VIRUS KILLS 7 MILLION U.S. PIGS, PORK PRICES SOAR

A virus that first appeared in April 2013 has now killed over seven million pigs in the United States, pushing pork prices to record levels.

The virus, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDv), had spread to farms in 22 states by January of this year, despite farmers' best efforts to stop it.

In January, Mike Brandherm, a general manager with Hitch Pork Producers in Guymon, OK, said, "This is the toughest disease we've ever gone through." Hitch lost 30,000 pigletsin just six weeks when its operations were hit in 2013.

By March of 2014, the industry was reporting the loss of five million pigs since May of 2013.

Now, as April begins to wind down, pork producers are reporting up to seven million dead pigs due to PEDv, and authorities report that there is neither a cure nor a reliable way to stop the virus from spreading.

The virus is extremely virulent, too. As Rodney "Butch" Baker, swine biosecurity specialist at Iowa State University, told Reuters, "Something like a tablespoon of PEDv infected manure is roughly enough to infect the entire U.S. hog herd."

Pork prices have soared to a record $3.83 per pound as more piglets die every week.

The industry has already spent $1.7 million researching the virus, but so far they have no clue where the sickness originated, though a virus that was almost identical to the one hitting U.S. farms coursed through China in 2012.

Last year, Smithfield Foods, whose brands include Armour and Farmland and is the world’s largest pork producer with annual sales of $13 billion, was sold to China’s biggest meat processor, Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. The $7.1 billion deal was the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm.

One thing scientists have discovered is that the virus thrives in cold weather, so this past harsh winter may have boosted its presence in the country.

But so far, no vaccine has been able to completely protect pigs from PEDv, though some small progress has been made.

The industry has initiated precautionary measures, such as stricter cleanliness, limiting visitors to facilities, and a regime for farmers that includes changing clothing and boots, as well as using disposable coverings. "The extra washing, drying and disinfecting can consume at least two hours and cost up to $500 per load," industry sources reported to Reuters.

Lots Of Flowers, But No Fruit!

Gardening isn’t rocket science, meaning it’s not extremely difficult. However, don’t be fooled into thinking that because you have Heirloom Seeds, dirt and water you’ll have a bumper Garden. It’s just not that simple and those who have the dreaded “Black Thumb” can attest to that. Gardening is a skill that MUST be practiced and developed.

Imagine growing plants indoors before the frost season is expected to end, then you carefully transplanting them outside and they grew, but didn’t produce any fruit whatsoever. How much effort and time was wasted, simply because you didn’t know how to grow a particular plant and thought it was just as simple as throwing seeds in the ground?

You may blame the seed company for “Bad Seeds”, when in fact you just didn’t know how to provide the seeds with resources and elements that they needed to grow properly?

Here’s a prime example:

Q: I planted some eggplant this year and it did not produce any fruit. It did flower, grew tall but it did not produce any fruit whatsoever. What did I do wrong?

A: Gardening already has enough problematic external factors involved that adds to the challenge of having a success crop, so not being knowledgeable only adds fuel to the fire.

• There is water for example. Too much rain or over watering certain vegetables like Eggplant will encourage Verticillium wilt. This disease kills more eggplants than any other disease.

• The lack or the abundance of good compost and fertilizer will kill your plants in a heartbeat.
• Hot and/or cold temperatures will also play a vital role in your garden’s production. Planting your transplants out before the last frost might mean the destruction of your plants before they actually get a chance to grow.

Back to eggplant problem and the question of why it did not produce any fruit. Firstly, many varieties of eggplant do require long growing seasons and need more than 60 days to produce fruit. Eggplants thrive in hot summer weather. If you live in the Northeastern part of the USA you should start your eggplant seeds indoors about six weeks before your last spring frost, or about two weeks after tomatoes and peppers. Eggplant seeds germinate best at temperatures above 75 degrees Fahrenheit. One trick that I like to use areGermination Tray Heaters. If you’re growing eggplant indoors you’ll want to keep them under bright fluorescent lights for 14 to 16 hours each day, and transplant them to 4-inch containers when they have grown three leaves. After the chance of the last frost has expired move your eggplants outdoors so that they can benefit from the warm sunny days. However, don’t forget to bring them back indoors if temperatures drop below 55 degrees. You can plant your hardened-off seedlings when they are about eight weeks old.

When planning your garden, allow one or two eggplants per person, as a healthy plant will produce about 5 pounds of eggplant over the course of two months or more. The type of soil and location where you plant your eggplant is important. You’ll want to choose a sunny, well-drained location that has fertile soil (pH between 5.5 and 6.5). Eggplants are in the Solanaceae family or commonly known as the “Nightshade family”. These include other plants such as tomatoes, peppers and potatoes.

Note: You shouldn’t plant members of the nightshade family in the same spaces where other nightshade plants have grown for the last two years. Why you ask? It reduces contamination and helps to reduce pest problems associated with the same varieties.

