Acquiring Small Game Quietly- Part 1, by S.D.

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In the event of TEOTWAWKI, procuring food, including acquiring small game, can be not only a benefit and a help making supplies last longer, but it can also be a lifesaving ability. Small game is prevalent just about everywhere until the hunting pressure is on and then it disappears. I have seen this first hand on our small six-acre lot. We hunted the rabbits on the property one year with our archery equipment, and although the rabbits won overall, we harvested a few, or two, over the course of the season. Visible Rabbit Population Decline Despite our inability to make …


Letter: What are Your Daily Prayers as a Survivalist?

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Dear Hugh, I would like to know what Daily prayers are from the readers, including their wording. I am also interested in the Editor’s response, including JWR himself as I believe this will greatly assist fellow readers in the times ahead, including myself. Thank you, – M.S. HJL’s Comment: Daily prayers are a highly personal thing and your approach to it will generally reflect your background. On one side of the spectrum some use rote memorized prayers. On the other side, some use free form prayers of whatever comes to mind. Many use a combination where perhaps certain phrases are …


Thoughts on Hunting for Survival, by Ohio Country Man

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Hunting for survival is a topic on my mind. I ran into an old coworker and his wife while volunteering at the local food bank the day before Thanksgiving. While exchanging pleasantries, his wife mentioned that she had heard we lived on a farm well outside the city. It’s not really a working farm, I explained, but more like a hobby farm on a lot of acreage. Our Acres Down the Road in the Country My wife and I have plans to use most of our 15 acres down the road, but with two small children we have neither the …


The Hidden Danger of Grain Storage, by Z.H.

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Is there an unseen danger in food storage that could render you and your family with serious health conditions when the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWAWKI) hits? I believe the answer to this important question is yes, and as I sincerely attempt to show you why, I ask that you read this article to its end and weigh it carefully. Glyphosate– The Most Used Weed Killer in the World Round Up, also known by its chemical name glyphosate, is the most used weed killer in the world. Its maker, Monsanto, claims that it is harmless. However, …


Letter: A Raspberry Pi Computer is Recommended Gear

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Hugh, Consider setting aside one or more Raspberry Pi 3 computers. They run on 5v and have a complete operating system with compilers, web browser, word processor, spreadsheet, database, etc. Combine with references on USB drives and we are much more quickly on our way back to civilization. Note: The Raspberry Pi needs a USB keyboard, USB mouse and any screen that takes HDMI for human interface. You do not need a keyboard to run it as a server (web server, file server, communications device, etc.) Applications to connect to the server, control it and program it are available for …


Survivalism, Prepping, and OPSEC: An Alternative View, by Todd

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The topic of OPSEC (operations security) comes up all the time on SurvivalBlog, and I wholeheartedly agree that it is an important topic for all of us. But I believe it is an important topic with potentially more than one right answer, depending on your particular situation and mindset. Standard OPSEC Based On Secrecy The standard answer to OPSEC on SurvivalBlog (and just about everywhere else) is based on secrecy and the general concept of keeping your preps, your location, your networks, and sometimes even your survivalist mentality all to yourself, or at the very least known to as few …


Start Now, While You Can, Because You Can, by Old Bobbert

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These short published blog articles, these pieces of myself, of ourselves, concerning preparedness, survivalism, self awareness, and personal readiness are created to help the reader to start taking action and learn to fight ignorance and greed. From my side of these entries, I do not promote myself as an expert; I’m just another concerned guy who wants to help others and perhaps showcase my personal opinions. Not even a little of the real me has ever shown completely through these prepper pages, these pieces of our lives,. Prepper Achievement Judged Moving on, there’s a well justified question begging to be …


Recipe of the Week: Chicken Olé, by G.T.

