Year: 2020


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — July 2, 2020

On July 2nd, 1937 aviator Amelia Earhart and navigator Fred Noonan disappeared over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to make the first round-the-world flight at the equator. — 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 …


So, You Want to Buy a Handgun… by K.E.

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As a follow-up to Frog’s recent excellent article on gun-buying decisions, I thought I would drill down a bit on the handgun option – not to exclude the importance of long-guns, by any means! This article was originally quick-typed for a non-gun-owing friend at work who asked, “what kind of handgun should I buy”, when he was feeling a bit insecure due to the latest national conflagration (not the most current). As a result, this is my opinion, based on experience. I look forward to comments, as we can always learn from each other! The two most common types of …


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 teh latest wave of censorship and social engineering via social credit scores. Social Credit Scores Are Already Here Avalanche Lily alerted me to this piece, over at The Last American …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 1, 2020

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July 1st, is the anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, in 1863. — I’m on my way home to the Rawles Ranch, so I’ve reactivated the shopping cart system for Elk Creek Company. I’ve just started my Independence Day Sale. You will note some sale prices. I’ll be posting 10 new pieces of inventory, in the next few days. As usual, I am holding the line on my prices, and have even reduced a few. All items are first-come-first-served. We regularly ship to California and to Illinois (except Chicago.) I can accept credit card payments. …


Large-Batch Canning & Jam Making, by St. Funogas

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One of my favorite garden bounties every year is the blackberry jam I get from my beautiful 100’ row of thornless blackberry vines. I love my blackberries for many reasons: they’re one of my few pest-free crops, they’re perennials, and they’re linked to my Swedish grandfather who was a master horticulturist and berry grower for over half a century. I also get a feeling of not only craftsmanship, but companionship with my grandpa when I’m out working with the vines: tying up this year’s growth, propagating new plants from tip runners, harvesting the berries, and cutting out the two-year stems …


June 2020 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

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Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices. – Steven Cochran of Gainesville Coins What Did Gold Do in June? Gold buyers proved more than willing to step in and buy the dips in June. This bargain hunting became more pronounced as the month went on, and forecasts of an imminent run at all-time highs increased. Spot gold ground higher in June, starting around $1,700, and running into tough resistance around the $1,765 level …


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 books about Idaho. (See the Books section.) Books: I’ve mentioned this great book, before. It is …




The Illogical “In Common Use” Legal Standard

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The Supreme Court’s District of Columbia v. Heller decision in 2008 was a landmark case. While it did confirm our right to keep and bear arms, it stopped short of overturning the plethora of bad laws that it should have. In this essay, I will demonstrate that the logic that the court applied in Heller was significantly flawed. In Heller, while addressing the 1939 Miller v. United States decision, the Supreme Court applied the standard of “the sorts of weapons protected were those ‘in common use at the time.’” Some background: Jack Miller and Frank Layton were small-time crooks that had been …


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 Smithsonian’s Aerial America television series, parts of which recently became available on YouTube. (See the Idaho and Montana sections.) Idaho Aerial America: Idaho (Full Episode) o  o  o 10 Cheapest Idaho Town to Buy a Home. JWR’s Comment: Apparently this video was …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — June 29, 2020

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On June 29th, 1941, the Germans invaded and occupied Lvov, in eastern Galicia, in Ukraine, slaughtering thousands of people. Russia followed a scorched earth policy as Germany invaded just as they had during Napoleon’s invasion. The burned, destroyed, flooded, dismantled and removed anything and everything in territory that they were forced to give up. As the Germans moved in, the Soviets proceeded to murder 3,000 Ukrainian political prisoners. It was so bad that the Germans were actually seen as liberators by the local population. Sadly, within days, they were forced to endure the horrors of the Nazi regime as some …