False spring, container gardening, self-reliance, self-awareness, earthquakes, and volcanoes and my new video.

  False spring, it does seem as if we experience it every year, or else it's so nice we think it happens every winter around this time. The winters are mild anyway in California, at least in most places, it's the unprepared that get bitten by a sudden blizzard when they cross the mountains into Nevada. Some decide it would be a great time for some winter camping, it just may be so. However what happens to most people, (I'm guilty) is the desire to start planting the garden, that's me. I get the bug it seems every year, but I control my urge by starting seeds. They are cheap, and if they make it they do, if they don't make it, oh well

Yes, sir, it's definitely a false spring in Northern California.

I'll try again in a month or so. I choose to plant things like cucumbers, squash and pepper seeds, this year they just may succeed. I built a garden table, with a plexiglass cover, it is very warm inside even on a cloudy cool day. Today, when I went out to check on them and make the accompanying video (Link) the temperature in the box, was 100 degrees F, and the plants were still moist. So far so good, still nothing is emerging, it's been since January 18th, I would expect them to take at least a short while longer because I'm so early. You know I got an idea after watching videos on "potato towers" on youtube, I am going to start one just how it's explained in the videos. I am also going to try something totally different, I am going to conduct an experiment with my "leaf tower", I am going to attempt to grow watermelons. My plan is to jab into the leaves near the bottom, most likely 6 inches up, and plant three seeds. I will then go up another 6 inches on the opposite side and plant 3 more, I won't go any higher than that. The leaves are already composting at the bottom so that should support the nutrition the seeds need to flourish, well that's my hypothesis anyway. If it works it works if not well see above.

My garden table, seed starter, and dehydrator, rough but functional.

  I bought a video camera about a month ago, and not being a photographer I have a lot to learn. I bought it to make youtube videos as well as review some of the products that are offered on my website. I'm still in the learning stage, but I think it's important for me to at least become competent at it in order to help people realize the potential natural disasters that may occur. Another reason is to convey to people that to be prepared is not the same as getting ready to go to war, I'm an advocate of having food and water to supply a person for at the minimum of 3 days. I go a step further, and it's not to sell stuff, it's because I am passionate about self-reliance. That step further is to be prepared for a week versus 72 hours, toss a little more water and few more meals in your bag, the cost is minimal. I encourage people to have enough supplies to make it to an evacuation center, not run off into the hills. When you build your kit all of the gear and hardware is in it already so to add another 5 gallons and 12 more meals is prudent. Also, I want to extend my passion for gardening for survival and promote vermiculture (worm farming). So today I made a video of my garden, and some of the things I am planning, sure the audio is a little buzzy, I will learn how to eliminate that, but the message is still relevant to anyone wanting to grow vegetables, or to merely learn a new skill. That's it, learning new skills is instrumental to self-reliance, even things as simple as having to weed better around certain plants (artichokes as an example), is important for survival. There are a lot of tricks to growing food, vegetables, and fruits, like how to plant tomatoes, or better yet how to start a plant from seeds.
  Vermiculture, worm farming is important as well, it is very useful for many things. My goal is to have zero garbage, the worms eat everything it seems. I have a real desire not to send organic materials to the dump, there is enough stuff I have to send there, plastics, and screen printed paper are just two. My worms consume all of our coffee grounds, eggshell, vegetable trimmings, and cardboard, yes cardboard. Between my garden and the worm farm I use 90% of the cardboard that comes into the house, in fact, I ask neighbors for theirs. Good clean brown cardboard, I cut it into 1/2 inch pieces, I use scissors, not everyone does but I've got the time to do it. I mix it with a newspaper that is shredded, eggs shells crushed, and the almighty leaves I collect from my yard and points beyond. Maybe the neighbors think I'm a bit zany, it's ok, I enjoy what I am doing and it is productive, I don't know if all the things I do constitute a hobby or not.

Leaves are natures gift to a worm farmer, as well as a gardener.

I use a lot of cardboard in the garden as well, I will cover the boxes with it in the fall and cover it all with leaves, or straw. All of the stuff in the boxes turns into compost, and it copies fairly accurately the environment that the red worms live in. Not only do the red worms eat the leaves and other organic material, they also while eating through their environment leave in their trail manure. That manure is the true reward for raising worms, added to potting soil, or garden soil the enzymes and good bacteria in it along with the organic nitrogen is a powerful fertilizer. The castings (manure) can also be made into "worm tea", simply by placing a pound or so in a five-gallon bucket and sending air bubbles through it. Five gallons of concentrated worm tea can be diluted 10x, it equals 50 gallons. It also does wonders for the lawn, and yard plants.
  Well it's a false spring in Northern California and I am loving it, there is a lot happening on the world stage to write a blog about, the earthquake in Taiwan is one big one. As always my compassion for the people is high on my list, the suffering of people is what is the hardest to manage mentally. I spent time in Taiwan, regular readers are maybe thinking "what the heck has this guy done everything?" Even though I was born under a wandering star, the answer is no I have not, while in the Navy the ship I was on spent time there. I like China a lot, the people are so incredibly industrious, as well as polite and clean. I pray for there survival, they may be the most resourceful people in the world, as is all of Asia.
  The volcano Mount Mayon in the Philippines is performing as expected, it recently blew its top sky high. Again the suffering of the people is paramount to attend to, I was there as well, I cannot imagine the confusion and the hardships they are enduring.
  I read a survival blog yesterday and the person who wrote it asked the question about being prepared for a disaster, he was talking about a civil uprising. I don't really think civil unrest is our biggest threat, I think being unprepared for natural disasters is. So his question was what should he tell people who think he is nuts for stockpiling food, water, and other survival gear, "just in case". My answer to him was what I encourage everyone to do, look up the Isle Royale earthquake (of 1692), (Link) tsunami and aftermath of that event. I wrote a blog addressing it not too long ago, 2,000 people died in the first two minutes of the earthquake, it turned the island into quicksand and swallowed them. It's not that I believe that same event could happen anywhere, but it's to illustrate how we could be walking downtown at 11:44 am on a beautiful morning, and when the earthquake strikes at 11:45, by 11:47 am 2,000 of the islands 4,000 inhabitants were dead. They had no idea of the danger they were under when they built the wealthiest City in the New World. I do believe we can learn from history, something can happen where you live that is every bit of a disaster like that.
  I am an advocate of becoming self-aware also, knowing our limitations and our expertise is a vital part of our survival, the more we learn now, the more natural it will seem when those skills are needed, like farming. Self-awareness also entails knowing the potential risks of natural disasters in your area, Northern Minnesota, for instance, does not have an earthquake threat, but they do have blizzard and flooding threats.
  This blog is a summation of all things relating to self-reliance and the ability to take care of ourselves in an emergency to the point of being so well prepared we are able to help others. That to me is the final goal, survive on a 7 days supply of emergency gear, and help others to make it as well. When an emergency occurs, 66% of our neighbors will not have as much as a bottle of water, let alone enough for 3 days or a full week. Just the thought of that makes me shudder, that water coming out of the faucet will stop if an earthquake strikes, if you have a well as I do, we'll lose our water in a wildfire, flood, or power outage so it pays to have at least 5 gallons on hand at all times.
  Thanks for reading and sharing, it's kind of a lazy day here in the sun, 75 degrees F just can't be beaten. It can only mean one thing, the weather will change and it will be for the worse because it can't get any better than this. Thanks again.

jacquesandkate  emergencykitsplus.com