Friday, December 6, 2019

got wheat, pete?


GOT WHEAT, PETE?
I'm normally not a big fan of the theory we start a new ice age, any day now. I think far too much emphasis is placed on countering Gore Warming, which, while a laudable goal, is still mainly just mental masturbation. It makes the mistake of thinking that something besides bullets will cure communism, like rational arguments. Just use this as a guideline: like women or cats, logic does not work ( sorry ladies. Just flash your chest and I'll forget what I was talking about ) on communists. Plus, the only longer winded gasbags on YouTube than Ice Agers are gold bugs.
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I have enough problems limiting my time on that platform, I don't need to hear you yammering on for fifty minutes about minutia. Get to the point. I appreciate the fact we no longer use valuable silver for film, but Christ On A Trapeze, I'm not as in love with your flapping lips as you are. Luckily, one of those channels ( Ice Age, We Are All Going To Die!!! niche ) had a short ( only fifteen minutes! ) segment on the falling quality of wheat. Wheat? Did someone say wheat? I don't care about corn ( except as it effects animal prices ), or soy ( ditto ), not to a huge degree. But wheat, well, you have my attention.
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Here is the deal, conveyed to you after viewing the video ( with the understanding I'm paraphrasing on subjects previously unexplored ). Folks test wheat for starch content, which is determined by when the grain germinates. A high number means the wheat is good enough for bread making ( or barley for beer, etcetera ). Well, the crop out of Canada is starting to have too low of tested numbers ( the US is still working out of last years crop ). There isn't enough starch, due to the poor growing conditions.
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I don't know what they do with “rejected” wheat. Animal food? Low starch wheat products like pasta ( I've noticed, for what its worth, to get any pasta under $1-$1.50 a pound, it seems the bastards are slipping non-Durum regular wheat in there. And it tastes like crap! )? I'm sure it isn't wasted. I'm not panicked about higher priced wheat, as most of our cost seems to be tied up in transportation and packaging and advertising, so in recent times the rise in plastics cost seemed to be a bigger deal than the cereal cost. But something else he said did catch my attention.
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There was a chart of recent Grand Solar Minimums, now, and the last one in 2008. What happened in 2008, you wonder, scratching your noggin? The global rice shortage, only alleviated when Japan released its national stockpile of American rice ( bought under pressure for concessions on manufactured goods. They were released as the rice is NOT what Japanese consumers prefer, I like to think for regional bribes to mask the stench of their behavior in the world war ). You do remember, right?
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Wal-Mart was limiting everyone to two bags of rice ( if memory serves ), and that was even if you could find it. If it hadn't been for Japan, the rice shortage might have gone on as long as the rimfire one. So, solar minimum, worse crops. The year prior in 2007, global drought had caused a wheat shortage ( the problem this year is wet weather ). The 2008 economic meltdown and oil price explosion certainly did nothing to help. I'm not sure what effects if any the solar minimum had on wheat, last time. I just think that if we combine the two, we might have a cause for concern.
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It seems that the solar minimum did in fact have an effect on at least one cereal crop last time, AND, it seems like this solar minimum currently is effecting another. The more important one, wheat. Now, perhaps you are full of mirth, discounting my concerns. Jim, you ignorant slut, I already have all the rice I need and I don't plan on buying any wheat, not even for sprouting since I live east of your pathetic desert and we have wild plants. Okay, fine. Geez, relax there, Francis. I'm just trying to help a brother out here. I'm merely suggesting that if you want wheat, this might be a really good time to get it.
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Let me share once again my least glorious moment in prepping ( all the mistakes I make fun of you for? I've made most if not all, or more, of them ). The stock market takes a giant puke in 1987. Black Monday? We had just had a giant wildfire in the region, and as I later found out, all the areas marijuana crops burned up. The local economy crashed, I was fired from my job ( I can't remember why, but feel a manufactured reason was used, as I've never been fired before or since ). I had panicked after Black Monday and ordered a bunch of wheat buckets, freight COD.
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Well, not only did it take OVER three months to deliver ( I had to rejoin the army right before Christmas, the small town of a thousand offering no hope of employment. Yeah, more than one lesson there, like, save some friggin money ), I had no way of knowing what the freight was. Could I have paid it, unemployed? You NEVER wait for a panic before panic buying. I went for periods after that not very prepared, but I always did at least have food after that, once I got back out of the Green Machine ( little hope of surviving there, tripwire for North Korea ).
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I don't want to tell you a wheat shortage is guaranteed. Nothing is guaranteed except death, taxes and ( Internet ) trolls. It certainly SMELLS like trouble is brewing. I don't want you to take the wrong lesson from this, either. I was buying wheat through the drought, and after price hikes. With very little competition, the price increases were never a deterrent, even on my pathetic wages. I just think that this time, perhaps, we won't be so lucky.
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We just had all the issues with corn and soy, although I do tend to MOSTLY discount the immediate danger there. But adding this POTENTIAL issue with wheat, on top of that? If you are the only one prepping with whole grains, you might be okay. But what if more people start doing the same? A lot more folks here now than in 1987, and look at the delays then. If you don't have a feed store nearby ( about 50-70 cents a pound after bucket ), and Wal-Mart is constantly out of stock ( about a buck a pound ), there is BePrepared dot com ( $1.50 a pound after shipping ).
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BePrepared is also known as Emergency Essentials, and I have always loved them. Great folks. There is buying from an LDS pantry, or even a “normal” supplier who does the COD on freight after a large order by semi ( sorry, I have no one to recommend. After I moved from Florida, I've always lived near a feed store. Yes, you suck. Sorry ). Don't panic, but don't delay. Wheat shortages might be on the way ( a poet and I DID know it )
( .Y. )
( today's related Amazon link
 HINT: IT's WHEAT BUCKETS HERE )
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*** My e-mail is: jimd303@reagan.com My address is: James M Dakin, 181 W Bullion Rd #12, Elko NV 89801-4184 ***E-Mail me if you want your name added to the weekly e-newsletter subscriber list.
*** Pay your author-no one works for free. I’m nice enough to publish for barely above Mere Book Money, so do your part.*** junk land under a grand *  Lord Bison* my bio & biblio* my web site is www.bisonprepper.com *** Wal-Mart wheat***Amazon Author Page
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38 comments:

