If for any reason the Odysee video above does not play well for you, the back up YouTube version is here.
Gardening is fun, productive but it can also be humbling. Some of the most popular crops have challenges, big ones. Tomatoes have a host of diseases they can get and end up dying to the ground in many climates. Same with even super productive crops like cucumbers and many others.
Then there are things that seem to grow like weeds. Nothing other than severe drought can seem to stop them and many are plants and herbs we can use all the time. Some we can even plant with left overs from the Grocery store. Today I give you my top 6 and what I love about them.
They are….
1. Celery
2. Mints (pepper, spear, bee balm, all of them)
3. Swiss Chard (practically comes back from the dead at times)
4. Red Veined (Bloody) Sorrel
5. Basil
6. Sweet Potato
Don’t be limited by my list and tell me what goes on yours! My list though is based on long seasons and either perennial in nature or self re-propagating plants that can end up serving you for years with almost zero effort and almost no disease pressure.
Notice – Yep I just had these on deck a couple weeks ago but I just got a sales alert on them today. These are the best grow plugs you can get, they are in stock and on sale at 10 bucks a pack, 51% off the retail price. They never go bad or expire and they do go out of stock, so I’d stock up now if you have not yet done so.
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is General Hydroponics Rapid Rooter Grow Plugs. This year I began experiments in hydroponics and these plugs have been the absolute easy button. For instance these tomato plants were grown from seed in just 25 days, they even have blossoms on them already. I have been growing vegetables since the early 80s when I was a little kid in my Grandfathers garden. I have never seen anything like this, I am sure my GrandPa would have called it “sorcery”!
As you all know I am pretty new to Hydroponic Growing but now I am developing a full scale indoor vertical farm for home use, that will grow at least 25 plants to full harvest size a week. This new system will use a blend of deep water hydro and Kratky.
Two things will remain the absolute same though. One, I will use Barrina Grow Lights in it. Two I will use General Hydroponics Rapid Rooter Grow Plugs. When I started there were tons of options, other pre made grow plugs, some say jiffy pots work good and cost less, rock wool, LECA, etc. One product though had the most positive things said by newbies and the least negative, you guessed it General Hydroponics Rapid Rooter Grow Plugs.
Let me say I think long term I will find some option that is more economical. At 15 bucks a 50 pack they are about 30 cents a piece. Which really is not expensive when you think about what a head or organic lettuce or a baby bok choy sells for at the market. If I were growing 5,000 plants a week in a commercial operation sure it would add up. I figure for home scale production the cost is not minuscule but it is minimal overall. Also when starting peppers, tomatoes, egg plant, etc for spring it is almost not worth considering when most plants like that sell for 3 bucks or more a piece at box stores.
In the end here is the deal, I am in building mode with projects right now. The seed starting one, the indoor farm this week and two outdoor systems are coming too in my green house and aviary remodels. I want to form a baseline of performance with as few variables as I can, and these damn things work and work like mad. The roots grow so insane in just a couple weeks that I am forced to modify the dang net cups just to get the transplants out as you see in this video.
So it isn’t that rock wool isn’t lower in cost, it is that in side by side comparisons I have seen rapid rooter just do better for more people. It isn’t that LECA isn’t reusable and better long term, it is that in side by side comparisons I have seen rapid rooter just do better for more people, especially new people to the hobby. See where I am going here? It appears (to me anyway) that rapid rooters allow for less accurate PH and fertilizer calculations. Sure when you get everything absolutely perfect all of it works, and I am not saying you can just dump things with no testing and have these work, I am saying these will perform better than most other options even if you are not perfect.
I am simply using Texas Tomato Food, rain water and getting my PPM to about 650 for starts. Letting it go as high as 1100 as evaporation happens and that is it. As I am using rain water I didn’t even test PH which everyone screams you must do. Our spa PH kit says the PH is under 7, how much though I don’t know it only goes down to 7. I am going to get a PH test solution in place and get more accurate but as you can see, this all works and works beautifully!
