Survivor Jane, Instant Grow Garden Mats, What are You Good At?

Bruce’s Poor Man Survival Bulletin

A Digest of Urban Survival Resources

http://www.PoorManSurvival.com

ISSN 2161-5543

A Free Press is the Guardian of a Free People

In This Issue:

1.        “Instant” Gardens How to

2.       Free education classes resources

3.       Survivor Jane – Prepper site for women

4.       Discover what you’re good at

Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.
Mark Twain

Discovering What You’re Good At

With the upheaval of traditional middle class jobs, most never to return, many find themselves in the position of finding something else ‘they are good at.’  Many who do find work also discover they’re paid much less, often barely enough to make ends meet.

A significant portion of Americans who have been out of work for more than a year two, simply give up looking for work.  Those numbers are never tallied by the Labor Department when figuring their ‘official’ unemployment numbers.

According to Reuters, 23.7 million American workers are either unemployed or underemployed right now. The more "blue collar" you are, the more likely you are to be unemployed.

The millions of jobs that have been sent overseas are not coming back. Even if you still have a decent job, now is the time to be developing a side business or developing other alternative streams of income.

The increase in those over age 50 who start their own business demonstrates the frustration we’ve collectively experienced with the lackluster job market. Many are turning their hobbies into businesses.  Unemployment among this age bracket and among those age 17-24 show higher spikes than other age groups.

It’s been said that people are happiest when they feel embedded into something larger than themselves.  It’s an odd quirk but a surprising number of newly retired folks pass on within a few years of not working because so much of their life was built around their job or occupation.

Volunteering as Therapy

There is no shortage of non-profit groups in this country.  At any given time, most seek volunteers.  Consider choosing a volunteer opportunity in a field that interests you.  This will keep your mind active and extend your networking possibilities.  My mother volunteered at a local hospital and was eventually hired into its patient services and hospice department.

Earlier in my life I volunteered for the SBAs Small Business Development group.  In essence, I mentored several small start-ups.  Not only did I enjoy the experience but I developed many strong business and social friendships as a result.  This led to my serving as a volunteer board member for groups such as the Salvation Army and others.

Find Your Strengths

Many once popular career choices, such as newspaper journalism, are pretty much dead in the water today.  The point is, you might have to make a career change.  Take a career aptitude test to pinpoint your areas of strength.  This could lead you to a better career path that is right for you.  Here’s a resource that offers a free test:

www.PrincetonReview.com/careers-after-college.aspx

Safer snow shoveling – push the snow instead of lifting it.  Keep the handle close to your body to reduce pressure on your back.

PM’s Compendium of Useful Resources

Amazing Amount of Free Education ‘Classes’

Your education doesn't have to stop once you get out of school—being free of the classroom just means you have more control over what you learn and when you learn it. We've put together a curriculum of some of the best free online classes available on the web this spring for the first term of Lifehacker U, our regularly-updating guide to improving your life with free, online college-level classes…

Technical, science, economics and much more.  Go here to see the full listing:

Computer Science and Technology Finance and Economics Science and Medicine Mathematics Social Sciences, Classics, and Humanities Law Cross-Disciplinary Courses and Seminars Extra Credit: How to Find Your Own Online Courses

Source:  Lifehacker.com

Spokeo: Privacy and Frustration

I recently discovered Spokeo, an online reference that contains more personal information than most people would probably like to see gathered in one place. Spokeo describes themselves as, “Not your grandma’s phone book”. I’ll say. The information available for free includes address, phone number, street view of your home (if available), estimated income (we found this estimation to be way off), estimated value of your home (again, not very accurate),and names, ages, and relationships to family members (this was correct in the few that we viewed).

Searching can be done under any of the five tabs; Name, Email, Phone, Username, or Friends. The Name tab reveals more information than the others, but each contains bits related to the subject

http://www.spokeo.com/

Vegetable Seed Garden Mat - Instant Garden, Roll N Grow - Seeded Mat - Just Roll and Grow! (Easy & Hassle Free!) Plant in garden or family yard! Grow Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Peppers and Lettuce!

