Day: April 26, 2011

Note from JWR:

Today we present another entry for Round 34 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses. (Excluding those restricted for military or government teams.) Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795, and B.) Two cases of Alpine Aire freeze dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources. (A $400 value.) C.) A 9-Tray Excalibur Food Dehydrator from Safecastle.com (a $275 value), D.) A $250 gift certificate from Sunflower Ammo , and …


Survival Preparation in Small Spaces: How to Grow and Store in the Space You Have, by L.N. in Texas

I live in the country and so I am used to gardening, canning, saving and preparing.  However, when I talk to many people who live in the city and live either with minimal land and perhaps apartments, they do not seem prepared or not as prepared as they could be.  When I ask if they store or grow any food, they just sort of look at me.  When I tell them they should either grow some food or store food not only in case of natural disaster, but even due to inflation and rising prices, the looks become bewildered.  They’ll …


My Kids are Preppers Too!, by The Non-Nurse

The lessons of my essay are simply this: talk with your kids, include them in your preps, and listen to them. My foray into prepping began in 2008, courtesy of my then 10-year-old son. My astute older child noticed how stressed mom and dad were with the rising costs, lowered wages, and cut hours that we were experiencing thanks to the newly developed recession. My son asked if he could put in a garden, a novel idea for my core family unit. He felt the need to help contribute to the family in some way. I must inject a little …


Letter Re: Joining Your Local Volunteer Fire Department

Mr. Rawles, Thank you for all you do. I cherish my daily visits to SurvivalBlog. The recent letter titled “Living in a Small Town – An Australian Perspective” by Margaret G. inspired me to write you. We moved from a large city to place just outside a small town a year ago. We are just now being accepted as part of the community. I agree very much with Margaret G.! Another thing I can add is joining the local Volunteer Fire Department. Through the dept and a lot of hard work we find ourselves a part of the community. Because …


Two Letters Re: Confronting Those Who Plan to Rob Others, Post-Collapse

JWR: I read with interest the recent letter that included this: “I  fully realize what a hungry man will do to feed his family and have even been told by a law enforcement officer that he don’t need to store food. He said that he could take it for his family so they don’t starve. I know he has a large arsenal and I get his drift.” This fallacious and frankly un-Christian belief that the writer encountered is not unique.  I was discussing the need to obtain an emergency food supply with a couple of  lads who work at the …


Letter Re: Storing Uncooked Country Hams

Dear Editor: I recommend Gatton Farms, Fathers’ Country Hams.   These are the best hams I have ever tasted.  If you have never had one, you are missing out , it is not like any other ham in the world. The hams that store are the Uncooked variety. I would inquire of them about storage temp and humidity requirements as well as aging out time.  The mold continues to grow on the exterior on the rind as part of the aging process and may have to be arrested at some point before it detracts from the meat quality. Additionally you …


Economics and Investing:

Robert R. wrote to recommend an interview with Bob Chapman of The International Forecaster wherein he lays out “details on where gold and silver is going and explains the shorts by the big banks, market crashes and dollar defaults, and warns to buy plenty of freeze dried foods, battle rifles, thousands of rounds of ammo, and plenty of spare magazines.” Price of gold means panning supplies and metal detectors are flying off shelves. (Thanks to F.G. for the link.) C.D.V. was the first of several readers to send a link to an article that was also featured on The Drudge …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Feds mine Facebook for info. JWR Adds: I expect this sort of intrusive intelligence gathering to be commonplace, soon. Avoid social network services!    o o o Tom F. recommended these two Altoids tin hobby projects: Altoids Solar Charger and Altoids Emergency USB Charger.    o o o I just noticed that our SurvivalBlog visitors map shows that I have a reader on Madagascar and one in Antarctica. The Internet is a simply amazing way of linking folks, globally. I’d like to welcome our many new readers. (SurvivalBlog now gets well in excess of one million unique visits per month!) …