If you want to see a full play list of the project so far, you can find it here. Also hold on tight because the new indoor farm is getting built this week as soon as Lowes gets my damn shelf in. Also tune in today, big announcement coming where some of you can come see the new indoor hydro farm hands on next month.
Otherwise though if you plan to start playing with Hydro, try General Hydroponics Rapid Rooter Grow Plugs. Let them form your baseline and if you can find a lower cost or reusable media long term, go for it. But if you are new to anything make your life as easy as possible. Frankly at 15 bucks for a 50 pack, I consider this a very affordable way to do just that.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
P.S. – This is one of those items where multi packs have STUPID, I repeat STUPID pricing. Buying a two pack is way more expensive than buying “quantity two”. Just be aware of that. Here is a full play list of the Kratky Seed System so far.
Forrest Garvin is a former US Air Force NCO who served with the 317 MAC and JSOC SOLL II out of Pope Air Force Base. After leaving the military, Garvin worked in the technology field for the Strategic Technology Group for NationsBank/Bank of America and then went on to create several technology startups.
Garvin is a survival instructor, NRA instructor, general license HAM operator, Krav Maga apprentice instructor, speaker, educator, radio/podcast host, and author. Garvin has been a prepper since Y2K. Garvin also owns the Carolina Survival & Preparedness Academy in Charlotte, NC. His survival academy offers courses in self-defense, homesteading, firearms, family preparedness, and survival skills. In addition, he consults with preppers and survival groups around the USA.
Garvin was the founder of the Carolina Preppers Network, which now is PrepperNet. PrepperNet has over 60,000 members nationwide. Garvin is also the CEO of Sun Ovens International. He joins us today to discuss the PrepperNet Network and Solar Cooking as well.
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
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We talk a lot about foraging in the prepper space, we talk a lot about gardening and live stock as well, but plants simply do not have the nutritional density of animal products. Livestock also require signifigant inputs. While we can do a lot to provide animal feed from our own land, unless you have significant land, it is limited.
Trapping and hunting give us access to animal resources without significant inputs. However land access and seasons limit how effective this is for many people. Hunting also has a significant learning curve compared to fishing as does trapping.
Honestly fishing is sort of like hunting and sort of like trapping at the same time. However it comes with a hell of a lot more access opportunity in the US. Almost anywhere you live there are fish that can be taken from the bank or the beech and it can be done very inexpensively.
For the smart angler the opportunities are almost unlimited and one could easily provide 3-5 meals a week for much of the year from simple fishing of locally available options.
Pricing Alert – This item is best in class, heavy duty, high capacity, works perfectly and long lasting. Today though it is an even better deal on sale for 52% off. If you don’t have a smoker tube in your outdoor cooking gear, get this one today. As this price it is too cheap not to get one. They add so much flexibility for so little cost you really just should not be without one.
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is the LIZZQ Premium Pellet Smoker Tube. Up until now I recommended a tube made by a company called Cave Tools. I loved it but it has now been “out of stock” for over 6 months. Smoker tubes are too wonderful for me not to have one in the TspAz catalog so I went out to find the best one actually available on the market today.
Out of the gate you can get smoker tubes for as little as 10 bucks and they do work, all of them “work” the key is how well, how long and how practical are they for real smoking use.
If you want to save a few bucks sure just search Amazon for “pellet smoker tube” and take your pick. If you want to follow my “always be frugal never be cheap” law of life, get this one or one as much like it as possible. You can spend an extra 4 bucks and have a tool you can use for years or “save” 4-5 bucks and toss out a warped and damaged tool in a year or less.
I broke down the criteria to get “the best” as follows. Note I did not say the best for the price but the best. While best for the price is something I teach there is also a cost threshold to look at as well. Once you are under a certain price point, just get the best you can find. When the best of something is 20 bucks or and likely is a multi year or longer purchase, stop doing math and get on with living or in this case cooking.
