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Thursday, July 31, 2014

Year Round Garden with a $300 Greenhouse, Ecoscraps as Soil Conditioner, Drought Busters


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

Winston Churchill once said that "socialism is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery."

 


Build a $300 underground greenhouse for year-round gardening

Growers in colder climates often utilize various approaches to extend the growing season or to give their crops a boost, whether it's coldframes, hoop houses or greenhouses.

Greenhouses are usually glazed structures, but are typically expensive to construct and heat throughout the winter. A much more affordable and effective alternative to glass greenhouses is the walipini (an Aymara Indian word for a "place of warmth"), also known as an underground or pit greenhouse. First developed over 20 years ago for the cold mountainous regions of South America, this method allows growers to maintain a productive garden year-round, even in the coldest of climates.

Here's a video tour of a walipini that even incorporates a bit of interior space for goats [find the video and the manual at the link below]:

It's a pretty intriguing set-up that combines the principles of passive solar heating with earth-sheltered building.  From American sustainable agriculture non-profit Benson Institute comes this enlightening manual on how a walipini works, and how to build it:

 


 

 

 


Washing Greens

Working in a grocery store, I learned to wash the greens in warm water before putting them out under the cool spray and refrigeration. My manager explained that it helps open the pores, so the lettuce soaks up moisture and helps the greens to become crisper. I do this at home now, too. After their hot/cold bath, I put them in my fridge.

 

 


EcoScraps Turns Old Food into High Quality Soil Conditioner

By: Bianca Bartz - References: ecoscraps.net

Don't waste your food: we heard it as children, and most of us adopted the idea as adults that wasting food is bad -- yet studies show that in the US alone, 30 million tons of food are thrown out annually, contributing to the production of the dangerous greenhouse gas, methane. Beyond preventative solutions of simply eating everything, downsizing portions or buying less, EcoScraps aims to compost the waste into 100% organic soil conditioner. Specifically they target high-volume food waste sources like grocery stores and food banks and turn them into organic fertilizer.

"Through our proprietary process we are able to reduce landfill waste and methane emissions," the EcoScraps site says. "This soil conditioner has the same nutrient values as chemical based soil amendments while being organic. Our products are composed of ingredients selected and
combined in scientifically determined proportions to produce ideal nutrient and organic content to the soil."

This not only gets rid of household waste, but allows those with green thumbs to grow their own plants and produce in an ethical, environmentally-friendly way. EcoScraps, based in Salt Lake City, was co-founded by Dan Blake, Craig Martineau and Brandon Sargent, who all dropped out of university to build the social business.

"Founded in 2010, the company collects roughly 20 tons of food waste a day from more than 70 grocers, produce wholesalers, and Costco stores across Utah and Arizona,"
Inc. Magazine explained in May. "Then, it composts the waste into potting soil, which retails for up to $8.50 a bag in nurseries and garden stores throughout the western United States."

To ensure the soil stays as clean as possible, EcoScraps only uses waste from fruits and vegetables, making it animal- (and feces-) free, and they promise their soil is "so organic you can eat it." They plan to expand the business to other states, including both compost collection and soil sales.


Contact Information
EcoScraps
website
 

Make mixes ahead of time. You can see some of my recipes here. They save time because you don’t have to assemble the ingredients every time, and you won’t have to deal with all the artificial ingredients.

 
Additional useful resources…







 

Freeze leftover coffee. It will keep chilled coffee drinks cold and not dilute them.

 

 

Find more DIY and Homemade ideas here:


 

 

Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

 

Got a News Tip or Resource to Share With the Poor Man?


 

Our Mission: To protect and promote your freedom, civil rights, financial well being and overall self reliance in these turbulent times.   Get more tips and freebies faster at: www.PoorManSurvival.com

 

A Shallow Planet Production

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

More Affordable Solar Power and Off-Grid Resources


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

"People demand freedom only when they have no power."
-- Friedrich Nietzsche

 


More Affordable Solar Power

by Dan Chiras

 

If you’ve ever considered installing a home solar electric system and generating your electricity with free, renewable energy, now’s a great time to look at your options. In recent years, prices for solar systems have plummeted thanks to increased demand, mass production and intense competition among manufacturers. Generous government financial incentives for solar power have reduced the cost for homeowners even further, making a home solar electric system more affordable than it’s ever been.

 

Because the source of energy — sunlight — is free, the cost of solar power equates to the cost of your solar electric system spread over the lifetime of the system you buy — easily 30 years or more. As a rule, solar incentives for homeowners reduce the system cost by 30 to 50 percent. Incentives for businesses can lower the cost by 50 to 75 percent!

