Category: Contest

Prepping With Inexpensive .22 Revolvers, by B.F.

I was organizing my gun safes, and realized that I had somehow accumulated five single-action .22 rimfire revolvers. I thought that a short article about them, how accurate or not they are, and whether or not various brands of ammunition make an accuracy difference might be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. To preview the conclusion, yes, if… I’ll start with the latest acquisition first. I was at a gun show earlier this year, not intending to purchase anything, and ran across one of the latest offerings from Heritage Arms. Heritage has been making the Rough Rider .22 single-action revolver in …


Desperate Dining, by Prepared Pamela

EFFECTS OF THE PANDEMIC ON HOMELESSNESS AND THE HUNGRY Billions of people have been affected by the global coronavirus pandemic. Some are worse off than others, but each of us has been touched by this disaster. Many individuals have been left homeless, barely surviving without adequate shelter or food. Fifty million Americans in the United States go to bed every night hungry. We are all affected by the supply chain issues, lack of provisions and high prices. Unfortunately, 40% of the food produced annually is discarded. Our country throws away tons of viable food that is considered no longer consumable, …


Home Canning Water-Level Measuring Sticks, by St. Funogas

This is the third in a series of home canning articles dedicated to ways of making your home canning experience easier, quicker, more efficient, and less stressful. My hope is that they’ll add something new to the mix by offering some canning techniques which many home canners may not be aware of. My first two articles in the series were: Uncommon Canning Techniques Canning Tomato Sauce, a New Twist Canner Water-Level Conundrum One of the big frustrations for beginning home canners, and for many veterans as well, is trying to figure out exactly how much water to boil in the …


Apple Tree Care 102: Thinning Fruit, by T.S., Ph.D.

When I see clusters of apple trees in box store parking lots, I wonder how many of them will actually become productive. The trees are usually clones of great varieties, like honey crisp and golden delicious. But for many well-intentioned homeowners, coaxing quality fruit on a consistent annual basis from these trees can be a challenge. This how-to article will describe how to thin fruit to increase reliable apple production. Warning, thinning fruit is very counterintuitive (see Figures 1 and 2). This article will describe cutting seemingly healthy “baby apples” from your tree. But, anyone would agree, one healthy apple is better …


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 3 by Pulse Prepper

Part 3: Cyberattacks Cyberattacks are increasing In May 2021, there was a shutdown of Colonial Pipeline, one of the largest fuel pipelines in the United States. The pipeline transports about 45% of all fuel consumed on the East Coast, including home heating oil, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The disruption caused major fuel shortages, and President Biden even declared a state of emergency. What was the cause of this crippling shutdown? A cyberattack. The attack began when a hacker group identified as DarkSide accessed the Colonial online network. The attackers stole 100 gigabytes of data within a two-hour window. Following …


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 2 by Pulse Prepper

Part 2: Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons (EMPs) and Nukes How EMPs affect the power grid An Electromatic Pulse (EMP) can be natural, such as a lightning strike or a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME), which are both forms of an EMP. However, here we will discuss a man-made EMP, which is accomplished by exploding a nuclear bomb at a high altitude. A nuclear bomb exploded at ground level (or an air burst a few hundred feet from the surface) causes extensive damage within a certain radius. However, the damage is limited to a specific area. The blast radius of the nuclear bomb …


Solar Storms, EMPs, Nukes, and Cyberattacks – Part 1 by Pulse Prepper

Part 1: Solar Storms The Carrington Event In September 1859, Richard Carrington, an amateur astronomer in the London, England area, pointed his telescope towards the sun, using dark filters to protect his eyes. Suddenly, he observed a flash of intense white light from the area of the sunspots. His observation is the earliest record of what we now know is a solar flare. The next day, the charged plasma from that solar storm reached Earth. It lit up the entire northern hemisphere, all the way to Hawaii and Rome, with vivid red, blue, green auroras. There were also reports of …


