Tag: guide

Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits

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Storey’s Guide to Raising Rabbits is as essential to the owner of pet rabbits as it is to the farmer raising rabbits for meat or fur. Breed selection, year-round care and feeding, safe housing, humane handling, and disease prevention and treatment are all addressed.

This is the classic, comprehensive, essential reference for all rabbit raisers.

I am a huge believer in rabbits as a sustainable livestock for small homesteads. They have a good feed/meat conversion ratio, breed prolifically, can be kept in small spaces, are quiet, and their manure is wonderful fertilizer.

However, my own experience with rabbits suggests that they are not as easy to raise as some would have you believe. I have had sickness, cannibalism, lots of dead babies, and other problems that it takes time (or great resources like this book) to solve.

If you are serious about raising your own meat source, then you should consider rabbits. My Grandfather raised them commercially in large batches, and I have had some success raising rabbits in a subdivision. Once you get the basics mastered, you can scale up or down depending on your needs.

I think that if you are going to raise rabbits, then you need to own this book.

May 24, 2018
Amateur Rocket Motor Construction

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One hobby I would like to do more of is Pyrotechnics. I love fireworks and I love diy projects, but unfortunately the regulations on storage keeps my playing to a minimum. However, even if I don’t get to build as much sparkly smoky things as I like, I still enjoy reading about them

Amateur rocket motor construction is an awesome book. It is full of diagrams and instructions as well as recipes to make several tested rocket designs.

Not only does the book have lots of reference material, it even has a couple “improvised” ingredients – recipes included use common chemicals found at hardware stores including ingredients from gopher gassers and stump removers.

This is a very well written guide to something I am very fond of. I even bought a kit from skylighter.com that allows me to build my own amateur rocket motors whenever I want so that I can continue to play rockets.

As soon as I figure out the legalities (not because it is dangerous or bad but because of overregulation) I want to use the rocket motors to make white star clusters for signalling. I have a pretty good idea how they are made, and can do it safely but since it is a rocket with a “charge” I don’t want to get hit with a weapons of mass destruction arrest for doing something to potentially save a life.

You have to love cowards making laws and enforcing them with thugs…

May 8, 2018
Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving

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The Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving is a great little guide to keep with your canning equipment.

It makes a great gift for those new to food preservation and has lots of great (and easy) recipes for those getting started in canning.

There really isn’t a lot to say about Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving, it is rather small, but packed with information, has good illustrations, and covers what you need to know to can foods in a safe manner.

This book is what I used to get started canning,

While I made some mistakes when I started canning, it was only when I tried to do it without reading.

Once I decided I better learn rather than experiment and play, this book really helped me understand what was going on, as well as offering me good suggestions and recipes to get me canning safely.

As a prepper, I see all manner of recipes for canning, both hot water canning, and pressure canning. And I have tried some that are not actually approved as safe. You can get away with that for a while, the problem is, that you never know when you will have issues. I recommend this book as every recipe inside it is intrinsically safe – you don’t have to worry about what ifs and botulism.

May 2, 2018
Combat Leaders Field Guide
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A guide to small unit dismounted combat operations, extensively updated to include both the latest doctrine and lessons learned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq
- The Combat Leaders Field Guide covers the equipment, operations, and individual combat skills essential for soldiers and others who must act as infantry.
- This book is essential for Army infantry leaders at the platoon and company level, Special Forces troops, Air Force security and patrol services, Marines, and other Army branches who operate as infantry when needed.
- The basic skills all soldiers must know to prevail on the battlefield, including battle drills for offense and defense operations, patrols, construction and emplacement of fighting positions, use of weapons and artillery, mines and explosives, land navigation and map reading, communications, individual security and camouflage, and combat medicine (first aid).
The Combat Leaders Field Guide, is, in my opinion is a must have for all those that are preparedness minded. It shows a lot of techniques and skills that are unavailable unless you have earned the knowledge through a stint serving in the military.

I think this book is an indispensable addition to a prepper library as it is a good way to learn basic patrolling and other military techniques that would be essential to defending a fixed site like a farm or retreat.
April 27, 2018
On Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators

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According to author Frederick J. Lanceley—one of the world’s foremost crisis negotiation authorities—negotiators must train and train regularly. For just as the legal field constantly evolves, so does the field of crisis negotiation.

The new edition of On Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators reflects this fact. A bestseller in its first edition, this book offers practical advice with regard to the theory, procedures, and techniques of crisis and suicide intervention and hostage negotiation. Two new chapters in the second edition cover negotiation with people under the influence of drugs or alcohol and how first responders can contain a situation until a negotiator can arrive.

With a suicide intervention flow chart, a checklist for investigators assisting negotiators, and an on-scene guide for crisis negotiators, this indispensable book provides the tools you need to conduct successful negotiations and “make nothing happen.”

I would make a horrible negotiator as I just am no good at active listening (ask my wife) – but I think the information in On Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators is worth reading – especially for preppers. I think knowing the process and mindset behind negotiators is worthwhile for people that own a lot of guns and tend to be looked on with skepticism and hostility.

I know some guys on negotiation teams and the amount of training they go through to keep their skills current is enormous. This is a skill that you don’t learn by reading about. If you are interested in doing more with this than learning the basics you should not only read this, but join a job that does this.

March 15, 2018