tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post6798074313473362759..comments2023-08-15T06:33:53.114-07:00Comments on Bison Prepper: farm costs 4James M Dakinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comBlogger29125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-80593354096154122812019-07-09T15:43:18.432-07:002019-07-09T15:43:18.432-07:00Wait, I didn't mention atomized plastics. Or ...Wait, I didn't mention atomized plastics. Or the fact most of the population converges to within thirty miles of the sea. You'll have iodine going for you of course. James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-17240341551829871152019-07-09T14:30:26.920-07:002019-07-09T14:30:26.920-07:00OK. I give up.
I bow to superior pessimism.
Who ...OK. I give up.<br /><br />I bow to superior pessimism.<br /><br />Who needs fish oil in their diet? Not me!<br />Who needs warm lovely sandy beaches? Not me!<br />Who needs bronzed gods and goddesses fetching me a Pina Coloda to quench my thirst? Not me.<br />Who needs to be surrounded by tiny swim-suits... or no swim-suits? NLargeMargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01530497760743766465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-30165027136861062792019-07-09T13:02:52.087-07:002019-07-09T13:02:52.087-07:00And they can do so again. With tasty Fukishima se...And they can do so again. With tasty Fukishima seasoning. James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-89568514040055843562019-07-09T11:30:38.371-07:002019-07-09T11:30:38.371-07:00Some anthropologists believe based on fossil evide...Some anthropologists believe based on fossil evidence that during the ice age that the few humans who survived did so by living next to the sea and using it as a food source.Seanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-82289174410454970682019-07-09T03:53:34.400-07:002019-07-09T03:53:34.400-07:00BTW , I do have a large stock of Dacron. Hundreds ...BTW , I do have a large stock of Dacron. Hundreds of shafts, points and broadheads too. Spare bearings ,cams, peeps , serving and more lol.<br />I suck with a traditional bow, my wife is the expert with those...however a compound is my game. Tho I do have a few recurves...Spudhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00689059709873763146noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-59223114928436292122019-07-08T18:45:59.360-07:002019-07-08T18:45:59.360-07:00I actually do think that bees are probably worth t...I actually do think that bees are probably worth the trouble regardless Jim. But when I went to some bee keeping forums, more than a few members mentioned that in order to make any money at it, you had to do it all. In other words, you needed to sell the honey, the wax, the bees, as well as place the hives (i.e. bee keepers often place their hives near farmers orchards, for pollination purposes). <br /><br />Now this was a few years ago, and bees seem to be in trouble as a species, so maybe that’s all changed now. <br /><br />Personally, I wouldn’t bother keeping bees or raising animals, but that’s just me. I only plan on having whatever limited garden the Elko desert allows for me to have. As someone that has an animal nut as a mother, and after stepping on, and smearing all over the god damn carpet, the 1 millionth animal shit, I drew the line on having animals :D That, and the billions of flies that they draw.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-36912916453173625252019-07-08T18:02:34.605-07:002019-07-08T18:02:34.605-07:003:58-I think the system is set up that very few fo...3:58-I think the system is set up that very few folks can make money doing much of anything cottage industry. Do what the Mountain Guerrilla Dude does, just turn surplus into mead. Then you won't care if you lose money :)James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-24027247082293042192019-07-08T17:59:40.005-07:002019-07-08T17:59:40.005-07:00Tomorrows goodness is geriatric fighters. Not sur...Tomorrows goodness is geriatric fighters. Not sure I have any great one liners. Still, as every day, pearls before swine. :)James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-9133485889770455452019-07-08T17:53:58.223-07:002019-07-08T17:53:58.223-07:00Something I never thought about. Interesting, tha...Something I never thought about. Interesting, thanks. James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-34077269406518164952019-07-08T16:59:50.482-07:002019-07-08T16:59:50.482-07:00Bees need a source of water that they can drink fr...Bees need a source of water that they can drink from multiple times per day, just like you do. The water needs to be relatively stationary so they can drink without danger of being washed away. It needs to be as close to their hive as possible. If you have nightly dew, that will help for the morning, but during the day when the dew evaporates, they'll need another source. The reason the water should be as close as possible to the hive in order to shorten the amount of time necessary to go get it. For example, bees CAN fly up to five miles from the hive in order to look for food, but it also shortens the lifespan of a worker bee to about three weeks due to how stressful it is on them. This reduces the likelihood that the hive will survive the winter.<br />Peace outAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-88092970189955450762019-07-08T16:30:09.360-07:002019-07-08T16:30:09.360-07:00"Which brings up slavery. Don't automatic..."Which brings up slavery. Don't automatically discount it...."<br /><br />Why I just CAN'T stay away. <br />What will Jim write tomorrow?<br />ROFLMAO!