Month: March 2024

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: If the Second Civil War is Fought By The Trans & Woke Versus The Trad & Chad Any Bets on Who Will Win, in the Long Term? News Link: Gun Ownership Higher Among Republicans Than Democrats. Photo Credits: Photo on left by Miguel Discart at a Pride.be event. (Creative Commons licensed. Found using Flickr-commons.)  Photo on right from the outstanding photographer Patrick Hall, on Fstoppers. Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 9, 2024

Pancho Villa‘s men killed more than a dozen residents in a raid on Columbus, New Mexico. March 9, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Forces bombed Tokyo with napalm, causing fires that destroyed a quarter of the city and killed some 80,000 civilians. Today is the birthday of writer John McPhee (b. 1931), a master of creative nonfiction. One of McPhee’s most widely read books is Coming into the Country, which eloquently describes the Alaskan wilderness. On March 9, 432 BC, the Parthenon was consecrated in Athens. March 9th is the birthday of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first man to …


Making Wine At Home – Part 2, by H.F.K.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Some winemakers recommend dissolving the yeast in water first (called “proofing”). I’ve done it both ways, and adding the yeast directly seems to work best for me. There are many different kinds of yeast for winemaking. (If you want to keep a bunch of oenophiles busy for days, ask them what the best yeast is, and then scurry away while they argue over it.) I use one of four kinds that I keep on hand, depending on what kind of wine I’m making. Yeasts vary in how well they tolerate alcohol. If …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both 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 the Odds ‘n …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And it came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel; and the name of his second, Abiah: they were judges in Beersheba. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted judgment. Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah, And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 8, 2024

On March 8th, 2014, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people lost contact and disappeared, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries. March 8th is the birthday of famed revolver shooter, big game hunter, and gun writer Elmer Keith, who co-designed the S&W .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges. He authored the book Sixguns, which is still considered a standard reference. His fascinating life story is told in his last book, Hell, I was there! A Proto-Redoubter, Keith spent the second half of his life on a ranch near Salmon, Idaho. …


Making Wine At Home – Part 1, by H.F.K.

People have been making wine for almost as long as there have been people. In the Bible, we’re told that Noah, after disembarking from the ark, “was the first to plant a vineyard.” (Genesis 9:21) This article will give you some how-tos, whats, and whsy on making wine at home, as well as a brief description of how I got into it. How I got started on making wine at home The first time a friend of mine, Pastor B., visited our home, he gave us a bottle of homemade apricot wine. It was incredible. I picked his brain on …


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 record-high gold futures prices, in Dollar terms. (See the Precious Metals section.) Precious Metals:   Published on Tuesday: ‘We Have Liftoff!’ – Spot Gold Takes Out Record High.  JWR’s Comments: The fundamentals of gold haven’t changed, as a hedge. It is the U.S. Dollar that is showing its inherent weakness.  Oh, and …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 7, 2024

On March 7, 1778, Captain James Cook first sighted the Oregon coast at Yaquina Bay. March 7, 1707 was the birthday of Stephen Hopkins, (Governor of Rhode Island) one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. And March 7, 1944 was the birthday of Townes Van Zandt, a gifted Texan singer/songwriter. (He died in 1997.) — Update: We are running out of 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog archive USB sticks. There are only about 200 left. Many readers are ordering 2, 3, or 4 sticks. There will not be another batch of sticks produced this year, so get your order in soon. …


Separett Waterless Composting Toilet, by OhioGalt

Not the most comfortable topic to discuss but closing up the cabin last week I realized that our toilet has been problem-free for many years and worthy of a brief review to share with the readers of SurvivalBlog. I did not receive any compensation for this review, and we purchased this unit four years ago and have been using it regularly. We installed a composting toilet in our cabin several years ago for those times we didn’t want to trudge 300′ through the snow to the outhouse. My wife and I watched numerous video reviews of different composting toilets in …


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, a further examination of emigration from northeastern “blue” states. Five Million People Have Fled ‘Blue States’ in the Last Decade A Moneywise report: ‘One of the biggest mass …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The churches represent the great area of freedom from statist controls in many countries. This is a condition which the modern state finds intolerable and is determined to alter. The state’s great ally in this struggle is all too often the church itself. The humanism of so many churchmen makes them dedicated allies of statist objectives.” – R.J. Rushdoony, Christianity and the State


Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 6, 2024

On March 6, 1475 Italian Renaissance artist Michelangelo Buonarroti—who exerted an unparalleled influence on Western sculpture, painting, and architecture and whose works rank among the most famous in existence—was born in the Republic of Florence. Today is the birthday of Georg Johann Luger (March 6, 1849 – December 22, 1923). He was the Austrian designer of the famous Luger pistol and the 9×19mm Parabellum cartridge. March 6th was the birthday of Leroy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper Jr., born in 1927 in Shawnee, Oklahoma. This U.S. Air Force pilot and astronaut was aboard Mercury 9 and Gemini 5. Cooper had his exploits …