Is Your New Year’s Resolution Logical?

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Wherefore our wills also have just so much power as God willed and foreknew that they should have. . .

—Augustine of Hippo, The City of God (5th century)

For we do not say that man is dragged unwillingly into sinning, but that because his will is corrupt he is held captive under the yoke of sin. . .

—John Calvin, The Bondage and Liberation of the Will (1543)

Making Changes, Making Choices

As we enter the New Year, we think about resolutions, changes, new beginnings. We think about making better choices. A new diet. More exercise. Picking up a new hobby. Sending timely reports to your boss. Finishing that book we’ve started a dozen times. Choose. Resolve. Do. It should be that easy, right?

Then why do we fail so often? And why do our resolutions accomplish so little? Why can’t we live out our choices?

Making Ourselves By Our Choices

Barack Obama wrote in his book, The Audacity of Hope, that American values “are rooted in a basic optimism about life and a faith in free will.” His claim echoes a long American religious and literary tradition that says that we have no fixed nature and that we create and define ourselves moment by moment by our choices, with our sin nature never getting in the way.

Charles Finney

American roots run deep here. Before Thoreau and Emerson there was Charles Finney. Before there were public schools, there were McGuffey’s Readers. Before Netflix spies and superheroes, there was Hemingway. All have preached the American gospel of the self-made man, the man who creates himself good, on his own with never a mention of a dark or fallen side. It’s a Pelagian gospel, to be sure, and its definition of “good” has become increasingly vague with the passing decades. But not just that. Very few have even challenged the basic assumption that people can make and remake themselves by raw choice and willpower alone.

The Freedom To Choose

So, let’s examine this assumption closely. First, Scripture affirms human responsibility and the reality and significance of our choices. But it also teaches our fallen nature. Key point, often overlooked: Our choices flow from a heart corrupted by sin. In other words, fallen man is free to choose (our will is uncoerced; our actions are self-determined), but we will always choose, in some form, rebellion against God … until God changes our hearts.

The natural man finds this doctrine offensive and asserts his own freedom, his own autonomy. He doesn’t need God. But he can find no solid ground for this assertion. To see this more clearly, let’s go back to the extremes of materialism and pantheism discussed at Christmas.

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The materialist reduces all to atoms. Reality is matter in motion. Everything is reduced to cause and effect. Like billiard balls scattering on the table after the break, energy particles generated in the Big Bang scatter, collide, and rebound … “off the glass” … exchanging momentum and transferring energy. Only this. Nothing else. Consciousness, volition, and choice are mere molecular interactions within the brain. After all, that’s all they can be. There is nothing else according to the consistent-thinking materialist. Appeals to quantum theory may seem to open a door to pure contingency, to pure chance, but pure chance isn’t free will. The concept of randomness isn’t consistent with the concept of a free choice. Think of it this way: Can you make a real choice if the concept of logic no longer exists?

The pantheist sees all temporal differences, all individual choices, as passing manifestations of the all-encompassing One. The individual soul is the cosmic soul and you can’t separate the two. The Hindu says “atman is Brahman.” But stop and think this through. To say “I like the Bulls but not the Cavs,” or that “Usain Bolt came in first and Bill Heid last,” or “let’s have lunch now rather than later” are all just illusions to the pantheist. Differences can’t be real if they are going to be consistent thinkers. Individual choice is irrelevant in this worldview. He who steals and he who thinks he’s been stolen from … are both confused. Not just that … even killing and dying are the same, both valid expressions of impersonal, divine reality. If “All” is one, you can’t make distinctions. If you can’t make distinctions, all choices are imaginary. Cosmic jokes.

The Gospel And Its Implications

Over against all of this, Scripture proclaims the reality of human choice and the power of God to liberate and transform the human heart.

First, the claims of Scripture are important. Scripture teaches the absolute reality of both Creator and creation. They are distinct. God exists eternally and necessarily as the Source and Ground of all created reality. (“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” Genesis 1:1.)

In God, unity and diversity are equally ultimate. God is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God is therefore absolute life and absolute personality. He is communion, love, and choice. This God created heaven and earth, not out of His own essence, but out of nothing. This means that the universe is wholly God’s. His deal. It exists at His pleasure and for His purposes, the terms of which are spelled out in His eternal decrees.

Second, Scripture tells us that man’s freedom is the freedom of a creature. Man can’t bend reality to his will. He can’t become a zebra or pass back and forth through time simply because he wants to. (“Can an Ethiopian change his skin or a leopard its spots? Neither can you do good who are accustomed to doing evil.” Jeremiah 13:23.)

He functions as a creature within a broader creation. And at every point, every moment, his freedom and choices are, in some way … checked, restricted, and given form by the rest of creation which itself moves at God’s sovereign command. Nobody is autonomous. Our choices are real, but not absolute. Man is, therefore, responsible for his actions and accountable to God. (Note to self: God will judge the world.)

Third, Scripture tells us that our main problem isn’t that we are creatures or that we lack total autonomy … our big problem is our ethical rebellion against God. Since the historical Fall of Adam in Paradise, we’re all sinners. (“Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned.” Romans 5:12.)

We are still free, within the limits of our creaturehood. And we can make choices, to be sure. But (and this is a big but) because our hearts are twisted and messed up by sin, our “gravitational pull” is toward bad choices. Granted, our bad choices aren’t always as bad as they can be … but apart from Christ “bad choices” serve the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And because our hearts are “bent” this way … our nature is to not seek God, let alone serve Him.

Fourth, Scripture presents us with the Gospel: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He gave His life as an atoning sacrifice wholly propitious (paid in full) to reconcile a holy God to unholy sinners. (“Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10.)

He died and rose again to offer His righteousness to those who will receive Him by faith. And by His Spirit, He transforms human hearts and so grants the very faith He requires. This is called regeneration, or new birth.

The man who has been born again is free to love and serve God. He is free to make good choices, albeit ones that often fall short. Since the work of the Holy Spirit isn’t complete in this life, we will continue to struggle with our choices. But the indwelling reality of the Spirit’s presence and power make growth in grace, love, and holiness real possibilities. The one who is born of God can overcome sin, the world and the power of the devil. All this means our wills are free from the bondage of sin … allowing for prayerful change and volitional choices in Christ.

What it all comes down to is this: Unbelievers can make New Year’s resolutions. I’m not saying they can’t. What I am saying is that they just can’t make sense of their resolutions or even their day-to-day choices if they consistently play out the full implications of their worldview.

The Gospel has enormous implications for all of life.

Happy New Year!

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Is There Such A Thing As ‘Natural Law’?

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If you want my thesis of natural law theory in one graphic sentence, I will provide it: the most consistent defender of natural law theory was the Marquis de Sade.

— Gary North, Westminster’s Confession (1991)

The Fear Of The LORD Is . . .

Let’s talk about the right place to begin a discussion of natural law. What’s important to establish early on is that these rules are determined by the God who creates, who speaks and who decrees the end from the beginning. The God who is Triune. The God who reveals Himself in Jesus Christ. The God who speaks infallibly in Scripture. The God who saves sinners through Jesus’ blood.

This God, and no other, is the only foundation for all intelligible thought, communication, and learning. That said, this is what Scripture explicitly teaches about where to start: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). Again, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10).

Unless the God who created the world tells us about Himself and creation, unless He opens our hearts to hear and believe that truth … we are left with foolishness and its attendant skepticism — cynicism and nihilism. There’s nothing we can truly know and we can be sure of nothing truly. For that matter, we can’t even be sure there is something to be sure about.

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But the question of knowing something is only part of the discussion. That’s because in Scripture, to know God and to fear God mean also to obey God. Epistemology (study of knowledge) and ethics (rules for living) are rarely separate concepts in the Bible, but rather, are woven tightly together throughout Scripture:

Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom; and to depart from evil is understanding (Job 28:28).

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do his commandments: his praise endureth forever (Ps. 111:10).

Blessed is the man that feareth the LORD, that delighteth greatly in his commandments (Ps. 112:1).

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man (Eccl. 12:13).

God’s commandments are revealed in Scripture. Knowledge and wisdom are inextricably “interwoven” with obedience to those commandments. What’s more… these commandments, the laws revealed in Scripture… are alone authoritative and infallible.

