Month: July 2020

How to Teach Situational Awareness to Children – Part 3, by T.Y.

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(Continued from Part 2.) In part two of this series, I listed age-appropriate ideas for introducing situational awareness and preparedness concepts to children. In Part 3 and 4 of this series, I’ll share actual games you can play with your children, including objectives, instructions, and assessment criteria. Since we don’t want to alarm our children, it can be difficult to talk with them about what to do if there is an emergency. After all, children need to know they are safe, and we parents want more than anything to make sure they both feel safe and are safe. But we …


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”. 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 a new rabbit virus. Are Protests Unsafe? It Depends on Who’s Protesting Over at Yahoo News, a surprising admission of hypocrisy: Are Protests Unsafe? What Experts Say May Depend on …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 8, 2020

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Today marks the birth of actor Kevin Bacon (born 1958.) Preppers usually associate him with the campy movie Tremors. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three day course …


How to Teach Situational Awareness to Children – Part 2, by T.Y.

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(Continued from Part 1.) In Part 1 of this series, I covered why it’s critical that we teach situational awareness preparedness skills to children. The way I like to do that is with age-appropriate games, and I’m excited to share some of those games with you. But before I cover the actual preparedness games, I’d like to share some suggested survival skills appropriate for various age groups. However, you know your child, so it’s up to you to decide what skills you want him or her to know and how you want to teach those skills. I hope this list …


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. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how-to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on components for mobile photovoltaic power systems. (See the Gear & Grub section.) Books: The new coin …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — July 7, 2020

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I just heard that Charlie Daniels died, at age 83.  He will be missed. — July 7th, 1907 was the birthday of science fiction novelist Robert A. Heinlein. He passed away on May 8, 1988, at age 80. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 89 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite …


How to Teach Situational Awareness to Children – Part 1, by T.Y.

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(Part 1 of 5) Until I was four years old my family lived in the “old house.” It was a wooden, four-room cabin overlooking a mountain stream. My grandfather built the cabin in the 1940s. When we wanted a drink of water we walked to our spring, filled a bucket and toted it home. If grandma needed hot water she had to start a fire first. While my sister and I played outside in the dirt, grandma cleaned clothes on a washboard in the creek and wrung them dry. She let us “help” when she churned butter or shucked corn, …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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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 a possible deal in Wyoming, where Occidental Petroleum is selling land and mineral rights covering 7,800 square miles. This is an area larger than Connecticut. (See the Wyoming section.) Idaho Authorities working today to recover two more victims following deadly airplane collision …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The cause of economic despair, however, is human nature’s propensity to sway from fear to euphoria and back, a condition that no economic paradigm has proved capable of suppressing without severe hardship. Regulation, the alleged effective solution to today’s crisis, has never been able to eliminate history’s crises.” Alan Greenspan – Financial Times, 2008


Preparedness Notes for Monday — July 6, 2020

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July 6th is the anniversary of the 1994 Storm King Mountain wildfire that took the lives of 14 firefighters. Weather changes, resulting in 45 mph wind gusts, caused a modest wildfire to erupt into a blazing inferno, which threatened homes in and around the town of Glenwood Springs, Colorado. Firefighters from around the country were called to assist in fighting this wildfire. We will never forget the young men and women who lost their lives battling this fire: Prineville (Oregon) Hotshots: Kathi Beck, Tamera Bickett, Scott Blecha, Levi Brinkley, Douglas Dunbar, Terri Hagen, Bonnie Holtby, Rob Johnson, Jon Kelso Missoula …


Century Arms C308 Sporter, by Pat Cascio

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If you’ve been on the firearms scene for any length of time, you will surely know the company called Century Arms. Century used to import a lot of military surplus long guns and handguns, at quite good prices. Then, some years ago, they started making AK-47 style rifles – using a mix of used mil-surplus parts and some brand-new parts. Now, if you know anything about the AK-47 rifle, you know it is simplicity at its best. They were designed that way, so they were easy to maintain by fighters in Third World countries, who didn’t know anything about firearms. …


Recipe of the Week: Potatoes Persillade

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The following recipe for Potatoes Persillade (Parsley) is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book will be one of the bonus items in the next edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This 15th Anniversary Edition USB stick should be available for sale in the third week of January, 2021. Potatoes Persillade Ingredients 1 dozen small new potatoes or 6 medium-sized old potatoes Butter or butter substitute Salt, to tatse Juice of one-half lemon …


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. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the ill-fated Zimbabwean Dollar. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: Gold price to hit $1,950 in Q2 2021 – Natixis o  o  o Egon von Greyerz: History Tells Us To Own Gold When Central Banks Run Out Of Control o  o  o Gold & Silver Forecasts: Both …