Psychological and Physical Survival – Part 3, by K.B. MD

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(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) — Part 3 – Preventive Strategies Yesterday, in Part 2 we covered disaster’s effects such as depression, grief, and PTSD. Today in Part 3, we will focus on numerous preventive strategies. It is imperative to work proactively at protecting the psychological health of your entire group. This will require advance study and forethought for some unless you are blessed to have an individual in your group with medical and/or counseling experience to call upon. Nevertheless, it is crucial to think, read, and plan for psychological stress management as we do for other …


Psychological and Physical Survival – Part 2, by K.B. MD

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(Continued from Part 1.) Part 2 – Disaster: Depression, Grief, and PTSD Yesterday in Part 1, I covered types of stress and began to touch on tools and techniques for control. Today in Part 2, I will discuss disaster’s effects including depression, grief, and PTSD, while Part 3 will focus on numerous preventive strategies. While I am a licensed M.D., retired disabled, I am not a psychiatrist and remind our readers that I am neither diagnosing nor prescribing. Please obtain prompt medical care from licensed practitioners as long as they are available. Who Is Susceptible? People who survive disasters may …


Psychological and Physical Survival – Part 1, by K.B. MD

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The three parts of this article will describe: Part 1 – Stress- Types and Tips Part 2 – Disaster, Depression, Grief, and PTSD Part 3 – Preventive Strategies — Part 1: Everyone has experienced challenges in life such as illness, injury, bereavement, unemployment, financial loss, social dislocation, overwork, sleep deprivation, hunger, pain, cold, loss of power, civil unrest, etc. The chance of encountering some or all of the above skyrockets during times of prolonged disaster or TEOTWAWKI.  How will you or your loved ones, adults and children, fare during disasters? In reality, all of us will feel tremendous stress and …


Recipe of the Week: OkieRanchWife’s Cauliflower Tabbouleh

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Reader OkieRanchWife. kindly sent us her recipe for Cauliflower Tabbouleh Salad. (Tabbouleh is a Lebanese salad that traditionally is made of parsley, mint, tomatoes, adn bulgur wheat. It is usually seasoned with lemon or lime juice, salt, and olive oil.) OkieRanchWife notes: “This a wonderful lo-carb substitute for bulgur tabbouleh. Since this is my own recipe I cannot claim that it is gluten-free; however, my ingredients are comparable to commercial recipes that are labeled gluten-free.” Ingredients 2 small heads Cauliflower, riced or grated. You can buy already riced cauliflower but if you are thrifty like me you can grate the florets on …


The GSM and the NWO, by H.M.

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Editor’s Introductory Note:  At SurvivalBlog we do our best to present a variety of opinions. The following  article is highly opinionated. Some might say that it borders on a “rant.” If that bothers you, then simply skip reading it. Please keep your comments civil. — I have been a prepper for more than thirty years, without really knowing why. I knew that something was coming and have since then come to the realization that a group of very powerful people want to end life as we’ve known it and return the world to the feudal system of the Middle Ages. …


Rule 1 for Survival: Fitness – Part 2, by John H.

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) You are the expert on your body, and it is within your ability to train it effectively. Just like with anything, there are a million exercises you can do. Don’t worry! Here are some simple tips that will be helpful. Strength train 2 – 3 times per week. I like to include strength training on my cardio days, but with a break in-between. Mix it up. You can do back exercises on Day 1, shoulder and arm exercises on Day 2, and a combination on Day 3. Also, you can and should …


Rule 1 for Survival: Fitness – Part 1, by John H.

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Introduction Rule #1 rule of any survival situation is physical fitness. True fitness provides you the ability to respond to any situation without failing. Based on our age, health situation, and more, physical fitness is different for each of us. It is not a win-lose situation. You do not have to choose between being either an extreme athlete or a couch potato. Everybody’s journey is different. However, the most important thing is that you always continue to work towards your goal, one step at a time. Any improvement is worth it. A Bit About Me In this post, we will …


A Dollar Store Prepping Expedition, by T. Lee

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Editor’s Note: Coincidentally, I received two very similar articles about dollar store shopping from writers in two states in the same week. But because they have different perspectives, I’ve decided to post both of them. The other one will be posted tomorrow. — I’m here visiting our oldest son in New York City, always an eye opening experience. After church, several of his friends have asked how to get started on building an everyday carry (EDC) bag after seeing our day bags. However, after seeing their respective apartments, we decided to start more basic (understanding we are teaching a few …


Smelting Scrap Lead For Bullet Casting, by A. in N.D.