“To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them” (Isa. 8:20).

Biblical epistemology drives us necessarily to biblical law.

Total Depravity And Natural Law

But doesn’t Scripture allow for a divine law implicit in Nature, one accessible to unaided reason? In my previous articles on epistemology, I’ve talked about general revelation, the revelation that exists in creation and in the hearts of men (Ps. 19:1-6; Rom. 1:18-20). I’ve also tried to establish that the Apostle Paul argues that even the heathen have “the work of the law written in their hearts” and that they are, therefore, responsible for their actions (Rom. 2:14-15).

Certainly, Paul teaches us that general revelation is so clear that it leaves men without excuse for their sins (Rom. 1:20). And He definitely declares that “the work of the law” is written in the hearts of those who have never heard the Gospel. In fact, He goes on to emphasize the human conscience as being a very accurate testimony to man’s true moral nature. His conclusion? Unbelievers have a conscience, with concepts of right and wrong. What Paul doesn’t say, though, is that this vague “conscience” is a substitute for the commandments of God revealed in Scripture.

Here’s the problem: The natural man’s conscience is sufficient to condemn him because he can’t and doesn’t live up to his own imperfect standard. That’s because the natural man’s moral nature is thoroughly defiled and corrupt. The Bible says his heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). The ways that seem right to him are the ways of death (Prov. 14:12). Though he holds the truth, he suppresses it in unrighteousness (Rom. 1:18). And until and unless he is born again, he will not come to the light lest that light should condemn his works (John 3:20). In short, the man outside of Christ hates God’s commandments precisely because they are God’s commandments:

Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be (Rom. 8:7).

The truth is, the natural man wants nothing to do with what God commands. Our current 24-hour news cycle as well as all recorded history bears witness to this. When we look at the news or the law codes of the nations both ancient and modern, we do see echoes of biblical morality, particularly in the legal codes of the once Christian West, where the influence of Scripture has been strongest. But none of these codes are consistent with what our Creator requires of us.

And many of the things that we find in these law codes are profoundly at odds with one another. Further, much of what we find there is reprehensible and abominable. We find polygamy, chattel slavery, pederasty, infanticide, and abortion enshrined and codified as integral parts of the cultures of whole peoples, nations, and empires.

Worse still, we know from Scripture that every sin, every moral perversity imaginable, has at some time or other been elevated by fallen man to the role of virtue or religious service (Deut. 12:31). The ancient Canaanites practiced prostitution, self-mutilation, and child sacrifice in their worship of Baal. The Thuggee of India strangled thousands of travelers in the name of the goddess Kali. And the Sawi tribe of Netherlands New Guinea embraced any kind of treachery (including cannibalism) as the greatest of virtues and the highest good. (When missionaries first presented the Gospel story to this New Guinea tribe, they actually mistook Judas as the hero because of his great betrayal.)

What Does Natural Law Actually Say?

In the light of all of this, we shouldn’t be surprised that no one has ever published a written testimony or transcript of natural law. Even though adherents have said for centuries that’s it’s supposed to be accessible to all thoughtful and rational men… no one has ever written down what’s actually accessible or even a summary of its principles.

But if anyone ever makes the attempt, here are some questions he should answer along the way:

• Is this law compatible with the Trinitarian-based law found in Scripture, particularly in the Ten Commandments? Is it a shorter or foggier version of biblical law, or is it another law-code altogether?
• Does natural law allow for oaths of office or the use of oaths in courts? If so, in whose name should they be sworn? And is that name a valid name for the Christian God and no other, or is it the name of some other yet-to-be-named deity? (The State, perhaps?)
• What exactly is murder? That is, who are those we are not to kill? Does the answer depend on the age, gender, ethnicity, or medical fitness of the victim?
• What is the just penalty for murder? Execution, imprisonment, rehabilitation, or maybe some kind of a mind-wipe?
• What exactly constitutes theft? Is it theft if a poor man takes the property of a rich man? What if the State does it for him? What if the State calls it taxation? Or “nationalizing foreign holdings”? (What happens when “laws of nations” collide?)
• What is the just penalty for theft? Restitution, imprisonment, or amputation?
• Can civil government consider any sexual acts as crimes? If so, which ones? What are the corresponding penalties for each act?
• Should having more children than two be a civil crime? If so, what’s the proper sanction for that crime?
• If there is disagreement to the answers given to the questions above, can we safely assume that those answers are wrong?
• How many people have to agree with a certain answer before we should take them seriously? Everyone? A significant majority? A slight majority? How does natural law communicate the exact percentage?
• If the answers to these questions are at odds with the law revealed in Scripture, can we assume that the God of the Bible is at war with the answers? Or, could He simply be mildly annoyed with them?

The Rise And Decline Of Natural Law

Marcus Aurelius.

Bottom Line: Natural law is a pagan invention. The Stoics came up with the idea to provide a universal law-order for the cosmopolitan world created by Alexander’s conquests. Natural law, the Stoics said, is found in the divine intelligence or logos inherent in the cosmos itself (accessible to all right-thinking human beings).

Roman intellectuals picked up on this idea next. “For there is one universe made up of all things, and one God who pervades all things, and one substance, and one law, one common reason in all intelligent animals, and one truth.” So wrote the philosopher Marcus Aurelius, the emperor whose “natural law” allowed for the persecution and murder of Christians.

Medieval theologians, philosophers, and legal experts brought natural law into Christian theology through a door marked “natural revelation.” The muddy and confused concept of natural law, useful to kings and popes, continued through the Reformation and into the Enlightenment: Greece to Rome to Aquinas to Locke. But while some Christians today continue to profess natural law theory, most thinking atheists have given up on it altogether. They usually cite Darwin.

Darwin’s doctrine of evolution completely rewrote man’s understanding of Nature. Nature was no longer a given that could provide even a vague basis for law. It was no longer a fixed metaphysical reality on which philosophers could hang any system. Nature was process, always changing, always becoming. No fixed laws. Nature, then, is a perfect Hegelian synthesis … red in tooth and claw. Laws like this, that move and change, are then laws of convention … the strongest kill the weakest. This worked well for Stalin’s purges and Hitler’s death camps. Think about it. If Nature is all there is, by what standard can you say Hitler, Stalin and Mao were wrong?

What standard would the Buddhist or Hindu use to condemn Hitler?

And so we come again to the absolute necessity of divine revelation. We know right and wrong because God reveals it in Scripture. There are no other standards.

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I Wrote Down One Blessing Each Day During 2016. Here’s What I Learned About Life.

The following article I Wrote Down One Blessing Each Day During 2016. Here’s What I Learned About Life. is available on http://ift.tt/1Qfw8v0

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A social media post last December suggested writing down good things on slips of paper as they happen throughout the year, placing the slips in a jar, and then going through them when the next holiday season rolls around.

I decided to take it a step further. I pledged to write something good about every single day of the year – 365 blessings — instead of recording only intermittent positive events. Rather than wait for something good to rain down on me, I wanted to be proactive about gleaning goodness out of each day.

And besides, I know myself well enough to know that occasional notes would probably fade into the background quickly as my year filled up with inevitable busyness. I would have to make it a daily habit, like brushing my teeth and walking the dog, in order to stick with it.

My plan was simple. I would write a good thing every day on a little piece of paper, fold it up, and put it into a wicker basket I happened to have, which was about the size of a loaf of French bread. Every day, no matter what. And at the end of the year, my husband and I would open up all 365 pieces of paper and enjoy the happy memories.

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It was only a few weeks into the project when I found myself having to count up the already-folded papers in an attempt to determine if I had already written that day’s entry, or whether or not I remembered to do it yesterday. I knew that would very quickly become cumbersome, and I needed to create a sure-fire plan to make sure I didn’t skip a day.

The Trick To Remember Writing Something Each Day

Here is how I made it work: I cut up and dated the slips of paper ahead of time, and kept them in order in a magnetic clip. I know from experience that the easier I make a task and the more I set it up for myself ahead of time, the more likely I am to follow through.

