I have done some episodes recently hitting on why I do not trust science as an authority only as a process. This episode will touch on that as well, as it is where this concept naturally leads. However I also want to focus today on how this process is not just the scientific method summed up in a sentence. It is also trouble shooting and problem solving and it naturally leads to “systems thinking” as well. Hence it has direct applications in daily life.
In fact most often scoffed at “blue collar trades” rely on this concept a great deal. Think about it, a mechanic, a plumber, a welder, a cabling technician, a handyman, etc. All these trades require the ability to look at a thing, determine what is wrong with said thing, then determine the corrective action as to how to correct it.
I think this is in a large part why blue collar workers tend to be the biggest skeptics when they are told nonsensical appeal to authority slogans like “trust the science”. They intrinsically many things we are told are “to complicated to understand” really are not at all. That the same basic process underlies all quest for truth and beyond that, solution.
In other words people that fix things for a living focus on how to do a thing. The problem itself only has value in the process for solving it, not as a thing that a reputation or career is built upon documenting.
Amazon has the Toshiba 32LF221U21 32-inch Smart HD 720p TV on a deal of the day right now. I don’t own this and I am not buying one as I have no need of another TV right now. This seems great for like in a game room or home bar or something like that where you don’t need a huge screen. The price is stupid cheap at only 140 bucks and it is highly rated in the review system.
For those who worry about “Alexa” listening in, it does have the Alexa assistant built into it. My understanding is it can be turned off though. Anyway I just figured this was a good one to give a quick heads up on for those that might have a need.
Notice – It may seem crazy but it is time to start doing two things. One starting plants for the fall garden in climates where that makes sense to do or where you are going to use season extending methods. The second is for those of you that have really cold climates and grow indoors during the winter to start gearing up for it. The Rapid Rooter plugs are my easy button for BOTH and they are currently in stock. They have gone in and out of stock a lot lately so if you are going to need them, get em while you can. Also tune in today (Epi-2921) and I will tell you how I reuse them around 4 times each, which makes the price per plant really cheap.
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.
Welcome to Miyagi mornings weekly recap, a podcast version of our daily video series Miyagi Mornings, links to the video version of each segment can be found in the show notes for this episode. These recap episodes are part of The Survival Podcast feed but are numbered independently as a special weekly edition of our show, in all podcast feeds.
This week the Miyagi Mornings weekly recap podcast covers natural law, bitcoin, economics, civil unrest, bug out bags and more. A link to the video episodes for each segment is included below, any resources mentioned in any of the segments can be found in the video notes by following either the links below.
Today on The Survival Podcast the expert panel answers your questions on nutrition, cordless chainsaws, Crypto IRAs, futures investing, vehicles, fuel, rotational grazing, alternative medicine, banking and more.
Make sure if you submit content for a feedback show that you put something like “comment for jack”, “question for jack” or “article for jack” in the subject line to assure proper identification for my screening process.
Please understand I receive several hundred emails a day and can’t get them all on the air.
I also do put out a lot of information on Facebook from emails that I can’t fit on the program though so keep em coming.
Join Me Today As I Respond to Your Calls and Discuss…
Keto/Carnivore for those who are underweight – Dr. Ken Berry
Dealing with leaky chain/bar oil in the DeWalt cordless saws – Tim “Toolman” Cook
Using a self directed IRA for crypto and futures contracts for investing – John Pugliano
Dealing with a vehicle that was stored longterm with old gas in it – Derek Bonpietro
Building high quality pasture with rotational grazing – Darby Simpson
Treating alopecia aereta with alternative methods – Doc Bones
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.
Special Notice – I am bringing these around again today because they are back in stock. For how long I don’t know but almost every time they come around and I run this item it sells out in a few days. This is the only source of this item I am aware of in the US. And it is simply an exceptional tool for homesteading, gardening, etc.
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 a Turkish Made Folding Harvesting and Pruning Knife, honestly I do not know what they are really called, but that is what it is. The description on Amazon is officially a “Folding Scythe Weed Garden – Scythe Grass Saw 12” and I think some things were lost in translation from Turkish to English. Anyway this is not a scythe, a scythe is for mowing and it has a non serrated blade. This tool has a serrated blade, it is for cutting, not chopping and not mowing. I have added a video to this review to further explain why I just love this tool.
I found out about it one of my favorite ways to find out about things, from the audience. I recently did a post on Rice Knives and a commenter named Joel said this in response to that post…
“I have tried a variety of these rice knives as well as a number of alternatives when I inevitably lost them. I finally settled on an alternative that I like better: a folding Turkish grape harvesting knife also on Amazon. It is of similar light duty build and I use it exactly like a rice knife. Its trump card is that it folds and can safely be placed in a hip pocket so I don’t lose it. I’ve used it daily for months and have no complaints. I’m thinking of buying one for backup because I only know of this one source.”
