Letter Re: Seeking Advice on Gardening Skills, Seeds, and Crop Mixes

Mr. Rawles: I’d like your advice on gardening. What skills should I concentrate on, pre-Crunch? What crops should I plant to be ready for a major Crunch? (If it makes any difference, I live in the Midwest.) What is the best source of seeds? Thank you, – T.D.W. JWR Replies: I recommend concentrating on organic gardening and composting. (This is in anticipation of a long term scenario where commercial chemical fertilizers and pesticides are not available.) Learn seed gathering and saving. Concentrate on vegetable crops that grow well in your climate zone. Practice using all–or nearly all–non-hybrid (“heirloom”) annual seed …


Odds ‘n Sods:

“The Wrench Spinner” sent us the link to a British government web site from “The Respect Task Force”. Mike’s comment: “How Orwellian can we get.?” My comment: The Brits are incredibly naive to think that their bureaucratic system of ASBOs will keep the yobs in check. Law and order is clearly breaking down n England. Disarming the citizenry, and making self defense a crime has been wholly counterproductive.   o o o Michael Z. Williamson pointed us to this “report card” web page from The Brady Bunch on state firearms laws. Note that California and New Jersey both have “A-” …



Notes from JWR:

Because of a recent influx of book orders, I am TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK of copies of my novel “Patriots.” Another 250 copies are due to arrive in mid-May. Please don’t send me any orders for autographed copies until you see my catalog web page updated to show that the book is back in stock. Thanks! Today we present another article for Round 10 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The writer of the best non-fiction article will win a valuable four day “gray” transferable Front Sight course certificate. (Worth up to $1,600.) Second prize is a copy of my …


Mountain Bikes as Survival Utility Vehicles for TEOTWAWKI, by Anetprophet

A quick look back at developing nations during recent/modern history will be adequate to put the bicycle in a top priority as a must have post-TEOTWAWKI asset. This simple, self-powered, mode of transportation has been a common stepping stone of all culture’s, building and development, as I believe we will experience “after a collapse” of our current society. In Asia, for example, bikes are used as taxis, trucking, and commuters every day, by a majority of the population. Why: Before I moved to our retreat over a year ago, I practiced martial arts for my fitness. After moving to the …


Letter Re: Judging Soil Quality When Selecting a Retreat Property

Hi James, I am a Ten Cent Challenge subscriber and an agricultural appraiser. Just thought I’d let you know that most areas of the US have been mapped and you can find your soil USDA classification on the web site. It takes some navigating through the site to find your soil characteristics, but most of the detail is there. Look for the Storie rating if available in your area, which will classify your soil type by its crop productivity, i.e., excellent, good, fair, et cetera. Will also tell you how many bushels of corn, alfalfa, etc, the soil can produce …


Letter Re: Great Results with MURS Band Handheld Transceivers

Sir: I got two MURS radios from Rob [at $49 MURS Radios] and I am very pleased with these radios. They are in great shape and even though I live in the mountains of Western NC they have an excellent range, five times more than the GRMS radios that I have. Rob was excellent to deal with and answered all my questions. I would encourage anyone who is looking for short range communications s to consider Rob and the MURS radios. I will be trying the radios later on at my In-laws home because they live in the piedmont region …


Odds ‘n Sods:

ABC News: Home Builders Hammered by Housing Slump    o o o Reader “Bassnbear” mentioned a Yahoo News/Science story that gives a pretty good overview on honeybee CCD.   o o o RBS found this one: Arctic Ice Retreating More Quickly Than Computer Models Project  



Note from JWR:

I’ve caught up on my writing workload, so I have resumed sales through my Mail Order Catalog. (Which had been on hiatus for nearly a month) Note that I have added a number of new items to including the following full-capacity magazines, in limited quantities: Original Belgian FN-FAL, original CETME, original Imperial Defence SA-80 (AR-15) steel 30 round, original USGI contract M16 (AR-15) 30 round, original HK 91 / G3 alloy 20 rounders as well as HK 93 / 33 / 53–in the scarce 40 round “The Thing” capacity, original Beretta M9/M92, and Sterling 9mm SMG.


Letter Re: Be Prepared to Perform Tooth Extractions

Hi Jim, A late night espresso kept me from sleeping, so I dove into some analysis of my dental office [records] for 2006. I practice in northern Idaho, so you know the population base I serve. My numbers surprised me. On average, I pull four teeth per day, perform three root canals per day, and fill 11 teeth per day, four days per week. So in my office I treated about 1,350 people in varying degrees of pain in 2006. Those cavities I filled if left untreated would eventually cause mild to severe pain. Combine those numbers with all the …


Letter Re: Safety of Storing Ammunition in a Gun Vault

Jim, Sorry if you’ve covered this topic before. First off, I’d like to thank you for the information on your blog. I bought a gun safe yesterday, and thanks to Bruce H.’s question a few weeks ago about the effects of an EMP on a safe’s electronic lock, I didn’t make the mistake of buying one with such a lock. (I’m close to Nellis AFB and somewhat close to the Nevada [nuclear] test site) After I got done putting in my guns, family heirlooms, coin collection, etc., I put 500 rounds of .223 in the safe, too. I figured that …


Letter Re: Oregon’s Willamette Valley as a Retreat Locale?

Mr Rawles, First off, I just wanted to thank you for having such a fantastic blog site, so much information and advice from one site is truly a time and hopefully life saver, thank you. Both me and my girlfriend have been rudely awakened by Peak Oil after watching [the documentary] “The End of Suburbia” on PBS last year, and after gathering as much information as possible from sites ( Peakoil.com, LATOC.com, TheOilDrum.com, et cetera) with what little spare time we have had, we have come to the conclusion that this will be the opening salvo for TSHTF. Add in …


Two Letters Re: SurvivalBlog Hats and T-Shirts

Mr. Rawles, I’ve talked to you a few times via e-mail and once in person. Recently you said you would like a photo of one of your hats being worn in Afghanistan or Iraq. I am headed back over again in a few weeks and would be glad to do that. I didn’t see a link to your hats etc. on the web so I thought I’d drop you a line and see how to buy one. Take care. – W. JWR Replies: May God grant you safety on you next trip to The Big Sandbox. In answer to your …


Odds ‘n Sods:

Plant vault passes billion mark    o o o Readers Tom and “K”. both mentioned that D.S. Arms is another great source for FN-FAL magazines. They even have some 30 rounders.   o o o Wheat prices rise on scares    o o o SurvivalBlog reader Cliff mentioned that he was in the Douglasville, Georgia WalMart and noticed that they have, on clearance, boxes of sandbags, 100 bags for $5, marked down from $14.95. He said that these are all tagged on the boxes “www.911sandbags.com.” You might check your local WalMart to see if they have the same product and …