A couple of weeks before planting, get outside and loosen up the soil in your planned planting area. Mix in a couple inches of rich compost with the soil as well as a balance of organic fertilizer and/or composted manure like rabbit or goat, and water well. To help warm your soil you should consider covering it with black plastic film. Eggplants should be planted 24 inches between plants and plan ahead for stakes or other supports as eggplants can/will grow tall.

Growing Eggplant in Containers:

Growing eggplant in containers will help to keep Flea beetles and Potato beetles at bay. In this instance I recommend keeping your eggplants that are in containers off the ground, placed on a table outdoors. This will help keep them out of range of ground-dwelling beetles. Plants produce best in 16-inch-wide pots or planters. Dark-colored pots help accumulate heat in cool climates. Growing eggplant in containers requires fertilizing as often as needed to maintain steady growth and good leaf color. Plants that need to be watered often also need to be fed more frequently.

Harvesting and Storage tips:

You can begin harvesting your eggplants when you’re able to press your thumbprint on the fruit and the fruit bounces back. Under-ripe eggplants are too hard to take a thumbprint, and overripe ones are so soft that a thumbprint leaves a permanent bruise. Your eggplant skins should be tender and glossy. Use pruning shears, very sharp knife or scissors to harvest eggplants with their cap (calyx) intact. You will know if an eggplant is over-ripped, because it will be sour in taste. Storing eggplant is easy, simply keep the fruit at cool room temperature or in the refrigerator for no more than three days before cooking or preserving to obtain maximum freshness. Your garden is there to give you delicious fresh fruits and vegetables so take advantage of it by picking your produce as you need it.

Saving Eggplant Seeds:

Eggplants are self-fertile, so saving seeds from open-pollinated varieties is simple provided that different varieties are grown at least 50 feet apart. I recommend choosing the best plants that are in the middle of your growing season. Use the first few fruits to eat or cook with. Allow the next couples of fruits to grow until the take on the leathery texture. During this process they’ll also turn yellowish brown in color. Meanwhile, clip off most of the new flowers produced by the plant so that its energy is directed into the ripening seeds.

Removing your ripped eggplant seeds is actually easy. Cut off the bottom end of the eggplant and pick out the seeds from the center of the fruit. You may also tear the pulp into spongy bits & pieces and place them in water. Squeeze the eggplant pulp like a sponge until the largest seeds drift to the bottom. Carefully drain off the water and then lay out your eggplant seeds to dry at room temperature for a couple of weeks. Under good ideal storage conditions i.e. temperatures of under 75 degrees or less, eggplant seeds should remain viable for five years or more.

My Eggplant Growing Recommendations:

Wait for warm weather to set out young eggplants transplants. You’ll want to do this because the transplant will not thrive until soil temperatures rise above 60 degrees. Again eggplant does better in warm/hot environments.

You’ll want to water deeply ensuring that you give eggplants 1 to 2 inches of water per week once the plants are producing fruit. Allow the soil to dry slightly between each watering, as this will discourage the growth of Verticillium Wilt amongst your plants.

Verticillium wilt can be prevented by ensuring good drainage and warm soil to discourage this soil borne fungus, which causes plants to wilt and eventually collapse, often with yellowing between the leaf veins, hence the name Verticillium wilt.

Sunscald occurs when leaf cover is insufficient to screen plants from strong sun. Fruits with brown patches of sunscald are edible, but may ripen unevenly. Out here in West Texas (High Desert) we like to provide many of our sun loving plants with some type of screening.

Eggplant do not require any pruning beyond removing old, withered leaves. As the plants grow tall, numerous side shoots will form along the plant’s main stem. These side shoots will bear flowers and fruits later in the growing season. In regions of long growing season, eggplants can be topped back by half their size in midsummer to stimulate the growth of new fruit-bearing branches.

Midseason fertilization keeps eggplant productive until cool fall weather stops their growth.

Pest Control:

Flea beetles frequently chew small holes in eggplant leaves which seriously weakens young plants. Growing eggplant in containers keeps the ground-dwelling beetles at bay. Gardeners can also use row covers to protect the young plants until they start to bloom.

Potato beetles and their larvae will have a field day with your eggplants. These beetles will destroy your plants by eating the leaves and effective weaken their body structure. Pick the yellow and black adults or the soft-bodied, red or gray larvae and drown them in soapy water.

As you’ve read there are preventive measures that you must take as a Gardner which should help in ensuring that your efforts in the Garden aren’t wasted. I’ve outlined several tips that will help you grow Eggplants successfully. With those tips you’ll be able to produce delicious, sweet tasting fruits for your Italian recipes like Eggplant Parmesan/Parmigiana. Why not plant one of the most famous Eggplants namedBlack Beauty Eggplant today? Still popular since it’s introduction in 1910.

How to Hide Your Stockpile

Hiding your stuff in a societal collapse scenario is a basic rule for survival. Animals hide and hoard their food as a matter of course. Even your dog hides his extra food sometimes, by digging holes and burying it in the ground. Squirrels do the same; they stockpile and hide their stuff.

