Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — March 23, 2021

Today is the birthday of acclaimed Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. He directed 30 films. His samurai films (many starring Toshiro Mifune) such as Yojimbo, Sanjuro, The Hidden Fortress, Rashomon, The Seven Samurai, Kagemusha, and Ran are considered legendary in the cinema world. And today is the anniversary of Patrick Henry’s famous Give Me Liberty Or Give Me Death speech. It was delivered to the Second Virginia Revolutionary Convention meeting at St. John’s Church, Richmond, on March 23, 1775. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 93 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly column is a collection of short snippets: practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. We may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters. — M. in The Redoubt wrote to ask: JWR,  Do you think the benefits of owning a [registered] suppressor (flash signature and sound reduction) outweigh the increased exposure of being on the ATF registry?   JWR Replies: In the present-day political climate, I would advise against it.  The high profile outweighs the potential benefits.  If you want to shoot quietly, …


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 recent Wyoming snowstorm. (See the Wyoming section.) Idaho Video: Elderly Couple, Dogs Rescued from Pickup Dangling over Idaho Gorge. (A hat tip to H.L. for the link.) o  o  o Idaho concealed carry bill advances; would allow some school staff to …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The State obtains its revenue by coercion, by threatening dire penalties should the income not be forthcoming. That coercion is known as “taxation,” although in less regularized epochs it was often known as ‘tribute.’ Taxation is theft, purely and simply even though it is theft on a grand and colossal scale which no acknowledged criminals could hope to match. It is a compulsory seizure of the property of the State’s inhabitants, or subjects.” – Murray Rothbard



Recipe of the Week: Chicken & Ham Sandwiches

The following recipe for Chicken & Ham Sandwiches is from The New Butterick Cook Book, by Flora Rose, co-head of the School of Home Economics at Cornell University. It was published in 1924. A professional scan of that 724-page out-of-copyright book is one of the many bonus items included in the latest edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. This 15th Anniversary Edition (2005-2020) USB stick has sold out, but another small batch should be available in a month. Ingredients 1 cup cooked chicken meat 1/4 cup cooked ham 1/2 cup celery Mayonnaise Butter Lettuce Directions Mix chicken, ham …


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 the current high price of reloading primers. (See the Tangibles Investing section.) Precious Metals: Here is a set of gold-to-silver ratio charts that is instructive.  JWR’s Comment: Keep in mind that the long-term trend can only head in one direction, since silver is being gradually consumed, whereas most scrap …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The worship of the state is the worship of force. There is no more dangerous menace to civilization than a government of incompetent, corrupt, or vile men. The worst evils which mankind ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.” – Ludwig von Mises


Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 21, 2021

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 lives, some after attempting to surrender. The Loyalists reputedly exclaimed “Spare no one! Give no quarter!” as they stormed the occupied house. Judge Hancock and his brother (both Loyalists) were bayoneted in the melee by the attackers even though they were both staunch supporters of the crown and …


Some SurvivalBlog Archive USB Stick Glitches (Mea Culpa)

The 2005-2020 SurvivalBlog archive stick has a couple of issues that have been noticed by customers. Primarily, the issues are with the bonus material included. 1) The “Food” Category has been mistakenly directed to the Firearms category and since this archive is pulled directly from the website, the resulting bonus books that would normally be found in that category are just missing. Because of the way the archive is built, there is no way to reliably send out a fix for that issue so they just are not there. If you have an earlier year archive, you can access those …



The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as ye are: ye have not injured me at all. Ye know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation which was in my …


Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 20, 2021

March 20th is the birthday of Mel Tappan. (Born 1933, died 1980.) His perennially popular survivalist books Survival Guns and Tappan on Survival have a well-deserved following. In his honor, I designated March 20th National Survivalism Day, in his honor. This year marks the 41st anniversary of his untimely death. 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 starve. I’m sure that Mel Tappan would approve. — …


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.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those –or excerpts thereof — in this column, in …