Swift | Silent | Deadly


Self Reliance


Six Live-Culture Fermentation Projects

If you are stuck at home during the current COVID-19 crisis you have an awesome opportunity to try some new things and learn some stuff. Today I’m going talk about some of my favorite culinary endeavors: fermenting things. Here are six live-culture fermentation projects that don’t require a lot of money or active time, but yield awesome rewards and improve your self-sufficiency and sustainability.

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Know a Knot! Figure-8 Loop

Welcome to the first article in my “Know a Knot” series! There’s little that tells me more about a man that his ability to tie a knot, or not. Knowing how to tie a knot or two means you’ve taken the time to learn how to tie a knot, when it is useful, and when it isn’t. If you’re stuck at home, learn to tie a few knots over the next few weeks. This knowledge will serve you well (to steal Jack Spirko’s line) if times get tough, or even if they don’t. Today we’ll start with a very important knot: the Figure-8 loop.

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Adjusting Your Safety Margins

I could have also titled this article, “Two Places I Don’t Want to Be Right Now.” We haven’t been out much lately. We were about a week ahead of the curve on “social distancing;” we stopped eating from restaurants, going to the gym, and going to BJJ. My girlfriend works from home and my work is travel-based, so naturally that’s shut down right now. As a result we’ve been pretty isolated.

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Eating Through the Quarantine: Favorite Recipes

My girlfriend and I haven’t dined out in over a month, or ordered takeout in three weeks. This isn’t totally because of COVID-19. It’s mostly because we usually cook at home for financial, health, and lifestyle reasons, and dine out only occasionally anyway. We are very atypical. With restaurants closed across the country, many Americans are probably having a hard time. Today I’m going to offer a few of my favorite “quarantine” recipes. Hopefully they spark your imagination.

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My Individual First Aid Kit (IFAK)

I told you guys a few weeks ago I’d give you a look at my individual first aid kit (IFAK). I was kind of hesitant to do this one. First, don’t do what I do just because I do it. Greg Ellifritz says in his classes that if you have training, you already know what you need. As I recently heard in an episode of Uncensored Tactical Podcast (unrelated to first aid but still applicable), “if you know how, you’ll know when,” or in this case, what. Still, everyone loves a gear article, so here goes.

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Micropreparedness: Things You Can Do NOW

It’s a little late in the day to begin preparing for COVID-19/coronovirus. The physical, financial, mental, and emotional preparedness for this should have begun years and months ago. There are some things you can be doing right now to keep a bad situation from getting even worse.

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EDC Part III: Vehicle-Carried EDC

Today will wrap up my EDC series talking about vehicle-carried EDC items. I’m going to showcase the stuff in my vehicle, but the point is to give you some ideas about what an effective vehicle-carried EDC system might look like.

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