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Authors Introductory Note: This article describes my experience in obtaining, refining and casting scrap lead for later use in bullet casting. The safety precautions in this article are the actual ones I used in this process, and I believe them to be adequate to protect against contamination to yourself and the environment. However, I am neither a doctor nor a chemist, and if you attempt this yourself you should do your own research. — There are many articles on SurvivalBlog about the utility of bullet casting. This is true, especially for someone who has older cartridge guns and black powder …


Letter: Elderberry and Wuhan

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Dear SurvivalBloggers: Just a quick note concerning Elderberry syrup and the Wuhan coronavirus (now named “COVID-19”) that I didn’t want to get lost in the extensive comments about the virus at https://survivalblog.com/post-exposure-prevention-pep-protocol-jj-mi/ and https://survivalblog.com/letter-wuhan-virus-shepherdfarmergeek/ : Normally, with flu, elderberry syrup is a positive and helps fight the virus.https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190423133644.htm“Sambucol Elderberry Extract and its formulations activate the healthy immune system by increasing inflammatory cytokine production.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11399518 However, “…elderberry also enhances cytokine response, which may not be so good when one of the complications of pandemic influenza is cytokine storm.” https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/high-dose-vitamin-d-and-elderberry-syrup-for-flu-treatment And here we have that immune dysfunction also showing up with COVID-19 …


Letter: Acclimate to Wearing N95 Masks!

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Dear Prepper Friends and Family, As someone who sleeps with a CPAP machine running every night I’ve grown accustomed to the strangeness of having a mask on my face. Even more so, when I exhale the mask fills with hot breath and it feels as if I’m suffocating. When I inhale, however, I get clean, fresh air and it’s all okay. But I had to train myself to not struggle with it. We’re all going to run into this situation with N-95 filter masks if and when the time comes to wear them whenever we go out in public, to …


Frequent Firearms Practice, by Keystone Scout

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In times of high stress nobody “rises to the occasion”.  Instead, we all sink to our training and competency. Everyone has heard this statement in one form or another, but it is worth repeating.  Competency of a skill requires repetition.  I have spent significant range time with individuals in law enforcement.  I do not remember a single encounter when I have, not only been more competent, but also been complemented on my level of skill. I do not say this to brag but to help other individuals with a preparedness mindset because I believe everyone can achieve a high competency …


The TEOTWAWKI Garden, by M.C.

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When TEOTWAWKI happens, none of us know how it’s going to go down. Will it be a natural destructive force or world war? An asteroid or weapons of mass destruction? Massive starvation or biological warfare? Maybe you’ll have to bug out and leave home. Or maybe you’ll have to stand your ground and defend what’s yours. We have no idea what the world will be like, only that it will be different. Regardless of how it happens, after TEOTWAWKI, all aspects of survival need to be considered. Of course, hunting, fishing, and foraging for edibles are necessary. And of course, …


Building Hippie Earth Lodges, by Valerie

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Now I might be just a mild mannered, right-leaning, Christian grandma, but in my former life I was a hardcore, back-to-the-land, Rainbow Family hippie. There’s a bunch of us (once young people) who learned survival and community building skills in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and we suspected that someday we might need to be teaching these skills. The Rainbow Family name came from different native American visions of white people who would adopt Native American styles of life. (This was decades before the LBGTQ+++ crowd appropriated the “rainbow” and half of the English Alphabet.) For example the Hopi …


Small-Scale Hay Making, by Oregon Bill

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This is my simple experiment on small-time hay making.  Small fields of grass can be valuable even if they aren’t worth the effort to mow and bale.  We only have a few acres of pasture – enough for a few sheep or goats year-round or for a 2-year-old steer for three months.  With so little pasture, it doesn’t make sense to invest in a large mower or bailer, and we wanted to see how feasible it would be to and put up the hay by hand.  The amount of hay is worth gathering, and the cutting improves the health of …