How to make leaf mulch and biochar

Make leaf mulch and biochar to enrich your garden this fall

It’s fall here in the northern hemisphere, and not only are the leaves falling from the trees, but dead sticks and branches as well. You can use those to improve your gardens and reduce your dependency on the supply chain. Leaves make incredible mulch. Will Bonsall, author of Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant

Is the color blue in short supply

News roundup for Fri, Oct 22, 2021

Benton Harbor is now completely without water. A water main burst. Michigan is hoping to replace the failing lead water pipes in the next 18 months. Zillow has decided to stop gobbling up so many residential properties in the US because logistics and labor problems are making it too difficult to flip the properties quickly.

A news report over Winlink

Send email over ham radio with Winlink

Radio waves are the only real way to communicate when the grid goes down. Voice communication is one thing, but what about text messaging and emails? Until fast and reliable satellite internet becomes commonplace — such as SpaceX’s exciting Starlink service — where local on-the-ground emergencies won’t be nearly as disruptive, most people are still

Has the supplu chain affected school canteens

News roundup for Tue, Oct 19, 2021

Tennessee gets hit by billion-dollar natural disasters multiple times per year and repeatedly racks up some of the largest disaster bills in the country. Tennessee is northerly enough to get severe winter weather and southerly enough to get hit by tropical storms, too. Speaking of severe winter weather—this winter will cost us. Gas bills are

Are farmers having difficulties procuring tractor parts

News roundup for Fri, Oct 15, 2021

The people of Benton Harbor, Michigan have been told not to drink their tap water for at least three years because of lead contamination. The water is not safe for drinking, bathing, or cooking. The state is expanding free water distribution in the city but critics of the slow response say it’s too little, too

Yishan Wong prepper interview

Interview: former Reddit CEO and Terraformation founder Yishan Wong on planting a trillion trees and the value of community

The startup Terraformation recently raised $30M as part of its quest to solve the climate crisis by rapidly reforesting 3 billion acres — which is more land than the entire US! Founder Yishan Wong, the former CEO of Reddit and an early employee at Facebook and PayPal, talked with us about his new project and

Are Romans protesting Covid mandates

News roundup for Tue, Oct 12, 2021

Xi says China is going to unify with Taiwan, adding that he wants a peaceful reunification. Taiwan is not on board with this sentiment. Solar prices are still dropping and solar utilization continues to grow. Some good news among the pounding of the scarcity drums. California and Texas are leading the solar charge in the

Why is India running out of coal

News roundup for Fri, Oct 8, 2021

Fertilizer prices are soaring, and this is bad news for food production and food prices. The 2022 growing season is at serious risk if nothing is done to shore up fertilizer production. India is running scant on the coal it relies on to run its power companies. 70% of the countries electrical output depends on

Did a worker shortage impact yard waste, garbage, and recycling services in Virginia

News roundup for Tue, Oct 5, 2021

The US is having to temporarily suspend international delivery of mail and parcels to New Zealand and a few other countries as it lacks the needed air transportation. Australia and Samoa are also impacted. Expect price increases on chicken and tomatoes (and maybe even some barer shelves) in the upcoming months. Diapers may also be

Is African Swine Fever is a threat to the US pork industry

News roundup for Fri, Oct 1, 2021

Taxis in Thailand have been repurposed as giant planter boxes in our weird, post-COVID world. Hey, when life gives you [no use for taxis because tourism plummeted], you make [gardens]. An almost $6 million ransomware attack on an Iowa-based farming cooperative could badly impact grain production and feed needed for over 11 million farm animals.

Empty shelves in a supermarket

Deep dive on what’s behind the supply chain disruptions of 2021 and what you should do about it

Bare shelves in stores. Products out of stock. Skyrocketing prices. Basic services unable to function. The Prepared has warned you about these predictable supply chain disruptions since early 2020 — but things have seemed to take a meaningful turn for the worse in recent weeks, to the point that even the optimists among experts are

Is there petrol shortage in the UK

News roundup for Tue, Sep 28, 2021

Costco is limiting purchases again as shortages cause shelving scarcity: Another tropical storm coalesced in the Atlantic—this one is named Sam. Sam evolved into a Cat 4 hurricane and could threaten the Caribbean. China has banned all cryptocurrency-related transactions. China has also banned its citizens from engaging in foreign/overseas crypto transactions or exchanges. On September