Destiny Survival

Archive for December, 2008

Around the holidays we all hope to hear good and charitable words, but what I want to say to you today is not fluff inspired by the season.   It’s also going to sound a little like “inside baseball” about Internet marketing, but please bear with me briefly.

I truly appreciate you being there.  Because you’re looking at this blog today, you may be among the 47% of online consumers who read blogs.  The New York Times reported recently that a study done this fall shows that a majority of blog readers say blogs are useful when they make purchases.

People like you trust blogs more than social networking sites like Facebook when they’re looking for information about something they want to buy.  So I sincerely thank you for looking at DestinySurvival whenever you’re looking for survival supplies and gear as we go through a new year in these volatile times.

            If you haven’t already done so, begin 2009 by signing up at no charge on the sidebar for the DestinySurvival Dispatch, because you’ll get in on some info and offers you won’t usually see on this page.

          Happy New Year! 

I recently spent a peasant afternoon with the director of a local low-tech training center, or re-training center as he calls it. We watched as a group of young people learned to split short logs into shakes, or shingles. They used heavy mallets and a splitting tool he called a froe. “Do a good job kids,” said the teacher, a peasant-faced man of about sixty years of age. “You are making the coverings for your future homes.”

One group was heating iron rods red hot over a fire to burn holes in the shakes. This was for attaching them to a geodesic framework made of willow branches.

“Why don’t you just drill the holes,” I asked. “Oh that is fine if you have a hand drill and bits,” he explained. “But if you don’t, you can find a piece of rod or wire to heat and push it through the wood. It really works. I remember seeing it in the early part of ‘The Vikings’–the scene where they were making a boat.”

He anticipated my next question. “For fastening we use fence or baling wire. Someone says we could use kudzu vines, after the goats have eaten the leaves off of it.” This man wanted to raise goats on kudzu. Said he read that as many as nine dairy goats can’t deplete one acre of kudzu. It grows so fast.

Well, G, these are some dreams about the New American Peasant. He or she can win out by going back to nature and living a simpler life. When I mentioned my dreams to a fellow survivalist, he asked “How long could we live that way?” My question is, how long would we have to?

Maybe Thoreau was onto something, G? Think how Abraham lived in a tent–his whole life. Are we better than him?

Very sincerely,

Karl

Check out the related offerings below by clicking on their images.

            I don’t know why more people don’t make more out of rice and beans.  Now, I know they sound pretty boring when you first think about it, but they’re cheap and can really be good eating.  Rice and beans are really very nutritious, too.

When it comes to survival though, my husband Survival Sam says, “who cares about boring.  Do you want to live or not?”  He doesn’t care if others think it’s boring.  I could give him rice topped with a can of kidney beans, and he could eat it for several meals in a row!  I know a lot of people aren’t like that though, but I don’t think survival food doesn’t have to make you turn your nose up whenever it’s served.  With just a little effort, you can make something plain into something your family will want more of.

            There’s an article in the January/February 2009 “Backwoods Home Magazine” I hope you’ll take a look at.  It’s got wonderful background information on both rice and beans and includes several recipes, too.  If you’re looking for a Hoppin’ John recipe for New Year’s, it’s there.

Gourmet Nutrition with Rice and Beans

by Richard Blunt

Rice and beans represent two of the most important food families in the human diet.

Rice itself is the principal food for more than half of the world’s population. In places like Cambodia and Bangladesh it provides nearly three quarters of the daily nutritional intake. 

 
Read the whole article here:www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/blunt115.html

            How many times have you gone to a restaurant and had a dish based on rice and beans?  More times than you realize, I’ll bet.  Somebody there was creative enough to make it enticing for you, and you paid a premium price for it.  Well, get a little creative in your own kitchen yourself.  Get your family used to the idea of eating rice and beans now.  Who says survival food has to be boring?

Does having the kids home on school break pose child care problems for you?  What do you do when school is cancelled because of snow days?  Some families are finding daycare is both a hassle and an expense they can no longer handle.