There is always plenty of letter-sized paper printed on just one side in my recycle bin, and reusing that for my good things seemed like a sensible plan. It took very little effort to fold and tear a half sheet, or even a full one, at a time. I folded and tore them in half, then again, and again until the small slips of paper were each about 2 1/8 by 2 ¾ inches. Perfect.

Next, I took the time to write out the days and dates along the top of each one. Wednesday, March 2. Thursday, March 3. And so on. It was worth the extra few seconds it took to include the day of the week, because it is so easy to forget the date when one is caught up in a topsy-turvy day.

I kept these in a place where I was guaranteed to see them at least once a day, which for me was on my refrigerator door. Its prominent location mattered less after I developed the habit of filling out a slip of paper every day, but I did still need an occasional reminder throughout the year.

It was an easy task to sit down and prepare a few weeks’ worth at a time while waiting for the canner to process or listening to the radio, and having them done up ahead of time was the reason I stuck with it for the whole year. For me, that was the whole secret to making it work.

Recording a year of good things has been a powerful experience. I have been amazed at and humbled by the volume of blessings that are heaped on my life, and frequently had to write really small and squeeze cryptic sentence fragments up and down the margins to fit it all in. If there were several good things that happened in one day—my husband got his annual raise at work and the first spinach came up in the garden and my cholesterol went down on my latest lab work—I did not limit myself to one good thing. It would have been reasonable to choose just one good thing per day, but I did not want to leave anything out.

I made up my own guidelines to this project. Did I cheat when it came to timeliness? Sure I did! I would sometimes notice on a Monday evening that we had never filled out Sunday’s good thing, and would do them both at the same time. Once in a great while I got as far as two days behind, but never more than that. As long as a slip of paper ended up in the basket for every single day of the year, I would consider it a win.

The only other real rule I set for myself was to never use a “backhanded” good thing. By that, I mean something that went on paper as good but was in fact simply a veneer on bad. For example, “I fell and scraped up my shin but did not hurt the other leg,” or “The dog was sick on the rug but at least it was not the new carpet in the study.” I made a point to write about something else entirely on days like that, something which was not tied to a negative event but instead stood alone as a good thing.

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The one exception I made to the stand-alone good thing rule was the day my husband was badly injured while using a circular saw. It was a traumatic day in our lives, to say the least. It would have felt disingenuous to write down something like “got the pole beans planted” on a day like that. What I did write was how glad we were that he was not hurt worse or that he did not suffer more loss than he did. After all we had been through in the past 24 hours, our good thing did not need to stand alone in order to be a sincere expression of gratitude for grace.

What I Learned

Some days were hard. Few people lead lives without challenges, and coming up with a good thing at the end of a rough day can tax even the most positive-minded among us. Sometimes I had to dig deep and came up with only bare basics—the sun shone, the unfriendly kitty suffered me to rub his ear, or a hen laid a perfectly shaped egg.

I learned to seek out the good things as I went about my day, making a mental note of my delight in finally laying eyes on the elusive pileated woodpecker who had been laughing at me from the opposite side of the tree trunk for days, or the way the aroma of lilacs swept me off my feet from across the lawn, or a loving comment in an email from a friend.

For much of the year, it was mundane stuff. Great checkup at the audiologist. Got a call from my sister. Did some work on the trails. Bought some yarn at half price.

In retrospect, it strikes me that most of life is mundane. While some years bring huge happy events such as weddings and births and travel and new homes, most of our lives set forth a lot of joy in tiny increments. It is those little things, scribbled on little slips of paper and folded up and tossed into a little wicker basket, that add up to the richness of a glorious year.

What do you think about this project – or about life in general? Share your thoughts in the section below:

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Combat Application Tourniquet Kit Review | A Last Ditch Lifesaver

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Combat Application Tourniquet Kit Review: Being prepared is something that takes a lot of time and practice. Not only do we need to learn about the various types of gear and what is best but we also need to gain the knowledge and skills to use our gear correctly. When it comes to first aid, knowledge can be the difference between life and death… Sometimes in mere minutes.

– This was originally published on coachhelder.com and has been shared with permission –

I recently received a Combat Application Tourniquet Kit by Lia Medical. Combat Application Tourniquets (CAT) have been used by our military over the past few years. They have proven to be invaluable in the field and certainly are convenient over the old method of using a triangular bandage and an overhand knot. This CAT comes with a compression bandage and an emergency blanket. The items are all well made and make a great addition to anyone’s kit and go-bag. I keep a CAT in all of my go bags and in my range bags.
Keep in mind that this kit comes in a simple ziplock bag so it is meant for you to add these pieces to an existing kit(s).

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• Life Saving Trauma Kit For an Emergency Situation.
• Consolidates multiple first aid devices, provide effective and multi-functional treatment.
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Bottom Line: If you are in the market for a CAT kit that comes with a couple of useful devices, take a look at this one; I don’t think that you will be disappointed.

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How To Grow Peppers Indoors All Winter Long

The following article How To Grow Peppers Indoors All Winter Long was first seen on Total Survival

Image source: Pixabay.com

There are few things that you can grow in your garden that are as versatile as the pepper. Hot, sweet, red or green – even yellows, oranges and purples can add a touch of the exotic to your next dish. For most gardeners it simply wouldn’t be the same without a nice harvest of peppers come late summer and early fall.

But why limit yourself to fresh peppers for only a few months of the year? Unbeknownst to many of us who do not live in a desert climate, peppers are actually perennial plants that can live for many years if given the proper care.

There are two main ways that you can grow peppers indoors. The first is by starting a plant from seed, and the second is by bringing your existing plants indoors at the end of your normal outdoor growing season.

Starting Peppers Indoors

Starting your peppers indoors from seeds is fairly simple and can be done at any time of year. Seeds should be planted in a mixture of peat moss, vermiculite and sand (roughly equal parts of each). Place two seeds in each pot near its center, and push the seeds just below the surface of the soil. Keep soil moist but not wet, and keep pots in a spot where they will get sunlight throughout the day.

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If you are starting peppers from seed, then you will have the advantage of selecting a variety that will grow to the ideal size for your indoor space. If you have lots of room, then you can grow larger plants such as red bell peppers or Hungarian wax peppers. If you are short on space, however, then try more compact varieties such as dwarf chilies.

Bringing Your Outdoor Peppers Inside

If you’ve already got pepper plants in your garden, you’re ahead of the game. Peppers in containers can be brought directly inside.

For peppers that are planted directly in the ground, the process for bringing them inside is trickier – but so worth it! Start this process well before your first frost. Using a sharp shovel, you can dig around each plant and lift it out of the ground, placing it into a plastic (not terra cotta) pot. This should be done during the evening so that the plant has the cool of the night to recover.

Image source: Pixabay.com

If there is extra room in the pot, you can add some compost, but avoid adding extra garden soil. Water you plants and place them in a shady spot outside, and leave them for a few days. Inspect you plants for any pests or aphids and rinse them off very well and then move them to a different spot. Repeat as necessary, until you can’t find any pests. After a few days, you can bring your plants into an in-between spot like a porch.

Finally, bring your pepper plants inside and place under florescent bulbs.

Keeping Your Peppers Fruiting

It is possible to keep your pepper plants fruiting the entire winter – but you will need to keep them toasty warm and give them sufficient light if you are to be successful. Ideally, the room that they are in should be a constant 65-75 degrees. Using very bring florescent lighting or a combination of sunlight and florescent light is best. Peppers tend to need more light than other plants, so if you want fruit you should plan on leaving their lights on for 14-16 hours per day. Some people control this using a timer, but it is also fine to leave the lights on 24 hours a day. Once plants have flowers, they should be fertilized on a weekly basis.

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Watering may be done whenever the soil is slightly dry. It is important to never let your peppers sit in a pool of water, as this can cause disease.

Finally, in caring for you plants, remember that peppers are sensitive to air quality. They should not be kept in a room where people smoke or where there are other pollutants in the air, as this can damage the plants.

When fruit is ripe, you may harvest it using a sharp knife. This will help to prevent you from inadvertently damaging the plant.

Growing any type of fruit or vegetable indoors gives you greater control over your growing environment and provides an extended growing season. Peppers are a perfect choice for those who love to make spicy Asian or Mexican dishes to beat out the chill of winter.