  1. Another worry with wheat is the Ug99 wheat rust disease. It hasn't been in the news much lately, but if it managed to become active in the US, it has the potential to wipe out the wheat crop.

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    1. I'm surprised that never did more damage, given the monocrops and other practices

      Delete
  2. Yes the sky is falling....I'm not worried, I was headed to the feed store anyway.
    Ok, you know the ones that need to hear this ain't listening.

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    Replies
    1. They might not be listening, but one must try. I hate people, but I don't want to see them suffer. Mainly as the screams hurt my ears :)

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  3. How much wheat is recommended per person/per year? Also I see a couple of varieties available. Is Hard Red or Soft White recommended? Some of both? Thanks!

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  4. An associate once said, "Fear is having three children and no job." Actually the new fear is "Being male with three children and going through a divorce." Combine that with not having a job and you become one tough, courageous person.

    The Auguson Farms link is white wheat and you seemed to suggest red wheat.

    Can you provide suggestions for how much wheat per year, per person, and what other foods to stock up on, per person per year? Vitamins? I am not worried about water. If the answer is too lengthy for a comment, please simply redirect to a link. I need to start writing down basic food needs instead of just reading and forgetting the details.

    My buddy just bought 20 1-ounce silver coins, even though he can't eat them. I've been trying to introduce him to Bison Essentials, but he isn't there yet.

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    1. 400 lbs of wheat per year, to have extra for sprouting ( one lb a day ). Hard red is best, but get any that you can. The difference is slightly less protein, and different taste. 100 lbs beans ( or soy meal, if from a feed store ). One quarter pound a day. Shortening, six plastic tubs ( they are two-three lbs each tub ). Vitamin C and multivitamin, one a day. Cost before storage containers, call it wheat $100, beans same, or $35 if soy. $30 cooking oil, about the same vitamins. $200 plus storage containers. About 2k calories, fat, veggies, vitamins.

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    2. Soy meal?....SOY MEAL??
      Are you crazed man? I thought we had this conversation? Hello, glyphosate residue and endocrine disruptors.
      May as well go to nut cuttin' yourself with a rusty tetnus laden mora knife. You get withered testes from soy, boy! You'll end up the plaything of a motorcycle gang looking to ream you.

      Save your post apoc life and ditch soy in all forms and fashions. Need plant protein? Buy lentils (they cook quickly) or buy garbanzo bean meal.
      Take the meal, add a little hot water, dash of garlic powder and olive oil. Presto! You have humus. Make a flat bread from Jim's recommended wheat and scoop up humus.

      Then lay back and dream Baghdad "Green Zone" dreams as the lilting smoke of your hookah wafts in your Pit of Doom..... INCOMING!

      Anyone so poor as to eat soy meal just doesnt deserve to survive.
      Hell, sell a pint of plasma tomorrow and buy a sack of lentils.
      Sorry Lord Bison, just calling 'em as I sees 'em.

