Prepping Archives - The Pickled Prepper Blog

How will you Survive During the Purge?

Some municipalities might have a shortage of police, fire, and EMS personnel due to their decisive and destructive vaccine mandates. Yet the politicians don’t seem to care.

So what are you going to do when somewhere between 20 and 50 percent of your local police force can’t come to work because they have not had the COVID-19 vaccine? Will your plans change when they have to empty the jails and prisons because jailers, prison guards, and corrections officers refused to get the jab? You won’t be able to fly somewhere safe because half the airlines are canceling flights because of pilots and aircrews that are not vaccinated. Forty percent of TSA workers also remain unvaccinated, so if they do not cancel your flight, expect long lines at the security check-in.

I hope you don’t get hurt while defending your home and family from the purge-like situation caused by a lack of law enforcement, because the 911 center isn’t answering calls. Many of EMTs and paramedics that staff your local ambulance service were sent home because they didn’t get the shot. You could drive to the hospital, but it’s probably understaffed anyway because, you guessed it, of the vax mandate.

Buying Cheap Used/Recovered 18650 Batteries for My Survival Stash

What is best for the prepper: Brand new 18650 batteries for $10 each or recovering used or surplus batteries for a fraction of that price?

If you are a frequent reader, you know that I like the 18650 rechargeable lithium ion battery. When I buy portable electronics and lights, I go out of my way to buy those that use the 18650 battery.

The 18650 is the most popular Li-ion battery in the portable electronics world and was used to power some of the earlier electric cars. The 18650 cells powering electric scooters, skateboards, laptops, power tools, and probably millions of other rechargeable devices. It has a nominal voltage of 3.7 volts and usually offers between 2,600 and 3,400 milliamp hours (mAh). By combing batteries together serially and in parallel, you can devise battery banks that are 12, 18, 24 and 48 volts and provide kilowatts of power. You just have to use the right quantity of cells to fit your application.

Until now, I had been buying commercial 18650s from well-known brands like Tenergy and prominent flashlight makers. Most of these batteries are made by companies like Samsung, LG, Sony, and Panasonic and given a private label treatment by flashlight makers and other companies. Branded 18650s usually cost around $10, although the higher mAh and high-discharge batteries can cost up to $20 each.

Inflation and Supply Chain Problems Rise Above the Fold

We are reaching that inflection point where inflation and supply chain problems can no longer be brushed under the rug.

Judging by the headlines and the cable news coverage, I’d say that the mainstream media just realized that inflation is here, and it is not transient. We’ve been saying this for months, as has anyone who pays attention when grocery shopping, but it took another rise in the CPI to get the consumer oriented media to actually start covering the topic.

There has also been a good deal of news coverage relating to the 4.3 million people who quit their jobs in August. (September’s numbers are not yet available.)

Earlier today, President Biden gave a speech saying he’s working on the supply chain to make sure we have what we need, from Christmas presents that arrive on time to kitchen appliances. Looks like he’s setting himself up for another failure because there is little he can do here without eliminating the vaccine mandate and relaxing a few other regulations related to COVID-19 and truck drivers.

Forget the Raccoon, the Bears are Here

This is a perfect example of why you should never let your guard down. The bears showed up two days after I had relaxed because our mystery visitor was just a raccoon.

Less than 48 hours after writing “I have been so focused on the possibility of a bear eating my honey that I hadn’t been paying attention to a raccoon that wants to steal eggs,” the bear made an appearance. A mother bear and her two cubs ran across the dirt road at the corner of our property, less than 30 feet in front of me.

Happily, I was in the car rather than on foot. I was also happy that the dog was not in there with me.

I was less happy that this is the end of the property that is near the bee yard/garden/chicken coop. The bears headed towards the bee yard, not away from it, so I assume they had not been there yet. After I got home, I checked the area and there was no sign of their presence and the electric fence was on, clicking away at full power. This time, I didn’t test it out personally.

Meat and Poultry Shortages Could Surge in November

A meat industry insider predicts more shortages will come as vaccine mandates force meat processors and packers to fire employees.

A friend of my daughter has a degree in poultry science (yes, that’s a thing) and works as a USDA inspector at poultry plants in the South. He warned my daughter that once the vaccine mandates go into effect November 1, there will be a drop in employees at poultry plants and meat production will slow down. He said this is likely to happen for beef and pork as well, but he only has first-hand knowledge of the poultry plants.

Let me put this in plain English: Expect meat shortages starting in mid-November and lasting months because of unconstitutional vaccine mandates aggressively implemented by the Biden Administration. Expect prices to rise even further.

Stock your freezer now. Blame Biden later.