Even if you decide that it is too much trouble to keep your pepper plants fruiting over the winter months, there is still good reason to bring this season’s plants indoors and keep them healthy. That’s because next season, you’ll be able to re-plant your mature pepper plants – instead of seeds or starts from your local garden center.

And those mature plants will start producing peppers fast, and you will be the envy of the neighborhood. Your only problem will be trying to figure out what to do with all of those peppers!

Have you ever grown peppers indoors? What tips would you add? Share them in the section below:

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Is Amazon Echo Now A Police Surveillance Device?

The blog post Is Amazon Echo Now A Police Surveillance Device? See more on: http://ift.tt/1nr27gs

BENTONVILLE, Ark. – Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot were popular Christmas gifts in 2016, but some privacy advocates are warning they could be used by law enforcement to gather data about you and your family.

Prosecutors in Benton County, Arkansas, have issued a search warrant to Amazon for data from an Echo device belonging to murder suspect James Andrew Bates.

So far, Amazon is refusing to cooperate.

“Amazon will not release customer information without a valid and binding legal demand properly served on us,” a press release from the online retail giant states. “Amazon objects to overbroad or otherwise inappropriate demands as a matter of course.”

Discover How To Become Invisible In Today’s Surveillance State!

Echo and Echo Dot are digital assistants that answer questions from owners who use voice commands to “wake up” the devices. One typical word is “Alexa.” The devices are tied to Amazon’s computer cloud. Supposedly, the only information within the home that is stored is what is said following the word prompt.

Story continues below video

Investigators want the Echo data in order to get more information about the mysterious death of Victor Collins, who was found dead in Bates’ bathtub in Bentonville, Ark., last November. Amazon might have recordings of sounds from Bates’ home, the search warrant alleges.

Attorney Kimberly Weber is representing Bates and opposes the use of the data in court.

“You have an expectation of privacy in your home, and I have a big problem that law enforcement can use the technology that advances our quality of life against us,” Weber said, according to The Information.

Bates had a number of such gadgets in his home, including a smart water meter that shows he used 140 gallons of water from 1 a.m. to 3 a.m., police say.

Police seized Bates’ Echo but allege that there is more information stored in the cloud.

Boundaries Needed?

Echo also allows a person to control home automation devices, such as lights and the thermostat. Additionally, a person can request news and information from Echo.

Lynn Terwoerds, executive director of the Executive Women’s Forum on Information Security and Risk Management, told USA Today that devices like Echo would not benefit police.

“The myth we must fight against with Echo is that it’s constantly listening in on you — it’s not,” she said. “I understand that law enforcement would have an interest in any information that could help in a murder investigation, but it can be argued that this data would be of very limited use as compared to individual privacy rights,” she said.

Marc Rotenberg, president of the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), said that to protect privacy, “there should be clear legal standards established for law enforcement access.”

“And manufacturers should adopt techniques for data minimization and data deletion,” Rotenberg said. “Devices that retain data will be the targets not only of law enforcement officials but also criminal hackers.”

Do you own an Amazon Echo? What is your opinion? Share it in the section below:

You’re Being Watched: 7 Sneaky Ways The Government Is Tracking Your Every Move. Read More Here.

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Article Source Here: Is Amazon Echo Now A Police Surveillance Device?

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He Built An Underground House For $50

The article He Built An Underground House For $50 was first published to Total Survival

YouTube screen grab

As someone who lived for more than three decades in an underground house he designed and built for $50 and then later expanded for $500, Mike Oehler has a mission.

Now in his 70s, Oehler wants to convince other people of the advantages of living underground. In an interview with video journalist Kirsten Dirksen, Oehler shared his passion for underground living as he showed her around the homes he has built in Northern Idaho.

Mostly walking barefoot, which he called a lifelong habit, Oehler revealed the aboveground home he first built in 1968 after purchasing his property as a young San Franciscan involved in the back-to-the-land movement. After spending his first winter “freezing to death” in a cabin in the woods, however, he decided to use the earth as insulation.

In creating his first attempts, he fell into some of the mistakes others often make in designing an underground home — most of them centering on not having enough windows or with using basement types of windows only.

“An underground home has no more in common with a basement than a penthouse apartment has with a dark, dusty attic,” Oehler stressed. Explaining that an underground house can have many windows, he proved his point by showing Dirksen the many creative ways he incorporated patchworks of mostly used windows in his homes.

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‘We want a house that has windows on all four sides,” he explained. “Not everywhere on all four sides but enough so that each room has light coming in from two directions. That is very important.”

As he learned more and more about what worked and what doesn’t work in underground home design, Oehler began to find his own comfort zone. He called his inexpensive low-tech approach to building “PSP” for post/shoring/polyethylene, and he is particularly proud of what he calls his “uphill patio.” The uphill patio is a terraced space that allows for light, gardening space, outdoor grilling and water run-off.

Throughout the interview, Oehler mentioned the many advantages of living in an underground home, or what he prefers to call an earth-insulated home. Among the benefits:

• Less property tax.
• Warm in winter and cool in summer.
• Serves as fall-out shelter with radiation protection.
• No foundation needed.
• Low maintenance.
• Sound proof.
• Increased growing space.
• Fire-resistant.
• Environmentally sound.
• Weather resistant

Probably the most striking thing about Oehler’s designs is that they do not have the feeling of being underground. In fact, largely because of their use of natural light, the homes seem traditional from certain perspectives.

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“With an earth-integrated house, you are working with the earth, not overwhelming it,” Oehler said, adding that some Native American tribes saw the advantages of living underground centuries ago.

He finds home sites “by instinct.”

“I will sleep at the site for a while to get a feel for the space,” he said. Although he cannot do the construction of the homes he designs any longer due to health reasons, Oehler said his home sites are all hand dug. He enjoys digging and finds it to be good exercise.

One downside of his underground home in Northern Idaho? It is attractive to bears. Oehler has had more than one very close encounter with a bear who thought Oehler’s abode looked appealing.

Although Oehler thinks the soil in Northern Idaho – with its mixture of sand, silt and clay — is ideally suited to underground homes, he said you can build an underground home anywhere.

Would you live in an underground home? Share your tips in the section below:

Are You Prepared For Extended Blackouts? Read More Here.

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Post Source Here: He Built An Underground House For $50

Winter Survival Lessons From Alaska’s Denali

Winter Survival Lessons From Alaska’s Denali is courtesy of http://ift.tt/1nr27gs

In the summer of 1967, 12 young men climbed Alaska’s Denali — the 20,000-foot mountain that outsiders call Mt. McKinley. There, they encountered a deadly storm that killed seven of them in what remains one of the most heartbreaking mountain climbs in U.S. history.

On this week’s edition of Off The Grid Radio we discuss that well-known tragedy with Andy Hall, who wrote a book (Denali’s Howl) about the event and who was the son of the park superintendent at the time. Andy spent years tracking down rescuers, survivors, lost documents and recordings of radio communications for his book — and he says the winter survival lessons learned from ‘67 can apply to anyone who lives in areas where it gets cold and snows.

Andy tells us:

• What the five fortunate men who did make it down the mountain did to survive.
• How a simple, free modern-day invention could have saved the seven men who died.
• Why Denali, “physically,” is even bigger than Mt. Everest.
• What homesteaders and those in the preparedness community can learn from the disaster.

Andy also shares with us the incredible story of the 13th man who was scheduled to make the climb but couldn’t do so because of a car accident. Finally, Andy tells us what he learned about life itself while writing the book.

Don’t miss this amazing, unforgettable interview that will change how you view winter survival!

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Originally Published Here: Winter Survival Lessons From Alaska’s Denali

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19 ‘Must-Haves’ Most Everyone Forgets To Stockpile

The blog post 19 ‘Must-Haves’ Most Everyone Forgets To Stockpile was first seen on Total Survival

Image source: BlueMountainFoodPantry

For the dedicated homesteader or prepper, stockpiling isn’t something with a beginning or an end, it just is. You start your adventure by building a stockpile of food and you never really end it. While the heavy push for stockpiling might come to an end, the reality of stockpiling never does. You just find more and more things that you should add to your stockpile, wondering why you hadn’t thought of them before.

