The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at coronavirus quarantines. All U.S. Hospital Beds to be Filled in May? A bit of confirmation for one of my assertions, over at Zero Hedge: All Hospital Beds In The US …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 11, 2020

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Today is the birthday of author Douglas Adams (born 1952). He is the author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Trapper and survivalist Claude Lafayette Dallas, Jr.  was born March 11, 1950. The subject of several books and movies, Dallas had a “colorful” life. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of two game wardens, in Idaho. He served 22 years of a 30-year sentence before being released in 2005. He reportedly now lives in the wilds of Alaska. Also on this day, the Great Blizzard of ’88 struck the northeastern United States (1888). March 11th is the …


Useful Transceivers for Most Preppers, by Tunnel Rabbit

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Preamble The goal of this article to provide readers, the average preppers radio operator, with useful choices that may be capable of meeting a required level of performance. These are some inexpensive, or low power radio options that do not require an Amateur Radio License in the U.S.. Antenna choice is a very important to the part of providing reliable communications within a 10 to 20 mile radius using low powered radios. Terrain also plays an important role. If one located 50 feet higher than the average elevation of the surrounding terrain, the distance it may transmit and receive is …


JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food and storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. This week the focus is on Red Feather Canned Butter. (See the Gear & Grub section.) Books: Sustainable Market Farming: Intensive …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 10, 2020

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110 years ago today, March 10, 1910, China officially ended slavery. But unofficially, China now has one of the world’s largest slave populations. These are mostly political prisoners, working in prison factories. Sadly, there is no way of reliably knowing whether or not most of the “Made In China” merchandise that you buy might originate from the laogai prison factories. — Before I get to our feature article and regular columns, here are a few pressing news updates: Black Monday: Dow plunges more than 2,000 points, biggest decline since 2008 The Costcopocalypse Continues. (I’m glad that most SurvivalBlog readers stocked …


SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on Montana’s Democrat Governor, and one presidential hopeful, Steve Bullock. (See the Montana section.) Region-Wide Here is an article on the American Redoubt movement, written by a religion reporter who interviewed me: 20 years after Y2K, preppers ready for societal collapse. o o …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 9, 2020

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March 9th is the birthday of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first man to ever travel in space. He was born in 1934 and died in the crash of a MiG-15-UTI fighter on March 27, 1968. Today is also the birthday of writer John McPhee (b. 1931), a master of creative nonfiction. One of McPhee’s most widely read books is Coming into the Country, which eloquently describes the Alaskan wilderness. — We are pleased to welcome aboard our newest advertiser: Redoubt Scout. If you are considering a move to northern Idaho, then you should definitely take a look at their …


Recipe of the Week: Jen’s Storage Foods Brownies

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Jen kindly sent us three recipe options for small batches of brownies baked in a bread loaf pan.  Jen says: “Make a small batch of brownies when you need a little “comfort food” fix.  It will help make your supplies of these ingredients last longer.” The traditional recipe utilizes fresh ingredients. Both just-add-water mixes use powdered eggs and powdered vanilla extract.  You can find powdered vanilla extract in upper-end grocery stores right near the liquid vanilla extract and on Amazon.com. Just-add-water mix #1 has straight coconut oil. Mix #2 replaces some of the coconut oil with butter powder and water and …


Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in AR-15/M16 Magazines, as a hedge of future legislation. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Gold price is on a path to $1,700 but volatility will be high – analysts o  o  o Investment demand for gold outweighs weak consumer demand Economy & Finance: The bloodbath continues: Dow …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“We looked into the abyss if the gold price rose further. A further rise would have taken down one or several trading houses, which might have taken down all the rest in their wake. Therefore at any price, at any cost, the central banks had to quell the gold price, manage it. It was very difficult to get the gold price under control but we have now succeeded. The US Fed was very active in getting the gold price down. So was the U.K.” – Sir Eddie George, Governor Bank of England in a letter to Nicholas J. Morrell, chief …


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 8, 2020

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March 8th is the birthday of revolver shooter, big game hunter, and gun writer Elmer Keith, who co-designed the S&W .44 Magnum and .41 Magnum cartridges. He authored the book Sixguns, which is still considered a standard reference. His fascinating life story is told in his last book, Hell, I was there!  A proto-Redoubter, Keith spent the second half of his life on a ranch near Salmon, Idaho. (Keith was born in 1899 and died February 12, 1984.) — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 …


Letter: Some Wuhan Coronavirus Observations

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Everyone will have a different perspective on this.  Here are some ramblings: Things are rapidly downshifting in greater Seattle.  In less than seven days.  There are strong parallels with the 2011 B-movie Contagion. Numerous employers are telling much of their workforce to work from home through the end of March (I expect that to continue beyond March…). Amazon, Microsoft, Puget Sound Energy (utility), Russell Investments.  Those are four big ones that I am aware of as of now. The Northshore School District just closed through the end of March, and will attempt to begin Remote Learning on Monday, March 9.  …