Destiny Survival

Archive for October, 2008

            For the most part the information I share on this blog is designed to help people help themselves in the realm of preparedness and survival.  Today I want to pass along a way you can help others survive what could be a difficult fall and winter, especially if you’re a hunter.

            As a hunter, you take what you do seriously.  It’s an important part of your life, whether for recreation or survival.  If you’re successful, you’ll have plenty of meat for your own freezer and some to share with family, friends, people at church or work, etc.  Recently I learned of another avenue for sharing the bounty and thought I’d mention it, in case you’re not already familiar with it.  It’s called Hunters for the Hungry, but it may go by some other name, depending on the program in your state.

In general, these Hunters for the Hungry programs are cooperative efforts among hunters, sportsmen’s associations, meat processors, state meat inspectors and hunger relief organizations to help feed those in need.  According to the NRA (National Rifle Association), over the past three years, such programs have brought hundreds of thousands of pounds of venison to homeless shelters, soup kitchens and food banks.  I’m sure food banks can use all the help they can get this year.  Yet, each year Hunters for the Hungry program donations have multiplied and programs now find themselves turning away thousands of pounds of meat simply because they cannot cover the costs of processing, packaging, storing and distributing the meat.

If you’d like to find out more about the program in your state, the NRA has an information clearinghouse for this purpose, which you can access through their web site.  Click here to find out more.  As part of the NRA’s Hunter Services Department, the Clearinghouse puts interested individuals in touch with programs in their area and fosters public awareness through education, fundraising and publicity.  The staff of the NRA Hunter Services Department also works in the field with state governmental agencies conducting meat processing and preparation of whitetail deer that are distributed to area food banks, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and needy families. As a result, the efforts of the NRA will supply thousands of meals to the needy throughout the region.

I encourage you to get involved in a Hunters for the Hungry program near you.  Whether you donate meat, money or time, your generosity is sure to be greatly appreciated.  This is a way to do something you love as a hunter, while reaching out to others by meeting a basic human need.

            Allow me to add that, if you still need hunting gear for this season, or if you need to get something for that young hunter in the family, check out what Bass Pro Shop has to offer.  Here are some of Bass Pro Shop’s online hunting gear categories.

Stands

Archery Gear

Scent Solutions

Muzzleloaders & More

Attractants, Calls & Decoys

Knives, Cleaning Tools & Gear

Hunting Clothing

            Click on the Bass Pro Shop banner below now to go to their site and complete your supply of hunting gear and accessories.

            For some time now Survival Sam and I have been saying to think the unthinkable as part of the survival mentality.  Unthinkable things could involve everything from natural disasters, to economic turmoil, to political upheaval.

Sometimes we just need a nudge to get our minds working in the direction of anticipating and surviving the unthinkable.  There’s a book that can help plan for the unexpected.  It’s a  106 page paperback entitled the Family Emergency Preparedness Plan, by Teena Read.  Here’s the description as found on Amazon.com.

The cover tells the story: this book gives you Just About Everything You Need to Create a Comprehensive Family Emergency Preparedness Plan. An innovative new strategy allows any size family to create a highly personalized plan for surviving real-life emergencies with comprehensive risk analysis, non-food and food lists, menus, worksheets, and planners. The Plan includes four Levels of Preparedness based on specific assumptions and projected personal situations. Seventy-two hours in extreme circumstances Fourteen days, anticipating the probability of rapid evacuation, and without any outside or public services; Three months at home, without ANY outside services; and The mother of all preparedness plans – a whole year- with only limited outside services. Preparations are based on Categories of Need and each level builds upon the previous level. Most families can achieve the 72-hour kits through 14-Day Grab & Run Packs almost immediately, by recognizing items they already have on hand- but are scattered among their belongings. Tools include comprehensive lists, worksheets, quantity conversion formulas, a phased purchase plan and purchase tracker, a years worth of menu-based meal plans, and best of all MOTIVATION! And a newfound peace that will surely result from the umbrella of safety this plan provides.

            This is the kind of information that won’t just sit on your bookshelf.  Get your copy of the Family Emergency Preparedness Plan now by clicking on the picture of the book below.  You’ll be taken to a page on Amazon.com where you can order your copy.  Help get your family prepared to survive the unthinkable.

