Author: cityprepping-author

Marti’s Corner – 41

Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* Garden stuff. I went to pick this tomato today. In my view, it was lovely and ripe. Then this is what I found.

Is this from birds? Squirrels? Argh. I am not growing tomatoes for THEM!!! Any advice from anyone? Maybe I’ll have to try bird netting to protect them. Although my daughter said she used bird netting, then sat and watched as a bird carefully lifted up the netting and slipped under it to feast on the fruit.

* I found this SpiceChart on the internet.

Again, not sure if it’s cheaper to store all the ingredients for pumpkin pie spice mix or to just store some pumpkin pie spice. Right?

LONG TERM FOCUS: Fruit

Canning fruit is easy to do, because you just need to boil the jars, not pressure can them. Peaches, pears, cherries, and tomatoes are probably the easiest. We have kind of missed that season, though. Plus, here in So. Cal. we don’t really get “cheap” fruit, even at the Farmer’s Markets. I try to watch the sales at Sprouts or Cardena’s and see if I can get fruit for less than $.75 a pound. I checked out prices for canned fruit last week and It can be $1.95 a can!!! If you have room, consider planting a fruit tree. It probably won’t bear fruit for a few years, but now the road, it could be invaluable! Berries are another fruit easy to grow. In my yard, I have blackberry vines that grow like weeds. Literally, in some places they ARE weeds. You have to be careful they don’t overrun everything. I also have blueberry bushes. Unfortunately, I never get enough fruit to can or make into jam. The reason is that I just eat the berries as I pick them!!! LOL Did you ever read the book, Blueberries for Sal? As a side note: I do the same thing with the cherry tomatoes. All that garden fruit just explodes with flavor in your mouth. Mmmmmm.

SHORT TERM FOCUS: Batteries

October and April are my “check-your-batteries” months. In fact, all our smoke alarms went off last week and we had to replace all the 9-volts. I also bought a large pack of AA’s and several C’s and D’s and went around checking all the flashlights (in the nightstands, and in the cars). Batteries are pricey, but you just gotta bite the bullet and do it. This is a good time, because batteries are usually on sale right before Christmas. Your batteries should last 1 year. Still, check every 6 months.

MISC FOCUS: Diapers

I’ve heard that there might be an upcoming shortage of diapers. Parents with babies, you should SERIOUSLY consider getting some cloth diapers just to have on hand. I don’t have any particular recommendations, ask a friend, or search online. But get something. And put some in a baby backpack that you could grab in an evacuation emergency.

I read a very sad story about a mother after Hurricane Katrina who had no diapers and was reusing the same diaper day after day, scraping it clean when needed. She was begging at a gas station for anyone to help her buy diapers.

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Granola Apple or Peach Crisp

From the book, Cookin With Home Storage by Peggy Larson
(I wanted to make this one because I have about 5 dozen jars of canned peaches that we are just not eating. I’ll try this dessert, and then maybe just dehydrate some of them so I can use the jars for other things.)

5 medium apples, sliced or 4 c. canned peaches, drained
Place apples or peaches in a square baking dish.
1/3 c. flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 c. granola

Combine other ingredients. Mix well. Sprinkle over fruit. Bake 25-30 min at 350˚. Serve warm or cold with milk or whipping cream.

Caramel Apple Dump Cake

This recipe was created for a solar oven, but can be cooked in a conventional oven at 350˚. It tastes like apple pie and can be put together very quickly at a campsite or tailgate party and baked in a solar oven right on the spot.

2 cans apple pie filling
1 box yellow cake mix
2 sticks of butter, melted
1/2 jar of caramel sauce (like ice cream topping)
1 c. chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, etc)
Pre-heat the solar oven while preparing the recipe. Dump the apple pie filling into a 9X13 pan. Add the caramel sauce and stir to mix. Spread evenly in the pan.

Sprinkle the dry cake mix evenly over the top. Carefully spread it evenly over the top with a knife or spoon if needed. Pour the melted butter over the top of the dry cake mix.
Place the pan into a hot, pre-heated solar oven. Do not cover. Bake about 1 1/2 – 2 hours until the cake is browned on top and bubbly around the edges. Serve with ice cream or whipped topping if desired.

Apple Fritters
From the Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book

1 c. flour
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp baking powder
3 TB powdered sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg, well beaten

Blend dry ingredients, add milk and egg.

Add 2 medium-sized apples (1 1/2 c.), pared, cored, and cut into narrow strips about 3/4 inch long. Drop from tablespoon into deep hot fat (365˚-375˚) 2-5 minutes. Drain on absorbent paper. Sift with powdered sugar. Serves 4-6.

Corn Fritters (okay, not a fruit – but they still sound good)

1 1/3 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2/3 c. milk
1 egg, well beaten
1 1/2 c. drained whole kernel corn.

Mix and drop into hot fat. Drain, serve with maple syrup.

Apple Fritter Bread

(This was just shared with me today and doesn’t it sound so yummy!!! From the webpage:  houseofnasheats.com)

3/4 c. milk. Heat in a small pan until bubbles appear around the edges. Do not boil. Add:
1/4 c. butter, stir till melted and let cool

       In a large bowl:

3 c. flour
1 TB yeast
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt

     Mix well. Add…

1/4 c. apple cider or water
1 egg lightly beaten

Warm butter/milk mix. Stir until the dough forms into a ball and knead for 5 minutes, until smooth. This can be done in a stand mixer using a dough hook.
Transfer the dough to a clean, oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise to double, about 1 hour.

While the dough is rising, prepare the apple filling.

3-4 apples peeled and diced
1 c. brown sugar
2 TB butter
1 TB lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2 TB cornstarch

Combine in a large skillet and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the apples soften and release their juices. The juices will thicken slightly from the cornstarch, but it will be very syrupy. Remove from the heat and allow to cool while the dough rises.

Assembly: Prepare 2 large bread pans with a parchment sling.

Divide the dough into two equal-sized portions. On a very clean, lightly floured surface, roll out one portion of dough into a rectangle. Evenly spread half of the apple filling mixture, including juices, over the dough. Roll the dough, starting from the long edge, cinnamon-roll style. Don’t worry about the syrup leaking out too much as you roll.

Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the loaf diagonally in 1-inch slices, then change your angle and cut again in the other direction, creating an “X” pattern and slicing the rolled dough into small chunks.

Scoop the chunks of dough and apple filling into the prepared bread pan, using the scraper to scoop up and add any spilled syrup into the pan. This part gets messy but it’s the best way I’ve found to make sure there is an even distribution of apples and syrup throughout the bread loaf. Repeat with the remaining bread dough and apple filling, then cover the loaves lightly with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 more minutes.

Heat oven to 350˚. Bake loaves 35-45 minutes until brown on top and cooked through. When done, immediately remove the loaves of bread from the pans and place on wire racks.

Prepare the glaze:

Whisk together
3/4 c. powdered sugar
1 TB melted butter
3 tsp apple cider or milk
1 tsp vanilla

Drizzle over the top of both loaves of warm bread and allow to set before slicing.

