Category: Contest

Communications For a Dystopian Future – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

Introduction As the conditions for worldwide famine, pestilence, and war increase, we can anticipate that the Third World will suffer first, and many residents will be forced to flee elsewhere, looking for resources.  A flood of illegal immigrants will rush unabated through our now undefended southern border.  Desperate tens of millions, and potentially, hundreds of millions in the future, who would come from around the world into the U.S via our southern border in the next few years as risks escalate. This scenario is based on the work of Micheal Yon: Cometh the Horsemen: Pandemic, Famine, War | Michael Yon …


An Honest Look at My Farm – Year 2, by SaraSue

We are coming up on the second-year mark of developing this small five-acre farm.  I share my experiences in hopes it will help others.  I’ve had some great successes and some disappointing failures.  I am in the process of reviewing my own work to see where I can change processes for more success in year three.  I’ve learned so much I can’t even write it all down.  I’ve worked too hard, of course.  I’ve spent too much money, guaranteed.  I’ve often had to do things over, trying to save money, only to spend two to three times what I could …


Useful Tools For The Homestead, by Hollyberry

I love reading about homesteading back in the late 1800s thru the 1940s. I also like to study photos from earlier times, especially kitchens to see what they used. Back then there was no microwave, Kitchenaids or food processors. What you had was what you had and it better be durable as there was no Walmart around the corner to replace what you just broke. Most household kitchen countertops today are cluttered with all kinds of machines designed to make our lives easier. Today’s homesteader can spend a lot of money on “essential” tools only to sell them off for …


Modern Civil Defense – Part 2, by 3AD Scout

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Let’s Assume Let’s assume that that Washington determines the need for renewing civil defense, when would it happen and what might it entail?  Based on FEMA’s most recent “guidance” found in “NUCLEAR DETONATION RESPONSE GUIDANCE- PLANNING FOR THE FIRST 72 HOURS” released on March 2023, upon a nuclear attack warning being issued, state and local officials should “issue immediate shelter-in-place notifications”.  That is great except for this little thing called “reality”. In FEMA’s own 2022 National Household Survey, that polls people about their level of disaster preparedness, only 33% have assembled supplies for a …


Modern Civil Defense – Part 1, by 3AD Scout

What might a revived civil defense program look like in the United States?  What may trigger the Federal government to implement civil defense actions and what impacts might those actions or inactions have on you, your family or your preparedness group’s plans for survival? Where Civil Defense Ended To understand what the federal government might do in the future for civil defense we need to start by looking at the past.  In the 1950s through the 1970s American Civil Defense (CD) centered around “protecting” the population through fallout shelters.  A massive undertaking surveyed building across the United States to deem them worthy of …


Mutual Assistance Group Planning – Part 2, by Survivormann99

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Post-SHTF, a survival group will be dealing with issues that are certainly more important than occasional potholes. What happens if individuals within the group begin dragging their feet and refuse to help with group projects or refuse to spend time on security and common defense? From a pure expediency perspective, what can actually be done about people in a group who don’t help with projects or participate in security and defense efforts? Should a group sit idly by and allow a gang of marauders to loot the recalcitrant member’s home nestled in …


Mutual Assistance Group Planning – Part 1, by Survivormann99

I have been involved in the preparedness movement, at least to some degree, for a very long time. I became involved in preparedness when all like-minded people were classified as “survivalists,” although there was never a universally accepted definition of exactly what a survivalist is. There still isn’t. When that term became tainted because of certain bad actors, many of us were then classified as “preppers.” It sounded less threatening, less “Unabomber cabin.” Again, there was no universally accepted definition of exactly what a prepper is. There still isn’t. The television series Doomsday Preppers almost always seemed bent on finding …


Exiting Babylon – Part 2, by The Watchman

(Continued from Part 1.This concludes the article.) The third path: come out What does it mean to “come out” of Babylon? To exit Babylon means to no longer seek the culture’s favor or approval, to no longer seek its desires, to no longer seek its wisdom or counsel, to no longer seek its good or advancement, and to put no more trust in it. It means to put as much emotional, mental, physical, and above all spiritual distance between your family and the culture. Like Gideon, we must depose the idols in our own houses (Judges 6:25-27). We must abandon …


Exiting Babylon – Part 1, by The Watchman

I’ll begin this essay with two quotations from the book of Revelation: “So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.” …


The Patrol Bicycle, by Kim Kipling

No regular reader of SurvivalBlog needs to be encouraged to prepare for an uncertain future. Inspired and instructed by this forum, many of us spend great amounts of time, energy and money making preparations and setting aside tools, commodities, and supplies against the day when they are needed in an emergency, no longer available, or prohibitively expensive. And if you are like me, many of these items fall squarely into the category of “I pray I will never need this.” It is prudent to have them, but times will surely be hard if we ever have to reach for some …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 4, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Resources Once you have your route options figured out and taken into account potential obstacles and hazards, the next step should be to take a look at potential resource requirements and availability. The first resource I will typically look at is food – I always have some amount of emergency food stocked in my travel kit, including bags of nuts, trail mix, Fritos, emergency ration bars, small freeze-dried meals, etc. However, for any trip home longer than 3-to-4 days it becomes difficult to pack enough food to account for the whole trip, …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 3, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 2.) The Weather The next thing I look at when starting a trip plan is what the weather will be like at my destination as well as locations between my destination and home. For a shorter get-home journey these may be pretty much the same, but depending on distance, terrain and weather patterns you might experience very different weather in locations even 10 miles apart. For route plans that I use on a regular basis I’ll usually include monthly averages chart and just check the 10-day forecast shortly before I pack. Here’s a screen clip of the …


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced — Round 106

We’ve completed the judging for Round 106 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prize-winning writers are: First Prize First Prize goes to G.F., for: Pest Control for Keeping a Bug-Free Home.  (Posted April 26-27, 2023.  See: Part 1 and Part 2.) He will receive the following prize. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2000. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value), Two cases …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) Railroad tracks are another possible route that you could use to get home, but doing so can potentially be very dangerous – unless you’re in a grid-down scenario and you’re absolutely sure trains aren’t running then I strongly recommend you avoid them. If you can use them safely they could provide a possible route that’s typically isolated and free from obstacles. Railroad bridges are potentially less likely to be monitored or blocked, so if you need to cross a terrain feature like a river or steep gully while avoiding contact they may be a better option …


Follow the Yellow Brick Road – Part 1, by J.M.

In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s mantra is “There’s no place like home, there’s no place like home”, and the entire movie is pretty much about her following a yellow brick road to get there. Many of us spend a good chunk of our lives away from home, whether it’s at work, on vacation, visiting family or friends, or just going on a camping, hunting or fishing trip. If you spend any amount of time more than a few miles (or kilometers) away from your home or bug-out location (BOL), there’s a chance that an emergency or disaster might strike …