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    3. I do NOT disagree with you on soy, honestly. And if all you needed was a pound or two, say for weekly eating now, lentils are better tasting and better for you. However, although, and except, when when in bulk, in a hurry, trying to beat the collapse, you need to go cheap and deep. Soy for several years is better than lentils for several months. News flash, hot shot, die-off's and Dark Ages are not over with quickly. If time permits, you replace soy with more lentils, then use soy for barter/trade. You win either way.

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  5. What is a realistic survival home for a single 63 year old male? I don't have the luxury of both living among the masses and in solitude. If I cancel my real estate deal it may cost me $1,000. Buying the home will cost a lot more over time, and buying today may not have the same rationale as a few decades ago even if today's mortgage estimate comes in at about $600/mo PITI.

    Plan B, land isn't cheap where I want to go, $10K/acre, minimum, the single wide can be moved to radius 100 miles and set up starting at $58,206.

    Moving your stuff? I sold everything big except the lounge chair for watching TV, which I don't do, and some beds and dressers. You get exasperated at how everyone is trying to get your money. UHAUL and the movers all have you by the testes, and they know it. Little power to bargain with them.

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    1. When we were trying to escape Cali, lo those many years ago ( rioting Oh-Pressed minorities and the defense tech slowdown, everyone was leaving the dump. I just wanted to leave with the semi ban-then it followed me ), Baby Momma harassed and jew'ed all three moving van companies into the best price. $1k to OK, instead of more. As if that was a deal. Moving OK to CA? About $300. What is a realistic home for anyone? Seriously. Pick where you want to go, and get the cheapest you can find, in your creature comfort level. You pay according to what you think the economy is going to do. You know my answer-panic now. But what does your gut tell you? If the only important thing is getting out of an area already collapsing, pull the cord. If the only thing important is getting out, paying cash, no debt, live in a shack. If you screwed up on the house, and you think it will bit you on the ass, lose the $1k. You already mostly saved that on the U-Haul ( give away the remaining furniture, replace later, if it is going to cost more to move it ). What about buying a used RV, and renting a spot in the desired area? Move to land after you find a better deal. Not sure if we talked about that ( I'm sure you were around for that article ). Just stop listening to the fear part of your subconscious. That bastard blocks out all other signals. What course feels Least Bad? It is a crappy call. Too much can go wrong. On the other hand, you'll be dead soon, so you won't suffer long :) Me, personally? I'd live primitive and upgrade as funds allow, rather than use funds to pay debt. That way you can't get bored.

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    2. Thomas,
      We are blessed with the ability to network.
      During our first weeks in the vicinity of Eugene Oregon, we half-volunteered, half under-the-tabled at a local-owned feed store.
      We approached the owners with the understanding we were there to find a small farm.
      We asked subtle questions of customers and the folks posting signs on the bulletin board.

      After a whole three days, we were invited to tour a small organic farm.
      Again, we half-volunteered to putter around during the week weeding and at their farmers markets.

      That was 1998.
      We are still here.

      Cash outlay == zero.
      Monthly out-go == zero.
      And all the organic produce and pastured meats we can eat.
      Would that fit your budget?

      PS:
      No soy.
      No marxists.
      And no naming your breakfast sausage or ingredients for chicken stew.
      "Clucky, you're going down in the morn!"

      The exception is naming the Nutria, the yuge pest rodents:
      Hillary Rodent.
      Bern Rodent.
      Chelsea Rodent.
      Oddly, 'Bern' earns double-duty... as a rodent name and as the neighborhood buzzard.

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    3. Thomas,

      Your way too vague on details!

      Are you healthy or sick? Strong or weak?

      Can you do some heavy work? Are you a city or country boy? What kind of work have you done? What skills?

      Are you moving out of state? if yes, how far and what state/region are you moving too?

      Are you use to big homes or would a 400sq ft place give you the willys?

      Delete
    4. To LM and EC:

      That plan was brilliant, LM! You know, for a while I was down here in so Cal writing emails to bloggers about finding work on anyone's farm in E. Washington, for starters. I even contacted a person (environmental type, link below) that helps people learn how to organic farm or work for an organic farmer. My thought at the time was to LEARN HOW TO FARM while living in a reasonable facility or room on the farmer's property. Squatting with a farmer would be good and theoretically help me transition to rural dweller with other skills, I thought.

