Category: Contest

Get The Training, and Keep Training!

One thing that I’ve stressed in SurvivalBlog over the years is the importance of training. Reading and research by themselves are great, but they are no substitute for practical hands-on training. Last year, one of my personal resolutions was to get refresher training, in several areas. In December, my family attended a one-evening CPR class. And in January we all took a two-day Wilderness First Aid (WFA) course. The latter was fairly intense training with plenty of hands-on outdoor practical exercises. For me, these classes served as a reminder that most skills are perishable.  It also reminded me that some …


Doing Laundry Off-Grid and DIY Soap Recipes, by E.H.

When living completely off-grid, without either running water or corporate electricity, I wash clothes by hand and that’s okay. One way to maintain a good attitude about hand-washing laundry is to stay on top of it. Facing a mountain of dirty laundry with no washing machine can stir up feelings of dread, so I do it in small batches on a regular basis. I’d rather head for a laundromat when confronted with a big pile of stained and stinky laundry. Days are coming, however, when that won’t be an option, but you can bet things will still keep getting dirty. …


Career Change to a Durable Trade, by A Grateful Mechanic

I get great enjoyment from reading the perspectives and implementing the ideas in SurvivalBlog. This is a wonderful space to be able to share operating experience and ideas for making our futures brighter and better. An article by Mr. Rawles dated October 12, 2009 references career paths that are recession-proof: What Recovery? Find yourself a Recoveryless Job. In the article, he made reference to difficult, dirty, and dangerous jobs. I recall reading that article and it made an impact on me and my life. Six years ago, I embarked on a journey to find a new career that would offer …


Pessimist or a Realist? Our Present Situation – Part 5, by The Lone Canadian

(Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Food Shortages Right now, at this moment, we are facing a global food shortage thanks to wars, and floods and droughts. Farmers in the Netherlands are recognized as the most efficient farmers in Europe, if not the world. And yet their own government is in the process of forcibly seizing as many as 3000 farms and euthanizing the livestock because their “Nitrogen Minister” has deemed their farms to be emitting to much nitrogen. The government claims that this is necessary if they are going to meet their 2030 emissions goals. Goals that …


Pessimist or a Realist? Our Present Situation – Part 4, by The Lone Canadian

(Continued from Part 3.) The Real Energy Crisis Energy is the lifeblood of progress and industrialization. We don’t refer to countries as Second World or Third Worldworld anymore, that’s not politically correct. Now we call them “emerging markets.” And for them to “emerge” from Third World, or Second World status to take their place at the “big boys” table internationally takes energy. “Developing Nations” need energy to develop – pretty simple. And not just energy, but a stable supply of relatively cheap energy. The more they develop, the more energy they need to continue to develop. We may have hit …


Pessimist or a Realist? Our Present Situation – Part 3, by The Lone Canadian

(Continued from Part 2.) On the other side of the world….kind of….depending on how you look at it, China continues to make aggressive moves toward Taiwan. Much like Russia with the Donbas region, their claim is repatriation, not invasion. President Biden has stated on more than one occasion that we will put troops on the ground to help the people of Taiwan, although every time he says it, the white house tries to walk it back after the fact. You’d almost think that they are confused over what their course of action would be. But that might just be their …


Pessimist or a Realist? Our Present Situation – Part 2, by The Lone Canadian

(Continued from Part 1.) While we’re on the subject of interest rates, lets explore low interest rates. I’ve mentioned that the government, through the Fed, has kept them artificially low since about 2008. Now, the general thought was that low interest rates would stimulate the economy. Low interest rates mean that you can buy that bigger house, or new car. It also means that businesses can expand because the risk on a loan is lower. It means that new businesses can start up because people can more easily qualify for a loan, and their payments are relatively low, so its …


Pessimist or a Realist? Our Present Situation – Part 1, by The Lone Canadian

“My wife calls me a pessimist. I claim I’m a realist. Chances are, I’m just an a** with an attitude problem.” That’s my tag line on one of the sites that I belong to. Now, you may take offense at my wording, but if you knew me, you’d have to agree that the sentiment is pretty accurate. I’m writing this in the final few days of 2022, and I’ve had to go back and examine that tag line. I’ve had to question whether I am a pessimist, or am I simply well-informed when it comes to current events, and honest …


Portable Power Systems: Providing Remote Energy, by K.R.

