-08T07:41:00.005-05:00

What should you start out with? What is the very least you should have? I make sure that my supplies do not go below bare bones, though they have on occasion. Bare bones for me is a month supply of food, and that is a month supply of food that I do not have to rely on electricity to keep. Also a way to cook it. I have a grill (charcoal), I also have a propane burner, all you boilers and deep fryers know what I'm talking about, and I have two portable burners that have two elements each. Water. Cast iron, you want something more heavy duty to cook on. First aid supplies and medication. I went through Katrina with more food than what I have mentioned above and no generator. In all honesty, where I lived at the time, I would have had to stay up day and night to guard it although no matter where you lived during that time it would have been the same issue. The only thing I wished I had to be more safe as a single mother at that time would have been a gun.
I know some of you are reading this with your mind screaming you forgot this or that but this is just a stripped down version. It's also to show that you might be prepared a little more than you think and to build on it weekly. There is an excellent post on The Survivalist Blog that has links to resources to help aid in your preps. The post is entitled The Ultimate Collection of Survival Links and I am also going to add it to our sidebar. It's a lot to go through.

Looking back and looking forward...

2010-04-07T07:34:00.002-05:00

I am amazed at how much information has been shared in over a years time. I was thinking about that this morning as I looked over the garden beds and had to smile. Squirrels have been curious, their tracks are evident around the garden plants. How far have you come in being more self-reliant? I am a far cry from that kid from Queens who used coupons to stock up and made end tables out of bulk boxes of toilet paper. I have lost my taste for store bought produce and processed foods. Neighbors seeing us prepare our new bed and tilling up our old ones had them curious at first, but mostly now think we are crazy for putting so much work into our garden. Looking ahead, I don't see the work that had to go into it as much as I see my freezer and pantry full of food for my family. Not having unsecure debt and keeping up my house provides me with some piece of mind.
Being on APN has also given me piece of mind. What little experience I have at being more self-sufficient shared with those more knowledgeable than I has been great! Help is just a post or phone call away. To everyone who comments, keep it up! You are what keeps us going!
After this long, cold winter both moderators and readers alike, had their share of challenges not just because of the weather but in our personal lives as well. On the main APN board one of our New York moderators needs help, swing over and take a look and if you are able to, lend a hand.
I think the mission here is still the same, we are still uncertain economically. We don't know what taxes will come, only that they will come. Hurricane season still starts in June, and jobs....well you all know how that can or can't go.
I promise more informative posts will come I think I am so thrilled to be out in the warm sun that I have hit a bout of reflection lol. I know I have hit a bout of sun burn and have already been eaten alive by gnats...at Walmart none the less!
As I walked back to the house this morning I looked over my lemon tree. A lot of you heard me whine all winter that I was going to lose it. Well...new leaves are coming and I have blossoms already. We preppers are a tough lot, don't think for a moment we are down and out..we are just waiting for spring lol.
Before I forget, I swung by the opening of the Biloxi Farmers Market. There were some vendors with the promise of more and I did buy some tomatoes, zucchini and I splurged (it was a big splurge) on some local honey and butter. Everyone there was pleasant and it was a pleasure to be there. They also had a huge assortment or bushes, plants, herbs and vegetable plants. It's every Tuesday and Thursday starting at 6 a.m. go early for the best selection.

Second Till

2010-03-31T14:15:00.002-05:00

The new bed needed a second till after it was fed a couple of things so that is going on right now thanks to my soon to be bone rattled husband lol. Tilling isn't easy that's for sure. So far between my neighbor and I, this bed will have corn, green beans, okra and potatoes. I don't think it will be too late for potatoes but if it is, heck I'll plant more in the fall. Tomatoes will also go in soon. I'm just trying to keep up with all I want to do and what has to get done. I like this part of the growing season, it's like life, young and full of hope.

New Bed

2010-03-30T08:03:00.002-05:00

The new garden bed in the neighbors yard has been tilled up and will be re tilled soon. My beds are part of the way tilled. Seed potatoes have to go in...soon. I didn't get to go to the farm supply this time around and I think that it was on purpose. I love the farm supply store and wander around there for a while. Plus I have been threatening everyone with baby chicks so no one was going to take a chance on me going lol. Seedlings are doing well and by the end of the week I will have plants to put in the ground. Usually by now I worry that things will sell out fast but I think as anxious as everyone is to get going with their gardens they are taking their time and letting things heal after the cold winter. The weather has been nice during the day and cool at night. It has been perfect weather for the clothesline we put in last year and I smile every time I take a load of laundry off the line knowing Didn't have to pay the electric company for it. I am still decluttering the house..I think things breed in the house when no one is looking. I am optimistic about this years garden and that it will yield enough to give me an excuse to buy a pressure canner. Maybe a dehydrator.
Looking at current events, the President thinks the Tea Party people are wrapped around a core group looking to take him down. I don't think ever before has a President so outwardly ridiculed, not congress, but actual Americans who did not agree with him and to try to tie it in as a conspiracy theory is an insult. He did it during his campaign and he has continued to do that throughout his time in office. We have a bailout that is not straightened out, we have health care issues, a war and this is what he is worried about. I've been to one tea party meeting..all races, all ages, children playing, no racial slurs, no violence and no death threats. I think Haley Barbour doing a great job calling out the media for giving the Obama administration the longest wet sloppy kiss in regards to health care.
There will be some parts of this you are going to scratch your head about with this post and I have to apologize. Blogger is not being very helpful today.

It just comes in small doses

2010-03-18T17:21:00.002-05:00

I was just thinking about the past couple of nights of dinners we have had. One night I made a stir fry with five different vegetables, the other night spaghetti, pork chops with squash and cabbage, and tonight roasted chicken with sweet corn and salad. The majority of all my meals were made from the things I grew. Of course, not the meat, dang zoning laws but it made me smile. Happiness comes in small doses my friends, enjoy it when it happens.

Two different views on the same problem

2010-03-11T21:16:00.000-06:00

From Tim... [this was a work in progress when his last post was added here]

It has been a while since I have written a post. I started this post over a month ago after a conversation with an extended family member who had lost his cooperate job. He had been out of work for about six months when we had our conversation and now it looks like he has taken our talk to heart and it has helped his family.

Let me first give some background. The reason that he came to me was because I, too, had gone through a lifestyle change a couple of years back where my income had been cut to less than half. This is when my family truly started living a PREPPERS lifestyle. This family member had seen us pack up and move to a small piece of land in the country, living in our travel trailer while we built a small house. He had thought I jumped off the deep end. It wasn’t until he had been without work and was slowly watching his life crumble around him, and my family only thrive, that he started thinking that there might be something to what I was doing.

When he came to me he still wasn’t ready to take the big plunge into a prepper’s lifestyle, but he was looking for a way to get off the downhill slide. Both he and his wife had corporate jobs. They were the stereotypical American family living in the big house in the suburbs, commuting into the city, three children in private school involved in what ever activity the Jones’s kids were, all the newest things. You know them. This family had been blessed financially. They had been able to build up a good nest egg over the years and they’d been using it to replace his income since he had lost his job.

When we had our talk he was down to his last few thousand in the bank, and there was no hope on the horizon for new employment that matched his former income. What I am about to relay in this post is close to what he and I had talked about. Let me say that I am by no means a financial guru. The things that I bring up here are for the most part common sense. I believe that it is good for every one to take a look at what he or she has going on in his life and to see what he or she can do to make things in life better. For those that are just getting started down this road of preparedness, or for someone that is in the thick of the financial crises and needs encouragement, I hope this helps.

The thing that we looked at first was his expenses and what he could cut. The first thing on the list was the credit cards. He and his wife had cards at every store you could think of. Most of them had no balance but they were being eaten alive by fees. To their benefit they had stopped using them for the most part when he had lost his job. They had less than one thousand dollars on credit but when you added up what interest they were paying and the fees it was coming out to over $345.00 per month.

Next thing that we looked at was the food budget. I have eaten at their house many a times, and it always amazed me what was on the table and in the fridge. This family was always on the go like so many people today, the majority of their meals either came out of a box or a bag and the only cooking was the heating except when it was time to have friends over and cook something that made the TV chefs proud. They were spending over four hundred a week on food. After explaining to him that with some planning and actual grocery shopping he could easily cut the food bill down to four hundred for the month saving another $1200.00.

We then looked at were the extras that so many today think are necessities: the cable, the high speed internet, the fancy cell phone, and on and on. When we were able to get all this on paper and see what he could live without this came up to another $300.00 a month saved.

If I hadn’t made him bleed enough, I pointedly asked him why the kids were still in the after school program with him not working and it looking as if he wasn’t going back any time soon. His answer was that the kids got a lot of good out of it. What I said next will let some of my personal views through, but it is the way I feel. I asked if he thought that some underpaid person at a day care was better suited to give his children what they needed or was he. This brought a tear to his eye when he truly thought it through. Needless to say that the kids are now at home every day getting his attempt at home cooked meals. This cut another $900.00.

As we kept talking and I was on a roll, because it is always easier to help others than your self, we looked even harder into what he could do to cut back. The next thing that I asked about was his cars. He had three cars, they were making payment on two and had way more insurance than they needed. I talked him into selling they paid off extra and using that money to pay off the family car. He also cut the insurance down to the lowest that he could in his situation. This saved $560.00. We also looked into other areas that they could cut and found $275.00 more in monthly expenses to cut out.

Just the basic number that I have shown here come out to $3580.00. The amount that we cut out is more than many people make in a month.

I know that some are thinking about how there is still much more that can be cut, and others that think that these things are easy and why he hadn’t come up with this on his own. Just think how many times you have been frustrated trying to find your keys, you have looked everywhere to no avail, then your spouse comes in and walks right to the table next to where you are sitting and says are these the ones you are looking for. It is easy for people in the middle of a situation to not see the things around them. People have things in their lives that they know what the best choice of action is; it just helps to have another’s view to make it clear. Personal finances are a big part of being prepared, it is wise to always look at what you have coming in and going out. There might be things that need to be re-prioritized to get you to your goals.

P.S. in the early eighties there was a key ring that when you whistled it beeped back at you. Does any one know where to get one of those today I sure could use one.

Symposium Postponed

2010-03-09T11:14:00.003-06:00

Due to work overload on the farm, the APN Symposium is indefinitely postponed. Our apologies to everyone and as soon as we get things up and going again there will be futher announcements.
Plenty of things to do though! Talked with the neighbor and we hope to make plans to break ground on another, larger garden plot soon! I'm trying hard not to be so anxious to get started with the rainy week we have ahead.

Don't knock old fashioned

2010-03-08T21:44:00.000-06:00

From our buddy Tim, who's had some computer issues of late but is back.

I try to make all my posts here to the preppers network be as related as possible. I also try to write posts that are things that have happened in my life that I think someone else might read and walk away from with a new skill or another outlook that helps them be a little more prepared than they were before they read it. This leads me to something that happened to me around the first. Any of you that live down by the MS coast might remember the weather. It was raining hard with a cold stiff wind. On my way to work someone had ran off the road and taken out a neighbors cattle fence. We suspect it was teenagers, because they had been pulled out and were gone before any one was there.

Any one that knows cattle knows that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, so when this car from heaven showed up and left this gaping hole it meant that they all had to go out and explore. I wish that you could see the site as I came around the corner. The first person that had arrived on the mass exodus was a businessman dressed for work. He was standing in front of the cows and calves jumping up and down trying to get them to go back. I brought the truck to a stop and jumped out. This person was afraid that one of the cows might get hurt. For me it was just second nature to reach in the back seat of my truck and grab my full length duster, the green wool hat, that used to be brown, and a pair of gloves.

As I started to get around the cattle the gentleman that had stopped first thanked me for the help and said he needed to get his coat out of the car. What I saw next kind of surprised me. He walked over to his care and pulled out what looked like a B.O.B. He reach in and pulled out one of the newest fanciest rain suits you can buy from the best backing store you can think of. He slipped it on and got right back into the round up.

Just about when we would have them headed in the right direction a calf would shoot past him and knock him down. I was impressed, it was apparent that this gentleman had never been around cattle before, but he wasn’t backing down. After about forty minutes we had all the cattle back in the pasture securely. I asked him to stand in the gap while I went to my truck to get some wire to patch up the fence. This gentleman helped me straighten up two T posts and get four strand of wire back up.

After we were all done he asked me where I had purchased my duster. It was at this time that I took a good look at him. I felt terrible. He was a mess, here he was just being a Good Samaritan, and his rain-suit was torn, his clothes, and shoes were ruined. I know that just the rain coat probably cost over three hundred dollars. He was soaked from head two toe.