The Criteria for me Here Are…
Construction – the gauge of the steel should be heavy to prevent warping. While the gauge was not stated reviews of it were positive. To make sure I could recommend this one I ordered one, it is just as heavy as the one I used to recommend. Heavy steel equals lone life in a tool like this. `
Design – this tube is well thought out. It is easy to fill, easy to use and creates a great flow of smoke. I have tried some others that tend to flare up or fizzle out. The key seems to be the diameter of the tube and the size of the holes, along with proper use. More on that in today’s TspAz segment on the show. `
Capacity – many times I want to put some smoke on something short duration like a steak or chops sure. The real point to smoke though is “low and slow”. Tubes actually work better (volume of smoke) the longer they run. (more on that in a bit). The last thing you want is to be 2 hours into a 8 hour cook and need to refill (restart) your tube. There is also a reality here. Any meat will only “take smoke” beyond the bark anyway for so long, once it reaches a sufficient temp it stops taking smoke. Hence you want your smoke to simply run for you up to that point. This tube when full provides 5 hours of smoke. That is plenty for anything you are going to cook using a smoke tube. This sees to how practical, volume equals long duration use without a reload.
Based on the above this tool is “the best” currently available in my opinion, that doesn’t mean no other product is as good, it simply means for what it is, it is very hard to do much better. There are some things to know about using this tube or any tube in my view anyway.
As I said the longer it runs the better it gets as to volume of smoke. If you are doing a pork roast for 5 hours this likely does not even matter but the first time I used mine I just put some smoke on burgers. An hour later I came out and thought I left the burners on the grill and had a grill fire going, instead it was the smoker just doing its job. Billowing smoke poured out of the grill vents. I dumped a glass of water on it, went back inside. An hour later it was billowing still! The lesson, if you want smoke on a burger or something quick, start the smoker 30 minutes or even more before you start cooking if you want heavy smoke on it. `
They work best full but as above putting them out is not practical. I am pretty sure if you used enough water to do it, the pellets would expand to pulp and be useless. So follow the instructions and put some foil inside the tube and limit it to what you need, with a little extra because pellets are cheap and all. `
Use a torch to light it and give it a really good start then LET IT BURN for a good 3-5 minutes. Don’t worry it wont’ all get on fire, it won’t take out too many pellets too fast, it will all be just fine. Then let it run (smoke) with the grill open for another 3-5 minutes before closing down the hood. Don’t soak the dang pellets either. They are compressed sawdust not wood chips. All you will end up with if you do this is mush. `
While it is a good idea to have the grill running under it for a bit when you start it, you can cold smoke and there is no real need to have any heat below it once it is running. Once it is running right it will run for hours and hours with no heat under it. In fact I think you should avoid heat under it, if you ever get flare ups, it will only be because of heat under it. Put it on a cool spot on the grill. Trust me on this.
This is a great item for anyone with a gas or charcoal grill. For 14 bucks you end up with a “pellet smoker” without another expensive large item on your deck or porch. And unlike a smoker you can sear, cook fast, etc. or smoke low and slow. Yes you can do it with foil pouch and wood chips, I have done so many times. That works, but this works better and in the end it is more efficient and hence more economical over the long run. As always, be frugal not cheap!
So check out the LIZZQ Premium Pellet Smoker Tube today and take your grill master skills up a notch. With well over 7,000 review and a 4.5 star total rating you know it is top quality. Frankly if you wanted to beat the hell out of someone with a blunt object, this thing is up to the job.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
Time for another topic round table discussion. This one is all from things I simply see and hear going on in the world around us today. We will start with some comments on education, dig into a new concern with the CoVid vaccines and get into a ton of variety today.
Join me today as we discuss freedom, covid immunity, medical side hustles, the delta waves short future, fishing, hedgerows, crypto taxes, health care, the FBI and more.
