The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile! Nathanael saith unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel.” – John 1:47-49 (KJV)




Preparedness Notes for Saturday – November 25, 2017

November 25th is the birthday of economist and comedian Ben Stein. His unscripted monologue on economics from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off is one of the most memorable scenes in American cinema. By the way, Stein spends part of each year at his second home in Sandpoint, Idaho, so he is an honorary Redoubter. I’ve heard that he plans to retire here. o o o We are coming down to the wire on round 73 of the SurvivalBlog Writing Contest. If you would like to submit your article for a chance at the fantastic prizes listed below, finish it up and …




Potatoes—A Staple for Food Storage With No Refrigeration, by Back Yard Gardner

Growing and storing potatoes in the Northwest through the winter months always brought unsatisfactory long-term storage results. It didn’t matter how I stored the potatoes after digging, whether in dry sawdust, under a layer of newspaper, on a dark cool dry shelf, all had similar results of shriveling and sprouting potatoes before the stored crop was used up. An Experiment For Stored, “Fresh” Potatoes I tried an experiment with the 2016 potato crop. Once I dug the Kennebec potatoes in April of 2017, the results of wonderful plump potatoes spurred me to store the 2017 potatoes crop the same way. …




The Editors’ Preps for the Week

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready! …




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”. Debtor’s Prison has effectively made a comeback in the United States. Closing of Paladin Press A reminder: Paladin Press is closing its doors at the end of this month, forever. They are now offering a huge 85% discount off retail on all remaining titles. But you must order by noon, Eastern Time, on November 29th. Zimbabwe The Latest: Zimbabwe called ‘at a moment of change’. After last weeks coup, the military has …







Preparedness Notes for Friday – November 24, 2017

November 24th marks the day that John Knox died, in 1572. (He was born in 1514.) AtheistAgendaPedia says: “Born near Haddington Scotland. He was influenced by George Wishart, who was burned for heresy in 1546, and the following year Knox became the spokesman for the Reformation in Scotland. After imprisonment and exile in England and the European continent, in 1559 he returned to Scotland, where he supervised the preparation of the constitution and liturgy of the Reformed Church.” o o o As long as on-hand supplies last, Ready Made Resources is having a sale on non-gated 3rd Generation high grade …




Guest Article: The Second Amendment and Its Relevance In Today’s Society, by B.E.

Amendment II (the Second Amendment) of the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights declares a well-regulated militia as “being necessary to the security of a free State” and prohibits infringement of “the right of the people to keep and bear arms”. It is a controversial subject whose ramifications are still being debated to this day, over two-hundred and thirty years after it was written. Its place in the Bill of Rights as the Second Amendment is indicative of how important our nation’s founding fathers thought that right should be. It is still relevant in today’s society, despite haphazard attempts at …




Letter: Weather Station Recommendation

HJL, Do y’all have any recommendations on home weather stations? On searching I found a lot of references to using HAM and FM to get NOAA data but nothing for on site weather stations. Is this viewed as a valuable addition to the retreat or just a toy? – M.P. HJL’s Comment: With the advent of solid state sensors weather stations have become commodity items. Sadly, all the affordable ones that I know of are made in China. If the desire is just to have some basic data, any of those that you see on Amazon will work. You might …




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 investing in farmhouses. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold Prices Rally As U.S. Dollar Index Slumps o  o  o Reader A.D. sent this from economic pundit Egon von Greyerz: 11,000 KG Gold for a Painting – Will Cost 110 KG in 2025 Stock …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“In the past decade the distinction between connotation and denotation has been blurred by politics. The definitions of words should not change with every shift in the winds of public sentiment. Our society has already suffered from four decades of Situational Ethics. Heaven help us in this new era of Situational Definitions. A rocket scientist or military engineer can teach you about Sympathetic Detonations, but it is 21st Century television commentators who have introduced us to the era of Sympathetic Denotations. We now live in an Orwellian world where a semi-auto rifle is arbitrarily called an “assault rifle” if it …




Preparedness Notes for Thursday – November 23, 2017

From the SurvivalBlog family to yours, we wish you a happy Thanksgiving. Despite the crises in this world and the mounting pressures, we give thanks to our LORD that you are are still here, you are still prepping, and that He will never forsake us. o o o JRH Enterprises is celebrating it’s 25th year in business and Black Friday together. New PVS14 3rd Gen Pinnacle Autogated High Performance Night vision monoculars with a 10 year Factory warranty, never cheaper. OTAL-C Infrared Lasers for use with your NV device and many gear deals like Snugpak Softie 18 Antarctica sleeping bags …




Our Family’s Garden Grain Experiment- Part 2, by Wild BillB of OR

Our family did an experiment to see how we could grow wheat and oats in a garden setting. In part 1 of this article series, we shared that we used two different garden plots, one that was well fertilized and one that had never been fertilized or used for a garden. Additionally, I told about our seeds and how we protected our growing areas from animals. We began describing the tools that we tested to harvest wheat and how we found, for us, that the sickle worked best. Also, because the naked oats we grew dropped seed more readily, we …




Letter Re: EMP Computer Question

Guys, What laptop would you recommend for storing in an EMP proof environment, to be used after an event to retrieve electronic files such as Survivalblog/Mother Earth News archives? There are so many options, and choosing the wrong one could be frustrating to say the least. I have hard copies of some essential books, but there are just too many helpful things in electronic format to ignore if it would be possible to retrieve. Thanks for all you do! – P.H. HJL Replies: If the device is to be stored in an EMP resistant container, there are no special considerations …




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”. With all the complaining in the media today about the American gun culture, it’s interesting to note the the American Indian had a very strong influence in it. The gun culture is rooted in minorities. American Gun Culture This report on the American gun culture actually outlines one of the reasons Britain and the U.S. differ so much over the issue of firearms. The influence of American Indians. America’s gun culture is …