It was about this time that the owner of the cattle came around the corner and in an upset voice asked what we were doing messing with his fence. After a few minutes of explaining he settled down and thanked us. We all shook hands and were headed in our separate ways, myself of to work, the business man headed home and change before heading into work. I actually spent most of the rest of that day in the rain at work and never gave much thought to the morning events until later that evening when I was looking at a sportsmen’s catalog and saw one of the rain-suits like the gentleman, and all that it advertised to be. In less than an hour of actual work his had been torn to shreds. It was at this time that I truly started to think of what I had on that morning and how it had protected me from the elements and where my clothes backgrounds were.

All the clothes that I had on that day had been designed over a hundred years ago, and for the most part had been unchanged in the last hundred years. Let’s look at it from top to bottom. My hat is a crushable wool brimmed hat, not a cowboy hat but more along the shape of Indiana Jones. It has just enough brim to keep the sun and rain out of your eyes. And it keeps your head worm in the coldest rain. My coat was a full length oil skin duster. I was wearing a long sleeved wool flannel shirt over a long sleeve t-shirt. I had on a good old pair of wrangler jeans, and some leather boots. This is about as old fashion as it gets, but here I was dry, warm, and unscathed by the events of the morning.

I know all the arguments against these old fashioned materials and people talk about buying high end mill speck clothing for there prepps, I have been in the military and have torn through many a pair to BDU’s doing things that would have glanced off a pair of old canvas pants. There is a reason that some designs don’t change. They stay the way they are because they work. For the clothes that I am going to take into a survival situation in the elements, I would take something that holds heat better, but for most of the things that we are getting prepared for we hopefully aren’t going to be living out of a backpack hiding from zombies in the woods. If this is the situation I land in, than I have done something wrong in my preparing. I agree that there is a place for these new materials in our lives but as you are purchasing things for the future don’t get caught up in there hype. Most of what we will be doing after the ball drops is old fashioned hard work, everything that is so easily available today will take hours of work to either make, grow, or repair. It is important to have the clothing that will last through the longest hours of hard work. In these times it is good to have the clothing that has proven itself over the last couple centuries.

P.S. I feel really bad, I didn’t fully catch the gentleman’s name, I think it was Dave, I have past him on the road a couple of times and we both wave. If that was a B.O.B in his car, than maybe he is reading this and we can get together for a cup of coffee at the donut hole.

Goodbye Winter Blahs

2010-03-07T13:53:00.004-06:00

This was a beautiful weekend on the coast. My trees are budding and today I got my rear in gear and got some things accomplished. I pulled up some old dead plants out of the garden beds from the winter garden, cabbage and Jerusalem artichokes still going, and then I entered the greenhouse. Depressing. Two of my non-variegated spider plants lived, that's the bright side. After disposing of the bodies, I set out to work. I planted in pots more avocado pits, my two gorgeous avocado plants froze, and set out to pot the blueberry bushes to establish a stronger root base. I have four, a Rabbit Eye Tifblue, a Rabbit Eye Climax, a Highbush Jubilee and a Highbush Misty. They are 2 year plants. This week I hope to start seeds, I'm a little late on that and maybe snag some tomato plants. I also evicted a two year old oak out of the greenhouse that I had been growing thanks to the squirrel family in my live oak, and am thrilled it made it through the winter. It will be a gift to a friend of ours who wants more trees surrounding the house on his homestead. I had taken pictures to share but today my computer does not feel like reading my camera card. I wonder how well a computer tower would work as a planter hmmmm.....

One Year Anniversary

2010-03-05T12:33:00.002-06:00

I was looking through old posts I had written, I try not to be redundant most of the time, and that's when I found I had been writing for Mississippi Prepper for a year! It has been a great experience for me and I have met so many wonderful people. Thank you for sharing your lives and experiences with me. This has already been a great year with blog posting. Marica has new land to break in and you have already met Tim through his great posts. Marica is also heading up the Symposium later on this month!

Some Helpful Articles for Budget Gardening and Living

2010-03-04T07:49:00.003-06:00

I read a lot. That is what helped me learn all the things I didn't know how to do. I was browsing through my magazines and marked the articles I hoped would help with this subject then went to the sites to find the ones you can read for free. Countryside Magazine has an article on How to Survive on Half of Your Income. They also have another article on there called
How we went from $42,000 to $6,500 and lived to tell about it! And last but not least there is a short article there on the $2 Garden. But wait! Not to be out done, Backwoods Home Magazine has an article titled the $1 Garden. Gosh, you didn't think I would post article links without including my favorite magazine, did you? And last but not least, Mother Earth News has an article on how to Grow $700 of Food in 100 Square Feet!

Debt and Preparedness

2010-03-01T08:28:00.005-06:00

I think I have a pretty firm handle on spending and debt and maybe that is why I don't bring it up too often, but the other day I received a phone call; "Good afternoon, I am wondering if you know a neighbor of yours Mr. So and So?". The caller then explains how they have been trying to get in touch with them and could I give them a message or can I give supply current contact information. After I ask what it pertains to I am told it is a personal nature. My response varies when I hang up to the mood I am in and no I do not give out information on my neighbors. This burns me up for two reasons, one is if it's personal why are you embarrassing them by calling their neighbors and two, why are my neighbors living the high life and I have collection agencies calling my house for them? I'm not sure if I have written about this before but it is becoming a common occurrence.
Outside of utilities and mortgage I have no debt. I went down that road with an ex-spouse who could shop you into oblivion and refuse to go back. Part of being prepared is also getting rid of unsecured debt(credit cards), and paying down or off your secured debt(mortgage). I don't know about you, but I don't think being prepared is about sustaining and providing for your unsecured debt. Are there emergencies? Sure! What do you consider an emergency though? You need your car, you need your house, medical, but how much of it is habit?
You need to budget. What you pay first is roof over your head, food in your stomach and utilities. By utilities I mean gas, electric and water, and by food I don't mean NY strip and lobster. Then pay yourself, I don't care if it's only $10 a month. Credit cards, should you work to pay off the one with the lowest total balance first? Only if it has the highest interest rate. The new credit card law is in effect and you can read this on an appropriately named site Creditcard.com. There is no cap to the interest rate and I was talking to a friend the other day, they carry a high balance on all cards, that she already received notice that her interest rates will go up and she wishes for a 35% interest rate now.
What if I cannot pay the minimum balance after mortgage and utilities? They have companies that can negotiate your payments for you, I have never used them but you can negotiate them for yourself. You can call or contact in writing the credit card company and tell them what you can afford to pay. Again, not having done this myself I don't know if it will keep creditors from calling the house.
If credit cards are a habit then the first step is to stop using them for anything but emergencies. A deal you can't pass up? I have yet to see that, okay except for one thing and that was land I should have bought, but I'm young enough yet and there will still be opportunities for that and as much as I would have loved the land I would have not loved the stress the added expense would have cost at the time.
Shop debit or cash for your groceries, entertainment and necessities. Plan ahead if you can. Know the car will need a new battery soon? House needs new windows? Kids need summer clothes (this is mine lol)? Start to put a little aside every payday.
If you shop solely with cash you will better keep track of your expenses.
Need to know how to prep on the cheap? There is more to come.

Whirlwind of a Month

2010-02-24T09:51:00.005-06:00

I apologize for lack of posting. This month has been flying by with multitudes of activities and problems. One of which was my computer. I sit around sometimes and imagine it air born from the window.
This weekend we had a little bit of a teaser of warmer weather only to go back to wet and cold. I have the garden planned out for the most part and finally broke down and bought four blueberry bushes to go along the north fence in the bed I hate to garden in. I can't say that the winter hasn't been useful. It made me realize the holes I have in being prepared, we learned how to make cheese and let me tell you only a prepper would be making cheese on New Years Eve lol. It has also reinforced my resolve to prep on and double my efforts. Why more now? Taxes. Hope you have all been watching the news. I would be doing it any way considering taxes have been going up, my house for instance, over the last three or more years you would think my slab was paved with gold, but I will digress. I don't want to pay taxes for anything that I can provide for my home and family and that comes mostly in the way of food. We may or may not use a neighbors plot for additional garden space, still weighing the pros and cons on that one, but I think with succession planting I can double my efforts. I also hope to use planters and such to add even more. A pressure canner would help with more canned food variety and I hope to have one right after everything gets put into the ground. So, what are your plans? Even though it doesn't seem like it right now, spring will be here before you know it!
Good things to come:

Waiting For Spring

2010-02-15T09:06:00.003-06:00

This past Friday the powers that be closed down the schools for "in climate" weather. I guess they didn't want to use the S word but it was a snow day. Probably the first snow day in my 13 years living in the south. We had sleet mixed with rain and some fat snow flakes mixed with rain. Enough to flood the yard. As I trudged through the yard and cleared the back drains it hit me, normally this would have been the time of year I get excited. Time to plant soon! I would have normally scoured the seed catalogues which at this time come once or twice a week, seeds would have been ordered in January and I would have had seedlings in trays. Too many, of course, and I would be giving plants away the first week of March to neighbors. Talk about letting winter get the best of me! Poor Will's Almanac said something about the 15th being the last worry of frost for most of the region.... we'll see, it sure is cold out there. My cabbage is still growing strong and today would be the perfect day to plan out what I will plant, when will be another matter but maybe I will have a hand at succession planting. I did that with the peppers last year. Soon this long, cold, record breaking winter will be behind us so for the next few days I will have this image dancing in my head:

A conversation with a new prepper

2010-02-09T18:43:00.000-06:00

An excellent post from Tim for new & 'old' preppers alike. Tim was on James T. Stevens Family Preparedness Guide Blog Talk Radio with Tom Martin (founder of the American Preppers Network) and I last evening. You can listen to the podcast here.

Sorry it has taken so long to write this post, the reserves and life have kept me running. I recently had to travel to South Carolina do my reserve duty. While waiting for a briefing to begin I overheard one of the people in my squadron talking about a new hand gun he had purchased. I then heard him talking about long term storage food which really got my ears up. I joined the conversation and realized that this person had started prepping and was trying to get his long time friend on board. I let him know that I too was a prepper and inquired how long he had been prepping.

This article is some of my observations and thoughts on what transpired. For this article I will refer to the person that I had the conversation with as Joe. Joe is a highly educated officer in the USAF reserves; he is also an airline pilot. He has been through the basic military survival school, and is an avid outdoorsman. He lives in a major southeastern city in a subdivision. I learned that he had been “prepping” for about nine months.   I asked him what he had done so far to get his family prepared. What he told me next I have heard before. It seems that I have had many conversations like this over the past couple of years and they always seem to go the same way.

The first thing that Joe told me about was his primary battle rifle that he had bought, and the ammo that he had to go with it. Next he rattled down the list of the other fire arms he had purchased, it read like he used one of the postings from a survival website as a shopping list. All of the guns that Joe purchased were the top of the line best that money can buy loaded with the fanciest gadgets that can be attached to them. I hope that the guy at the dealer had a good Christmas, because Joe spent more money than I make in a month. I to have guns and believe in keeping them, but you need the skills to go with them.

The next thing that he talked about is the cases and cases of survival food he had purchased.  He had all the best MRE’s and freeze dried food you can think of. He had spent another small fortune on these. Now some will say I am just jealous that he had the money to do this and I don’t, I’m not. I am glad that there is one more person out there that I don’t have to feed if things go bad. Where the conversation went from here is what I want to get out to as many preppers as possible.

Right now there are hundreds of thousand of people that are waking up to the fact that there is freedom and power in being able to take care of yourself and family. I went through it myself. There is almost a pattern to the process. It usually goes like this. First is the realization that our society is fragile. This brings fear and anxiety knowing that you aren’t prepared.   In this phase most people go out and spend money. In this phase people don’t have a direction; they just know that they need to do something. Most people go to the web looking for information. There are many great sites out there, like this one, but there are three times as many that are either trying to get attention through scare tactics or sell the latest survival gadget. Joe stumbled across one of these sites and thought that he wouldn’t be prepared until he had the money to buy all the cool stuff.

I then started leading the conversation in a way that I thought would help Joe relieve some of his stress. I wanted him to realize that it wasn’t just the things that he bought, but his skills to work through a problem. I started asking some questions that I hope would make him think. The first question I asked was what he was preparing for, now I know this is a simple question but it is one that we all need to ask ourselves. If you are getting ready for the end of the world as we know it than the things that you do are different than if you are just trying to be ready for the next winter storm. If you are getting ready for civil unrest you do some things different than if you are preparing for bad economic times. It is up to each person as to what they believe.

