Is Recession Preparing a New Breed of Survivalist? [Survival Today - an On going Thread #2]

May 05th,2008

[nw_arizona_granny]

Yahoo ran an interesting article this morning indicating a rise in the number of survivalist communities cropping up around the country. I have been wondering myself how much of the recent energy crisis is causing people to do things like stockpile food and water, grow their own vegetables, etc. Could it be that there are many people out there stockpiling and their increased buying has caused food prices to increase? It’s an interesting theory, but I believe increased food prices have more to do with rising fuel prices as cost-to-market costs have increased and grocers are simply passing those increases along to the consumer. A recent stroll through the camping section of Wal-Mart did give me pause - what kinds of things are prudent to have on hand in the event of a worldwide shortage of food and/or fuel? Survivalist in Training

I’ve been interested in survival stories since I was a kid, which is funny considering I grew up in a city. Maybe that’s why the idea of living off the land appealed to me. My grandfather and I frequently took camping trips along the Blue Ridge Parkway and around the Smoky Mountains. Looking back, some of the best times we had were when we stayed at campgrounds without electricity hookups, because it forced us to use what we had to get by. My grandfather was well-prepared with a camp stove and lanterns (which ran off propane), and when the sun went to bed we usually did along with it. We played cards for entertainment, and in the absence of televisions, games, etc. we shared many great conversations. Survivalist in the Neighborhood

[WestCoastGal]

I really was surprised at their response, it was quite rude.

DENIED!!

LOL okey dokey then, have a nice day.

[nw_arizona_granny]

US-CERT Current Activity

BlackBerry Security Advisory

Original release date: February 10, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Last revised: February 10, 2009 at 3:39 pm

Research In Motion has released a Security Advisory to address a
vulnerability in the BlackBerry Application Web Loader ActiveX
control. By convincing a user to view a specially crafted HTML
document, an attacker may be able to execute arbitrary code with the
privileges of the user. The attacker could also cause Internet
Explorer to crash.

US-CERT encourages users to review BlackBerry Security
Advisory KB16248 and apply the resolution or implement the workaround
listed in the document to help mitigate the risk.

Relevant Url(s):
http://blackberry.com/btsc/KB16248

---

This entry is available at
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#blackberry_security_advisory1

[WestCoastGal]

Wow happy day, seedlings sprouting!!

Be careful tonight as the weather could get a bit weird.

[nw_arizona_granny]

US-CERT Current Activity

Microsoft Releases February Security Bulletin Summary

Original release date: February 10, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Last revised: February 10, 2009 at 2:34 pm

Microsoft has released updates to address vulnerabilities in Microsoft
Windows, Office, Internet Explorer, Exchange Server, and SQL Server as
part of the Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for February 2009.
These vulnerabilities may allow an attacker to execute arbitrary code.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to review the bulletins
and follow best-practice security policies to determine which updates
should be applied.

Relevant Url(s):
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms09-feb.mspx

---

This entry is available at
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#microsoft_releases_february_security_bulletin1

[nw_arizona_granny]

Beekeeping For Beginners: CATCH THE BUZZ VANDALIZED HIVES, AGAIN
By Beekeeping For Beginners
Just last week, the McCoys sent three semi-truck loads of bees to
California . They will be used to pollinate the almond crop. That’s despite
the fact that demand for bees in California is expected to be down this
year, because of a drought -related ... More often, bee colonies -
especially healthy colonies - are stolen than vandalized. “Stealing bee
hives has increased as honeybee health issues have caused loss of these
units of revenue called bee hives,” Hayes said. ...
http://beekeeping4beginners.blogspot.com/2009/02/catch-buzz-vandalized-hives-again.html
Beekeeping For Beginners
http://beekeeping4beginners.blogspot.com/

---

Vandals - 140 hives

Loxahatchee bee keeper offers $1000 reward
Palm Beach Post - Palm Beach,FL,USA
Just last week, the McCoys sent three semi-truck loads of bees to
California. ... More often, bee colonies - especially healthy colonies -
are stolen than ...
http://www.palmbeachpost.com/localnews/content/business/epaper/2009/02/09/a4b_beevandals_0210.html

[nw_arizona_granny]

That was my dream, a farm at the end of the road.

Do it while young, as old comes real quick.

Welcome to our thread.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Peanut butter kept better in the past, or so it seems, I have had it be fine, 10 years when canned and not last 6 months in the plastic jars.

Same with honey.

Spam is good, Dr. Bill says there is enough energy for 4 days in one can of Spam, if that was all you had.

Said he had to do it once in his cowboy days.

As my memory goes, Spam was invented for the military in
WW2, to give them energy.

Thanks for joining in the thread.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Welcome to the thread, glad you are posting.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Thanks for the added information, my bread machine book says to add vinegar, but not why and I will cut back on the oil, as I have been far too generous with it.

