New Blog!
http://myhemp.blogspot.com
While doing research for my new book "What Money Can't Buy" I came across a book that said hemp has over 25,000 uses! Well , I have to tell you I got more excited the more I read on the subject. Here we have a weed that could drag us kicking and screaming from a total dependance on "Big OIL" to the real possibility of growing our own gasoline type fuel from hemp. The fact that the fuel when burned gives off CO2 and very little else immediately makes it superior to gasoline we now use that has toxic emmissions. Did you know that Henry Ford created a car body that was made from hemp and ran on hemp fuel? He demonstrated how durable the car body was by hitting it hard with a large tool and instead of denting or breaking, it bounced back. How would you like a car body that did not immediately get crushed in a fender bender? How would you like air quality to go up because we are not pumping toxins in it anymore? So-for this survival-list -list I am going to give you the broad catagories Hemp can fill and insure our suvival as a society, an economy and environmentally.

Hemp can be used as :
1)Food - flour and oil and dietary fibre can be made from hemp and hemp seeds.
2)Fuel - the oil can be made in to a form of bio-diesel and could even be refined to a form of gasoline. The stalks and leaves can be used to make alcohol.
3) Paper- Hemp is used in the finest of papers and is used to print dollar bills and other currency. In the US, the Constitution was written on hemp paper. 1 acre of hemp makes more paper than 4 acres of trees and it only take one season to grow it rather than 20+ for a tree. You do the math!
4) Cloth - Betsy Ross sewed the first US flag using hemp. Other flags have used hemp before and after Betsy's since it is so durable. Most of the world's great masters painted on hemp and the word for canvas is derived fromthe word canabis. Sails, rope and clothes and now shoes can be made from hemp.
5) Medicines- It has great healing powers and good at relieving pain .

Those are the main five catagories I can think of off the top of my head. Other interesting facts about growing hemp is it improves the soil, it can grow in the worst land (it is a weed you know!) and it can grow almost anywhere Man can. I does not need any fertilizer or pesticides as opposed to cotton which uses the vast majority of petrol-chemically derived herbicides and pesticides. BIG OIL and BIG CHEMICAL companies do not want hemp around because they would lose a ton of money. BIG DRUG companies do not want it around for the same reason. POlICE do not want it around because their budgets would be cut. The "WAR ON DRUGS" would not exist for the most part and the BIG CRIME syndicates don't want it around because they would lose money too. Some Governments do not want it around because they want to be able to control their citizens. If you are self-sufficient, what do you need them for? They would have to downsize and all our taxes would come down. Are you getting the broad picture yet?
Thats my list for today.

Michael J. Kaer , President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

Liquids

Doing research for my book "What Money Can't Buy" has been a lesson and a mind warping experience. Let me explain.
Now that I look at almost everything through Survivalist Eyes, I see simple things in a new light. Everyone in North America has seen Tetra-Pak juice boxes, especially if you have kids. I never thought about them as a possible source of nutrients and liquids. You now should know the "recommended" amount of water to store in an emergency is about 1 gallon (4litres)per person per day. If you had to evacuate for 4 days and you were walking, you may be able to carry 2x10 litre jugs as well as a large back pack with all your clothes, food and entertainment/tools with you. The jugs alone will weigh 10 kilos each, about 26 pounds. The pack could weigh up to another 20 kilos or so. That is a little over 100 pounds! How far can you carry 100 pounds? If you are in shape MAYBE 15 kilometres (about 10 miles.) Most of us would not get more than a few blocks. I would load up my Trike and cycle it to where ever I needed to be. In a day I could go (maybe,if I had to) 50 kilometres with a load like that.
Lets get back to the walking bit. I would assume if a disaster broke out, most people would find shelter in the same city. It would have to be very big to force a move further away.
What does that have to do with juice boxes? If you still want to carry some liquids you could get by with smaller jugs and carry the boxes in pockets and in cloth bags wrapped around the handles of the jugs. I need to do more research, but the juices last a long time and do not need to be refrigerated.

Here's your list for this post,

What you need to buy first. A large knapsack! Good outer clothes, good shoes or boots, water jugs and juice boxes, extra vitamins and meds,hard candy and trail mix,granola,extra glasses if you wear glasses, extra underwear and socks. Photocopy all your important documents and seal it in a large zip-lock bag. After that I suggest a good tarp about 3 metres x 3 metres (about 10ftx10ft), a small pillow or blow up pillow, a good camping blanket and extra clothes. stuff extra toilet paper and a towel in a bag with soap and shaving kit. I would pack several flashlights, a radio and a good book or two, along with a deck of cards, a swiss army knife and a stainless steel cup. A small first aid kit is a must. A couple of cheap lighters and some matches or some other means of lighting a fire would not be out of order. That's it for the basic "bug-out" kit.

Michael J. Kaer, President of Kaer Enterprises (.com) and www.mikesworms.com

Back-breaking labour

Having recovered from the overhanging tree and the noise the next day to cut it down I thought I was finished with trees for the moment. Wrong! During the same storm a fast growing maple right next to my back fence decided to topple on to the fence. I have been hacking away at it for a few days and my back is hurting from all the physical labour. I have had to jump out of the way several times when the tree limbs did not fall the way I intended. A bunch of thick vines was connecting it to it's sister tree that is still standing. That has slowed up progress on it's removal.
Here is the list of items I am using and I suggest you have handy in an emergancy situation.
1)a bow saw
2) a small saw for cutting small branches
3)some rope
4)(not using but handy)an ax or hatchet.

With these items you can chop down the biggest tree,all you need is patience and some common sense.

the 5th item on this list is my massage unit for my back when everthing is done!
Michael.