After realizing that Joe was like most of us and wanted to be ready for just about all events that might come, it was time to change his thinking. I feel that prepping is not just what you have at your bunker; it’s a mindset that you have to enter into. It should change the way that you look at every day situations. The next question I asked was what his plans were if something was to happen right where we were, he was three hundred and fifty miles from his family. I asked him how long it would take him to walk home if there was no gas. His answer was pretty typical; he said that he could do it in three or four days. Most people that are in shape can walk about thirty miles a day if conditions are good. He hadn’t thought about this. Next I asked what equipment he had with him to make a ten to twelve day trek on foot. He had nothing. I asked him if he had thought about a bug out bag to keep with him when he traveled, he informed me that he had planned to buy one that he had seen on the net for sale, he even showed it to me on his smart phone. This BOB was being offered by one of the online retailers for $625. It had the neatest gismos and gadgets; it had 72 hours of food for four people, it was quite slick. I then asked if he trusted the stuff in that bag. He told me that he did because it was offered by this great survival guru. I asked if he had added up the cost of the things in that bag and compared getting everything separate. Later that day I added it up, and could have bought it all plus some for just under $325. This also brings me to another point. Those of us that have been doing this for a while have a responsibility to help the new preppers. We have been through these trials and errors and know the best deals on the things that we need.

Next I asked Joe what his plans were if the situation that he prepared for lasted longer than his food or if his extended family showed up on his door step. Our conversation lasted about three hours and we talked the gambit of prepping topics. It appeared that Joe walked away with a little better outlook on where he was, and where he needed to go.

For most that read this site this stuff is old hat, but there are many out there that are just realizing that they are not prepared. For those people I would like to give this advice. There is so much info on the web and in great books that it can be daunting. Just realize that there are many people that make their living selling survival products, look at what there motives are, if they have found that people will through money at there fears than they are probably not the person that you want to deal with, but if they are someone that has a heart to help then they probably are offering a great resource.

For the Prepper that has been doing this I charge you to step up to the plate and teach. Teach what you know to people that are just getting started. Let people know about your mistakes so that they might not repeat them. If you find a great deal let people know about it. For every person that we get just a little bit better prepared that is one more person that might not be a burden on the rest of us.

Tim

Signs of Spring

2010-02-09T12:02:00.002-06:00

Maybe it's just wishful thinking but I am noticing the throats of the male goldfinches are getting more yellow (getting pumped up for dating season), and that there's a faint redish & brownish tinge to the trees.

In other news

INITIALLY PRECIPITATION LOOKS TO START AS A MIX OF LIGHT RAIN AND SLEET FROM LATE THURSDAY AFTERNOON INTO EARLY EVENING BEFORE CHANGING TO ALL SNOW. WHILE THE DETAILS ON WHERE AND HOW MUCH SNOW WILL FALL CONTINUE TO BE DETERMINED.CONFIDENCE IS INCREASING THAT THE MOST LIKELY AREAS FOR SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL BE ALONG AND SOUTH OF I-20. LATEST INDICATIONS CONTINUE TO SUGGESTS THAT SOME PART OF THE SOUTHERN FORECAST AREA MAY SEE AMOUNTS UP TO 2 TO 4 INCHES. EVERYONE IS URGED TO STAY UP TO DATE ON THE LATEST FORECAST AND OUTLOOKS CONCERNING THIS POTENTIAL HEAVY SNOW EVENT.

This week: 2-4" snow possible

2010-02-08T08:43:00.000-06:00

I would dearly like to think the folks at National Weather have made a mistake, wouldn't you?

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
550 AM CST MON FEB 8 2010

ARZ074-075-LAZ007>009-015-016-023>026-MSZ018-019-025>066-072>074-
091200-
ASHLEY-CHICOT-MOREHOUSE-WEST CARROLL-EAST CARROLL-RICHLAND-
MADISON LA-FRANKLIN LA-CATAHOULA-TENSAS-CONCORDIA-BOLIVAR-
SUNFLOWER-LEFLORE-GRENADA-CARROLL-MONTGOMERY-WEBSTER-CLAY-LOWNDES-
CHOCTAW-OKTIBBEHA-WASHINGTON-HUMPHREYS-HOLMES-ATTALA-WINSTON-
NOXUBEE-ISSAQUENA-SHARKEY-YAZOO-MADISON MS-LEAKE-NESHOBA-KEMPER-
WARREN-HINDS-RANKIN-SCOTT-NEWTON-LAUDERDALE-CLAIBORNE-COPIAH-
SIMPSON-SMITH-JASPER-CLARKE-JEFFERSON-ADAMS-FRANKLIN MS-LINCOLN-
LAWRENCE-JEFFERSON DAVIS-COVINGTON-JONES-MARION-LAMAR-FORREST-
550 AM CST MON FEB 8 2010

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR CENTRAL MISSISSIPPI...
NORTHEAST LOUISIANA...AND EXTREME SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS.

.DAY ONE...TODAY AND TONIGHT

NO HAZARDOUS WEATHER IS EXPECTED.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...TUESDAY THROUGH SUNDAY

NORTHWEST WINDS OF 15 TO 25 MPH WITH GUSTS TO 35 MPH WILL AFFECT THE
REGION ON TUESDAY. A LAKE WIND ADVISORY WILL BE REQUIRED FOR MUCH OF
THE REGION ON TUESDAY...AND A WIND ADVISORY COULD BECOME NECESSARY
FOR THE LARGER LAKES. THESE WINDS WILL FOLLOW A STRONG COLD FRONT
THAT WILL MOVE ACROSS THE REGION TONIGHT. THE WINDS WILL COMBINE WITH
QUICKLY FALLING TEMPERATURES ON TUESDAY TO RESULT IN WIND CHILL
READINGS IN THE TEENS NORTH OF INTERSTATE 20...WITH WIND CHILL
READINGS IN THE 20S FURTHER TO THE SOUTH.

SNOWFALL ACCUMULATION IS EXPECTED ACROSS THE AREA THURSDAY NIGHT
INTO THE FIRST PART OF FRIDAY AS AN UPPER LEVEL DISTURBANCE AND GULF
LOW COMBINE TO BRING WINTRY WEATHER TO THE REGION. WHILE THE DETAILS
ON WHERE AND HOW MUCH SNOW WILL FALL IS NOT KNOWN...CONFIDENCE IS
INCREASING THAT SNOW ACCUMULATION WILL OCCUR AND THAT SOME PART OF
THE FORECAST AREA MAY SEE UP TO 2 TO 4 INCHES. EVERYONE IS URGED TO
STAY UP TO DATE ON THE LATEST FORECAST AND OUTLOOKS CONCERNING THIS
POTENTIAL HEAVY SNOW EVENT

Saints!

2010-02-07T09:10:00.002-06:00

Just taking the time to ask...Who dat? Geaux Saints!

Spam and Comments

2010-02-03T10:35:00.002-06:00

If you have tried to post lately, you might notice I have the keyword box up. Now that the Network has grown in popularity we have become a spam magnet. This is going to be addressed on the main APN board as well and if you respond to posts older than 14 days it will be moderated so it's not going to show right away. I am sorry for this because I don't like having to type in the decipher for those wavy words any more than you do, but unfortunately it is a necessary evil now. Please don't let that discourage you from commenting. I love hearing from you.

Keep an eye on government

2010-01-29T21:12:00.000-06:00

Who contributes to candidates running for office in your county?

How do candidates you contribute to spend your contribution?

As citizens and patriots, it is our responsibility to keep an eye on government and candidagtes for political office. Open Secrets is a

nonpartisan guide to money’s influence on U.S. elections and public policy. Whether you’re a voter, journalist, activist, student or interested citizen, use our free site to shine light on your government. Count cash and make change.

One of my favorite features of the web site is "Get Local" (under quick links). There I learned, for example, that during his 2008 campaign Congressman Childers (MS 1st) paid $22,000 to a polling service... in Alabama. Have we no polling services in Mississippi? Apparently there are not consulting services in Mississippi, either. $37,000 to a Maryland firm. I am of a mind that candidates, especially in states with serious unemployment, ought to keep as much money at home as possible.

Perhaps these expenditures are legitimate, maybe there are no consulting services in our state. This is not:

Expenditure data is only available for members of the House. The Senate has exempted itself from reporting expenditures.

Keep an eye on government. If we don't do it, who will?

Emergency Communications

2010-01-26T19:44:00.000-06:00

Tim just keeps cranking away!

This topic has been hit on so many times that to some it is considered over kill; whenever I’m asked to look at a person’s preps they are usually lacking reliable communications. Recently while having a conversation with a friend that is the example of “prepared” he was asking me why I thought he needed better communications. The reasons are simple, all the technologies that we have today are due to more effective and reliable communications. By being able to transmit and store info quickly and reliably we are able to learn more, build on that knowledge, and pass it on so that others can add even more. Our communications network today is one of the most important aspects of our lives, it is how we learn the important information that makes our lives better, it is how we stay connected to the ones we love, it is how we get help in the event of an emergency, it is how we get the news of what is going on around us so that we can make better informed decisions.

Our communications network is fragile. A perfect example of this happened to me on Sunday night. I live in Picayune and am currently in South Carolina performing my Air force Reserves duty, after the Saints game there were so many people using their cell phones that I couldn’t get through to my wife for over three hours, there was no emergency, just too many people on the phone at once. It has been proven time and time again that in the event of any kind of emergency communications go down fast. The only reliable form of communications after any kind of disaster has always been amateur radio. When the twin towers went down it was ham operators that stepped up to the plate. In many areas after hurricane Katrina the only way to get in touch with the outside world was through an amateur radio operator. For months after the tsunamis in Asia the only link to the outside was with a ham radio. The reason that ham radio is so much more reliable isn’t that the equipment is any better, it is because every ham is familiar with his equipment and has the basic skills to overcome adversity and adapt to the current situation.

I know that every person that is a prepper isn’t going to go out and get the amateur radio license so I am going to give a list of what types of equipment are best to have, and what they are used for.

The first and most prolific is the good old CB (citizens band). A CB is good for local communications and most people have access to them. There are so many options out there that it can be overwhelming, if you have the money for the top of the line than go for it, but in my opinion you can get one that will do the job just fine used from a garage sale. I have one that I picked up for $10.00 with a magnet mount antenna. The CB is good to talk to the local surroundings, and listen to things going on around you.

Next is FRS or GRMS. These little radios are perfect for keeping in touch with people in close proximity; they are good for portable communications. Think about the after math of a hurricane, with a set of these, part of the family can stay at the house while other parts of the family can go out and help the neighbor down the road, the whole time being able to talk to the folks back home. These are also perfect when going out as a group, like going to a fair; you can break up to smaller groups and still be in communications. I like to use these when driving with more than one car; you can coordinate potty stops much easier.

Simple AM/FM should not be overlooked. All families should have multiple radios so they can get any info and news on the changing situation. There are many cheep options on the market; I have one that I picked up for $14.00 at wally world, its wind up with a flashlight and radio.

All of these options are good for right around the local area, but how do we get information on what is going on across county, or even around the world? The only way to do this in a situation where the grid is down is to use HF radio. HF radio waves can travel long distances by bouncing of the atmosphere and then back down to earth. HF transceiver with what is called a general coverage receiver will let you listen to all radio communications from around the globe, it will also let you talk on the ham frequencies. It requires a license to transmit on this radio in normal times, but the law says anyone can transmit in an emergency. To go with this radio you need a good antenna, I recommend a general coverage vertical. There are better antennas out there, but this is simple, easy to use, and hard to break. Most of these radios today work off a car battery, so as long as you have a way to charge them they work well off grid. A good HF setup is not cheap, to get a basic setup new with all that you need can run around $1000.00, you can buy them online from stores like Ham Radio Outlet. If money is a problem, and you are ready to do a little research and put some sweat equity into it you can beat the price. I recently purchased an older used radio online for $175.00 and built an antenna with parts from radio shack.

I know that I have played up amateur radio in this post, but it is one of the skills that I think are paramount to being prepared, it is as important as knowing how to make fire in the rain. Today getting your amateur radio license is easier than ever, all it takes is a little online study, or there are classes offered all over the country. In Pearl River County we offer classes throughout the year. The main thing to think about is how will you get the information that you need in a disaster situation? If the grid goes down how will you get in touch with the local doctor to get the help that is needed? In the past when there was a medical emergency Pa had to saddle the horse, ride to town, fetch the doctor, and bring him out to the farm. Most people died not because of their injuries, but because of the time to get to help. With basic communication skills you could radio into town and get the doc headed your way.

