Preparedness Notes for Saturday — February 29, 2020

On February 29, 1996, the Siege of Sarajevo officially ends. — I’m pleased to announce the return of Steven Cochran’s monthly precious metals column, to SurvivalBlog.  Steven is with of Gainesville Coins — not one of our advertisers, but a well-established and very reputable company. Take a look at their available coins and bars. SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase …




Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy …




The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me. Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man. For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth. By thee have I …




Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 28, 2020

February 28th is the birthday of famed Swiss investor and economic pundit Marc Faber. (He was born in 1946). — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or …




Economics & Investing For Preppers

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 Stock Market Volatility. (See the Stocks section.) Precious Metals: Spot silver briefly touched $18.90 per ounce on Monday, before settling to $18.60 in New York after-hours trading.  I expect silver to out-perform gold and and platinum in the next few weeks.  (The current silver to-gold ratio of 89-to-1 will …







Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 27, 2020

On February 27, 2012, Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million e-mails stolen from private intelligence company Stratfor. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include: First Prize: A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course …




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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 some more Wuhan flu news. Coronavirus Floods South Korea; Europe Begins to Isolate Italy We’ll start with this piece linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: “Tsunami-Like” Coronavirus Floods South Korea …







Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — February 26, 2020

This day, February 26, is the birthday of Major-General Orde Charles Wingate (born, 1903, died 24 March 1944), an eccentric British Army officer who organized special military units in Palestine in the 1930s, and in Abyssinia, Sudan, and Burma during World War II. He is most famous for his creation of the Chindits, airborne deep-penetration troops trained to work behind enemy lines in the Far East campaigns against the Japanese during World War II. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for …




JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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 a Argentine Model 1891 Mauser rifle. (See the Featured Antique Gun of the Week.) Books: …







Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — February 25, 2020

February 25th is the birthday of bluegrass music legend Ralph Stanley (1927 – 2016). His harmonizing and high tenor solos had an almost haunting sound to them. — Be advised: I will be putting Elk Creek Company on a Shipping Hiatus, starting February 27th. (I’ll be traveling for the month of March, and gathering and a cataloging new inventory.) I’ll resume shipping orders around April 4th. Please mark your calendar to check back at the Elk Creek Company store page on April 7th. You can then expect to see the addition of at least 20 more carefully selected antique guns. …




SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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 the Greater Idaho Movement. (See the Region-Wide section.) Region-Wide DSV was the first of several readers to mention this: Secession in the Pacific Northwest? Some Oregon residents petition to join Idaho. JWR’s Comment: If the Idaho and Oregon’s legislatures are agreeable to a …