      Then I just stopped due to the lure of buying a house since, from the get-go, my objective was simple: get a house big enough for me and my 3 offspring during the collapse (a father's duty to protect his children). This is the main but not the only reason, why I did not go with an off-grid cabin in MT/ID/eastWA, or the farmer plan. I knew that the other problem would be to get them OUT of cities when said SHTF happens. But unlike my offspring, I monitor things daily and I believe with God's guidance and BP's columns I will get an early warning and enough time to ask them to join me right before SHTF. Henceforth, the Bison Prepper's frugal prepping becomes the plan. So, right after I stake my claim, I begin with the plan.

      To both LM and EC, I am a life long city boy without enough skills, so I am assuming that bugging in is what I would do. Even though I had camped and fished much in the past, I have stopped since '06. I am healthy, take no medications, ex-athlete and somewhat strong but with an iffy shoulder not giving me grief only due to two cortisone shots over a year ago. Congratulations, LM. I read your posts and am amazed at your food growing and prepping knowledge. Not sure what you ended up saying after PS.

      I chose to be 60 miles S of Canada in the ID panhandle because of WATER, TREES, and ISOLATION yet close enough to a bigger town where I could do some teaching related work and visit a doctor if I needed one. I was thinking about taking classes, but not tuition type classes, in a skill field rather than teaching or subbing classrooms and mentoring kids with elderly guidance instead of the thankless grunt work of teaching. So, I drifted from the original farming and off-grid plans. God speaks to me and I listen.

      The town is surrounded by creeks that flow into a larger river, which flows into a good sized lake. There's enough fish to eat, mountains with game, so since I know how to fish, I could next work on hunting. On my trip to the town not long ago, I noticed a deer carcass on the hillside below a narrow road. So someone dressed a deer (it looked undressed as I noticed the legs and a thoroughly bare rib cage) and left the rest for the animals to eat. The first people I saw that day were both wearing hunting apparel, so the evidence they left was right before me. I might be able to do small farming in the backyard, which has an outbuilding and shed. There's room to grow some stuff on .25 acre.

      EC, in all honesty, I do not qualify as being among the skilled, but I do detailed stuff real well, like cleaning guns. I just have to be careful when I split logs or lift things, due to the shoulder. If that goes out again, I will need surgery to repair it, but would be good to go after a year, said the surgeon.

      Thank you for commenting.

      https://www.farmlandinfo.org/washington-farmlink

      Delete
    5. LM, someone from this link corresponded with me.

      http://www.tilthalliance.org/

      I do not recall how I got from the first link to this link, but he referred me to other links that addressed my interest in learning how to farm and apply for farm work.

      Delete
    6. Thomas for the $58k price of a mobile home, guessing singlewide at that price you could build alot more if you have the skills. 3 off-spring? package deals? Spouses, Grand kids? We are talking worst case. A 10x10 or slightly larger bedroom for a couple or a bunk bed single over double or even double bunk like we had at hunting camp. You can pack the kids in. 3 kids at 300 sq. ft. or 100 per kid family. 100 for you, 2-300 for a kitchen living area and a bath. You can schedule bathing. Outhouse will handle over flow. Idk about the link but get and acre or two in an area where there is some rain or stock the crap out of wheat. You can help them out.

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    7. Nightshift, this is good information but I do not have the skills to build. One realtor said in this state it would cost $350/sq ft to build your own place (using professionals). I would rather do it myself, with a contractor, but I gotta be realistic. Proenneke was 51 and a professional carpenter when he built his Alaska compound.

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    8. You can do it at any age, but you have to ask yourself how long it is going to take you. It goes from seasonal project to lifetime :)

      Delete
  6. Mr D

    Spot on ... again. The decreasing solar output is gonna drive the system. There have been successive cool, wet,flooded springs and summers in the Upper Great Plains, following early and late snowpack. The Gulf Stream went kaput after Macondo, and Britville has gotten cooler, wetter, and snowier.

    Your refrain : Post Peak Oil and FrackKrap low low EROI is simply fact. Adios corporate ag. Notice the increasing food recalls ? Either shitty hand sanitation or intentional sabotage; either way it's another Gift of Enrichmentation.

    Ice Age Now is a decent site / https://www.iceagenow.info/

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    1. Food recalls-also, corporate tactics. Like car recalls, they have to catch you first.

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  7. FALLING NUMBERS
    Farmers facing wheat quality issues.
    Yanasa Ama Ranch.
    The 2019 wheat harvest has been met with low Falling Numbers. What caused the numbers to decline and what can farmers do ...

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-zGkUeZKds

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  8. FYI. I bought some wheat (Hard White - my preferred) and the 25# bag has gone up about $1/bag since last month. This is for "local" wheat. 50# bags are cheaper, but so is my back.

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  9. Gonna be cold. Maybe for years. I'm in favor of that. It will match my heart.

