Doing the Stuff to Escape the Matrix

After a year of getting to know Durable Faith online, I finally got to meet him and his beautiful family. Many times I read preparedness bloggers and wonder if they are actually doing the stuff. DF falls into my “Doers of the Stuff “category! He’s put his money (and faith) where his mouth is.

“Doing the stuff” doesn’t mean you’ve ‘arrived.’ Who has? I haven’t! What this phrase means is that you’re taking action steps on your journey to freedom, self-sufficiency, and resiliency.

Durable highlights his long journey to escape the matrix created by elitists controllers in the media, government, globalists, and the institutional church. Please pass this on if you find it useful.

Reprinted with permission by Durable Faith

A few thoughts about a shift in ‘editorial policy’

Online friends

The posts which seem to get the most views are those that you can now find any number of places.

The most popular posts seem to be about “what is going on” – how criminal our government is, how politicians lie, how our economic system is rigged, etc. This was an important phase in my learning curve and in my progression through the prepper stages of grieving the loss of much of what I thought was real and true.

The posts that I write about “what we can do about it” or “what the bible says about what is going on”, those posts don’t get very far in the viral cyberspace. Often, they start well and then fizzle out.  I don’t want to flatter myself, but I candidly suspect information suppression. I can see the WordPress stats. And I have some posts that have more likes than views…if you figure that one out, let me in on the secret please…In China they admit to watching which activists posts gather momentum quickly and then they demote them or make them disappear. Similarly internet filtering is being rolled out in Australia now. Who is to say that it’s not already happening to some degree in the USA.

For instance just this week, Faceboot has not only been caught red-handed suppressing posts about GMO’s and citizen journalism of an expose nature, but now they are claiming that their new policy of suppressing “hate speech” is motivated by their desire to stop violence on women and is in response to outcry’s from their advertisers (poor faceboot, wah).

As Hillary said, they (the global elites) are losing the information war and they are re-grouping (filtering as defense, propaganda as offense) in an effort to regain control  of the information flow.

As for the news, you can get it elsewhere now. There are many sites that devote themselves to exposing corruption, darkness, and imminent threats to life and pursuit of happiness. If you have subscribed to Durablefaith.com for news, you may want to unsubscribe and subscribe or bookmark some of the following sites. As a caveat, I cannot vouch for the past or future content of these sites. You should review the information, ask hard questions, and chew before you swallow or share each story.

1. http://www.drudgereport.com
2. http://www.zerohedge.com
3. http://www.cnsnews.com –http://www.cnsnews.com/news/category/national
4. http://www.breitbartnews.com – http://www.breitbart.com/big-government
5. http://www.contendingfortruth.com –http://www.contendingfortruth.com/?cat=5
6. http://www.naturalnews.com
7. http://www.newswithviews.com
8. http://www.beforeitsnews.com
9. http://www.lewrockwell.com
10. http://www.cato.org

As for survival tips, there are many content rich sites on the web, in communities, and even as youtube channels. I encourage you to frequent these sites and to practice DOING the stuff. Not just reading about it and thinking your knowledge will save you when the dark days come. The stress of those days will render almost useless everything that is not ingrained habit with muscle memory.

1. http://www.survivalblog.com
2. http://www.americanpreppers.com
3. https://survivalsherpa.wordpress.com
4. Greene Deane – foraging expert ->http://www.youtube.com/user/EatTheWeeds?feature=watch
5. Permaculture techniques ->http://www.youtube.com/user/IntPermacultureDay
6. http://www.survivalpodcast.com
7. http://www.thesurvivalmom.com
8. http://www.offgridsurvival.com
9. http://www.prepperwebsite.com
10. http://www.peakprosperity.com

The coming editorial shift in content posted on durablefaith.com

I’m glad you are reading this and have found the site useful, but I started the site as a way to organize my thoughts and compare current event trends to scripture to get the mind of Christ on the matter. I’ve power processed a lot of information over the past 5 years. And the value I am gaining from each additional tidbit of information is going down as rapidly as the quality and outlook in our macro situation.

I’m not convinced I need much more news.

I get “it” and am pretty much done with the multiphase grieving process.  The world is not what I thought it was. America is not what I thought it was. The media, money, the United Nations, democracy, conservatism, the institutional church… I have a new reality, the old is gone, but the new is coming.