Marti

October 27, 2021
The Most Overlooked and Critical Item for Preppers

How to Prevent Failure After SHTF “If you haven’t got your health, you haven’t got anything.” — Count Rugen When we consider prepping for every conceivable scenario, our greatest challenge will be having the physical and mental capacity to withstand the demands of the crisis we may one day face. Whether that is running from a disaster zone, walking on foot to a safe location, or exerting a great deal of physical activity, we are more likely to survive a prolonged disaster if we are already fit before the event. The only way to prepare ourselves is by starting right now to improve our health and wellbeing daily. You have to approach your health as a daily endeavor–a daily prep. And beyond just a potential disaster, focusing on your health will provide you with a much longer and enjoyable life. A special thanks to Athletic Greens for sponsoring this Youtube ad free video. When you have to push your body beyond its normal limits, having the right nutrition will be everything. More on this in a moment. This blog will cover the three aspects you can easily focus on now to ensure you can rise to the occasion should a disaster necessitate you to do so. These three critical elements are functional fitness and activity tolerance, diet and nutrition, and sleep. We hired a licensed clinician to help with this video who works with older individuals who have neglected these 3 principles and he has seen firsthand the detrimental impact it has on them. Your fitness level, nutrition and diet, hydration, and ability to get rest will all determine how well your body adjusts to a post-SHTF environment and really whether you can even make it through to the aftermath of a disaster. Treat your health like your most important prep because, well, it is. Also, as an added bonus, we’re doing a giveaway at the end of this blog which will help you on your physical fitness journey. Let’s jump in… FUNCTIONAL FITNESS Most of us work out with a specific motivation in mind. Maybe you want to get back in shape, build more muscle or become a better runner. As a prepper, training for real-life situations you could face should be one of the main reason for exercising. Living better now is the by-product of that and just as important. Functional fitness is a term used for full-body workouts, during which you don’t train isolated muscle groups but move your body the way you use it in daily life. Instead of doing bicep curls or bench-pressing to isolate vanity muscles, you train your whole body to do everyday activities more easily and efficiently. In its simplest terms, a bicep curl machine may make your arms look great, but it won’t help you one bit if you need to collect and process firewood for an hour which would engage muscles you may have overlooked training in the gym and could potentially result in injury. Someone with a whole-body functional fitness approach may not look massive, but their body will be better suited to handle real tasks that may be required after a disaster. Functional fitness is also the approach that skilled clinicians use for people recovering from disease or injury and for those dealing with chronic illness – namely, focusing on those areas of fitness that improve your health and quality of life the most. For example, running on the treadmill boosts your fitness, but it may not be the best choice if you’re considering your preparedness for all aspects of a crisis or disaster situation. Treadmill running is very different than trail running or even street running. Even the slight lateral twisting of the knees involved in navigating terrain is a small critical movement that isn’t effectively accomplished on a treadmill. Unlike most workouts, functional fitness doesn’t just focus on building strength and endurance, which are obviously important. It also develops other capabilities you need to function well: flexibility, dynamic balance and stability, coordination, and good posture. By doing activities and exercises that mimic strenuous physical movements you may need to do after a disaster such as hiking long distances carrying a heavy load, or processing firewood, functional fitness trains your muscles to work together on tasks instead of only training your muscles for specific, isolated motions which be as important in a survival situation. If you think you may have to walk over several miles with a heavy backpack as part of your overall survival, then the best way to be prepared for this is to load up a backpack and go try and walk a mile. This will give you a baseline to work with. Once you learn your capabilities from that hike, you can begin training your legs to handle greater distances and weight by doing squats, lunges, and step-ups. Squats train the muscles you need to stand up, sit down, and pick things up from the floor. Lunges in various directions will assist you in traversing in the wild, repeated crouching, even gardening, and foraging. Step-ups with your body weight or the additional weight of a backpack support your body to climb elevations, irregular terrain, or stairs with supplies. Hopefully, I’ve sold you on this concept of functional fitness versus isolated weight training that focuses on sculpting muscles. We’re trying to build strength for real scenarios you may face in a grid-down situation. DO THESE DAILY After consulting with a licensed clinician with extensive expertise with inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, here are some ways to approach improving your functional performance for daily living and disaster preparedness. Obviously, consult with your own physician before engaging in physical activity you may not be used to, especially if you’re over 40 years of age. First, If you want the health benefits of functional fitness to live longer and healthier, you should have either: 2.5 – 5 hours per week of moderate-intensity; or 1.25 – 2.5 hours per week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity or some equivalent combination of the two. So, the absolute minimum of physical activity you should have is two and a half hours, but getting five or more hours is best. Second, you need to make an honest assessment of your current physical condition. Take an inventory of yourself, just like you take an inventory of your preps. What are your limitations? What are your challenges? Is going out on a hike or city trail a challenge because you have difficulties with prolonged walking or standing? Are you fit enough to lead a ‘normal’ life, but you still need to catch your breath each time you climb stairs? Which slight improvement could you make today would make everyday life better? What physical tasks would you need to complete for your disaster plan? Then, start focusing on gradually improving your endurance and functional fitness by incorporating more activities and exercise routines that simulate what will be physically required, such as brisk walks or long walks with your bug-out-bag, picking up weighted items from the floor, and carrying it to a location, shoveling dirt or snow, or lifting an object above your head. Build your total-body strength by practicing squats and lunges, push-ups against the wall or floor, or simple exercises with resistance bands. Also try walking backward and sideways, getting up from your chair without using your hands, standing on one foot, or using a stability ball to train your balance. Identify your most significant problems and start where you are now, even if that means only doing a 1-minute “workout” a day. Do something every day to start, and then build up to a routine. Athletic Greens AG1 is a daily supplement that provides critical vitamins, minerals, and whole-food sourced ingredients. While spending 20 weeks training for a marathon, we needed to ensure our body had the necessary elements to fuel my muscles to push further than we had ever gone and to help with recovery. Having a convenient option we only had to consume once per day was not easy to find. In the typical prepper’s pantry, the focus on carbs, proteins, and fats is front and center, but micronutrients are often overlooked. AG1 is a daily supplement that helps round out your body’s nutritional needs. Recently while doing a 20-mile jog, at around mile 15, my body completely gave up. After working with a nutritional consultant, we discovered we weren’t intaking enough nutrients and as a result, we had depleted my reserves. With the foundation of a proper diet based on whole foods and vegetables, using a supplement like AG1 has allowed me to ensure we am providing my body with the essentials to go the distance. If the grid goes down and important nutrients are hard to obtain, providing your body with the necessary micronutrients will be vital. You can pick up AG1 by visiting athleticgreens.com/cityprepping TWO APPROACHES Now that we’ve explored some of the concepts of functional fitness, let’s look at the two approaches to make you more successful for everyday living, as well as for crisis scenarios. The 1st approach is incorporating more activity throughout your day and being less sedentary. This will help you cover your basic cardiovascular requirements for health and endurance, so you can make it through those dire situations without running out of gas. It will help you stay focused and productive by having the stamina you need without frequent rest breaks. To accomplish this, try working into your daily life one of these things, even if you consider yourself fit: Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Intentionally park farther away from your destination. If you take public transportation, get off one stop early and walk the rest of the way. Walk or bike to work, run errands, or visit friends. Or cluster your errands in one area so you can park your car once and then walk to each destination. Take a short walk during your lunch break, after dinner, or on a regular work break. Instead of sitting down to watch TV, try doing a few simple exercises or stretches while you watch. Or make a new rule: no sitting during commercials. Stand up or walk around while talking on the phone. Better yet, catch up with a friend or brainstorm with a coworker while taking a walk together. Don’t let housework, gardening, or lawn maintenance build up – they’re all opportunities to get moving. Cleaning out the garage or attic is another way to be productive and active at the same time. Find ways to get more exercise from your current hobbies and activities. For example, if you play golf, walk the course instead of using a cart. If you have a child who plays sports, walk around the field or court while the team practices. Plan family outings that involve being active, like hiking, swimming, or outdoor games. Don’t camp solely to drink beer and eat unhealthy foods, but instead go for a long hike, eat well, then sleep even better. Build outdoor adventures into your family vacation. It can be an opportunity to try something new. Carry your pack or bug-out-bag with you on any one of your outdoor walks or adventures. The second approach is to begin and maintain a basic home and outdoor functional exercise routine that improves your performance in real-life situations. The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that a strength training program be performed a minimum of two non-consecutive days each week, with one set of 8 to 12 repetitions for healthy adults or 10 to 15 repetitions for older adults. Focus on performing 8-10 total exercises per workout and 1-3 sets per exercise. Since we lose muscle mass and bone density as we age, strength training helps maintain and mitigate these losses to prevent functional decline and fractures. Even if you don’t have a gym membership, these types of activities we’ll cover can be done at home with some basic gear. You don’t need a lot of equipment, but adding a weighted bag, elastic bands, or dumbbells can be helpful. Consider combining a few exercises each day from these compound and core exercise groups. A compound exercise is any movement where you’re using more than one muscle group at a time. These are squats, deadlifts, lunges, dips, lying pullovers, push-ups, pull-ups, lat pulldowns, shoulder presses, jumping rope, step-ups, and single-leg standing while bending and reaching. Pick a random two per day from the compound exercises and build a routine for yourself. Core exercises are any exercise that involves the use of your abdominal and back muscles in a coordinated fashion. Flutter kicks, seated knee tucks, crunches, bicycle crunches, vertical leg crunches, leg raises, planks, and plank jacks are all easy to perform without additional weights, carry a low risk of injury, and will have an almost immediate effect on your functional fitness. We’ll post links to each of these items in the description section below if you’d like to learn how to perform each of these movements. Increasing your daily activity habits, and sticking with a functional fitness routine that incorporates compound movements and core strength, will increase your activity tolerance and performance and improve your ability to perform everyday tasks. When disaster strikes, your body will be functionally conditioned to meet the challenges and additional rigors better. Implement these now to ensure you won’t succumb to injury and you’ll be able to perform the critical functions you’ll need to be able to perform. NUTRITION & DIET When considering essential nutrition related to functional fitness, you want to get back to the basics: whole foods (not processed) that are nutrient-dense (as opposed to calorically dense), a balanced variety of foods, and hydration are the keys. Our diets now will likely be radically different from our post-SHTF diets. As a prepper, your diet will change after a disaster, and how fundamentally different and body-jarring that change is will depend on your efforts to optimize your diet now. Your largest meal with all three macronutrients (carbs, protein, and fat) should be breakfast. Each subsequent snack and meal should be smaller and with fewer calories, fewer carbs, and sugars. Dinner should be your smallest meal in terms of calories, and you should avoid carbs. Eat nutrient-dense foods–whole foods like veggies, fruits, nuts, and meats. You probably don’t get enough vegetables in your diet right now. Still, after a disaster, many people get almost no vegetables in their diet. In my training for a marathon, this has been the number 1 lesson I’ve learned: when you push your body to an extreme, you have to provide your body with nutrients, otherwise you’re body will be depleted of essential components it needs. Also, stay away from calorically dense foods like candy, pastries, bread, cakes, cereals, and processed foods. Processed foods get their name because they typically lose their nutrients and gain calories in the “process” of manufacturing. Read nutrition and food labels on everything you buy and consume. If the first four ingredients are junk or you don’t know what they are, don’t buy it. Are there more than a dozen ingredients with some additives you don’t know what they are? Pass on it and reach for something healthier. The nutrition and food label ingredients are listed in order based on volume. For this reason, the first four ingredients make up the majority of the product and will help you determine what makes it into your body’s “gas tank.” Finally, if you need a chemistry degree to read the ingredients on a food label, it’s not real food so stay away. For a macronutrient guideline for normal adults who are non-athletes, consider keeping a daily consistency of 45–65% of your calories from carbs. Focus on green leafy vegetables and complex carbs that are low in sugar or don’t have sugar. These carbs should be high in fiber. If you have sugars, have them from whole fruit, not canned or dried where extra sugar has been added. 20–35% of your diet should be derived from fats. Stay away from trans fats, saturated fats, and hydrogenated oils. Although there are pros and cons to each diet philosophy, a more plant-based diet will more likely prevent disease later in life. However, fat from egg yolk is acceptable since it is a better source of cholesterol. Stick with fats from olive oil, coconut oil, nuts, seeds, and fish 10–35% of your diet should be from protein. For fluid intake, you already know the answer — it’s to drink water and more of it. Inadequate water intake or excessive caloric intake can lead to dehydration, affect thinking, mood, cause headaches, and lead to overeating, constipation, overheating, and urinary tract infections. Proper hydration maintains kidney health and reduces the chance of kidney stones. I cannot stress this point enough. 2 out of 1000 people are currently on dialysis 3 times per week just to survive. We are woefully dehydrated as a society. You don’t want to start thinking about hydration only after disaster strikes. Your target water intake for men is 1 gallon per day or 3.7 liters, and for women, it’s roughly 3 quarts of water or 2.7 liters per day. When it comes to water, it’s okay to be an overachiever and drink more than your target. Understand that after a disaster, water intake and nutrient intake can radically shift. Maintaining a routine of good nutrition, diet, and hydration now will make this shift easier for your body because it will be ready to face the challenges after all your building. If you go into a disaster already suffering from inadequate nutrition and hydration, the added impact of the disaster on your health and chances of survival could be deadly. SLEEP The last aspect here for fitness and the prepper is sleep. Most importantly, we need to discuss sleep habits and how to maximize our fitness, health, and energy. Any sleep deficiency, categorized as 6 hours or less per 24 hour period, can decrease the immune response, lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, an increased risk for diabetes, increased weight gain, reduced balance and coordination, can affect mood, behavior, emotional control, decision-making, and problem-solving. In addition, one of the ways sleep deficiency promotes weight gain, and obesity is that it results in increased cortisol production. Cortisol is a stress hormone that prepares you for fight or flight, so extra production of this hormone over time can lead to diseases and problems with anxiety, depression, digestion, memory, and focus. After a disaster, cortisol levels will naturally spike. Your ability to adequately take up that cortisol and use it properly will depend significantly on your established and maintained sleep routine before the disaster struck. The key to prepping your sleep is establishing an evening routine that involves relaxation and good personal and oral hygiene. Like showering, shaving, flossing, brushing teeth, and even some light stretching of large muscle groups. Routines help transition the mind and body. To avoid fight or flight hormones that keep you alert, keep stressful tasks and conversations for earlier in the evening or the next day. Avoid artificial light after the sun goes down, especially “blue light” present in electronics such as TV, laptops, and cell phones. Excessive blue light in the evening and right before bed can decrease your Melatonin levels. Your body makes melatonin to help you wind down and sleep better. Therefore, trade your electronics in for a book in the evening or calming music. If electronics are a must in the evening, use a “night mode” on your phone or invest in some inexpensive blue light filter glasses. However, you should still “unplug” from screens, at the very least, 30 minutes before bed. Avoid caffeine for at least 6-8 hours before bed. Some might even need more time in between to not have caffeine disrupt their sleep. Avoid heavy alcohol consumption or casual drinks (1-2 glasses) at least 3 hours before bed. Alcohol affects the quality of your sleep and causes increased urination, and can lead to constipation. Don’t bother taking naps in the afternoon or early evening. If you’re tired, try walking or light activity to give yourself a natural energy boost. Keep your bedtimes and wake-up times consistent every day, as much as possible, including the weekends. This will establish a regular rhythm for your mind and body and, therefore, an improved sleep cycle. Maintaining a consistent routine that provides you with proper rest will improve your day-to-day life right now. After a disaster, being able to find rest when it is safe will be critical for your ability to handle threats and think clearly. CONCLUSION Hopefully this blog gave you the core foundational aspects everyone should observe not only to be ready for a disaster but to live a better quality of life. They are, perhaps, more important than any prepping gear you could ever obtain. Your fitness level, nutrition and diet, hydration, and ability to get rest when and where you need it will all determine how well your body adjusts to a post-SHTF environment and really whether you can even make it through to the aftermath of a disaster. Treat your health like your most important prep because it is. What do you think? What’s your assessment of your fitness, diet, and routines right now? What percentage chance of surviving an SHTF situation do you give yourself based upon your evaluation? What are you going to start doing today to improve your odds? Let us know in the comments below. As always, stay safe out there.

