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Getting the Blues – Dealing with Corrosion


My Blued Hawken

Gun ownership is a long-term investment which requires proper maintenance and cleaning in order to keep your guns working at their peak performance. A primary concern with long term storage of any gun — especially those stored in humid climates — is corrosion. Preventing corrosion is a multi-step process, starting with proper care of your firearm in the field, and followed with proper storage.  However, even if you take all the necessary precautions and care possible with your firearm, and even in the best of situations, if you use it corrosion or wearing will probably happen. How you deal with the results of such wear is the purpose of this article. Continue reading “Getting the Blues – Dealing with Corrosion”

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Curing meat

Cured Meats (from livestrong.com)

Curing meat is an age old process.  It has been used to preserve, intensify flavors, and make unpalatable cuts of meat acceptable for consumption. Most of us don’t worry about the preservation aspect so much anymore, but if you’ve ever made a marinade then you’ve dabbled in curing (perhaps with out even knowing it).  In this post I’m going to go over some of the ingredients needed to cure meat and introduce a couple of salt mixtures that can be very useful in curing your meats.  I’ll also go over some things that could be kept in your food storage.
Continue reading “Curing meat”

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Variety in Your Food Storage is a Good Thing

Way back in 1998 sweet husband and I were just getting serious about our food storage.  That’s shortly before we had any kids.  We had the opportunity to do some canning at the LDS dry pack cannery and so we sat down to figure out what to can.

Well, we didn’t have a wheat grinder and didn’t really know what to do with wheat, so that was out.  I’m not sure why we ruled out oatmeal or sugar or whatever else, but we did decide we both liked white rice so we meticulously counted up how much white rice we’d need if we ate it for every meal for an entire year.  True story.  And that is what we canned.  A whole lot of white rice.  Now I know you’re all giggling at the fact that you really can’t live on white rice alone for a year without suffering some serious nutritional issues, but we were young and didn’t think through this very well.

So let me tell you what happens when you buy that much white rice.  Continue reading “Variety in Your Food Storage is a Good Thing”

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Food Production Systems DVD Giveaway Winner Announcement

We recently posted a review of the Food Production Systems For a Backyard or Small Farm DVD (see it here. As part of the review we were proud to offer a free DVD to one of our readers who commented on the review. Friday night I used Random.org to randomly select a winner from the 40 eligible (Sorry Jayce and Connor) entries.

The winner as determined by the random number generator is…
Continue reading “Food Production Systems DVD Giveaway Winner Announcement”

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Food Production Systems DVD Review and Giveaway

Can a two hour DVD turn you into a self sufficient farmer, providing all the food for your family on your postage stamp sized yard? Of course not. (If you think this is possible, let me know. I have a unique business opportunity to discuss with you :D ) However, the Food Production Systems For a Backyard or Small Farm DVD Is a wealth of information on how one family managed to do just that (on a bit of acreage) through trial and error over a decade. A full review of the DVD after the jump.
Continue reading “Food Production Systems DVD Review and Giveaway”

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Parents – Keep your kids AWAY from the rivers!

Last night was a pretty rough night, we pulled the body of an 8 year old boy out of the American Fork River here in Utah.  He was the fourth kid to die in the local rivers in the last week.

When the Utah County Sheriff got the call about him falling in, I happened to be very close to the canyon just finishing up a picnic with my family.  I immediately headed towards the canyon and was almost there when we (Utah County Search and Rescue) were paged.  I was the third person on scene and was working with the Lone Peak Fire Department and several other local police and fire departments.  We set up right across from Timp Cave and started watching the river for a body.  Over the next hour, well over 100 members of the SAR Team and local PD/FD arrived and spread out over about 10 miles working our way up and down the river.  He was finally found after I had been there almost 2 hours. Continue reading “Parents – Keep your kids AWAY from the rivers!”

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Provo Pioneer Crafting Fair

Looking for a chance to get the family out into our delayed summer? Provo has a great event this weekend at their pioneer village (map).  It’s a great chance to get demonstrations on some old skills such as spinning, blacksmithing and more.  Bring the family even if only just to get a feel for the local history, but even better, hang around and talk shop with people experienced in their crafts. This is probably one of the better local opportunities to get together with people that can teach these crafts.

When:

Saturday, June 11, 2011

10:00 AM – 2:00 PM

And a nice video explaining things via the local newspaper, the Daily Herald

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Goal0 Sherpa Kit

Goal0 Sherpa Setup
Goal0 Sherpa Setup
My Sherpa gear

Recently, Mike published an article introducing a local company named Goal0 (article link). They develop solar products to fit a wider variety of needs than your average solar pack, and so we were very intrigued as to their application to a prepper mindset.

Elite/Sherpa Products

In reviewing the different models, I decided to purchase some of the Sherpa series of products to try out.  One of the ideal solutions when buying gear is to get one of the pre-defined kits, in my case I specifically picked up the Sherpa 120 kit.  This kit is made up of the following items, which in the bundle came at a good discount:

Continue reading “Goal0 Sherpa Kit”

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Shelf Reliance is Hiring Again

Shelf Reliance Our friends at Shelf Reliance (makers of the great roller shelving, and the THRIVE food storage line) are hiring again. If you are a PHP developer and a prepper, this is a great opportunity to enjoy your work.  Check out the job posting here.  From what I hear they should have a SysAdmin job opening soon too, so if that’s your knack you might want to check into them too.

 

It’s always good to see a local preparedness company doing well, and I know I use plenty of their products myself. Looks like it could be a fun place to work.  Job details copied below. Continue reading “Shelf Reliance is Hiring Again”

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Upcoming Giveaway!


Next week we’ll be posting a review of the Backyard Food Production DVD. The producers of the DVD have been kind enough to send us a copy of the DVD to reward one of our lucky readers.

We will be selecting one winner at random from those who comment on the review post that will be published next week. Complete details on how to enter to win will be included in the review post.

In the meantime, check out this DVD preview.

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Another Water Tank Group Buy — Act Fast!

Two years ago, we organized a water tank group buy and received a good response. I’ve now organized another water tank group buy.

These are new (unused) food-grade plastic bladders housed in new/used metal cages. 285 gallons! And it stores in a lot less space than you’d think. While I’m aware of others having stacked their tanks three high, due to space constraints (and a lack of a death wish) ours are stored two high. I’ve now had mine stored in the garage for three years without any incident; I rotate one tank every six months.

Continue reading “Another Water Tank Group Buy — Act Fast!”

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Honeyville Grain is Having a Sale!

Just when you thought food prices were going up everywhere, Honeyville Grain is having a 10% off sale today through Friday at 6 pm PST. That’s only 3 days, but if you’ve been in the market for some food storage, now’s a great time to get some. Honeyville is one of my favorite places to shop–that’s where I get my 6 Grain Cereal and Gluten Flour. To get the 10% off, simply enter coupon code: “HOPHOP11” during checkout.

And don’t let the name fool you, they have more than just grains. They also have freeze dried fruits and vegetables and some really tasty hot cocoa (the French Vanilla is my favorite). And you know there’s more, so go browse around their site a bit and see if they have what you’re wanting.

Normally, their prices are a little higher than other places, but they only charge a flat $4.49 shipping anywhere in the continental US for your whole order–not per item. So, that great shipping rate plus the 10% off should make for a fair deal on some good quality food delivered to your doorstep. While you’re there, sign up for their newsletter and you’ll be notified every time they have a sale. Remember, for this sale enter coupon code: “HOPHOP11” during checkout anytime from now until this Friday 4/22/11 at 6:00 pm PST. Happy shopping!