The thing is, without knowing beforehand what sorts of emergencies we might be faced with, there’s really no way of knowing everything we are going to need. So, we have to make some assumptions and build our stockpile based on them. But those assumptions can change with time, which means that our need for certain supplies might change, as well. So, we just keep adding and adding, making sure we have what we’ll need, when the time comes.

There are countless lists out there of things you should stockpile. Most have more or less the same things on them — perhaps because we tend to learn from each other. That’s good on one hand, but it means that everyone is likely to be forgetting the same things.

That’s where this list comes in. I’ve been at this for a while, and I’ve collected some things in my stockpile which I’ve discovered others tend to forget. So, I’m going to try and plug those holes. Hopefully, you’ll find a few things on this list which you hadn’t thought of before. Even better would be to find that you’ve thought of the same things that I have, and you don’t have any holes in your stockpile. Either way, I expect this to be useful for you to check yourself against.

Food

Food is where we all start, but have you thought of these?

Image source: Pixabay.com

1. Spices. Your meals are going to get awfully bland if you don’t have spices to flavor them. What you have in your kitchen might last a few months, but that’s about it.

2. Salt. Everyone has salt in their stockpile, but do you have enough? Salt isn’t just necessary for flavoring our food; it’s also for preserving meat. If you’re going to hunt at all, you need a couple hundred pounds of salt on hand for meat preservation.

3. Bouillon. Otherwise known as soup starter, mixed with water, this provides you with the stock. Somehow, I think soups are going to be a big deal in any post-disaster menu.

Food Production

Most of us are planning on producing at least some of our own food, if not all of it, in the wake of a disaster. But do you have everything you need to expand your garden to that size? A 20-foot garden plot isn’t going to be enough; you’re going to need to turn your entire backyard into a garden.

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4. Fertilizer. Few people bother stockpiling fertilizer, but if you’re going to have to expand your garden rapidly, you’re going to need a mountain of it. The best, of course, is a mountain of compost.

5. Animal feed. Those chickens, rabbits or goats you have are going to need to eat — or you won’t be able to eat them. Few people bother growing feed for their animals. So you’d better have something on hand.

6. Insecticides. The wrong bugs could cause you to lose your entire garden. I don’t want to think of how much I’ve lost to grub worms, let alone other types of pests. You probably won’t be able to find the insecticides – organic or otherwise — you need after a disaster.

Health

We all know we need a first-aid kit, although most don’t go far enough in stockpiling replacement supplies for theirs. But there are a few other key items you might want to consider.

7. Vitamins. If your diet isn’t going to be as well-balanced as it should be, a good quality multivitamin might go a long way towards keeping your health up.

Image source: Pixabay.com

8. Spare glasses. For those who wear prescription glasses, this will be a necessity if they are going to do anything to help keep their families alive.

9. Reading glasses. Even if you don’t need them now, don’t assume you never will. Reading glasses are great for any close-up work or working with small things.

10. Activated carbon (sometimes called activated charcoal). This is useful for a variety of things, such as making your own gas masks and purifying water. It also can be taken for stomach problems.

11. Spares for your first-aid kit. I know I just said this, but it can’t be overstated.

Repairs

We all have pieces of equipment that we’re planning on using to help us stay alive after a disaster. But what if something happens to that equipment? Are you prepared to make even simple repairs? If not, that wonderful tool or other gadget might just turn into a paperweight.

Learn The Secrets and Tricks Of The Word’s Top Survivalists!

12. Coleman lantern pump rebuild kit. If you have the old style Coleman lanterns or their dual-fuel stove, you know about the pump in the fuel tank. These last well, but eventually need new seals. A rebuild kit doesn’t cost much and can keep that equipment working.

13. Small engine parts. If you’re planning on using any gas-powered tools, such as a chainsaw or a roto-tiller, you’d better have at least the basic parts, such as spark plugs, air filters and priming bulbs. That way, you can keep them running.

14. Specific parts for critical equipment. Everything has critical parts and short-life parts in it. The manufacturers should be able to tell you what those are and be selling spares. Make sure you put in a good supply.

15. Water filters. If you’re using any sort of water filtration system which has filter cartridges, figure out how many filters you need to have and then multiply it by about 10. You can’t have enough.

Clothing

Few people think about stockpiling clothing — which means that there will be a lot of people wondering what to do when the time comes. A few specific things you need to think of are:

Image source: Pixabay.com

16. Kids’ clothing. Kids grow a lot, and you need to have larger sizes on hand than what they are using now.

17. Work gloves. I guarantee you, you’ll need them. But they tend to wear out, so have some spares.

18. Rough clothing. Most of us don’t wear very rugged clothing. If you don’t, stock up.

19. Work or hiking boots. Especially important if you have to bug out.

That’s our list – what would you add to it? Share your tips in the section below:

Are You Prepared For Extended Blackouts? Read More Here.

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Post Source Here: 19 ‘Must-Haves’ Most Everyone Forgets To Stockpile

How I Healed An Open Wound Without Stitches

How I Healed An Open Wound Without Stitches was originally published to http://ift.tt/1nr27gs

Image source: Pixabay.com

While working on my master herbalist degree, my German shepherd mixed breed dog named Ginger ended up with a tumor on her leg. The tumor grew to the size of an orange and was located in the middle of her leg, on the side. An x-ray showed that the tumor was not connected to the bone — a good sign because it had not invaded the bone tissue. It was localized.

I instructed a friend to “rope off the tumor” with a rubber band, tightening the band every day while I was gone on a business trip. She did, and this starved the tumor. When I returned, the tumor looked lifeless and was essentially hanging by a band of tissue. Ginger then bit it off.

Now I was faced with an open wound. It was large — the entire surface area of an orange. Veterinarians would say that a skin graft was needed to cover the entire area.

I made up an herbal formula with anti-infection herbs and herbs that helped regrow and restore tissue. The herbs I used included cat’s claw, Echinacea, goldenseal, slippery elm and comfrey. The formula was mixed with a little water and then added directly to the wound. After seeing some pus, I changed the strategy to adding the herbs in Ginger’s food and she gladly gobbled them up three times daily.

Learn How To Make Powerful Herbal Medicines, Right in Your Kitchen!

Every two days, there was a visible closing of the wound circumferentially by about one-fourth an inch. Ginger’s body was healing itself, and the herbs were stimulating the healing, just as they were meant to do.

Slipper elm tree. Photo by Milo Pyne / Flickr / Creative Commons / http://ift.tt/N3rZKX

The wound finally healed up completely, knitting itself perfectly without any stitches. All the hair grew back, as well, and there was no sign of ever being any type of trauma. Ginger had complete feeling in the area where the wound had been, and she lived another four years, dying at the age of 16.

Which Two Herbs Regenerate Tissue?

The two herbs that help regenerate the skin and tissues are slippery elm and comfrey. In herbal school, our teacher, Dr. Christopher, told stories of how he used these herbs. One slippery elm story was of a little girl who suffered from a completely shattered pelvis.

The girl could not move because of excruciating pain, and back in the 1950s, the roads in Utah were not as well-established as they are now. Many of them were made of rock and gravel and would have caused a lot of jarring to a broken bone. Fractured bones are very susceptible to vibration and the little girl would have suffered a lot of pain during the trip both to and from the hospital. Thus, the family called Dr. Christopher to come out for a house call.

He mixed slippery elm with a little water to make a paste and packed it into the wound after cleaning it; he then covered it. Then the family was instructed to continue packing the moistened herb into the area every day. The body used the nutrients in the slippery elm to rebuild the entire pelvis. It mended perfectly and when the little girl was x-rayed, there was no sign of any fracture at all.

Slippery elm is an herb that is always used by herbalists to provide abundant nutrients and phytonutrients and help reconstruct tissue. Comfrey may be used topically.

Wounds heal when the body has all the right nutrients at the time of the wound. My story of Ginger is a paradigm change for a lot of people. We’ve all been taught that stitches are essential to heal up gaping wounds, and in some cases skin grafts are critical. During a disaster or survival situation, though, stitches and skin grafts may not be accessible. Now you have an alternative way to heal wounds.

