Year: 2024

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 23, 2024

Birthday of Larry Dean Olsen (January 23, 1939 — December 26, 2018.) He died December 26, 2018 at Miracle Hot Springs in Buhl, Idaho. He was born in Wendell, Idaho, on January 23, 1939, to parents Dean and Lola Olsen and grew up in Jerome, Idaho. Larry was widely recognized as the father of modern primitive survival education. He was the author of the international bestseller Outdoor Survival Skills, which was first printed in 1967 and widely considered the classic definitive book on the subject. On January 23, 1556, an earthquake in Shaanxi, China, killing an estimated 830,000 people. Counting …


Day One of TEOTWAWKI: A Written Plan – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Last year I did a 10-day test of my preps. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) It was the most important prepping activity I’ve every done and a real eye-opener to say the least. I found it an enjoyable experience that required a lot of problem-solving. For 2024, I highly recommend such a test of our preps, even if only for a few days. How about during a week’s vacation? I promise it’ll be one of your most memorable and educational. As the test began, I quickly I discovered I only had a very fuzzy idea of what …


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, we focus on winter weather and weather-related car crashes. Region-Wide Feds begin process of considering restoration of grizzlies in Bitterroot ecosystem. o  o  o Air Force to host ‘Sentinel’ public meetings in Lewistown and Great Falls. A pericope: “The U.S. Air Force will host town …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 22, 2024

January 22, 1879: In the Battle of Rorke’s Drift, a British garrison of 139 soldiers held off an estimated 4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses and a number of other decorations were awarded to the defenders. The image above is a still from the well-known 1964 movie Zulu, that fairly accurately showed the Battle of Rorke’s Drift. On January 22, 1944, Allied forces began landing at Anzio, Italy. — The 2005-2023 SurvivalBlog Archive USB sticks are selling very quickly. Many folks are ordering 2, 3, or more. One reader ordered ten sticks. Last week, I posted a list of the …


ALPS Mountaineering Felis 4 Tent, by Thomas Christianson

Last Spring, my wife “Kari”, my daughter “Rivka”, and I were doing some initial planning for our summer camping excursions. In the course of that planning, we begin to discuss my tent. Rivka said that she wanted to borrow the old tent for a solo excursion that she had planned. I was not 100% comfortable with that idea. The tent had frankly seen better days. I was well acquainted with its quirks, foibles, flaws, and tricks. With that knowledge, I felt like I could safely use the tent for another season. But I just did not feel that I could …


Recipe of the Week:  Raisin-Walnut Cheese Spread

The following simple recipe for Raisin-Walnut Cheese Spread is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1926, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 new bonus books included in the new 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. Ingredients 5 small packages of cream cheese 1 cupful raisins 1 cupful walnut-meats, chopped 1 cupful coconut (shredded) 2 tablespoonfuls lemon- juice Directions Mix the listed ingredients all together with the hand, working it into a little, round, flat mold, saving out enough coconut to roll it in. SERVING This recipe makes …


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 electric car woes, in cold weather. (See the Commodities section.) Precious Metals: At Zero Hedge: First Costco, Now Walmart? Major Retailers Now Offer Gold Bars. o  o  o Keith Weiner: The Anti-Concepts of Money: Stagflation. Economy & Finance: Federal Reserve Payments to Banks Trigger Largest Ever Operating Loss. JWR’s Comments: It is a …



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 21, 2024

On January 21, 1506, Swiss Guards first arrived at the Vatican as watchmen for the pope. On January 21, 1525, the Swiss Anabaptist Movement began when Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and a dozen others baptized each other in the home of Manz’s mother in Zürich, breaking a thousand-year tradition of church-state union. This movement led to great consternation in the Catholic church, persecution, and the eventual dislocation of many Anabaptist dissidents, including the followers of Jakob Ammann – The “Amish.” Confederate General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson was born on January 21, 1824 in Clarksburg, West Virginia. His statue …


An Appeal for Unity, by SaraSue

I had a really strange experience recently that I will relay in a bit.  The net-net of it was that it got me to thinking about how Christians and homesteaders need to put their squabbles aside and join forces, as do most Americans.  JWR talks a lot about finding “like-minded” people, and there’s a good reason for that.  People who think alike and do things similarly, tend to get along better, and are therefore more productive.  In our modern day, that is often referred to as “tribalism”, and some folks are for that idea and some are not.  “Diversity is …


JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR: Meme Text: The FBI Has Had All The Videos From The Hard Drives on Epstein’s Island Since August, 2019… Still No New Indictments After Maxwell. So… Why Is Washington, D.C. as Quiet as a Graveyard? News Links: 2019: FBI raids Jeffrey Epstein’s private Caribbean island. 2021: FBI agents used a saw to open a safe in Jeffrey Epstein’s Manhattan mansion that held hard drives and diamonds. 2022: Ghislaine Maxwell Sentenced To 20 Years In Prison For Conspiring With Jeffrey Epstein To Sexually Abuse Minors. 2022: Ghislaine Maxwell conviction: Will others be charged? Will she flip? …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“Am I am not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord. Mine answer to them that do examine me is this, Have we not power to eat and to drink? Have we not power to lead about a sister, a wife, as well as other apostles, and as the brethren of the Lord, and Cephas? Or I only and Barnabas, …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 20, 2024

On January 20, 1778 British explorer James Cook landed at Waimea, on Kauai island, becoming the first European to visit Hawaii. — On January 20, 1981 the Iran hostage crisis ended when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini released  American hostages were released by the Iranian government, following 444 days of captivity, to be reunited with their families. Not coincidentally, Ronald Reagan was sworn in as President, the same day. — January 20th, 1993, Bill Clinton was first sworn in as President. That was the day that I resigned my commission as a U.S. Army Captain. I did so, because my service obligation …


Haying By Hand, by H.F.K.

One of the challenges of keeping domestic animals is providing them with forage during the winter months, or year-round if you live on a small lot. We started keeping sheep in a cold climate on a small lot as a way to feed our family when we were paying off student loans and a mortgage at a high interest rate. Haying by hand was a way to make use of previously unproductive spots on our land (and other people’s land), because a person with a scythe can work in places that would be lethal by tractor. Believe it or not, …