Preparedness Notes for Thursday – November 30, 2017

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today features another entry for Round 73 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The nearly $11,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value), A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three …




God’s Perfect Bounty: Our Natural Survival Garden- Part 3, by D.M.

Today, I’m finishing my article on some of the plants God provided for our survival. I’ve written on the American beautyberry and its medicinal, culinary, and decorative uses, including recipes. Most recently, I’ve been talking about the Seminole squash (or pumpkin, as it is sometimes called), which also has many uses. I’m currently sharing about culinary uses. Seminole Squash (continued) Ways to Eat Seminole Squash Young stems, flowers, and leaves of Seminole squash can be eaten as a green vegetable or added to soups. The squash can be eaten raw, stuffed, fried, baked, mashed, roasted, steamed, boiled, or dried. The …




Letter Re: Israeli Battle Bandages Expiration

HJL, I have a question about the vacuum sealed Israeli battle bandages. They have an “expiration date” on them: what does that mean, in terms of medical and common sense applications? My thinking is if I need it and have it, who cares how old it is… Thank you and thanks for all you do. RJH. HJL’s Comment: While many medical items have expiration dates that are critical (like insulin), some are there only because of legal liability reasons. If you pull out a bandage that doesn’t work the way it’s supposed to or has some problem that complicates it’s …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. Today, Steven Crowder answers his critics over the allegations that he faked his Alexa video.   North Korea Reader P.S. sent in this article with North Korea showing that it is continuing in their quest for an ICBM that can reach any part of North America. In their latest test, the missile reached the highest altitude of any NK missle test yet and splashed down in the Sea of Japan. The test …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

”If gun laws in fact worked, the sponsors of this type of legislation should have no difficulty drawing upon long lists of examples of crime rates reduced by such legislation. That they cannot do so after a century and a half of trying — that they must sweep under the rug the southern attempts at gun control in the 1870-1910 period, the northeastern attempts in the 1920-1939 period, the attempts at both Federal and State levels in 1965-1976 — establishes the repeated, complete and inevitable failure of gun laws to control serious crime.” – Senator Orrin Hatch







God’s Perfect Bounty: Our Natural Survival Garden- Part 2, by D.M.

I have been telling you about God’s provision for our survival through nature and specifically writing about the many uses of the American beautyberry. They are edible, medicinal, and decorative berries. In part 1, I shared a recipes for insect repellent, tea for skin ailments, and more using various parts of the American beautyberry plant. I also told how I made juice with the berries. Now, let’s move on to more culinary uses for the American beautyberry and take a look at another multipurpose plant as well. American Beautyberry Jelly After much experimenting with several jelly recipes (some twice), I …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on the upcoming OPEC conference. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: To start, Rory flagged this at The Daily Coin for us: BRICS Gold Trade Settlement To Begin in 2018? o  o  o HSBC: Platinum to Average $1,055 in 2018; Palladium $975 Stock Markets: Has Amazon …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week

Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on JWR’s preferred gun lubricant: Frog Lube. Books: Scalia Speaks: Reflections on Law, Faith, and Life Well Lived o o o The Instant Pot® Electric Pressure Cooker Cookbook: Easy Recipes for Fast & Healthy Meals o o o Foxe’s Book of Martyrs Movies: The Right Stuff.  This otherwise fine film is marred by some crudity.  Available on DVD and available for free download for Amazon Prime members. o o o Enemy At The Gates  










God’s Perfect Bounty: Our Natural Survival Garden- Part 1, by D.M.

When God made the heaven and earth, he made them perfect. He provided everything we need for our survival, from nutrition to medicine for both humans and animals, from knowledge and natural instinct to even giving us beauty to behold. Knowledge of Survival Lost And Forgotten The knowledge of survival using God’s perfect bounty has been lost and forgotten over time. While gaining new knowledge with the advent of modern grocery stores and medicine we’ve forgotten God’s natural survival garden. There are many varieties of plants that grow naturally without any help from us. Many are disease-, drought-, and pest-resistant, …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. The emphasis this week is on clarifying how Redoubters reject racism. Region-Wide (Redoubters Reject Racism): The third installment of the ongoing Redoubt article series at The Sandpoint Reader has been posted. JWR’s Comments: The writer seemed perplexed and somehow dubious that I’m not a racist. She wrote: “It is the racial aspects of encouraging people to move to a predominantly white area that …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “HJL”. São Paulo, Brazil is giving us a look into how inner cities might look in an SHTF situation where total collapse has not occurred. Politics The Democrat party has given up the moral high ground that they briefly held in the battle over sexual allegations of senators. For weeks, they have called for Roy Moore to step down from the race. Then came the allegations against Senator Al Franken and Representative John Conyers. …