Month: May 2019

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 8, 2019

May 8th is the birthday of missionary and U.S. military intelligence officer John Birch. (Born, 1918, died August 25, 1945.) He is considered by many to be the first American casualty of the Cold War. This is also the birthday of Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 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 …


It is Planting Time – Part 2, by L.R.

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PART 2 In Part 1, my goal was to share with you the value in raising a home vegetable garden, especially if you consider food resupply in a grid down situation. Hopefully, I encouraged you to seriously think about raising your own food and to get started with learning valuable gardening skills. I also wanted you to be realistic in meeting your gardening goals and not to expect perfection especially with your first gardening efforts. In Part 2, I’d like to share some perspective on what vegetables you may want to plant and consider options on how to preserve your …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on FoodSaver vacuum packing machines. (See the Gear & Grub section.) Books: Recommended by SurvivalBlog reader S.H. in Texas: Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. S.H. writes: “The hardships she faced in early 20th Century Wyoming would make many of us lie down and die today (after rifling through a bottle of Prozac!), but through it all, the joy that she experienced from her life is evident. It’s a good, short, read, that reminded me …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news 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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in discontinued car models. Pictured is a pre-1999 air-cooled Porsche 911 — made before the major engine design change and body style re-vamp (See the Tangibles Investing section near the end of this column.) Precious Metals: From the perspective of chartist Mark Mead …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 7, 2019

On May 7, 1992, a 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified—the 27th Amendment. On May 7, 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended, and with it the French involvement in Indochina. The climactic French defeat influenced the 1954 Geneva Accords, which divided the country of Vietnam into North and South and set the stage for the 1960s/1970s Vietnam War. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3000 …


It is Planting Time- Part 1, by L.R.

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PART 1 (Of 3) With the end of winter and the frost date for my area passed, my thoughts naturally turn toward my vegetable garden and this year’s crop. During the harvest last year, I saved a number of seeds for planting again this year, I also saved a ton of money purchasing seeds from our local Co-op left over from the end of last year’s growing season. Properly stored, I’ve found they germinate at very respectable rates and I have always had good luck planting them. I’ve been an avid home gardener for better than twenty years; that’s certainly …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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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. Today, we are making special mention of a 7,000-pound “drug bust” that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. (See the Idaho section.) Idaho The test results are in. Here’s what was in that semi-truck full of a green, leafy substance. Here is how the news story begins: “A federal judge on Friday approved the release of test results on 7,000 …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

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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 “JWR”.  Today, we focus on Internet censorship.  I’ve already described this trend in SurvivaBlog. For example, see: Phase Three of the Internet Censorship War. I believe that it is important to present other perspectives on the growing censorship and blacklisting problem. The first few posts in this column are just a sampling. Beginning of the End for YouTube? Vlog commentary from Vincent James of The Red Elephants: Is This the Beginning of the …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — May 6, 2019

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May 6th is the birthday of Tuvia Bielski. (Born 1906.) You may remember him as the main character in the movie Defiance This movie was based on the book Defiance: The Bielski Partisans by Nechama Tec. — Today we present a product review from our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio, as well as a tasty recipe. Please send us your favorite recipes! – JWR


QLav Personal Bidet, by Pat Cascio

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I wasn’t quite sure how to approach the testing of this product, as it is something that is a bit out of the ordinary. I’m not sure how many readers are familiar with the bidet – I never saw one or heard of one, until I was in New York City back in 1978, staying at a hotel – my first time ever in a hotel. I was working an undercover gig, that took me from my then home town of Chicago, to Miami and finally to NYC. Up until then I had only stayed in motels when traveling. Upon …


Recipe of the Week: Alan’s Smothered Steak & Potatoes

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Alan’s introductory comments: This is one for my favorite meals. It requires the use of a garlic press and a pressure cooker, preferably with an internal elevated cooking rack. It makes five adult-size servings. Ingredients: 2 lbs. boneless round steak, 1-1/2″ to 2″ thick 2 TBSP Cooking Oil 1/4 cup Flour 1/2 tsp Salt 1/4 tsp Pepper 1 Clove of Garlic, pressed 1 Medium Onion, sliced 1 TBSP Fresh (or 1 tsp dry) sage, thyme, basil, or rosemary–depending on your herb(s) preference 10 ounces (1 can or 1.2 cups) of beef broth (fresh or canned broth) 10 ounces of water …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news 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 SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we examine investing in Ruger 77 International stainless steel rifles. (See the Tangibles Investing section near the end of this column.) Precious Metals: Italy Is Latest Country Seeking To Bring Their People’s Gold Home o  o  o Johann Wiebe interview: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Give Up On …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“For at least the past half-century Christian pastors and churches have been all but neutered. On the whole, they have ignored Christ’s admonition to be the “salt of the earth,” and as a result, have failed to do much of anything to preserve freedom’s Biblical Natural Law principles in this great land. In fact, the average church is so sugary sweet that it is downright sickening! And the two main reasons for this dereliction of duty by America’s pastors and churches are the IRS 501c3 non-profit tax status, which turns the Lord’s church into a government corporation; and the erroneous, …