 

However, even without incentives, the lifetime cost of solar electricity is now frequently cost-competitive with the cost of electricity from your local utility. In some places with relatively high costs for utility electricity unsubsidized solar is already cheaper than utility rates.

 

When purchasing a solar electric system, most people choose to contact a solar installer, who can help them decide which type of system they need. To find a solar installer, check local listings or use www.findsolar.com to search for local options within a national directory.

 

There are three basic types of solar electric systems. Here are pros and cons of each.

 

Grid-Connected Systems. The most common PV system is known as a grid-connected (or utility-tied) system. In these systems, the utility grid becomes a means of “storing” your excess electricity and acts as a backup, supplying electricity any time your demand exceeds the output of your system.

 

Here’s how it works: Your solar system provides electricity to your home anytime the sun is shining. If the system produces more electricity than you’re using, the surplus flows onto the utility lines that supply your home. When you need electricity, but aren’t producing any (at night, for example) you can draw from the grid. The utility meter on your home keeps track of any electricity you feed back onto the grid, as well as what you use. How exactly this is calculated depends on net metering regulations where you live. These vary by state, but currently all states have some form of net metering except for Alabama, Mississippi, South Dakota and Tennessee.

 

Theoretically, it’s possible to produce enough electricity that you get a credit from your utility company instead of a bill. More often, homeowners choose to install a smaller, less expensive solar array that only meets a portion of their electricity needs, and then buy the rest of their electricity from the utility. This is one reason it can be much cheaper to buy a grid-connected system: You don’t have to buy a system large enough to produce the maximum amount of electricity you need. Instead, you can choose how much of your power you want to generate.

 

The downside of grid-tied systems is that when the grid goes down, your system shuts off. So, if a utility line goes down during an ice storm, your solar electric system shuts down, too. Even if the sun is shining, the system won’t operate. This is a built-in safety precaution that prevents your system from back-feeding electricity onto a dead grid, which could be dangerous to line workers or anyone who comes into contact with a downed electrical line.

 

Off-Grid Systems. These are self-contained energy systems powered by the sun that operate independent of the electrical grid. These systems must be equipped with a large battery bank to store the electricity needed to power your home at night or during long cloudy periods. Most people use a gasoline or diesel generator — or even a wind power system — for backup power, should the batteries run low. An off-grid system gives you the opportunity to experience true energy independence — you are completely responsible for producing your own power. Plus, you’ll never see another electric bill!

 

Although this is the most expensive type of solar electric system, off-grid systems often are the single most economical way to get electricity in remote locations. If your home is a mile away from an electric line, you could pay from $10,000 to as much as $50,000 for the utility company to install electric poles and run an electric line to your residence. (The cost of line extension varies greatly depending on how rough the terrain is.) Bear in mind that the cost of line extension doesn’t buy you a single kilowatt-hour of electricity — it only gives you the privilege of buying electricity from the utility company. In contrast, an off-grid system for an energy-efficient home could be installed for $20,000 to $50,000 — and that supplies a lifetime of low-cost electricity.

 

Grid-Connected With Backup. This is a third option that can make sense if you want reliability during a power outage but don’t care about being fully off the grid. The idea is to purchase only a small battery bank so that during a grid outage you can continue to operate your most critical electric devices — such as your refrigerator and heater fan — while line workers repair the damage. During such times, these systems automatically switch to battery operation. You could also choose to purchase a generator rather than a battery bank. These types of systems can make sense if you experience frequent power outages or want to be prepared for an emergency, but they require more maintenance and are more expensive than grid-connected systems.

 

Excerpted from MOTHER EARTH NEWS, the Original Guide to Living Wisely. To read more articles from MOTHER EARTH NEWS, please visit www.MotherEarthNews.com or call (800) 234-3368 to subscribe. Copyright 2012 by Ogden Publications Inc.

 

 

The Portable Solar Power System That Tracks the Sun

By: Sarah St.Jules -  References: gizmag and treehugger

As people try to become more environmentally friendly the solar power industry is starting to rise, and with the SunSocket portable solar power generator, being eco-conscious can be even easier.

Solar power systems can be tricky to understand; they need to be at the optimal angle in order to try and get the most sunlight. Now, the SunSocket system helps to take the guess work out of solar power. This generator tracks the sun, and this tracking allows it to end up being fully charged within 5 hours. The speed of charging, combined with the ease of it being portable, makes this generator easy to use. When stretched out it is 4 feet wide, and will begin to track the sun as soon as you turn it on. Going green is something important to our environment, and with this portable solar power generator, being eco-conscious is becoming easier.