October 23, 2021
Panic Buying: What to Expect The Next 3 Months

“Bread for myself is a material question. Bread for my neighbor is a spiritual one.” — Nikolai Berdyaev Several blogs over the last few months have focused on the problems right now with the supply chain. From shipping to trucking to labor and energy, we have tried to look at the pressing issues and ignore the dismissals and blame too often espoused by politicians, pundits, and the mainstream media. These issues could resolve themselves, leaving us with just the opportunity to learn from the mistake of outsourcing manufacturing and production, or these global problems could compound, mix with other issues, and create new problems. Only history will accurately reveal what will end up being the catalyst to create more significant problems, but that will still be left open to interpretation. This blog will look at a known catalyst that we have witnessed recently– panic buying. Monitoring the panic buying behaviors at different stores will be a good indicator of what the next 3-months will look like for you and your area, and it can help you understand what is next to be in short supply. Panic buying can drive up prices, create scarcity that fuels more panic buying behaviors, and can take essential goods out of the hands of people who need them most. If it sets in at any significant level, I guarantee you these supply-chain problems we face will seem minor right now. Here, we will look at the specific signs that a panic buying mentality is establishing itself in the minds of consumers, how you should respond, and what purchases and steps you can and should make now to minimize their impact on you. For many of us, panic buying and runs on banks were the things of lore. In recent years, though, we have soberingly witnessed panic runs on everything from rice to bottled water to toilet paper and ammo. Understanding how panic buying occurs and how it plays out gives you an edge over the masses and dramatically increases your odds of long-term survival. Let’s jump in… PROFILE OF THE PANIC BUYER Panic buying begins as a chain reaction. One person starts buying up or unloading their massive purchase at their house, and then others see that and conclude that they should get what they need before it’s all gone. Seeing someone else snapping up the available supply provides you with social approval and justification for your panicked buying activities. Once enough people start reducing inventories, and the empty shelves make a great photo opportunity for the media or end up on social media, that one person’s panic buying just turned into thousands more people panic buying. People who may have typically waited until payday to do their shopping suddenly hit the stores and create huge crowds, more photo opportunities, heightened frenzied buying, and consumer anxiety. Fear of missing out tempts even the most stable of people to grab what they need and get in line. Stores try to limit the purchases on some items, but these attempts are in vain because they only lend validity to the shortages. There may be plenty of the product in inventory at warehouses across your country or on shipments that are already on the way, but these will be snapped up quickly by anyone who wasn’t able to grab their supply of the product in the first initial round of buying. If the store is too restrictive, runs out of too many products too fast, or fails to mitigate the rising temperature of its customers, mob rule can take over. At this point, a mob mentality can turn normally pleasant, peaceful, law-abiding citizens into opportunistic looters. People will always justify their actions to the necessity of survival. It does not always play out this way. Typically, there is just a run on a few products, and the unjustified panic buying is revealed to be absurd. We saw this with the toilet paper crisis of 2020 and the rice crisis of 2008. Often the run is tied to news around the world. Droughts, crop failures, war, political tensions, and natural disasters can create the atmosphere and oxygen for a panic buying activity to start and spin out of control. The result of panic buying is that supply chains get stretched to the breaking point. This increases delays and adds fuel to the belief that shortages are genuine and will continue. Food inflation also occurs, and this adds even more fuel to the panic buying wildfire. So, even if the panic buying isn’t necessary, it becomes a real thing– a real crisis that cannot be contained. Friends, neighbors, strangers all have to get swept up into it. Even as someone who is prepared, you may find that your inventory on something is low. You may want to pull the trigger on that generator you’ve been waiting to purchase at next week’s sale price. You may want to top off your fuel tanks or call in an order for propane delivery. You might find yourself placing an online order or two to make sure that you have what you need to make it through an, as of yet, unknown drought of a supply of goods. All but the most stocked preppers are able to avoid being swept up into the fire of panic buying at some level. That’s the consumer panic buyer. What you should look for to determine how real and justified the panic buying may be is when big importers like processors, manufacturers, or governments start hoarding or placing large orders to maintain their flow of products. At this point, and after news of this trickles down to the average consumer, panic buying will be out of control. WHAT GOES WHERE AND WHEN A panic buying frenzy that is burning out of control still follows an established pattern based upon the thought processes of the general population. Understanding the general order of how things are depleted will help you to assess what you should be picking up and where you should be focusing your activities to stay ahead of the herd. While not always a hundred percent this way, certain stores have specific patterns of inventory depletion. Here is a look at some of those patterns by store: GROCERY STORES Grocery stores are first because this is where we see the first absolute emptying of shelves. I will spend more time on these stores than I do on any other stores because food is one of those essentials you need to survive. If you are already prepping or beginning prepping, you can hopefully stay out of grocery stores and look at the other essential items you may need. The first things to go in a grocery store are sugar, salt, flour, rice, beans, Ramen, canned soups and vegetables, bulk purchases of shelf-stable foods, bottled and canned water, dairy, eggs, alcohol, toilet paper, dry goods, cereal, bread, anything frozen, and pasta. These easily grabbed items typically linger on the shelves for days or weeks before needing to be replenished. Even when the canned soups are gone, however, you will probably still be able to find dry packaged soups and bullion. Also, expect runs on canned meats, canned fish, canned fruits, pancake and cake mixes, baby food, powdered milk, and cereal bars. The average person thinks that they can survive on a 25-pound bag of pinto beans because that’s what they were able to find and grab. However, they have never cooked a pot of beans in their life, nor do they realize that eating 3-cups each of beans and rice per day to provide them the calories needed for survival isn’t an easily digestible solution. Their thinking leads to a behavior based on food security, and hunger is one of the primary motivators of thought and impulsive behavior, right along with the need for water and the need for reproduction. Many people may not be buying up some critical items in this first wave, which you can focus on to your benefit if you feel the panic buying may be justified. Pickled goods have high levels of sodium, which is essential in a survival situation. Nut butters, while often snapped up in the first wave, sometimes are still available. More expensive protein shakes may not have been all snapped up in the first wave of panic buying. While you can pretty much forget canned goods, the ethnic food aisles may have been overlooked. If you have a pet, you should take this opportunity to get a big bag of their food. If you are a regular coffee drinker, you should pick up an extra pound or two and possibly some of that instant stuff. You may still be able to pick up some yeast, but you should consider your own sourdough starter or the technique we outlined recently in a video. The butter may be gone, but there still may be vegetable oil or expensive coconut oil. Bulk salt may still be available. Dried fruits may still be available. You have to realize that the average person cannot cook and probably jokes that they don’t know how to boil water. It is more than a joke, though, and any pre-prepared meals will be snapped up along with the pasta and jars of sauces. Many vegetables, however, will still be available because these require processing and the knowledge of how to cook them. Believe it or not, large containers of powdered drink mixes and candy are good purchases during these frenzied buying periods. If things get progressively worse, you can barter with them. If you are forced to remain locked down because of deteriorating civil conditions outside, they will provide you a boost and later a bartering commodity. Beyond food, consider the vitamins, over-the-counter medicines, ziplock baggies, aluminum foil, plastic wrap, trash bags, and other items people won’t be immediately apt to grab in a panic buying frenzy. Most people don’t have a few days’ food on hand, let alone enough for a week or more of survival. So, most people will be focused on food. Prepping in advance for disasters and the possible panic buying which may ensue positions you further from the chaos and allows you to fill in the gaps with other essentials. Finally, I have to mention purchasing online. If you see your grocery stores are bare, you can sometimes secure your item through major online retailers like Amazon. They stock many of the essential staple groceries you are looking for, or you could deploy an online shopper to secure these items while you tend to other things. Once you get to the checkout line, you can bet the run on these secondary items will happen, as others see them in your cart. If you are already stocked on these items and more, your best bet is to avoid the grocery stores altogether. These will be the epicenters of the growing crisis. APPLIANCE & HARDWARE STORES The big item to be snapped up at your local appliance stores will be home freezers followed by refrigerators. Consumers will be looking to store all those frozen foods and meats they snapped up and have a supply of these in the future that exceeds their home refrigerator’s capacity. At the hardware store, where some of these appliances are also available, cleaning supplies, propane, office food supplies like coffee and water, personal protection equipment, and lumber will all be rapidly purchased. If the underlying crisis driving the panic buying doesn’t appear to have an end in sight, also expect that any canning supplies, seeds, and vegetable plants will also disappear from the shelves. Expect also for the store to run out of tarps and cordage. Even if the shelves look thin and the carts look full, you might not be entirely out of luck. If you need one of these critical items I mentioned, there is usually still a thin inventory available online. By purchasing online, you can sometimes secure your item even while the shelves are bare. If you don’t have a decent pair of work gloves and a pair extra, now is the time to pick them up. Most won’t think of this secondary item, nor will they be looking at this time for a hammer, ax, saw, hatchet, or similar tools that you will need if things get even worse. Purchasing a low-voltage LED light or solar lights like solar flood lights might also be a good purchase at this time. They’ll provide you with consistent light even if the situation worsens and the power goes out. Propane heater attachments may be helpful, depending upon your climate. Fire pits and grills are big sellers. If you too don’t see an end to the crisis you face, you may also want to pick up chlorine and pool shock for water purification later. If you find yourself in the frenzy of panic buying at your local appliance or hardware store, look for these secondary items that won’t immediately be flying off the shelf. FUEL STATIONS When the panic buying of anything starts in earnest, people immediately begin thinking of filling their gas tanks. Long lines start forming almost within hours of the onset of panic buying. You should look to get the fuel you need as well, but fuel has a shelf life. If you believe the situation giving rise to the panic buying will continue, consider grabbing a propane tank or a case of oil and an oil filter for your car before those are gone, as well. Fuel stations are a good indicator of how bad it will get because everyone drives by them on their way to work or home. We don’t always see the chaos at the grocery store, but we always note the traffic and lines of people clamoring for gas. As for indicators of what is to come, when the pumps go out of service because they are pumped dry, expect massive panic buying to kick in as people deduce that if they can’t get gas, they won’t be able to get other items soon as well. They’re not wrong. If the gas supply is overdrawn, creating deserts in the system, deliveries are impacted. This compounds the perception of shortages and further fuels panic buying activities. Though overpriced, convenience stores carry food, alcohol, even medicines. If you find yourself waiting in the fuel line, it might be worth sending one of your passengers in to secure a few items while you wait. Just be warned that when someone sees you walking away with two propane tanks or two bags of groceries, the likelihood of that convenience store having a run is very high. DRUGSTORES AND DOLLAR STORES Drugstores are food stores as well. There are foods you will still find there when grocery stores are being impacted. Chips, nuts, candy, canned goods, water, and distilled spirits are all probably available at the drugstore. The people who will be panic buying here will be there for medicine and drugs. Getting last-minute prescriptions filled will bring in many panic buyers. If you have medicines that you know you will need, you too will want to get your prescription filled. If you foresee a significant disruption in the future, you will want to call your doctor and press them to write a script for an extra supply of any of your vital medications. Vitamins, over-the-counter medicines, first aid supplies, soap, and cleaning supplies will all be part of the first round of panic buying when these stores get hit. Look for personal hygiene products like wipes that can serve multiple functions in a grid-down situation. Trash bags and paper towels may still be available. Bars of soap, candles, even batteries may still be available. Even when panic buying happens at these stores, you can probably pick up bottles of isopropyl alcohol and hydrogen peroxide and bulk containers of baking soda. Those will be useful in a multitude of ways. All of these secondary items will be useful to you if there is an extended supply chain downtime. LIQUOR STORES Even if you don’t drink, alcohol has many uses for cleaning, sterilization, and bartering. A large 1.75-liter bottle of cheap vodka, whiskey, or rum has an alcohol content high enough to have many uses, from cleaning to sterilization to lamp fuel. It will also stay good forever, so you don’t have to worry about the shelf-life. If you see a run at the grocery store, you might make a quick trip to the liquor store and beat the crowds. If you’re at the grocery store, you might consider throwing a bottle or two of hard liquor in your cart. In addition to distilled spirits, you can expect wine and beer to be part of people’s panic buying spontaneous purchases. Alcohol is an anxiety-decreasing morale-boosting solution for many so that people will be stocking up against an uncertain future supply. OUTDOOR & SPORTING STORES Your outdoor and sportsman stores are hard hit when a storm of panic buying is causing shortages everywhere. Unfortunately, most of these products are manufactured in China, so they are subject to lean inventories on hand and supply-chain delays and stoppages. Still, expect runs on everything. Guns, knives, ammo, personal water filtration systems, tents, canteens, fishing rods, tackle, hiking boots, foods, propane canisters, grills, dehydrators, and more are all potential impulse panic purchases. If the inventory in your local outdoor stores starts to dwindle, whatever you are facing is going to be bad and is probably getting worse. People are emergency prepping themselves for the potential of having to live off the land or in the wild. Still, grocery stores will experience the panic buying waves a day or two before the sporting goods stores do. WHAT SHOULD BE YOUR FOCUS? Your focus, now, in anticipation of possible shortages and panic buying behaviors, should be any of the things I have so far mentioned. If you are new to prepping, pick the most essential items and start there. Buy the big bag of white rice while it’s cheap, some Ramen, and a few other essentials I have mentioned here. Focus on non-perishable foods: canned meats, tuna, peanut butter, cereals, bars, pancake mixes, and cooking oil. Make sure you know how to cook these things and start buying in bulk. This won’t guarantee your survival, but building your supply of these things will be a positive first step in your prepping process. If there is no panic buying in your area, you will have taken a giant step forward in your preps. Don’t waste your time or money on bottled water, but do look into even a small water filtration pitcher or personal straw in case the municipal supplies fail. If you have been prepping for a few months, assess any signs of panic buying in your area and also take a look at your supplies. Do you have pinto beans but have never cooked a batch of them? Try a trial run and cook and only eat your beans and rice for a few days. Your body will tell you what other long shelf-life foods you will want in your inventory. Start a shopping list and pick up a few extra items with each of your trips to the store. Top up inventories of freeze-dried, canned, powdered, and pickled foods. Start working with them in your diet now and cooking them like the grid is down. Let your practice with these things as you incorporate them into your everyday life illuminate for you what you still need in your prepping supplies. If you have the freezer space, cook double and freeze a meal’s worth when you cook a meal. If there is no need to use it, you will have more instant dinner options available to you. If you do need to use it because of an extended disaster that keeps you indoors, you can minimize cooking by simply reheating the food. Concentrate your preps on non-perishables and other essentials. If no panic buying occurs, you won’t have to worry about foods expiring. You will also be ready for the next emergency that does come your way. I have covered in other videos that it is seldom a good idea to use a credit card to get prepping supplies. Most disasters in life have a recovery phase. You don’t want to have a bunch of non-refundable items and a mass of credit bills when the economy does recover, and long before a total collapse, your credit card will have stopped working. CONCLUSION Will panic buying occur as a result of the supply-chain problems we are currently witnessing? Undoubtedly, we can already see some hoarding activities here and there. Much will depend on whether the supply-chain issues get better, natural disasters, and shortages are minimal. News of the latest cyberattacks on Iowa grain belt co-ops or similar cyberattacks could become the match that ignites panic buying in these periods of high consumer anxiety. When these hoarding and frenzied purchasing activities are seen at several stores across an array of products, a more significant, compounded problem is created, supply chains are stretched to the breaking point, and an all-out panic buying frenzy can occur. The best way to stay ahead of that possibility is to prepare now for an uncertain future. Take small, incremental steps toward building a 3-day, then 3-week, then 3-month or longer supply of food and water. If you don’t, and the supply chains continue to fail and panic buying ramps up, you will be forced into being part of the herd. Prepping can keep you out of the troubles the masses face. What do you think? Do you see any panic buying behaviors in your area? What do you think is next to be in short supply? Let us all know in the comments below. I read many of the comments and respond to them when I can, typically within the first hour of releasing a video. I can notify you when other videos become available if you take that step to subscribe to this channel. As always, stay safe out there.