<br />Anon()()noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-91950702625321914272019-07-08T15:58:25.332-07:002019-07-08T15:58:25.332-07:00Yeah, I just always assumed that with my junk land...Yeah, I just always assumed that with my junk land, everything that I produce with regards to husbandry would be very small scale. I was thinking more in terms of having a few raised boxes, with brought in soil. One idea that I had, was to recycle urine for garden use. The urine would go into a solar still, and as the water molecules separate from the waste, they would trickle through a drip system on to the plants. I figured that I would do the same with the melt off from the ice in my ice box. Though if it were filtered, it might make more sense to drink the water first, then send it to the solar still for garden use second.<br /><br />@Wrenchr2. I have looked into keeping bees before, and to my surprise, it’s apparently very difficult to make any money doing it. Though that might have changed more recently, due to the shortage of bees in recent years. But if you’re only doing for your own consumption, then it makes sense either way.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-31818083588950524482019-07-08T15:37:53.363-07:002019-07-08T15:37:53.363-07:00The best of the TZ nuclear themed shows. Perhaps ...The best of the TZ nuclear themed shows. Perhaps the best of all of them. James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-17920700976422491002019-07-08T15:36:21.739-07:002019-07-08T15:36:21.739-07:00Kudzu wine Organic kudzu juice for the health clu...Kudzu wine Organic kudzu juice for the health club Yuppies? :)James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-40930115772355341892019-07-08T15:33:55.183-07:002019-07-08T15:33:55.183-07:00Keep telling yourself how exciting it is, to prolo...Keep telling yourself how exciting it is, to prolong the onset of insanity :)James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-14691390411972598092019-07-08T15:32:29.302-07:002019-07-08T15:32:29.302-07:00Oh, no doubt about it with the animals. The costs...Oh, no doubt about it with the animals. The costs come in protecting those animals. In terms of extra activities, militia training is about as "low productivity craft" as you can get. It needs to be done but as far as your land is concerned adds nothing. James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-20753978152068908122019-07-08T14:25:03.320-07:002019-07-08T14:25:03.320-07:00Animals are force multipliers. Historically, a fam...Animals are force multipliers. Historically, a family with a couple of horses or oxen could farm forty acres. Maybe ten or fifteen was in "woods". The remaining 25 or 30 acres would have a rotation where one third was some kind of forage that could be grazed AND a first cutting of hay taken off of. If the forage crop was a legume like red clover then it added Nitrogen back into the soil for the lead-off part of the rotation, usually corn.<br /><br />Lets keep the math simple. Forty acres, ten in trees and a three year rotation with two of the years (twenty acres) in crops that can directly feed humans.<br /><br />A family without a horse might be able to farm two acres. If land was available for the taking, who is going to do better? The family who can only farm two acres or the family who can extract food from twenty or thirty acres?<br /><br />Even the ten acres of woods can used to run hogs or hunted or nuts, apples, persimmons etc can be harvested. Harvesting from wild can be time and labor intensive. Better to let animals harvest and then eat the hams or trap the wildlife. Traps work 24/7.<br /><br />It is easy to get sucked into the fantasy that the homesteader will have huge amounts of time to engage in crafty activities of low productivity. If the situation becomes real there will never be enough time and the ability to "manage" will always be in short supply. Livestock that is well adapted to the resource base can be close to a launch-and-forget crop, almost like a fish wheel or a gill net.Eaton Rapids Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09102166969915526172noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-69670379603375537662019-07-08T14:17:54.518-07:002019-07-08T14:17:54.518-07:00Just working on a new strategy for my current loca...Just working on a new strategy for my current location. Totally by accident I managed to put myself within 2 min drive, 20 min walk, of a stocked fresh water dam and tidal salt water estuary. <br /><br />The walk to the estuary passes about 5 native trees that produce bush tucker. I know that they do, I just don't know how to realise it just yet. Again, something I can work on. My plan is to plant a few fruit trees on the routes I will be taking if I'm on foot (I have been doing this in area's I go 4WD ... lol I make it out like I'm doing something exciting. Basically all I do is fire trails).Dingonoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-22967429378550047232019-07-08T14:10:16.036-07:002019-07-08T14:10:16.036-07:00Hey Jim, sorry I haven't commented in a while,...Hey Jim, sorry I haven't commented in a while, but I have been letting my phone bill slide while I worked on some things. <br /><br />Farming gets even harder if you buy junk land,there is a reason it is so cheap. In my case the land I bought contains spoils from a failed subdivision in the late 40s and even now barely grows anything but blackberries and kudzu. I have a small garden in but since I don't irrigate it is a bit pitiful. <br /><br />It does give me hope, but next year I plan to change crops to more ancient ones, Amaranth grows here and I want to try Jerusalem Artichokes. Maybe Tepary beans. I want things that will grow by me sticking a sharp stick in the ground rather than digging up by shovel. <br /><br />By the way,kudzu is becoming my friend, it is a tasty green and there are miles of it around me. Boil it in water once and eat it, unlike most other greens. The roots are supposed to be edible but all the ones I found didn't look too good to me.I plan to look into that more.