I know that this is not an in-depth how to on the subject, but like many of my posts it is to get some basic info out to help people get started on the right track. I hope that I have given you enough info for you to start in the right direction. I hope that you will take the initiative and learn the skills that you need. The most important tool in the situations that we prep for is the skills and knowledge that we have between our ears. With good knowledge people can scrounge the things they need to survive. With cool tools and no knowledge you can die with really cool toys!

P.S. If you have your amateur radio license look for me on the lower end of 20 meters voice.

Thanks, Tim

State of the Union

2010-01-26T07:59:00.004-06:00

The State of the Union Address will be upon us soon. The events of the last week or two just leads me to ask myself, how stupid does Washington think we are? First the bailout money, then health care and all the garbage in between. Brown wins the Mass. election and all of a sudden, Washington isn't in a rush to ram things down our throat? Hurry, lets march our Middle Class Task Force out to the public to let them know that we are serious about their needs? Are you kidding me? I don't need a special task force, I along with all of you are the voice of the American People! I am not main street, I am We The People. So how much stock would I give the State of the Union? Not much I can tell you that. It will be enough pomp and circumstance to try to get his ratings up. With Brown's win he didn't just suddenly hear the people, the people have been shouting all along. Sorry for the rant...

Keeping Records and Being Prepared

2010-01-24T10:16:00.003-06:00

After the heavy rain this morning, I walked around to view the damage the hard freeze inflicted on the garden. Many of the tropical plants are brown, shriveled messes, I lost the lettuce and kale but the broccoli is in and pulled. The cabbage is still wonderful and going strong. Almost everything in the greenhouse is dead and the lemon tree is hanging on by a thread. Notes were made as to the weather and how much I was not prepared for 16 degree temperatures. If you remember last year, Christmas was the time we had the warm weather we had now and the freeze came in late February early March.
Two things I learned, because I live in the south does not insure me decent winters, and garbage bags are not the best thing to wrap your plants in. Canvas or sheeting would have been better because the only thing trash bags did was to speed up the dying process.
Was I lax? You bet I was! Did I learn more about being prepared? Oh yeah. I slacked off towards the end of the season where I should have doubled my efforts and if we had been in dire straights we would have had a hard time getting by.
So, this is one for my record book, lessons learned the hard way.

Cheap land clearing

2010-01-21T11:20:00.001-06:00

Another guest post by Tim. This one's gonna make you smile. Thanks, Tim!

CHEAP LAND CLEARING FOR A GARDEN

When we first bought our little farm our family income was about three times the current level. We had great plans of what we wanted to do with the place. Then the bottom fell out of the economy and we were barely able to keep it.

Let me explain the land and give a little history, it is 5.4 acres that when we bought it was mature pines and the thick Mississippi jungle with only a small area cleared for a house. We first moved our travel trailer here and lived in it for a year and a half while we built the house.

After logging the pines we were left with supper thick brush and lots of stumps. We didn’t have the money to get it professionally cleared and didn’t have any heavy equipment; the task of clearing was daunting. I tried to go at it once or twice with a chain saw but this was an exercise in futility, the brush was so thick you couldn’t reach the trunks to cut them down.

About this time I started getting into prepping and started thinking outside the box, we purchased two nanny goats and were given a billy that someone had bought as a pet and didn’t want any more. We didn’t have the money to fence the whole farm so we bought four 16 foot cattle panels and some small clips to hold them together. This gave us a sturdy pen to hold them in. I started by hacking a circle in the brush and dragging the panels through it. We put the goats in and let them at it. The area was so thick that the goats could go into the middle and you couldn’t see them. After about two weeks they had eaten everything they could reach and were balling for more. They had stripped everything green up two about four feet high.

The next step is not the fastest or easiest way to do things but I did it this way as an experiment. Thinking of what life would be like after TEOTWAWKI I didn’t want to use any oil products or commercial power. I bought a good pair of loppers and a good hand pruning saw. I would go into the goat pen and cut down enough brush to feed them for a day, since the goats had cleared the under brush it was easy to cut things off at ground level. It took about ten minutes a night to do this. In about three weeks I had an area that was completely cleared except for the large stumps and the goats were out of food. We then hacked another circle and moved the pen over to start again. We piled the sticks and branches on the stumps and burnt them to ground level.

After the first section was cleared we added a third nanny goat to the group so we now had four goats. This sped the process up so that it only took about a week and a half to clear a 16’ square.

The next step was to get a garden started. Since all the stumps were still in the ground and we couldn’t afford a tiller, we decided to go with raised beds. I built the beds by screwing together 30” 4x4 cutoffs I had got for free from a jobsite. Stacking them 2 high gave us raised beds that were 37” wide, 72” long, and 7” deep. We filled the beds with rabbit manure and top soil that was dug up from our place. I got the manure by offering to clean out under the cages of someone that raised rabbits.

I know that this is not the most efficient way to get to the end goal but let me break it down for you and let you be the judge of the outcome.

COSTS
Three nanny goats @ $30ea
Four cattle panels @ $20ea
One pair loppers $45
One pruning saw $16
one box of screws $19
twelve clips to hold fence together $18
one half hour a night working with my two children in the garden PRICELESS

Total cost $268

Over the last year there has been some money come into our family from this project. Our goats had babies so we sold five @ $45, the person that I shoveled the rabbit manure from gave me $50 and two butchered rabbits since he didn’t have to do it, I rented out my goats to someone that had an island in their pond that had over grown. He paid me $240 because that’s what it would have cost him to hire laborers for the job. The other thing that I don’t have a value for is all the vegetables that we have enjoyed.

$515 income
$268 costs

$247 is the total money made on this project.

I know that there are people that have been prepping for years and have awesome stores laid up for the bad times, and there are people that have the money to get this project done in a week, but that isn’t the point I am trying to make here. The main point is the paradigms shift of thinking out side the box is the best skill that we Preppers have. For very little money I have added a sustainable meat source for my family, and a productive vegetable garden. I have taught my children that if there is something that needs to get done you can work on it and make your goal.

P.S. Make sure the neighbor kids can’t open the gate to the goat pen, four goats can level a garden in about ten minutes, Trust me.

Tim

Target practice, etc.

2010-01-20T10:37:00.001-06:00

As with things in life, practice makes perfect when it comes to firearms. Here are a few of my thoughts about target practice, and other things.

If you are a new gun owner (read: new. gun owner; not new gun. owner!) start off by going to the range with an experienced person, one who takes his/her responsibilities as a gun owner & shooter seriously. Go with him/her more than once. And take it a step further-- ask him to come back to your house after you go shooting to clean your guns. Feed him supper in return.

An aside about cleaning. You just spent real money on a mechanical devise that one day could save your life. (Praying you'll never have to use it for that, but.) Keep it clean and in good working order. We clean our weapons after each use. That may be a bit excessive, but we like shiny things.

Commit to going to the range at least once a month. Make it an outing. Bring along a friend or two. An added benefit of this is that you'll shoot eachother's weapons, and learn about other makes & models.

I prefer outdoor ranges over indoor for a number of reasons. My experience has been that for the most part gun handling safety is practiced to a greater degree by folks who frequent outdoor ranges. Indoor ranges are crowded and loud. The one problem with some outdoor ranges is that the lanes somethings are not short enough for handgun use. So check before you go first.

When you're starting out, set realistic goals. You're going to be learning a lot and trying to co-ordinate each individual aspect of shooting. Unless you are a natural born marksman, don't expect to hit the dead on bullseye first time out. Ain't gonna happen. Begin by becoming comfortable with your gun, and by developing perfect safety habits.

REPEAT: Begin by developing perfect safety habits.

At some point, you will achieve those first two goals, comfort and perfect habits. Precision will come with practice.

Remember, too, that in a situation where you need to use your gun, you aren't going to be target shooting. You may be making your way down the staircase into a pitch black living room. You may be walking across a dark parking lot. Practice these scenarios. (O.k., not cool to take out your gun in the parking lot, but you get the point.)

One thing folks do is an unloaded drill. Unload your weapon(s). Put it in the nightstand drawer. Lay down. Now what if you were awakened, and you had to act? Practice what you & your partner would do. Be sure the weapons are unloaded! And be sure you walk down those stairs side-by-side. In real life, you do not want someone with a loaded gun behind you.

We have been collecting the Personal Firearms Defense series of DVDs. I recommend these, but you can probably find other information & videos online.

One final thought. If you are a newbie, your strategy for training & practice should be one step at a time. You'll develop confidence and more importantly, good habits.

Flash flood watch

2010-01-19T17:06:00.000-06:00

Just a heads up.

FLOOD WATCH
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE JACKSON MS
253 PM CST TUE JAN 19 2010

...HEAVY RAINFALL LIKELY TO RETURN TO THE REGION LATE WEDNESDAY
THROUGH WEDNESDAY NIGHT...

...FLASH FLOOD WATCH IN EFFECT FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH
LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN JACKSON HAS ISSUED A

* FLASH FLOOD WATCH FOR PORTIONS OF SOUTHEAST ARKANSAS...
NORTHEAST LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI.

* FROM WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON THROUGH LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT

* A POWERFUL UPPER LEVEL JETSTREAM WILL COMBINE WITH INCREASING GULF
MOISTURE AND INSTABILITY WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON TO TRIGGER A ROUND OF
HEAVY RAIN AND THUNDERSTORMS FOR LOCATIONS GENERALLY ALONG AND
NORTH OF THE INTERSTATE TWENTY CORRIDOR. THESE RAINS WILL COME ON
THE HEELS OF OUR RECENT WIDESPREAD 1 TO 3 INCH RAINS THIS PAST
HOLIDAY WEEKEND. AN AXIS OF AN ADDITIONAL 2 TO 4 INCHES IS LIKELY
IN ABOUT 18 HOURS BETWEEN MID AFTERNOON WEDNESDAY UNTIL THURSDAY
MORNING. LOCAL AMOUNTS COULD EXCEED 5 INCHES IN PORTIONS OF NORTH
MISSISSIPPI ROUGHLY SOMEWHERE FROM AROUND YAZOO CITY TO COLUMBUS.

* ALREADY WET GROUNDS ALONG WITH MANY RIVERS RUNNING AT LEAST HALF OF
BANKFULL WILL RESULT IN RAPID RUNOFF WHERE THUNDERSTORMS BECOME
NEARLY STATIONARY FOR SEVERAL HOURS AT A TIME. RESIDENTS IN
NORMALLY FLOOD PRONE LOCATIONS SHOULD PAY SPECIAL ATTENTION TO THE
DEVELOPMENT OF HEAVY RAINS DURING WEDNESDAY NIGHT.

Little simple things

2010-01-19T10:00:00.001-06:00

"Little simple things" comes from our guest contributor, Tim. Tim's from the mountains of Oregon, currently living on a five acre starter farm (with access to 1200!) in the Picayune, MS area. Tim is one accomplished individual! He's an Eagle Scout, a c-17 load master in the air force reserves who's been through the highest military survival school. He's also a Master Carpenter and a HAM radio operator. Tim says, "A couple of years ago a local gun store owner turned me onto survival blog and I have just gone from there. I found preppers network about two weeks ago and enjoy it." I think y'all will enjoy his first post, and look forward to more.

I find that I get encouraged by reading basic how to articles, even if they are something I all ready know it’s always good to see others take on a subject. It is also good to practice the skills that we have so that they are fresh in our minds and we can draw on them when needed.

Just this last Friday after work it had been raining all day and I didn’t have anything pressing to do. I decided that it was a good time to practice my fire starting skills. I know that most people say that it is easy to start a fire, but try to start a fire in the rain with only a knife and a Bic lighter. You will find that it can be frustrating and challenging when you are in the best of moods, so it’s a good time to learn before you truly need it.

The first thing that most people tell me when I talk about starting a fire in the rain is that all the wood is wet. Let me tell you that the only time in Earths history that all the wood was wet was after it had rained for forty days and forty nights. What you want to look for is branches that are dead but still hanging on the tree or are held off of the ground by other branches, this is called squaw wood. The bark on these branches protects them and the rain runs off so the inside stays dry. Other things to look for are freshly fallen pine needles or sap; they don’t soak up water and burn easily. Another important thing to find is a good thumping stick, this is a solid piece of wood about two inches thick and about eighteen inches long, it is used to drive the knife through the wood.

Preparations for starting a fire in the rain are the most important part of the challenge. Gather all the wood that you can before you ever try to start the first thing burning. Once you have everything together start by breaking or chopping the squaw wood into pieces about six inches long. Split the wood into kindling using the knife. The inside of this wood is dry, use a couple of pieces of this wood to make shavings for tender to get it started. As you are doing this prep work it is important to keep the rain off of what you have gotten ready. I stuff it in my jacket.

