Preparedness Notes for Saturday — January 18, 2025

On January 18, 1258 the Mongol army of 150,000, led by Hulagu Khan, the grandson of Genghis Khan, arrived at the walls of Baghdad. Following a 12-day siege, the city fell on February 13th. It was recorded that the majority of the city’s one million residents were massacred in less than two days. — January 18, 1923: The first radio telegraph message from the Netherlands was received successfully in the Dutch East Indies. — 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 …




A Prepper’s Carpentry Toolkit – Part 1, by A.F.

About once a quarter I look at the list of ideas the editors collected for potential article topics in hopes that there is an area where I might be able to contribute to the community. For over a year I have noted the construction projects and realistic hand tools suggestions and wondered what approach I could take to share my experience(s). For context, I have spent most of my life in either the building or engineering workforces and currently have my own small general contracting business. The source material for this article came about with the recognition that I had …




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 …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And Moses with the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying, Keep all the commandments which I command you this day. And it shall be on the day when ye shall pass over Jordan unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, that thou shalt set thee up great stones, and plaister them with plaister: And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the Lord …