Hiding your survival supplies from looters is a basic principle in nature, and one of the most important things to learn if you are a survivalist and you’re stockpiling like there’s no tomorrow.  Hard fact : if you’re the only prepper in the neighborhood, when disaster strikes you may actually become a piggy bank for the opportunists and a target for the other 90+% that call you a conspiracy theorist now.

Don’t fool yourself, you might have guns and ammo, but, especially in rural areas, almost everybody has guns and ammo. Don’t think that you can resist for long when faced with a horde of hungry and desperate (and armed) people.

So, let’s assume that you have stockpiles of food, ammo and other stuff – enough for 90 days or for six months or whatever. Now, think about the unprepared sheeple in the neighborhood. What do they have? Maybe enough cheerios to last them for a day or two. And then what?

When they’ll get hungry and there’s nothing else available to buy/steal from the stores, they’ll pay you a visit in no time if they know that you have a stash.

What do you do then? Will share your supplies with those people who failed to prepare, or will you tell them to take a hike? This varies from person to person; there are no definitive answers, you know? Some will do what they can to share, while others won’t do so unless forced to.

Silence Is Golden

How you react is up to you. We’re all different, and you’ll never know what you’ll do unless you’re in that situation. In this case, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Ideally, you must avoid these unpleasant situations to begin with. In order to do that, you must take a crash course in OPSEC, aka operations security.

 The first rule of the Fight Club is that you DO NOT TALK about Fight Club.

 The second rule of the Fight Club is that you DO NOT TALK about Fight Club.

Well, the same “silence is golden” principle applies to stockpiling.  You don’t talk to your neighbors about what you do and what you’re prepping for. All you have to do is to stockpile and shut up. Don’t brag. Just stay quiet and do your thing. If nobody knows that you’re stockpiling,  you can always use plausible denial.

Camouflage Your Stockpile

Now, you must hide at least some part of your stockpile, so it’s not too obvious. You can fill up your kitchen pantry with non-perishable foods, like a responsible adult, and the rest should be well hidden from the prying eyes of neighbors and visitors.

The hallway closet won’t cut it. That’s too obvious.

You can use your basement for that, but better use the laundry room or a secret compartment/room inside the house, masked by a false wall. Camouflage is the name of the game.

Another more appealing option is to grow large bushes and put up fencing that keeps people out.

When you’re buying something obvious, like a .50 Barrett or a kerosene heater, don’t bring them home on Sunday morning, when all your neighbors are outside washing and polishing their cars. When stockpiling, do it inconspicuously.

These are the basic rules when it comes to stockpiling so that your neighbors remain clueless.

The next best thing to do (or maybe even the BEST thing) would be to teach your close neighbors about prepping and surviving because united we stand, divided we fall. It would be ideal to live in a prepped up community, where everyone’s packed up and ready to go.

If that’s not possible, then being quiet is, unfortunately, the way to go.

Check on Conquering the Coming Collapse for what should you stockpile when preparing for economic meltdown. Also find out more tips about storing your stuff on Bulletproof Home.

Being Prepared - Bountiful 54th Ward "Emergency Preparedness News Site" Worldwide Visitors

The ward web site attracts visitors from all over the world. Please share it with your friends and neighbors. It has helpful information for being prepared!

Nature’s Alternative Fuel To Run Your Car

Anyone even remotely familiar with SHTF scenarios knows that gasoline will be almost impossible to obtain. Some problems may come up and make it hard to be produced and delivered: gasoline couldn’t be refined because of power, water, or crude shortages; transportation will be unavailable due to damaged roads and other key infrastructure points, or collapse of power grid will prevent electronic pumps from running.

Under the circumstances, you better look for alternative solutions, and running your car using wood is one of them.

Converting Wood to Combustible Gas

Your vehicle’s engine must convert liquid gasoline into gas vapor and then mix it with air before injecting it into the cylinder.  From there, the force of combustion drives the piston down ward.

This motion is then converted in a perpendicular direction by the cam shaft, then magnified by the transmission and transmitted to the wheels by the drive train.

When you use wood to power your vehicle, the burning process releases carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen, oxygen, methane, and water. The methane and oxygen will provide most of the explosive force, while nitrogen will help reduce heat, and make the explosion more efficient.

Even though converting wood to gas is essentially a burning process, it does require additional filters before the gas can be used in the engine. Improper filtering and burning methods can lead to tar buildup, which will destroy the engine.

Common Gasifier Designs and Application Problems

Wood to gas conversion systems are fairly crude, even though various designs have been in use for decades. In fact, Japan, Europe, and the United States relied on biomass as a power source during WWII and beyond. While wood and other forms of biomass do not produce as much energy as gasoline, it can still be used in an emergency.

Quite bluntly, those making their own survival plans already know that FEMA plans are worse than a sadistic joke. From that perspective, it should come as no surprise that free plans for gasifiers available through FEMA are outdated and do not work as well as others. In this case, their gasifier requires 44 pounds of wood to make a single gallon of gasoline. To add insult to injury, the gasoline produced by this system will have far more tar than can be safely introduced into an automobile system.