Well I asked him for a link and he provided it, I ordered one and I love the damn thing. It does everything a rice knife does and it is a little beefier in build though this is not a over built tool. Gonna bet in Turkey these are really common and likely sell for about 5-10 bucks vs. the 20 they cost on Amazon. You know what though, I think they are totally worth 20 bucks. Just like Joel said the weakness of a rice knife is you do not want to put it in your pocket, you will ruin your pocket and or cut yourself. Hence you end up setting them down and misplacing them.
This guy folds up like a big pocket knife and fits pretty damn comfortably into a cargo shorts pocket and even into jean pockets. That equals not put down, not lost, not rusted, etc.
Okay but how does it work? In a word perfectly. It does all the light duty stuff a rice knife does it also handled wild sunflower stalks the size of my thumb and simply stalks on a huge lambsquarter plant, no issues. Like a rice knife you must use a sawing motion.
There are some real advantages here though. The first is you are a lot less likely to cut yourself then with a chopping sickle. You hold the material, lay your blade on it and saw though. I do hope if you feel it on your skin you won’t pull it across it. Also if you do get yourself as soon as you start moving it you should feel pain and unless you are a moron stop doing that. When you chop something you are holding and miss you either cut yourself or cut yourself bad, like say hitting a joint or a tendon and fucking your hand up for good.
This is great for precision like trimming grasses out from in between vegetables. A missed chop and there goes that eggplant or swiss chard when all you wanted was to get rid of some stubborn grass that can’t be pulled up because it will bring your veggies with it. Oh and it is the best tool for cutting comfrey you will ever and I mean ever find. Harvesting mint and other herbs in mass for drying, amazing for that too.
While much like a rice knife this is best on material about thumb size and down that is still mostly green it will cut though some tougher stuff. I did some research on these things and they are used mostly for harvesting grapes and berries and for pruning said same like Joel mentioned. They seem to have been around in this form a very long time. In trying to get more info which is very limited I ran into some that claimed to be antiques over 200 years old, they look exactly like this one other than being very aged and not having the same markings on them.
When something is used by a society for over 100 years or more you know one thing, it works as designed. I plan to stain and seal the handle. The blade is carbon steel so I will likely patina it with vinegar, if you are not familiar with that process tune in today (episod 2709) and I will explain how and why to do it with tools like this.
In any event like Joel said there is only one source of this thing I can find so I am going to order a few more. I plan to gussy them up a bit and give them as gifts this year. Heck I may even give one to a couple instructors and raffle one off to a student this year at TSP20. You don’t have to wait for that though. Pick up one of these Turkish Made Folding Harvesting and Pruning Knives today and I don’t think you will ever regret it. I have to say as much as I like rice knives I don’t think I will ever buy one again. I mean summing it up, I now consider this tool on of my essential gardening and homestead tools.
Remember you can always find all of our reviews at TspAz.com
PS – The Stock Images from the maker do give dimensions but it doesn’t really convey scale well so here are a few pics of mine in hand and next to a rice knife to convey how well scaled this tool really is. Like I said when a culture uses a tool for centries there is usually a very good reason for it.
If for any reason the Odysee video above does not play well for you, the back up YouTube version is here.
I wanted to start bringing some more traditional prepping topics to Miyagi Mornings and this one seems ideal. My fellow Goose on ULG Sal Mayweather sent me a text last night with this question…
“What’s your opinion on bug out bags? Good idea or waste of time?”
My response was simple, it is a great idea, you need one but you also need to really understand the entire point of a Bug Out Bag or BOB.
Overall I at the most macro level divide preppers into two categories and understand there are dozens of subgroups of both an this is MY view, not a statement of fact here, just opinion.
I call them “Red Dawn Preppers” and “Practical Preppers”. I don’t really talk about this much as division is not usually a good idea, but to really get this point, it is useful. The Red Dawn Prepper sees the “Bug Out Bag” the way a solider sees his ruck sack and “battle rattle”. The means by which he will survive “behind enemy lines”. Sadly the Red Dawn Prepper seems to mostly fail to understand that resupply is what keeps a solider around for more than a few days, not his carry gear.
This leads to how practical preppers see the Bug Out Bag, which is honestly better called a 72 hour kit. Soon as we call it that, we instantly see its purpose. To support us with basic needs and comforts during a evacuation of a place on the way to a more secure location for at least 3 days.
We then simply break down our needs to the 6 primary survival needs, which are
Food
Water
Shelter
Energy
Security
Heath and Sanitation
Have a bit of a “Come to Jesus” meeting with the reality of what we can practically carry, fill in those 6 needs as best we can, often with many things we have on hand already and at that point, put them in you guessed it a bag. From there were can think about longer term needs which leads to things like vehicle kits, full evacuation set up based on “camping” style gear (tents, trailers, RVs, etc.) or full on BOLs (bug out locations)
In the end though the 72 hour kit is designed to support us when we can’t be at home and need to be as self reliant as we can be until a new supply of our needs and other such resources can be acquired.