While Congress sews the seeds of rebellion, you should consider these efficient seeds.

Thinking of rolling out a flower or vegetable garden this spring? Consider a prefabricated seed mat such as the Instant Garden Seed-in-a-Blanket by Creative Garden Concepts, a seed germination medium comprised of two layers sandwiching flower or grass seed, an inert distribution medium, nutrients and a water retaining polymer. For veggies and herbs, there’s the GrowEasy Seed Mat, available in tomato, herbs, and peppers from Greenhouse Magastore.

Another option is to create your own seed mat. According to GardenGuides.com, a garden social media site, the failure of garden seed mats usually has to do with the types of seeds placed together. To make a garden seed mat that actually grows well, you’ll need to choose complementary plants. The best time to make your garden seed mat is in the late autumn or winter. Here’s their guide for creating your own:

Step 1
Decide what kinds of vegetables or herbs you want to grow in your garden. Purchase seeds at your local garden store, or if you saved seeds from last year’s garden, you can use those. Choose herbs and vegetables that have similar growth rates, heights, water and sunlight needs, and compatibility for companion gardening. Plant size is a big factor. Ensure that the plant types you select are around the same height so the taller vegetables don’t steal all the sunlight, leaving the shorter-growing ones deep in the shade.

Step 2
Unroll and tear off a length of heavy-duty brown paper towels. You can make whatever length you like and even use several lengths of paper towels to create a wider seed mat.

Step 3
Mix a thick paste using 1 part water to 2 parts flour. Spread the paste over the length of brown paper towels.

Step 4
Place the seeds in the paste, spacing them the appropriate distance for each type of seed. Allow the mat to dry completely. Then, roll up the mat, label it and store it until spring.

Step 5
Prepare your garden bed when the last expected frost has passed and the springtime soil has warmed to at least 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Turn and loosen a patch of soil that’s in full sunlight in your garden or yard using a pitchfork. Remove any weeds, grass or other debris from the soil.

Step 6
Unroll your garden seed mat and lay it out on the prepared garden bed. Spread a cover of organic compost over the seeds, about 1-inch thick, depending on the types of seeds you’re planting, or to the depth recommended on your seed packets. Water your newly-planted garden well.

FEMA’s Citizen Prepper Guide

Still a worthwhile guide to own and it’s a free download

http://www.ready.gov/are-you-ready-guide

Preparedness is more than just stocking food supplies or gathering guns in case of an emergency; preparedness is a mindset you must cultivate… knowledge and planning are the two best tools you can have.

Survivor Jane…Thanks to a new subscriber via Twitter

Can I ask you a couple of questions?

What would happen to you if a disaster were to hit tomorrow?

What would happen to you, if someone tried to break into your home, and harm you and your children?

Do you have the knowledge, skills, and physical strength to take care of yourself and your loved ones?

I think it’s fair to say that we would all try to survive, in any situation.

After all, as women, that is one of the things we do best

http://www.survivorjane.com/

The American Preppers Network is conducting a Network-Wide Roll Call and giving away …
Several Prizes! All Preppers, please respond to the following link and reply to the Roll Call.
http://americanpreppersnetwork.net/viewtopic.php?f=606&t=17742

Bathroom Smells. To help get rid of 'bathroom' smells, instead of using air fresheners, try striking a match, (regular not safety) sounds strange but very effective

The Nanny State Updates…

Bank Privacy Part Deux
US law limits your freedom freedom of contract. Banking services are strictly controlled and are the future of individual tracking. Learn how this affects you.

http://www.howtovanish.com/2010/02/bank-privacy-part-deux/?awt_l=9mqfI&awt_m=1qgzwDWmnCxNxm

The millions of jobs that have been sent overseas are not coming back. Even if you still have a decent job, now is the time to be developing a side business or developing other alternative streams of income.

