The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 10, Issue 20
Fingers crossed that this works without a hitch
Yes, the newsletter looks different. Allow me to explain.
For the last ten years, I’ve been using Mailchimp to send out the newsletter, with varying degrees of frustration. Currently, their “service” costs close to $100/month. Given that I don’t charge for a subscription to my newsletter, I eat that cost each month. Behind the scenes, I’ve been having a lot of technical issues with them as of late and, well, the juice just isn’t worth the squeeze with them anymore.
So, welcome to Substack! That’s the name of the service I’m now using. I’m really hoping that this changeover happens with little to no hiccups. Please be patient as we move forward.
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I still have a bit of a lingering cough, but other than that I’m about back to normal after a bout of the Mongolian Death Flu or whatever it was that hit me a couple of weeks ago.
Over the last few days, I was able to get some work done on the article list for Backwoods Survival Guide #24, which won’t be out until October. After we recently changed publishers for Backwoods, as well as Prepper Survival Guide, we’ve been revamping some of the workflow and changing things up a bit. The goal is to be working on issues further down the road, rather than rushing to get them done at the last minute. While it varies from publisher to publisher and title to title, it isn’t uncommon in the magazine world to be working 5-6 months ahead.
This sort of lengthier timeline gives us breathing room and we can adjust article content as needed, such as if some sort of major event occurs.
There’s also been some talk about bringing back subscriptions, hopefully in the near future. Nothing definitive yet, but the publisher is keenly aware of just how many readers want the luxury of having issues show up in their mailbox. I’ll certainly share more info on that as it becomes available.
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I've shared this before, but we’ve had a lot of new subscribers to the newsletter since then, so I thought perhaps it might be time to include it here again.
My Prepping Philosophy
There are many different approaches to preparedness. I hesitate to say that there are no wrong ones, as there are certainly some that I feel are questionable at best. Here are some of my own perspectives on the subject.
First and foremost, I encourage people to be realistic with their plans. We all have limitations, including physical and/or budgetary, and some are more difficult to overcome than others. But, I firmly believe that there are always things we can do to move forward, provided we approach the problem with a distinct absence of fantasy. Keep plans practical and down to earth.
Another touchstone for me is financial preparedness. I believe this is just as important as stocking up on food and other necessities. In fact, I think this should be one of the foundations of your overall prep plan, it is that critical. I also highly encourage the development of so-called soft skills, like communication, interpersonal conflict resolution, and critical thinking. These are things that can only benefit you, in your day-to-day life as well as in a crisis.
See, I truly feel that prepping isn’t something that should just be limited to the extremes, like hurricanes or terror attacks. Rather, it involves being prepared for, well, life in general. What I mean is that prepping encompasses being ready for all sorts of situations, from vehicle breakdowns to the death of a loved one, natural disasters to manmade catastrophes. I believe far too many survivalists and preppers have their eye focused on the end of the world and lose sight of the more mundane, but far more likely, things that can and do happen all the time.
In general, though, I’m not so much concerned about WHY someone preps as I’m focused on HOW a person preps. That said, I have very little patience for alarmist bullshit and scare tactics that are geared toward gaining clicks and follows. I feel that sort of nonsense not only degrades the focus of preparedness, it risks becoming a “boy who cried wolf” situation. I’m also very critical of divisiveness and encourage people to understand that we’re all in this together.
Prepping is a lifestyle, yes. But, here’s the thing. It shouldn’t run your life. Prep to live, don’t live to prep, as the saying goes. Make intelligent, informed decisions, but never lose sight of the fact that life is meant to be lived. Spending your existence in fear of what might happen one day isn’t the best use of the limited time we each get.
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I’ve heard a lot of people talking about a show called Yellowjackets, so I wanted to check it out. The basic premise is that a girls high school soccer team is flying to a national tournament in 1996 when their plane goes down in the Canadian wilderness. Most manage to survive the crash, but they aren’t found and rescued for somewhere around 19 months. The show goes back and forth between that timeframe and about 25 years later when the girls have grown up and have families of their own.
I got about three episodes in and just wasn’t feeling it. At some point, I might revisit the show and see where it goes. I like the premise, that’s for sure. But, the show is pretty brutal and I just wasn’t in the right mood for it, I guess. I had it out on DVD from our library, but the first season is available for streaming through Amazon Prime.
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In the film Contagion, there is a character named Alan Krumwiede. He’s a YouTube guy, today we’d call him an “influencer” I suppose. He makes a ton of money by scaring the hell out of people and then offering salvation from the crisis by means of a “cure." Of course, he's just selling snake oil.
I think about that guy a lot when I watch many of today’s prepper “influencers” on YouTube.
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Backwoods Survival Guide #22 should be hitting stores in the next couple of weeks. Lots of great stuff in this one, including:
How to use white willow for pain relief
Growing a wilderness garden
Knife sharpening
Building a greenhouse
Trail food suggestions
Shemagh uses
Egg substitutions when cooking
Here’s a shot of the cover.
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Reminder: I’ll be appearing at the Minnesota Prepper Expo. The event runs June 30 – July 2, but I’ll only be there Saturday and Sunday. I won’t have any books to sell, but I plan to have some back issues of Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide available. I’m leading four classes during the expo:
Financial Preparedness
Prepping with Kids
Conflict Resolution
Realistic Bug Out Planning
See their website for the schedule.
