As mentioned over at The Claire Files, there is a family in Pasadena, California, that feeds themselves with just the produce from a garden on their small suburban lot. They even have excess to sell to restaurants! o o o Reader RBS mentioned this commentary from Pastor Thomas Horn: Does God Have An Emergency Preparedness Plan? o o o Hawaiian K. recommended “A good, puncture-resistant bike tire.”
"Do not that to another, which thou wouldest not have done to thy selfe."- Thomas Hobbes (born April 5, 1588)
Please consider writing an article for Round10 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my “Rawles Gets You Ready” preparedness course, generously donated by Jake Stafford of Arbogast Publishing. I will again be sending out a few complimentary copies of my novel “Patriots” as “honorable mention” awards. If you want a chance to win the contest, start writing and e-mail us your article for Round 10, which began on April 1st and …
Dear Jim and Family, I have bad news on the Peak Oil front. We’re about five years from losing 50% of our current production, in real world terms. The producing countries are failing in their big fields, many from 8-15% decline a year (Cantarell in Mexico is down 25% from last year, Ghawar is down 10.5%, Burgan in Kuwait down 12%, Iran down something like 16%, Russia down 12%, UK/North Sea no longer exporting). Even if there are no wars and no embargos, we only have about 5 years before we only have around half as much oil (gasoline, diesel …
Mr. Rawles: I discovered SurvivalBlog just by accident about two months ago, when I was doing a Google search on “FN-FAL” [rifles]. I pretty soon discovered your blog was a treasure trove. Not only am I totally addicted to reading the new postings every day (I read it on my lunch hour at work), but I’ve also started working my way back through the archives. (It was just two weeks ago that I discovered the little “Search Posts on SurvivalBlog” window down under your rotating ads. Maybe you should put that up at the top, so people can spot it …
In a recent e-mail, frequent contributor Michael Z. Williamson noted that the Rock River Arms AR10 (The “LAR-10”) variant accepts inexpensive FAL magazines–both metric and inch pattern (L1A1), and is reasonably priced. He also mentioned that despite the looming specter of the H.R. 1022 Federal ban, there are still some bargains in military surplus.308 rifle magazines. Notably, Mike found a source for used FAL magazines for just $5 each, and I found used HK91 (G3) steel magazines for $7.99, and alloy magazines as little as $1.20 each! (HK G3 magazines will also fit CETME rifles.) Stock up, folks! o o …
“You may find me one day dead in a ditch somewhere. But by God, you’ll find me in a pile of brass.” – Trooper M. Padgett
I have slightly updated my “Pulling Through” screenplay. If you know anyone in the movie business, please let them know that it is an “available property.” At least until the screenplay sells to a studio or “indie” production company, the HTML version of the full screenplay is still available for free download. I also distribute hard copies of the screenplay through Cafe Press, with less than a $2 markup. (The goal is to get a lot of copies out there, with hopes of one finding its way into the right hands.) Thanks, folks!
Jim: Freeholder’s comments on the need for real world experience in animal husbandry are part of a larger issue. How can we gain hands on experience in so many diverse survival skills and still have time for work, family, friends etc? Even if we wanted to, how many stupid mistakes would we make without someone mentoring us? It’s just as important to know what doesn’t work as what does. This blog has had a lot of great ideas of what to do. Now I’d like to see some of what not to do, otherwise, I’m likely to do that same …
Mr. Rawles, I bought your book “Patriots” a few years back and just came across your web site in the last month. I loved the book (and have lent it to a few friends), and I am trying to get through the extensive information in the archives on the site. Today I ordered your other book Rawles on Retreats and Relocation. Anyway, I currently live between Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah. My wife and I have been of a preparedness mindset for at least seven years and are blessed to be completely out of debt. We have a good …
James: I’m not a regular user of cargo trailers; I do own a 26-foot boat with a long-tongue trailer. Whenever I trailer the boat and whenever I have had occasional need for a cargo trailer, I have been the source for entertainment for bystanders. I think I inherited this failing from my father–but that’s another story. My point: is, unless you are really adept at trailer handling, you may want to consider the fix you will be in if, while trailering to your secure location, you come upon a street barricade with armed folks. The attendant super adrenaline rush, together …
Reader T.L. asked where he can get Castile Soap via mail order. It is available from Survival Enterprises. They sell the same Dr. Bronner’s Brand soap that I’ve carried on my backpacking trips since the 1970s. (Castile soap is ideal for backpacking, because a little bottle goes a long way!) The microscopic type “ABC-1-2-3” labels make interesting reading. (Odd doctrine, but hey, the gent has the freedom to put whatever he wants on his bottles and packages.) BTW, I heard that Survival Enterprises also still have a good supply of a few remaining varieties canned long term storage foods. …
"An expert is a man who has made all the mistakes, which can be made, in a very narrow field." – Niels Bohr
Wow! I just looked at our stats and I see that we logged 71.78 GB of bandwidth for March! The previous record for a month was 53 GB. And as a gauge of long term growth, our traffic in March of 2006 was only 20.5 GB. More than a 355% increase in just a year! The “visits” counts were equally impressive, with 146,548 visits in March of ’07 versus 61,641 in March of ’06. Many thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a huge success. Please keep spreading the word by telling your friends and co-workers about SurvivalBlog. Just wearing a SurvivalBlog …
Continuing the theme of being part of the solution and not part of the problem when crisis strikes, consider that the time to stock up is before a shortage occurs. We may disagree on the reason why, but it seems obvious that we are living at the tail end of a historic period of plenty. Whether you feel that the price hikes we are seeing are due to peak oil, developing nations gobbling up natural resources, or active war zones sucking in all available oil and ammunition, you can not deny that prices (especially for fuel and metals) have increased …