Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 22, 2024

On March 22, 1820, U.S. Navy Commissioner Stephen Decatur was killed in a duel. — Today is the birthday of Benjamin Tyler Henry. (March 22, 1821–December 29, 1898) was an American gunsmith and manufacturer. On October 16, 1860, he received a patent on the Henry .44 caliber repeating rifle. The first Henry rifles were not produced for army use until mid-1862. — This is also the birthday of Louis L’Amour. (Born 1908, died 1988.) Some of his novels have survival themes. One of particular interest to survivalists is Last of the Breed. — The sale ends tonight.  In honor of …


Silver Stacking: Patience and Persistence Pays Off

I have been a “silver stacker” for many years. With money earned mowing lawns, at age 16 I started buying pre-1965 mint-date “junk”  U.S. silver dimes and quarters in 1976 at a small local coin shop in Livermore, California. It was called Bob’s Coin Corner. Bob was patient in explaining silver coins to me.  In 1979 I sold nearly half of my silver coins just after silver peaked, when spot silver was at $47.75 per Troy ounce. I started buying some silver and gold again in June of 1987, when silver was at $8.98 per ounce. A practical silver investor …


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. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the planned European CBDC. (See the Forex & Cryptos section.) Precious Metals: At John Rubino’s substack: Accidentally Funny CNBC Grapples With Costco Gold Sales. o  o  o At Gold-Eagle.com: Gold Stocks Strongly Outperform After Gold Breakouts. JWRs Comment: Since starting SurvivalBlog in 2005, I’ve refrained from touting gold mining stocks. In my estimation …



Preparedness Notes for Thursday — March 21, 2024

On March 21, 1685, German composer Johann Sebastian Bach, who is generally considered the greatest composer of all time, was born. — March 21st, 1778: Just three days after Hessian mercenary forces assaulted the local New Jersey militia at Quinton’s Bridge, the same contingent surprised the colonial militia at Hancock’s Bridge five miles from Salem. In what became known as the Massacre at Hancock’s Bridge, at least 20 members of the militia lost their live — some after attempting to surrender. The Loyalists reputedly exclaimed “Spare no one! Give no quarter!” as they stormed the occupied house. Judge Hancock and …


The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is 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. In today’s column, we look at the loss of arable farmland in the United States. Tennessee is Rapidly Losing Farmland ‘Where will we get our food?’ Tennessee on track to lose …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — March 20, 2024

March 20th is the birthday of writer Mel Tappan. (Born 1933, died 1980.) His perennially popular survivalist books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival have a well-deserved following. I designated March 20th National Survivalism Day, in his honor. It is also apropos that National Survivalism Day falls in March–one of the months that both Northern Europeans and Native Americans refer to as The Starving Season–when stored food runs low, but before spring bounty appears. Plan ahead. Stock up. Don’t let your family starve. I’m sure that Mel Tappan would approve. — On March 20, 1854, a meeting of Whigs, anti-Nebraska …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — I recently ran a test with Google’s publicly available AI tool, called Gemini.  I asked it: “Paint me a picture of a famous 19th-century English inventor.”  It replied: “We are working to improve Gemini’s ability to generate images of people. We expect this feature to return soon and will notify you in …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 19, 2024

Wyatt Earp was born March 19, 1848, in Monmouth, Illinois. We was a central figure in the legendary shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone. Prior to his time in Tombstone, Wyatt had moved around the western boom towns, often getting into trouble, though he served as an assistant city marshal in Dodge City, Kansas. In 1881 Earp, along with his brothers Morgan and Virgil Earp and together with Doc Holliday faced off against cowboys the Clanton gang. Three of the Clanton gang were killed and Morgan, Virgil and Doc Holliday were injured. The gunfight only reached public attention in …


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, an article on some creative genetic engineering to create game farm sheep that are a sort of Jumbo Bighorn Sheep. (See the Montana section.) Idaho Porcupine Problems: Reminder issued to pet owners after dog arrives at shelter in a ‘sticky’ situation. o  o  o Caught …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 18, 2024

On March 18, 1766, The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act of 1765 after violent protests from American colonists, including a group known as the Sons of Liberty. — March 18th is the birthday of novelist John Updike. (He was born in 1932 and died in 2009.) — We are now down to less than 160 of the waterproof SurvivalBlog 2005-2023 Archive USB sticks on hand.  These will likely sell out in the next few days. This always happens when folks see that the supply is dwindling.  There will not be another batch produced this year, so get your order …


Recipe of the Week: Oat Macaroons

The following simple recipe for Oat Macaroons is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1925, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 bonus books included in the 2005-2023 edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. Ingredients 2 eggs 3/4 cupful sugar 1 tablespoonful of melted shortening 2 cupfuls rolled oats 1 cupful of shredded coconut 1/2 teaspoonful salt 1/2 teaspoonful vanilla 3 tablespoonfuls cornstarch1 teaspoonful baking-powder Directions Mix ingredients in the order given and drop by teaspoonfuls on a greased pan. Bake in a 350-degree F. oven for twenty …