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Because it was Mother’s Day weekend and we had some traveling to do, we ended up doing a fairly short jaunt for our weekly hike. One of the parks near us, one of our favorites actually, added a new trail segment a short while ago. We’ve been on this trail before, right after it opened up, and it has some great views.
Survival Tip – Edible Landscaping
It has been said that the largest irrigated crop in the United States is lawn grass. Whether that’s truly accurate or not, few could argue that we spend an awful lot of time, money, and energy on growing and maintaining something that really doesn’t serve much purpose. A big green expanse might be aesthetically pleasing, but that’s about it.
What is Edible Landscaping?
This is landscaping with intention, with purpose, and with an eye toward food production. On paper, the idea is simplicity itself. Replacing some, most, or all of the traditional landscape plants, such as shrubs, hedges, and even grass, with plants that will produce vegetables or fruit. All of this is done with an eye toward appearance, too. Just because something is practical doesn’t mean it can’t also be visually attractive.
Growing your own food allows you to be in control of what ends up on your dinner plate. You decide what, if anything, is used to fight pests or weeds, for example. It can also save you money on groceries.
Hiding in Plain Sight
Another angle at work with edible landscaping is that you can sneak food plants into your flower beds and along your property line without too much risk of discovery.
Some communities are governed by homeowner associations (HOAs) and they may have rules regarding traditional garden plots. These might include limiting their size or even forbidding them altogether.
Another reason for secrecy would be a risk of thieves stealing food that you’ve grown, perhaps because some sort of major calamity has closed down local grocery stores for a time.
Think about it like this. Most people can probably recognize stalks of corn, no matter where they are growing. But, how many would be able to spot carrots, potatoes, or other root crops, even if they were staring right at them in the flower bed?
How Much is Too Much?
If you’re just starting out with edible landscaping, you might want to take it slow and test the waters, so to speak. There is actually a lot of work involved with this endeavor and you don’t want to end up overwhelmed right off the bat.
One approach would be to pick one flower bed, convert it to food production, and see how it goes. If that turns out well, then expand into another flower bed the next season, and so on.
Eventually, you might reach a point where you’re actually digging up sod and replacing it with plants and shrubs. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but you might want to have a conversation with your spouse first, make sure you’re both on the same page.
Making the Plan
As you determine where you’re going to start with your edible landscaping adventure, there are a few things you’ll want to keep in mind.
Unlike traditional landscaping, where you’re mostly concerned with the appearance of the plants, with edible landscaping you will need to be able to reach each plant you grow so you can harvest the produce. This means you’ll need to plan ahead for walkways and such. Even if they aren’t formal paths with crushed stone or bark, you’ll need some sort of access to each plant.
You also need to consider the amount of light each plant needs and whether one plant might cast too much shade on a neighbor. This is where the concept of companion planting comes into play. Over the last several thousand years, we’ve learned that certain plants grow best when paired with certain others.
For example, the so-called Three Sisters. When Europeans first began settling in North America, they observed how the Native Americans were growing food in their settlements. Rather than the traditional row gardens the Europeans were accustomed to using, the Native Americans were planting corn, squash, and pole beans all together in a single space. The beans used the corn stalks to cling to as they grew, while the squash’s broad leaves shaded the ground, keeping down weeds. Essentially, this is just a stacked garden, with plants growing at three levels.
Want to play around with that concept a bit? Instead of corn stalks, how about some dazzling sunflowers? They bring a great pop of color to the mix, plus the seeds are loaded with protein and B complex vitamins. Plant pumpkins instead of squash and you’ll be all set for Halloween and jack o’lanterns.
There are all sorts of references available that go into great detail on other types of companion planting. Search out information on Mel Bartholomew’s square foot gardening system and you’ll find out many other great tips on how to maximize your space.
Examples of Edible Landscaping
Here are a few suggestions on how you can work edibles into your existing landscaping.
Pole beans – these can add height to the landscape. As we mentioned before, you can work them into areas with other tall plants. Or, build a small trellis for them to climb. Think beyond the standard bean, too. Red noodle beans are amazing to see and taste great.
Garlic – you can never have enough garlic. Plant it along the edges of the flower beds as a border. You can do the same with onions. Trust me, the powers that be in the HOA will be none the wiser about them.
Peppers – they come in such a wide range of color, as well as heat or sweetness, that it would be a shame not to use them in your flower beds and such.
Herbs – rosemary and lavender make beautiful borders for flower beds.
Blackberries – these, as well as raspberries, make outstanding hedges.
Root crops – plants where the edible part is grown underground, such as potatoes, carrots, sweet potatoes, and beets, are excellent options for edible landscaping. They are largely unrecognizable to non-gardeners and thus will escape notice from nosy neighbors. Of course, you’ll still need to dig them up to harvest them.
Edible flowers – it doesn’t get much more disguised than flowers that double as salad. Pansies, violas, borage, and violets are all pretty flowers that can really perk up the yard. At the same time, they can also be added to the diet.
Edible landscaping is a great way to augment your food supply while keeping it hush hush. Done correctly, few people outside the household will realize just how much food is being grown right in the front yard.
Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide
For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now.
You can find them just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:
Walmart
Sam's Club
Costco
Publix
Walgreens
Rite Aid
CVS
Tractor Supply
Fleet Farm
Barnes & Noble
At this time, there are no subscriptions available. Both magazines are newsstand only and print only, no electronic editions.
Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?
I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.