Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — December 9, 2020

December 9th, 1914 was the birthday of Maximo Guillermo “Max” Manus. He was one of the few Norwegians who put his life on the line, fighting the Nazi occupiers. (There surely would have been more active resistance fighters, but fearing widespread reprisal executions by the Germans, King H7 asked the civilian populace to stand down.) Max Manus passed away in 1996. I would have liked to have met him. His exploits are fairly accurately shown in the movie Max Manus: Man of War. —  




Wood-Fired Coffee Roasting – Part 2, by J.P.

Preparation for Roasting Besides gathering all your equipment together, two skills need to be developed: 1.) Maintaining just the right amount of fire and 2.) “Nurturing” the beans with masterful strokes of the paddles. First, the fire. If you are blessed to be a master of the wood fire then this part will come easy. Most effective wood cooking fires are long on a good bed of coals and short on actual flame. Flame delivers short-lived heat and then it dies. You don’t want to be rebuilding your fire in the middle of a roast. Now let’s talk about what …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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 is also an emphasis on links to sources for storage food and a variety of storage and caching containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This week we have some recommendations for Hanukkah and Christmas gifts that will help your …







Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — December 8, 2020

I just heard that General Chuck Yeager passed away, at age 97. He was quite a guy. Yeager will be greatly missed. — Today is the birthday of Eli Whitney, (1765–1825) the inventor of the labor-saving cotton gin, several firearms, and dozens of other mechanical devices. He was the first to demonstrate the advantages of fully interchangeable parts, in firearms manufacture. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% …




Wood-Fired Coffee Roasting – Part 1, by J.P.

The following is a tale of friendship, beating the lockdowns, going head to head with the challenges, and coffee! Introduction If your primary interest in reading this post is to learn the intricacies of roasting coffee, then I’m confident you would do well to go online and learn from the experts. As well, exquisite coffee roasting probably doesn’t happen over an outdoor wood fire where inconsistencies abound. However, you may be intrigued to discover a host of other worthy reasons to indulge in this somewhat adventurous outdoor pursuit. Coffee roasting emerged as an afterthought to the boredom and separation resulting …




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 wild horse herd management (See the Central & Eastern Oregon section.) Idaho Bull moose poached in game management area south of Twin Falls o  o  o Idaho cold case murder shook town; suspect’s arrest causes aftershocks o  o  o Chad Daybell files for …







Preparedness Notes for Monday — December 7, 2020

Some sad news: I just heard of the death of economist Dr. Walter E. Williams. He was always my favorite fill-in radio host when Rush Limbaugh was traveling. The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) has posted 30 of his best quotes on Liberty, Rights, Property, and Coercions. Rest in Peace, Walter Williams. Our condolences to his family. — On December 7, 1941, America was caught sleeping. Then there was that September morning, in 2001. Please pray that nothing like those days ever happens again. – JWR — Today we are presenting another product review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat …




Taurus G3 Versus G3C, by Pat Cascio

I recently covered the Taurus G2C in a product review article, and it was an outstanding little gun. Unfortunately, Taurus didn’t manufacture a G2 full-sized version. This has been corrected with the all-new Taurus G3 full-sized pistol, and their new G3C. While these two guns appear to be identical to the G2 with a quick glance at the guns side-by-side. But in fact they are really two different models. They just appear to be similar. Let’s start way back when – when I was the Investigations Manager for a big private detective agency, back in Chicago, Illinois – I was …




Recipe of the Week: Hillbilly Collard Greens, by Animal House

The following recipe for Hillbilly Collard Greens was kindly submitted by SurvivalBlog reader Animal House. Ingredients 2 qts of beef broth 1 clove of garlic diced 1 medium onion diced salt and pepper to taste 1 or 2 cans of diced tomatoes and green chilies 5 to 6 pounds of fresh collard greens, stemmed and cut into bite size pieces 1 TBS brown sugar (optional, for children) 1 pound of sliced polish sausage Directions The following are directions for cooking this for a dinner, as well as those for pressure canning With either, use a large dutch oven (or slow …




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 predictions for crude oil prices. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: Platinum Begins A New Rally – Gold And Silver Will Follow o  o  o CME Lowers Silver Margins $1000, Shorts Covering? o  o  o JP Morgan Is “Dominating” Gold And Silver Prices Economy & Finance: There’s a New …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Mankind soon learn to make interested uses of every right and power which they possess, or may assume. The public money and public liberty, intended to have been deposited with three branches of magistracy, but found inadvertently to be in the hands of one only, will soon be discovered to be sources of wealth and dominion to those who hold them… They [the assembly] should look forward to a time, and that not a distant one, when a corruption in this, as in the country from which we derive our origin, will have seized the heads of government, and be …




Preparedness Notes for Sunday — December 6, 2020

Today is the birthday of “claymation” artist and filmmaker Nick Park (born, 1958.) He is best known for his Wallace & Gromit films. — 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.” — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 92 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: …