October 20, 2021

Marti’s Corner – 40

Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* So I decided to follow my own advice and can some vegetables this week. I bought 20 pounds of potatoes for $6 and then went here: Canning Potatoes Last time I canned potatoes, I did NOT soak them first to get the starch out. When I opened them, I had to rinse them really well to use them. PLUS, after about 6 years, they have “grayed” somewhat. I have to kind of sort them and discard the gray pieces. This week’s final tally: 20 pounds of potatoes = 33-pint jars.

* AND I dehydrated some corn. It was $1.39 at Winco. (prices are climbing!!) This was all sparked by a recipe I found for Wild Rice and Vegetable soup. I’ve included the recipe below. Add meat if you want. But I’m thinking I’ll make some “Mylar Meals” and give them to my kids for Christmas. The recipe says it serves 6-8 (that will work for all my kids) and it only uses 1 TB of corn, carrots, etc. So the 5 pounds of corn that I dehydrated should work. LOL

* My garden is still producing. The cooler temps are allowing the plants to set fruit again. My lettuce is growing again. Here is an October guide for zones 9-10. October Garden Checklist Zones 9-10 | Kellogg Garden Organics™

* THIS week is the Great California ShakeOut. The official event will happen on Thursday, October 21, at 10:21. Your church or school may choose to have their drill on another day, but it will be sometime around then. Be SURE to talk to your family members about what to do when there is a real emergency.

* Paul Diffley shared this link with me. He says they still have stock. He asked for a discount and they gave him 10% off his second order. MREdepot.com – Your Disaster Preparedness Online Superstore. Remember, when disaster strikes, the time to prepare has passed! They are located in San Clemente, so you “could” just head on down there and check it out.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Fruit

Fruit leather is a great alternative to canned or fresh fruit in an emergency. Here is a guide to making your own fruit leather. She tells you how to use your oven OR a dehydrator. How to Make Fruit Leather from Fresh, Canned, or Frozen Fruit

SHORT TERM FOCUS: Applesauce

You can make your own applesauce with one of these food mills (or strainers)

Cut apples into chunks and cook in a large pan. No need to peel or seed or anything. Just cut in chunks. Put a little water in the pan so the apples don’t burn, not much, because the apples will render water as they cook down. When the apples are soft, just scoop them into the food mill. The applesauce will seep out through the holes and the mill will trap everything else. Add sugar to taste. You can put in jars and water bath process so they can store on the shelf. It’s pretty easy, and you control the ingredients.

72-HOUR FOCUS: Notepad & Pencils

As the pioneers traveled across the plains, they often left messages for those who were following. The messages were carved on rocks or even buffalo skulls.

With paper and pencil available, you can leave messages, document what is happening, let others know your location, and entertain children. I have a small box with paper, colored pencils, a deck of cards, a ruler, and a pair of scissors. A box is not ideal for a 72-hour kit, but a small pad of paper and a pencil should be considered. The box can go with you if you need to evacuate.

MISC FOCUS: Sterile Gloves

I have had gloves in my first aid kit since AIDS first made everyone leery about touching blood. After COVID, many people bought gloves. Put 2-3 pairs of gloves in a small baggie and stick them in your first aid kit or in your backpack. You just never know. AND, you still shouldn’t be touching blood from a stranger.

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Wild Rice Soup

1/3 c. hulled barley or pearl barley
1/3 c. wild rice
2 TB green split peas
2 TB yellow split peas
1 TB dried corn
1 TB dried carrots
1 TB dried onions
1 TB dried celery
1 TB dried green beans
1 TB dried leeks
1/2 TB dried green bell pepper
1/2 TB dried red bell pepper
2 tsp chicken bouillon granules or 2 chicken bouillon cubes

Directions: Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven. Stir in all the ingredients. Return to a boil. Cover and reduce heat. Simmer for 1 hour. Serves 6-8.

See http://www.simplyprepared.com/home_canning1.htm for instructions on how to dry most of the ingredients.

This would look so pretty in a jar. But, jars have been in short supply for over a year now. Lids, too. There is a lot of talk online about people not wanting to give away their jars. OR, giving them as gifts and asking that the jars be returned. I can verify this. I check for lids and jars EVERY time I shop. Last week, there were none. More and more people are canning food from their gardens, or storing food in jars. They are rodent and insect-proof. I get it.

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies
from Simple Recipes Using Food Storage, Cedar Fort, Inc., Springville, Utah

1 c. shortening
2 c. sugar
2 c. applesauce
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
3 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp salt
1 c. chopped nuts
2 c. oatmeal
1 c. chocolate chips (optional)
1 c. raisins (optional)

Cream together shortening and sugar. Add eggs and applesauce. mix well and then add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well again and drop by spoonful onto greased baking sheet. Bake at 350˚ for 10-12 minutes.

A big shout out to those who share things with me. I really appreciate it.

Press on. Keep plugging away. Just do it.

Marti

October 19, 2021

Escalating Global Energy Crisis: What’s Causing This?

There is a geopolitical power struggle right now that isn’t getting a lot of attention in the news and will have an impact on you soon. It is a struggle over existing energy resources. Many countries are scrambling to get enough potential energy to keep the lights and heat on through winter or are rationing energy to allocate power to manufacturing resources. You may not see it until the lights go out for you or your inability to get certain items as manufacturing may soon slow down even more due to the lack of fuel, which is why you need to know what is happening now. We have never before seen a series of problems in the energy supply and reserve levels that were of this magnitude, and recovering from this may take a global, Herculean effort. The reality is that it is not likely to happen. In this video, I will explain some of the problems countries are having, the reason these problems exist and persist, and what you should be doing now to insulate yourself from this looming energy supply problem. So, let’s jump in… AN OVERVIEW OF THE CRISIS BY COUNTRY Here is an unsettling fact: of the top 20 economies globally, 16 of them have some form of an energy crisis or shortfall. Those 16 countries account for over 90% of the electrical energy consumption in terawatt-hours worldwide. Each country has a unique set of problems compounded by a few common factors. I will address the three main factors in a moment, but a quick study and simplification of the many issues the major countries face is helpful to understand the bigger picture. At the risk of oversimplifying things, a global energy crunch caused by weather and a resurgence in demand is getting worse. There are also complications as more people push governments to transition from fossil fuels to cleaner energy options. At the country level, China is by far the largest consumer of electricity because of manufacturing. Their consumption of energy in terawatt-hours, a unit of energy equal to outputting one trillion watts for one hour, eclipses all other countries worldwide. In China, rolling blackouts and rationing of provinces based on the needs of manufacturers have already begun. Roughly 60% of China’s energy is created from coal. China recently stopped buying coal from Australia in protest of Australia’s call for an international investigation into the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic. That has left tens of thousands of tons of coal on scores of ships, stranded out in the water like thousands of other vessels with unsold coal on them. There is no central mechanism here, so the coal isn’t being rapidly resold to India or some other country needing it. However, it eventually will quickly be snapped up and resold. Another coal-dependent country and manufacturing powerhouse is India. Fifty percent of India’s 135 coal-fired power plants currently have less than two days supply of the coal they need to operate, and power stations can’t get enough to maintain operation. There has been an unprecedented increase in the demand for electricity due to the revival of the economy, following a COVID peak in April of a staggering and nation-crippling 414,000 cases. Heavy rains in coal mine areas during September adversely affected coal production and the transportation of coal from mines. Natural gas isn’t any better. In East Asia, natural gas is up 85%. Even in the United States, an exporter of natural gas, prices are up 13%. Europe’s need for natural gas is drawing imports of American liquefied natural gas, or LNG, across the Atlantic, feeding into higher prices for gas in the U.S. itself. Europe is also seeking to form contracts and secure supplies from Russia, Europe’s biggest supplier. European leaders are preparing for another brutal winter. Last winter’s unprecedented cold and more people at home during lockdowns brought heating oil and natural gas reserves to an all-time low. Gas production in Europe has declined precipitously in recent years, leaving Europe more dependent on fuel from Russia, Norway, and the U.S. Russia would love to sell natural gas and fuel oil, but the U.S. has tried to block that in favor of Ukraine and to further sanction Russia for its invasion and annexation of Crimea. The fear, of course, is that once the pipeline is in operation, Moscow will use gas as a cudgel to force European countries to do its bidding. Right now, if natural gas were priced like Brent crude oil, it would be trading in the EU for the equivalent of $230 per barrel, and that’s three times the price of oil. In Brazil, low levels in the hydroelectric reserves stemming from the driest summer in 91 years have sparked blackouts and power rationing for the end of this year and likely for the next two years. Japan’s power prices, reeling from the global strain, just hit a 9-month high. Utilities in Japan and South Korea are protected mainly by long-term LNG contracts indexed to oil. Shifting demands in natural gas strain those contracts, and prices skyrocket. Both Canada and the United States are feeling the pinch of acute fuel prices needed for vehicles and to heat homes. THREE MAIN FACTORS So, what’s going on? How did it get this so far out of alignment? Three main factors are at play. First, there was a period of downtime in the production and distribution of fossil fuel sources during the pandemic. This has caused many countries to reduce significantly or deplete their reserves. Now, there is a bold resurgence in manufacturing and demand; simultaneously, supply lines are stretched, strained, or broken altogether. While many countries would love to increase production to 150 or 200% to meet demand, the shipping capabilities, workers, and energy resources aren’t there to do so. Second, many countries like Europe and the United States suffered through one of the most brutal winters in recent history last year. Many early forecasts are predicting an equally bad or worse winter this year, which has many countries scrambling to find the energy resources they need for their population. Add to this the number of billion-dollar natural disasters at a record high, and even the United States might be tapping its strategic oil reserves. There were 22 disaster events that each caused at least $1 billion in damage in 2020, and there have already been 18 in 2021. It’s likely the United States will break that record high yet again this year. Each disaster requires an excess share of energy resources to fuel the recovery efforts. This, again, when supply lines are strained. For more on this, you can watch my video on the trucking crisis https://youtu.be/SNhrvvYunKc. Still, you don’t have to study the problem too much to understand that trucks not delivering fuel and heating oil will create shortages even if all 135 refineries had an abundant supply of oil to process and were working at total capacity. The three largest-volume products of U.S. refineries are gasoline, fuel oil (including diesel fuel and home heating oil), and aviation fuel. In anticipation of the brutal winter and having suffered last year through a particularly harsh winter, Europe has turned to Russia for cheap natural gas, snubbing Ukraine in the process. The third main factor in this crisis is the same problem we see throughout the supply-demand-delivery system–it was too finely tuned. It was incapable of absorbing such turmoil and disruption. After many years of operating in relatively the same manner, the system found itself within a narrow range of demand, a specific need for production, and a specific need for all of the manufacturing–from the creation of plastics from petroleum to the energy needed to create microchips. Sure, there was the occasional disruption here and there, like the cyberattack on the Colonial pipeline, a natural disaster, or a hemisphere’s particularly bad season. Still, the more extensive system typically absorbed these disruptions and turmoil, and the energy gaps were supplied by other countries or other types of energy. THE ENERGY EQUATION The system could almost be written out as an equation. The anticipated energy needs for the year would be X. X would embody all forms of anticipated energy resources needed from coal, to oil, to solar, to petroleum, to the plastic being derived from the petroleum for manufacturing. We often hear stories of Opec ramping up or throttling back production to keep a profitable price point. Their control and other countries’ controls of the production of raw energy fixed and regulated prices according to total anticipated demands. The sum of all energy produced from all sources (coal, petroleum, wind, solar, hydroelectric, nuclear, and so on) would require Y amount of output from all mining, drilling, refining, and manufacturing sources. That would then require Z number of workers to produce the materials of energy, make and shape the materials from fossil fuels, like plastics, move the energy materials from point A to point B, and so forth. There is a vast, non-automated, human component to the equation. And, finally, you have the variable C, the consumer. Now, let’s look at each, starting there, and how they’re failing or have failed. C, the consumer, tectonically shifted demand as a result of lockdowns. Over 100 countries worldwide had instituted either a full or partial lockdown by the end of March 2020, affecting billions of people. Consumer consumption shifted away from luxuries of dining out, entertainment, and leisure to online purchases and necessities of living at home. At the same time, businesses and manufacturers closed their doors, shut down, and laid off or let go of employees. Every economy in the world was impacted. Many of those businesses and manufacturers have had a hard time enticing employees to return to a work lifestyle that had them struggling more than 40 hours per week away from their families. The energy demands of C, the consumer, shifted away from manufacturers and to the individual consumer, but they put it right back on the manufacturers by exponentially creating demand. Manufacturers are struggling to meet that demand or even restore themselves to pre-pandemic levels. So, Z, the number of workers to produce and the materials of energy, to make and shape the materials from energy, like plastics, to move the energy materials from point A to point B, and so forth, suffering still from a lack of workers for refinement, production, manufacturing, and transport of energy and goods and products from that energy. If you can’t produce the plastic from the petroleum because you can’t get the oil or you can’t get the plastic on a ship or truck to the manufacturer, or the final product off the loading dock of the factory to the consumer demanding it, there’s a huge problem. The worker variable of the energy equation is out of whack too. Y, the sum of all energy produced from all sources that required a specific output from all mining, drilling, refining, and manufacturing sources, suffered from shifting demand, inclement weather, brutal cold, wildfires, droughts, a cessation of mining activities, politics, shipping and logistics problems, a worker shortage, and more. So, the ordinarily stable quantity of energy produced variable Y has been thrown wildly out of its normal numerical range. With C, Consumers, Z, workers, and Y, the total energy and byproducts of energy produced entirely out of sync, you can probably guess that our original X, the total anticipated energy needs for 2021, is also totally out of whack. Taken together, all the exponents cycled together and absorbed small fluctuations over the years. When something broke down here or demand rose over there, or a war broke out somewhere, these hits were absorbed into the global supply and remedied, or at least dealt with in a short time. That worked when one region or country suffered, but it doesn’t work when the entire global production and consumption equation is turned on its end. That doesn’t work when 50% of the Earth’s countries lockdown, shift their priorities and change their energy consumption patterns, demands, and needs. There’s a short circuit in the energy equation, and suddenly there are wild fluctuations in all the variables. That makes plugging in a single solution all the more difficult, if not impossible. FINDING A SOLUTION So each country is scrambling to re-establish reserves, secure a future share of energy, maintain and strike a balance sustainable for the future, and meet the essential needs of its people. Political leaders and captains of industry know their longevity depends on the stability of energy. People will only suffer so long without heat before they deconstruct the mansions of the rich to get fuel for their fires. The EU has turned to their nemesis Russia to fill the void, and the United States can’t consciously argue against their necessity to do so. Having snubbed Australia’s supply of coal, China is forced to cut back, ramp up their own coal mining, or secure other sources from other countries equally in need. Imagine a functioning machine with lots of belts and wheels and cogs. That was the energy production and consumption system of a few years ago, and it was functioning and mostly meeting the needs of manufacturers and consumers. Now imagine all those belts, cogs, and wheels suddenly changing in size. That’s consumer demand and economies suddenly contracting, reducing output, then increasing demand. When all the machine parts suddenly change size, the machine smokes, sputters, and fails. That’s where we are today. The only solution that can avert the further breakdown of the machine would be for the parts to revert, even slowly back to their original sizes. For that to happen now, consumption has to decrease, which isn’t likely. Manufacturing would have to decline in the face of rising demand. That’s not likely to happen either as we head into a holiday season. Weather patterns would have to not be so brutally cold in the wintery North and scorching hot in the summerly South. That’s a lot of things that have to fall in place together, and they are not likely to happen. There may not be a solution, but to let this play out, resulting in everyone worldwide taking their fair share of the suffering required. For you, expect higher prices on everything from utilities to gas to the products made from them. Expect the genuine possibility of rolling blackouts, rationing, or complete failures of power systems lasting not hours but stretching into days and maybe weeks. Reducing consumption while ramping up and restoring production is the only solution, and that still doesn’t address the problems of an aging power system I haven’t even covered here. If you have considered a whole-house battery and solar system to gain a little independence from the grid, you may find it is too late because the parts for that system aren’t available right now. If you haven’t taken measures to obtain emergency power sources like solar or gas generators for when the main power goes offline, you may have difficulty getting a generator now. Your best solution is to reduce your dependence on the central systems that may fail, learn to live with significantly reduced consumption, or prepare to go without altogether. When the power goes out for you, make sure you have the food, water, and heat to get you through this winter. Take a look at what happened in Texas earlier this year, and how people got through that disaster. Look at the success stories of those who were fine and copy them. CONCLUSION The world is facing a global power crisis at the same time it is trying to restore economies and braces for continued harsh weather. We may emerge stronger one day, but right now, we have to prepare for the situation to get much worse and the energy equation to continue to fluctuate wildly. One thing is for sure; the global energy crisis is going to come to your home. There’s no avoiding it. At the absolute very least, you’ll see it in the form of another increase in the price of everything. You may experience it even more directly in the form of rolling blackouts or in the availability of gas in your region drying up and pumps out of service. Some countries may even experience civil unrest as their citizens rebel against what they perceive as mismanagement of vital resources and needs. Prepare for the worst and take heed. This crisis is in its early stages still and will continue to get far worse before it gets any better. What do you think? Are you feeling the global energy crisis in your region or country? What’s your plan for when the energy stops flowing? As always, please stay safe out there.

