Month: August 2023

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, some news of yet another new coronavirus variant. Scientists Demand Wearing Masks for New Covid Variant In The Express: Scientists demand Britons wear face masks as new Covid …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — August 16, 2023

August 16, 1888 was the birthday of British archaeological scholar and military strategist T.E. Lawrence—who was best known for his legendary activities in the Middle East during World War I, which earned him the nickname “Lawrence of Arabia”. — On August 16th, 1841, President John Tyler vetoed a second attempt by Congress to re-establish the Bank of the United States. In response, angry supporters of the bank gathered outside the White House and burned an effigy of Tyler. — Ready Made Resources — one of our original advertisers and the first writing contest prize donor — has added an interesting …


The Garden Failed This Year, Now What?, by Hollyberry

Every gardener, worldwide, has glorious expectations of the upcoming gardening season. Many families rely on their gardens for daily food and for getting through winter with canning and preserving the summer harvest. Gardeners can control many area of the actual process of growing, like enriching soil and getting good seed stock. We can also control some pest/insect infestation. Controlling the weather, well that’s a whole different story. To some degree, you can mitigate adverse weather conditions. Planting after a last frost date, provided the full moon has occurred is a relatively safe bet. If you live in a northern climate, …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — Rising death toll makes Maui wildfires deadliest in modern US history. o  o  o Reader C.J. wrote to warn about GatewayAmmo.com.  According to C.J., in his case, this company has posted false contact information on their website, used trickery on payment methods, failed to deliver products or to issue a refund, and …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Lord, send Your life throughout the entire church. Visit Your church; restore sound doctrine and holy, earnest living. Take away from professing Christians their love of frivolities, their attempts to meet the world on it’s own ground, and give back the old love of the doctrines of the Cross and Christ. May free grace and dying love again be the music that refreshes the church and makes her heart exceeding glad.” – Charles Spurgeon


Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — August 15, 2023

On August 15, 1935, American entertainer Will Rogers and aviation pioneer Wiley Post were killed in a plane crash near Point Barrow, Alaska. On August 15, 1057, Macbeth, king of Scots, was killed in battle by Malcolm, eldest son of Duncan I. — For 2023 the Paratus holiday for preparedness-minded folks will fall on September 15th. — Today’s guest feature article was selected by JWR. It first appeared in the Advancing Time blog.  It is reposted with permission. — We are in need of entries for Round 108 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $840,000 worth of prizes …


Global Inflationary Depression Is Very Possible, by Bruce Wilds

Roughly two and a half years ago it was predicted here on AdvancingTime that we might soon be witness to the first global inflationary depression. Many of us predicted inflation rolling in but underestimated the size of stimulus that would be put in the pipeline. This has only postponed the collapse of the financial system and economy. Still, many investors are basing their investments on more intervention from central banks and governments to pull another rabbit out of their hats. Global inflationary depression is not a mix of words we normally see placed together. To those finding this notion unacceptable, …


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, a further examination of the red county/blue county divide. Region-Wide There seem to be a lot of people that now feel a strong conviction to move to the American Redoubt. Here is just one recent example from a vlogger that I have been watching for …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 14, 2023

On August 14, 1457, the first book printed in Europe with a colophon bearing the name of the printer was completed in Mainz, Germany. These eventually developed into what is now commonly called a copyright page. Today is also the birthday of British folk-rock singer Maddy Prior.  (She was born August 14th, 1947.) — Our feature article today was written by a SurvivalBlog staff member, Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.


Spyderco Byrd Harrier 2 Lightweight Folding Knife, by Thomas Christianson

I recently purchased a Spyderco Byrd Harrier 2 Lightweight Folding Knife. It has a 3.36-inch full flat grind blade with a plain edge in 8Cr13MoV steel, a fiberglass reinforced nylon handle, a back-lock locking mechanism, a reversible pocket clip, a lanyard hole, and the distinctive Spyderco opening hole (as modified for Byrd) to allow ambidextrous, one-handed opening. I bought this knife because I had somehow received the impression that it is made in Taiwan. That is, unfortunately, not the case. All Spyderco Byrd knives are made in mainland China. I usually don’t review products made in mainland China, but since …


Recipe of the Week: Linda’s Sweet Relish

The following recipe for Linda’s Sweet Relish is from SurvivalBlog reader Linda R.  She notes that her version of the recipe is adapted from Linda J. Amendt‘s book:  Blue Ribbon Canning, published by Taunton Press, 2015 Linda notes:  “This sweet relish, made with sugar, onion, salt, mustard seeds, celery seeds, and cider vinegar, is perfect for hamburgers and hot dogs and potato salad, and anything else.” This recipe makes enough to fill  8 half-pint jars. Ingredients 3 to 4 pounds stems of purslane or collards, finely chopped (6 to 8 cups) 2 cups finely chopped onions, (2 to 3 medium onions) 3 tablespoons pickling or kosher …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at skewed inflation data. (See the Inflation/Deflation Watch section.) Precious Metals: AG Thorson, at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Forecast: Leading Economic Indicators Support Impending Recession. o  o  o Video from Jeffrey Christian: Silver deficits don’t exist and other silver myths. Economy & Finance: From Yahoo Finance: U.S. yield curve hits deepest inversion since 1981: What …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I’ve been selling my soul Working all day Overtime hours For bullsh*t pay So I can sit out here and waste my life away Drag back home and drown my troubles away It’s a damn shame What the world’s gotten to For people like me and people like you Wish I could just wake up and it not be true But it is, oh, it is Living in the new world With an old soul These rich men north of Richmond Lord knows they all just want to have total control Wanna know what you think Wanna know what you …