If  you are going to invest time and resources into creating your own gasifier, you should start off with the Keith Gasifier, which was invented by Wayne Keith.  This design requires a wood burning barrel, one for storing gasses while they cool, a barrel with straw for filtering, and 16 pounds of wood to produce one gallon of gas.

This system is portable and can be used to run trucks and farm equipment.  As you work with the design, you may also be able to find ways to retrieve hydrogen and water from the gasses released and feed them into the vehicle’s intake manifold via an electrolysis system.

Sources of Wood and Orchard Math

Many people think that free wood will always be plentiful. For example, you may see dozens of wooden palettes around dumpsters that can be burned to produce gasoline.  If you live on a farm or in rural areas, you may also be led to believe that even a few trees can meet your fuel needs.  On the other side of the equation, never forget that you are looking at resources that are free right now because there is a higher demand for gasoline than there is wood.

Individuals that are going to use gasifiers must also plan for a steady and sustainable supply of wood.  If you have enough land, you can grow peach, pine, birch, boxwood, and other fast growing trees that produce burnable wood.  When calculating the amount of fuel you can get from each tree, you should account for how much weight will be lost as the wood dries out.

This can be anywhere from 1/2 to 3/4 of the original weight of  living wood.  Therefore, the wood from a single tree would have to weight anywhere from 32 to 64 pounds to make one gallon of fuel via the Keith Gasifier and a whopping 96 to 192 pounds of wood per gallon via the FEMA version.

Consider a situation where you figure that you will need the equivalent of 20 gallons of gasoline per day, or 7300 gallons per year.  Now let us say that you decided to use the Keith Gasifier, and you will grow trees that put on about 10 pounds of wood per year after the first 3 years.

In order to produce enough gasoline in a sustainable fashion, you will need to set aside enough land to grow 7300 trees per year for about 10 years, and then replant on yearly basis.  During that time, you will also need to take into account soil nutrient depletion, water shortages, and other problems.

Some Ideas for Development

It should be noted that some people believe increased amounts of nitrogen in wood gas cause it to be less efficient than gasoline.  If you want to play with this idea, you may want to consider designing a system that separates at least half the nitrogen, and then replace it with regular air.

This will increase the oxygen percentage in the fuel mix, and then give you plenty of gaseous nitrogen to use for growing beans, or other plants that fix nitrogen from the air.  Perhaps you will even come up with a biomass system that allows these plants to be used as the fuel source for your vehicle instead of wood.

Perhaps it can best be said that being able to convert wood to gasoline efficiently is very important despite current shortcomings.  At the very least, you can look into using wood as a starting point for fuel production, and then other ways to make use of other gases released during the conversion process.

Once you know that you can generate fuel in a crisis, you can go from there to create a more sustainable system than what exists now.

Unique Ax Uses Physics to Make Wood Chopping Smarter, Not Harder

The heavier the ax head, the easier the wood chopping will be. Right?

Not necessarily. This ax seems to defy the laws of physics, but the metal is actually manipulated perfectly to create a better chopping surface.

“Yes, axes have existed since time immemorial, but apparently there’s still room for improvement,” Geek reported.

We agree. Splitting a log requires a more force than you might imagine, and Finnish inventor Heikki Kärnä created an ax that works more as a splitter, lever and wedge all at once.

“The Vipukirves does what the name implies, assuming you speak Finnish. It’s essentially acting as a lever instead of a wedge (Vipukirves translates as Leveraxe),” Geek reported. “A regular ax needs to be driven downward with enough force to separate wood along the grain … if a log is hit off center, the ax blade can deflect at unexpected angles.”

That much force behind a metal blade accidentally misdirected at a foot, knee or any other fleshy body part isn’t good.

But what makes this ax so different?

“It still has a sharpened blade at the end, but it has a projection coming off the side that shifts the center of gravity away from the middle. At the point of impact, the edge is driven into the wood and slows down, but the kinetic energy contained in the 1.9 kilogram axe head continues down and to the side (because of the odd center of gravity). The rotational energy actually pushes the wood apart like a lever. A single strike can open an 8 cm gap in a log, which is more than enough to separate it.”

Maybe Tim Tebow and Jase Roberston should have used this ax while chopping wood on Easter.

Working out with @TimTebow. #OperationBiceps pic.twitter.com/VxVtENNo33

Soaring Food Inflation Full Frontal: Beef, Pork And Shrimp Prices Soar To Record Highs

We previously noted that both beef and pork prices have been reaching new all time highs on an almost daily basis. It is time to update the chart. Below we show what a world in which the Fed is constantly lamenting the lack of inflation looks like for beef prices...

... pork

... and shrimp.

More from Bloomberg:

Prices for shrimp have jumped to a 14-year high in recent months, spurred by a disease that’s ravaging the crustacean’s population. At Noodles & Co., a chain with locations across the country, it costs 29 percent more to add the shellfish to pastas this year, and shrimp-heavy dishes at places like the Cheesecake Factory Inc. are going up as well.