October 15, 2021
Building a Dakota Fire Pit

“Anywhere the struggle is great, the level of ingenuity and inventiveness is high.”– Eleni Zaude Gabre-Madhin

There are several dangerous aspects to a post-disaster open fire or even a fire in the wild. High winds can make your fire difficult to light, and sparks can cause your fire to grow and potentially become out of control. Smoke and radiating light from the flames can announce to all the locations of your encampment and attract undesirable people that could threaten your safety. Still, having a safe fire after a disaster could mean the difference between life and death for you. Fire is a prepper’s essential tool, and it’s key to survival. Fortunately, the ancient indigenous people of North America developed a method to deal with all of those issues. And we are going to follow their model in this video and build what is commonly called a Dakota Fire Pit or a Dakota Fire Hole. In this video, I will explain how to build a basic Dakota Fire Pit, why it’s far superior to an open campfire and why it was probably developed in the first place. Let’s break some ground…

HOW TO BUILD IT

The Dakota Fire Pit is essentially just two holes in the ground that connect up. Your slightly larger fire hole is fed by the smaller hole that should be at least as big around as your fist and will open up at the bottom of your larger fire pit hole.

Having a steep-sided, narrow, and deep fire hole will protect your fire from high winds, which will help you get it started under challenging conditions. The sides of the fire pit will also focus the heat energy upwards and not in all directions like a campfire. This will allow you to generate a concentrated heat sufficient enough to boil water or cook in a very short amount of time.

My Dakota Fire Pit will be a permanent fixture in my backyard. That’s the only way I could sell it to the wife, for one, and second, I plan on using it after any disaster where my usual means of cooking are offline.

I start by laying out the bricks I want at the base of the fire pit chamber. You don’t need to do this or worry about rocks in your pit. I’m only doing this to provide an excellent foundation for my permanent pit. With the bricks laid out, I used a shovel to outline the hole. After this, I remove the ring of bricks and proceed to dig the main pit. As mine will be a permanent fixture, I am going big, so I want my main hole to be at a depth of almost two feet and about 2 inches across. I will end up stacking three layers of stone around the ring, so this will give me added depth. My finished hole with that ring will be almost 3 feet deep with a width of about 20 inches. Because I’m not a true 2 to 1 ratio, I’ll probably get a little smoke.

Your ratio should be around twice as deep as your whole is wide. Yours can be as little as a foot deep and a mere 8 inches round, but it must then be 16 inches deep. You always want the hole deeper than it is wide. This will concentrate the heat upwards and will allow you to contain the flames within the hole.

So, I dig and dig, break rocks, and dig. Your smaller Dakota Fire Pit can be dug by hand or even with a small shovel. Your soil may not be as compacted and hard. You don’t want your pit collapsing in on itself, so really, the only caveat is not to build it in the sand. You can use the dirt you remove to build up a rim around your main fire hole, or you can use it to build a trough and channel the breeze or wind into your air intake hole. I used a variety of tools to try and make the job easier. Again, you will want to go smaller to make your pit.

Next, you want to dig your air intake hole upwind from your larger fire hole. I don’t have much of a breeze because of my fences, so I’m just digging the vent hole a little bit away from the main hole. Your air intake hole will be at a 45-degree angle to your larger hole. For mine, I will go straight down and then curve it to that angle after about a foot down. When I felt like I was close to connecting, I started digging out from the base of the firepit. I used a little water in the air intake hole to soften the soil, and so I would know when the two holes connected. You won’t want to do this if you plan on using your Dakota Fire Pit the same day you are constructing it, as the water will create more smoke and make lighting your fire more difficult. In my case, the water allowed me to smooth and mold the sides.

I then placed my ring of bricks in the base and the brick above the intake hole to allow air to flow. You will want to put rocks around the ring of your pit if you’re going to cook over it, as these rocks will create a base for your pan to rest upon. Lacking any cookware or rocks, you can criss-cross green wood over a lower fire to create a makeshift grill. I placed some flat paving stones at the bottom to provide a good surface for the fire when dry and then ringed the hole with my angled flagstone retaining wall blocks. If I find my fire hole isn’t deep enough, I can do several layers of these stones to chimney it up. You can accomplish the same thing for your pit by using the dirt you remove from it to chimney up the sides.

For the air intake hole, I ringed it with stone only for the sake of appearance. It isn’t necessary and will actually work better for you when the low air is unencumbered. I then stacked a second layer of stones on the top of my main ring. This will support a fire screen to arrest sparks and later a grill. Since my pit is a permanent fixture, I finished it by laying pebble rocks around the rings.

With it finished, I just needed to let it dry out because of the water I used, and then I could light it. To light it, I threw in some paper and went with a standard teepee structure for staking the wood. There was some regular smoke because of the paper, the wetness of the wood, and because the pit was still considerably damp. That did subside once the heat was sufficient.

When the fire was low, I used a leaf blower on the intake hole, and you can see how efficiently it stoked the fire without blowing reckless sparks and embers everywhere. In a survival situation and with a narrower, more concentrated fire hole, you could easily use this design to create a makeshift kiln or forge.

BENEFITS OF A DAKOTA FIREPIT VS. AN OPEN FIRE

The indigenous people of the high great plains faced high winds on grassy plains. These people, largely nomadic, followed the bison. They couldn’t risk an out-of-control prairie fire, nor did they want to signal any enemies of their presence on the low flatlands. An open campfire wasn’t practical, and the high winds made even lighting one problematic. It is thought that out of this necessity, the Dakota Fire Pit was created.

I already mentioned some of the benefits of the fire pit, but here they are again, plus a few more. First, the oxygen feeding in at the lowest point of the fire through the smaller hole and circulating around the base of the fire discourages smoke. The fire burns hotter, as a result. The larger fire chamber, technically called a pyrolysis chamber, has enough of a rise to focus the heat towards the center and up like a rocket stove. The high heat reduces the sloppy chemical transition of the biomass to complete combustion. In layman’s terms, the more efficient the biomass conversion to flame, the less likely smoke will be generated and the more heat and light energy created.

A typical campfire loses much of its heat out the sides. A Dakota Fire Hole focuses the heat up the fire hole. This allows you to use a minimal amount of material but create a fast and very concentrated heat like a rocket stove. Your Dakota Fire Pit can be much smaller and probably will be if you are not in a more permanent location. The smaller size will allow you to use simple kindling like twigs to generate enough heat to boil water, stay warm, or cook.

If your fire is burning slow or having difficulty with the materials you are burning, you have to get low and blow into the sides of a campfire. It’s not the most efficient method. Even with my larger-sized fire hole, I found that blowing down the air intake hole concentrated the air and stoked the coals at the base. I also used a leaf blower on it and had my fire burning like a jet engine.

When your fire is done, instead of leaving a pile of smoldering ash, you can fill the hole in with the dirt you removed and leave no trace or evidence that you were ever there. You don’t risk embers reigniting in the wind, and you cover your tracks and maintain your operational security better.

