Year: 2026

Beyond Organic: Biological Systems Gardening for Food Security – Part 3, by Hobbit Farmer

(Continued from Part 2.) The microbes in the soil are master mineral miners using various acids, such as carbonic acid, to break down minerals into soluble forms that are bioavailable to the plants. The plants in turn exude sugars to feed and power the microbes during the mining operation. If you live east of the Mississippi or in commercial agricultural areas where we’ve been unsustainably exploiting the soil nutrients for decades or even centuries, there is a pretty good chance your soil is deficient in micronutrients, especially anion molecules like boron, sulfur, and molybdenum that tend to leach from the …


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:

“Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me; and, behold, he formed grasshoppers in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth; and, lo, it was the latter growth after the king’s mowings. And it came to pass, that when they had made an end of eating the grass of the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee: by whom shall Jacob arise? for he is small. The Lord repented for this: It shall not be, saith the Lord. Thus hath the Lord God shewed unto me: and, behold, the Lord God called to …


Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 20, 2026

On March 20, 1800, Italian chemist and physicist Alessandro Volta reported his invention of the electric battery in a letter to Joseph Banks, president of the Royal Society of London. — March 20th is also the birthday of Mel Tappan. (Born 1933, died 1980.) His perennially popular survivalist books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival have a well-deserved following. I designated March 20th National Survivalism Day, in his honor. It is also apropos that National Survivalism Day falls in March–one of the months that both Northern Europeans and Native Americans refer to as The Starving Season–when stored food runs low, …


Beyond Organic: Biological Systems Gardening for Food Security – Part 2, by Hobbit Farmer

(Continued from Part 1.) Principle #1: You Are a Microbe Farmer Do you want to sustainably grow healthy, nutritious, produce? Congratulations . You are now a microbe farmer! The first principle of biodynamic gardening is you are no longer growing plants, you are raising trillions upon trillions of microbes. If you can create an environment that supports a healthy soil ecosystem full of bacteria, fungi, and other soil organisms then ANY plants adapted to that environment will thrive. The Bionutrient Food Association (BFA) spent 3 years surveying nutrient quality across 21 crops. They compared the soil samples with the crops …


Economics & Investing Media of the Week

In Economics & Investing Media of the Week we feature photos, charts, graphs, maps, video links, and news items of interest to preppers.  Today, a map of global oil chokepoints. The thumbnail below is click-expandable.         (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) Economics & Investing Links of Interest How (And When) Gold Could Reach $10,000. Financial Tsunami Coming Because of Programmable Money – Catherine Austin Fitts Video: Billionaires Want Us Homeless. I received an e-mail on Wednesday from a reader who was befuddled by the bifurcation of precious metals and oil prices.  He asked why silver and gold dropped …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 19, 2026

On March 19, 1882, the first stone was laid for the Sagrada Familia basilica in Barcelona, Spain, designed by Antoni Gaudí.  A 55-foot cap piece cross was finally set in place on February, 20, 2026.  The light through the cathedral’s stained glass windows can be dramatic on sunny afternoons. — And on March 19, 1918, the US adopted the Standard Time Act of 1918, also known as the Calder Act, a federal law that implemented standard time (and daylight saving time). It defined five time zones for the United States. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for …


Beyond Organic: Biological Systems Gardening for Food Security – Part 1, by Hobbit Farmer

Many articles in SurvivalBlog discuss reaching the point of a new normal after TEOTWAWKI when society starts to rebuild and little communities pull together. However, the majority of articles focus on getting through the event itself and not how you are going to live beyond the event. To be successful in the post-TEOTWAWKI economy you will need to have the means to produce. Without petroleum-powered combines, chemical fertilizers, centralized distribution systems, and confined animal feeding operations the food system will fall apart. It’s all powered by (relatively) cheap fuel and transport. Your food sources will be mostly reduced to whatever …


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, venomous Blue Dragon Sea Slugs. Do Not Touch: Blue Dragon Sea Slugs Venomous ‘blue dragons’ washing up on South Texas beaches during spring break. Granny Jailed for 6 …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 18, 2026

On March 18, 1850, Henry Wells & William Fargo formed American Express, in Buffalo, New York. — March 18, 1911: North Dakota enacted a hail insurance law. — And on March 18,1925: The Great Tri-State Tornado, a monstrous F5 (over 300 MPH) tornado roared 219 miles across southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and southwest Indiana. It killed 695, injured over 2000, and destroyed 15,000 homes. — Today’s feature article is a timely piece from the SurvivalBlog archives. — We need of entries for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since …


Fuel Storage for Survival Retreats, by Flighter

Editor’s Introductory Note: The following is a re-post of a 2007 SurvivalBlog article. Given the recent spike in gasoline and diesel fuel prices, I thought that is was apropos to re-post a few articles related to fuel from SurvivalBlog’s early days. — The world runs on petroleum. Imagine a post-apocalyptic period when the local gas station is closed, and has been for two years. How will you carry out your daily activities? Generate electricity? Pump water? Plow your garden, or fields? All of these can be done by hand, and have been for thousands of years. Modern life has given …


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. — U.S. Army Reveals New Chevy Silverado-Based Infantry Squad Vehicle – Heavy Next-Gen Hybrid. JWR’s Comments:  They say that history doesn’t repeat, but it often rhymes.  This reminds me of the U.S. Army’s Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle (CUCV) procurement in the 1980s. That was basically a diesel-engine Chevy K5 Blazer with CARC camouflage …