Once you have every thing ready it is as simple as putting it together and lighting it. Start by putting the tender in a pile and covering it with kindling and light, as it starts to catch add bigger and bigger pieces of wood. Once you have the flames going you can add wood that is soaked and it will catch and burn.

After about fifteen minutes I had a nice roaring fire that put out a lot of heat. My Seven year old son and I sat enjoying the glow until it was time for him to go to bed, even though it was still raining and the outside temp had fallen to the low forties the heat of the fire made it comfortable.

As preppers we spend a lot of time working on our stores of supplies, but it is good and just as important to stop and practice some of the most basic skills so that they are second nature for us when we need them.

P.S. once you have practiced it’s always fun when sitting with friends and watching it rain to bet them twenty bucks that you can go into that stand of woods over there and start a fire with just what you have in your pockets. It’s bought my dinner a few times.(You have your pocket knife and a lighter in your pocket don’t you?)

Castle Doctrine, Reciprocity, Traffic Stops and Codes

2010-01-13T07:57:00.000-06:00

You have your gun, you feel you are ready to carry, what else is there to know??
The Castle Doctrine. This gives you the right to defend your Castle(home) and of course the Royal Coach(car). I found a decent explanation on Lawyer Rob's blog here and it will explain this better than I can.
We can then move on to Reciprocity, which is the other states that will honor your concealed carry permit, simply put you can bring your gun. If you are traveling and want to carry and will be in these states (even if driving through to reach another state that honors Mississippi permits) you will need to know each state code on if you have to disclose that you have a weapon or not if stopped by a police officer/state trooper. The states that honor Mississippi permits are:

ALABAMA
ALASKA
ARIZONA
ARKANSAS
COLORADO
FLORIDA
GEORGIA
IDAHO
INDIANA
KENTUCKY
LOUISIANA
MICHIGAN
MISSOURI
MONTANA
NEW HAMPSHIRE
NORTH CAROLINA
OKLAHOMA

If your gun is concealed in your car do you have to tell a Mississippi officer that you have one? No. Should you? In all honesty, I can't answer that for you. Some officers may appreciate the fact they were informed and some just won't and could make a simple traffic stop a long, drawn out event. I have heard stories from both sides of the fence. In other states that do allow you to carry, they might have a law that you have to show them your permit and inform them of your carry right up front.
This is the basics on these three issues, as a gun owner you need to be informed on gun laws for your state and how they change.

Codes you need to know:

The Bill of Rights of the Mississippi Constitution:

Section 12. Right to bear arms.

The right of every citizen to keep and bear arms in defense of his home, person, or property, or in aid of the civil power when thereto legally summoned, shall not be called in question, but the Legislature may regulate or forbid carrying concealed weapons.

To look up the codes relating to firearms you can go here to Mississippi Codes and where you want to look for weapon relate codes is in Title 45 and in Title 97. I would direct link but it will only pull up the main page.

Where do I buy my guns?

2010-01-11T07:59:00.000-06:00

Along the coast, if you want a new gun Academy Sports has a large selection. I buy mostly from pawn shops, mainly Long Beach Pawn on Pineville Road and Cook's guns in Diberville, on Popps Ferry Road and I've gotten decent guns at decent prices. My advice is to go check out what they have, give it a good look over pull the trigger and hold it in your hand. Is it comfortable? Light enough or heavy enough. Keep in mind once loaded the trigger will be a little harder to pull. Consider the price, usually around $250 and up. In all honesty, I've left the shops, gone home to think about it and looked prices up on the internet to make sure it was a good price then have gone back. You run the risk of the gun not being there but I would rather be sure of my purchase. I would also ask if the gun was one of their pawns or consignment for someone else. Usually they tell you right upfront, the difference being if it's one of theirs they make sure it's clean and if it's a consigned piece it may not be.
When you buy a gun buy bullets, you can do it at the pawnshop, academy sports or online and don't forget about a gun cleaning kit.
Now don't go home stick it in the nightstand and forget about it. You need to shoot and feel comfortable about doing so. I have not tried this place but it doesn't look bad at all, it's the Mississippi Gulf Coast Rifle and Pistol Club. Dues are $200 a year and you have to go through the mandatory safety class first. Wait, that would be $400 a year then for a couple! Not necessarily, one can join because the member is allowed to bring two guests each visit. When you go to the range follow the rules, also be serious, this isn't a BBQ, covered shoes, no flip flops, ear plugs please and long pants. On the range you can go through a box of bullets pretty quick so make sure you have more than one box. Maintain your gun, keep it clean, and ready to go. If you have little ones lock it up. If you shoot on someones land please, please make sure you have plenty of room, a bullet can go a long way. Common sense, that's all.
As for cleaning your gun, if someone can't show you how, YouTube has videos on how to do it, simply type in how to clean a gun. You can also see videos of people shooting different types of guns also.
I hope I provided enough basics to get you started, if not just let me know. And I have a favor to ask, make old Worn Out proud and don't run in and buy a pink gun!

Bare basics on guns

2010-01-07T07:44:00.000-06:00

Hand guns:

Bottom right is a semi-automatic handgun. You load a clip with the bullets and snap it into the handle. You cock it once, pull the top back and you can unload the whole clip of bullets.

Top left is a revolver. You load the bullets into the barrel, cock the gun and fire. You cock the gun for every shot.

Which would I pick for the first time gun owner? A revolver. It's easier to clean, easier to shoot and more accurate, you also don't have to worry about bullets jamming. The downside? If you are going to carry, it's a little harder to conceal.

Shotgun:

A shotgun has a wider barrel and a front sight. It takes large bullets which are little metal balls(bbs) in a shell. When you shoot all those little balls become projectiles which do a lot of damage. The picture I am showing has a pump at the bottom of the gun which you will need to pump before you shoot. Some have a handle at the bottom that you cock before you shoot. This is a single barrel shot gun which means you have one shot before you have to reload and double you have two.
Shotguns are for shorter range shooting.

Rifles:

Rifles have a more narrow barrel and have a front sight and a rear sight. They carry bullets that do not have projectiles so what you are shooting will be 1 shot= 1 bullet vs. a shotgun which is 1 shot= multiple projectiles. Rifles are for longer range shooting.

To start off with, for the average home, a single or double barrel shotgun would be just fine.

What is a caliber? A caliber is the diameter of the inside of a round cylinder. It is measured by thousands of an inch or millimeters. A 22 caliber is a .22 caliber which is a small gun with a small bullet. In comparison, Dirty Harry's gun was a .44 caliber, big gun big bullets. Same thing with millimeter the higher the number the bigger the gun and bullets. What size should you get? Well that depends what you can shoot comfortably. This is the area where people second guess themselves if they should even own a gun because now you have to think about actually shooting a person.
A low caliber, .22 or .25, even with good aim will probably require more than one shot to disable or kill. That being said no matter what size the gun, stress of a situation and personal reaction will probably dictate you taking more than one shot anyway. Caliber is easier to remember as the higher the number the bigger the hole.

1st Garden: Pt 1 Planning

2010-01-06T12:43:00.000-06:00

I guest posted about planning your first garden over at Ohio Preppers. Check it out. Lots of links to garden stuff and some drawings.

Concealed Carry

2010-01-05T07:45:00.000-06:00

Hope you all made it through lastnight o.k. this week is going to be rough.

Why go through the bother and expense of concealed carry? Because Mississippi does not define open carry and will state in some cases that it is not permitted. But they do define concealed carry, which is to conceal(hide)your gun in whole or in part. Which is how they bust your chops on open carry. For example, you have a gun in it's holster on your hip...open carry? Well, your gun is partially concealed by your holster. So you decide to stick it on your forehead..whatever tape you use and maybe your hair can conceal it..see where I'm going with this? Some places and people are not as uptight as others but there is no clear line. Also once you have a concealed carry permit you can be told you cannot open carry but that is easier considering it will always be partially concealed by a holster or something else.

How do I get a concealed carry permit, well go to the Highway Patrol link here and click on the Firearm Permit Application Package(Individuals). Fill it out and have it notorized.

What is the cost:

The fee for a first time Individual Firearm Permit is $132.00. The permit is valid for four (4) years. About 90 days prior to the permit's expiration date, a renewal package is sent to the permit holder. The renewal fee is $82.00. There is a $15 late fee for expired permits. A permit expired for 6 months or more is deemed permanently expired and the permit holder must reapply. If your driver's liscence still has your social security number on it they are going to make you run to the dmv right after you apply for your permit to get a new one so figure that into your fee and time also.

Where do I go?

To a highway patrol substation. To renew you you can go to any place you go to renew your driver's license provided there is no change to your information on your permit.
You will probably have to take time off work. For locations click here. The days and times are specific, you just can't walk in any old time.

How long does it take to get my permit? About 4 months.

The downside? If you are hinky about an FBI background check and having your prints on file is one. Concealed carry records are a matter of public record is two. And the second one pretty much ticks me off. If I can't do this to someone:

Then the state shouldn't do this to me.

You might be thinking, I just wanted to know how to buy a gun so when are you getting off your soapbox? It's never that easy...

Hard Freeze Tonight

2010-01-04T18:15:00.000-06:00

It's going to be 16 tonight and they are saying it might snow on Thursday. If you have plants and/or gardens, cover them up. Bring your animals in, well those you can. Drip your cold water if you have to and stay warm. If need be there are shelters open:

Harrison County

Good Deeds Center
15101 Madison St.
Gulfport
Open at 4:30pm

Gulf Coast Rescue Mission
2750 Mission Lane
Biloxi
*Men only

Hancock County

Lutheran Episcopal Services (formerly Lagniappe Church)
647 Demontiluzin Ave.
Bay St. Louis
Open at 4:30pm until 9am
Rides to shelter: (228) 255-9191

Jackson County

Salvation Army
3217 Nathan Hale Ave.
Pascagoula

Stay inside if you can, be careful, keep warm.

Guns Made America Great

2010-01-04T09:39:00.000-06:00

Aggie mentioned that she's going to be doing some posting on the topic of firearms. Yea! I happened to come across this today at The Corner at National Review Online. Thought I'd share, since it's in keeping with the theme.

Fun With Numbers [Jonah Goldberg]
Bart Hinkle writes:

More than 900 black males between the ages of 14 and 17 killed somebody in 2007. Should we be scared of young black guys?

Of course not. There are roughly 3 million black males in that age group in the United States. It would be horribly unfair to toss around the first statistic without mentioning the second; doing so would be misleading, if not malicious.

Now consider this statistic: Concealed handgun permit holders have killed 107 people since 2007. That news, from the Violence Policy Center in Washington, D.C., sounds pretty bad — until you put it in context. How many Americans have been issued a permit to carry a concealed weapon?

The Violence Policy Center doesn't say. And it's probably impossible to pin down a precise number, because records are kept on a state-by-state basis, and reporting criteria differ from state to state. But NRA estimates put the number in the neighborhood of 5 million, as of a couple of years ago....

If that's true, then the percentage of concealed-carry permit holders who have killed someone with a firearm comes to two one-thousandths of 1 percent. Yet to listen to the VPC's Kristen Brand — who says "concealed handgun permit holders are killing people over parking spaces, football games, and family arguments" — you'd think the cohort of permit holders was as dangerous as the gang at Rikers Island.

And one more thing... . How many of those concealed carry permit holders would themselves been killed by one of those 107 people? I do NOT want to ever shoot anyone. But I'll be damned if I'll be taken out by anyone else. Fortunately, the probability of my being killed is pretty low. There hasn't been a murder in my county since before 1980. Check your city or county's crime stats here.

Gun Ownership 101

2010-01-03T15:22:00.000-06:00

You may feel at some point you are ready to move into the area of protection for youself, your family and your home. Your thoughts are progressing towards the purchase of firearms.

The great state of Mississippi is an open carry state. This means the only time you need a permit is to conceal(hide)your gun. You must be over the age of 18 to open carry, 21 to conceal carry and be a resident in the state for 12 months.Regardless of the fact if you open or conceal you may not have a weapon in the following places:

1. Courthouse
2. Detention or police facility
3. Polling place
4. Meeting of a government or legislative body
5. Public park
6. Schools
7. Colleges
8. Professional athletic event
9. Place of worship
10. Parade or demonstration
11. Premises posted “carrying of a pistol or revolver is prohibited,”
12. Where prohibited by federal law
13. It is unlawful to carry a firearm in any portion of an establishment licensed to dispense alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises that is primarily devoted to dispensing alcoholic beverages; any portion of an establishment in which beer or light wine is consumed on the premises, that is primarily devoted to such purpose
14. The passenger terminal of any airport, except if the firearm is encased for shipment.

You do not have a wait period to buy a gun. You have to be able to fill out the information on the sales form by yourself and be able to show ID.