Join Me Today To Discuss…
QOTD – “There is no such thing as freedom of choice unless there is freedom to refuse.” — David Hume
How CoVid natural immunity works and how anyone only talking about antibodies is either a liar or ignorant
A story of a listener crushing it with an IV at home business like I talked about yesterday
Here is what will happen with the CoVid 3rd wave (ie Delta)
Developing the skill of cleaning fish
Thoughts on growing hedgerows
One more time, here is how crypto taxes work
Do you want to know what Government Health Care looks like, look at CoVid Treatment
An actual example of how the FBI employs instigators into situations like Jan. 6th
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
Join the MSB Today
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Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
Join the MSB Today
Want Every Episode of TSP Ever Produced?
Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.
SEC Head Gary Gensler has recently declared he wants, “safeguards for the millions of investors who’ve been stocking their portfolios with tokens”. Guys this is nothing but a stall tactic on approving a BTC ETF. The only “safe guard” any inventor can expect in the world of investing is they in fact own the item they think they own, nothing more.
Right now you can set up a brokerage account and invest in just about anything you want, you can make as much or loose as much as you want, no one cares. No one can claim with a strait face that the BTC blockchain is not more transparent than even a highly regulated company stock like say Exxon or GE. Let alone say an ETF investing in a comedy like silver, gold, oil or pork bellies.
Yes more regulation is coming, it won’t matter, it was never going to matter, BTC is no set to become the most dominant hard capped asset mankind has ever known. Someday that may change, it is in fact inevitable but likely you won’t live to see it.
While this has gone on, the German government just opened up a path for 2.1 Trillion USD (1.8 trillion Euros) to be able to invest in, leverage and trade bitcoin.
Additionally just as I predicted mutual funds are already being build around approved securities with exposure to BTC. The first one is not much just Grayscale and PayPal in an ETF but that is exactly what I said would happen by this summer if the FTC and SEC continued to drag their feet.
My gut is key corporate interests are buying up BTC when and as they can already though surrogates. They have done all they can to suppress prices with FUD like Elon tweets and China banning BTC, again and again and again. 30K proved to be a strong floor in one of the biggest FUDfests in any recent time. It is off to the races again and while we will see more FUD, one must ask if one is not a moron, why do you think “regulation is the end of bitcoin”.
Are such people really this stupid or just this resistant to the concept of BTC in the first place? I think it is some of both. The most valuable assets on the planet are regulated, certainly any brokerage service for them is. Of course I oppose this, but I also “know my pay grade” meaning my opinion no matter how ofter stated won’t hold back SEC regs or speed up SEC approval.
Better to sit back with an HONEST view of what is happening, what will happen next, etc. As I said yesterday, if you still own no BTC at this point, you are not awake to the current economic shift and at this point there is a likelihood you won’t ever wake up until “everyone does”. In other words this is a gradually then suddenly reality.
Every day I bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience and I have researched enough to recommend.
Today’s TSP Amazon Item of the day is CHOMPs Grass Fed Black Pepper Venison Sticks. I absolutely love these things. Now of course they are great for anyone on a keto, paleo or low carb diet, but anyone that likes a good meat snack is going to love these.
I also want to state I bet just about all of the CHOMPs meat sticks are great. So far I have tried only the Pepper Venison and the Original Beef, both were good but I like the little hit of black pepper in the venison ones a bit better. So they are my current favorite. You can see the entire line up of CHOMPs Options Here.
I will say I was a bit of skeptic on these simply because they are a commercially produced “meat stick”, such things inevitably taste like Macho Man Savage’s favorite a “Slim Jim”. Now I know some of you may enjoy Slim Jims but not me, nope. The highest use of these dreadful things is being cut in tiny bites to be used as bait for bluegills, nothing more.
It is my great pleasure to say that other than the fact that they look similar in form CHOMPs bear no resemblance to Slim Jims at all. The flavor is fantastic as is the texture. The best part is the venison and beef are both 100% grass fed. No CAFO animals here.
In addition to the many beef options, the venison option there are also turkey options. The turkey used is all 100% free range turkey.
So these things have it all, grass fed and pastured meat, great taste, an excellent snack on the go all in one. I acutually look at companies like CHOMPs (and other similar companies like Kettle and Fire, Epic Provisions and Laknoto) as a great sign of things to come. Americans are actually starting to care about the food they eat again.