            The other day I read a series of articles from a man who lived through the economic collapse in Argentina early in this decade.  Though he wrote about this a couple of years ago, it’s very relevant for today.  Sadly, I understand Argentina may be about to go through even more economic upheaval.

Will we go through anything like what they’ve been through?  Who knows?  One thing is for certain.  Things will be different than the way of life we’ve known to this point.  The gentleman who wrote about it gives a glimpse into the astounding rise in crime and police corruption, requiring constant personal vigilance and a continual self defense mindset.  Everything about normal life is disrupted, from how one drives on the streets to one’s home entertainment choices.  The author makes recommendations on how to prepare for such a changed lifestyle, but also reflects on what he might have done differently to be better prepared.

            Here are just a couple of thoughts for you to ponder.  Robbers or other criminals aren’t necessarily going to be dressed or marked in an identifiable way.  In such an atmosphere, it pays to be physically fit, know how to fight if necessary, have a good knife and guns (no sniper rifles) and adequate ammunition to defend yourself.  Consider watching movies at home, rather than going out at night on unsafe streets.  Have plenty of books and reading material as well.  Buy plenty of storage food, including a little extra each time you go grocery shopping.  We’ve recommended that on this blog before.

            You may be thinking that such conditions of societal deterioration couldn’t happen here.  It’s to be expected in places we think of as “banana republics” in Central and South America, where corrupt dictators come and go.  Yet our world is rapidly changing, and as we’ve also said here before, survival means being ready for the unthinkable.

            If you’d like to read this series of articles on the lessons learned from Argentina’s collapse, click here.  Be advised that this is one man’s personal experience.  While instructive, his opinions and recommendations are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of DestinySurvival.com.  Your survival in the midst of whatever may happen is up to you.

            A reader sent the following item about a book that revolutionized his gardening practices, and mine as well.

            “What if there was a plant fertilizer that was readily available, and satisfied all a plant’s needs except for air and water?

“We have all seen the N-P-K ratios on packages and perhaps wondered which was right for the plants we want to grow. There exists a single substance in nature which has a balance of all these necessary elements and micro nutrients too. All soil came from it. It is stone. Finely powdered stone is the subject of Bread from Stones concerning the work of Julius Hensel over a hundred years ago. America is blessed with an abundant supply of the stone discussed in this book. It nourishes all kinds of plants and they in turn feed animals and humans for better health.

“Much of what we are taught is in error regarding plant nutrition and the availability of fertilizer. There is no shortage, nor will there be, of a perfect fertilizer. You can even make your own. The logic and practical experience of this author are simple and delightfully clear.”

            Sounds incredible, doesn’t it?  Simple rocks ground into dust can revolutionize your survival gardening?  Why not?  It’s natural, organic, plentiful, and inexpensive compared to other fertilizers.  I’ve used it in my garden, and it works well.  I like the fact that it simplifies things for me and eliminates guesswork about fertilization.

            Here’s Amazon.com’s info about this 102 page paperback, published by  Acres USA.

“Julius Hensel was a German agricultural chemist in the late 1800s who discovered that by adding finely ground rock dust to soil he could confer immunity to bacterial, fungal and insect attack. Eventually these findings were published in Das Leben, or The Life and later as Bread from Stones.

“This book was the first work to attack Von Liebig’s salt fertilizer thesis, and it stands as valid today as when first written over 100 years ago. Translated from the German writings of Julius Hensel, the book was designed to introduce the people of the U.S. to the idea that plants require healthy food in order to flourish, just as a human being does. It describes a then new and rational system for fertilization which has become science today — fertilizing with stone dust. Hensel went searching for food for plants and found it in the primeval rocks. Fed on such foods, plants will yield healthy, wholesome and life sustaining food that escapes disease and parasites.”

            In your endeavors to prepare for survival, you’ve no doubt discovered you’re doing some things you may have previously thought of as breaking with convention or “the norm.”  Maybe gardening was such a thing for you this year.  If so, you owe it to yourself to get a copy of Bread from stones.  If you’re an old hand at gardening, why not get a copy for a first time gardener you know?  Simply click on the picture of the book below, and you’ll be taken to the Amazon.com page where you can place your order today for Bread from Stones.