What you don't want to do is to just sit there and hope that somehow things will "magically" turn around if we just vote in the "right" politician.

If you want to get a good idea of what is really going on with the U.S. economy, just tour some of the formerly great industrial cities in the "Rust Belt".

In Cuyahoga County, Ohio one out of every five houses is sitting vacant. It is not that those homes are not needed - it is just that there are not nearly enough people with good jobs available to buy up all of the foreclosures.

So, thousands of good homes are being torn down. The following comes from a recent CBS News report by Scott Pelley....

Across America, recession-fueled foreclosures and plummeting home values have left countless properties abandoned and vulnerable to looting. As Scott Pelley reports, the problem has gotten so bad in Cleveland, Ohio, that county officials have demolished more than 1,000 homes this year - and plan to demolish 20,000 more - rather than let the blight spread and render nearby homes worthless.

For beautiful, shiny clean jewelry, use a soft toothbrush and toothpaste. Rub lightly, rinse and polish with a towel.

The Parting Thought –

Think you still live in the land of brave and the free?

So you think you're free? Thanks to big government spending and exploding debt, the United States -- and indeed the world -- is less economically free today than it was a year ago, according to the 18th annual Index of Economic Freedom, released yesterday by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal.

Though some might think that the United States -- the land of the free, the home of the brave -- is of course a leader in economic freedom, they would be wrong. The United States fell to 10th place in the world for economic freedom, and its score continues to drop. The U.S. ranked 6th in 2009, 8th in 2010 and 9th in 2011.

How Would Most Americans Better our Government?  Less of it!

We have all been lied to. For decades, the leaders of both major political parties have promised us that they can fix our current system and that they can get our national debt under control.

To get the same purchasing power that you got out of $20.00 back in 1970 you would have to have more than $116 today.

America's job creators know that it's the policies emanating from Washington that are constraining their ability to create new jobs. According to a new survey of small businesses by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, more than 80 percent are very concerned about the prospect of new regulations, mandates, and higher taxes. There's another thing Americans should be worried about, as well: According to the Index, the United States has seen its "Freedom from Corruption" score drop, as well, due to the Obama Administration's pursuit of increased regulations. As Feulner writes, "Each new edict means a new government bureaucracy that individuals and businesses must navigate. Each new law opens the door for political graft and cronyism."


Finally…you must obey the government or face the consequences

You will use our currency, and no other, or we will label you a “domestic terrorist” and throw you in jail. You will carry our identifying documents, and no others, or we will not permit you to leave these boundaries (as defined by our wars with other states). You will surrender a certain portion of your private property to us annually, or we will lock you up. And if you try to escape our cage, you will be shot…

“Until the next revolution”, the Poor Man

Remember, remember the 4^th of November…

Get your “We don’t need another election” Protest T-Shirt Now

http://poormansurvival.com/RevolutionTShirt.aspx

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Check our Resources

New self sufficiency books added weekly

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A Shallow Planet Production

Human Poop Composting, Organics, Field of Schemes

“America is one of the finest countries anyone ever stole.”
--Bobcat Goldthwaite

Skipping the ‘organic’ food buzz…

Marketers are smart and use a lot of buzzwords to entice you into buying their food products. Organic products usually mean higher prices. You’re almost always better off to simply purchase locally grown food.

Examples where not to waste your cash include:
· Brown eggs – white is fine & cheaper
· Organic or prime beef – use select cuts, the least expensive meat. Just marinate or tenderize it prior to cooking
· Organic fish – this label has no meaning as the US has no such standard

Skip convenience foods to save. For instance, at most food co-ops you can purchase bulk wheat and grind your own flour and cereals for pennies a serving; local farmers often sell direct to the public as well. Store brands are almost always just as good as national brands (in many cases, the product is produced by the national brand specifically for use as a store brand).

Buy fish at the frozen foods counter, it’s cheaper and just as good. The same rule applies to most vegetables and fruits and many studies indicate frozen items retain more nutrients vs. fresh. Invest in a freezer and stock up on items when they’re on sale.


