Category: Survival Mindset

Staying Sane and Happy in Isolation, by M.J.E.

When an October snowstorm brought down leaf-covered tree branches all over the city and onto the power lines, we were without electricity for nearly two weeks, and took in our friends who had neither a wood burning fireplace nor gas appliances. During the pandemic, lockdowns found people all over the world sheltering in their homes in isolation. In the dead of winter, with feet of snow on the ground, getting out of an isolated cabin can be not only dangerous, but sometimes impossible. Since we all prep, we have food and water and heat, our people are fed and the …


Why A Cat Is The Most Valuable Animal on a Farm – Part 3, by W.J.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) HOW TO MAINTAIN AN OUTDOOR CAT COLONY If you want cats to be attracted to your home or homestead, and to stay around, you need to give them food, water and shelter, and teach them that people are a good thing. And you need to encourage good traits and prevent inbreeding. Food: I did not give my outdoor colony cats the Farmina Prime lamb kibble, imported from Italy, that my indoor fur family gets. But they get decent stuff, as well as leftovers, bones, and oddly enough, wheat germ muffins. They want …


A “Stay Behind” Strategy for Ukraine and Moldova

This article serves as an open letter, primarily to Tulsi Gabbard, President-elect Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI) designee. It would also be of interest to planners in the CIA’s Directorate of Operations (DO). Take note that rather than re-hashing some well-documented historical subjects, I will be relying heavily on quoting the InfoGalactic Wiki. Also, note that this is an article about strategy rather than tactics. – Carborundum With casualties mounting after more than two years of intense fighting in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Army is quite simply losing its war of attrition against the combined Russian ground and air forces. …


Growing Up in a Survivalist Family, by J.W.T.

Growing up, I attributed my father’s penchant for hoarding to having had a Depression-era childhood. We were comfortably middle-class in the 1960s—a three-bedroom, one-bathroom ranch house, a Ford in the driveway, and never hungry—but I heard stories of my parents’ lives in the 1920s and 1930s, especially on Thanksgivings, when my uncles drank too much and reminisced about the old days with my father. My mother still made her own clothes if she didn’t can fruits and vegetables as her mother had, and my father threw nothing out: his old Army camouflage duds, every used nut and bolt, and the …


Putting Down My Dog, by SaraSue

I had no sooner sent in my positive update to the blog last week than a near catastrophe occurred. I am sharing this, even though it hurts to write about it. I’m doing so because I think it’s important to recognize that country living has pitfalls, as does self-sufficiency. Your preps and relationships become very important and not just for the obvious reasons. In this case, I needed plentiful first aid supplies, a clear head, and neighbors I could call in an Emergency. I will tell you the story. Warning: This is a graphic heart-wrenching story. Please skip over it …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 5, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is the last part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. (Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Solutions: The Journey for Possible Future Retreat Owners It would be nice if there were other easy solutions out there. But for a family man the road of hard work done intelligently will often yield good results over many years. There are some who claim that you cannot save to afford land without a …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 2, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — The Land: Your Base of Operations Our farm can support the core food needs of hundreds of people. Farm productivity has been increasing much faster than the population. Over the space of two centuries, the number of people who are living on farms has decreased from almost universal to around two percent. Since the number of people who now live on farms is …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 1, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part one of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he will discuss. — Preparedness Terminology History My family preparedness history goes back generations. Before the term “prepper” was used, people who were into preparedness were known as “survivalists” and even before then people were known as “retreaters.” Our survival library is very extensive covering preparedness-related subjects including original civil defense publications from the 1950s until today. I have spent many hours reading the articles …


Lessons From Hurricane Helene – Part 3, by A.F.

(Continued from Part 2.) Other than cutting the fallen trees off of our state road to gain access to the greater community, the only additional sawing we did was to clear the brush from our access to the larger hen house. Seeing that a massive white oak was bearing down on the fair-sized pine resting on the chicken run, I used two adjacent stacks of 12-inch block tied together with lumber and ratchet straps to pick up the load until I could remove the tree.   I want to give a huge shoutout and thanks to Thomas Christianson for his …


Lessons From Hurricane Helene – Part 1, by A.F.

The following recounts some Hurricane Helene lessons learned from Western South Carolina. Our power went off for the final time around 5:30 on Friday morning. It had blinked on and off twice earlier in the night, but I didn’t pay the warnings any attention. In the end, we were without power for nine days and only tonight as I’m writing this, 26 days post-storm did we get our regular Internet service back. I am fully aware that these are First World problems and compared to so many, Helene took it easy on us. Beyond ensuring that our vehicles were fueled, …


Relationships, Communities, and Resources, by 3AD Scout

Multiple relationships equals a community and a community equals resources. This sounds so simplistic but many Preppers do not work on developing relationships which means they do not have a SHTF community. Not having a community means that they are missing out on vital resources they may need during and after a widespread disaster or a societal collapse. I saw this concept in action for myself in the past few weeks. Making a relationship Amish buggies and wagons are a common sight on our road. A keen eye will sometimes allow you to get to know the locals versus those …


Our Hurricane Experience in South Carolina, by K.U.

We live in a rural county about 60 miles from Augusta, Georgia. The night of September 26th, 2024 was one we never thought we’d experience so far inland. A full-blown hurricane was upon us (winds were recorded at 80-100mph in our county). We awoke early on the 27th to no power and 1 bar of very spotty cell service. We built our house on a hill and made sure that no trees were nearby, so our house had minimal damage. We had some water come in and down a wall from the chimney, but plan to fix that with a …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — October 5, 2024

On October 5, 1877 Chief Joseph and his people surrendered to the US Army, ending the Nez Perce War in the Western United States. — On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang was finished in a shoot-out with the residents of Coffeyville, Kansas following a bank holdup. Four members of the gang were killed, and a fifth member was captured. — October 5, 1703 was the birthday of Jonathan Edwards. He was a prolific Calvinist theological writer. Many of his writings were later collected in the multi-volume book The Rational Biblical Theology of Jonathan Edwards, edited by John Gerstner. Edwards …


Mentoring: Steps Toward Changing The World – Part 1, by A Grateful Mechanic

“Be assured, if you walk with Him and look to Him, and expect help from Him, He will never fail you.” – George Mueller I am grateful for SurvivalBlog and this community. There is a great wealth of knowledge and inspiration that comes from this project. In the last ten years I have experienced and pursued the development of a survival-focused lifestyle. I do not “do it right.” I have weakness at many points and I do not live in an ideal situation. Regardless I take active steps to improve my survival ability and to improve the resilience of my …


Lessons Learned from Hurricane Helene, by N.C. Ham

I really did not give a lot of thought ahead of time about the approaching storm. I spent time at U.S. Naval Station Guantanamo in Cuba growing up and I have lived through several hurricanes in the Southeast. I won’t make that mistake again. I now see how we can get way too comfortable with the daily situation live in and not see the forest for the trees. My work location is several hours from my home which is in the mountains of Western North Carolina. I work from home about half the time and was in the mountains when …