Ingredients: 12 tortillas, cut into 6 or 8 pieces each 4 cups of coarsely chopped cooked chicken or turkey 1 (10 3/4 oz) can of condensed cream of chicken soup 1 (10 3/4 oz) can of condensed cream of mushroom soup 1 (7 oz) can of green chili salsa 1 cup dairy sour cream 1 Tbsp grated onion 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese Directions: Lightly grease the sides and bottom of a Crockpot. In separate bowl, mix together undiluted soups, salsa, sour cream, and onion. Inside Crockpot, arrange alternating layers of tortillas, chicken, and soup mixture. Cover and cook …


Letter: California’s December Wildfires

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Hello Hugh, As I write this, the Thomas Fire is still ravaging Ventura County, California. Three lessons need to be taken away: Gather your own intel, Be ready to go if it gets close, even if the threat seems remote; and, Live miles away from brushy or forested areas at risk of fire. This gives people more time to evacuate with more of their possessions, or at least have better comfort about the fire. The more information that is available allows people to make better decisions in real time, rather than wait until the water is so high they need …


Don’t Be Prey, by L.H.

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Nobody wants to be prey when things go wrong. I don’t have a cabin in the woods stocked with ammo and dried food with a well out back. I don’t have a pickup and trailer loaded with extra fuel waiting for the great escape. Where I Live I live in a city of a million. Here, we have street people living under bridges and dope shops on every other city block. (It’s legal here.) It’s also freezing cold in the Rockies and dry. All in all, it’s not the perfect place to weather TEOTWAWKI. But it’s what we have. The …


Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 4, By Alaskan Gardeners

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My wife and I have developed a mid-scale grain garden and have shared much of the crop operations earlier in this article series. We are in the middle of disclosing modifications to the Rodale Thresher as part of our Threshing and Winnowing operation. Let’s continue. Threshing and Winnowing (continued) Exit Modifications To Avoid Lost Grain I used ½” galvanized hardware cloth for the exit screen as shown in Figure 10. Most of the grain lost from the thresher is via sweeping out seed along with threshing debris. Counter this by installing finished 1” X 1” boards across the screen to …


Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 3, By Alaskan Gardeners

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My wife and I are convinced we need to pursue self sufficiency, and a large part of that is food self sufficiency, including providing our own protein, vegetables, and grain. I’m writing about our family’s grain gardening and am in the midst of detailing our crop operations. We’ve gone over soil preparation, planting, and reaping. Let’s now continue with drying. Reaping and Drying (continued) Mild fall weather during harvest time as shown in Figure 3 is unusual in the Copper River Valley, Alaska. It’s usually cold and sometimes wet; we had three inches of snow on the ground during our …


Letter: Neutron Shielding for Fallout Shelters

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Hugh and Jim, I was recently reading a book on nuclear reactors. I learned that iron can be used in concrete to provide neutron shielding. The iron slows the fast neutrons down to thermal levels that can be easily absorbed in the concrete. I also mine my own gold. As a byproduct of my mining, I have buckets of magnetite and hematite iron ore sand. The magnetite ore I sell to a local blacksmith for making steel. The hematite I’ve found no use for until now. I can use this black sand in place of silica sand in the concrete …


Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 2, By Alaskan Gardeners

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We are continuing on with this article about my wife’s and my journey in mid-scale grain gardening. Yesterday, I explained our reasons for believing it was time to build self-sufficiency, and now let’s move on to the food production part, specifically our grain gardening efforts. Definition of Mid-Scale Grain Gardening Grain plots may vary in size, ranging from, at the minimum, a small plot using a rototiller or shovel and rake for soil preparation, hand sowing the grain, reaping with a scythe or sickle, threshing with a flail, and winnowing with a kitchen fan or a windy day. The small-scale …


Mid-Scale Grain Gardening in Alaska- Part 1, By Alaskan Gardeners

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Food sufficiency is a large part of self sufficiency, so my wife and I pursued mid-scale grain gardening, though our home was in Alaska. Here is our story and how we have done this. Breakdown of My Article My article will cover the following: Preamble: Why We All Should Become Increasingly Self-sufficient– The First Steps Definition of Mid-Scale Grain Gardening Crop Operations Reaping and Drying Threshing and Winnowing Scaling Up Harvesting Operations So, What To Do With All This Grain? Disclaimer Preamble: Why We Should All Become Increasingly Self-sufficient People’s outlook and actions are largely a product of their experiences, …