—

When you want an efficient, low smoke fire after a disaster or on your next campout or wilderness trek, the Dakota Fire Pit is definitely the way to go. Hopefully, this video has provided enough information to get you started. If you have ever built one of these or you plan to, let me know how it went in the comments below. I read many of the comments and respond to them when I can. That is typically within the first hour of releasing a video. I can notify you when other videos become available only if you take that step to subscribe to this channel by clicking that button. It’s a little thing, but it helps us grow this community.

As always, please stay safe out there.

October 13, 2021
Marti’s Corner – 39

Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* Here is another person who believes that shortages are coming. We should ALL be gearing up: take inventory, determine needs, purchase what you can. Electricity Shortages in China Mean Coming Empty Shelves HERE | The Glenn Beck Program

* Augason Farms, a large supplier of emergency food supplies, has just announced that it is suspending operations for 90 days. They cannot fulfill orders due to critical supply chain failures.

* Time to feed the garden. I give EVERYTHING some of this: Tomato, Vegetable & Herb Fertilizer.  I get it at Lowes.

I also like to give them a little nitrogen (not the beans or peas). If you have a good compost, use that. If not, I use this: Worm Gold Plus 100% Organic Worm Castings 8qt (Approx 13lbs). If you get the worm castings at Armstrong Nursery (or ANY type of worm castings from any store) it is probably a little cheaper than online. If you have never used worm castings, they do NOT look like worms! LOL. It actually looks and feels like rich, black, fine soil. Your plants will love it. If you want your plants to produce for you, you need to feed them!!!

* The Great California ShakeOut is coming up. It will happen on October 21 (always the third Thursday) at 10:21. IF you are NOT participating in this drill with any kind of church or community organization, you may want to consider doing this with YOUR family. At least talk about it!!! What should your kids do if they are at school? How will you reach them and bring them safely home? What if they ARE at home? What should they do?

The more you talk about it and drill, the less scared they will be. The Great California ShakeOut – Get Ready to ShakeOut!

* I was thinking of purchasing some dehydrated corn. I found this: Augason Farms Freeze Dried Sweet Corn 1 lb No. 10 Can. It is a #10 can (1 pound) for $29.99. (And now you can’t get it anyway) But I also found this: Harmony House Foods Dried Corn, whole (14 oz, Quart Size Jar) This will save you over $.40 per ounce. Then, I just decided I would dehydrate my own. Just buy frozen corn (about $1.29 at Winco I think), and spread it out on the trays. Harmony House corn = $1.43 per oz. Do-it-yourself corn = $.08 per oz.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Dehydrated Apples

Apple slices are currently unavailable through the Church store. BUT, I know that many of you have purchased them in the past, so we will talk about using them. To rehydrate them, add 1 c. apple slices to 1/2-3/4 c. hot water. Let sit for 15 minutes, then drain off excess water.

It looks like cinnamon apples ARE available here: Emergency Essentials® Freeze-Dried Cinnamon Apple Slices Large Can – Be Prepared – Emergency Essentials

If you do some math (who doesn’t want to do math???) The apples above are $2.19 per serving. You can buy fresh apples for MUCH less, even when they are NOT on sale. YOU just have to do the work of dehydrating them. I was gifted an extra dehydrator and so I have one to lend out. Just LMK if you would like to borrow it.

If you watch the sales, you can sometimes find apples for as little as $.50 a pound.

If you are dreading peeling and slicing apples, YOU have never had one of these: Apple Peeler and Corer by Cucina Pro – Long Lasting Chrome Cast Iron with Countertop Suction Cup: Home & Kitchen

It peels, cores, and slices all at once. There are several varieties. I don’t know how I lived without one!

I just opened a pack of dehydrated apples (with cinnamon and sugar on them) that I dehydrated about 4 years ago. They had been vacuum sealed. They tasted wonderful!!!

SHORT TERM FOCUS: Canned Fruit

Fruit is getting expensive, just like everything else. Just get 1-2 cans EVERY time you shop. If you are hungry, cold peaches or pears will taste like candy!!!. Plus, the sugar juice will add needed calories.

72-HOUR FOCUS: Scriptures

Most of us have scriptures on our phones now. (Isn’t that amazing that we can do that?) But if there is no power, and no way to continuously charge your phone, you will not be able to access them. There are very small scriptures you can buy for your 72-hour kit. Frankly, there is no way I could read them even if I had them. One suggestion would be to tuck a set of scriptures in the trunk or glove compartment of the car. OR, if you have a grab-and-go bag in case of evacuations, you can put it there.

Remember in the Book of Mormon, the Lord considered the scriptures so important, that Lehi’s sons risked their lives to go back and get them. Later on, King Benjamin tells his sons, “If it were not for these records and these commandments, we would have suffered in ignorance. For it were not possible that our father, Lehi, could have remembered all these things, to have taught them to his children, except it was for the help of these plates.” (Mosiah 1:3-4)

Whatever your faith is, you will want a copy of your holy scriptures if there is a true emergency.

MISC FOCUS: Isopropyl Alcohol

Here is a good site that lists some of the benefits of rubbing alcohol: Rubbing alcohol uses: How to use it, safety, and what to avoid

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Today’s recipes are from a document called “CANNERY COOKBOOK“

Dutch Apple Pie

1 c. dried apples firmly packed
2 c. boiling water.
  Pour water over apples and let set for about 15 minutes.

Mix together:
1/3 c. sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 TB flour
  Add to the apple mix and continue cooking until thick. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. Pour mixture into pie shell and dot with 1 TB butter.

Topping:
1/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. butter
Cut in the butter until crumbly. Sprinkle over the apple mixture and place in 350˚ oven for 55 minutes.

Apple Filled Cookies

Filling:
Chop or break 2 c. dried apples into small pieces. DO NOT RECONSTITUTE as in other recipes.
Place chopped apples in a saucepan and add:
3/4 c. water
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. chopped nuts
1 TB flour
Cook together slowly, stir constantly to prevent scorching until thick. Cool
Cream together
1 c. butter
1 3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. water

Mix well and add:
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Add: 3 1/2 c. flour (wheat or white)
Drop by teaspoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Make a depression in the middle of each drop and place filling in the depression, then place 1/2 tsp of dough on top of filling.
Bake at 350˚ about 12 minutes.

Applesauce

2 c. dried apples
2 c. boiling water
Pour water over apples and let sit 15 minutes. Put this mix in the blender and you will have applesauce. For variety, add some sugar or cinnamon.

We cannot see the road ahead. But we can read the road signs, and listen to those who have.

Marti

October 11, 2021
Marti’s Corner – 38

Hi Everyone,

NOTES:

* Here is a great article about storing water:  Drinking Water Guidelines.

* I came across a FaceBook group called, “Simply Prepared With CFD Publications.” From there I found this website: CFD Publications You will find a lot of good information in both places. You will also find a book called Pantry Cooking by Cheryl Driggs, which offers over 350 shelf-stable recipes.

* Beginning in late 2020, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints began to publish “Local Area Preparedness Guides.” Go here to find YOUR area: Local Area Prepare Here is the one for So. Cal: Temporal-Preparedness-Guide-North-America-Southwest-Area-Guide-May-2021

* I apologize if I’ve offered this before, but it’s really great: Houston Emergency Preparedness Cookbook You can download it now and look at it later.

** Garden Update. For several weeks, something has been eating my lettuce – AS SOON AS IT SPROUTS!!! I tried sprays and diatomaceous earth. I finally dug up all the lettuce and started over in new tubs. Same thing. I took pictures and sent them to a master gardener. She suggested mice, rabbits, or squirrels. I bought some sticky mouse traps and laid them right in the tubs. BUT, then I decided to move the tables away from next to the house. If it’s a mouse, I thought, it won’t be able to climb up the table if it’s away from the wall. Soooo… I did not catch a mouse, only a bunch of flies in the sticky goo. BUT, moving the tables has seemed to work, and I’m now harvesting lettuce again. In addition, I have also gotten zucchini and yellow squash from plants that I sprouted only a few weeks ago. Yay!!! I feel that the plants are finally starting to bloom again after the summer heat.

LONG TERM FOCUS: Milk

Foods made with powdered milk will have fewer calories and less cholesterol than those made from whole milk. Adding additional milk to the recipe will enhance the nutritive value of the recipe.  In any recipe calling for milk, simply add the dry milk to the other dry ingredients, then add water for the milk called for in the recipe. In mashed potatoes: mash cooked potatoes, then add 1/4 c. dry milk for each cup of potatoes. Use either the water the potatoes were cooked in or fresh milk to give the right consistency.

72-HOUR FOCUS: Deck of Cards

I grew up playing cards with my grandpa. His favorite card games were Gin Rummy and Hearts. I guess MY favorite card games are Gin Rummy and Crazy Eights. Playing cards would be a fun family home evening – Crazy Eights and popcorn.

MISC FOCUS: Hydrogen Peroxide

Check this out:

FOOD STORAGE RECIPES

Fruit Smoothies (a good way to use bottled fruit)

2 c. bottled fruit with juice
3/4 c. nonfat powdered milk
1-2 drops almond flavoring, or vanilla, or 1 TB lemon juice. (Use almond flavoring with cherries and large stone fruits, lemon juice with berries.)
Put in blender and blend until smooth. Add 1/2 tray ice cubes and blend until smooth.
To use fresh fruit, use one cup of fruit and 1 c. water and sweeten to taste.

Peanut Butter Chews:

1 c. powdered sugar
1 c. peanut butter
1 c. corn syrup or honey
2 c. instant dry milk (or 1 c. non-instant)
Mix milk and sugar thoroughly. Add peanut butter and syrup mixture. Knead with hands. Press into a cake pan or roll into walnut size balls.
Variations: Add nuts, or Rice Krispies. Dip in chocolate.

Tootsie Rolls

1 c. honey
1/2 c. cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. non-instant powdered milk
Cook honey to 255˚. Do not overcook. Remove from heat. Add vanilla. Mix cocoa and powdered milk well and stir into honey. Pull like taffy until gloss is gone and roll into rolls.

Food prices are rising. Stay prepared!!!

