Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — December 24, 2019

December 24 is the 20th anniversary of when John Joe Gray’s legal troubles began, in 2000. He and his family had been self-sufficiently holed up in their Texas ranch for nearly 15 years, in defiance of a warrant for his arrest, before the district attorney dropped the charges. This was the longest standoff in American history, in which he faced the administrations of four different county sheriffs. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 …




Living Off The Grid – Part 1, by V.F.

When I was a child, my mother moved to a very remote area of Eastern Washington and we lived off the grid. This was long before the term had been coined, as far as I know. The property did not have a house. We lived in a little travel trailer. We went to town once a month and did laundry at the laundromat. We boiled water from the creek to wash dishes. The creek was also our refrigerator. We ran a PVC pipe in the creek and placed a horse trough in the creek. This is where we kept drinks …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the Inland Northwest’s wild Turkey population explosion. (See the Region-Wide section.) Region-Wide Washington Rep. Matt Shea on Infowars with David Knight o o o Inland Northwest’s thriving turkey population is an invasive nuisance or a conservation success – or bot. Here is …







Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 23, 2019

December 23rd is the birthday of Founding Father and Supreme Court Justice John Jay. (Born 1745, died May 17, 1829.) December 23rd is also the anniversary of the establishment of of the exclusive private banking cartel known as The Federal Reserve, in 1913. I recommend the book The Creature from Jekyll Island: A Second Look at the Federal Reserve. — JWR Asks: I’m running low on writing contest articles to post in January. So I encourage any blog readers with some quiet vacation time available to get busy writing. An article as short as 1,500 words could be awarded  one …




Kershaw Duojet Folder, by Pat Cascio

Kershaw Knives brings out a lot of new knife designs each year, and this is to our benefit. I can’t begin to keep track of the newest folders from Kershaw each year, so I only select those that I think our readers will really like. Today, we’re looking at the Duojet folder from Kershaw. Ever since I was about 6 years old I have have some kind of pocket knife in my pants pocket. Growing-up in the 1950s and 1960s, just about everyone I knew – young and old alike – carried a folding knife. To be sure, these knives …




Recipe of the Week: Rob’s Green Beans with Tomatoes

Reader “Rucksack Rob”  kindly sent us his recipe for Long-Cooked Green Beans with Tomatoes and Garlic. This is a very simple recipe that’s good especially in late summer after your garden harvest but also any time of year. Ingredients 2 Tbsp. extra-virgin Olive Oil ¼  cup minced Yellow Onion (or a little more, if you’d like) 3 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced (or less, to taste.) 1-1/2 lbs of Green Beans, ends trimmed 3 lg. ripe Tomatoes, chopped (and seeded if you’d like ) Salt, to taste black pepper – freshly coarse ground, to taste Parmesan Cheese Directions In a skillet …




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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at central bank gold purchases. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals: 50-Year High In Central Bank Gold Purchases. A quote: “2019 is on track to be a 50-year high in central banks’ net gold purchases. Bloomberg Intelligence reports that central banks have been absorbing about 20 percent of global …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions… (and) when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, …




Preparedness Notes for Sunday — December 22, 2019

December 22nd is the anniversary of the death of SP4 James T. Davis, the first uniformed American combat casualty of the Vietnam War, in 1961. This Army Security Agency (ASA) soldier of the 3rd Radio Research Unit was killed in a Viet Cong ambush on a road outside Saigon. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from veteran-owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator …




A Healthy Infancy and Beyond, by O.R.

Author’s Introduction:  I have five years experience breastfeeding my two children. I am an accredited La Leche League Leader, which is a volunteer breastfeeding counselor who is active in providing breastfeeding support to families and communities, for three years. I am the chair of a local breastfeeding advocacy organization and have started an organization that encourages breastfeeding in marginalized populations. Additionally I have taken classes, attended conferences and am part of local breastfeeding coalitions. I recently sat for my board exam to become an IBCLC (Internationally Board Certified Lactation Consultant) and am currently awaiting my test results. — Our community …




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 “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at changing weather patterns. New Jet Stream Pattern Could Imperil Crops Reader C.B. flagged this important article about changing weather patterns: Newly identified jet-stream pattern could imperil global food supplies, says study. …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day: (KJV)

“And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the gospel unto them. Therefore loosing from Troas, we came with a straight course to Samothracia, and the next day to Neapolis; And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony: …




Preparedness Notes for Saturday — December 21, 2019

On December 21, 1620, William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims landed on what is now known as Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, Massachusetts. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 86 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A $3,000 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), …




Survival Hunting – Lessons Learned – Part 2, by O.V.

(Continued from Pat 1. This concludes the ariticle.) The last animals I want to discuss are all the rest of the animals that come to the corn. That’s just about everybody in your area. Because they want to eat the corn, or the deer and other animals that do. So you’ll have turkeys plus predators of all kinds and especially raccoons! I don’t eat them myself, but the survival experts say they are a critical piece of survival food, with a lot of essential at. They are a pain for me because I do animal control work on a nature …