Day: March 5, 2009

Notes from JWR:

Notes from JWR: Since SurvivalBlog’s readership is growing so quickly, I’ve been overwhelmed with questions from newbies. To help folks get up to speed quickly, I just created a new static page: SurvivalBlog’s Quick-Start Guide for Preparedness Newbies. It can also be accessed by clicking the “Getting Started” button in our top bar. — A brief reminder that Safecastle’s “Ratcheting Rewards” 25% off sale on 30-year shelf life Mountain House canned foods is expiring at midnight (Eastern time) on Friday, March 6th. Get your order in soon!


Aids to Mapping Your G.O.O.D. Routes

Mr. Rawles, I appreciate everything you do to keep everyone working toward preparing. To that end I would like to supplement your notes with a product I have been using for a few weeks now that have greatly improved my Get Out of Dodge (G.O.O.D.) plans. Along with US Geological maps I have used the excellent Delorme Atlas and Gazetteer to plan my back road escape routes. Recently I found that they now offer ($29.95 plus the cost of the software) an “all you can use” annual subscription to their entire map collection in digital format. Unfortunately you do need …


Letter Re: Learning Beekeeping is Worthwhile for Self-Sufficiency

Hi Jim – I am a beekeeper and would recommend your readers look into the option of keeping bees. Honey bees produce food that stores without excessive processing (it has two things to fight spoilage, a natural antibiotic and the sugar concentration is so high it won’t support bacterial growth). I use the conventional Langstroth bee boxes but a person desiring to use the bees for home or farm could benefit by using the inexpensive top bar hive method. The top bar hive produces comb honey and the wax makes great candles. Top bar hives are not migratory in nature …


Letter Re: Cloudcroft, New Mexico as a Retreat Locale

Mr. Rawles, I read your book “Rawles on Retreats and Relocation“, which is a very good resource. In it, you didn’t mention one area that interested me a little bit, and that was the area around the Lincoln National Forest, near Cloudcroft, New Mexico. I’ve driven through there a few times, and it might do well in a depression. Of course, it’s too close to the Mexican border, which might lead to a problem, though I’m not sure which direction the refugees will be heading. You probably heard that the mayor of Juarez has sent his family to El Paso …


Four Letters Re: 3-in-1 Home Workshop Machines

JWR, I agree with you on the machine tool issue. You end up with a lot of tooling and accessories by buying a shop. Things like rotary tables, angle plates and clamping stuff make this approach a bargain. A few grand goes a long way if you dig into [the replacement costs]. Like you say, [in the depth of the recession] there will be a lot of stuff out there. I have a good set of machinist tools but no machines and have been thinking the same thing. I have millwrighted machines for people from closed machine shops. I used …


Economics and Investing:

We’ll start with some relatively good news: Oil producers running out of storage space: Glut caused by world slowdown leaves the world awash in crude. (A hat tip to Charley S.) Sean M. sent us a link to some charts sum up how bad things are getting, very succinctly: DD sent this: As markets slump, U.S. tries to halt cycle of fear. (They may say that we have “nothing to fear but fear itself”, but I don’t think it is irrational to fear tens of thousands of unemployed and hungry people that have been kicked out of their foreclosed houses. …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Christian homeschooling advocates step up their campaign, in a video appeal to have parents take their kids out of public schools: The Call to Dunkirk    o o o Reader Jeff B. asked: “Have you addressed ATVs or especially side by side ATVs or even the more recent electric ‘Buggys’ and their pros/cons?” The Bad Boy Buggy is definitely a viable option for short distance hauling at a retreat with a large photovoltaic, wind, or micro-hydro alternative energy system. And an off-road suspension conversions to a used electric golf cart is a good low-cost alternative. Also, don’t miss this article …