Restaurant chains, already struggling with shaky U.S. consumer confidence, are taking a profit hit as prices climb. Even worse, the surge is happening during the season of Lent, when eateries rely on seafood to lure Christian diners who abstain from chicken, beef and pork on certain days.

“It’s coming at a tough time for the industry,” said Andrew Barish, a San Francisco-based analyst at Jefferies LLC. “With the Lenten season, what you’ll see out there is a lot of promotions with seafood, and usually shrimp is a big part of that.”

In March, shrimp prices jumped 61 percent from a year earlier, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The climb is mainly due to a bacterial disease known as early mortality syndrome. While the ailment has no effect on humans, it’s wreaking havoc on young shrimp farmed in Southeast Asia, shrinking supplies.

***

James Johnson, a Jewel-Osco supermarket shopper in Chicago, has noticed the price increase. He’s been cutting back on one of his favorite dishes -- shrimp and potato soup -- because of the cost.

“I haven’t made it in a while,” the 29-year-old said. “Shrimp looks expensive.”

***

At Noodles, it now costs $3.34 to add the shellfish to a meal of pasta or pad thai, compared with $2.59 last year.

“We still want to at least offer it as choice,” Chief Executive Officer Kevin Reddy said in a phone interview. “As soon as the costs begin to normalize, we’ll return to the regular price.”

Ah yes, because retailers are always so willing to lower costs...

So for all those whose sustenance includes iPads and LCD TVs, or heaven forbid the pink slime known as fast food - you are in luck: the BLS' hedonic adjustments mean the rate of price increase in your daily consumption has rarely been lower. For everyone else: our condolences.

* * *

Update: Eggs too.

Prepping for the 'big one': How bad could a Utah earthquake be?

WEST JORDAN — The State of Utah is about to embark on its latest renewal of a grim tradition: preparing for the “big one ” with The Great Utah ShakeOut.

Experts say that preparation is incredibly important to improving the chances of surviving a major earthquake.

Emergency crews regularly prepare for a 7.0-magnitude quake, and they have an idea of how bad the Wasatch Front would look in the event of one.

“I don’t want to scare people, but honestly I look at the pictures from Haiti,” said Bill Brass, project manager of Utah Task Force 1, the state’s urban search and rescue response team that has aided in disasters across the country.

Brass then thinks about his older home in Sugar House, built with un-reinforced masonry, and how it would hold up in a quake like the 7.3-magnitude monster that leveled much of Haiti in 2010.

“Chances are excellent that house will not survive a 7.0 earthquake,” Brass said.

Earthquake preparations you may not have considered

by Jed Boal

Many Utahns already have a 72-hour kit and a good emergency plan for family members in the event of an earthquake. But Joe Dougherty with the Utah Division of Emergency Management suggests some preparations you may not have considered.

Communication

If an earthquake rattles the Wasatch Front, you need to communicate with family right away. The best way to do so is to send a text. If everyone tries to call, that can jam up the phone lines.

Household concerns

Have an emergency toilet. You might not be able to use your toilet after a 7.0-magnitude earthquake, which would likely damage sewer and water lines. Buy a 5-gallon bucket and a special toilet seat lid to snap on top. Line the bucket with a garbage bag and throw in kitty litter between each use to reduce odors.

Secure your water heater. If your water heater gets knocked over in an earthquake and starts a fire, you've got another problem on your hands. Strapping the water heater to the wall will not only prevent a second disaster, but you can also use all the fresh water inside.

Conduct a "home hazard hunt." This means going through your house and identifying heaving things that might fall down in an earthquake, and then finding a way to secure them.

Pets

A 72-hour emergency kit for your pet is important. Make sure it includes extra food, an unbreakable bowl, and a spare leash.

Email: jboal@ksl.com

Historic streets in Sugar House, the Avenues and other neighborhoods in the Salt Lake Valley’s northeast corner are lined with those same types of homes.

“We are going to have scores of people trapped, and for long periods of time,” Brass said. “Some of those people we will never be able to get to.”

Brass said a 7.0-magnitude earthquake would likely result in a disruption to water and power that could go on for weeks or longer. The disaster would draw a response from across the country, he said, but even that may not be enough.

“Quite honestly, this is a fact we don’t like to tell a lot of people – there are not enough teams like ours in the nation to sustain Utah in the event of a 7.0 earthquake or greater,” Brass said.

At the University of Utah, seismologist Katherine Whidden said she doesn't believe devastation in the Salt Lake Valley would approach the level it did in Haiti, but she also acknowledged it would be plenty bad.

“The problem we have here is that all the population is right on top of the fault,” Whidden said.

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake would likely create a 5- to 10-foot rift along the responsible fault line.

“There could be a surface rupture – in the middle of the city,” Whidden said.

The Wasatch Fault is divided into 10 segments, and any of those segments could deliver that strong of a quake.

They happen every 300 years, Whidden said, and Utah hasn’t had a 7.0-magnitude earthquake or larger in about 300 years.

“We’re not exactly overdue,” Whidden said. “But we’re about due for a big earthquake.