Power Outages; They’re Not just for the Third World Anymore

Power outages used to be something other countries had, or they were caused by a storm. This winter, we may be facing heat and power outages due bad policy decisions.

There’s a good chance that electricity in Afghanistan will be shut off soon because the country owes its suppliers tens of millions of dollars and the Taliban has not paid the bill. (To no one’s surprise, administering a government is not the Taliban’s strong suit.)

In Lebanon, power went out around noon Saturday and the country-wide blackout is expected to last several days. The problem? No fuel. This is just the latest in a series of power outages caused by fuel shortage and local currency problems. They predicted it will be one of the longest the country has experienced. The fuel shortage is so bad that even individuals and businesses lucky enough to have a generator can’t find duel.

The Systematic Destruction of the Economy Continues

When everything the government does seems to make inflation higher and the economy worse, you have to ask yourself: Are they doing it on purpose?

Today’s job numbers were terrible. New jobs increased the slowest in all of 2021. More people left the workforce—they gave up on working—than got new jobs. Why? I can think of at least four reasons:

First, many potential employees are not desperate enough to need a job that doesn’t pay much, isn’t satisfying and fulfilling, and requires dealing with rude and entitled customers.

Second, the younger generation of people grew up with easy lives are weren’t used to having to work hard. They also disagree with the concept of having to work your way up and few will accept traditional menial and entry-level jobs. The lack of coal miners is a good example. Why would someone want to work a dangerous job in uncomfortable conditions when they can make money sitting at home trading stocks on Robinhood, hosting a game channel on Stitch, or working whenever in the gig economy whenever they want to make a few bucks?

Prepper News Update October 8

Manufacturers Blame Government for Supply Chain Problems

Tariffs, lockdowns, and other government policies contributed to and continue to exacerbate the supply chain issues, according to this article in Reason.

“The idea that an economy could be indiscriminately shut down and turned back on without far-reaching consequences, as if a light switch or lawn mower, is utterly damnable,” charges economist Peter C. Earle. “It could only come from the mind of an individual, or body of individuals, with no understanding of or consideration for the extraordinary interdependence of the productive sector.”

U.S. May Experience Winter Blackouts Due to Fuel Shortages

As we warned earlier, it’s not just the European markets that may have energy shortages and blackouts. U.S. energy producers are worried about fuel shortages and rising costs, all because of the side effects of a headlong rush to embrace green energy. Coal miners are in short supply and some mines are offering starting salaries of $100,000 to attract candidates.

When your house is cold and dark this winter, remember to thank Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, the squad, and the other liberals who attacked fossil fuels but failed to have a replacement that was ready for prime time.

My Wife has been Bitten by the Prepping Bug

Some preppers complain about unsupportive spouses, but I’ve never had that problem. Lately, my wife is becoming quite gun ho.

I’ve been a hardcore prepper for a couple of decades. My wife? Not so much. She has been more than tolerant of my prepping, rarely complains about the money I spend, and is never obstructionist. She says nothing about the number of guns I own or the 5-gallon buckets piled up in our garage. More importantly, she willingly moved to our prepper property in the Appalachian mountains.

Lately, she’s begun showing tendencies of a more serious prepper. For example, I’ve caught her buying extra food at Walmart, something I usually do, and the last time she went to Costco she brought home a 25-pound bag of rice. Last week, she voluntarily ate two MRE entrees. (That’s a record for a woman who says she won’t eat Spam until TEOTWAWKI.) Then she told me she wants to buy a new holster.

The other day she asked if I thought the five cords of wood we had were enough for the winter. I explained it may not be, but I’m running out of storage space. My plan is to burn one and then replace it with new wood.

Are Rabbits the Perfect Livestock for Preppers?

Raising rabbits produces meat rapidly and inexpensively. They take up little room and an be raised almost anywhere, making them perfect for preppers.

I was reviewing some old PDFs I had in my “prepping” folder and I came across these figures from a book copyrighted in 1922:

“Eight rabbits and their offspring will produce in one year 480 rabbits, making 3,080 pounds of meat. Fifty chickens will produce in one year 600 chickens making 2,400 pounds. Two pigs (sows) will produce in one year 32 pigs weighing in all 2,800 pounds. Six sheep will produce in one year 9 lambs weighing 800 pounds. One cow will produce in one year one calf weighing 300 pounds.”

Granted, this was from Common Sense Rabbit Raising, a book clearly written to promote raising rabbits, and our chickens are bigger and heavier 100 years later, and it depends on the breeds. The exact numbers may no longer be correct, but the idea remains on target, especially from a homesteading point of view. Obviously,

I’m not sure I want to eat rabbit daily, but in a survival situation, I can see how it might be very desirable to have one or two to eat every week.