Year: 2013


Notes from JWR:

Today is birthday of Alexis de Tocqueville, born 1805. He died 16 April 1859. — I heard that ownership of Naturally Cozy has successfully changed hands. The new owners (also a small, home-based family operation) have picked up making the products with no interruption in order processing. They will continue to sponsor our non-fiction writing contest, just like their predecessors.


Harry’s Book Review: The Wayward Journey, by Nathan Hale Jefferson

Book Title: The Wayward Journey (Volume 1) Author: Nathan Hale Jefferson Copyright Date: 2013 Publisher: Abundant Future Media ISBN: 978-0989319904 Audio, e-book or foreign translation avail? Yes–Kindle edition of The Wayward Journey Suitable for children? Teens and up. The Wayward Journey is a story in which a natural disaster is piled on top of a growing disaster of financial mismanagement. There is not much in this novel which requires significant stretching of the imagination. In this story John, Margaret and their two children are struggling to make ends meet in an America which is burdened with both high inflation and …



Pat’s Product Review: Stevens Model 350 Shotgun

There’s not a week that goes past, that I don’t hear from someone asking me “what’s the best gun for home defense…” and I can’t give a pat answer to that question. First of all, what does a person mean by “home defense?” Secondly, what are your physical abilities – or disabilities – when it comes to handling a firearm? What is your budget? What is your skill level with any firearm? And, the list goes on and on. So, as you can see, there is no single or easy answer to what is the best gun for home defense. …


Letter Re: Storing Foods to Eat for Pleasure

Dear JWR: You’ve probably heard of the “Mormon Four,” a starting place for beginning preppers wanting to attain a one-year food supply. The Mormon Four prescribes amounts of red hard winter wheat, powdered milk, sugar or honey, and salt to sustain life for one year. That’s a lot of bread making, preserving, and sprouting over and over! Yes, these foods are nutritious, have a long shelf life, and can keep you alive. However, my opinion is that the boredom factor in this diet is huge, even if you love bread. Here’s an idea: Everyone, and I mean everyone, from around …


Letter Re: Buying an AR-15 During the Gun Control Scare of 2013

Mr. Rawles, I wanted to share my experience regarding this situation. When the great scare began in December, I knew that as a prepared individual I did not need to panic buy and so I decided to perform an experiment. The goal: To acquire an AR-15 for the lowest possible cost during a time with the highest possible demand. Total cost for my AR-15: $654 (For perspective, the bulk of the component parts that I purchased was when complete rifles were easily selling for $2,000+) How I did it: When the scare began in earnest, I knew that the odds …


Letter Re: The Bug Out Boat

Dear Editor: Lean Jimmy’s bug out boat idea is good, but on most rivers of North America you’ll have “pirates” set up at strategic points along the watercourses — as in yesteryear — and have a tough time getting by them. It’ll only be a matter of time before they take control of those defined travel lanes and lighten the load of fleeing refugees. Slave trading might also come back into vogue.   How could you outfox them? Travel at night? Maybe. But if your craft was small, almost silent and light enough to carry or collapse into portable pieces, you’d obviously …


Recipe of the Week:

Notutopia’s Coffee Concentrate This recipe will make 1 Qt. of coffee concentrate that can be used to make both iced or hot coffee from one batch, and can be safely stored in the refrigerator for a whole month. Ingredients: 1 cup finely ground roasted coffee grinds, caffeinated, or de-caf 32 oz. filtered cool water Equipment: 1 32oz. mason jar with lid 1 fine mesh sieve or 2 paper filters Instructions: Finely grind 1 cup of roasted coffee beans, you can even use pre-flavored ground coffee, but it will not be quite as potent a concentrate as when using freshly ground …


Economics and Investing:

Reader “Racefan” sent a link to some tax data that is helpful in evaluating retreat locales: Property Taxes on Owner-Occupied Housing, by County, 2005 – 2009, Ranked by Property Taxes Paid. I don’t often used the words “conspiracy theory” and “delightful” in the same sentence, but take a look at Bix Weir’s latest essay: The Hidden Meanings in the New $100 Bill! Items from The Economatrix Stagflation: The Fed’s Worst Nightmare Ron Paul Talks Gold Ron Paul On Gold And Why We’ll See More Detroits What’s Up With Inflation?


Odds ‘n Sods:

One of my long-time friends mentioned that he has recently been experimentally hiking with a LED Mini Maglite carried in a Nite Ize headband, and equipped with a relatively waterproof TacStar brand pressure tape switch that he can clench between his teeth.  For regular trail hiking, the light’s head can be cranked down for “continuous on” operation when the standard tail cap is installed. But when operating tactically with the tape switch tail cap installed, the light can be activated just “on demand” by clamping his teeth down on the tape switch.  He has even experimented with a wire stiffeners, …



Notes from JWR:

Camping Survival 23% off sale on all Backpackers Pantry Freeze Dried Foods ends today (July 28th, 2013), so place your order before midnight. — Today we present another entry for Round 47 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) 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 …


Dealing with the Dying, by A Healthcare Couple

This essay is a joint effort from a healthcare couple.  My wife is a hospice nurse and I work at a long-term care facility.  Together, we have witnessed numerous patients die.  The purpose of this essay is to educate you in helping to take care of a dying group member (will use the term patient for this writing).  The first time that I experienced death up-close and personal was when my best friend B. died a few years ago.  We were both in our 20s and he had cancer.  Over the course of more than a year I was with …


Letter Re: The Most Important Preparedness

Dear James, Recently, a friend of mine just took his own life, leaving behind a wife and three young children.  He loved to talk about being prepared and would spend hours reading survival blog.  As far as “preparedness” goes, he seemed to be very prepared for TEOTWAWKI, having spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on guns, ammo, a bug out vehicle, all the medical and survival supplies you could think of, etc.  He also had military training, martial arts training, and was an excellent marksman, if anyone was prepared, he seemed to be ready.  However, in the end, he would …