The Spirit of Relationship Beyond the Contract

Because of Him

EASTER

The sun rises up over the vast cityscape of Jerusalem, lighting the white limestone walls of the old city and creeping over buildings. Just north of the walls, a garden sits undisturbed.

Shortly, a throng of tourists will arrive and take their spots on the benches overlooking the garden. Some will descend the steps to the lowest point in the garden, quietly duck through a door carved in stone, and stare reverently into a hollowed portion of the rock where a body was laid to rest over two thousand years ago. As they leave, they will notice a sign on the door: “He is not here, for He is risen.”

The tourists don’t come to the Garden Tomb because this is where they hope Jesus was buried; they come because they hope this is where Jesus did what had never been done before—He lived again.

God sent Jesus to earth to teach us a better way to live. Though his ministry lasted only three years, His teachings have influenced billions for nearly two millennia. But the greatest gift Jesus gave to us was His life. He paid the price for our sins, died on the cross, and rose from the dead—providing a way for each one of us to return and live with God someday.

Luke 22:44

AND BEING IN AN AGONY HE PRAYED MORE EARNESTLY: AND HIS SWEAT WAS AS IT WERE GREAT DROPS OF BLOOD FALLING DOWN TO THE GROUND.

The night before His death, Jesus visited a garden called Gethsemane, just east of the walls of Jerusalem. Leaving His Apostles at the edge of the garden, He trod through the dewy grass and past gnarled olive trees, walking farther inward.

He had prepared His entire life for this moment, carefully following His Father’s commands in every step of His life, in every breath He took. Now the time had come. Even as He prayed, “Father, if it be thy will, remove this cup from me,” He accepted that this was His burden, and His alone, to bear. He was the only one who could free us from the awful consequences of our sins.

In the coolness of the night, He knelt and began to pray. Though we don’t fully understand how, He willingly took upon Himself our sins and sorrows, suffering in body and spirit for every sin, every sadness, every mistake and imperfection of every single one of us. The pain that came was crushing, exquisite and infinite. Blood oozed from His pores as this impossibly heavy weight caused Him to tremble with pain.

Luke 22:48

BUT JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, JUDAS, BETRAYEST THOU THE SON OF MAN WITH A KISS?
Sometime in those seemingly endless hours, the pain ceased. If only that were the sole burden He had to bear. As Jesus rejoined His disciples at the edge of the garden, they watched the glow of distant torches steadily approaching.

The faces of people armed with swords and staffs flickered menacingly in the torchlight. From the middle of the crowd emerged Judas, Jesus’ own Apostle.

“Master,” Judas said, and kissed Jesus on the cheek.

“Betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?” Jesus asked Judas.

Mark 15:17

AND THEY CLOTHED HIM WITH PURPLE, AND PLAITED A CROWN OF THORNS, AND PUT IT ABOUT HIS HEAD, AND BEGAN TO SALUTE HIM, HAIL, KING OF THE JEWS!

The cruelties of the next day have echoed throughout the ages: the cries of “Crucify Him!” as He stood before Pilate, wrists bound like a common criminal; each lash of the whip, laced with bone and metal, tearing the flesh from His back— once, twice, even thirty-nine times; the purple cloak sopping His blood as soldiers pressed a woven circlet of thorns into His scalp; the spitting, the cries of anguish, the blows of the hands, the insulting, derisive cries.

At the summit of Golgotha, soldiers stretched Jesus’ arms along a wooden cross. Their hammers clanged dully as they drove thick nails into His palms and wrists; sharp, hot pain shot through Jesus’ body. The wood grazed the bloodied grooves in His back. As his body rose, onlookers saw the truth that the Jews mocked written on a plaque above His head: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Tired, sweaty, bloodied, Jesus did only what a Redeemer could do: He forgave His murderers, comforted the criminal suffering next to Him, and trusted in His Father. When His sacrifice was complete, Jesus willed Himself to die as only God’s Son could do. He gave up the ghost, but His death wasn’t an end. It was the beginning for all of us.

Matthew 28:6

HE IS NOT HERE: FOR HE IS RISEN, AS HE SAID. COME, SEE THE PLACE WHERE THE LORD LAY.

The empty tomb in that Jerusalem garden is a reminder that when the women who so lovingly cleaned, anointed, and wrapped his body came to observe the tomb, His body was gone, and in His place were two angels.

“He is not here: for He is risen,” they said.

The door on the tomb repeats that phrase: “He is not here, for He is risen.” It reminds visitors that the Savior not only lived and died for us but that He also rose from the dead.

Because Jesus Christ is the Savior of all mankind it’s possible for each of us to live again with God.

Attention Shoppers: Fruit and Vegetable Prices Are Rising

Grocery shoppers may soon need more green in their wallets to afford their next salad.

The cost of fresh produce is poised to jump in the coming months as a three-year drought in California shows few signs of abating, according to an Arizona State University study set to be released Wednesday.

The study found a head of lettuce could increase in price as much as 62 cents to $2.44; avocado prices could rise 35 cents to $1.60 each; and tomatoes could cost 45 cents more at $2.84 per pound. (The run-up in produce prices is in line with other projections showing that overall food cost gains are expected to accelerate this year.)

