A Florida Vacation, or SHTF?, by Z.P. Wilson

Greetings from Michigan, where the summers are glorious, and the winters long and cold. My wife and I have lived here all our lives, and have endured the seasonal cold by hunkering down at home with books and television. During our work lives, I often told her that when we retired, we would travel to warmer places when the snow flies. We retired last year, so this was the first winter to put my idea into effect. I rented a house in Florida for the entire month of February. As we made plans for what to do and what to …


Building A Bicycle Generator, by Ed J.

Being able to generate even small amounts of electricity post-SHTF will be very valuable. A simple, human-powered, 12-volt generator can be constructed easily and for very little money. I started with a used bicycle that I picked up for $50 bucks. I recommend a bike with multiple gears as you are probably going to be using a very low gear most of the time. Single-speed bicycles tend to be geared very high, and it would take a large amount of effort to pedal one of those while powering a generator. To construct this system, at the very least, you will …


‘Aging Out’ of Prepping: I Think Not!, by The Wild Hare

There was recently a request for a SurvivalBlog article on “aging out” of being an active prepper. The article request mentioned: “Things that sounded so doable 20 years ago are no longer possible for us. Looking at TEOTWAWKI from closer to 80 than 50 is a whole different kettle of fish.” (SurvivalBlog, February 23, 2023.) I’d never heard the term ‘aging out’ until JWR thoughtfully lit me up like a Christmas Tree in suggesting this as a writing contest topic. I’ll take the bait, because what this 78-year-old prepper has heard is the relentlessly ticking clock getting louder each year …


Homeschooling Nuts and Bolts – Part 2, by R.B., EdD.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) CURRICULUM—OH MY! This is a truly scary word for beginning homeschoolers, and it really doesn’t need to be. You are the one who gets to decide what is taught. And you need to do that before you look for instructional materials. That means you should know what you’re aiming at. And you DO know, don’t you? Certainly your list at every level should include: 1. Reading and vocabulary. Instruction in reading can begin very early with some children, while others have to wait for reading readiness to develop. That’s absolutely OK. You …


Homeschooling Nuts and Bolts – Part 1, by R.B., EdD.

It is common knowledge that American public education is a failure. We have known for years that our students do not measure up to students in other countries, even very poor ones. For decades we have seen national test scores sink, and employers are constantly telling us they cannot hire workers with basic skills. But most parents still believe their local school is excellent and their children are getting a good education. The schools tell us how good, caring, and professional they are. They have mottos that ooze care and concern that every child should reach his/her potential in every …


A Call to Arms Toward Thriving – Part 2, by PrepperDoc

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Communications If we are left alone, then we can produce capital and transmit ideas and create industry at a far greater restorative rate than the original inventors of the 18th Century, who worked nearly in the dark. The carcasses of the production facilities will still exist. The machines will still be there, and the brilliant minds who know how to run them can still be found. Like any nation coming out of war, we should rapidly move forward to excess capital production. The prepper groups should be leading that charge, using already-cataloged …


A Call to Arms Toward Thriving – Part 1, by PrepperDoc

I am hardly an expert compared to so many who’ve had articles published here in SurvivalBlog, on so many aspects of survival. I have to make apologies in advance that my concerns may be misstated. Yet I hold them and would like to share some suggestions for how the prepper community might advance. I served 30+ years as a physician, still serve in charity work, and I’m also an electrical engineer, and I’ve written simple techniques to mitigate the impact of EMP. (The DHS has well-written levels of protection that are worthy of studying.) Now in my retirement, I’m a …


A Medic of Last Resort – Part 4, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Antibiotics, Antibiotic ointments, and Antiseptics Antibiotics, antibiotic ointments, and any antiseptics will be worth their weight in gold, because these can save lives when nothing else will. If I were just starting to acquire a supply of medical goods, I would first begin by buying all the oral antibiotics that I could afford at the time, and then later fill the rest of my list.  It would be wise to learn about the latest medical advice about how and what to use to keep a wound from becoming infected.  And how the …


A Medic of Last Resort – Part 3, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 2.) Category #2, Group Medical Supplies for Wilderness/Retreat Locations Emergency Medical Supplies for Wilderness Situations are for stabilizing the injured at a remote location for the purpose of transporting the injured to where they can be properly cared for.  This is a compact kit sized for the number of persons, and designed to handle the most common injuries.  With broken bones, a simple fracture that could become a compound fracture where the bone could sever a vein or artery and protrude from the skin, and therefore be potentially life-threatening. There can also be ankle sprains, burns to …


A Medic of Last Resort – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1.) Learning As We Go Without the basic knowledge and skills to use our supplies, that first aid kit is actually a ‘last aid’ kit. By shopping shrewdly and avoiding items that we do not know how to use, one might acquire a larger store of items that we can actually use. Given the possible savings that result from shopping hard and long for bargains, and limiting ourselves to the basics, we can then purchase more of the basics supplies that are needed most of the time.  And we should strive to continually improve our knowledge and …


A Medic of Last Resort – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Introduction Prepping is ideally a systematic and balanced effort to acquire, in advance, the essential resources, skills and knowledge that make sustaining life on this planet possible after a collapse of a civilization occurs. Many preppers have the resources–that is, supplies and equipment–but do they have the skills and knowledge to make use of them?  Most, including myself, are sorely lacking in  medical knowledge, skills, and resources. Without one of these three (knowledge, skills, and resources) our ability to provide meaningful medical care is diminished. A medical professional could certainly do a better job on this topic than a layman …


Grounds for a National Divorce

The mainstream media has finally caught on to something that has been brewing in America for decades: The deepening divide between two cultures. On one side is the “Blue State” coastal/leftist/authoritarian/atheist/urban culture. And on the other side is the “Red State” inland/conservative/liberty-loving/Christian/rural culture. Back in 2021, we read this headline, from Forbes: America’s Mass Migration Intensifies As ‘Leftugees’ Flee Blue States And Counties For Red. That article included this: “America is on the move like never before. Some would say at a tectonic level and for many the driver is as much political as it is economic. The top five …


My Burn Adventure Ride, by Dan D.

Introduction As a former Disney Imagineer I can reveal to you that all their rides and movies follow a simple pattern: things are great, then they go awry and finally everything is resolved in bunnies and rainbows (or as the Brazilians say, “We all eat pizza together.”) Befitting that framework here is the story of my Burn Adventure Ride. The usual caveats apply since I am not a medical professional – but I can read and learn the sciences – so just remember that in the trades we teach that hot steel looks just like cold steel. Put in the …


Long-Term Survival For Women, by T.E.

The problem with modern-day conveniences is that we have forgotten what our ancestors did to take care of feminine needs. Onething we all know is that women are complicated, but most survival blogs are geared to the general population, without the concerns of women. Women have specific needs, and provide specific roles that only women can do. If a family is preparing for long-term survival, then look at the members of your family to decide what needs they will have. I am a Registered Nurse, and I work as a School Nurse. This career has made me realize how most …


It Is Chick Season!, by Hollyberry

I open the mailbox and oh… there it is! Nothing perks me up from the winter blues more than getting the McMurray Hatchery chick catalog or a garden/seed catalog. I spend hours pouring through the pages of the catalogs and planning and plotting where I can add more chickens or growing space! I really don’t need any more birds in my flock but that will not deter me from adding at least 4-5 more this season out of our incubator. The first time I purchased chicks I ordered 50 meat birds and 50 Leghorn layers figuring I would kill at …