I don’t need any additional evidence that:

• power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely
• that people scheme
• that Islam is not a religion of peace
• that the US foreign policy is creating suffering on a huge scale for Christians in the mid-east
• that the church is under a self imposed gag order on the moral issues of our day because they are in debt to their eyeballs
• that the UN is serious about agenda 21, population reduction, and creating a tyrannical one world government
• that central banks, politicians of both parties, and global corporations are in on this agenda and stand to profit from it
• that a divide and conquer strategy is being employed that will end in social chaos and much bloodshed right here on our soil
• That laws are for the little people, while bankers, politicians, and global companies are ‘above the law’
• Hoping for a GOP victory, judicial rulings, or military intervention is foolish and naive. No one is coming to save us.
• That those in our state capitols and DC do not work for us and do not seek our approval or consent.
• Politics in modern America is just a show

Frankly, it’s a show I’d rather turn off so I can devote more time to timely actions; doing the next right thing.

• Improving the productivity, diversity, and resilience of our farmstead using permaculture and optimized foraging techniques
• Searching the scriptures to clarify (for myself) the original gospel message, not the (fema trained) gutless crowd control message we find in most pulpits
• Enjoying my family (while being less stressed) and being the best husband and dad I can be with God’s help
• Getting involved in local community in meaningful ways including the dialogue on nullification and returning to auditable paper ballots

My planned editorial shift

• I suspect the number of posts will go down to an average of two posts per week.
• The posts will be almost entirely original content and way less newsy.
• If others do not get our a crucial message or point of view, I may occasionally weigh in on some controversial news item

My advice to you

• Figure out what “having done all, stand” means to you. And do all that you need to in order to hear “well done, good and faithful servant”
• If you want to wake others, use paper or email NOT social networking and NOT news site comment threads.
• Finish up getting through the stages so you can free up more time for building: productive capacity, local community, useful skills, and of course developing a more durable faith.

Blessings, DurableFaith

Who’s Your Influencer?

by Todd Walker

John C. Maxwell once said that leadership is influence. Having the position ‘leader’ means nothing. You’re only a leader if people are following you. Otherwise you’re just taking a long walk by yourself.

I’ve been there, done that, and got the lesson I deserved.

Position does not equal leadership. A wise leader must understand that he/she may hold the title of ‘leader’ in an organization, or group, or family – but not be the real leader. If you’re in that scenario, your job is to influence the influencer – their voice gets heard over positional leaders.

When times are rosy, this principle applies. After the SHTF, leadership becomes even more important.

Here’s why.

I’ve read leadership styles promoted within the prepper community. Many have said that it’s crucial that one person take control of their retreat group or prepping community. No ruling by committee. A single leader needs to micro manage everything.

The problem I have with this model is – what if that person is not the influencer? Force and coercion would be needed to make followers follow.

Pride in position blurs a leader’s vision. Misguided assumption #1 – I’m the appointed ‘leader’ so people should follow. If they don’t, I’ll make them. That’s coercion, pure and simple. A leader is a leader when people voluntarily follow. Swallowing your pride is the first step to being an effective leader.

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

We’ve all seen real life examples of top down leadership. Dictates come from the top and everyone below is expected to jump. Our military, corporate world, schools, churches, and even our government are models of this centralized system of control. Fear of reprisal keeps followers following. Forced association wins.

I have more questions than answers on leadership. Is our present model the cause of the mess we’re in now? Why do we need to be told what to do, what to think, and how to act? Can individuals practicing self-ownership thrive in a group? Who owns you? Can we really self-govern? Why do we clammer for a “leader?”

What I’ve unlearned from school history class (this has taken a lifetime) is that individual initiative is far superior to listening to dictates from a Dear Leader. Schools teach compliance. So does organized religion along with all the previously mentioned institutions.

Here’s a way to determine your follow-ability. Try this the next time you’re in a church service. When it comes time to bow your head, close your eyes, and pray, do the opposite. Keep you eyes open and look around while you pray. Pay attention to how you feel. Do you feel defiant? Does it seem ‘wrong’? Does God really care if you pray with your eyes open – in a church service?

Did you feel a creepy uneasiness crawl up you legs and spine? If so, ask yourself why? This doesn’t make you a bad person. It’s just a simple test to determine the level of your programming. To what degree do you feel programmed to comply?

Here’s another experiment. When they pass out the donation card during a job luncheon or faculty meeting to raise money for the United Way or Relay for Life or other charity, to give your company or school bragging rights for meeting the fundraising goal – sign the card and write why you are not giving across the top of the card. Don’t give because you’re expected to give. If you choose to give, give anonymously where no one can give you credit. It saves a lot of chest thumping.

Not participating in this public display of giving may have made you uneasy. Why? The unease is planted in you by the collective to influence you to “fill in the blank” and comply. The goal is to destroy your ability to provide for yourself and your family.

You might be shocked to find one or two others that don’t participate in compliance rituals. You’ve just discovered that some people reject mass compliance and think for themselves. Connect with these people. They are unconventional, independent thinkers, and good influencers.