The key questions that lead you to good decision making on building your own BOB
1. What are your biggest threats that will cause you to bug out
2. Where would you go
3. How would you get there
4. What resources would be easy to acquire once you were there, which would be hard to acquire
5. What do you need to be fully mobile and what can you rely on other methods for (like a vehicle a cache, etc.)
Lastly a Bug Out Bag should Not Be Confused With
1. Active Shooter Bag
2. An E&E Kit
3. A Medical Bag
4. A Wilderness Survival Kit
Jason Christoff is a self sabotage expert, who also runs an international self sabotage coaching school. Jason discovered many years ago that manipulative psychology, behavior modification, brainwashing, mental conditioning and mind control are continually weaponized against the public by media and government to make the public easier to control, govern, lie to, manipulate, coerce and steal from.
Jason’s work is dedicated to exploring, discussing, exposing and offering solutions to these modalities of covert public control. You can contact Jason directly at jason@freedomfromselfsabotage.com to inquire about his education programs and school, which teach positive forms of brainwashing, so people can lead happier and more successful lives.
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.
If for any reason the Odysee video above does not play well for you, the back up YouTube version is here.
Today I am not telling you what is going to happen, I am telling you instead what very well might happen. We all know the media and the left have totally over blown the events of Jan. 6th while down playing months of burning city level riots in the summer/fall of 2020. The real down playing though is the potential of what may come.
The nation is angry, both sides more and more are convinced they are 100% right and the other side is 100% wrong. Each side focuses exclusively on the bat shit crazy fringe of the other. But something that history has show to be very dangerous has happened. The “main stream” of one side has embraced the bat shit crazy wing of their side.
Thought history when this has occurred the result is in general wide spread massive violence. Either the side that embraces crazy, uses it to seize total power and must do so violently because it can’t be done peacefully, too many won’t allow it. Or the side resisting the insanity over comes, this is also often done via extreme violence.
Bluntly the average person is now worried about things that have no real impact on our lives and society unless we give them artificial importance. For instance someone tea cup snowflake moron was offended that I referred to taking care of animals in my podcast yesterday as wait for it, “animal husbandry”. Yes the purging of our old guard military leadership with wokism is concerning but an average person offended by a word due to its root, IN ANOTHER NOW DEAD ANCIENT LANGUAGE should concern you even more. I will explain why today, and it is likely worse than you think.
I will also reference a song I played last week on my podcast by Aaron Lewis, “Am I the Only One” and how triggered the left woke dopes are by it. The reason I will do so is it explains the entire dynamic perfectly.
Recently I have been doing lot of study and research into ancient North America cultures. I have taken particular interest in the first true cities in North America and they are far older than many of us are told and taught in school. They are also far more grand.
The oldest large and well preserved city (my word for it) in North America is today known as “Poverty Point” and you can go visit it in Northeast Louisiana. This settlement was very advanced, had massive trade networks with other locations. It was built 3500 years ago and was at its peak about 3000 years ago. More impressive this settlement was about 900 acres in size and supported 4,000 – 5,000 inhabitants.
More there is no real evidence of “agriculture” at this location. The diet of the people was classic “hunter gatherer” consisting of game, fish, reptiles and shell fish for protein sources. They is also a lot of evidence of wild plants and mast crops being harvested from this location.
While today’s episode will not be about this settlement I will use it as a launch pad to explain how sustainable a civilization without agriculture can be while not limiting population to what we would call “clan” or “tribal” populations. What Poverty Point shows us is a true hunter gatherer civilization complete with art, engineering, entertainment, a division of labor and a general peaceful existence with little sign of warfare. At a time by the way when warfare was far more common than many of the romanticized stories of first peoples indicate.
This location is also the site of one of the oldest known pyramids on the planet and the civilization lasted for over 1,000 years. It was clearly “master planned” and allowed a population of 5,000 to live well on an area again of only 900 acres. Clearly there is something we can learn from this as we conduct our thought experiment today.
Join Me Today to Discuss….
My understanding right now of what life was like at Poverty Point and what I see via the Permaculture Lens
The lessons in the most sustainable civilization model we have to look at
The vast majority of calories came from meat sources, many high in fats
No plowing or agriculture was required
Very little animal husbandry existed, almost none
There was likely horticulture going on that we simply can’t see at this point
Water was key to this societies survival
There was extensive use of on contour earth works
There appears to have been ample room for mast bearing trees on site (no evidence reported)
The people seemed to have dealt in “precious stones” and had extensive external commerce
The society was highly egalitarian, almost everyone had similar housing
While there were clearly specialists, it would appear most were also generalists
The most stable societies had extensive trade
The position was incredibly defensible if such was ever required
Housing was built with on site materials
Many functions were communal and involved shared resources
It appears that work was done swiftly when needed, but leisure time was extensive otherwise
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.
~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~
