Modern Survival Blog: Recent Comments

Great common sense thinking Keep up the good work.

Prepping podcasts: Numerous prepping podcasts over the years have ceased or have migrated to You Tube videos. I still prefer the audio podcast as I do not sit and watch somebody talking. What audio podcasts do you find worthy to share?

I’ve always been taught, ” cool,dark, and dry” for seed saving. Are these bought seed vaults, or your own home brew? Moisture content should be low, read somewhere 7-8%. Any moisture that condenses out can I invite bacteria or mould that can ruin germination. Cornell has a good site for seed saving tips you might want to check. Good on you for checking germination after storage.

I need some advice. I rotate out my heirloom “seed vaults” every two years from the fridge and try planting. The only thing that comes up is the green beans. No tomatoes, carrots, beets, squash etc…Head scratcher for sure. I’m in central cal. so weather is optimal, have plenty of water, great compost soil. By the way, great seeing y’all back on the open forum…i really missed your comments. Thanks Ken, I know its extra work for ya.

Ken, you ought to do what the natives did. Use branches and posts to make natural barriers to hungry critters. SE Alaska natives were able to do this to grow greens and tubers in forest plots up and down the coast. Ever eaten a Tlingit potato?

The FD-75 is a great “first” dehydrator for peppers learning the ins-n-outs of dehydrating. I used two for many years, and then passed them on when I went with my huge Golden Harvest. Made jerky, fruit leather, dried veggies and fruit. Great for apt dwellers.

I will second what Minerjim said, with some observations from my garden. Over the last few years, several once planted veggies have established on their own. There are now different greens, carrots, parsnips, parsley, potatoes, ground cherries, strawberries, onions, and lettuce that just come up every year on their own. Granted, not in a very organized fashion, lol, but earlier than when I would put them out, and with no effort. One draw back is the volume isn’t what it would be if they were deliberately planted in quantity, but it’s certainly a nice bonus!

One of my biggest issues where I live are the hungry animals. A food forest would become their food forest 😉, thus the fences.

I have established a food forest! Long term edible plants, trees and bushes. I then plant what I call my salad garden around and in it! The short term stuff like tomatoes, cukes, peppers and more! Mixed in are about 10-12 different herbs and spices. It all grows together and helps shade, fertilize and protect it!

Thank you, Ken!

I don’t have any idea or hold any theory as to what happened but for sure it wasn’t what we saw. One single piece of evidence that proves that it wasn’t: the contents of the wallet of one of the pilots drifted down to the sidewalk, from a plane that exploded inside of a building. Huh?

Thanks for the request. Now all comments including the current Open Forum comments will appear in the Recent Comments feed.

If you have any heirloom carrots, leave some in over the winter. They will come up and bloom next year and give you a ton of seed. Then plant you some hidden carrot patches in the brush, survival garden.

I am making a bigger effort at seed saving, which is mostly concentrating on tomatoes and then peppers. Seed companies are selling seeds raised in China and in different climates and soil than ours. Root crops do well here but I have not saved seeds from them, I need to do that.

Did you go with a commercially made greenhouse or build your own? I am looking to find one that can survive the Mono winds that ripped the entire roof of a neighbor’s 50 year old home.

Good points on shade/ row covers for crops, I will factors that in for next year. I will be buying my seeds/potatoes in early winter. If predicted food shortages hit in the next 9 months seeds prices/ availability will go crazy by planting time.

Regarding the sun, even here in the north, tomatoes, peppers, basil, squash do quite well with a 40% shade cloth over the greenhouse. It reduces the excessive solar radiation we’re getting now due to diminished magnetosphere protection. Huge difference in squash/basil outside vs. in the greenhouse. Might give it a try next year. It will also reduce temp a bit and may cut down a little on water loss. Also – mulch, mulch, mulch. Straw, if you can get your hands on some, cools the soil and helps retain moisture longer.

I went gonzo this year. I set up a greenhouse, shelving, store-bought soil, fertilizer, etc. I watered at dawn and at dusk. After two months, and around $1,500, the yield was enough basil for a pesto dinner, and enough dill for a couple of sandwiches. Don’t get me wrong, it was good, but, everything else was eaten by insects or killed by the sun. The math ain’t mathin’. I’ve already outfitted the good neighbors with power generation, hopefully we can work something out.

Gardening/food With this year’s harvest from our garden ongoing, I find myself thinking ahead already to next year. Seeds, fertilizer, growing conditions, water management, etc. Are any of you doing anything now to get ready for future garden efforts? I included food in the subject line, because it might be necessary to expand beyond traditional gardening to fill in food gaps. That could be foraging, livestock, hunting, fishing, covert gardening, etc…

In the area I lived at the time, there were actually peaceful marches against it, including speaking against using the events of that day as a pretext for the hostilities that followed, against a country that seemed to have nothing to do with it. A number of attorneys gave speeches outlining the unconstitutionality of the Act, and what it would mean in practice. Marchers were met with rude signs and jeers, and generally considered “unpatriotic” for voicing their dissent peacefully. And this was in Illinois, Chicago suburbs, no less. Not sure we laid down so much as we were run over.

I noticed the same thing.

You just invited yourself to divulge more of your knowledge as you know more than I do, and I could use it.

25 years since 9/11 New videos have emerged, new technology has been applied, the charged emotions have worn off, things have been learned, Boeing technical manuals have been studied. What really happened? We sure laid down and begged for the Patriot Act.

When I posted in Open Forum, the posting did not appear in Recent Comments. That’s my default when I come to MSB to see what’s going on. Can comments in Open Forum also appear in Recent Comments?

Thanks. There actually isn’t a separate subject line in the Open Forum. Each comment is posted as part of the ongoing discussion. However, the first line of a new thread is bolded, so that essentially serves as the subject line. What you’re seeing in Brave is normal.

OK. But the ‘subject’ line is blanked out and not ‘clickable’ with Brave browser.

Okay, that does make sense. You’ve obviously have done a lot of work on this. Good success!

I understand what you mean, but the two areas serve different purposes. Comments under an article are meant to stay with that particular article. That way, someone reading an article months or even years later can also read the discussion that goes with it. The Open Forum is for general conversation, questions, observations, or topics that aren’t tied to a particular article. If everything were combined into one forum, the article-specific discussions would eventually get mixed in with everything else and become much harder to find. I understand your preference for the tree-style comment format too. It can make individual conversations easier to follow, especially when there are several replies going back and forth.

OK everyone. Open Forum is open again, for comments not tied to Ken’s articles. You want to comment on an article, do it at the end of that article. You got any other comments, queries, general suggestions- open forum is the place to put those. Ken has been good enough to put this all up again, let’s help him keep it sorted. Also, I know some of you keep in touch with” the old crowd”, please invite them back. Damn I miss everyone’s comments and help, and at this age I’ve gotten to, I can use all the help I can get. Just an old miners $.02 lament.

I find it confusing that the comments for articles are in a different place than the open forum. Why not have one single forum? I also think that the ‘tree’ format, or outline format, for comments makes it easier to follow a conversation.