 

The SolSource Grill is a Solar Powered Outdoor Cooking Tool

By: Lacey-Jane Walsh - • References: kickstarter and hiconsumption

The SolSource grill provides people with an interesting eco-friendly way to cook outside. This intriguing Kickstarter funded project comes from the people at One Earth Designs. Summer barbecues are unbeatable, and this grill uses the raw power of the sun to cook up hot dogs and hamburgers.

Unlike regular charcoal grills, this solar-powered cooker doesn't create any environmentally harmful emissions, which makes it the socially responsible choice for backyard barbecues. This extremely portable grill can be used pretty much anywhere and only takes a matter of moments to heat up, which is convenient.

 



 

 
 


More affordable living projects you can use…

 


 



 


 


Find more tips you can use at:

 

Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

Got a News Tip or Resource to Share With the Poor Man?


 

Our Mission: To protect and promote your freedom, civil rights, financial well being and overall self reliance in these turbulent times.   Get more tips and freebies faster at: www.PoorManSurvival.com

 

A Shallow Planet Production

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Are You Responsible for the Growing US Police State?


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


 

ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

"You have to ask yourself, 'Who owns me? Do I own myself or am I just another piece of government property?' "
-- Neal Boortz, Radio talk show host

 

 

“Libertarianism: The radical notion that other people are not your property.”

Are You Are Responsible for the US Police State?

Americans who are paying attention know that today's tyranny, government abuses, corruption, inflated fiat currency, overflowing prisons, disdain for the Constitution, gluttonous debt and mass psychosis spell doom for this once free country.

Obedience is the precondition to totalitarianism, and the precondition to obedience is fear. Regimes of the past and present understand this. “The very first essential for success,” Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf, “is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence.” Is this not what we are seeing now with the SWAT teams and the security checkpoints and the endless wars?

Our slide into totalitarianism—helped along by overcriminalization, government surveillance, militarized police, neighbors turning in neighbors, privatized prisons, and forced labor camps, to name just a few similarities—is tracking very closely with what we saw happening in Germany in the years leading up to Hitler’s rise to power.

When all is said and done, what these incidents reflect is a society that has become so bureaucratic, so legalistic, so politically correct, so militaristic, so locked down, so self righteous, and so willing to march in lockstep with the corporate-minded police state that any deviations from the norm—especially those that offend the sensibilities of the “government-knows-best” nanny state or challenge the powers that be—become grist for prosecution, persecution and endless tribulations for the poor souls who are caught in the crosshairs.

Then there are the incidents, less colorful perhaps but no less offensive to the sensibilities of any freedom-loving individual, which should arouse outrage among the populace but often slip under the radar of a sleeping nation.

For instance, not only is the NSA spying on and collecting the content of your communications, but it’s also going to extreme lengths to label as “extremists” anyone who attempts to protect their emails from the government’s prying eyes. Adding insult to injury, those same government employees and contractors spying on Americans’ private electronic communications are also ogling their private photos. Recent revelations indicate that NSA employees routinely pass around intercepted nude photos, considered a “fringe benefit” of surveillance positions.

A trove of leaked documents reveals the government’s unmitigated gall in labeling Americans as terrorists for little more than being suspected of committing “any act that is ‘dangerous’ to property and intended to influence government policy through intimidation.” As The Intercept reports: “This combination—a broad definition of what constitutes terrorism and a low threshold for designating someone a terrorist—opens the way to ensnaring innocent people in secret government dragnets.” All the while, the TSA, despite the billions of dollars we spend on the agency annually and the liberties to which its agents subject travelers, has yet to catch a single terrorist.

No less disconcerting are the rash of incidents in which undercover government agents encourage individuals to commit crimes they might not have engaged in otherwise. This “make work” entrapment scheme runs the gamut from terrorism to drugs. In fact, a recent report released by Human Rights Watch reveals that “nearly all of the highest-profile domestic terrorism plots in the United States since 9/11 featured the ‘direct involvement’ of government agents or informants.”

Most outrageous of all are the asset forfeiture laws that empower law enforcement to rake in huge sums of money by confiscating cash, cars, and even homes based on little more than a suspicion of wrongdoing. In this way, Americans who haven’t been charged with a crime, let alone convicted of wrongdoing, are literally being subjected to highway robbery by government agents offering profit-driven, cash-for-freedom deals.

So who or what is to blame for this bureaucratic nightmare delivered by way of the police state?



If there is any glimmer of hope to be found, it will be at the local level, but we cannot wait for things to get completely out of control. If you wait to act until the SWAT team is crashing through your door, until your name is placed on a terror watch list, until you are reported for such outlawed activities as collecting rainwater or letting your children play outside unsupervised, then it will be too late.