Marti

October 11, 2021
Labor Shortage In The US: How This Will Soon Impact You

“I am all in favor of growing the American economy and engaging in trade with the world, but not at the expense of American workers.” – Theodore Scott Yoho. If you get your news from the Main Stream Media, you would probably assume that the labor supply issues we’re facing worldwide can be quickly explained with phrases like lazy workers, low wages, lockdowns, a pandemic, socialism, lack of childcare, lack of business, COVID-19, unemployment benefits, or government handouts. When you move past the surface on this issue, ignoring the soundbites spoon-fed to us in order to provide quick and easy answers to complex problems, several factors float to the surface providing us insight into what is causing a tectonic shift in worker priorities, desires, and job availability. Before you rush to the comment section and blame a particular politician or political party, please try to stick around until the e nd of the video as there is quite a bit to cover to get to the root cause of why we’re seeing massive unemployment issues right now in the U.S. and abroad. The whole system has been turned on its end right now, and the fact is that there isn’t one singular cause but several causes that put us in this situation. In this video, we’ll try to pull back the curtain of one-liners and singular causes espoused in the MSM and do a deep dive on this issue. Our national and global economic recovery will all be determined by how we emerge from this labor crisis. In this blog, we will explore the major factors and avoid hasty generalizations and dismissals. So, while this video may be a little longer than usual, it’s essential to examine and understand these deeper causes, not to push any singular agenda, and ncot to simply skim the surface and glom onto the nearest convenient truth. America, the UK, the entire world can emerge stronger and wiser from this, or things can continue to unravel. Either way, I will tell you what we can expect to see through mid-year 2022. I will examin ce some of the misconceptions of t he labor shortage to get us beyond MSM soundbites and how these real labor issues will impact you, and what you should be doing now to insulate yourself from them. Let’s take a look… A BIG PROBLEM YOU SHOULDN’T DISMISS The fact is that there has never before been a global shutdown. We are in uncharted territory at the moment. Even during the World Wars, more product and food was sourced from within a nation’s borders than without. The 9-11 attack hit the travel sector hard and slowed port traffic as countries scrambled to beef security, but that was more of a yellow light compared to the glaring red light of the total global stop we are experiencing today. You may be one of the lucky ones if you haven’t experienced a job loss or work slow down in the last year and a half. Maybe the worst thing to happen to you was needing to adjust your schedule with a spouse now working from home or children or grandchildren out of school last year. When it comes to COVID, there are large swaths of people who have remained largely unaffected. Others have lost multiple family members, jobs, and businesses. When the cruise ships docked, the hotels emptied, airline flights canceled, conferences canceled, zoos, museums, restaurants, and entertainment venues closed, some 16 million American workers were suddenly out of work in the hospitality and tourism industry. The closing of this industry resulted in it shedding 42.1 percent of its total value. Imagine overnight being worth almost 50% less. Businesses, even ones who accepted copious amounts of money from the 953 billion dollar Paycheck Protection Program, laid off or let go workers and were forced to stay closed. Beyond those closures, you might have noticed, other manufacturing countries were on extreme lockdown. Schools, universities, and colleges have closed either on a nationwide or local basis in 63 countries, affecting approximately 47 percent of the world’s student population. By April 2020, about half of the world’s population was under some form of lockdown, with more than 3.9 billion people in more than 90 countries or territories having been asked or ordered to stay at home by their governments. Pandemic restrictions have had social and economic impacts and have been met with protests in some territories. Countries that didn’t lockdown or locked down light didn’t fare any better. They were still subject to the economic effects of the global lockdown, and their population suffered far worse mortality numbers. Factories and raw material producers around the world stopped production and locked their doors. So, it wasn’t just a shortage of copper or avocados or cheap plastic products or whatever. It was everything that halted. Advanced Pharmaceutical Ingredients from India suffered production stoppages. Cell phones and electronics from China, coffee from Vietnam, ceramic filters, copper wire, lumber, chlorine, microchips, pork, beef, you name it, and it probably stopped production. At the same time, people were at home, and their spending priorities globally shifted. They also probably received a stimulus boost, one of the historical tools of governments to stimulate a healthy economy. The money they would have spent on happy hours, lunches out or childcare was now spent online, on home improvements, paying off debt, or building out home offices. With pockets full, demand skyrocketed at the same time that supply ground to a halt. Add to this the complications in the trucking industry, shipping industry, on-hand inventories evaporating, and a little panic buying, and you have a combination pummeling of the global supply chain we have never seen before. It has been slow to get better, too. It might not. Pig farmers in the UK are killing off their surplus pigs because they can’t get them to the slaughterhouses. Cars are in short supply. China is sending empty cargo ships away if a crew member tests positive for COVID. Labor shortages are hitting the agricultural industry as borders remain closed. Drought and heat-induced crop failures persist and further complicate already strained supply lines. Soon, winter cold will bear down on the country, and minor problems will become even more significant. This all plus the fact that there’s still a lack of shipping containers, truck chassis, rail cars, and the problems go on and on all at the same time as we have never encountered before. HISTORICAL RESPONSES WON’T WORK Previous economic downturns were usually confined to countries. You probably didn’t notice Greece defaulting on its debt in 2015, but some of that affects you today when it comes to shipping capacity. People in middle America probably aren’t too concerned about Brexit, though it’s currently doing a number on the UK’s pork industry, among other things. The fact is that when a country suffered an economic downturn, they simply printed more money by borrowing more money from other countries. This robbing Peter to pay Paul policy usually worked well enough to carry the economy over to better days, but it relied upon just your country’s suffering. Right now, all but a few first-world countries are suffering a loss of gross domestic product. Another response to high unemployment rates was for colleges and training schools to kick it into high gear and train a whole next generation of workers or retool an existing workforce for today’s new jobs. Yet, through the chaos and uncertainty of 2020, enrollment in colleges and trade schools went down. The conclusion drawn from that is that the uncertainty of enrolling in a degree or trade program is outweighed by a lack of faith in the future. Many choose to “wait it out” before committing to going all-in on something that might not end up advancing them but only increasing their personal debt. Often discouraged at the forecasts they saw, investors would often fiscally flee one country to invest in another. In some cases, they would pull their money from stocks and redistribute it in safer bonds or precious metals. Currently, there is so much global uncertainty, and the supply chain is so out of whack that there doesn’t seem to be any single safe haven for their money. Traditionally, governments would adjust interest rates to keep money flowing. Still, those have already been ratcheted down so low that there isn’t any actual room left to go lower, and raising them could trigger even greater inflation. While bond prices are up as of late, they’re still less than half of what they were in 2018. The yield is lower than it has been in over a half-century, so this safe haven for investors is gone too. The uncertainty has led to investors holding tight to their purse strings and not venturing their dollars on risky investments with unpredictable futures. The ultra-rich have been buying the most stable asset on the planet–land. I’ll post a link in the cards above to a video I recently did detailing this issue. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jufc0XtbCwU At the risk of oversimplifying the situation, the federal banks don’t have any tools left to keep the money churning, and now the country risks yet another government shutdown showdown, a default on its creditors, and a slash to its credit rating. The rob Peter to pay Paul practice is coming to an end because Peter is out of money. It’s not just the US reeling in a financial meltdown. Brexit has had devastating effects in the UK, and several European countries are revising their expectations for a healthy GDP in 2021 and 22. The simple truth is we have not been in such a dire and precarious fiscal situation since the Great Depression. The historical responses and policies we might put in place to pull our economy back from that cliff just aren’t there anymore: the toolbox is empty. Here’s a look at a few of the myths and realities. LOCKDOWN RE-EVALUATIONS: THE GREAT REASSESSMENT As the lockdowns occurred, families were forced to take a hard look at whether it was feasible to go back to a lifestyle that had them barely getting by and left them further in debt or more desperate with each passing month. The problems of a lack of affordable childcare, schools, being out, and many childcare centers downsizing operations has been, for many, replaced with the necessary solution of parents shifting schedules to stay home with kids. Parents are now weighing whether they can make it work. They’re weighing the pros and cons of figuring out how to make it work or returning to paying hundreds or more likely over a thousand dollars per month in childcare. They are re-evaluating their spending and their priorities in their work-life balance. Food Away From Home (FAFH), the money spent eating out, has plummeted over the last year. Many people never realized how much of their income went to entertainment, drinks, and food. That concert, happy hour round, lunch break from work, even Latte added up to big dollars. That’s great for the average consumer but not so great for the millions of service workers. The repercussions of this have led to many restaurants and food suppliers slashing their labor force. Now, they’re having a hard time getting those workers back. The traditional teen labor force that would typically take fast-food jobs, for instance, isn’t willing to risk becoming ill in exchange for less than a living wage. At least they aren’t given the potential that pay will be better or things will be better next year or the year after that. Beyond what some call lazy teenagers, though, the average US fast-food worker makes $12.43 per hour. That’s $25,000 per year. People on the lower end of that spectrum, the bottom 10% to be exact, make roughly $18,000 a year. The average monthly rent for a one-bedroom apartment in 2020 was $1,098 a month. The average utility bills came in around $240 per month. That leaves 162 dollars if you don’t include taxes, social security, or any other deductions for a person to buy any food, personal hygiene products, or anything else. That’s $5.40 per day to cover every single one of your individual needs. Granted, some workers make more, and some make living arrangements out of necessity– one or more roommates or living at home– but it’s easy to see that working 40 hours or more per week to survive barely is not an option many would want to pursue with any zeal. Moving out of the food sector, you can peruse any job board, and you don’t have to look far to see low entry wages or jobs requiring copious amounts of experience and college degrees to pay wages that one can barely survive on. The federal minimum wage has been at $7.25 an hour, or $15,080 a year, since 2009– over 12 years ago. At the same time, prices for everything have gone up and continue to skyrocket. A gallon of milk in 2009 was $3.10. Today that’s $3.68. That may seem small, but that’s an 18% increase. Looked at another way, that’s a half-hour of work, before deductions to be able to buy a gallon of milk. Everything has gone up, too. Bacon in 2009 was $3.45. In 2020 that was $5.83. Today, due to the pork industry being hit so hard in the early days of the pandemic and frozen inventories being brought to all-time lows, the price is over $6.00. That’s almost a 75% increase. I’m not going to argue for a wage increase because that’s not the point of this channel. For our purposes, suffice to say costs have risen and are spiking right now, while wages have not. This encourages many to sit on the sidelines until the game is less rough or seek under-the-table employment opportunities outside traditional models. While we could discuss the rising costs of thousands of food products, staples, and life necessities, each would reveal the same simple truth– prices for everything have gone up while wages have remained stagnant. So, it is little wonder that many are trying to find other ways to make a living outside of the traditional systems. Funds that people may have allocated to groceries or not thought about spending on meals out are being repurposed and re-evaluated. This is causing turmoil as the demand side of the supply and demand equation experiences a massive 180-degree direction turn. One of the primary drivers of the labor shortage are people taking a hard look at the rat race and deciding that they don’t want to be the rat. Lockdowns have forced a re-evaluation of life priorities. DID UNEMPLOYMENT & STIMULUS MONEY FAIL? The position of some Governors in the U.S. and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce offered that unemployment benefits and stimulus money were holding back hiring doesn’t capture the whole issue and the thought processes of the American worker. Stimulus money and unemployment benefits have provided many people with the opportunity to make this personal re-evaluation of their life priorities. A thousand dollars, a per month child payment, extended unemployment benefits, and other forms of federal and state-level assistance have provided workers just enough to stretch out their pause from the workforce mindfully. Last year, the federal government enhanced and expanded unemployment benefits to help Americans weather the economic shock of the COVID-19 pandemic, which shuttered businesses, crippled the leisure and transportation industries, and erased 22.4 million jobs. Remember that minimum wage worker? In 2020, 73.3 million workers age 16 and older in the United States were paid at hourly rates, representing 55.5 percent of all wage and salary workers. That 2k in stimulus money and potential unemployment benefits for all of those workers laid-off or let go because business was slow provided enough for them to drag their heels about re-entering the labor market. This assertion that workers are choosing not to go back to low-wage jobs has some truth to it. But is it the sole reason? No. States that ended a federal boost to jobless benefits early experienced virtually the same drop in unemployment this summer as states that maintained the extra assistance. The hypothesis that unemployment benefits were what was holding back hiring has been disproven. Even with the expiration of benefits or the early end of benefits, people have taken the extra money and saved it, stretched it, paid down debt, adjusted living arrangements, and circled their personal economic wagons. Many simply do not want to return to low-wage jobs. They are re-evaluating their family structures, eating habits, and every dime they are spending. Even if they could spend the extra income to boost the economy as was hoped in the old model of recession and recovery, they can’t because they can’t afford to. So, for many, the unemployment benefits and stimulus money has provided a means to somewhat control their re-engagement into a challenging work-life, but does it mean workers are lazy? That’s what some people would have you believe. Some workers between the ages of 40-60 are having difficulty re-entering the labor market after being laid off or released during the great slowdown of 2020 because their high-paying jobs that they incrementally worked hard at for the last several years aren’t there anymore. Older workers find that their jobs have been divided up, eliminated, or filled by younger or more desperate workers. Workers over the age of 50 are evaluating their next moves and determining if their equity and 401ks might serve them better in early retirement to a state with a lower cost of living. Most people who move across state lines do so for economic or family reasons. The vast majority of adults cite jobs (49%), housing (23%), or family (20%) as the primary reasons. When the dust settles on the unemployment benefit extensions and stimulus money, America may find itself better or worse off. Only time will tell. We can say for sure right now that it isn’t the sole cause of the labor shortage, but it may be a deciding factor for many as to whether they will re-enter the job market at the same or lower level than they were when they were struggling to get by before. If shortages can be contained and supply lines flowing again, and confidence is somewhat restored, look for employers to re-evaluate what they are willing to do to hire people and look for an uptick in employment numbers around April of 2022. Sustainable economic recovery will require employers to be creative to tackle the many interconnected labor issues and provide greater work-life balance to workers who are currently making hard choices and are likely to stick by them. WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW This is not the apocalypse. It may change the way we live moving forward, but it isn’t likely to completely unravel the country. America will become slightly less comfortable, less convenient, less instantaneous with its deliveries. It may take longer to get the products you once received 2-days after ordering them. You might have to get more creative with your spending and eating habits. You might have to drive the same old car for longer. You might just have to figure out how to temporarily fix a thing or two instead of waiting on a repairman or disposing of the product as you might have done in the past. The best thing to do is to take stock and refill your essentials now. Learn to do the same or more with less. Decrease your dependence on foreign products. Build local networks and local connections for the things you need. Do you know someone raising chickens and selling eggs? Hit up the local farmers market more often and build your network. If not, now would be the time to make that connection. Do you know someone who can change your oil and fix your car? Make that connection and buy that oil now you’ll need for your car later. It can sit in the corner of your garage. Shop local, even if that means you pay a little more. The things you buy will be fresher, regionally generated, and you will soon pay even higher prices for the cheaply made import equivalents. Live within your season and stop trying to eat grapes and watermelon in winter. Now is the time to learn that new skill or hobby you have been contemplating. Your favorite beer might be in production, but they may not have the glass they need for the bottles. If that’s the case, you will be glad you learned to homebrew. If you can’t buy new clothes, you will be happy you learned how to mend the ones you have or that you purchased that bolt of fabric. Buy that cast iron pan. Get that dehydrator or those extra jars and lids and commit to not letting a single vegetable from your garden go to waste. Start thinking like we may be in the long haul because we very well may be. Most immediately, emergency supplies will be scarce. Just yesterday, I saw several “limit 1” signs on everything from propane to cases of bottled water. Stock up on water, batteries, and canned goods. Get an extra can or case of soup. Buy an extra bag of rice. Find ways to rely less on imports. The most effective remedy will be for Americans to learn how to consume less. It could get really bad, but you have an opportunity to emerge from this crisis of want with a better understanding and means of addressing your actual needs. You could emerge from this more self-reliant and better positioned to survive subsequent disasters if you start now. CONCLUSION The supply chain suffers from a global shutdown, trucking problems, shipping difficulties, even a lack of chassis and parts. There are new, seemingly odd shortages popping up every day, and store shelf stockers are getting creative with how they fill the empty spaces. Now there is a labor shortage when there is not a shortage of people to fill jobs. Don’t believe the one-liner mainstream media that is more interested in soundbites than analyzing the facts. What do you think? Have you experienced a labor shortage as an employer? Are you one of the many who have decided to figure out a new path forward that is very different from your pre-COVID days? We would love to know. Tell us in the comments below. I read many of the comments and respond to them when I can. That is typically within the first hour of releasing a video. I can notify you when other videos become available only if you take that step to subscribe to this channel by clicking that button. It’s a little thing, but it helps us grow this community. As always, please stay safe out there.