As we moved onto our current rural retreat some years ago, one of our first steps was to install a set of grid-tied solar panels, very similar to the system described in the Survival Blog article by St. Funogas on September 10 and September 11, 2022. Similar to the author of that essay, we figured that we would use that system, along with isolated single panels for single applications, until we goft up the nerve to build a full-scale off-grid solar system. However, since that time new products have come out and my thinking has shifted. There is a new …


Beginning Bees on a Budget, by St. Funogas

“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with the spices of a million flowers.” Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine It’s January and getting close to time to get your bees ordered for anyone wanting to try their hand at beekeeping this year. Most bee suppliers have begun taking orders for bees and they typically sell out by late March so now is the time to start looking more seriously into whether or not you want to want to give beekeeping a shot. Many people want to get into beekeeping until …


Challenges of Living in a Small Home, by Hollyberry

I have always lived in a small space (apartment/mobile home/cabin) since leaving mom and dad’s nest many years ago. Small living is not for everyone. Being in a small living area, with pets and personal belongings, it can get crowded quickly. My husband jokingly says that we live homicidally close! I find that organization is important, as is letting stuff go when no longer needed or used. If you save everything because you may need it one day, then you can quickly run out of space. Clutter can take over quickly if not kept in check. We try to keep …


My Approach to a Semi-Auto Scout Rifle – Part 2, by Swampfox

(Continued from Part 1.  This concludes the article.) Before the Test – Make Your Own Ballistics Gel For ballistics testing at home, there are several options. At the time of my Mini-14 tests, I did not have any ClearBallistics gel or other commercial choices. If you want to do this a lot, perhaps buying a kit would be a good investment. I was short of time, so I whipped up some Knox gelatin. It is easy to do, but it takes a little time and patience. If you are going to be doing a lot of testing, you will need …


My Approach to a Semi-Auto Scout Rifle – Part 1, by Swampfox

This article describes my personal approach to setting up and testing a semi-auto scout rifle. The “scout rifle” is a concept that has been around since the 1980s. First proposed by Colonel Jeff Cooper, it has become popular among outdoorsmen and survival-oriented folks as a “do-it-all” kind of rifle. Each person’s idea of a scout rifle can vary, with the purposes of self-defense and being able to take wild game common to your living area. The original scout rifle concept has a very specific set of features. Cooper’s favorite caliber was, of course, the 308 Winchester / 7.62×51. He allowed …


A DIY Masonry Outdoor Cook Stove, by K.R.

During our harsh winter weather, I look for projects that increase our preparedness, but that can be accomplished in the warmth of my garage; preferably with a minimum of cost. This winter, my wife and I were reviewing the strengths and weaknesses of our preparations. We were inspired by the SurvivalBlog articles that have implored us all to examine and test our preps. We considered how we would do our cooking in a grid-down situation during summer, when cooking on our inside wood stove would be impractical. We already have (a few) gas-fueled camp stoves; but what about that day …


A Get Home Bag Alternative, by Rick S.

Anyone who leaves home should bring a Get Home bag with them. We regularly hear of incidents in which people leave home expecting a 30-minute jaunt in their climate-controlled vehicle only to find themselves in a grim, hours-long ordeal without even a bottle of water to tide them over. In some instances the individuals could simply pull over to the side of the road and walk home, but they are wearing high-heeled shoes and have no coat: after all, they had no intention of doing any walking nor did they expect to be out of their warm vehicle any longer …