*This article is for informational purposes only and is not intended to diagnose or cure any particular health condition. Please first consult with a qualified health professional.

Have you ever tried healing a wound without stitches? Share your tips in the section below:

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Originally Published Here: How I Healed An Open Wound Without Stitches

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How To Grow Livestock Feed During Winter — Quickly & Easily

How To Grow Livestock Feed During Winter — Quickly & Easily Read more on: http://ift.tt/1nr27gs

Photo by Joanna Hoyt

During the growing season it’s easy to pasture livestock, offering them a healthy and varied diet. When the snow flies, though, things get harder.

But even in a Northern winter you can offer your animals fresh greens by sprouting grains indoors. This sprouted grain grass is often called “fodder” — a slightly confusing term since it’s also used generically to mean animal feed.

Many types of animals can benefit from fodder. My family’s meat rabbits live mainly on fodder and root crops through the winter. We’ve also given fodder to our chickens and goats, usually as a supplement rather than the main feed. I’ve read about other farmers who give fodder to their horses, cows, sheep and pigs.

You can buy an expensive ready-to-go fodder system in order to enjoy these benefits. Or you can spend a little bit of time and a very little bit of money and create a fodder system of your own.

What You Need

Seeds

Photo by Joanna Hoyt

Photo by Joanna Hoyt

In theory you could sprout any kind of grain or nutritious seed. In practice, some are easier than others.

Wheat and barley are the most common fodder crops. They’re GMO-free. They also germinate quickly and easily. Speed matters — the faster your fodder grows, the less likely it is to be colonized by mold. We grow wheat because it’s available from our feed mill and because it thrives in our cool, 50-60 degree (Fahrenheit) greenhouse temperatures. I’ve read that barley grows best at around 70 degrees.

Sprouting Setup:

For the early stages of sprouting you’ll need watertight containers that are easy to clean and rust-free. We use plastic coffee cans. Cut small slits in the bottoms of nearly half the cans; you’ll need one more solid than slotted cans.

Photo by Joanna Hoyt

For the later stages you’ll need trays or pans where you can spread your sprouts out in a thin layer and water them. We use 10-inch-x-20-inch plastic nursery trays. These also need notches cut in one end to let the water drain out.

You’ll need some kind of frame or table on which you can spread your trays. Prop the un-slotted ends up slightly so the water will wash through slowly and drain out the slotted ends. Put some kind of gutter (rain gutter or split PVC pipe work well) under the slotted ends; slope it and run it into a bucket.

Growing Fodder

Winnowing

Feed-store grain may contain a lot of chaff and dust which increase the chances that your fodder will turn moldy unless you take time to winnow your seed before soaking it. Take two large mixing bowls or cooking pots. Put a manageable amount of grain in one. (I find 3 quarts is the most I can winnow effectively at one time by the easy method described below.) Stand outside in a breezy place, or inside in front of a fan. (In the latter case, spread out a tarp or blanket to catch the chaff.) Hold the full bowl at shoulder height and pour its contents slowly into the other bowl. Wipe the dust out of the newly empty bowl, switch the bowls and repeat the process until no more dust and chaff blow out.

Soaking and Rinsing

Photo by Joanna Hoyt

Soak one day’s worth of grain in room-temperature water inside one of your solid cans. Let it stand for about 12 hours. Then pour it into one of the slotted cans, and set atop a solid can to catch the drips. Start soaking another batch in your solid can. Keep all cans loosely lidded.

Rinse the seeds in your slotted cans twice daily with room-temperature water. In two or three days, when seeds have visibly sprouted, they’ll be ready for spreading.

Spreading and Watering

Gently pour the sprouts out into trays and spread them evenly. (Three cups of dry seed will make enough sprouts to nicely fill a 10-inch-x-20-inch tray.) Set them under grow lights or in a sunny window to encourage quicker growth. Water gently with room-temperature water twice daily until you decide your fodder is grown enough to harvest. We usually feed wheatgrass to our rabbits at day seven or eight. The chickens will eat it at this stage, but they’re also are happy with less-developed fodder that still looks more like sprouted grain than grass.

Photo by Joanna Hoyt

Feed the whole plant — root, shoot and seed.

Troubleshooting

Mold is the main threat to fodder systems. Scrub all cans and trays with soap, hot water and bleach between batches of fodder. You also can add a very small splash of bleach to the water in which you soak your seeds for their first 12 hours. Temperature is important. We don’t try to grow fodder during the warm season, and we don’t rinse or water seed with warm water.

We still check each batch before feeding it, looking at the tops and the roots and smelling the whole thing. I’ve read that moldy feed can be fatal to livestock, so be careful.

Have you ever grown fodder? What advice would you add? Share it in the section below:

This Article Was Originally Posted On offthegridnews.com Read the Original Article here

Read Full Article Here: How To Grow Livestock Feed During Winter — Quickly & Easily

How To Grow Livestock Grass During Winter — Quickly & Easily

The following blog post How To Grow Livestock Grass During Winter — Quickly & Easily is courtesy of http://ift.tt/1Qfw8v0

Joanna Hoyt

During the growing season it’s easy to pasture livestock, offering them a healthy and varied diet. When the snow flies, though, things get harder.

But even in a Northern winter you can offer your animals fresh greens by sprouting grains indoors. This sprouted grain grass is often called “fodder” — a slightly confusing term since it’s also used generically to mean animal feed.

Many types of animals can benefit from fodder. My family’s meat rabbits live mainly on fodder and root crops through the winter. We’ve also given fodder to our chickens and goats, usually as a supplement rather than the main feed. I’ve read about other farmers who give fodder to their horses, cows, sheep and pigs.

You can buy an expensive ready-to-go fodder system in order to enjoy these benefits. Or you can spend a little bit of time and a very little bit of money and create a fodder system of your own.

What You Need

Seeds

Joanna Hoyt

In theory you could sprout any kind of grain or nutritious seed. In practice, some are easier than others.

Wheat and barley are the most common fodder crops. They’re GMO-free. They also germinate quickly and easily. Speed matters — the faster your fodder grows, the less likely it is to be colonized by mold. We grow wheat because it’s available from our feed mill and because it thrives in our cool, 50-60 degree (Fahrenheit) greenhouse temperatures. I’ve read that barley grows best at around 70 degrees.

Sprouting Setup:

For the early stages of sprouting you’ll need watertight containers that are easy to clean and rust-free. We use plastic coffee cans. Cut small slits in the bottoms of nearly half the cans; you’ll need one more solid than slotted cans.

Joanna Hoyt

For the later stages you’ll need trays or pans where you can spread your sprouts out in a thin layer and water them. We use 10-inch-x-20-inch plastic nursery trays. These also need notches cut in one end to let the water drain out.

You’ll need some kind of frame or table on which you can spread your trays. Prop the un-slotted ends up slightly so the water will wash through slowly and drain out the slotted ends. Put some kind of gutter (rain gutter or split PVC pipe work well) under the slotted ends; slope it and run it into a bucket.

Growing Fodder

Winnowing

Feed-store grain may contain a lot of chaff and dust which increase the chances that your fodder will turn moldy unless you take time to winnow your seed before soaking it. Take two large mixing bowls or cooking pots. Put a manageable amount of grain in one. (I find 3 quarts is the most I can winnow effectively at one time by the easy method described below.) Stand outside in a breezy place, or inside in front of a fan. (In the latter case, spread out a tarp or blanket to catch the chaff.) Hold the full bowl at shoulder height and pour its contents slowly into the other bowl. Wipe the dust out of the newly empty bowl, switch the bowls and repeat the process until no more dust and chaff blow out.

Soaking and Rinsing

Joanna Hoyt

Soak one day’s worth of grain in room-temperature water inside one of your solid cans. Let it stand for about 12 hours. Then pour it into one of the slotted cans, and set atop a solid can to catch the drips. Start soaking another batch in your solid can. Keep all cans loosely lidded.

Rinse the seeds in your slotted cans twice daily with room-temperature water. In two or three days, when seeds have visibly sprouted, they’ll be ready for spreading.