If we must blame anyone, blame the faceless, nameless, bureaucratic government machine—which having been erected and set into motion is nearly impossible to shut down—for the relentless erosion of our freedoms through a million laws, statutes, and prohibitions.

We have only ourselves to blame for this bureaucratic hell that has grown up around us. Too many of us willingly, knowingly and deliberately have become cogs in the government machine.

These cogs are none other than those of us who have turned a blind eye to the government corruption, or shrugged dismissively at the ongoing injustices, or tuned out the mayhem in favor of entertainment distractions. Just as guilty are those who have traded in their freedoms for a phantom promise of security…

We are suffering the "gradual and silent" encroachments that Founding Father Madison* warned us about.  However, the incremental (Fabianistic) destruction of America and the "fundamental transformation" as promised by Mr. Obama, are no longer silent nor gradual. They are bold and in-your-face, an audacious devastation with a blatant scheme to replace our Constitution with Marxism.



*"There are more instances of the abridgment of the freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." - Speech to the Virginia Ratifying Convention, June 16, 1788

"It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice, if the laws be so voluminous that they cannot be read, or so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man who knows what the law is today can guess what is will be tomorrow." - Federalist Papers, No. 62, February 27, 1788


My Gift to You

As an old Spanish proverb says “I don’t want the cheese, I just want out of the trap.”

I’m Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is by GIVING AWAY nine of the most valuable ebooks you’ll ever read or need to survive the coming collapse.

Millions of Americans aren't even prepared for the next day, never mind a massive financial crash…

The average person in the street is numb to the universal risk in today's world. Politicians and bureaucrats are spending the world into oblivion while secretly hoping and expecting to escape debt with depreciated dollars: yours.  Get the tools you need to survive from using these manuals…

Discover life-saving ways in which you can survive and prosper during The End of the Monetary System As We Know It. This is the information that your financial advisor, your doctor, your police precinct and your government hope you never discover…plus learn why food is your best investment!

 

How to Survive the…

War on Middle Class and All 9 Bonus Reports can be downloaded here:


 

 

Plus – Get these Free e-books:

 *10 Ways to Take Back Your Liberty

*Emergency Preparedness

 
http://1drv.ms/1kDV3ER

 

Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

Got a News Tip or Resource to Share With the Poor Man?


 

A Shallow Planet Production

 

Monday, July 28, 2014

We used to be about expanding freedom, now, we're good at reducing it-Our best FREEBIE ever!


Poor Man Survival

Self Reliance tools for independent minded people…


 
ISSN 2161-5543

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources
 
 

“What the government is good at is collecting taxes, taking away your freedoms and killing people. It’s not good at much else.”—Author Tom Clancy

 

Our country used to be about expanding freedom, now it is about reducing it. The only reason for any government to exist is to safeguard individual freedom-Period!

 

 

Stop Trying To Convince Yourself That
Everything Is "OK," It's Time To Step Up,
Learn The Truth And Get Ready.

 

If you're like a lot of Americans, you feel deep down something's not right in the country. And you would do anything to make sure you and your family stay safe, regardless what happens in the future. You are going to get slaughtered if you don’t prepare.

Read to the very end to find the FREE package we’re giving away-it is the most valuable package we’ve ever offered and it will protect you and your family during the crisis that all Americans face.

The US economy is in the worst position it's ever experienced. Many have said the American Dream is now the shattered dream.  You have been lied to and repeatedly cheated by Congress and the White House.

Our global credit rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor (S&P) for the first time in history.

The crippling 17 Trillion-Dollar debt our bloated government created is shoving our financial system closer and closer to complete collapse.

That's a 200% national deficit increase in the last 10 years alone and it shows no signs of stopping.

There’s no economic recovery, so say two more indicators:

1.      New home sales

2.      Median U.S. household net worth

Erin Carlyle reports for Forbes, July 24, 2014, that sales of newly constructed homes fell by 8.1% (seasonally adjusted) in June compared to the prior month, according to Thursday’s U.S. Commerce Department report. Sales fell in all four regions, most dramatically in the Northeast, which saw a 20% drop from the prior month.

 

Worse still, compared to June of last year, new home sales actually went down 11.5%.

Median U.S. household income is the figure for a “typical” household at the median point in the wealth distribution — half of U.S. households have incomes higher than the median figure; half of U.S. households have incomes lower.