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Learn how to recondition batteries for wind & solar power backup…for yourself or start a business doing it for others.
http://earthpowernews.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=54:introduction-to-batteries-reconditioning-batteries-and-battery-desulfators&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=50

Urban Outhouses – Say Goodbye to Toilets!
Don’t waste human waste. Composting toilets are expensive but Joseph Jenkins advocates using buckets instead as an alternative sanitation system. His book, Humanure Handbook: A guide to composting human manure shows you how. When properly managed it is odorless (lots of sawdust) and is an excellent compost/fertilizer…saves a lot of water and more people are using this system now that the book is in its 3rd printing. For additional resources, see:
http://www.greenlivingtips.com/articles/234/1/Composting-human-waste.html
http://journeytoforever.org/compost_humanure.html


Find where the jobs are:
Ever wonder where your job skills are in demand? Plug your job title into www.NoCarb.net/work/where
The site will pinpoint available openings around the country for you.

More free barter networks
Register with these free sites to trade stuff with confidence. Since people can leave feedback on past transactions, you can be more certain your trading partner is legit.
www.SwapTree.com
www.BarterBee.com


Check out the new dutch-auction site…

Pricefalls, the brainchild of 21-year-old college senior Elliot Moskow, lets sellers list their merchandise for free and works on the Dutch auction process: The price of the merchandise falls until a buyer selects the price he or she believes is the perfect buy. The buyer may also submit a price he or she is willing to pay during the auction, and if the item falls to that price, the consumer is notified and wins the auction. The buyer is asked to pay immediately, like most e-commerce checkout procedures
www.Pricefalls.com

“The right to be left alone is indeed the beginning of all freedom”
--Justice William Douglas

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Field of Schemes - Fewer Americans want Washington help…
Most realize the costs associated with bailouts is bankrupting our country…according to a Wall Street Journal poll, only 23% of respondents said they trust the government – the smallest portion in 12 years. Most believe the only thing government is good at is wasting tax money.

Stupid government tax policies and subsidies to the wealthy have ravaged our economy, allowed prime technology which threaten our national security go to China (thank you Bill Clinton), allowed the middle class and wage base to shrink, seen decent jobs leave the country, and have allowed the United States to become the largest debtor nation while teetering on complete financial ruin.

There are many traitors among our politicians –in both parties- who have sold us out during the past 30 years…economic erosion, the erosion of our Bill of Rights and the decline of the middle class…one day, when America collapses or the average citizen awakens, there will be hell to pay for the people.

Feeling short changed by Democrats & Republicans the average guy on the street feels the government has overlooked “Joe the Plumber” types. The new administration has little to show for its first year in office. (Read the new book, The Moral Underground: How Ordinary Americans Subvert an Unfair Economy by Lisa Dodson who cites examples of how a few employers and members of the medical community will go the extra mile in helping their fellow citizen).

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EPA finding: Greenhouse gases harm humans…but…
Energy prices for many Americans probably would rise, too — though Monday's finding will have no immediate impact since regulations have yet to be written.
"It will choke off growth by adding new mandates to virtually every major construction and renovation project," declared Thomas Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which in recent months has been particularly critical of the EPA's attempt to address climate change.

"Every aspect of our lives must be subjected to an inventory... of how we are taking responsibility..."
So said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently, signaling the latest leftist plans to obliterate your privacy and personal autonomy while explaining her green energy "vision" to the Associated Press

The larger problem for America is MORE damnable rules & regs from unelected bureaucrats which already cost business and consumers billions in added costs for everything from step ladders to fuel costs.

But keep in mind…

>>40% of Americans pay no income taxes at all.<<

This is just another symptom of the single biggest problem now facing the U.S. (and for that matter, the world): the ballooning size and cost of government.