We are remembering that cows and other ruminants are supposed to feed on grass and browse, not soy and corn. That food comes from the earth, not a factory. And that all animals even those we eat are worthy of dignity. Don’t get me wrong, we have a long effing way to go on this front, but no matter how long the journey it begins with a first step. I would say when you see products and brands like these becoming main stream, we have taken a lot more than one step in the right direction.
So give CHOMPs Black Pepper Venison Sticks a try, or anything from the CHOMPs Product Line for that matter. I give you the Jack Spirko promise that unless you just don’t like meat at all, you are going to enjoy them. And yea, they do cost more than a convenience store Slim Jim, but there is a good reason for that.
Additionally let me conclude with this. These guys cost about what most common “jerky” does per ounce today. Lets talk about that jerky for a moment. Go find a bag of jerky any brand, commercial, organic, I don’t care which. Turn it over and look at the amount of sugar in it. You will see that this “meat product” will have 5-6 grams of carbohydrates on average.
Um, that is all sugar, cows do not have carbs! Still a 3.5 oz bag, 5 grams, not so bad. Yea well check the serving size the amount will be 1 oz per serving. Translation as 3.5 ounce bag of jerky will average about 18 grams of sugar. You thought you were a “good boy” and chose a healthy snack. Yea well you just ate the equivalent of a half a can of coke or say a handful of gummy bears. Along with about 3 times the calories of either. Don’t let this happen to you, so how many carbs are in a full stick of CHOMPs? Zero, I mean it is made of nothing but meat and spices. So isn’t that what you’d expect?
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
P.S.– I can only guess if you listen to my podcast and read my reviews that you are on some level a prepper. Well one of the most common question I get is how to store meat without refrigeration. Well CHOMPs are a perfect way to do that and trust me you will be eating what you store and storing what you eat with these guys.
Time for another topic round table discussion. This one is all from things I simply see and hear going on in the world around us today. We will start with some comments on education, dig into a new concern with the CoVid vaccines and get into a ton of variety today.
Join me today as we discuss freedom, health care, vitamins and supplements, bitcoin, side hustles, foraging, chickens, a freedom church, covid reality and more.
Join Me Today To Discuss…
QOTD – “The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.
Health care workers are quitting their jobs before getting vaccines what does this tell us
My response to people who say you don’t absorb vitamins when taken as supplements, instant death to their argument
A new German law is opening up 1.8 trillion Euros to potential BTC investment (2.1 trillion dollars)
A cool fishing side hustle (not what you think)
How to use lambs quarters as a forage food source
A progress report on my new chicken cross
More thoughts on a “religious” solution to many government mandates
Some updates on CoVid and why some arguments about PCR testing are lacking context
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
Join the MSB Today
Want Every Episode of TSP Ever Produced?
Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.
Remember to comment, chime in and tell us your thoughts, this podcast is one man’s opinion, not a lecture or sermon. Also please enter our listener appreciation contest and help spread the word about our show. Also remember you can call in your questions and comments to 866-65-THINK (866-658-4465) and you might hear yourself on the air.
Join the MSB Today
Want Every Episode of TSP Ever Produced?
Remember in addition to discounts to over 40 vendors who supply stuff you are likely buying anyway, tons of free ebooks and video content, MSB Members also get every edition of The Survival Podcast ever produced in convenient zip files in blocks of 24. More info on the MSB can be found here.
Today we are answering a question that came in on the MeWe thread for Miyagi Mornings. As always that thread is stickied to the top of my MeWe profile here https://mewe.com/i/jackspirko. The question is from Matt and it is…
“What’s the easiest way to turn lawn into garden for a newbie gardener. More details- I have a lawn in my backyard with no beds I want to partially convert to gardens. In zone 8”
The beauty of this question for right now is in the south this is a terrible time to start a garden from the stand point of planting seeds or plants. This is great because the easy method here requires patience and right now you have plenty of time for said patience.