<br /><br />If nothing else,I have these basics to support goats and rabbits,but hate to get tied down, water being the main issue. <br /><br />I am looking at bees. At least they go get their own grub and water and I can trade the honey, plus they make an imposing deterrent to those trying to sneak in.Wrenchr2https://www.blogger.com/profile/03970779022776650104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-42971820289412259522019-07-08T13:37:42.695-07:002019-07-08T13:37:42.695-07:00Engaging in relations with numerous nubile young m...Engaging in relations with numerous nubile young maidens, whose beta male mates, dropped dead 5 minutes into the collapse? I’m hoping to be like Roman from Big Love :D<br /><br />Nah, I don’t know who it is that I think I’m trying to BS. I need a little blue pill just to get Mr Johnson to stand at attention these days. It would be more like that episode of the twilight zone where the world ends, and the penguin (Burgess Meredith) has the library all to himself, and plenty of time to read, and then breaks his only pair of spectacles :DAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-12233133743108593552019-07-08T12:48:57.496-07:002019-07-08T12:48:57.496-07:00On the bright side, what else are you going to do ...On the bright side, what else are you going to do all winter but work on string and arrows? :)James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-47082671579904353242019-07-08T12:47:07.602-07:002019-07-08T12:47:07.602-07:00The Nevada high desert was a miserable place to li...The Nevada high desert was a miserable place to live for Digger Indians. Now we have sheep and horses, which makes this a nice moated island from which to stage raids. Added bonus-once the mines collapse no one wants to come here, as they are all brainwashed to grow broccoli and covet shade trees. James M Dakinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01382139289994087931noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-54620277035282932002019-07-08T11:59:08.724-07:002019-07-08T11:59:08.724-07:00Bison,
I admire your adherence to a land-based sta...Bison,<br />I admire your adherence to a land-based stationary home... and far inland at that. I think you paint a clear picture of the incredible plant-based resources needed to build and maintain that with limited human resources. Although the inevitable dumbing of the inbred tribe and nutrient loss from depleted soils could be an issue.<br /><br />Around here in the south Willamette Valley near the outskirts of hanging-on-by-its-fingernails Eugene in hanging-on-by-its-fingernails Oregon in hanging-on-by-its-fingernails fUSA, we are continually fine-tuning our coastal/island mobile floating abilities. We are developing a nice little group of like-minded folk with an increasing living 'library' of skills and traditions.<br /><br />Our worst concern is infiltration by politicians. Managers. Administrators. Preachers. Internet bloggers and pasty chubby shut-ins living in their grandparent's poolhouse. And other do-nothing resource guzzlers.<br /><br />Fortunately, a few loving slaps upside their heads clears the room for New! Fresh! Tasty! thoughts to take root.<br /><br />And we realize not everybody is adaptable to mobility. Or fresh seafood every day. Or whacking a bear or elk as it meanders along the shore.<br /><br />Not everybody requires an endless supply of glacier-fed fresh clean drinking water.<br /><br />Or the heart-warming vistas around the next in an endless series of uninhabited islands, the waves gently caressing us to a peaceful slumber each evening as our full tummies happily digest our supper of fresh healthy sea vegetables and stews from ingredients harvested from our guerrilla gardens.<br /><br />Not everybody is cut-out for the good life. Somebody needs to drudge along, paranoid, suspicious, hoarding meager supplies, dancing the rain dance to nourish their stationary cropland. I think those are noble goals... for somebody else.<br /><br />I jest. We're all going to die. I read it in Ecclesiastes, so it must be true. According to those old-timers, The Goal seems to be the amount of nookie in the short sweet time between dust and dust. Show of hands, are you doing your share?LargeMargehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01530497760743766465noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-63492086338675870842019-07-08T11:39:13.190-07:002019-07-08T11:39:13.190-07:00I seem to recall that the backyard bowyer was prod...I seem to recall that the backyard bowyer was producing 50lb PVC bows? Though he might have had to insert one piece into another in order to get to that poundage that he claimed. Agree that long term, wooden bows are better. He also shows you how to make a red oak bow from a board. This is the easiest wooden bow to make, so pre-collapse, select as many quality red oak boards as you can.<br /><br />The next bow to make, the traditional bow made from a tree stave, is no meant feat, and is a skill in and of itself. The grain has to be perfectly selected. You must also choose the right wood for the right bow. As an example, Osage Orange is a wonderful bow making wood, however it is very dense, hence, slow firing in a long bow configuration. That’s why the plains indians used short plains bows made from this particular wood. The English used yew for long bows, which apparently is a difficult wood to find for bow making now. You will need to tiller it (shape the limbs) properly (same as the bow board above) in which case a draw knife is a handy item to have. This is actually harder than it sounds. <br /><br />As far as making string from sinew or fiber, I know it’s possible, but I’d be a liar if I said that I thought that I could do it (Hint: Unless you are more capable than I, you’d better have a big ass spool of dacron set aside)<br /><br />https://www.amazon.com/Traditional-Bowyers-Bible-Jim-Hamm/dp/1721670076Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2686829448547770092.post-68655863715371617212019-07-08T10:42:00.450-07:002019-07-08T10:42:00.450-07:00I am going to pick up the dark blood red dye, so a...I am going to pick up the dark blood red dye, so as to start dyeing my beard a dogma pronouncing color and begin some tribal customs. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com