So, you can open carry, you don't have to wait to buy a gun so lets jump in and go get one! Just kidding, there is more.....

1st Annual APN Symposium

2010-01-02T09:50:00.003-06:00

This is a pre-announcement for the First Annual American Preppers Network Symposium. Details to follow soon.

Announcing the

First Annual
American Preppers Network Symposium

“Get started”

Hosted by Mississippi Preppers Network

~~March 25-27, 2010~~
March 18-20, 2010
North/central Mississippi*

* UPDATES 2/13/2010 Please note the change in date. Based on preliminary feedback, the new dates allow more folks to attend. Also note that the exact location will be announced, based on the number of registered participants.

The moderators of Mississippi Preppers Network (MSPN) extend to all members and friends of the American Preppers Network (APN) an invitation to the First Annual American Preppers Network Symposium to be held March 18-20, 2010 in north/central Mississippi.

Theme: The theme is “Get Started.” Get started prepping. Get started taking those first steps to self-reliance. Get started meeting-- face-to-face-- some like minded folks from all across the country. No matter where you are in your preps, this gathering will provide an opportunity to learn and teach freedom through self-reliance.

Among the topics will be:

Vegetable gardening: Top 10 “newbie” mistakes
Stocking your pantry: Commonsense strategies for building up food stores
Storing dry goods
Preserving fruits and vegetables (topic volunteered for by Deborah in Mississippi. Thanks, Deborah!)
Strategies for involving family
Prepping in small spaces
Meeting the challenges of urban prepping
Becoming debt free (almost)

APN’s motto is “Freedom through Teaching Others Self-Reliance.” The Symposium provides an opportunity to do just that. Please invite others.

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Happy New Year

2009-12-31T17:48:00.000-06:00

To my fellow Preppers:

May your pantry be full
May your guns always be loaded
May your BOBs always be ready to go
May you always be secure in the knowledge that you are prepared and are
able to see youself and your family through whatever life throws at you.

Happy New Year!

Positively naked

2009-12-29T16:05:00.001-06:00

Greetings from NYC! Just stopping in to say I feel positively naked here without my gun. Where would I potentially need it more? NE Mississippi (last murder in my county was in, like, 2005 I think)? OR NYC (last murder was, like, oh... I bet within the last 24 hours; 461 to date)?

I do believe Aggie will have more on this soon! Anxious to see it.

Meanwhile, I'll be traveling the next few days (driving, you couldn't get me on a plane if you paid me). So here's wishing you & yours a very Happy New Year! (Resolve to get your concealed carry license this year.)

Stay safe!

Extra, Extra!

2009-12-29T09:13:00.000-06:00

We are mainstream now! Check out the APN for the Newsweek article and video. Great job!

"They are going to test this guy...."

2009-12-26T07:41:00.000-06:00

The title was a quote from our Vice President regarding our currant President. Are they testing him? Well sure they are! The terrorists aren't the only ones but are the ones who are being more direct. Currently there is the flight to Detroit that a terrorist tried to blow up. AP article is here. I am not sure how they will be able to say this was a random thing considering his name has popped up on a data base earlier. God Bless our fellow Americans who were on that plane and responded to what was going on and foiled yet another attack on U.S. soil. They are heroes and provided us as a country with a Christmas miracle of displaying true American spirit.
Thank you my fellow Preppers for your Christmas wishes also! I am grateful to be in the company of such caring, knowledgeable people.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T07:41:00.001-06:00

Merry Christmas everyone! If you are traveling, stay safe and if you are having visitors, stay sane! Most of all try to stay healthy. Right now my Christmas wish is for "our" government to remember how and why our country was founded. The news this morning points otherwise though..

Prepping goes mainstream

2009-12-19T14:23:00.000-06:00

From Survival Blog. Is it just me, or are we seeing a lot more of this lately?

Letter Re: Gerald Celente Predicts Survivalism Will Go Mainstream in 2010

James Wesley:
The often-quoted prognosticator Gerald Celente (of The Trends Research Institute) is predicting that the Survivalist movement will go mainstream next year. In a recent issue of The Trends Journal, he wrote:

"Back in the Cold War days, survivalism meant building a bomb shelter and stocking it with enough food to outlast nuclear fallout.
In the late 1970’s, with inflation soaring, Iran raging, and gold and oil prices skyrocketing, survival meant cashing out of paper money and heading for the hills with enough ammunition and pork & beans to wait out the economic and political storms.

In 2000, the Y2K crowd – the most recent breed of survivalists – expecting computer clocks to crash, infrastructure to break down and the world to go dark, were armed and barricaded with enough food to feed an army and enough ammunition to hold one off.

In 2010, survivalism will go mainstream. Unemployed or fearing it, foreclosed or nearing it, pensions lost and savings gone … all sorts of folk who once believed in the system, having witnessed its battering, have lost their faith.

The realities of failing financial institutions, degrading infrastructure, manipulated marketplaces, soaring energy costs, widening wars, and terror consequences have created a new breed of survivalist. Motivated not by worst-case scenario fears but by do-or-die necessity, the new non-believers, unwilling to go under or live on the streets, will devise ingenious stratagems to beat the system, get off the grid (as much as possible), and stay under the radar."

Well, it seems every good social movement deserves its day, and we are finally getting ours. Let's just hope that we don't get tarred with the same brush as the assorted Neo-Nazi/Skinhead/Racist/KKK/Anti-Semite fringe element types, as well as the relative handful of "Gray Aliens Abducted My Baby" types and "Its the End of the Mayan Calendar" Mystics. Knowing the tendencies of the Mainstream Media, they probably will try do do precisely that, by interviewing a few way-out-there whackos, and then attempting to portray them as "typical" survivalists. Lord help us. - Hal F.

H/T Matt at Kentucky Preppers Network. As Matt posts at KYPN-- Celente seems to be referring more to prepping than to the survival movement. But hey-- call us what you want. Just don't call us late for supper. Oh. What's that? YOU want US to call you to supper 'cause you failed to prepare? Hummm.

Couldn't Hurt

2009-12-11T08:00:00.001-06:00

I was out running errands the other day and I had Glen Beck on the radio. Now there are many people who aren't fans of Glen Beck, he is very flamboyant when trying to get his point across, but I like to hear someone national reinforce what we have been doing here on the network all along. Glen Beck feels that we will be heading towards a depression worse than the great depression. That being said, his tips for Americans are:

Get out of debt
Keep a food pantry (the direct quote is "fruit cellar")
Learn to sew and repair everything you can
Don't spend if you don't have to
Becareful in what you invest in, whether it be in stocks, food or equipment

In short, rely on yourself.
His closing was this: If he is wrong, he hopes he is and so do I, what is the worst that can happen from doing the above?? All of you know this from Y2K.

Baby it's cold outside!

2009-12-10T09:21:00.001-06:00

After a beautiful day yesterday, it feels as if the bottom has dropped out today. It certainly has been a week for crazy weather between rain, flooding, sunny and now cold to be followed by rainy and cold. I'd feel a little better if we had gas heat and hot water but no such luck, everything is electric. And, as some of you on the coast know, electric has been going up in leaps and bounds since Katrina. Not only that but after the hurricane most areas have been "reassessed" so property taxes are getting a bit rediculous also.
What are your best money saving tips for keeping warm and not supporting your local utility company. We do have a fireplace, if you can call it that, it's lined not all brick. I would love a woodstove. To our credit we have yet to put the heat on, there is always extra clothes and blankets but the time will be coming soon!

Visit the APN main site.

2009-12-08T07:53:00.001-06:00

The APN main site is giving away survival seeds. To enter make a comment on their post here. Good Luck!!

Teach a man to fish...

2009-12-02T09:02:00.001-06:00

The longer I am into this, I still get surprised by somethings. I was on a liberal publication website reading a story about having Christmas without presents (can you tell I'm not over Christmas shopping yet?) and I clicked on other articles and of course other links until I couldn't figure out where I started from (sometimes I get lost driving around the block too lol). Anyway, I ran across a challenge to consumers of a forum to NOT go grocery shopping for a week. My immediate thought was, o.k. big deal! Then I read the responses. My gosh, you would have thought you asked people to chop off their heads! The set up for this challenge was not to waste leftovers. Overall it was a good challenge considering the audience it was catering too. Some of the responses from the twenty something crowd were understandable but I thought the older crowd shouldn't have been so aghast.
I do throw out more leftovers than I would like sometimes and I do need to get that taken care of right after dinner than wait. I posted the mystery soup bucket previously here.
And with my addiction to old cookbooks I found a nice one that deals with leftovers. My post on this book here is on my other blog that I am still rearranging and adding to so please excuse the mess.
I did get a chuckle out of reading the forum I was on though and it was way beyond teaching a man to fish, it was more like someone was waiting to drop a fish in the bowl up on top.

I Hate Shopping

2009-12-01T08:38:00.001-06:00

I confess this freely, I do hate shopping. Food and necessities are a different story but everything else....forget it. I am a miserable person when it comes to that and I try to do some, if not most of it online. You will not see me out on a black Friday and I am ever thankful for my husband that when the lines are long and obnoxious individuals try my patience he sends me out of the store and handles it. Can you tell I have to finish up my Christmas shopping? LOL
I love to make gifts and have a bunch to finish up. My youngest is not as superficial as his older siblings and thankfully the oldest ones I get away with stocking stuffers and cash. I was in the stores before thanksgiving and kept getting the wink and a nod from the cashiers followed by "I'm not supposed to tell you this but on Friday...." Not on your life sister, I don't care if you are giving it away.
I try to keep Christmas cheer in my heart as I plod through my shopping but that wanes quickly. Hmmm...the tree has been sitting in it's box for the last three days in the middle of the living room. Maybe when the kids get home and some Christmas music it might make it up tonight....

Merry Christmas from Iran???

2009-11-29T11:14:00.001-06:00

Iran plans to begin building Uranium plants on five sites starting and will scout five more sites in which to build starting in two months. Here is the BBC article. I heard President Obama called a "deliberator" this morning and all this administration has done for me is give me more flashbacks of Jimmy Carter's presidency in the late seventies. Israel is touting stiffer sanctions right now, but I don't believe they will keep that stance in the near future. But of course we should be ever present in the health care bill not in the security of our country.
Why am I blasting off on this today? Well, depending on how the world responds to this could have a direct impact on oil prices, of course, and when oil goes up food goes up, etc. If this happens during a full swing recession it's not going to be pretty and in light of the administrations policy of sitting and waiting to see what everyone else will bring to the table, it will be yet another long process we will have to wallow through.
If money allows consider beefing up your preps just a little bit more. I'm hoping I'm wrong but I am going to listen to the little nagging voice in the back of my head in any event.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-11-25T19:30:00.002-06:00

I'm posting this early in case I don't get to do it in the morning.

On this Thanksgiving lets think a little bit about the pilgrims. I pulled this off of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute Forum:

Enjoy this brief history:

On August 1, 1620, a ship called the "Mayflower" left England with 102 passengers bound for the New World. The manifest included two groups. The Separatists, led by William Bradford, had fled their homeland and the oppressive Church of England under King James I in search of a home where they could live and worship God according to their own conscience. The Strangers sought the New World for other reasons. Together they formed the Pilgrims.

Their intended crossing to Virginia strayed off course, and they instead landed on Cape Cod -- outside the territory covered by the King's Charter. Thus, the Pilgrims were responsible for their own governance. Following the nine-week journey, the Pilgrims composed an agreement that would establish just and equal laws for all members of the new community. Indeed, the revolutionary ideas expressed in the Mayflower Compact were derived from none other than the Holy Bible.

Only then, on November 11, 1620, did the Pilgrims leave the Mayflower. A cold and barren wilderness awaited them. There were no friends to greet them, no houses to shelter them, nor stores of food to sustain them. That first winter was perilous, as half the Pilgrims died of starvation, sickness, or exposure.

When spring arrived, an Indian named Squanto taught the settlers how to plant corn, fish, use fertilizer, and stalk deer. Bradford wrote that Squanto was "a special instrument sent of God for their good beyond their expectations."

In October, following their first harvest, Governor Bradford set aside a day of thanksgiving. Squanto, his chief Massasoit, and other members of the tribe were invited to the thanksgiving feast. The Indians brought deer and turkeys, while the Pilgrim women cooked vegetables and fruit pies. The purpose of the feast was not to give thanks to the Indians or Mother Earth, as contemporary history textbooks commonly report, but as a devout expression of gratitude to God.

What modern history texts also omit is that the contract the Pilgrims brokered with their merchant-sponsors in London specified that everything they produce go into a common store, with each member entitled to one common share. In addition, all the land they cleared and the structures they built belonged to the community.

