Category Archives: Preppers
Planting Your Survival Potato Crop
Potatoes. Nothing is humbler than a potato. But, potatoes have saved many a person from starvation. When potatoes fail, many a society has dipped into hard times, see The Irish Potato Famine.
Potatoes are a great SHTF crop. Generally healthy, easy to grow, they can survive locusts and temperature swings and even drought if you’ve got the right variety. It’s not too late in most places to plant a little potato crop. I got mine in last week, and wanted to share some tips, for those embarking on potatoes for the first time.
The thing to remember when you’re planting is that the seed potato will grow new potatoes above itself. That is to say, you need to get the seed potato deep, so that there’s room to grow above it. I accomplish this by hoeing a trench to put my potatoes in. About 8-12 inches deep.
I put the sprouting seed potatoes in the trench, one every 8-12 inches. Put the sprouting eyes pointing up. Then I use SOME of the dirt from the trench to cover the potatoes. I also put some straw on top of the dirt that’s covering the spuds. The straw helps keep moisture levels even, and help keeps the light away from the developing potatoes. If sunlight gets to your growing potatoes, they will turn green, which means they are now slightly poisonous, and containing a bitter alkaloid. You can still eat them, if slightly poisoned is better than slightly dead. The plants need at least 6 hours of sun a day to grow a good crop. So, it’s a bit of a balancing act. Also, avoid growing potatoes in ground that was used for legumes the previous year as these fix nitrogen into the soil which will cause the potatoes to grow extensive haulm (the upper part of the plant) at the expense of the tubers.
When the potato plants are about 12 inches tall, you will need to hoe the remaining soil from the trench over the base of the plants. This is called hilling up. You want to bury a few joints of the haulm in dirt, to encourage a heavy tuber set. This also helps to cover the growing potatoes, (remember, they are forming ABOVE the seed potato, and UNDER ground.) I usually just pile the dirt on top of the straw, and add a fresh layer of straw to the top when I’ve got the dirt mounded up. That nice layer of straw in the middle will help drainage in the soil, as potatoes will rot if they have wet feet.
Potatoes will reach maturity in 3 to 4 months, depending on conditions and variety. Later crops tend to store better in cold storage. You’ll typically get between 8 and 14 pounds of potatoes per pound you plant; it’ll take about 8 to 10 lbs of seed potatoes per every 100 feet of potatoes you plant.
Any potato growers out there? I’m growing Kennebec and Yukon Gold, what do you have in the ground>
10 doomsday preps that will get you killed
First things first: You need a firearm. The time for “common sense gun control” went out the window the second grandpa came back from the afterlife to make a sandwich out of your face. No matter what your political stance was before the uprising, you fucking love the Second Amendment now. You want the biggest, shiniest, loudest monstrosity possible. If there’s a gun that shoots a thousand bullets a second; that’s great. If there’s one that shoots a thousand flaming bullets a second; even better! If there’s a gun that shoots out other guns that all fire thousands of flaming bullets in mere seconds–like some sort of pyramid scheme comprised entirely of shredding death infernos–well, that would be just dandy. But even if you already have the god-king of firearms at your disposal, you’re still not ready. You need to arm everybody in your group, you need spares just in case and you need ammo. In short, you need to get to the gun store.
The only problem being: So does everybody else.
The closest gun shop to your house is also the closest gun shop to a thousand other people’s houses, and at least a few dozen of them are going to get there before you. Assuming that the place isn’t clean out–probably because the shop is either locked down like a fortress, or because the owners are barricaded inside and would rather like to keep their livelihood and defensive measures, thanks–you still need to get your arsenal. See, owners of gun stores tend to like guns, and people that like guns not only generally want to keep them, but are also quite capable of using them.
“You can have my gun… when you come down to my place of business and ask politely. I’ve got a lot, take one!”
Now you and a thousand other people are on the outside of a suburban fortress, hurling “pretty pleases” at a half-insane, heavily-armed, trained marksmen inside. Not only are you probably not coming away from the gun store with a shiny new weapon; you’d be lucky to get out of there without an impromptu sunroof installed in your skull.
Raising Tilapia For Doomsday
Doomsday Tilapia Farming!