October 10, 2021
Why Are the Mega-Rich Buying All the Farmland?
” I lived on a farm until I was seven during the Great Depression, … It didn’t affect us, though, because our farm was self-sufficient. We had cows, hens, chickens, pigs, and a donkey. The only thing we bought from the store was flour and sugar. … My grandmother, Sarah Carter, smelled good, like apples, because she was always busy making apple cake or apple pie. “
- Barbara Frye
The billionaire former telecommunications and media giant, John C. Malone, also known as the “Cable Cowboy,” owns two point two million acres of land. He’s been acquiring land for years and is the largest private landowner in the United States. As a point of reference, you could put the entire state of Rhode Island two times in the amount of land he owns. Other mega-wealthy individuals have recently been following in the Cable Cowboys’ footsteps. Ted Turner owns two million acres in New Mexico, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Georgia. LA Rams owner, Stan Kroenke, owns almost one point four million acres. Peter Buck, the founding partner of Subway sandwiches, owns one point two million acres. Bill Gates now owns enough land to fit all of the city of New York on it, and his land purchases have been almost entirely fertile farmland. Jeff Bezos has double Bill Gates’ total acreage at four hundred and twenty thousand acres. The list goes on and on with the top twenty five landowners, Gates isn’t even in that list, accounting for a whopping twenty-three million, four hundred fifty-one-thousand, six hundred and eighty-two acres. That’s roughly the same area as all of Vermont, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island combined. And that’s just these 25 owners. So, why are the ultra wealthy continuing to snap up farm land, and even more importantly, how may this soon impact you? We’ll take a deep dive looking at this phenomenon and we’ll try to answer these questions. So let’s jump in… THE VALUE OF LAND American prosperity has primarily been built on a dual foundation of cheap land and labor. There have always been owners of large swaths of American land ever since English monarchs awarded land grants or gifts of land to individuals in perpetuity. Throughout all history, worldwide, ownership of land was equal to power. While your harvest of wheat or corn may succumb to a too early frost, the land remained stable year after year. It was, and always will be, a commodity. There’s only so much of it, and just so much of that which is inhabitable or usable. Land has intrinsic value, and every year that goes by, people require more and more of it to meet population demands. The majority of the land being purchased, held, and passed down from generation to generation serves some other function as well. Much of it is either used for timber, ranching, grazing, mining, or farming. Much of Ted Turner’s land, for instance, is used as grazing land for over 50,000 head of Buffalo, which is also the largest private buffalo herd in the world. But these businesses are on top of the ownership of the land. Forests, ranches, and farmland all have one thing in common, and that is water. You might also want to take a look at my other video on Why The Rich Are Buying Up Water Rights? Despite the resources that can be brought to bear on the land, the real value is holding the land itself. Simply by holding it as others seek to acquire land, the value of it goes up. In a world where economies can recede, even fail, currencies collapse, wars flare up, political disputes boil over, and pestilence can overwhelm a population, the land is still retaining its value. The landowner is maintaining their stature. The land is not correlated with the stock market or any other major asset class. The stock market can plummet a thousand points, but the land will only steadily increase in value. It has done so with few exceptions for at least the last three decades. Still, you won’t see Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos, or Ted Turner out on their land with a hoe and a bag of seeds. They aren’t farmers. 30% of these large farmlands are leased to real farmers, which squeezes their profit margins tighter. They put in all the sweat and shoulder all the risk, but it’s the landlord who is the only one guaranteed to profit. Whether the land is cultivated for its resources, lease, or just held, it’s a guaranteed return on investment. With the average farmland acre price hovering around $3,160, it’s easy for the ultra-rich to sock money away by purchasing fertile acreage. The price a decade ago was around $2,000 an acre. That rate of return on just holding the land is higher than most returns on bonds, stocks, savings accounts, or even precious metals. If the owner can put a water pumping station on the land, a solar farm, a wind farm, or just lease it to someone else, they’re creating multiple revenue streams for themselves. It is usually at this point that some are inclined to decry foreign investors as the problem, but those folks aren’t seeing the bigger picture. Currently, 30 million acres of American farmland are owned by foreign investors. That’s only just over 2 percent of all available American farmland. It’s not significant, but it’s not insignificant either. Those 30 million acres would equate to roughly the size of Pennsylvania. For its part, China owns 191,000 acres, a paltry 298 square miles of it. Where foreign nationals are allowed to own real estate, there are often restrictions on where they can buy and how much they can hold, so we needn’t fear foreign investors as much as we do the mega-rich citizens right here. Still, we should be cautious about ceding too much of the United States to the control of foreign investors. The main reason the ultra-rich and investors are buying more and more land is for no other reason than that it holds value and increases in value just by holding onto it. No other asset class has such a guaranteed return. If you are sitting on millions, billions, or trillions of dollars, and you’re looking to get several of the tax breaks and benefits of land ownership, you don’t need to offshore your money in a hidden account somewhere anymore. There’s a new land rush right here in America. MANY MOUTHS TO FEED Snapping up farmland is also a good investment because the population continues to grow. There are more mouths to feed, and there is a limited amount of farmland. Every year, more and more farmland gets repurposed for housing or other purposes. Also, corporate farms make decisions based upon yield and the ability to sell their product. Selling their product to consumers in their own country isn’t a higher priority, and exports and tariffs can be tricky. It is easier for a corporation to take a loss and the write-off than to struggle to bring their harvest to market. It is easier for a company to repurpose its soybeans or corn for plastic, corn syrup, fiber, ethanol production, or some other than food option and take the profit than sometimes bringing that product to market. The global population is forecasted to increase to 10 billion in the next 80 years. The World Bank has predicted that agricultural production will need to increase by almost 70% in the next 30 years to keep pace with demand. Farmland will continue to decrease while demand for food will rise. This is a guaranteed appreciation of one’s farmland acreage, and that’s why so many investors, from fund managers to the ultra-rich, are snapping up as much fertile American soil as their money can buy. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU YOUR FISCAL PROBLEMS From a financial perspective, so many ultra-rich and fund managers snapping up farmland means they have very little confidence in the other global asset classes making any significant rate of return in the coming years. Treasury bonds, considered one of the safest investments, are yielding around 2.24 percent, so they are not even keeping up with inflation over a long period. Many investors largely agree upon that the stock market is overvalued, and we are in a housing bubble right now. Inflation is on the rise. Everywhere you look, there are signs of shaky economies, and there is cause for concern on every horizon. Given all those insecurities, investors turn to the absolute most stable thing they can invest in, and that’s land. Their mass exodus in this direction causes supply-demand pressure on all land, driving up land prices and netting them an instant return. For us, though, it represents a turning away from the standard safeguard mechanisms. Abandoning the treasury bond or investment in gold or silver will have unknown results because there has never been such an about-face from these economic, brake-pumping mechanisms. The resulting fiscal consequences of so much energy and money put into undeveloped or agricultural land sectors is unknown because we’ve never been in this situation before. Also, from a fiscal perspective for you and more local to you, if you were thinking about buying an acre to farm or bug out to, it’s going to cost you even more now and in the coming months and years. Every acre that gets hoarded at the top drives up prices of this limited resource. If you live in a predominately agricultural area, that is to say, that your town is primarily supported by agriculture or the processing of agricultural goods, the decisions are being made by people not vested in the community or fiscal health of your town. What, then, are the effects of a Bezos or Gates simply deciding it is more profitable to not grow cotton or soybeans or corn or whatever on those 30,000 acres of farmland around your town because there is more money in leaving it fallow? How would that decision impact local jobs, stores, and businesses? YOUR FOOD PROBLEMS Even at its best, corporate farming reduces genetic diversity, lowers the nutritional value of food, and takes a toll on the land. When it goes perfectly right, there’s food-a-plenty at your store, albeit all the same and not very diverse. When one piece of the system fails– a storm, borders closing, a pandemic, a crop failure, the bird flu, a cyberattack, or anything similar– the bottom can fall out of the food supply chain. We are better ensured a steady and diverse food supply when local farms produce what our communities need. They grow or raise food based upon what our community needs are. When you look at a country like China, it is referred to as an agri-import-dependent state, which means that it cannot grow all the food it needs to support its population. It’s easy to imagine that though the soybeans may be grown right in Kansas, and though people may need them for food or feed, or American manufacturers may need them, China might pay a better price. This could lead to a scenario where a corporate farm sells all their soybeans to China who then turns around and sells them at a higher price to American consumers. The farmer doesn’t reap any of those profits for his hard work. The American consumer incurs all of the added expenses in every product they use that utilizes soy in it– everything from the soles of shoes to oil, to asphalt sealer, and animal feed. Any complicating factor can wreak havoc on farms when there is consolidation at the top. Sometimes, that complicating factor can simply be price gouging to raise prices. For instance, when Italy recently had a combination of early rains knocking buds off trees and the threat of an olive fly that forced an early harvest, it lowered yields. Olive oil pressers who had olives ready to press into the liquid olive oil didn’t rush to press those olives to fill the void. Instead, many just sat on their inventory of olives they did have, so the price for oil would go up. They artificially manipulated the market, and olive oil prices soared up 20% on low inventories. Corporations and investors overly in control of the food chain make decisions about food production based on profits, not your table. These decisions can cause shortages and disruptions in supply and can decimate whole communities. YOUR WATER PROBLEMS As mentioned earlier, farms, forests, and ranching land all have water resources on them. While I have already addressed the ultra-wealthy buying up water and the reasons why in another video worth watching here, I have to put water resources in here when addressing what this buy-up of farmland means to you. While the possible disruptions to your food supply are hard to precisely predict, the water disruptions are easier to identify. As droughts continue and irregular weather patterns continue, water insecurity will become more frequent. If there is a way to monetize and bet on anything, the rich on Wall Street will figure it out. Water is their latest monetization of our natural resources, and it could be an early stage of a more significant takeover. Even if you hold the mineral rights to the water below your property and you are tapped into a well at a decent depth, as aquifer levels are reduced by farming, industrial, or pumping operations in the same area, you would need to drill deeper and deeper to retain access to water. At between 15 and 30 dollars per foot average drilling cost, small-time landowners are quickly priced out of their own wells by their wealthier neighbors. As preppers, we know that water is one of the most essential ingredients to our survival. The monetization of any resource can cause long-term problems for people. What if one of those billionaires manipulates the market by withholding or restricting the free flow of water? What if one of those banks or investment firms chooses to drive up the price of water or sell off the rights altogether to someone other than your municipality? What happens when a foreign investor holds your water resources? Suffice it to say, there are many complex problems associated with any one person controlling both the land and the water on it. CONCLUSION The ultra-rich and major global investors are snapping up American farmland at a never-before-seen pace. It’s partly because it is the most stable investment right now as many asset classes are overpriced, over-inflated, or experiencing a bubble. Land and the resources on and under that land in the form of minerals or water are a guaranteed rate of return for many wealthy investors. It would be a mistake to think that they are going into these purchases with the altruistic purposes of feeding the masses or even being a good steward of the land. As history has shown, they’ll put profits over people the first chance that they get. This can jeopardize anything from your economy to your food to your water supply. What do you think? How are you preparing for this recent land grab? Are you planning to purchase land but seeing the price swiftly moving out of range for you? As always, please stay safe out there.
October 1, 2021