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    1. I'm foggy on details, but I want to say a reader paid a quarter of the price doing it that way.

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    2. The problem with buying directly from the farmer. Is finding one that hasn't already pre sold his future crop. Tho some hold back a percentage to speculate and gamble for a higher price on. Just gotta find them. You have to know a farmer who knows other grain farmers.
      Then it is very cheap compared to feed store price , probably on the order of 25% of feed store bought.

      Delete
  12. My Lord,

    I'd like to know how you store your wheat for long term. I'm guessing you use the mylar/02/bucket method? This should give a 30 year storage life. The problem that I ran into with the feed store wheat was the bugs that would grow in it after awhile. I'm guessing that EE, Honeyville, and the Augason Farms type must fumagate the wheat before packaging for sale.

    I don't have the freezer space in order to do 50 lbs. at a time. Has this been a problem for you? while buying from the feed store?

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    1. Being in cold country, I bucket up the wheat, no Mylar or absorber, and leave it exposed to the cold over a winter. Boom, done. Just don't have it in the sun ( bad for the plastic ) or on concrete to form moisture. My only problem from the feed store was corn, not dried enough. After the price increased there was no need to buy anymore anyway

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  13. Though my hair may not be as glorious as yours I do share your struggle with ADD. It is really unnerving watching YouTube videos with slloooowww talkers. I've started watching them in 1.25 to 1.5 speed (under the settings icon select "playback speed"). I find I can still get the idea of what they are saying and shave several minutes off of their drivel.

    -Novice

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    1. Funny, I got that advice from Gary North ( free Saturday newsletter ). It works just fine, as you say. I just love watching from the recliner, which precludes that.

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  14. While personally repelled by your theories on race, and almost certain that we're far enough apart on the political spectrum we'd probably hate each other if we got to know each other... your wheat stuff is bang on. Thought you might find the following quote I got today (from a place near Toronto, Ontariowhere I reside) for hard wheat kernels...

    In case the image gets lost or the link dies... 10kg/22lbs --> $10.60, ie 48c/lb, $1.06/kg. 25kg --> $21.90, i.e. 39c/lb, 88c/kg.

    https://i.imgur.com/Swxakz5.png

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    1. I'm reading that as $15 US for 50 pounds, give or take. Here in farm country, cheaper than urban zones, it is about $11. So, not bad at all! Not sure why my racial ideas are bad-I only apply race through a tribal lens. And my politics are nationalist and pro-Bill Of Rights. I'm perfect! :) I do give Canadians a free limited pass on politics, as you all can't help yourself. You are tainted by monarchism. And I know we did try to invade a few times-but you got off lucky compared to the Indians LOL. Okay, that was probably racist too. I'm incurable. But I hear you. I love the Dark Green Mountain Dudes advice, but hate his politics, also. Nice that you can set aside one for another.

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    2. It is challenging not to bite, but suffice it to say that I have no dog in the communist/capitalist/constitutional monarchy/republic race. They're all shit systems run by shit people. As the old joke goes, "What's the difference between Communism and Capitalism? In Communism, man exploits man. In Capitalism, it's the exact opposite".

      It's your house, your rules, we're both old enough to know that neither of us is converting each other, and even if we were able to in a few email or blog comments, that's sign enough that the other is a f-----g fool who hasn't thought enough on their own position to even warrant interaction with.

      Having said that, I'll just say my piece, I don't really care who I work, co-habitate, etc with as long as they're cool to hang out with and we got each others back. In my experience, where I come from, in my contexts, that has meant that race and religion don't mean a thing. I've gotten it worse from my own "people", so I debate the usefulness of any affiliation higher than family level, either by blood or marriage. Yes, I know, collapse results almost certainly in a re-centering around convenient tribal characteristics. In any case, have at my naivety :)

      What I really came here to say was that I particularly appreciate your recommendations on the use of (food grade) diatomaceous earth. You say 1 cup for 5 gallons, I say 250ml per ~20l. It's good stuff. Debating if I also want to throw in a dollar store hand-warmer in each 5gal pail as a cheapo oxygen absorber.

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    3. Hilarious! I never heard that joke about communism/capitalism. I think most of our disagreement might stem from your micro view and my macro, but it doesn't matter. As long as we can remain civil to each other, yes? I can't comment on the hand warmer-I've heard of it but never formed an opinion one way or another. If my daily rants run too long to politics, I do have thirty plus books available for more nuts and bolts survival stuff. Free PDF's over at my web site ( link at the bottom of each article in the small print ). The older it is the harder it is to read-I started out being a terrible writer and learned as I went along. Now I'm just bad instead of terrible :)

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