Spreading and Watering

Gently pour the sprouts out into trays and spread them evenly. (Three cups of dry seed will make enough sprouts to nicely fill a 10-inch-x-20-inch tray.) Set them under grow lights or in a sunny window to encourage quicker growth. Water gently with room-temperature water twice daily until you decide your fodder is grown enough to harvest. We usually feed wheatgrass to our rabbits at day seven or eight. The chickens will eat it at this stage, but they’re also are happy with less-developed fodder that still looks more like sprouted grain than grass.

Joanna Hoyt

Feed the whole plant — root, shoot and seed.

Troubleshooting

Mold is the main threat to fodder systems. Scrub all cans and trays with soap, hot water and bleach between batches of fodder. You also can add a very small splash of bleach to the water in which you soak your seeds for their first 12 hours. Temperature is important. We don’t try to grow fodder during the warm season, and we don’t rinse or water seed with warm water.

We still check each batch before feeding it, looking at the tops and the roots and smelling the whole thing. I’ve read that moldy feed can be fatal to livestock, so be careful.

Have you ever grown fodder? What advice would you add? Share it in the section below:

This Article Was Originally Posted On offthegridnews.com Read the Original Article here

This Article Was Found Here: How To Grow Livestock Grass During Winter — Quickly & Easily

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7 Overlooked Forms Of Shelters When Society Collapses

The following blog post 7 Overlooked Forms Of Shelters When Society Collapses Read more on: Total Survival

Image source: Pixabay.com

Most of us are planning on “bugging in” when a disaster strikes. Generally speaking, that’s a much more practical solution for people who don’t have a survival retreat off in the woods somewhere. Not only does your home provide you with shelter, but it has all of your survival equipment and supplies, as well as your other possessions. But what do you do if something happens to your home?

There is always a risk of your home taking a hit during a natural or man-made disaster. Some disasters, like earthquakes and tornadoes, are known for destroying houses. If that should happen to you, then you will need an instant replacement. If you haven’t thought about it beforehand, then you might not have an idea of where to go or what to do.

To start with, evaluate the condition of your home. If part of it is still standing, then you might be able to take shelter there, at least on a temporary basis. You only want to do this if the part that is standing is structurally sound, though. If it is likely to fall, you don’t want to be trapped inside.

If you find that you have to abandon your home during a societal collapse, there are a number of places around you, many of which may very well be excellent shelters to use. While they may not be as nice to stay in as your home, neither is a makeshift shelter or a tent off in the woods somewhere.

1. Outbuildings

If you have outbuildings on your property, that might be a good starting point. Surprisingly, a shed or detached garage might survive a situation in which the house is destroyed. While that building may not be as well constructed as the home was, it might have been sheltered by the home itself.

Learn The Secrets and Tricks Of The Word’s Top Survivalists!

Image source: Pixabay.com

Granted, a shed or garage isn’t a very comfortable or even nice place to lay your head to rest, but it has the advantage of being close to your home. That means you can stay close to your possessions. If you are going to begin salvage operations — to get what you can out of your damaged home — then it helps to stay close. Besides, those salvaged items can be used to make your temporary shelter more comfortable.

2. Your place of business

If you own a business, then you probably have an alternate shelter that you have legal title to, even if it is rented. Your office or store may very well survive something that damages your home, simply because commercial buildings are often stronger than residences. Their simpler construction, lack of windows and need to support more weight on the floor leads to a more robust building design.

If you have such a place, it would be good to stock some emergency supplies and equipment there, so that in the case of a disaster, it’s easy to move your family to the workplace. While you probably won’t want to abandon the equipment and supplies you have at home, what you keep at your business will help your family to survive while you are salvaging whatever you can.

3. Abandoned homes

Whatever makes your home uninhabitable may make it so that many other people flee. If that happens, then there will probably be a good assortment of abandoned homes available in the neighborhood. (Note: Use this option only as a last resort in a societal collapse.) The problem with this is that you would technically be trespassing and if the person came back, the situation could become a bit sticky. For this reason, I wouldn’t be too quick to move into someone else’s home.

If forced to move into someone else’s home, it is wise always to treat it as if it were theirs and not mine. In other words, I would take care of their home, leaving their possessions alone as much as possible. While I would use their furniture and kitchenware, I wouldn’t remove anything from their home or rearrange things any more than absolutely necessary. That way, if they were to come back, I could at least show that I’ve cared for their home.

Having said that, moving into an abandoned home is probably the most comfortable option you have for an urban survival shelter in an emergency situation. While it wouldn’t be your home, it would be a home, with all the comforts to be expected.

4. An abandoned business

There are always abandoned buildings around that were once stores, warehouses and other businesses. Any of these provide the basics necessary for a shelter. They can keep the weather out and protect your family. At the same time, businesses usually have a lot of open space, which you can configure as you need for your family. They also often have bathrooms, which might still work if there is water service.

While I wouldn’t hesitate to use an abandoned business as a survival shelter, I wouldn’t expect much more of it than it to be something to help protect me from the weather. I would operate under the assumption that anything I need would have to be brought in.

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One nice thing about abandoned businesses is that you can pre-plan. Just by keeping your eyes open for businesses that close in your area, you can know which businesses would be available in the case you need an emergency shelter. A little further investigation could show how you can get into those buildings if you have to use them as a shelter.

5. A vehicle

This may sound a bit unusual, but survival situations are unusual. A vehicle can actually be a fairly good, although small shelter, in times of need. I lived in a motorhome for a number of years, traveling the country. Although the space was limited, I had everything I needed. In a pinch, I could have lived in a much smaller vehicle if needed.

A prepared vehicle is easier to live in. But even if your vehicle isn’t prepared ahead of time, there are things you can do to make it work. Adding a shell to the back of a pickup or removing the back seats from a van creates a living space. A mattress in that area makes a comfortable sleeping area. Camping equipment, such as a camp stove, can quickly turn that makeshift vehicle shelter into something rather comfortable and workable.

6. An abandoned basement

Basements are the part of any structure that are most likely to survive. As such, they can be used as a place of refuge, even when the rest of the building has been destroyed. Often, the floor above the basement will remain intact even when the rest of the building is destroyed. That can turn the basement into an underground home.

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During World War II, much of Europe was destroyed. As the various armies battled across the landscape, defenders would take refuge in buildings, using them as makeshift pillboxes. The attackers then had to destroy those buildings, clearing out the soldiers. The residents of those buildings often took refuge in the basement.

While a basement isn’t a very comfortable shelter, it worked for the Europeans. At a minimum, it protected many of them from being killed by shrapnel and gunfire. Once the fighting moved on, many stayed in the basements because the houses and apartments above were destroyed. While it wasn’t as comfortable as home, it was shelter.

7. The underground

Speaking of basements, underground structures of many types have been used as shelters at one time or another. The catacombs of France are probably the most famous of these. But those aren’t the only underground shelters that have been used. Governments often build underground bunkers to hide activities, simply because they are well hidden.

Of course, you won’t be able to get into an underground bunker that the government is using, but many cities nevertheless have some sort of underground. This could be a storm sewer system (like the catacombs) or a subway system. Some cities even have commercial areas that are underground. Regardless of why the structure is underground, it is much more likely to survive many a calamity than anything above ground is. That makes it possible to use as an emergency shelter.

What type of shelter would you use? Share your tips in the section below:

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We’ve Been Warned: Russia ‘Has Figured Out How To Crash A Power Grid With A Click’

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KIEV, Ukraine — Experts believe that Russian hackers took down a portion of Ukraine’s power grid again earlier this month, and the same experts say similar attacks would be easier and do more damage in the United States.

“It’s very concerning that these same actors, using similar capabilities and tradecraft, are preparing and are getting access to these business networks, getting access to portions of the power grid,” Rob Lee, a former cyberwarfare officer for the U.S. military, told CBS News.

Some power companies in the U.S. have weaker security than the Ukraine, Lee said.

A distribution station that supplies one-fifth of the power to Ukraine’s capital, Kiev, suddenly shut down without warning early Dec. 18, Reuters reported.

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The hackers used a simple method to infiltrate the power grid: sending emails with infected attachments to employees. That allowed them to steal their logins and cut the circuit breakers at about 60 substations.

“It was illogical and chaotic,” Vasyl Pemchuk, the electric control center manager in Kiev, told CBS. “It seemed like something in a Hollywood movie.”