William Bradford, Governor of the new colony, realized the futility of collectivism and abandoned the practice. Instead, Bradford assigned a plot of land to each family and permitted them to market their own crops and other products, thereby unleashing the power of free enterprise. What Bradford had wisely realized was that these industrious people had no reason to work any harder than anyone else without the motivation of personal incentive.

Thus, what can only be called the Pilgrims' attempt at socialism ended like all other attempts at socialism -- in failure. What Bradford subsequently wrote about the experiment should be in every American history textbook. The lesson provided therein is invaluable.

"The experience that was had in this common course and condition, tried sundry years and that amongst godly and sober men, may well evince the vanity of that conceit of Plato's and other ancients applauded by some of later times; that the taking away of property and bringing in community into a commonwealth would make them happy and flourishing; as if they were wiser than God. For this community (so far as it was) was found to breed much confusion and discontent and retard much employment that would have been to their benefit and comfort. For the young men, that were most able and fit for labour and service, did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without any recompense."

And what happened after collectivism was replaced by capitalism and the concept of private property?

"This had very good success, for it made all hands very industrious, so as much more corn was planted than otherwise would have been by any means the Governor or any other could use, and saved him a great deal of trouble, and gave far better content."

The Pilgrims soon found they had more food than they could eat, so they set up trading posts and exchanged goods with the Indians. The profits they realized allowed them to pay off their debts to the merchants in London. The success and prosperity of the original Plymouth settlement attracted more European settlers, setting off what came to be known as the "Great Puritan Migration."

Three hundred and eighty-two years later, Americans still set aside the fourth Thursday in November each year as a celebration of thanksgiving. Although this quintessentially American holiday has become more secular than religious, it was originated by devoutly Christian people who were expressing gratitude for the bounty brought forth by their labor and the blessings bestowed upon them by God.

A lot to think about... I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving carcass

2009-11-25T19:30:00.001-06:00

Dear Lord, Thank you for this turkey and the carcass it is about to be. Amen.

(No blasphemy intended, seriously.)

The meat you will consume tomorrow is muscle tissue surrounding a skeletal system of a once living critter. I'm no vegan-greenpeace-animal rights activist sort of gal, but I think it is right, especially at Thanksgiving, to take a moment to reflect on the fact that we humans are part of the food-chain network. To be thankful for it. And to recognize our place in it. Just a thought.

On Friday, Sinky Day (the day people eat lunch over the sink), you will probably have turkey sandwiches, no doubt on homemade bread, with homemade mayonnaise... . Pardon me while I prepare for a food comma.

On Saturday, you may have a turkey casserole. Depending on the number of folks picking on this carcass, you may have enough meat to freeze. But at some point... .

When you are finished picking every last bit of muscle tissue worth picking off that carcass... you've made it to the really good part, the skeleton-- the bones. This means the best turkey gumbo you've ever had in your life is just as hop & a skip away. (Lord, thank you for Thanksgiving.)

Basic chicken stock recipe, adjust at will for the turkey carcass. The key is to fully immerse the carcass in water, to have the same proportions of seasonings (celery, carrots, etc.), and to boil it slowly to get the marrow from the bones. (So if it takes more than 5 qts water to immerse the carcass, adjust the quantity of celery, etc., accordingly.) From John's Big Food Manual and Survivalist Flourishing Guide:

CHICKEN STOCK

Makes 4 quarts, but freezes well

5-6 lb hen
1 medium onion, chopped coarse
3 ribs celery, chopped coarse
2 carrots, scraped and chopped coarse
2 bay leaves (preferably fresh)
5 quarts water

Put all ingredients into a large (2 gallon) stock pot. Simmer slowly until hen is tender, about 2 ½ hours. Let stock cool with hen in it. Remove hen and strain.

LEFTOVER TURKEY GUMBO
2 quarts turkey stock, made from leftover turkey carcass
½ C flour
½ C oil (can use bacon fat for real Cajun flavor and calories)
Leftover turkey meat, chopped into bite-sized pieces
½ lb andouille sausage (preferably homemade—see recipes in Meats section)
1 lb shrimp, optional
1 lb ckra, sliced (can use frozen—1 ½ boxes)
1 big onion, chopped
1 bunch green onions, chopped (mostly white parts)
1 bell pepper, chopped
2-3 ribs celery, chopped
3 (or more) cloves garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
½ bunch parsley, chopped
Creole seasoning, to taste
Tabasco, to taste
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Steaming long-grain rice
File powder

Remove meat from the turkey carcass. Cut up and set aside. Boil the carcass in water to make the turkey stock. Remove carcass from stock and skim stock. Measure out two quarts stock in a large stockpot and have stock simmering slowly, covered. Chop onions, green onions, bell pepper, and celery and have ready in a big bowl while you make your roux.

Make a roux: blend flour and fat, and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Be careful not to burn the roux—if black flecks appear, it has been burned and must be thrown away. Keep stirring until the roux gets darker and darker. You can stop at chocolate brown if you wish, but I try for the color of coffee. (The darker you get the roux, the darker will be the shade of your gumbo.) As soon as you reach the desired color, turn off the fire and add the chopped veggies immediately. (This stops the roux from cooking further.)

Stir the veggies into the roux thoroughly and keep stirring until the mixture begins to cool a bit. Add the roux to the turkey stock. Chunk the andouille and fry off. Drain fat and add andouille to stock. Add bay leaf and Creole seasoning and stir.

Bring stock to a boil then immediately reduce to simmer. Let stock simmer about 30 minutes uncovered. Taste occasionally and adjust seasonings. Add okra and cook another 30 minutes uncovered (long enough to make sure that the “sliminess” is gone from the gumbo). Add parsley and reserved turkey meat. Simmer for 15 minutes uncovered. Add shrimp if used. Cook for 5-6 minutes, just until shrimp turn pink. Taste. Add salt, pepper, and Tabasco. (This gumbo should not be too spicy hot.)

Let gumbo sit, covered, until ready to serve. If any fat accumulates on gumbo surface, skim it off. To serve, press ½ cup rice into measuring cup and place in a mound in center of gumbo bowl. Ladle gumbo around the rice mound. Sprinkle with file powder (1/4 – ½ tsp.)

Eat hearty—there’s plenty!

Dear Lord, Thank you for bringing John, who knows how to make the best turkey gumbo ever, into my life. Amen.

A pinch of this and a dash of that....

2009-11-24T08:42:00.000-06:00

My thanks to Marica for all of her posts, I'm waiting too on the Christmas ideas and have been working on few of my own here. Between finishing off league football, (finally over yeah!), and being taking down by a URI, I am trying to get back on the ball. I am still working on prepper hookups and I have one person for each person who responded so far so if you are out there and want to check in please do so.
What are your traditions for Thanksgiving if you celebrate? I'd love to hear them even if you have downsized over the years. What's on the menu?
Today I will brine the turkey and bake the pies. Pies vary, this year will be pumpkin and tart cherry. We also will be having yams, mashed potatoes, green beans, stuffing and, of course, cranberries. This year is just my immediate family. In the morning, after Tom is taking care of, usually finds us on the phone with family and friends since we are so far away from them. Then we make our rounds through the neighborhood since our neighbors are out smoking or deep frying their turkeys as well. Some times we bring appetizers over but usually if someone is making something different we all want to try we send out a sample plate and/or receive one as well. I usually send out some homemade canned relish or sweet jalapenos.
For my Dad in NY, they usually have one person in the building cook the bird and everyone brings a side dish in a community Thanksgiving. After the holiday is what to make out of leftovers and get ready for Christmas baking. I am hoping my in laws will be here for Christmas. Of course that means finishing up homemade gifts!! I also have two deer waiting to be brought down. In case you don't know what to do with a deer here are some options:

Well isn't' that just like me! I start off talking turkey and end up with deer on the brain. Just can't beat under a dollar a pound for ground meat though LOL. Hope you all are having a good one today!

Prepper-inspired Christmas gifts

2009-11-21T00:18:00.000-06:00

Stay tuned for a post on prepper-inspired, do-it-yourself (or on the real cheap) Christmas gifts for teachers, co-workers, the mailman (really?), and anyone else you can't afford to buy for, but would like to give something to. Focus on kid involvement. Gathering ideas as I type. (Actually, I posted to APN forum & Pioneer Living asking for ideas. They're coming in.)

Quote: I am a high income professional but I am battening down hatches as fast as I can

2009-11-18T17:06:00.000-06:00

I came across this at Instapundit. I only skimmed the links, which do have good advise. It was the reader's comment to Glenn Reynolds (the blogger "Instapundit" and the "voice" in the post) that got my attention.

LEAD US NOT INTO DEBT: Megan McArdle on Dave Ramsey.

His debt advice sounds good — I don’t really have any debt except a modest mortgage, so I haven’t tried it, since we’ve always favored a sort of Dave Ramsey-lite approach to finances — ...

UPDATE: Some related thoughts from Megan here.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Michael Kennedy writes:
I think we are in for a long and severe period of fiscal bad times. I am a high income professional but I am battening down hatches as fast as I can, including selling things I don’t need to own. Those kinds of links will be popular, not as popular as they should be, but that will change. It is heavy weather ahead and worse than we have seen since the 1930s. The fools running the country have no idea what they are doing.

It does appear that way. But perhaps we’re simply too dull to fathom their cunning plans.

Next time someone pokes fun at your prepping-- tell 'em you're battening down hatches, just like the "high income professionals."

Holiday baking goods sales & a strategy for getting started

2009-11-17T12:03:00.000-06:00

Herbalpagen (Emily) has a nice post up at on American Preppers about taking advantage of holiday sales on baking goods, and comfort foods like chocolate, cocoa, and so on. She also shares her strategy for food storage decisions:

--can I live without it?
--do I want to live without it?
--could I get it if the trucks stopped bringing it to the shelves?
... IF a big emergency came a long, would that item be available locally or would it be hard to get. Sugar can't be grown locally for me, neither can exotic spices and many other baking ingredients. ...

[I like that Emily doesn’t want to live without chocolate! When big stuff happens it’s important to keep things as “normal” as possible. (Aggie has posted about this.)]

Grocery stores are putting baking goods and things like dried fruits on sale, so now is the time to stock up. But if you’re just getting started, you may be wondering how much/many of these items you should be buying and storing? Here’s my strategy. It will take about an hour or so of your time. (Yikes! Not to read it, to do it!) Note that it will work for any category of thing you want to stock up on; I’ll stick to baking goods here.

First, go to the cupboard where you keep your baking supplies and take a peek inside. What’s there? What do you have? Make a list including the item, the size of the container, and amount you have. EX:

flour: 1 1/2 5-lb. bags (one opened, one in reserve)
crisco: 3 1-cup sticks

(This is also a good time to do a little purging of really old stuff.)

Record everything you have, get a cup of coffee, and have a seat at the kitchen table.

Organize your list by making categories: FLOURS (white, whole wheat), SUGARS (cane, brown, kayro), MIXES/MEALS (corn meal, jiffy mix). I do this by transferring the list to a spreadsheet, but you can do it in pencil & paper. At this point, you may see that you’re completely out of somethings. These would be things you’d usually buy just when you need them for a recipe, or things you threw away when you were purging the old stuff. Be sure to add these to the list. They have a quantity = 0.

An added benefit to organizing is that you’re able to see substitutions. Next time you’re baking cookies, substitute dark for light brown sugar if you found an extra box of dark. You may also see that you’re “overstocked” in raisins that are getting stale. Surprise the kiddies with some oatmeal raisin cookies!

Once you have the list in order, you’re going to start evaluating what you need, setting some goals, and making your prepper shopping list. Your first goal is to replace those things that you purged. Bear in mind that not every item on the list is equally important. If you threw away a five-year old plastic container of dried cherries... take dried cherries off the list. Using Emily’s strategy, if you lived without them for this long... . This means that even if you see dried cherries on sale for 20 cents, unless you are planning on making a lot of fruit cake, don’t waste 20 cents. If, on the other hand, you realized you were completely out of yeast... . You get the idea.

My strategy now is to say, “I need at least two of everything, even things we only use occasionally.” That’s my first goal. Remember that there are two overall goals: saving some money by taking advantage of the sales on baking goods, and building up your stores. Anything you have one or fewer (i.e., open packages) goes on the shopping list. It doesn’t mean you’re going to buy it right away-- not every item is equally important-- but it does go on the list, with either “1” or “2” (have one, need one; have none need two) next to it.

If your finances only allow you to achieve this first goal, you’re farther along than you might have been. Just be sure to always have “one on hand, and one in stock” (one back-up, like in your “stock room”). As you use one, replace it with one from stock in your own store, and put one of whatever it is on your normal grocery list. Ideally, buy it on sale.

