Preparedness Notes for Thursday — January 8, 2026

On January 8, 1297, Monaco gained its independence. Pictured are Buffalo Bill Cody and Prince Albert I of Monaco, in 1913. He was the first reigning European monarch to visit the United States. — On January 8, 1610,  German astronomer Simon Marius independently discovered the first four moons of Jupiter, just one day after Galileo‘s lunar discovery. — The 20th Anniversary SurvivalBlog 2005-2025 Waterproof/EMP-Resistant Archive USB sticks are available for Pre-Ordering. This year, we are also offering a limited number of them in steel keepsake tins, with keychains.  Both types have been selling very rapidly. Orders should start to be …


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, an increase in fallow farm ground. Georgia Farmer Warns of Fallow Farm Ground Reader Robert W. sent us this: Farmland Shock: Georgia Grower Drops 3,000 Acres, Warns of …



Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — January 7, 2026

On January 7th, 1558, Calais, the last English possession in France, was retaken by French troops under Duc de Guise. (The Pale of Calais had been an exclave and parliamentary borough of England across the Strait of Dover from 1347 to 1558.) The painting above, The Siege of Calais was completed by François-Édouard Picot in 1838. — January 7th, 1610, Galileo Galilei discovered the first three moons of Jupiter: Io, Europa and Ganymede. — And on January 7th, 1930, French physicist Marguerite Perey discovered Francium (Fr), the last naturally occurring element to be found. — Today’s feature article is a guest …


SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our 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. — Federal court strikes down California open carry gun ban as unconstitutional. Here is an excerpt from the   article: “A federal court in California on Friday struck down the state’s law that prohibits people from openly carrying guns in most public places, ruling that the state law was unconstitutional because it violated the …



Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — January 6, 2026

January 6, 1799 was the birthday of Jedediah Strong Smith, one of America’s greatest trapper-explorers. He was born in Bainbridge, New York. Smith explored a huge area of the American West during his short life. “He began his western voyages in 1822, when he joined the pioneering fur trader William Ashley on a trip up the Missouri River. Unlike earlier fur traders, who depended on Native Americans to actually trap or hunt the furs, Ashley eliminated the Natives as middlemen and instead sent out independent white trappers like Smith to do the job. To escape dependence on Native Americans, though, …


SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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. The photo above was shot from the east side of the Snake River Canyon. The United States Congress designated the Hells Canyon Wilderness in 1975. It measures 217,927 acres, with about 83,811 acres in Idaho, and 134,116 acres Oregon. The wilderness is jointly managed by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the U.S. Forest Service. (Photo courtesy of the BLM.) Redoubt News Links: Adventuring down the deepest …



Preparedness Notes for Monday — January 5, 2026

On January 5, 1477, the Battle of Nancy (now in France) was won by the Lorraine-Swiss forces led by René II, Duke of Lorraine. More than 7,000 Burgundians were killed, including Duke Charles The Bold. Thus ended the Burgundian Wars and the Burgundian State. — On January 5, 1914, industrialist Henry Ford announced his $5 minimum per-day wage. This doubled most workers’ pay from $2.40 for a 9-hour workday to $5 for an 8-hour workday. — January 5th is the birthday of the late John Pugsley (born 1934, died April 8, 2011), libertarian and economics author. Pugsley was well known …


Annual Reminder: The Ten Cent Challenge

Each year, I only post one reminder, encouraging voluntary Ten Cent Challenge tip subscriptions, and this is it. Back in August, we celebrated our 20th blogiversary. Thanks for making SurvivalBlog such a success! There are now more than 41,400 archived articles and columns. SurvivalBlog is well-established as the world’s most widely-read daily blog on family preparedness. Hopefully, some readers appreciate the fact that I only post an appeal once a year. And I’m confident that most readers appreciate that SurvivalBlog is one of the last of the “Old School” blogs that is still posted with fresh content from blog readers …


Recipe of the Week:

The following recipe for Old Fashioned Boiled Dinner is from The New Butterick Cook Book, copyright 1924, now in the public domain. That is just one of the dozens of bonus books included in the 2005-2025 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that is now available to pre-order. Ingredients 6 pounds corned-beef brisket 1 cabbage 3 white turnips 4 carrots 6 potatoes 6 beets Vinegar Directions Put the meat into the pot over a brisk lire with enough cold water to cover it. Bring it rapldly just to the boiling-point, then remove the scum, set the …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: A map showing the Overlap of the Schengen Area and the Eurozone, as of January, 2026. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.) The thumbnail below is click-expandable.           — Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.



Preparedness Notes for Sunday — January 4, 2026

On January 4, 871, the Viking Great Heathen Army defeated a Wessex force led by King Æthelred and his brother Alfred, in the First Battle of Reading. — January 4, 1896: Following Mormon abandonment of sanctioned polygamy, Utah was belatedly admitted as the 45th US state.  Settlers had first petitioned Congress for statehood in 1849. Several of Utah’s less populous neighboring territories had been admitted to statehood years earlier than Utah. — SurvivalBlog Writing Contest Today we present another entry for Round 122 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A Gunsite Academy …