Fade to Gray: Files and Documents – Part 3, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Document Tools Being able to store sensitive files and minimizing the chances of someone finding them is useful, but you still need to be able to view and edit the files in a secure and private manner without leaving details on what files you’ve worked on and what they contain all over your system (or the Internet). Many of the commercially available document and file editing tools such as Microsoft Office store a lot of information on what files you’ve worked on and potentially what’s stored inside them (for your own good, …


Fade to Gray: Files and Documents – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) Hidden Rooms and Secret Passages VeraCrypt has an extremely useful feature called a ‘hidden volume’, which is what we’ll be using to hide and protect sensitive files. As I mentioned earlier, a volume is basically a chunk of storage (file) that Windows mounts and assigns a drive letter to. What VeraCrypt does is allows you to create a big encrypted file and mount that as a virtual storage volume – ‘virtual’ in this case just means that the volume doesn’t correspond to a unique physical storage device, since the file can be moved anywhere and still …


Letter Re: Dragon’s Breath

Dear Editor, I’m writing you concerning a recent article advocating the use of homemade imitation “Dragons Breath” 12 gauge rounds.  This practice is both physically dangerous and legally problematic.  Gun writers and attorneys have warned against this sort of thing in the past. Point 1:  Things that increase the flammability of rounds inside domestic structures are a pretty bad idea.  Carpet and modern furnishings often contain chemicals that burn more easily than natural fibers.  A self-defense scenario could easily involve a call to the fire department after that.  In a rural area with lengthy response times, that could result in …


Fade to Gray: Files and Documents – Part 1, by J.M.

If you’re reading SurvivalBlog it’s a safe assumption you use a computer of some type, and you probably also use your computer for more than just surfing the Internet. One of the nice things about computers is that they make creating, editing, storing and moving large amounts of information a lot easier than trying to do everything with pen and paper, and a decent laptop with some solar panels for charging can operate for years even after the grid goes down. This allows you to easily create, edit and view things like inventories, maps of cache locations, communications SOPs, defense …


Raising Chickens From Scratch, by ZChick Lover

To the point: I have accidently discovered a simple action that is of great assistance in raising little chicks – moisten the chick food sometimes. Although I did this in an attempt to save some little distressed chicks who were not eating, this probably is simply called “mash”. Mash is mentioned in this older pamphlet, downloadable free as a pdf from google books. There is a wealth of other information found here in this 1917 book. Another successful action: have a “hospital” area always ready in the kitchen. And finally, I’d like to relay a story of how simply warming …


How and Why Leftists Use Mass Censorship, by Brandon Smith

Why is censorship the go-to tactic for leftists? Well, if you ask them they won’t deny their love affair with the memory hole. In fact, most leftists will vehemently defend censorship as absolutely moral and for the “greater good.” Their position is basically this: We live in a “society”, and some ideas, thoughts and words are “dangerous” and destructive to that society. Therefore, those ideas and words must be eliminated from open discussion so they can protect society from itself. But who gets to decide which ideas are dangerous and destructive? It’s rather convenient that the political left has anointed …


My Ultralight Get-Home Bag – Part 3, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) First-Aid Kit – This is another area where I’m way out of the norm. My first-aid kit is based on the medical emergencies I’ve experienced throughout my life including backpacking and wilderness camping. None of those would have been helped by a first-aid kit: mostly broken bones (5), kidney stones (107), and a huge one which required hospitalization. For all other incidents requiring first aid my bandana was it, mostly to stop gushing blood. (As a side note, a bandana is one of the most versatile items in my GHB.) Any serious …


My Ultralight Get-Home Bag – Part 2, by St. Funogas

(Continued from Part 1.) What I’ll Be Carrying in My GHB No weights were guessed, each item (or group of items for the very light things) was weighed in grams on a kitchen scale, then converted to pounds. For the backpack and bivvy bag the weight was taken from online spec sheets. Pounds are rounded off to the tenth but my Excel spreadsheet has the unrounded numbers so the final number for total weight will be accurate. I may have forgotten some things here which are on my spreadsheet, or forgotten to update a change in the manuscript, so if …


My Ultralight Get-Home Bag – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Three cheers to J.M. for his recent excellent, award-winning article on Get Home Bags (GHBs). Finally, a GHB article with advice that’s sensible, logical, and doable for anyone wanting to put together a GHB. I know how long it takes to write an article for SurvivalBlog so I know it took J.M. months to put that all together so again, thanks for such a well-researched piece. I’m stepping up to the plate on his request for some thoughts on other ways to put together an ultra-light GHB. To say the least, I was pretty disappointed with what I was finding …


Organizing the Pantry, by Elli O.

Organizing one’s pantry is generally part of the list of items we know we should do, like eating right, getting in shape, de-cluttering the closets, and cleaning out the basement. But organizing our food stock doesn’t need to be a depressing chore. I want to share with you what has worked well for me so that (hopefully) it will motivate you to attack your pantry with success in sight! I have added pictures not only to assist in the explanation but to add some appeal to an otherwise boring topic. To some, a pantry may seem like an old-fashion term- …


Prepping At My First House, by M.J.

I just bought my new house in one of New Mexico’s larger cities. It’s not a rural homestead. But it is a nice neighborhood and I’ve spoken with my neighbors a few times. So far so good. And I certainly couldn’t have afforded this home in my old stomping grounds in Southern California. I financed this house in part by liquidating some investments and in part by getting a loan from my parents, which I am paying back at a regularly monthly rate (including interest) that’s lower than the rent I was paying at the apartment that I stayed in …


Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 4, by C.I.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Protection If you can’t legally stand in front of your property, with a means of self-protection for your life and your family, then you will lose it to those with evil in their hearts. Desperate men and women will do desperate things to feed themselves and their children. About 2-3% of the population are sociopaths and are quite dangerous. Along with refugees, these individuals will migrate out of the large cities as supplies run out there. Your Dog: Usually the first casualty in an armed invasion. However he or she will give …


Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 3, by C.I.

(Continued from Part 2.) Cooking Use a stove as long as you have electric power, natural gas, or propane. If you can find an old fashion wood-burning cookstove, great. This allows you to be able to cook when fuel or grid electrical power is gone. With a lot of gas stoves, the surface burners will work without electric power, but you will need to light them with a match or some other spark source. The oven will not work in modern models without electric power. A camping stove, gas, propane, or charcoal grill can be used. However, you will need …


Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 2, by C.I.

(Continued from Part 1.) Other foods Baking powder (how to make) once mixed, it has a shelf life. However, each ingredient separately will last for years: 2 tsp of cream of tartar, source Bulkfoods.com 1 tsp of baking soda, 1 tsp of corn starch Gravy (canned or dry) for food fatigue prevention. Bouillon cubes mixed with flour and water will give you a gravy, which will make bland foods more pleasant to eat. Flour (white) will keep for 8-10 years. Pasta, 1,600 cal per pound, great shelf life Dried potatoes 1,700 cal/pound, good shelf life Oil/fats olive oil keeps for …


Some Basic Preparedness Information – Part 1, by C.I.

Editor’s Introductory Note: Reader C.I. has compiled some solid preparedness information for SurvivalBlog readers, partly from tried and true and widely published recommendations that date back to the 1940s, and partly from her own experience and observations. A lot of the following will already be familiar to long-time SurvivalBlog readers, but it provides a concise review that is useful for consideration for “filling in gaps” in your preps. And it is quite important reading for anyone who is new to family preparedness. This lengthy article will be serialized into four installments. – JWR — It is hard to be a …