Anna Bernasek reports for the New York Times, July 26, 2014, that according to a study financed by the Russell Sage Foundation, the inflation-adjusted net worth of the median U.S. household in 2013 was only $56,335 — a decline of a whopping 36% from the median household net worth of $87,992 of 10 years ago, in 2003

Obama’s ‘regulation nation’ obsession is further eroding our economy

Russian regulatory burdens on the economy are startling, and led me to this article showing that government inspections cost the economy $35 billion a year! 1.8% of the Russian GDP!

Curious, I looked at the Ten Thousand Commandments [annual report on federal regulations] to verify that… costs for Americans to comply with our own regulatory state is a mere $1.86 trillion (more than 10% of the economy).

We’re living in a bubble economy.

The stock market… government debt… real estate… corporate bonds… and student loans are in massive bubbles that are about to burst
.

Are you feeling a pinch in your wallet, especially after a visit to the grocery store? You're not alone. And you're certainly not imagining things. Food prices are going up. A lot.

In fact, right now prices for meat, poultry, fish, and eggs are at an all time high. The index for these kinds of grocery items went up 1.5% in April and then another 1.4% in May. That's nearly a 3% rise in the course of just two months.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported that food prices in general went up 2.5% during the past year. And the increases are accelerating…

 

For far too many, the American Dream has become the American struggle as we progressively lose our way in terms of freedom and economic mobility.  Freedom of opportunity has eroded we’ve become intolerant in the name of tolerance.  Law enforcement and the courts routinely ignore ethics and the rule of law.  Our schools often lack common sense with their zero tolerance antics.

 

What Americans don’t seem to comprehend is that if the government can arbitrarily take away your property, without your having much say about it, you have no true rights. You’re nothing more than a serf or a slave.

 

In this way, the police state with all of its trappings—from surveillance cameras, militarized police, SWAT team raids, truancy and zero tolerance policies, asset forfeiture laws, privatized prisons and red light cameras to Sting Ray guns, fusion centers, drones, black boxes, hollow-point bullets, detention centers, speed traps and abundance of laws criminalizing otherwise legitimate conduct—is little more than a front for a high-dollar covert operation aimed at laundering as much money as possible through government agencies and into the bank accounts of corporations.

 

Many of us no longer trust our government at any level.  Often, their arrogance and lack of regard for the electorate, manifests itself daily with reports of out-of-control police, non-stop spying on our bank accounts, communications and health and more.

 

They do not respect you!  The do not respect the Constitution.  They do not respect the Bill of Rights.  Nearly everything politicians do is scripted, a sound bite, a lie.

 


The gravest danger we face for our privacy, our economy, and our freedom is our own government…

 

Bureaucrats are worse.  They create harmful rules, regulations and fines and penalties out of thin air.  They ignore the rule of law.  They ignore common law.  They arrogantly ignore you as well.

 

Few would argue that we are overloaded with too much government and like a cancer it has spread the disease of Big Brother throughout the land.  The political elite have absolutely ZERO regard for our privacy, our rights.

 

Our government has FAILED in its primary mission, that of preserving our freedom and economic security.

 
A huge problem our nation faces is the stupidity of voters who continually reelect socialists and incompetents into office (Pelosi, Boxer, Schumer, Obama, to name a few) over and over again.  Their policies have not worked. Our Founders advised against the concept of lifelong politicians and encouraged ‘new blood.’

My Advice to anyone concerned with the crisis we all face…In preparation I would buy farmland and own gold or silver.

As it happens, gold and farmland are No. 1 and 2 on my list of recommended investments to steel yourself against the crisis, however it plays out -- inflation or deflation.
 
 

My Gift to You

As an old Spanish proverb says “I don’t want the cheese, I just want out of the trap.”

I’m Putting My Money Where My Mouth Is by GIVING AWAY nine of the most valuable ebooks you’ll ever read or need to survive the coming collapse.

Millions of Americans aren't even prepared for the next day, never mind a massive financial crash…

The average person in the street is numb to the universal risk in today's world. Politicians and bureaucrats are spending the world into oblivion while secretly hoping and expecting to escape debt with depreciated dollars: yours.  Get the tools you need to survive from using these manual…

Discover life-saving ways in which you can survive and prosper during The End of the Monetary System As We Know It. This is the information that your financial advisor, your doctor, your police precinct and your government hope you never discover…plus learn why food is your best investment!

 

How to Survive the…

War on Middle Class and All 9 Bonus Reports can be downloaded here:


 

 

Plus – Get these Free e-books:

 *10 Ways to Take Back Your Liberty

*Emergency Preparedness

 


 

P.S.  All I ask in return is that you share this post with others.  Help us spread the message of freedom.

 

 

Yours in freedom,

Bruce ‘the Poor Man’

 

Got a News Tip or Resource to Share With the Poor Man?


 

A Shallow Planet Production