Good post, thanks for sharing your knowledge.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Stay safe and have a day that leaves you with a smile.

[nw_arizona_granny]

Good, for you, wish you were my neighbor.

I don’t have a tv, so am not and couldn’t afford one of the packages that include a faster internet...

Good idea, I also picked my greens in a 3 gallon bowl, or even a big basket I made and washed them in the garden, then used less water in the house.

For greens, add a spoon or so of salt, [LOL, ok, so I don’t know how much I dump in the water.]

With the salt in the water, the bugs let loose and float to the top, even worms.

[nw_arizona_granny]

LOL, about time you checked in, I haven’t had time to post much, want to make sure everyone knows they are both welcome and needed to make the thread useful to all of us.

Hope you are OK!!!!

[nw_arizona_granny]

I think there was more snow than I thought, as it is still melting and they say 20% chance of more.

I do wish California would stop sending us snow.

Have a beautiful day.

[DelaWhere]

We have the same problem here with weeds in the strawberries - and I will NOT load everything up with herbicides!

Thanks. The one other problem with that system is getting uniform watering. To put a 6 pot distribution hub and all the spaghetti tubing for a drip system ran the cost way out of range. But, it did look neat... IMO

[nw_arizona_granny]

Welcome to the thread.

I posted links and so did others in the last pages and throughout the other thread, also here, back aways.

This link if for thread one, start at the back and you should find the solar oven info./links.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/1990507/posts?q=1&;page=9901

[Wneighbor]

Thank you for the lovely compliments about my kids and all! We all love those. :-)

I read your post about the prairie dogs and figured Granny or someone would have answers for you. That is about the only garden-eating varmint that we don’t have around here I suppose. I’ve heard, read and watched a lot of gardening shows addressing those kinds of things but never had to deal with ‘em.

I tell ya one thing I did last summer that sounds like your potted tomato. And since you’ve got so much space you might try it. It has nothing to do with prairie dogs but it might help.

See, the longest amount of sun in this yard is smack in the middle of the front yard. We’re borrowing this house and caretaking for my mother right now so can’t exactly dig up the front yard for a garden. I got some large empty plastic feed tubs from the feed store here and put ‘em in the front yard so my things would get maximum sun. I knew I could make the grass grow back for mom when we move out so wasn’t worried about that. So, I had a gathering of big plastic tubs in the front yard with tomatoes, squash and cucumbers in ‘em.

I put them out late enough that I didn’t have to worry about freezing and they would have been too heavy for me to move anyway. But, my key thing was that I wanted tomatoes ALL summer and by July it’s too hot here and the plants fizzle from the heat - expecially in a container. Being in a rural town and not worrying about aesthetics anyway I put bales of hay around my pots to insulate them from the summer heat and help the 2 large clay pots from drying out so bad. I had some stakes on my tomato plants and arranged the whole shootin’ match so I could throw a mesh screen over them in the middle of the day to protect from sunburn. It all worked out very well, I kept my stuff producing until winter.

As a matter of fact, the squash and cukes quit producing but I kept the tomatoes going through several of the first freezes we had. To do that, I kept jugs of water in the pots all the time to absorb heat during the day. Then, when I knew we were expecting freezing weather I went out just before dark and put my protection up. I had a couple of *very* large pieces of cardboard that I put between the pots and the hay bales on the north and west side to act as a windbreak. Then I threw heavy fabric over the top of the cardbord and tomato stakes to drape all the way past the hay bales. I’d tuck the fabric between the bales and the pots and then tie it down.

First coupla times I covered it for a freeze the neighbors kinda made fun of me. By December the neighbor lady commented one day that she sure wished she had some fresh ripe tomatoes. LOL... I just pointed out that you had to protect the plants from those occasional freezes when you had them.

Okay, I don’t know if you can do that in your yard or not. But, it seems like maybe the prairie dogs wouldn’t go through the big plastic pots. And I got them free when I saw them lying out back of the feed store and asked what they were doing with them.

[nw_arizona_granny]

I am glad you are a member of both groups, and i have let the Yahoo Group get neglected, as I am still not caught up from being without a computer for so long.

Hang in there, we will have them both up and running.

[Wneighbor]

Trust me when I tell you that nobody wants me or anybody like me in charge.... even for a day.

Are you sure?

and if I were king for a 24 hour day, before my reign expired I would order and see carried out the public executions of those responsible as well as their families.

you aren't the only one with those kinds of thoughts.

[Wneighbor]

I was gonna say...that's a great profile page. ;-) Family is the BEST!

Thank you!!! I'm sure after seeing that page that I don't have to tell you I agree wholeheartedly with ya. I love my family. The kids are grown and away from home but I still work every day thinking of their welfare. And they are good God fearing ladies. ;-)

[Stentor]

Thanks much.