Off Grid Cooking Solutions, Part 2, by V.W.

To follow up o my article Off Grid Cooking Solutions, Part 1: One of the first items we purchased for off grid cooking was the humble Dutch Oven.  There are many enthusiasts of this time honored way of cooking.  The Dutch oven is surprisingly versatile as it can be used over a fire, with charcoal briquettes, on a regular kitchen stove, a woodstove, portable camp stove, or the rocket stove.  Because of the fuel consumption required and the logistics of storing charcoal and wood, I am not as interested in using my Dutch oven over an outdoor camp fire or …


Letter Re: Ham Radio Standardization for SurvivalBloggers?

Good Day James, I’m a long time fan of your books and your blog thanks for all that you do. There is some great information there. I am interested in finding out if your [local] group or another group has established any ham radio frequencies that may serve as a beacon of information in a SHTF situation or are you totally off the grid when that time comes. I do have your IP written down, but was just curious… Regards, J.M., USMC JWR Replies: The folks at Radio Free Redoubt are already doing a fine job of coordinating communications with their AmRRON …


Letter Re: Hard Working Homeless in Kansas Dug Tunnels

James, A brief article I saw on underground homeless camp in Kansas: Underground homeless camp cleared near the East Bottoms. Although the article does not give much detail, I find it an interesting use of space, staying out of the way and a lesson to learn regarding people who may be close to your proximity without one even knowing it.  It also drew my mind back to the Bielski partisans and the camps they dug in Naliboki Forest. God Bless, – John in Ohio


Economics and Investing:

Daniel Fisher of Forbes reports: The Bullet Bubble: Is Ammo The Next Bitcoin, Or Gold In The 1970s? Recognizing Ballistic Wampum for what it is: An almost perfect barterable tangible. (Thanks to Glenn M. for the link.) Comex Gold Inventories Collapse By Largest Amount Ever On Record BitCrash: Down 50% In Massive Sell Off: Over $1 Billion Vaporized In a Few Hours AmEx (American Expat) sent: Marc Faber: Now Is Not a ‘Very Good Time to Buy Stocks,’ Crash Coming Jim K. recommended an article from earlier this week: Kyle Bass: On Friday, The Market Gave Us The First Glimpse …


Odds ‘n Sods:

S.Q. sent this encouraging news: PoliceOne’s 2013 Gun Policy & Law Enforcement Survey    o o o Reader Anthony P. wrote to mention a very sad accident: Two children killed at bunker construction site. Anthony’s comment: “I’m sure the media will take this as an opportunity to further vilify the prepper movement.”    o o o I heard that Alec Smith’s latest book, Staying Home, (the follow-up to Getting Home) is now available on Amazon for just 99 cents until Friday.    o o o Frequent content contributor Jim W. suggested this Primitive Pathways video: Stone point penetration test on …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

"…There is no nation on earth powerful enough to accomplish our overthrow. … Our destruction, should it come at all, will be from another quarter. From the inattention of the people to the concerns of their government, from their carelessness and negligence, I must confess that I do apprehend some danger. I fear that they may place too implicit a confidence in their public servants, and fail properly to scrutinize their conduct; that in this way they may be made the dupes of designing men, and become the instruments of their own undoing." – Daniel Webster, June 1, 1837


Notes from JWR:

As the western world mourns the loss of former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, America’s shooting fraternity mourns the loss of Rock River Arms co-founder Mark Larson. R.I.P. — Today is the birthday of Jim Bowie (born 1796, died March 6, 1836 at the Battle of the Alamo.) The Bowie knife–essentially a small short sword–was his lasting legacy. — Today we present another entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A …


Bartering Via Craigslist, by George H.

Building up a skill set can easily be argued the most critical survival ability available. One skill set often overlooked is bartering. Trading a good or service for another. Looking at tangible items, one recent item everyone has noticed is the new price for ammo and certain rifles. The adage “buy low sell high” still applies if you can do so and still maintain your own needed stock. About four and a half years ago AR-15s were roughly the same inflated cost as today (after BHO was elected), there was a massive panic and parts were scarce. It took four …


Letter Re: Acquiring Local Topgraphic Maps

Dear Jim: A reminder to folks who don’t have good topos of their local area – get some. Just went to get updated topo maps of my local area in the 1:24,000 scale.  Little did I know that the 1980s vintage map I currently have is superior to the current maps!  The US Geological Service, decided in their <sarcasm on> “infinite wisdom” to update topos with roads added since the 1980s, but delete much of the vital information like pipelines, fencelines, gravel pits, radio towers, etc., etc. that make a topo useful.  It must have been just too difficult to …


Economics and Investing:

Dallas Fed President warns about the consequences of Too Big to Fail policies. Portugal Considers Paying Public Workers In Treasury Bills Instead Of Cash New Trouble for Euro in Portugal H.L. sent: 30,000 Greek Households Lose Electricity Each Month. Items from The Economatrix: Jim Willie:  Economy Will Implode Get Prepared For Economic Catastrophe: You Are Being Sacrificed To Save The Too-Big-To-Fail Banks It No Longer Pays To Go To Work


Odds ‘n Sods:

Attention Texans: April 26 to 28 there is a Self Reliance Expo in Arlington, Texas. Marjorie Wildcraft, Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy are among the many speakers.    o o o Some commentary by Claire Wolfe over at Backwoods Home: Can the U.N. Ban America’s Guns?    o o o Sad news from Oz: Queenslanders handing in 500 guns a week. Of course what is not mentioned in the article is that there are millions of unregistered guns in Australia, including hundreds of thousands of now contraband semi-auto and pump action guns. Recognizing their long standing right, many Aussies have …


Jim’s Quote of the Day:

“Military analysts pretty much agree Japan lost the war in the Pacific because they were playing chess while we were playing checkers. Overthinking all but guarantees failure. Engineers will tell you complexity increases as the square of the subsystems involved, or near enough, something survivalists should keep in mind when they attempt to replicate their ‘normal’ life. And no, being a nice, deserving person with good intentions won’t make failure modes go away. The cost of maintaining complex systems eventually exceeds the value they provide and fail when they become too complex to effectively manage. A trivial glitch that won’t …


Notes from JWR:

I just heard that Tattler Reusable Canning Lids is offering select items up to 30% off, through midnight April 9th, 2013. And if you enter the coupon code “100days” when checking out, you can take another 5% off your order.   — Today we present another two entry for Round 46 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include: First Prize: A.) Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate, good for any one, two, or three course. (A $1,195 value.) B.) A course certificate from onPoint Tactical. This certificate will be for the prize winner’s choice of …


Winter Outdoor Survival Lessons Learned, by Jim N.

Darkness was rapidly settling in, I was soaking wet, and the temperature was falling as fast as the snow.  There were still about 8 miles of very rough country between me and my truck and I was flat out smoked from hiking all day in deep snow at high elevation.  I realized I could not hope to navigate by headlamp the many blow down trees and steep canyon walls that separated me from my truck in my current condition.  While I realized the seriousness of my situation, I was not particularly worried and silently thanked the Lord I had practiced …


Letter Re: Hard Copies of Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course?

Dear James, To follow up on your comments to getting a printed version of the Rawles Gets You Ready Preparedness Course binder/book, I would strongly recommend taking a memory stick (thumb drive) into one of these stores to retrieve a hard copy, if you don’t have a moderate capacity printer at home.  The Online Printing offered by FedEx Office, The UPS Store, and others put your request into a national database and relay your order to the store you choose – the store then accesses your print job on the national data base to print the project out. While you …