Tilapia is a tropical fish native to the Middle East (thank God we don’t use it as fuel for our cars!) Speaking of Him, it has been said that Tilapia was the fish used by Jesus regarding the miracle of the “multiplication of the fishes”. It is so true, I thought of changing my name to “Little J”.
Tilapia are very clever fish, the females realized a long time ago that if they kept their fertilized eggs in their mouths, their survival rate in the wild would be greatly enhanced. Thus, they are known today as “mouth brooders”. They keep their eggs in their mouths until they hatch, and take them back into their mouths any time danger arises for a few days after they hatch. After that it’s “adios muchachos, you are on your own”. In the wild, their survival rate is about 1%. The average “litter” is about 100 to 3000 “fry” (babies) depending on the age of the female. A full grown female will carry 2000 eggs or more. That means that about 1 or 2 % of the offspring will make to adulthood.
This is a batch of hybrids about 2 weeks old. They are in a 29 gallon tank.This is from one of the young breeders, a full grown one can produce many more times the number of babies.
one in a hundred?
Yes, in the wild. Under controlled circumstances, as in your aquarium, we are talking about a 99% possible survival rate! OK, now we are talking big Louisiana fish fry material here eh? You got it! All it takes is a little “fish diplomacy”. When the female is “pregnant”, you will see that she is swimming around with her mouth full, and she will not eat. Mark that day on a calendar, wait 7 days and get her out of there and into the “delivery room”. Tilapia, like any other fish, just doesn’t like it when you chase after it with a net. Yet you want to get her out of there and into a place where she can comfortably “deliver” the babies.
What to do? well, you have to catch her in a net. You do this by S-L-O-W-L-Y following her around the tank until she zigs when she should have zagged and she ends up in your net. You S-L-O-W-L-Y lift her out of the water and run to your delivery/nursery tank. You release her into the delivery tank and make sure to check the net for eggs/fry she might have released while on the way. Just drop them into the tank, she will pick them up after a while.
That means a clean floor, no sand, gravel or anything else in this aquarium. You also want to wrap the water intake to the filter with a little piece of netting, this will prevent the fry from getting sucked up into it. Sponge filters also work very well for this purpose.
Soon (in a day or two), she will not allow them into her mouth anymore. It is time for her to get back to work. Care must be exercised at this stage. She WILL eat her young if you let her stay in the tank with them too long! I suggest removing her when it is clear that the fry can swim around by themselves.
Carefully catch her in a net and put her back in your big aquarium. Make sure that she gets a few decent meals before the male breeds with her again, remember, she has not eaten in a week!
There, wasn’t that easy!
Now all you have to do is take care of the little ones by feeding them finely-ground, high-protein, fish food and by keeping the aquarium clean. They almost double in size the first day so feeding small amounts frequently is best. Don’t forget water quality!
When they are fingerlings about 1 inch long you can place them in a larger tank. At this size they can travel well so if you want to sell fingerlings this is the right size. If you want to raise them to market-size you can wait until they reach about 1 ounce (3-4 inches) and place them in a large grow-out tank.
Bigger females in one of the pools outside in the greenhouse. 3 of these females had a combined “litter” of about 800 hybrids on April 21 through 23, 2008.
Notice the “chicken wire” netting around the tank? it prevents them from taking a leap of faith and jumping out of the tank. For some reason they seem to want to go out for a walk without a leash!
Prepping for the Financially Challenged: Basic Survival Strategies For Apartments and Confined Spaces
Previously we talked about basic critical preps for apartments. Once these basic elements are secured, you will want to expand your supplies to increase your capabilities. Your expanded supplies will be dictated by three things. They will be based on your individual situation, your personal preferences and your financial capability. The potential list of supplies based on these things is infinite so we won’t try to list all of the conventional items but instead let’s look at some unconventional things.
In the area of sanitation and hygiene it will be important to keep clean. Your cleanliness will be a contributing factor to your overall health. Women have their own special needs so they should plan for this accordingly. Overall you should have a way to shower at least once a week and clean yourself a few times in between. This can be as simple as having a supply of baby wipes and a solar shower to use. With the solar shower just keep in mind that you will need a way to hang it up high that can support 50 or so pounds. One solution to this might be to use a step ladder that supports your shower when you need it and the rest of the time its’ steps can be used to hold small planters such as for sprouts.
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