Year: 2021

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour; Not in the lust of concupiscence, even as the Gentiles which know not God: That no man go beyond and …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — June 26, 2021

June 26th is the birthday of Marine Corps Lt. General Chesty Puller (born 1898, died October 11, 1971). He was perhaps America’s finest-ever maverick officer. — The annual ham radio Field Day begins today (June 26, 2021) at 1800 UTC.  Tune in. The ham bands will be very active! Field Day will end at 2100 UTC on Sunday. SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 95 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% off coupon. Depending on …


Raising Beef on a Small Homestead – Part 2, by K.R.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Transportation We started out not owning a trailer. We bought calves from someone who would deliver, borrowed trailers to purchase hay, and used a mobile butcher who killed and quartered the animals on site. I think it is possible to limp along in this manner for a while until one figures out whether or not beef production is going to be a permanent thing. We have since purchased a new Maverick stock trailer (from Quality Trailer Sales of Boise, Idaho), which seemed the best quality for the price. We bought a new …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Hear my voice, O God, in my prayer: preserve my life from fear of the enemy. Hide me from the secret counsel of the wicked; from the insurrection of the workers of iniquity: Who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: That they may shoot in secret at the perfect: suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not. They encourage themselves in an evil matter: they commune of laying snares privily; they say, Who shall see them? They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — June 25, 2021

On June 25th, 1876, Native American forces led by Chiefs Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeated the U.S. Army troops of Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer in a bloody battle near southern Montana’s Little Bighorn River. The Battle of Little Bighorn–also called Custer’s Last Stand –marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. While complicated, the generally accepted reason for the battle is that the discovery of gold in South Dakota’s Black Hills in 1875 led to the U.S. government disregarding previous treaty agreements. The gruesome fate of Custer …


Raising Beef on a Small Homestead – Part 1, by K.R.

Raising beef cattle may be outside the comfort zone of many Survival Blog readers, but it doesn’t need to be. At least that is what my wife and I found out. Doing so on a small, manageable scale has significantly upgraded our level of land management, food preparation, and enjoyment. Now we can’t imaging our high altitude (6,500 feet) American Redoubt retreat without full freezers of steaks, roasts, and burgers, all the nutritious compost we could ever hope for, and our two Highland cows roaming our mountainous 20 acres. Many might say that, “I’ve never raised livestock and want to …


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 industry perspectives on the ongoing ammunition shortage. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Fed Musings About Distant Interest Rate Hikes Spook Metals Markets o  o  o Inflation And Gold In The 1970s  Vs. Today’s Situation. o  o  o A good primer: Coins vs Bars – Expert Tips on …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The primary argument the past year among leftist governments in foreign nations as well as in blue states here in the US has been that they do not necessarily intend to “force” vaccine passports on their respective populations. Rather, they will leave it up to individuals to “choose” vaccination or no vaccination. This might sound surprising to many in the alternative media because we know that the lockdowns were viciously enforced by many states and numerous businesses were threatened or attacked by their local health authorities. Suddenly these same bureaucrats and politicians care about your personal freedoms? What they don’t …


Preparedness Notes for Thursday — June 24, 2021

June 24th the birthday of rifle-toting abolitionist pastor Henry Ward Beecher. (Born 1813, died March 8, 1887.) He and his adherents from his church smuggled so many Sharps rifles to Bleeding Kansas that the Sharps rifles picked up the nickname Beecher’s Bibles. Wikipedia states: “Several of his brothers and sisters became well-known educators and activists, most notably Harriet Beecher Stowe, who achieved worldwide fame with her abolitionist novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin.” — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 95 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power …


Survival Gardening: The Most Vital Prep – Part 3, by T.J. Dixon

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Your crops should be started indoors 4 to 6 weeks before you’re ready to put them out. Since your space is small to start, you will only need one or two 72 cell starter trays; you can also use egg trays or make pots from rolled up paper. When you are selecting your seeds look for heirloom or “open-pollinated” seeds; they will be labeled on the seed packet. Since you will be harvesting next year’s seeds from your little garden, you do not want hybrid seeds. Heirloom and open-pollinated seeds will reproduce …


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 the developing western drought. Europe Officially Launches Covid Vaccine Passports Avalanche Lily asked me to post this: Europe officially launches covid “vaccine passports” after clueless media dismissed the idea as a …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — June 23, 2021

On June 23, 1868, American inventor Christopher Latham Sholes received a patent for a typewriter. Sholes invented the QWERTY keyboard. Along with Samuel W. Soule, Carlos Glidden and John Pratt, Sholes has been contended as one of the inventors of the first typewriter in the United States. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 95 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% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. …


Survival Gardening: The Most Vital Prep – Part 2, by T.J. Dixon

(Continued from Part 1.) The planting process starts by seeding most crops indoors under artificial lights about 4-6 weeks before it is time to plant them outside; Here, refer to the USDA Hardiness information for planting times. Most crops need from 60 to 90 days to mature after you’ve transplanted. In Zone 5, I start spring seeds indoors in February, summer seeds indoors in April and fall seeds in July. Once things have sprouted, they need to be transitioned outside. You cannot just take a plant from the low light of the indoors into the full power of the sun …