The next step is to set another goal-- a time goal. One or two months is a good place to start. Go through the list, item by item, and ask, “How much of this do I use in two months?” Here it is critically important to think of some what-if scenarios, based on why you're prepping, and what you are preparing for. “What if I lost my job, had no income, couldn’t go to the store to buy bread, and had to bake my own. THEN how much flour would I use in two months?” That’s your two month set point. Do the calculations-- what do you have? what do you need for two months?-- and add/adjust your prepper shopping list.

Notice I said, "based on why you're prepping, and what you are preparing for." Job loss might be one thing, unstable economy (inflation?) another, hurricanes... . Just remember that you may not know what may come down the pike. If you are reading this is Ohio, where the threat of hurricanes is low... remember good old Duke Energy & Hurricane Ike.

About that shopping list... . Use discretion. It just isn’t smart to go out and buy everything on the list at one time. You may find better sales. More importantly, you may find you need to tweek your set-point. You may not really need/use 16 boxes of jiffy corn bread mix, even if it is on sale for 50 cents. (Although I admit, I’d find that pretty hard to pass up.) Unless you have unlimited CASH, use discretion. Not all items are equally important. And be flexible. If your set point on flour is 4 5-lb bags, and you are down to 3, and it’s not on sale... do NOT buy one at full price. Flour goes on sale all the time. You know your stores and what things are advertised regularly vs. only occasionally. Use discretion.

About shopping... . This may not work for everyone, but here’s what we're doing now-- in large part because we are seeing a lot of sales on basics and staples. We typically spend about $100-125/week on groceries, including preps. And we go to the store once a week with a list of what we need for this week’s menu, and for staples. We have our set point, we “shop” first in our own “store” to rotate our stock, and then (with discretion) replace those items. This amount includes stuff I’m stocking up on, too, because it’s on sale, because the move wiped out a lot of our preps, and because we have just established a new set point. Things were getting really confusing, especially when we unpacked the groceries: Do we need this this week? Am I replacing this? Is this extra?

To eliminate the confusion-- two shopping trips. One morning we go to the stores (ours and the grocery) to get what we need for the week’s menu. I make note of what’s on sale. John notes what’s on sale in the meat department. We spend far less than $100. Another morning I take our prepper shopping list, and we budget the difference between what we spent and $125 or so, and that’s what we spend on preps (including meat for the deep freezer).

We are odd in that John does the meal planning and most of the cooking, we have his and hers grocery lists, and shop together. So John is totally into prepping. (He keeps his own records of what meat is in the deep freezer, and he uses that to plan the menu.) But this two-part grocery shopping might be a way for those of you with... shall we say... less than enthusiastic spouses to illustrate the value of prepping. Once you’ve gotten your lists together, spend every extra buck you can find on prepper shopping-- only sale items! It won’t be too long before you see a reduction in your regular grocery bill, because you're first shopping from your bargain basement store. Point this out! “Hey honey, I only spent $75 at the store! Want to know why?”

How to get others into the Prepping Mindset

2009-11-16T08:06:00.000-06:00

Prepping is great! You can be self-sufficient, grow or stock food, secure your residence, and save a bunch of money in the long run, what's the downside? Everyone should be excited about this or at least consider it, right? WRONG!
Friends and family might be looking into the nearest home or the one thing they might consider to save money is building you your own padded room. Your spouse or significant other might have that eyes glazed over look when you tell them you bought yet another case of beans or ammo was on sale. And what do you mean you want to have a bug out drill and it doesn't include a hotel with a shower?
If you are there, I'm right there with you! Trust me on this. I daydream on the computer looking at pictures of other people's food supplies while my husband says "o.k. whatever we forgot at the store, I'll just pick up on my way home from work". Or a neighbor asks, "why grow it when you can just go buy it on the store?". Statements like this are just like finger nails on a chalkboard, they have the same effect.
Start slow and be prepared, it could take a long while before the light bulb goes off. You can go quicker with things that won't be in the other person's area of your shared life. For example: If your wife has nothing to do with your guns and ammo, there is your big starting point where you can almost go full throttle prepping in that area. If your husband leaves the kitchen entirely up to you..food is where you want to begin.
I leave ideas laying around. Books and articles on things I would like to try to do that I would need his help with. Usually, in the um....library, that's it! Where he will have some undivided attention and doesn't have to listen to my voice. (just so you know why I used the picture above lol). It's pretty effective. I still have a long way to go. He sees overstocking on things as an illness, which is fine but soon he will have to come to terms of why I really had to have more shelves in the storeroom.
Friends and family are different. Most of them are just under the impression that there will always be "more" so why bother. I did have a friend who going through a tough economic crisis with her family, got it, ran with it and it helped her through the rough spots. I had another friend, who just nods when I talk about it, doesn't get it and continues to complain and struggle. Most fall some where inbetween. Again, another slow process.
When it dawns on them that this could be worth the effort one or two things usually happens, they want to learn more and are a bit cautious or they panic because they feel they are far behind and just want to spend, spend, spend, to keep up. This is where they need your help! Reign in the ones who feel the end of the race is here and they are still at the starting gate! Talk them out of cases of freeze dried food they haven't tried yet and super expensive gear they may or may not need, use or can get cheaper. Show them how much they can produce in a garden and can, or save money in other ways so they can stock up on food if they don't have access to a garden. Pawn shops are great for some guns and ammo and some places online are better. People who are slow and cautious will soak up information like a sponge and decide what is best for their situation and will come prepared with questions, give an ear be supportive and offer advice.
Above all else, remember, you are not alone. We are here for you!

Perfect Prepper Muffins

2009-11-15T11:35:00.000-06:00

How cool is this? A muffin batter that saves for six weeks in the fridge. John made these this morning and they were delicious. He said it took 5, maybe 10, minutes to mix up the batter. (approximately the time it takes the coffee to be ready). So already they score +1 with me. But beyond that, once the batter's been put together, we're talking about having homemade muffins any time you want without doing any thing more than preheating the oven and filling up a few cups in the muffin tin. As an added bonus, you'll have an excuse to turn on the oven first thing in the morning to add a little extra heat to the kitchen. And the kiddies will have something warm in their tummies.

All in all the perfect prepper muffin, don't you think?

(John does caution to use a BIG bowl. He only made about 3/4 of the recipe.)

SIX WEEK MUFFINS

15 oz box raisin bran

3 C sugar

5 C flour, sifted

2 tsp salt

2 tsp baking soda

4 eggs, beaten

1 C oil

1 quart buttermilk

Mix together cereal, sugar, flour, salt, and baking soda. Combine eggs, oil, and buttermilk, and mix into dry ingredients. Batter keeps well in covered bowl in refrigerator for six weeks. When ready to bake a batch, preheat oven to 400^o. Fill greased or sprayed muffin tins 2/3 full and bake about 20 minutes. May put under broiler a few minutes for golden browning.

Prepping in small spaces

2009-11-14T12:11:00.000-06:00

I posted this on Ohio Preppers before the move to Mississippi. Hope you all enjoy!

My daughters all live in apartments or condos, so I feel your pain if you don't have a lot of space and are trying to get your prep on.

Worn Out over at Mississippi Preppers has a nice post, with many links, about food storage in small spaces.

And Matt just across the river at Kentucky Preppers has another about apartment homesteading and canning.

I commented on Matt's and I think it's worth repeating: Right. You cannot have an acre garden in a third story 1000 sq.ft. apartment. Unless, of course, you rent space at a community garden. But you can still grow stuff INSIDE. Here's a list of things that come to mind. And even if you do have a huge garden, not that much stuff grows well under snow, so the list applies to you, too! If you want more info, leave a comment and I'll post specifically about what you're interested in.

SPROUTS. The only sprouts that need sunshine to sprout are sunflowers. All the rest can be grown in a mason jar in the dark. Here's a lot more info at my blog about sprouts. (The blog's not about sprouts, the post is!)

MICROGREENS. Microgreen seed mixes are just a bunch of tasty little green & colorful young seedlings, picked when they're about 2-3" tall. All you need is a shallow tray of potting soil (an aluminum baking dish with pin prick holes in the bottom works just fine), and a few hours of sun-- even morning sun is enough. These are excellent salad toppers, and are wonderful on a piece of bread with cream cheese. Here's one source of the seed. A packet lasted me several months-- just sow, harvest, sow... .

HERBS. All you need for these is a couple of pots & some sunshine for 4-6 hours/day (who cares if they get leggy?). Basil works beautifully, and there's pretty much no herb that you can't grow inside. That's basil on the top shelf in my sunroom last November.

CITRUS. If you have space for a houseplant, consider growing dwarf citrus. It will do best if you have a deck or patio you can move it to during the summer. Here's a whole post on citrus.

This list is not complete. One of my kids is growing Alpine strawberries (everbearing) in her apartment. Last winter I grew potatoes in straw in my basement. Lots of folks grow cherry tomatoes inside during the winter.

One added benefit of growing edibles inside-- especially in the winter-- is air-filtration. In addition to the fact that fresh is just better for you, the plants themselves help filter the air & add needed moisture, which is especially good in the winter. Give it a try. Let me know if you need more specifics.

Why did you start?

2009-11-13T09:52:00.000-06:00

Some of you have already heard my story on how I started but I will try to post the short version. It started out 20 years ago as a single parent living in Queens, NY in an apartment. I learned to stockpile food and when I moved to Connecticut I branched out until I moved to Mississippi, which was about 10 years ago. That was the first time I had my own yard. I read everything I could get my hands on. I devoured the early editions of Mother Earth News from swap meets and yard sales then moved on from there. Food was the easiest thing for me to start with and at the start I did it for economical reasons rather than self-sufficient/survival reasons but that was to follow shortly. My Dad would take us once or twice a year to do a huge bulk food shop and after putting thing away he would smile and say with all this food I feel rich. That is probably where I get it from. Dad still lives in NY and with coupons and his power scooter he zips off to the market to fill his basket and stock up his supplies.

So, why and how did you start? Or, why do you want to?

Prepare for the long haul

2009-11-11T21:03:00.000-06:00

I was wandering around our farm the other day and discovered that we have a black walnut tree on the property! This is cool.* And of course this discovery got me wandering around the internet... and I came upon something I’d known about and completely forgotten.

The Arbor Day Foundation offers 10 trees for “free.” They are not really free. To get the trees, you must become a 6-month member. Membership is $10. That’s 10 trees for 10 bucks. You can choose from an assortment. Here in northeast Mississippi, the choices are:

10 Flowering Trees
10 Trees Mix
10 Wild Bird Garden
10 Eastern Redcedars
10 Oak Trees
10 Redbuds
10 White Pines
10 Autumn Classics
10 White Dogwoods

The trees are 12-15” tall, and are shipped according to your climate zone. My folks took advantage of this years and years ago. Not all survived, but enough did to make a real difference between their home and their neighbors-- and I mean a difference that goes beyond just lookin’ purdy.

Forgetting about the snow, this nicely illustrates how planting the right tree in the right space can help lower your energy costs throughout the year. Sorry, poor quality pic. The idea is north is to the left and the pines on the north protect from north winds. Deciduous trees on the south provide shade in the summer, and allow for sun in the winter.

From the Arbor Day Foundations web site, here are a few claims about how trees can save us money and make life more pleasant:

"The net cooling effect of a young, healthy tree is equivalent to ten room-size air conditioners operating 20 hours a day."—U.S. Department of Agriculture

"Landscaping can reduce air conditioning costs by up to 50 percent, by shading the windows and walls of a home." — American Public Power Association

"If you plant a tree today on the west side of your home, in 5 years your energy bills should be 3% less. In 15 years the savings will be nearly 12%." —Dr. E. Greg McPherson, Center for Urban Forest Research

"Trees properly placed around buildings can reduce air conditioning needs by 30 percent and can save 20 - 50 percent in energy used for heating."—USDA Forest Service

"In laboratory research, visual exposure to settings with trees has produced significant recovery from stress within five minutes, as indicated by changes in blood pressure and muscle tension."—Dr. Roger S. Ulrich Texas A&M University

Sure, a 15” tree isn’t going to save you any money next summer. But if you’re preparing for the long haul... plant a tree!

*Black walnuts are cool. But do NOT plant a black walnut anywhere near a veggie garden. They are death to nightshades-- tomatoes, peppers, potatoes. From their roots and the decaying nuts, they exude a toxic substance into the soil. So if you have space, they are cool. The nuts are more flavorful than English walnuts, but are really hard to get at. And then there's the oil. But on the other hand, then there's the wood.