Jack has made me feel so strong about planting trees, just this last few days I have planted 3 fruit trees in my moms back yard and have dug 2 Swales by shovel. I am nowhere near being close to done.
Thank you jack

Jack,

Welcome back!

I’m not sure sending “farmers, plumbers, mechanics, engineers, and doctors” to Washington or the state capitals will help that this point. The unelected bureaucracy that enforces an ever-larger set of Federal and state regulations, that have the force of law but were not made by lawmakers, along with local tyranny, is largely what is responsible for our loss of freedom, money, and rights.

You are right that not many of the states are trying to hold the line against FedGov. In fact, as you said, most actually ENABLE Fedgov to take our money, freedom, and rights. If a state government declared, “We will no longer simply accept Federal laws, but not enforce unfunded mandates and laws and regulations our judges say are unconstitutional”, I would move there.

Inspiring final words today, Jack. The quote ” You will do more for our future with a shovel than a petition”, just makes me wonder if you’ve ever read Jonathan Swift’s “Gulliver’s Travels” in which he says:
“Whoever makes two ears of corn, or two blades of grass to grow where only one grew before, deserves better of mankind, and does more essential service to his country than the whole race of politicians put together”
Thanks for the inspiration.

Regarding the mom who was arrested for letting her kids play outside, I have a related story to share. (I’ve shared this before, but it’s particularly relevant here.)

I live on a state highway that’s two properties outside the city limits of a tiny, rural town (about 2200 people.) There are two ways to get into town. One way is to walk along the highway, and the other is to cross a 4.5-acre hay field.

We have neighbors who’re dear friends. Our families spend a LOT of time with each other. They live “around the corner”, which means if we want to walk to their house, we either go across the hay field and across a main road that feeds a little shopping center and a housing subdivision, OR we walk down our driveway, up the highway for about half a block, and along that same feeder road. Either route takes about the same amount of time, but there are a lot of factors that determine which route we take.

So last summer, the neighbor’s son (9 at the time) walked over to our house to play. About 10 minutes after he arrived, I got a terrible scare. (I’m blind, and our house is about 300 feet off the highway, so if someone’s on the property, it’s on purpose.) Anyway, there was this awful banging on my front window. Since I couldn’t look to see who was banging, I wasn’t going to come outside, but then I heard a man’s voice yell that it was the police. What the heck? Trembling, I went to my front door and opened it enough that I could talk to the guy but not far enough that it could be pushed in.

The officer asked me if I was missing a 5yo boy. Since my 5yo was at the other end of the house playing, I told him, “No,”, but he seemed insistent that I was missing my 5yo. It took a minute, but it turned out that the “5yo” to whom he was referring was actually the neighbor boy (who’s VERY small for his age.) Once I realized, I told him that he must have been talking about the neighbor boy who’d come over to play. The officer said, “Well, we received a call about a 5yo walking on the highway, so we came to investigate.” OK… No worries. They’re just checking (or so I thought.)

I explained that he was the neighbor’s kiddo, that he was safe (and he was BEING safe as he walked over here), and that someone must have mistaken him for a younger kid because he’s so small. I thought that’d be the end of it.

A few weeks later though, the neighbor boy walked hom from our house, and the police came knocking on my door again. This time, I got a lecture about how he shouldn’t be walking along the highway; he should be walking through the field. I was confused about why they were talking to ME and not his parents when he wasn’t my kid and he wasn’t even walking TO my house this time.

The cop asked who he was, and I told him. I even gave him the neighbors’ names and address. Then I said something to my neighbor because honestly, I was starting to feel harassed. (Maybe I was being too sensitive, but we’re a small enough town that they KNEW who this little boy was, and they were still knocking on my door and lecturing me.)

The neighbors eventually went to the PD and talked to the acting chief; the copy who’d come to my house the second time. He claimed that I didn’t give them the right name or address so he couldn’t find the boy’s parents to talk to them. He also went on to say that every time they get a call, they have to investigate it, and they’ll continue to knock on doors if someone reports something. I get that, but a kid walking along the road doesn’t seem like that big a deal to me.

