Year: 2025

Update: A Home-Based Business — Your Ticket to The Boonies

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is an update and expansion to a post that I made in SurvivalBlog back in December, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary update re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years. — The majority of SurvivalBlog readers that I talk with tell me that they live in cities or suburbs, but they would like to live full-time at a retreat in a rural area. Their complaint is almost always the same: “…but I’m not self-employed. I can’t afford to live …


Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, or occasional news items of interest to preppers. Today, a map showing the top imports of most countries of the world.  The thumbnail below is click expandable.  (Map courtesy of HowMuch.net, by way of Reddit.)       — Links of Interest Housing alarm as half of all US homes fall in value — biggest drop since the Great Recession. Pennies are being canceled and the US Mint won’t make any more. What does that mean? At Zero Hedge: Visualizing The World’s $111 Trillion …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — November 20, 2025

November 20, 1789: New Jersey became the first state to ratify the Bill of Rights. — National Sovereignty Day (Spanish: Día de la Soberanía Nacional) is a national public holiday in Argentina, celebrated each year on November 20th. — November 20, 1914: The U.S. State Department began requiring photographs for passports. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value), …


Update: Oil and Lubricant Storage in Retreat Planning

JWR’s Introductory Note: The following is an update and expansion to a post that I made in SurvivalBlog back in November, 2005. It is part of a series of SurvivalBlog 20th Anniversary re-posts, in recognition of the fact that the majority of readers did not join us until recent years. — Many letters and e-mails I’ve received over the years have mentioned motor oil and chainsaw fuel mixing oil.  That reminded me about a subject that I’ve meant to address on the blog: the key considerations of oil and lubricant storage.  It is important to think through all of your …


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, news of some Ominous rumblings from Washington’s Mount Rainier. Some Frequent Mount Rainier Rumblings America’s deadliest volcano enters unprecedented 72-hour tremor phase as eruption threat looms over millions. …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — November 19, 2025

November 19, 1530: The final decree of the Diet of Augsburg, “The Recess,” is signed by Charles V and Catholic princes, reaffirming Catholic rites and principles after the departure of Protestant princes. — On November 19, 1619, the Dutch ship Nieuw Hoorn exploded in the Sunda Strait, near Sumatra, after a fire on board reached the gunpowder, killing more than 100 men. — Today is the anniversary of the Kyle Rittenhouse “Not Guilty” verdicts, in 2021. — On this day in 1863, U.S. President Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address, at the dedication service for the National Cemetery in Pennsylvania. — …


Experience with a Mouse-Proof Cellar, by Pescadores

This article is about my experience using a shipping container as a mouse-proof cellar. A couple of important notes up front – shipping containers are not designed to have a load-bearing roof. I discovered that quickly while attempting to put a dirt cover over the top of the container. With a small load of dirt on top, the roof of the metal container began to bow. I shoveled the dirt back off of there, and revised my plan as explained below. So don’t do that. Also, it is essential that the container be installed above the groundwater table to prevent …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our 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. — Last nuclear treaty between US and Russia nears expiration as Trump and Putin trade testing threats. (Pictured above are subsidence craters from underground nuclear weapons tests at the Yucca Flats portion of the DOE’s Nevada Test Site.) o  o  o “Unique” weather warning for winter as La Nina, Polar Vortex dance. (Our …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — November 18, 2025

According to Swiss lore, on November 18, 1307, William Tell of the canton of Uri was forced by Habsburg invaders to shoot an apple off his son’s head, with a crossbow. The international gun rights organization ProTell was named in his honor. — On November 18, 1865, Mark Twain published the short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” in The New York Saturday Press. — On this day in 1978, Peoples Temple founder Jim Jones led hundreds of his followers in a mass murder-suicide at their agricultural commune in a remote part of the South American nation of …


The Dirty Side of Homesteading, by Patrice Lewis

Too often, homesteading articles, blogs, websites, and videos (including this one – guilty!) show only the successful side of homesteading. The abundant harvest, the completed projects, the fresh eggs and baby chicks and overflowing milk, the healthy livestock … by golly, this lifestyle must be easy-peasy, right? Yes and no. Of course things go right. And of course things go wrong. But what is seldom shown is the nitty-gritty day-to-day dirty side of homesteading, including the daily chores that must be done for the comfort and welfare of animals. For that reason, I thought I’d show you something I do …


SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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. World War II Airplane Converted Into A Motorhome Turns Heads In Wyoming. (The photo above is from the motorhome owner’s Facebook page.) Here is more about the Wyoming airplane auction mentioned in the article: Not 2 or 3, but a Wyoming airport is auctioning 16 historic airplanes from C-119s to KC-97s and the bidding starts for the price of two Shake Shack burgers. Some OTHER Recent American Redoubt …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Gy menne, de nyn harnsch anne en hebben, gy solt achter uns beharnscheden gaen, und wyket nycht und schuwet uns und steket myt den peyken under de iseren hode.” “You men, who have no armour on you, you shall go behind our armoured [men] and will not move nor fear and you will stab with the pikes underneath the iron hats [in the faces and necks of the enemy].” – Captain Hynrick van Gemen, explaining the use of pikes, before the defense of Münster from invaders, circa 1407.