“The privacy and dignity of our citizens [are] being whittled away by sometimes imperceptible steps. Taken individually, each step may be of little consequence. But when viewed as a whole, there begins to emerge a society quite unlike any we have seen – a society in which government may intrude into the secret regions of a life.” – William O. Douglas
On another Sunday morning, in 1941, America was caught sleeping. Then there was that September morning, in 2001. Let’s pray that nothing like those days ever happens again. – JWR
My wife and I are convinced we need to pursue self sufficiency, and a large part of that is food self sufficiency, including providing our own protein, vegetables, and grain. I’m writing about our family’s grain gardening and am in the midst of detailing our crop operations. We’ve gone over soil preparation, planting, and reaping. Let’s now continue with drying. Reaping and Drying (continued) Mild fall weather during harvest time as shown in Figure 3 is unusual in the Copper River Valley, Alaska. It’s usually cold and sometimes wet; we had three inches of snow on the ground during our …
Hugh and Jim, I was recently reading a book on nuclear reactors. I learned that iron can be used in concrete to provide neutron shielding. The iron slows the fast neutrons down to thermal levels that can be easily absorbed in the concrete. I also mine my own gold. As a byproduct of my mining, I have buckets of magnetite and hematite iron ore sand. The magnetite ore I sell to a local blacksmith for making steel. The hematite I’ve found no use for until now. I can use this black sand in place of silica sand in the concrete …
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”. California fires are continuing to flare up. The latest is the Skirball Fire, that caused a grid-down event in West LA. Stalingrad Brad Schaeffer, over at The Daily Wire, has started a series on a front of World War II that shaped Russia and created a paranoid, meddlesome nation that President Ronald Reagan called evil. Most Americans seem to think World War II started on December 7, 1941 and reached its pinnacle …
“Today I am delivering. I’ve judged this course of action to be in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians. This is a long overdue step to advance the peace process. And to work towards a lasting agreement. ‘Israel is a sovereign nation with the right, like every other sovereign nation, to determine its own capitol. Acknowledging this is a fact is a necessary condition for achieving peace. It was 70 years ago that the United States under President Truman recognized the state of Israel. ‘Ever since then, …
On December 6th, 1865, the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, ending the institution of slavery. “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” With these words, the single greatest change wrought by the Civil War was officially noted in the Constitution.
We are continuing on with this article about my wife’s and my journey in mid-scale grain gardening. Yesterday, I explained our reasons for believing it was time to build self-sufficiency, and now let’s move on to the food production part, specifically our grain gardening efforts. Definition of Mid-Scale Grain Gardening Grain plots may vary in size, ranging from, at the minimum, a small plot using a rototiller or shovel and rake for soil preparation, hand sowing the grain, reaping with a scythe or sickle, threshing with a flail, and winnowing with a kitchen fan or a windy day. The small-scale …
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 Republican Tax Reform Plan. Precious Metals: First off, there is this piece by Simon Constable, at U.S. News: If Precious Metals Rally, Then Pick Silver o o o Stock Market: Here is an opinion piece by Avi Gilburt (who is an Elliott Waver): Euphoria …
Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on the Old Sneelock series of instructional videos on YouTube. Books: I may be biased (since I published it), but I highly recommend this inspirational and truly uplifting book: My Thailand Calling: Following Jesus Cross-Culturally: A Missionary’s Journey On The Frontiers. o o o The Survival Medicine Handbook: The essential guide for when medical help is NOT on the way Movies: I’ve mentioned this film before, but it bears repeating: 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi o …
“America does not go abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She well knows that by enlisting under other banners than her own, were they even the banners of foreign independence, she would involve herself beyond the power of extrication in all the wars of interest and intrigue, of individual avarice, envy and ambition, which assume the colors and usurp the standards of freedom.” – John Quincy Adams
On December 5th, 1964, the first Medal of Honor awarded to a serviceman for action in Vietnam was presented to Capt. Roger Donlon of Saugerties, New York. Captain Donlon and his Special Forces team were manning Camp Nam Dong, a mountain outpost near the borders of Laos and North Vietnam. Just before two o’clock in the morning on July 6, 1964, hordes of Viet Cong attacked the camp. He was shot in the stomach, but Donlon stuffed a handkerchief into the wound, cinched up his belt, and kept fighting. He was wounded three more times, but he continued fighting–manning a …
Food sufficiency is a large part of self sufficiency, so my wife and I pursued mid-scale grain gardening, though our home was in Alaska. Here is our story and how we have done this. Breakdown of My Article My article will cover the following: Preamble: Why We All Should Become Increasingly Self-sufficient– The First Steps Definition of Mid-Scale Grain Gardening Crop Operations Reaping and Drying Threshing and Winnowing Scaling Up Harvesting Operations So, What To Do With All This Grain? Disclaimer Preamble: Why We Should All Become Increasingly Self-sufficient People’s outlook and actions are largely a product of their experiences, …
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 Quest Aircraft. (See the Idaho section.) Region-Wide: The fourth installment of the ongoing Amrican Redoubt article series at The Sandpoint Reader has been posted. ‘Keeping the faith’ — The role of religion in the American Redoubt. o o o Accompanying this article in The Sandpoint Reader is another biographical sketch/interview: The American Redoubt, as told by Alex Barron, …
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”. Featured in politics today is a win handed to President Trump on his travel ban. This has been a good week for Trump. Politics The supreme court ruled today that President Trump’s travel ban was allowed to go into full effect. Only two justices dissented (Ginsburg and Sotomayor). We’ve pretty much known all along that if the supreme court heard the case they would allow it. It is reassuring to know that …
