Month: January 2025

Preparedness Notes for Friday — January 3, 2025

On January 3rd, 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church by Pope Leo X for failing to recant parts of his Ninety-five Theses. Luther’s doctrine sparked the Protestant Reformation. — January 3, 1777: General George Washington‘s army defeated British forces at the Battle of Princeton, New Jersey. — January 3, 1868: The Meiji Restoration returned authority to Japan’s emperors. — Today’s feature article is a repost, so it is not eligible for judging in the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. We are in need of articles for Round 116 of the writing contest. More than $935,000 worth of …


2025 Annual Appeal: The Ten Cent Challenge

I hope that you get at least 10 cents worth of knowledge, entertainment, and motivation each day from SurvivalBlog. It has been posted with fresh content daily, since August, 2005. In nearly 20 years I’ve only missed posting on a few days — most notably in the week after my first wife passed away. I do my best to mention the Ten Cent Challenge editorially only once each year — and this post is it, for all of 2025. Unlike PBS, we don’t run agonizingly endless pledge drives. Just this one brief reminder, annually. But we do depend on voluntary …


Update: A Legal, Low-Cost, Readily-Available Painkiller, by Kitchen Maven

Editor’s Introductory  Note:  I only rarely re-post articles from the SurvivalBlog archives.  But I was recently reminded about this 2010 article.  Since nearly 15 years have gone by, I can safely assume that it probably has not been read by most of the current  SurvivalBlog readers.  I have updated it with some more recent research and a confirmation of one mentioned source. I’ll open this article with a couple of real-world experiences: You’re stacking wood when a log suddenly twists, and the pile comes tumbling down on you, leaving your legs covered with cuts and bruises. You walk into the …


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 some 2025 market predictions. Precious Metals: 2025 Silver Price Predictions. o  o  o Gold set for brightest year since 2010 on rate cuts, safe-haven demand. o  o  o Matthew Piepenburg: Gold in 2025? Tragically Predictable. o  o  o Gold Price 2025 Forecast: Rising Support Sets Stage for Second-Half Breakout. JWR’s Comment:  With …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 2, 2025

On January 2, 1492, Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrendered his city to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel I of Castile. This ended both the Reconquista and centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberian peninsula. — January 2, 1890: A record 19.2 foot-long alligator was shot in Louisiana by American businessman Edward Avery McIlhenny. — Today’s feature article was too short to qualify for the judging in the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. We need more entries for Round 116 of the contest. More than $935,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. …


Post-TEOTWAWKI Refrigeration, by 3AD Scout

My Amish neighbor, who recently moved into the neighborhood, was telling me that he was going to build an ice house from a kit.  I told him to let me know when he was going to assemble it and I would give him a hand.  I have some historical knowledge of how ice used to be harvested, stored, delivered, and used before modern refrigeration, so I was very interested in how the Amish store and use their ice today. The Component kit The ice house kit consisted of 14 large pieces of styrofoam that were one foot thick.  The kit …


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 on the prepper development of the former Black Hills Ordnance Depot (BHOD). Bunker Residents Raise Financial, Safety Concerns Over at the leftist Yahoo News: Trouble in ‘prepper’ …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 1, 2025

On January 1, 45 B.C., the Julian calendar took effect for the first time, by edict of Roman consul Julius Caesar. — January 1, 1583 was the first day of the Gregorian calendar in Holland and Flanders. — On January 1, 1600, Scotland first began its numbered year on January 1st instead of March 25th. — And on January 1, 1788, Quakers in Pennsylvania emancipated their slaves. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 116 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest …


Collards: Our Winter Staple, by A.F.

One of the aspects of living where we do I find most appealing is the long gardening season. It is possible to keep produce of one type or another growing in the garden year-round, (though this is not the same as saying we have harvestable vegetables for the full year). Kale is the most resilient thus far since a single fall planting can carry into the following June if there is not an early heat spell. Cabbage and broccoli are each suitable for both late winter and late summer plantings and typically yield well while requiring minimal effort. When life …


December, 2024 in Precious Metals, by Everett Millman

Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and silver’s performance and examine the factors that affected metal prices. WHAT DID GOLD AND SILVER DO IN DECEMBER? Despite enjoying a terrific annual performance, the precious metals fared poorly to close out the year. Gold ended the month down 1% while silver endured another monthly loss in excess of 5%. The metals started the month trending lower: on Dec. 2nd, spot gold fell about 0.5% to $2,636 per troy ounce, and silver …


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. — Have you heard that the best-selling 1949 survivalist novel Earth Abides finally became a television miniseries?  All of the episodes are now available over at MGM+ and at the computer virus-plagued www.lookmovie2.to. The script writers and producers took some considerable liberties with the storyline, but at least the novel’s basic premise is …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

 “As civil rulers, not having their duty to the people duly before them, may attempt to tyrannize, and as the military forces which must be occasionally raised to defend our country, might pervert their power to the injury of their fellow-citizens, the people are confirmed… in their right to keep and bear their private arms.”  – Philadelphia Federal Gazette and the Philadelphia Evening Post, June 18, 1789, commenting on the draft of the Second Amendment, which was then a proposed amendment.