Click here for info on obtaining rock dust for your survival garden.

            I was reading a gardening magazine the other day—I don’t remember exactly what I was reading—and the article mentioned a book called Seed to Seed.  All of a sudden it hit me.  Duh, Sally, see if you can do a post on John’s blog about it.

It’s getting kind of late in the season for saving some kinds of seeds, but maybe it’s not too late for everything.  There’s squash, pumpkins, beans, maybe even your tomatoes, if you still have any left out.  Besides, when it comes to seed saving, there’s always next year, and it’s a good idea to start learning about saving seeds right now.

Seed to Seed, by Suzanne Ashworth is a book you need if you’re serious about saving seeds.  You know, some people breed their own plants, like squash or beans, for example, and have even started small heirloom seed businesses by doing it.  On the other hand, some people just like to know they’re able to make sure they’ve got the seeds they need for their survival garden.  My husband Survival Sam reminds me there may come a time when we can’t get seeds from seed companies like we can now.

            Well, enough of my ramblings.  What I’m going to do is give you the Amazon.com product description and the little blurb about the author of Seed to Seed, and you can get a copy of it for yourself.

Product Description

Seed to Seed is a complete seed-saving guide that describes specific techniques for saving the seeds of 160 different vegetables. This book contains detailed information about each vegetable, including its botanical classification, flower structure and means of pollination, required population size, isolation distance, techniques for caging or hand-pollination, and also the proper methods for harvesting, drying, cleaning, and storing the seeds. Seed to Seed is widely acknowledged as the best guide available for home gardeners to learn effective ways to produce and store seeds on a small scale. The author has grown seed crops of every vegetable featured in the book, and has thoroughly researched and tested all of the techniques she recommends for the home garden. This newly updated and greatly expanded Second Edition includes additional information about how to start each vegetable from seed, which has turned the book into a complete growing guide. Local knowledge about seed starting techniques for each vegetable has been shared by expert gardeners from seven regions of the United States-Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast/Gulf Coast, Midwest, Southwest, Central West Coast, and Northwest.

About the Author

Suzanne Ashworth is an educational administrator living in Sacramento, California, whose spare time and large backyard are completely devoted to gardening. Suzanne has donated the text of Seed to Seed to help support the work of the Seed Savers Exchange, a genetic preservation organization with 8,000 members who are working together to maintain and distribute heirloom varieties of vegetables, fruits, grains, flowers, and herbs.

            Seed to Seed is a 320 page paperback.  To get a copy for yourself, simply click on the logo below and you’ll be taken to the page where you can place your order.  Why not get another copy as a gift for a gardening friend, too.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. ”Get up” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt.” (Matthew 2:13)

 “One thing people have got to learn,” said the woman, “is you can’t run away from your problems. If you try, they’ll just follow you. You have to stay and face them, that’s what I do.”  These were the words of a severe and cheerless woman, searching the row of “self-help” books on a shelf at the Oak Street Bible Shop.

Glen paid no attention, but edged away as she stepped towards his prophecy corner. He was trying to keep out of her way. She was clearly agitated, because, as she had been telling Joy, her son in law was moving and taking her daughter to the state of Wyoming to get a job on the railroad, hauling coal.

“It’s awful,” she said, “I’ll never see my grandchildren any more. Just because his job was given to someone in Indonesia. He says, ‘They can’t outsource coal, or the railroads.’ I told him he should stay and face his problems. Running away won’t do him a bit of good. It never does!”

It was at times like these that Joy showed patience, born of long experience. “Never argue with a customer”, she had learned. Besides, that’s what Glen was for. Gary said nothing, following Joy’s example.

“I don’t see anything that I can use,” said the woman. “I want something I can give my daughter to read. Maybe she can talk some sense into him. He won’t listen to me! Just run, run, run! Seems like that’s all anybody does anymore.”

“We don’t carry many books in that category,” explained Joy, patiently. We mostly have Bible-related books.”

“Well, the Bible sure doesn’t tell people to run, does it? Think where we’d  all be if Moses had tried to run away from his problems.”

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