Category: Contest

Some Harsh Lessons of Beekeeping, by Keith K.

I would like to share my experience with beekeeping to help others decide if it might be for them. My initial interest in beekeeping began before I moved to the Redoubt. My wife and I attended a beekeeping night at a local library and later took a four-day (four Saturdays) beekeeping course. We learned a lot. We found that beekeeping hobbyists were very enthusiastic and touted the many benefits of beekeeping along with the fun of it. It was very easy to be influenced by all of the positive and energetic people. Ultimately, we decided that beekeeping would be part …


Windstorm 2015 Washington, by ShepherdFarmerGeek

So, in Washington this week on 11/17/15 and almost a year to the day of last year’s massive windstorm, we had another massive windstorm. Last year, at our place, we had a single sustained 70 mph gust that broke 10 trees in half. This year we had multiple 70+ mph gusts that only broke down six trees. (God must want me to have a lot of firewood.) The wind blasted and mangled many of our roof shingles along with those of perhaps thousands of other homes, outbuildings, and businesses in a wide swath. The howling winds lasted about 12 hours …


The Second Amendment and Its Relevance in Today’s Society, by B.E.

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Amendment II (the Second Amendment) of the United States Constitution’s Bill of Rights declares a well-regulated militia as “being necessary to the security of a free State” and prohibits infringement of “the right of the people to keep and bear arms.” It is a controversial subject whose ramifications are still being debated to this day, over two-hundred and thirty years after it was written. Its place in the Bill of Rights as the Second Amendment is indicative of how important our nation’s founding fathers thought that right should be. It is still relevant in today’s society, despite haphazard attempts at …


Left Of Boom”– A Different Way of Thinking About Prepping, by The Retired Professor

“Left of Boom” is originally a military term referring to the timeline before an explosion. When the explosion happens (the boom), then the timeline shifts to “right of boom”. Left of boom is where you want to be. This gives you time to avert the explosion, or at least prepare for it. Right of boom is where you do not want to be. Being right of boom means you now have to shift from averting and preparing to focusing on recovery. The whole concept embraces a timeline of “before”, “during”, and “after” a calamity, be it personal or systemic. On …


The Grid Will Never Be Down in the Way You May Think! – Part 2, by X-liberal

Discrimination Imagine eating lunch inside your employer’s break room and reading lovely gestures on the bulletin board, such as “We are an equal opportunity employer. We don’t discriminate over race, gender, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, etc.” The liberal leadership stands next to the bulletin board, illustrating to the world that they would never discriminate in hiring practices, no way, no how! Then these same enlightened liberals enact a diversity program whereby they hire solely based on one’s skin color, gender, or sexual orientation, thereby ignoring the law they just stood behind! That means these “chosen few” (in the diversity) have …


The Grid Will Never Be Down in the Way You May Think! – Part 1, by X-liberal

I want to illustrate is that the grid is never going to be down. That is, I mean it won’t be down for the “chosen few”. Why? Well, let’s go to God’s word in the Book of Revelation Chapter 13:16 and have a look. “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: and that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” What this is saying …


Being Anonymous, by Spotlight

I walked out onto the driveway to greet my wife as she backed the car in, arriving home from a long day at work. Right away, I noticed a magnet on the back of the car, proclaiming us to be members of our church, complete with our town name. “What’s up with that?” I said, looking at the magnet, as she got out of the car. She laughed and said the pastor of our church had put it on there when he saw her in the parking lot. I think she had laughed because she knew what I was going …


Water Works- Part 4, by JSP

Other Projects, A Future Project, and “War Game” Potential Problems In this final section addressing survival related water systems, I will outline a few projects we have completed, talk about a future project, and “war game” potential problems that could arise. Our personal outlook is that, when things crash, people who are previously identified will be coming to our place of retreat, and we also have to be open to the fact that the Holy Spirit may direct people to us who we don’t currently know. Our main residence has a standard septic tank and drain field, two bathrooms, and …


Water Works- Part 3, by JSP

Hot Water Grid Down or When the Schumer Hits The Fan Let’s all agree that we can survive without hot water. Yet, as some have successfully argued on this blog that when it comes to food “variety is the spice of life”, I would ask why it is important, especially in a survival situation. “Morale” would be my answer. We could all survive on rice and beans, but it would be hard to keep group morale up if after a supper of rice and beans the group only could look forward to a breakfast of rice and beans. My personal …


Water Works- Part 2, by JSP

In part 1, I explained several things we did to take our water preps to the next level, which felt good but was still lacking in some areas. So, let’s start by looking at the potential problems of that system. Problems of Our Water System At This Point First, at this point, the poly tanks are not “plumbed” to anything; they are simply static, stand-alone storage vessels. Make no mistake that is way better than having no water on hand but not ideal either. Secondly, the primary grid down backup plan is a gas generator. Many people would argue that …


Water Works- Part 1, by JSP

Many years ago I became friends with an older gentleman who was a retired farmer. It seemed to me that there wasn’t anything he couldn’t fix or build, whether small engines, regular engines, diesel engines, electrical, electronics, welding, and so on. Not having been raised around people like this gentleman, he was a good role model for me, especially when it came to problem solving. He and his wife had retired, sold their farm, and moved to the “city” of 30,000 people. One day he told me that they were selling their home in the city to move to a …


Can You Buy a Budget Sniping Rifle That Is Effective?, by B.F.

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There are many definitions of what sniping is. A google search results in 242,000 hits. What one writer calls sniping, another may call precision marksmanship, counter-sniping, or just plain shooting. For the purpose of this article, we will look at rifles capable of acceptable accuracy and sufficient stopping power at distances beyond those of a typical 5.56 or 7.62×39 modern sporting rifle. I’ll compare several budget rifles to a couple that are quite a bit more expensive. Shooting will be done at both 100 and 550 yards, both cold barrel and warm barrel. Honestly, I am not convinced that a …


Normalcy Bias, by KR in TN

Most people I know enjoy a little adventure. While it may not be sky diving, even the more reserved, quiet spirits appreciate a change of pace. Some get their kicks from visiting the mouse at his Magic Kingdom, while others get it from a morning in the tree stand or an afternoon under the hood. Regardless of what they do, folks like to break up the monotony of the daily grind. Doing the same ole’ same ole’ gets old, but the day to day life we live is what we’ve come to expect. Yesterday was the same as the day …


How To Title Retreat Property, An Overlooked Item in Your Planning, by John in the Ozarks

I have spent the last eight years building and stocking my full-time retreat. Our family has had a terrific timing putting this together. One thing has happened beyond our control. The area we are located in has grown substantially. Our population has increased substantially, and we have also been slotted to receive Syrian refugees. I have come to the realization that It is simply going to be too hard to depend on this location as my only retreat. So after due diligence and the help of Survival Realty, I have purchased a secondary retreat in a totally different region of …


Keep Your Bicycle Running in Tough Times, by S.H.

A lot of times you’ll hear folks say that doing some activity is like riding a bicycle; once you know how to do it, you’ll always remember. Well, it’s true that no matter how long it’s been since you’ve ridden, you can get back on your bicycle, but only if you remember you have one! One thing I’ve noticed in a lot of posts regarding times post-after the Big Schumer hits the fan is the gap that bicycles could fill for transport needs. Notably, bicycles were employed by a few characters in the book Patriots, so kudos to Mr. Rawles. …