Preparing for Uncertainty and Self Reliance

[brewster]

Your Doomsday Prepper Report

• China's food supply is being imperiled as new reports warn that up to 50 percent of China's 440 million pigs are now at risk from African Swine Fever infection.
• The African Swine Fever has jumped the Chinese border to over 52 cities in Vietnam, leading to the culling of more than 2 million pigs.
• The Fall Armyworm has spread to 220,000 acres in Southern China, ruining primarily corn and some sugarcane crops.
• Illinois, the nation’s second-largest producer of corn, is off to the slowest start to a planting season on record, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. As of June 2, Illinois farmers have only been able to sow corn seed in 45% of the acreage dedicated to the crop, 53% below the five-year average.
• Of the seeds that have been laid, only 32% have emerged, a 59% decline compared with the past five years.
• Thanks to Trump, there will be no Guacamole available during TEOTWAWKI. Stock up now and barter Guac for lifesaving meds.

In other news, the prices for American commodity crops are still low. If analysts were panicked, futures would be way up, no? The upside of globalization is it takes more than a regional crisis to create disaster in a reasonably functional country with plenty of cash to buy on the global market, which China is.

[C-Mag]

Pork has gone up about 30% in the last 6 weeks I believe. But it's not panic monkey time yet. I think there's about a 90-120 day delay between production and delivery of most commodities. If this continues to be a problem, prices could potentionally make a steep rise in the Fall.

[TheReal_ND]

Don't forget the Bomb Cyclone that hit the midwest this year. It's sure to effect beef prices going forward.

The timing couldn’t be worse as many are in the middle of calving season. And as producer fight to save their calves, their homes and their livelihoods, their stories will continue to go untold in the mainstream media.

You won’t hear about the bomb cyclone on the evening news. Rural communities banding together to help one another during a difficult time is simply not compelling or trending news.

[Speaker to Animals]

Bumblebee capture:



Looks like fun, actually. Fun fact: honeybees don't do so well inside green houses. Bumble bees will pollinate in those conditions. If you ever want to build a large green house with fruiting trees in it, you might want to learn the art of bumble beekeeping.


Those bumble bees were a bit on the angrier as shit side of things.

[TheReal_ND]

Bumblebee capture:



Looks like fun, actually. Fun fact: honeybees don't do so well inside green houses. Bumble bees will pollinate in those conditions. If you ever want to build a large green house with fruiting trees in it, you might want to learn the art of bumble beekeeping.

I've seen a guy do it at a pipe yard. They like making nests in old structure pipes. I saw how he prepared for it at least, I didn't get to see him do it iirc. He basically fashioned two long shims based on the pipe ID. Put one on the bottom and one was used to scrape the top, dislodging the nest whole. Then he pulled it out with the bottom shim. Old bee guys are pretty crafty.

[Speaker to Animals]

So.. in honey collection process, set aside your raw wax in the process of bottling your honey. Then process that raw wax into a useful block of pure beeswax. Spend some time making your wicks. When you are ready to make your candles, melt a block of wax and form the candles in your molds.

Pretty low investment and, in difficult times, it's kind of essential to have lighting from something other than lightbulbs..

In the meantime, you can get molds with some fancy patterns or something to attract the hipsters, etc. Sell your candles to get the most out of your beekeeping. The cost of wicks is kind of high relative to what you can get for a single candle, so you might as well just make that shit on your own.

[Speaker to Animals]

Also, if your plan (like mine) is to get off the grid and out of the corporate reservation, you may want to consider going with an efficient house that is heated by a central wood furnace, and utilizes a lot of candles for lighting. Keep your electric costs down to mostly appliances and a water pump, which at some point you can offset with solar/wind and a backup generator. If your candles are a byproduct of your honey production, you pretty much get lighting for free, outside the fixed costs of a little bit of equipment, and the cost of strings.

Those little bees are pretty useful.

[Montegriffo]

Honey is also an excellent antiseptic. As a bonus it helps stop the bleeding on quite serious cuts.
Great preservative too.

[Speaker to Animals]

I need to buy like half an acre somewhere remote to move my hives to. I am not sure how big I can grow my collection at the current apiary.

[SuburbanFarmer]

I need to buy like half an acre somewhere remote to move my hives to. I am not sure how big I can grow my collection at the current apiary.

Need 2 acres, at minimum to support yourself and a mistress.