Finding your influencers

Below I’ve compiled a list of non-compliant influencers that have helped me on my journey to self-sufficiency, liberty, and freedom.

Lew Rockwell – The most viewed libertarian site on the planet. Coming from a lifetime R voter, I highly recommend you read this site at least once a week. Daily is better.

Mark Sisson – The godfather of the primal/paleo lifestyle movement. He changed my lifestyle and attitude towards food, personal responsibility, and primal prepping.

John Taylor Gatto – He’s responsible for confirming what I’ve always thought about our public school system. Whether you like schooling or not, you’ll enjoy his poetic skill with words.

James Wesley Rawles – I discovered SurvivalBlog 6 years ago and have applied many concepts from his blog and books – even though I’m not moving to an unknown Western state.

Durable Faith – DF is someone I respect highly for his lifestyle of no-compromise and his pursuit to wake up the institutional church. He’s the guy you’d see ramming a whaling ship with a dingy if he was in GreenPeace.

Daisy Luther – A frequent contributor to this blog, Daisy is an activist prepper I hold in high regard. Love her style!

Claire Wolfe – Not only great at preparedness stuff, she’s Freedom Outlaw worth your time.

Gaye Levy – Practical prepping advice without all the hype.

Brain Clark is responsible for waking me up to the realization that there really is no box to get outside of. He’s the founder and CEO of Copyblogger Media. While I don’t advertise on my site, I’ve found his copywriting principles have improved my writing – at least in my mind.

You – my Sherpa community

Dirt Road Girl – I saved her for last. She inspires me. Y’all should see her write. Maybe she’ll listen to your request to share stuff on this blog. I’m still trying to convince her to start posting here.

Your turn. Who has influenced your lifestyle of preparedness, self-reliance, and liberty? Please let us know in the comments.

 

 

 

 

Frankenchickens, Sustainable Poultry, and Food Freedom

Editor’s note: Part of planning to be self-sufficient should include a method of raising your own groceries – meats, veggies, and fruits. With each step, however large or small, we become less dependent and more resilient. 

Today’s post highlights the Sustainable Poultry Network in a post which was originally published on Durable Faith.  SPN offers workshops on raising heritage poultry for profit and pleasure. Be sure to check out the practical tips for achieving food freedom.

Feed your Community and Achieve Freedom with Poultry

BY CLEOPAS | APRIL 5, 2013 · 6:30 AM

Today, I attended the Sustainable Poultry Workshop at Full Circle Farm in Suwannee County, FL. Full Circle Farm is operated by a family who glorifies God through their stewardship of the land and their Christian family life. They are a grassfed dairy farm that uses silvopasture and intensive grazing; and raises beef, lamb and poultry. Full Circle Farm’s mission is to provide nutrient dense food for maximum health and to educate producers and consumers. Their food and their network of other family run local farm produce is delivered around the state of FL. Dennis, the proprietor, became frustrated with poultry after having Cornish Cross broilers (the modern industry standard) turn their nose up at kitchen scraps. After hearing, Jim Adkins speak at an Acres USA conference, he invited Jim to come speak at his farm about sustainable poultry. I’m glad I had the opportunity to attend!

Jim established the Sustainable Poultry Network after becoming dissatisfied with a lucrative career in the conventional chicken industry. Many people are not aware that chicken bought in a store or restaurant and labeled “family farm”, “natural”, “free range”, “organic”, “antibiotic free”, “hormone free”, and “vegetarian fed” are almost always raised in chicken houses with thousands of other birds. The birds are of a genetically engineered stock that cannot reproduce naturally and grows to full weight in 37 days (most likely suffers pain of growth and exhibits health problems due to undersize legs and organs). Due to their close confinement, the birds have to be protected by biosecurity measures that include wearing hazmat type suits and limiting exposure to essential staff. All conventional birds are fed GMO soy and GMO corn based feed, typically with antibiotics, sometimes arsenic. Industry whistle blowers say that often “natural” or “organic” birds often get drugs as well when they become sick due to their conditions and consumers are none the wiser. As Full Circle’s proprietor said, Publix GreenWise chicken is produced just down the road from his farm and is neither “green” nor “wise!”