Privacy in America continues to vanish courtesy of Uncle Scam

The well-publicized case of Obama's Treasury Department browbeating the Swiss government into surrendering the identities of thousands of U.S. account holders. For example, the Obama Administration is using global positioning technology carried by Census Bureau employees to establish the precise global "coordinates" of every front door in America– setting the stage for a national inventory of assets.
The GPS mapping program (which allows satellites to zero in on specific areas down to the inch) is part of larger efforts to aid all levels of government in figuring out what's on everyone's land, including room add-ons, boats, cars, and other items of interest to federal and local tax/building permit/environmental officials.
In addition, federal budget documents show the Obama Administration has quietly quadrupled long-term IRS enforcement funding. IRS agents are engaging in citizen financial surveillance dragnets based on data mining (in which your private purchases are matched to your tax returns as part of a "lifestyle audit").

Two key post-9-11 sections of anti terror legislation most members of Congress admit they never bothered to read:

· The first ends over two centuries of 4th Amendment protections against unlawful searches and has opened the floodgates of open-ended "fishing expeditions" against private citizens. Specifically, bureaucrats now have the power to directly access medical records, library check-out data, any and all credit card purchases, Internet usage, private emails, political affiliations, and any and all private-sector records of any kind.

· The second anti-terror law being perverted for use against private citizens is a new Congressional legal definition of terrorism so broad and vague as to be meaningless when it comes to limiting the government's arbitrary access to anything about you.

Even the left-leaning Washington Post recently noted that private citizens with anti-establishment views are now the target of government surveillance. In just one of many examples cited by the Post, Maryland state police had been feeding the names of death penalty opponents into a national database (that had been set up to track terrorists).
The former police superintendent who had secretly authorized the operation told an investigating committee "I don't believe the First Amendment is any guarantee to those who wish to disrupt the government..."

All together, the Washington Times reported on April 1, 2009, that some 800,000 state and local law enforcement officers are now engaged in the process of collecting information on private citizens, including their political beliefs. Leading the charge to ideologically catalog and profile citizens is the Department of Homeland Security, which sent out a 9-page bulletin warning against "right-wing extremism" in the United States.
Retired U.S. Customs and DEA officer Michael Levin recently told Congress he knows of 15,000 paid informants on the federal payroll. In that same Congressional hearing, the U.S. Justice Department admitting to spending at least $42 million a year to pay informants. Worse, the full extent of federal snitching programs are treated as a State Secret.
· Beware of Presidential Directive 12, a Trojan Horse scheme to impose a "smart" national ID card on the residents of all 50 states– a card so smart that it can be "deactivated" like a credit card so that you can't travel, rent a car, cash a check, or even get a job….http://www.dhs.gov/xabout/laws/gc_1217616624097.shtm

I’ve reported previously on how privacy is vanishing in this country thanks to government intrusion…the Patriot Act was an excuse to undermine the rights of citizens; most just don’t realize it yet. On the horizon is a deal for state’s to turn over their drivers license operations to the feds and anonymous pre-paid debit cards may become hard to find under proposed rules.

On a related note:

The campaign Web site, www.takebackyourprivacy.org, will give Internet users a platform and the tools to create communities that will unite around these issues. The campaign will provide Internet users with unique tools allowing them to not only contact those in the government and industry who can change the system, but also to alert their friends about what needs to be done. The Web site will become an interactive hub for the campaign, kept fresh with information about the latest developments in privacy controls and how Congress is reacting to the campaign's message.

FYI-one way to protect your privacy…need to include a phone number in a classified ad; give it out at a singles bar, etc.? Play it safe by using a free temporary number from www.iNumber.com
When people dial it, it’s automatically forwarded to your home or cell number. You decide how long you need the number; an hour, a day, or a week.

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Brrr! It’s cold outside. Not having seen snow & freezing temps for 10 years, I was actually kind of delighted to see my first snowfall in so many years. It will probably take my body 30 years to get readjusted! No wonder animals hibernate.

Yours for better living,
Bruce “The PoorMan”
http://www.poormansurvival.com