The latest projections were compiled by Timothy Richards, an agribusiness professor at ASU’s W.P. Carey School of Business. He studied the drought’s effect on farmland and consumer purchasing trends to determine the eight fresh fruits and vegetables likely to see the largest price increases this spring and summer.

And the price increases may already be happening. Grocery prices rose by 0.5% for the second-straight month in March, according to the Labor Department’s consumer-price index, released Tuesday. It was the largest two-month gain in the food-at-home category since 2011. Fruit and vegetable prices rose 0.9% last month, after a 1.1% gain in February. Meat and dairy prices are also increasing. Meanwhile, overall consumer prices rose just 0.2% last month, as broader inflation in the economy remains tepid.

California is the largest domestic producer of each of the products Mr. Richards identified, ranging from grapes to peppers. And in the case of avocados, it’s the only state with a significant crop.

The drought has wiped out between 10% and 20% of California crops for the eight items, but the size of the expected price increases varies widely. Lettuce prices could jump as much as 34% and avocado prices could rise 28%, the largest projected increases.

“People are the least price-sensitive when it comes to those items, and they’re willing to pay what it takes to get them,” Mr. Richards said. “It’s hard to make a salad without lettuce.”

In basic economic terms, the drought reduces supply, which puts upward pressure on prices. But how high the price can rise is determined by consumers’ willingness to pay more against their ability to find a substitute.

Packaged salads, for example, would increase in price by only 13%, even though many of the ingredients in them are projected to increase in cost by a greater percentage. That’s because consumers view premade salads as a “luxury” good and would readily switch to lower-cost alternative if the price gets too high, Mr. Richards said. They could chop the lettuce themselves or buy frozen vegetables.

The impact could spread beyond the produce aisle. Items such as lettuce, tomatoes and peppers are commonly used in deli sandwiches and salsas, among other products.  The drought could also cause those items to cost more.

Still, the run-up in prices is likely to be somewhat temporary, Mr. Richards said. When prices increase, farmers outside of California, including foreign suppliers, will be incentivized to ship more crops to the U.S. That will in turn put downward pressure on costs.

But with water-supply problems expected to persist for years, California farmers will have some difficult choices to make, he said. They’ll need to determine which crops should receive the limited amount of available water, and which should be allowed to fall away.

“We could be looking at future,” he said, “where California is no longer bread basket for the country.”

Best Batteries for Emergency Preparedness

Stock rechargeable batteries! This has long been dispensed as preparedness advice. The reasoning behind this advice is of course to have the ability to recharge the batteries for additional use once exhausted. If the stores are closed or you can’t get to them for more batteries at least you can rely on stash of rechargeable batteries. Depending on how the long the power is out, they may last you just long enough to get you by with a few modern conveniences like flashlights, headlamps and radios.

At present, there are four main types of rechargeable batteries that are commonly available for use in place of disposable batteries in electronic equipment. There is also larger Lead-Acid batteries (auto and RV) which are also rechargeable but for the purposes of this article I am only covering smaller consumer dry cell batteries.  Rechargeable batteries are not all equal, each has it’s own positives and negatives, so which kind should you get? Keep reading and I will break down the different types of batteries for you below!

Non-Technical Battery Lingo for Normal People:

Voltage: Strength of power output of the battery. 1.5 volts is what disposable batteries commonly put out, so rechargeable batteries put out a little less, but are still within the range of what consumer battery appliances need.

mAh: Milliamps Hour (mAh) is important because it’s the easiest way to distinguish the capacity of a battery. The higher the mAh, the more power the battery stores and the longer it will last before needing to be recharged. The higher the number is usually better. Think of a car’s gas tank.  Voltage is how much gas is being used, and mAh is the size of the gas tank (source).

LSD: Low Self Discharge; they won’t lose much energy while sitting around unused. Which means long shelf-life.

Charging Cycles: When a battery is completely drained and then completely charged up to full,  or when a battery is partial drained and charged up to full that is one changing cycle. Batteries that can hold up to many changing cycles are usually preferred.

1. Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd) Batteries

These batteries used to be the only type of rechargeable batteries available, NiCad batteries are harder to get now due to restrictions on poisonous cadmium that is used in their manufacturing. However, NiCad batteries are still in use for low-drain applications such as solar yard lights, remote controls, smoke detectors and emergency radios.

Overcharging Ni-Cd batteries can reduce cycle life (the number of times the battery can be charged).  Smart chargers know when the battery is full and stop charging.  Dumb chargers run on a timer and will almost always overcharge or fail to fill up the battery. You can charge whenever you like, but constantly draining them completely before charging actually shortens their life but on the same hand if you don’t, NiCd batteries have been known to suffer from a  ”memory effect” which is when the battery remembers where it was last drained prior to recharging and from that time forward voltage drops as if the batter is going dead. In reality there is more power left to spare but voltage will drop as if the battery is going dead, while some manufacturers dispute this claim it remains widely reported. Occasional draining down to 1.0V is okay, and even recommended(source). A good brand of NiCd batteries you may recognize is Tenergy.

2. Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH) Batteries

The successors to Ni-Cd batteries, these commonly used and relatively inexpensive batteries are also the batteries that power some hybrid and electric vehicles. They can be relied on for most applications, but older batteries which have problems with self-discharge should never be used in smoke detectors as they can suddenly run out of power and leave you unprotected (source).

Remember that NiMH batteries come in two flavors: LSD and regular. LSD is “Low Self-Discharge”, which means long shelf-life (they won’t lose much energy while sitting around unused), vs. normal NiMH’s which go dead after a few months of sitting around. Given that, there’s not much incentive to get the normal NiMH’s, since they’re not any cheaper, and their capacity is only a little higher (2700 mAh for a normal NiMH vs. 2400 for a similarly-priced LSD NiMH). A good brand of Low Self-Discharge rechargeable battery is Eneloop, the Eneloop XXX batteries are one of the market’s best in capacity and charging cycles.

So how do you know whether a battery is the LSD kind or not? The easiest thing is to look for the good LSD-only brands: Eneloop and Imedion. You can also look for any of the marketing “code words” that indicate LSD, such as “Pre-charged” (since normal NiMH’s always require charging before use), “Ready to Use”, or “Hybrid” (source).

 3. Nickel-Zinc (NiZn) Batteries

One of the newest types of rechargeable batteries for consumers, larger nickel-zinc battery systems have been known for over 100 years. Since 2000, development of a stabilized zinc electrode system has made this technology viable and competitive with other commercially available rechargeable battery systems. However because of their unique chemistry an voltage they require a special charger.

NiZn batteries are recommended for high-drain applications such as cameras, flashlights and outdoor equipment. The AA size NiZN batteries produce 1.6 volts which is higher than the voltage of disposable batteries as well as of NiMH batteries, which allows for better performance in motorized and light emitting equipment. However the main manufacturer of NiZn batteries discontinued production of them so they are no longer widely available. They also reportedly suffer from reliability problems, after only a few charging cycles the batteries self discharge considerably faster (source 1and source 2).

 4. Lithium Ion (Li-ion) Batteries

Li-ion batteries are sold as replacements for camera batteries, and they are also the most common batteries used in laptop computers, and some cell phones. Because they are easy to manufacture in different shapes, they are becoming the standard for use in personal electronics, and a built-in battery protection circuit keeps the battery operating safely preventing overcharge. They also store fairly well, therefore, having back-up battery packs for appliances that require them is not a bad idea. Unfortunately they are only available in the 3.6 voltage – accidentally using them in an appliance meant for standard batteries could easily fry the circuitry (source). Options for off-grid charging of lithium ion powered cameras, phones, GPS devices and tablets have expanded greatly in the past 4 years. Goal Zero’s solar recharging kit is one such highly recommended option that can be used to charge your USB capable devices and/or a pack of NiMH batteries. 

 5. Rechargeable Alkaline Batteries (RAM)

Less common than other types of batteries, rechargeable alkaline batteries are similar to single-use alkaline batteries but have a chemical composition that allows them to be recharged. They are best used in low-drain applications, but once charged they are known to hold their charge for longer than other types of rechargeable batteries. If they were commonly manufactured and easy to find this would make them ideal to have available for backup or emergency use. However they have been basically pushed out of the market by the newer (LSD) NiMH batteries. RAM batteries also require a special charger as NiCd and NiMH chargers won’t work (source).

 Battery Chargers for Emergency Preparedness

If storing batteries and not using them, you may want to periodically test them to make sure that they have not discharged. Dead batteries are of no help in an emergency.

Ideally you want a charger that will charge both NiCd and NiMH batteries so that you will have the option of using them in everyday life right now and also some stored away for emergencies. There are many nice smart chargers on the market that can safely charge both NiCd & NiMH batteries, and even recondition them for additional use when plugged into a source of AC power(click here to see a well rated charger that also reconditions batteries), however, when you narrow the field down to solar chargers your choices are considerably slim. A regular wall charger is still useful to have especially if you start incorporating rechargeable batteries into everyday life.  A solar charger is must for emergency preparedness as a battery charger that plugs into the wall wound be of little use in an event the grid goes down, therefore an alternative to that is solar power.

C. Crane makes an exceedingly affordable (under $30) and well rated a solar battery charger, that charges AA, AAA, C and D sized NiCd and NiMH batteries. While it is not a ‘smart charger’ the Solar 11 in 1 Battery Charger by C.Crane does have a very easy to read charge meter right on the front of it – a little vigilance is all that is required to make sure your batteries get a full charge. Another great charging option if you have the funds is the before mentioned Goal Zero Kit for AA and AAA batteries, which is actually a smart charger so you will not have to worry about over charging standard NiMH batteries (source). While Goal Zero will not endorse use of NiCd batteries with their product many reviewers have claimed the kit recharges them just as well. Since both these chargers are small in capacity my only advice is if you have the money, get two of them or in the case of Goal Zero to purchase an additional battery pack if necessary.