Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 28, 2023

On August 28, 1793, the Siege of Toulon in the French Revolutionary wars began. — A reminder: Jonathan Rawles, who operates SurvivalRealty.com, has produced a free mini e-book intended for people contemplating a move to a rural area. This short e-book is available as a free PDF download.  Take note that SurvivalRealty is just an advertising site, not an agency or brokerage.  There are no commissions charged on the completion of property sales. — Today’s feature article is a review written by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.    




LogOX A2 GenOX Bushcraft Knife, by Thomas Christianson

The LogOX A2 GenOX Bushcraft Knife is a razor sharp, 4.25 inch, full-tang, fixed-blade, Scandi-grind knife made of A2 steel with a Micarta handle. At the time of this writing, it cost $287 at www.thelogox.com. The price includes the knife, a finely crafted leather sheath, and a matching ferrocerium rod. This compares favorably with other high-quality, hand-crafted, American-made knives. The knife and accessories provide a beautiful, well-crafted, highly-durable tool set for wood harvesting, hunting, camping, survival and other field use. The Backstory I like LogOX products for wood harvesting. My favorite LogOX product is their Hauler. A pair of Haulers, …




Recipe of the Week: Simple Pumpkin Soup

The following recipe for Simple Pumpkin Soup is from SurvivalBlog reader G.C.  She said that she adapted it from one that she found years ago in Country Living. Ingredients 2 tablespoons butter 1 peeled and chopped potato 1 chopped onion 4 ½ cups chicken broth 1 pound of cooked pumpkin (or one 15-ounce can of pumpkin, if you don’t have fresh pumpkins available.) Salt and pepper ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg ½ pint heavy cream Directions Melt the butter in a large pot and cook the potato and the onion for about 8 minutes. Add the chicken broth, bring it to …




The BRICS Alliance is All About Gold

Today, in place of my usual Monday column on economics and investing, I’d like to briefly delve into some of the implications of the recently announced expansion of the BRICS trading alliance. The acronym “BRIC” was first coined in 2001 by Terence James O’Neill — then of Goldman Sachs — in describing the fast-growing economies that would dominate the global economy by 2050: Brazil, Russia, India, and China.  Over time, South Africa was added to the acronym, making it BRICS. Oddly, O’Neill’s term of art eventually morphed into an actual multi-national organization.  In recent years, primarily under mainland Chinese leadership, …