Alternative Ways to Source Food, by SaraSue

I was thinking how different my shopping habits are now than what they used to be. I used to go grocery shopping once a week, and didn’t think twice about running into a grocery store during the week for something I forgot or ran out of or needed for a new recipe. Now? I rarely go to a grocery store. Last year, I was popping in once every week or two just to grab a gallon of milk or a pound of bacon, but I don’t even do that anymore. Part of the reason is that I stocked up on …


Canning Tomato Sauce With a New Twist, by St. Funogas

I’m always on the lookout for new canning techniques and I enjoy experimenting as well. The method discussed here saves over half of the time and most of the propane is normally used to cook the tomato sauce. It’s also quick enough that it allows me to easily make three batches in a day. With tomatoes being my largest canning crop and having doubled my production this year, this method is even more important to help me avoid spending 50+ hours canning tomatoes over a hot stove in record-breaking heat and drought this year. I should be drinking iced tea …


An Illustrative Family Reunion Camping Trip, by MacHam

Editor’s Introductory Note: The following article illustrates the difficulties of what I often label “group dynamics.” Anyone who plans to operate a post-Schumer retreat with more than just two families should pay close attention! – JWR I have just returned from a four-day family reunion and here are my observations. To set the stage I arranged for a four-day family reunion with several families of men, women and children. The time was end of July and into August 2022. The place was a much coveted remote Forest Service Group Site that could hold up to 200 people. The site was …


Additive Manufacturing – Part 2, by M.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) As these CAD software options are 3D drafting programs, I strongly suggest purchasing a 3Dconnexion 3D mouse. It essentially provides a dedicated joystick used in conjunction with your normal mouse which you move as if you were holding onto the 3D object in real life and allows you to rotate and zoom in easily as doing so with a mouse can be frustrating without extensive practice. It is pricy at $150 (approximately the cost of a printer!), but well worth the expense. With the step file produced, it is then converted to …


Additive Manufacturing – Part 1, by M.

The community of emergency preparedness has devolved into something of a hoarder arms race. It’s not surprising why. Our threat assessment has changed from just being concerned about natural disasters that may last a few weeks, to being worried about our own government relentlessly sabotaging our way of life just for the kicks and giggles. Those with their eyes and ears open take nothing in our luxurious modern society for granted. But just because one can identify a problem doesn’t mean they have figured out an efficient solution to it. I have seen countless comments and videos by survivalists who …


Rainwater Harvesting – Part 2, by K.R.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Our Primary Rainwater Capture System When the time came for us to put in a new garage, we had the opportunity to install a larger rainwater system that could also capture snow melt, as well as store water during the winter. The collection system is an in-ground French drain running the 60-foot length of the building, between the eaves of the building and the hillside. The drain empties into a 1,000-gallon concrete underground cistern. We put in a septic tank for the toilet in the garage, so we just dropped a second …


Rainwater Harvesting – Part 1, by K.R.

Imagine that you have a 2,000 square foot cabin in the Inland Northwest and a spring rain shower thunders by that drops an inch of rain. If you were equipped to capture the rain that hit the roof of your cabin, you would have just picked up over 1,200 gallons of water. Rainwater harvesting is an easy win that can provide a significant supply of water. With a relatively small investment, you can provide a significant amount of water that you can use for gardens, washing, animals, firefighting, and–if treated–drinking. At the very least, capturing your rainwater as a redundant …


Upgrading an Inexpensive Gun Safe, by PrepperDoc

Many prepared individuals have an alternate living location. It might be called a “retreat,” a “bug-out house” or simply their “vacation home.” Perhaps in a “safer” location or in a state with more favorable legal climate on important features of self-provision and security. This alternate living location will typically be stocked with valuable implements and provisions, likely including firearms, ammunition, cash, precious metals and other valuables. Sitting vacant much of the time, it might become a lucrative target even in “normal times” before the national situation has even significantly deteriorated. A thief entering the vacant home would have ample time …