Lee thinks it could take days or even weeks to restart the U.S. power grid after such an attack — because the U.S. grid is so complex.

“We can’t just look at the Ukraine attack and go ‘oh we’re safe against that attack,’” Lee said. “Even if we just lose a portion, right? If we have New York City or Washington, D.C., go down for a day, two days, a week, what does life look like at that point?”

Pemchuk said workers watched their computers being taken over by hackers and could do nothing except film it all with their smart phones.

CBS reported that “Russia has figured out how to crash a power grid with a click.”

Ukrainian security officials believe their nation’s infrastructure has been under cyberattack from Russia for months. The Ukraine is currently locked in civil war with Russian-backed separatists.

On Dec. 23, 2015, hackers cut off power to half the homes in the Ivano-Frankivsk region of the Ukraine.

Do you believe something similar could happen in the U.S.? Is America prepared? Share your thoughts in the section below:

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All-Natural Antibacterial Gel You Can Quickly Make At Home

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As the cold weather sets in, we find ourselves taking extra precautions to ensure we are not the next victim of the cold and flu viruses spreading around our communities.

Perhaps we increase our vitamin intake or even obsessively wash our hands. And while those are easy to do around our homestead, many of us reach for an antibacterial gel or foam when we are traveling about. But that’s probably not the best idea.

The Problem With Store-Bought Antibacterial Gel

Each spring our local elementary hosts a science fair that invariably includes one project investigating the effectiveness of antibacterial gel versus traditional hand washing. A quick glance at the petri dishes confirms that traditional hot soapy water does the job just fine. Even the FDA has banned certain ingredients in commercially manufactured antibacterial soaps and alcohol-based gels. One controversial component now banned in soaps by the FDA is triclosan, which has been linked to thyroid problems and increasing resistant strains of bacteria. Manufacturers have until the fall of 2017 to reformulate their antibacterial soaps; however, antibacterial gels are exempt from this ruling.

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Nature, though, has provided all we need to combat viruses and bacteria that we encounter in the normal course of life. From medicinal plants grown in our herb gardens to essential oils curated from the best sources, creating our own antibacterial gels and sprays to use when we are away from home, or when we need an extra layer of protection after coming in contact with those suffering from illness, is a simple process and requires few ingredients.

Here are several ways to do it …

The Best All-Natural Ingredients To Use

Grown in containers, rosemary is useful as a seasoning and as a garnish for savory dishes, but it has several medicinal qualities, as well. Rosemary is antibacterial and anti-viral. Preparing an infusion of fresh rosemary creates a non-toxic alternative to commercially produced antibacterial gels. Using a one-to-eight ratio of fresh rosemary to distilled water in a stainless steel pan, bring the water to a simmer, and then cover and remove from heat. Let the rosemary steep for 20 minutes. The infused water, when cooled, can be transferred into a spray bottle for convenient applications. It also can be added to foaming solutions of castile soap, adding a layer of antibacterial protection.

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Wooly lamb’s ear is not typically thought of as anything more than a textured addition to landscapes, but it has amazing antibacterial, anti-viral and anti-inflammatory properties and is useful in the treatment of bruising and cuts and abrasions, in addition to reducing fevers and swelling due to insect bites and bee stings. As with the rosemary infusion, an infusion of wooly lamb’s ear makes a quick and effective antibacterial on-the-go spray.

If time permits, create your own extract using a one-to-three ratio of chopped wooly lamb’s ear and vodka. Let steep for four to six weeks in a cool, dark area, gently shaking every few days. Use a few drops of this extract combined with rubbing alcohol or witch hazel in a spray bottle for a concentrated antibacterial spray.

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The use of essential oils has certainly experienced a revival in recent years, and as a result they have become much more readily available to the average consumer. Many oils are antibacterial in nature and most contain additional properties that are beneficial to our overall health. In addition to the benefits gained from using essential oils, we also help diminish the growth of resistant strains of bacteria. That’s because the use of naturally occurring antibacterial extracts, oils or the like does not lead to the creation of superbugs or resistant bacteria.

Perhaps the most commonly known essential oil is tea tree oil (melaleuca oil), which is a medicinal powerhouse. Antibacterial, anti-viral and antiseptic, tea tree oil is an excellent addition to any antibacterial gel or spray formula.

Start an antibacterial gel formula with Aloe Vera, adding a small amount of witch hazel at a ratio of one-to-eight, and essential oils; a popular antibacterial combination is lavender and tea tree oil. Rosemary oil added to this formula will act as a natural preservative.

To any essential oil blend, a few drops of vitamin E oil will not only act as a natural preservative but also will moisturize your hands.

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The Right Way To Treat Frostbite In Chickens

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Frostbite can take place within minutes of flesh being exposed to wet, cold temperatures – and it can impact your chickens, too.

Chickens do have a covering of feathers to keep them warm, but their legs, feet, comb and wattles are left completely exposed. These areas are the most common places for a chicken to have frostbite. With proper monitoring and care once a case has been developed, the chicken still can live a long and happy egg-producing life.

Causes

Freezing temperatures are not the only cause of frostbite, as moisture is a large factor, too. Areas on the bird that get wet and then exposed to freezing temperatures are greatly impacted. Wind chill is another factor. Moisture in the air, combined with high winds and freezing temperatures, can quickly lead to frostbite.

Prevention

Wattles can become wet when the chicken drinks from a traditional chicken watering container. This moisture can freeze in place, causing frostbite. Wet coop and run floors are also a leading cause of frostbite on the feet. The coop should be cleaned regularly to prevent moisture in the coop. Ventilation is also key to maintaining lower moisture levels, although wind blocks should be installed on the run to keep the wind exposure down.

Diagnosis

Determining if the chicken has frostbite is quite simple. Color change in the legs, feet, wattle or comb are good indications of frostbite. Birds who experience swelling, blisters, black tissue, loss of appetite and loss of energy should be doctored.

Care

Remove the bird immediately and relocate it to a warm environment. A location inside the home, basement, garage or barn will all work, provided they are warmer than the coop and completely free from the wind. The bird should be kept in this location until it has fully healed. Placing it back among the population could give the other birds something to peck at, making the affected area worse.

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Slowly warm the affected area on the bird by soaking the feet in a lukewarm Epsom salt bath. Do not allow the water temperatures to top 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Providing water that is too warm will heat up the area too quickly and may cause further damage. It also will cause a great deal of discomfort to the bird. Never use a heating pad, hair dryer or another source of direct heat. If the comb or wattle is affected, soak a towel in the solution and gently press against the affected area. Do not rub the area; this not only will cause more discomfort to the bird but will also cause more damage. Leave any blisters or damaged tissue alone. They are there to protect the new flesh beneath it from further damage.

If an area has been opened, clean the wound with peroxide and allow to dry. The area should be kept clean and dry at all times. Apply a layer of cream to the area. This will protect the area and provide assistance with healing properly. Steer clear from water-based oils; they will only freeze and make the injury worse. Coconut oil and petroleum jelly are great choices.

If a veterinarian is an affordable and reasonable option, consider calling one. Pain medicines are available with a prescription from a veterinarian, but aspirin is another option. Regular run-of-the-mill human aspirin will suffice. Dissolve five pills in a gallon of water and give it to the bird over a period of one to three days; this will alleviate the pain and discomfort that the chicken may be experiencing.

Vitamins should be given to the chicken to assist in fighting off infection. Manufactured versions are available at most farm stores, although a more natural approach would be to provide dandelion. Fresh dandelion likely won’t be available, but adding some dried dandelion to the water will provide a great boost of vitamins. In fact, giving it to the entire flock year-round isn’t a bad idea.

The affected area should be monitored frequently for signs of infection. If the area has begun to swell, turn red, ooze, or has a bad smell, it is likely that infection has set in. Antibiotics should be given to the bird to assist in fighting off the infection. Fresh garlic is a natural antibiotic and can be provided to the bird as a natural alternative to manufactured versions.

With proper care and monitoring, the bird should be healed within a few days to a few weeks. After that, it can be returned to the rest of the bird population. Wait until temperatures have risen above freezing to avoid a second case of frostbite.

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