Jim Adkins, of the Sustainable Poultry Network, went back to his roots of raising standard bred poultry. Jim said he grew up raising chickens in 4H and dreamed of becoming a chicken show judge as a child. The man loves chickens! Standard bred poultry must meet 3 criteria: The bird must be able to mate naturally; Live a long, outdoor, productive lifespan (5-7 years for hens); And, grow at a slow growth rate (112 days). The Standard of Perfection for standard bred poultry is governed by theAmerican Poultry Association. Standard birds, such as the Barred Plymouth Rock, Rhode Island Red, and New Hampshire, were once the production birds of the industry. These are vigorous chickens that forage for much of their diet, produce longer and with less inputs. The characteristics of these chickens make not only a healthier bird, but a better tasting bird as well. The foraging ability results in a greater variety in the animal’s diet enhancing the taste of meat and eggs and the nutrient profile of same.

Once the modern frankenchicken was developed, farmers stopped breeding these standard breeds. Though some of the breeds are near extinction, many have been kept alive by poultry fanciers in small numbers. Hatcheries still provide the breeds to backyard and small farm egg producers, and though the birds may resemble their once great predecessors in feather color, non-selective breeding by the hatcheries produce birds unfit for table meat and lacking the qualities of the standard. Half of the chicks produced by hatcheries are male chicks, upwards of 90% which get trashed because the hatcheries serve an egg market and their genetic lines no longer meet the dual purpose of the standard. The hatchery system is dependent on the financial beleaguered postal service to continue shipping live chicks by mail. Experts believe it is a question of not if, but when, live chick shipments will end. Small farmers, homesteaders and backyard chicken lovers will then be left with only frankenchickens produced by multinational companies of which 3 own the rights to over 80% of all the chicken genetics globally. Have we allowed the merchants in the temple to own creation?

The mission of the Center for Sustainable Poultry is to provide education, resources and training to equip people around the world to raise standard bred poultry for sustainable farming, marketing, exhibition and preservation. The center does this through the Sustainable Poultry Network, which is a network of farmers developing standard bred poultry for meat and egg production once again. It is the development of these old breeds that will allow production of sustainably raised chickens that meet the demands of consumers and don’t enslave us to the government-industrial agriculture food complex. The network consists of breeders, growers, processors, feed producers, marketers, chefs and mentors and seeks to duplicate the model in small communities around the world that will be able to feed themselves. And, its already doing so from its home base in Western North Carolina to Montana and beyond. These are small scale family farms, with low capital input, creating a vastly superior product and are not dependent on GMO feeds, genetically engineered chickens from three producers shipped by mail and are building the value of their community. The network will certify flocks so that consumers and producers know the standard at which the chicken was bred and raised. And, unlike the industry farms, the network farms are open at all times for visitors, ensuring trust among the community. I highly encourage you to attend a workshop and learn how you can achieve food freedom!

Hot tip!: If you’re looking for a book on raising chickens, try to find one published before 1950.

Now let’s hear from you. Do you purchase or raise heritage poultry? If so, could you tell us why you choose heritage poultry vs. conventional industrial poultry? Leave your feedback in the comments below! 

 

 

 

Fear Factor Is Proportional To Our Preparedness

John Keats once said, “Nothing ever becomes real till it is experienced – even a proverb is no proverb to you till your life has illustrated it.” What are you painting on your life canvas? Fearing hard times ahead? Durable Faith offers wise advice from the life Joseph.

Taking our lead from Joseph

by Durable Faith

I often think about Joseph and the dream about the prosperous years followed by the hard times. There are several interesting things about the biblical account.

In ancient Egypt most people were involved in agriculture. In agriculture, the weather plays a huge role. One bad storm can ruin your crops. So, most farmers would not put all their seed in the ground. They would have next season’s seed set aside. And they would have enough food/money on hand to get them to at least the next harvest season in case the unexpected happened.

Can you imagine the fear, the uncertainty, the paranoia that a farmer would feel if he had been reckless. If had all his seed in the ground, crops near harvest, and a deep dark hail storm was approaching, how would he feel? If the farmer had sufficient food stored up for his family in his basement, and he had enough money to procure next season’s seed, perhaps the storm would be disappointing but not devastating. His fear would be in proportion to his preparation.

How would farmers behavior tend to shift, if for seven years straight they had record crops? Would they hold back more seed or less? Probably less. Would they have more food storage or less? Probably less. The natural effect of 7 years of prosperity would be reckless behavior as people began to believe that times would always be good. But as we know, as any student of history knows, that is simply not true. So God sent a warning and had Joseph put in just the right place to ensure the survival and even prosperity of his people.

In our modern times, hardly anyone is involved in farming, we live in a just-in-time economy that is possible because we have had DECADES of prosperity. As I have discussed in other posts, fossil fuels, modern technology, and fractional banking have come together in a perfect storm to create a period of unrivaled prosperity in human history. So naturally, we have become reckless. All our seed is in the ground, we have no reserves, we have borrowed money from our children’s children and the mother of all hail storms is fast approaching.

So what should we do?

Read the rest here