Even after that encounter, the neighbor boy was stopped AGAIN as he walked back to his house to get something for his parents. That time though, they didn’t come knock on my door, and they didn’t say anything to the boy’s parents.

My kids and the neighbor boy range in age from 6 to 11.5. They ALL know how to be safe by the highway because that’s where they get on the bus, and that’s where they HAVE to walk if they want to go ANYWHERE (if going through the hay field isn’t an option for whatever reason.) Now, I wouldn’t send my 6yo along the highway by himself, but there really shouldn’t be a problem with my 8.5yo, the 10yo neighbor, and my 11.5yo walking someplace that requires walking along the highway. It’s not like they walk on the road; they walk off the shoulder ’cause there aren’t sidewalks (of course.)

Jack, you talked about how WE’VE changed, and you’re exactly right. When I was a kid, people wouldn’t have called the police to report a kid walking along a highway RIGHT outside a small town. I suppose it might seem a little odd in the middle of nowhere, but we’re not in the middle of nowhere, and if you want to walk anyplace, you have to go onto the highway. Since I don’t drive, I can’t take them around the corner whenever they want to go someplace, and to be honest, I shouldn’t have to.

I grew up in a similarly-sized rural town where you had to walk on the a state highway to get to some places, and nobody ever called the cops because a kid was walking to school, to the drugstore, or to karate practice. Nowadays though, people expect that the little teacup kids have to be driven EVERYWHERE else you’re a neglectful parent, and that’s just not always possible.

I have to admit though… After the lecture I got the second time a cop came to my house, I certainly felt reticent about letting my kids walk to the neighbor’s house, school, or the local general store. I was genuinely worried that I’d get arrested (or get CPS called) because I was letting kids walk the equivalent of a block and a half. Absolutely CRAZY!

“Everytime the solution is engaged based on the actions of someone other than yourself, you’re putting your mind to sleep with a solution saying “its not my fault, so I’m not going to fix it”.”

That is an incredible quote. Had to write that one down. Like the trash the side of our road up here. The wife said “we should bring trash bags next time we walk.” She’s damn right.

Jack,

In regards to the hack list that you shared on the podcast, the idea to keep sandpaper on the outside of your match case may not work. Strike anywhere matches are designed to work on many surfaces, most other matches are not. Most match company’s have a proprietary mix in the match head and the striking strip. The result is that the match will only light with that companies sticking strip. Some of the chemicals required for the ignition process are imbedded in the strip and the rest are in the match head, thus requiring you to have both in order to light the match. I learned a lot about matches and practical survival from Peter Kummerfeldt. He was an Air Force survival instructor for 25 years and has some great practical resources that I have used for teaching my family about surviving a wilderness emergency. His page is outdoorsafe.com .

Welcome back Jack!
You certainly sound well rested and ready to get back into the swing of things. I really appreciated your repeated wake up call to those of us in the low liberty states and you re-energized me and my family to plan our future escape. It was inspiring to hear about that company in Colorado taking a stand and moving to friendlier states.

Welcome back Jack!

I really like some of the 41 camping “hacks.” I’m sure some of you are aware of a site called http://www.instructables.com. They have a lot of different DIY style builds for just about any/everything. I found it recently and like the phone app that they have also. I even created a “how-to” for creating firesticks. Check out the website for some great ideas. Here is my link to firesticks: http://www.instructables.com/id/Firestick/

In regards to children playing outside- I am 55 years old, and when I was 5-8 years old, all of the houses on my street were being moved to make way for a freeway on-ramp. Everyday I followed the crews that lifted the homes from the basement foundations, asking questions and generally being a inquisitive little pest. I stepped on nails, got scraped up and bruised and smashed my fingers bad enough to lose a fingernail. I also learned some new words that raised some eyebrows. That experience, and many others like it, is why I have little fear of trying new things, no matter how big or challenging. The only failures I have to my name are the things I have not tried- all else has been my education. I don’t know if that would be true had I not been allowed to be a free little human.