Note from JWR:

The high bid is now at $90 in the SurvivalBlog benefit auction for a for a new-in-the-box Hydro Photon UV Light SteriPen Water Sterilization System with solar charger and pre-filter, kindly donated by Safecastle, one of our most loyal advertisers. This very popular water sterilizer product package normally sells for $225, plus postage. See the details on the SteriPen and solar charger here. The auction ends on September 15th. Just e-mail us your bid. Today we present the first part of a three part article on soap making. It was written by Grandpappy, who you may remember as one of …




How to Make Old Fashioned Homemade Soap (Part 1 of 3), by Grandpappy

During hard times sooner or later everyone runs out of soap. To make soap you only need three things: 1. Rainwater, 2. Cold ashes from any hardwood fire, and 3. Animal fat from almost any type of animal, such as beef, pork, goat, sheep, bear, beaver, raccoon, opossum, groundhog, etc. All soap consists of the above three ingredients in one form or another, and that includes bath soap, dish soap, laundry soap, and hair shampoo. Soap is not difficult to make and it does not require any special equipment. And soap can be made from things that exist in large …




Odds ‘n Sods:

DAV flagged this piece of commentary from Edward Chancellor at The Washington Post: Look Out. This Crunch Is Serious. Meanwhile, writing in the Sovereign Society A-Letter, Kathlyn Von Rohr commented: “The sub-prime crisis that was “likely to be contained” according to Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke back in March – brought more havoc to Wall Street this week. Now that “financial market conditions have deteriorated,” the Fed has changed its tune, as they chopped the discount rate yesterday.” In my estimation this will get a whole lot worse before it gets better. The current crunch has essentially shut downthe major …