Times being what they are, some families are cutting back on daycare.  This is a drastic move for those families who have become quite dependent on daycare services, while both parents work.  Nonetheless, necessity dictates a change of priorities and lifestyle.  If you’re in that position, or you know someone who is, my suggestion is to seriously consider home schooling.

            Home schooling can be done inexpensively, or even free, making for a much lighter load on the budget.  There’s no need to pay for lunches or other work related expenses.

It’s also very easy to teach young children.  You don’t have to worry about having a teaching degree.  Nobody knows or loves your children more than you do.  Teaching your children at home is a great way to build or strengthen family bonds.

            Home schooling doesn’t require all the driving needed to transport children to daycare and you to work.  Thus, you realize instant savings on gas, car wear and tear, and, of course, time. Also, you won’t have to worry about keeping up with public school activities or whether your local school has cut back on after school programs.  Think of the fun you could have getting together with other home schooling families to share in activities that are suited to your more flexible schedule.

            I strongly recommend becoming a member of the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA).  At least take a look at their web site at hslda.org and take a look at their helpful resources, which includes listings for support groups in each state.  HSLDA can answer many questions for you or put you in touch with those in your area who can help.

            If you’re ready to look at a number of curriculum choices, click on the logo for ChristianBook.com.  They offer a wide selection and very good prices.  If you’re not yet ready to purchase curriculum, you owe it to yourself to take a look at the wealth of excellent materials available to help you teach your children at home.

            The other day Survival Sam and I had a little discussion about the Comfi Phone Card ad banner now on this page.  To my surprise, he didn’t see that it made any sense to offer phone cards on a survival site; but the more we talked about it, then he acknowledged phone cards could indeed be useful for some survival situations.  In spite of the tremendous popularity of cell phone use, phone cards haven’t been relegated to the dinosaur era.

            I referred Sam to my article recently encouraging people to buy a cheap landline phone for emergencies at home.  If someone needs to make a long distance call and the cell phones aren’t reliable, having a phone card to use with landlines makes sense.  Because charges for calls are paid for in advance, there’s no worry about being attached to a long distance company and getting a bill later.

            Besides, phone cards can be used anywhere there’s landline service.  They certainly don’t take up much space in a wallet and you don’t have to worry about charging a battery.

            At the mention of that, Sam remembered an old friend he hears from by letter every now and then.  This guy lives out in a pretty remote area where cell phone service is spotty, but there’s at least landline service.  However, Sam’s friend doesn’t want a phone in his little cabin, let alone a cell phone.  If he needs something he walks a mile to a neighbor’s house to use the phone.  (He uses his pickup sparingly.)  In a case like that, a phone card comes in handy.

            I know a couple who use phone cards all the time for what few long distance calls they make, since paying two or three cents a minute makes more sense than paying five, seven, or even ten cents a minute charged by their local phone company.  They couldn’t justify buying the phone company’s unlimited long distance service.  They also get much better international calling rates with a phone card whenever they call missionary friends in South America.  They didn’t ever get a cell phone because he is a ham radio operator and believes his radios are adequate for any time there is a need for emergency communications.

            When I showed Sam the Comfi Phone Card web site, he was amazed by the variety of cards offered.  Cell phone users can get cards to cut down on the cost of international calls, too.  Even those missionaries my friends know could use phone cards for saving money on calls where they are.

            Of course, Sam and I both agreed that one of these days there might not be phone service of any kind, cell or landline; but at least for now phone cards can be one more weapon in a survival communications arsenal.  If you agree, click on the logo below and get the phone card that best meets your needs.

            Survival Sam’s family stopped celebrating Christmas long before my family did.  We haven’t celebrated Christmas in over 15 years.  There are plenty of good reasons for this, but rather than argue my case or explain here, I’ll simply say you’d be surprised at how liberating it is.

            As Survival Sam often says, part of the survival mindset is nonconformity to the “norm.”  It’s about breaking free as much as possible from “the system.”  One day that system won’t be there.  It’s already broken.

            I can’t think of anything that typifies the survival mindset better than not doing Christmas.  Try breaking free from doing Christmas and see what it does for you.

            If you’re interested in exploring what one Baptist pastor said about not doing Christmas, click here.