Category: Contest

The Three Stages of TEOTWAWKI – Part 1, by St. Funogas

This article discusses some of the thoughts I’ve had about the different stages of post-SHTF life while writing my upcoming article, “A Realistic Top-10 Prepping List.” Consider this a preface to that article. Everything presented here is my opinion of course. As I’ve prepped and worked towards living a self-reliant lifestyle, I’ve thought a lot about things over the years. Many of my conclusions are based on history, ideas presented in some of the post-apocalyptic novels and movies, reading daily SurvivalBlog articles for the past seven years, and concerns about my current situation if the Schumer hits the fan next …


How To Buy and Store Gold and Silver – Part 2, by Rocket J. Squirrel

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Security First off, never tell anyone that you have gold and silver stored at your home. Second, you must break rule #1 and tell someone you trust about the location, emphasis on trust. You will want to tell your wife/husband. Additionally, you will want to tell one of your heirs. You do not want to have your gold and silver lost to the person who buys your home when your heirs sell it if your heirs are unaware that you have gold/silver hidden on the property. Whomever you tell, emphasize to them …


How To Buy and Store Gold and Silver – Part 1, by Rocket J. Squirrel

Up front: Select a trustworthy dealer and place your order. But there are many complexities and nuances that I will explain. Please forgive me if I have left any of your questions unanswered, but I endeavor to include all needed information to keep you out of trouble. First, what should you buy? Here are some of the options. Forms of Gold and Silver Jewelry Bars/Ingots Coins (“rounds” produced by private mints, typically silver) Coins (from sovereign mints, historic and current coins) USA Silver Dollars Junk Silver 90% (USA pre-1965 dimes, quarters and half-dollars) Junk Silver 40% (USA Kennedy Half-Dollars minted …


Neighbors, Friends and Enemies, by SaraSue

I think this is an important topic, and I’ve been struggling with it.  Who is my friend and who is my enemy, and why is it important to designate people as such?  Should I?  On the face of it, it’s about my safety and that of my family.  If I can identify friend or foe, I can more easily identify threats and make plans to mitigate them.  Maybe not easily, but at least I would know at some level what I’m dealing with.  I realize that my experiences are far different than those living in the suburbs or in a …


Writing Contest Prize Winners Announced — Round 120

We’ve announced the winners of Round 120 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. Note to the top three prize winners: Please contact me and let me know your UPS and USPS address(es), for your prizes. Thanks. – JWR The top three prize winners will each receive some great prize packages. The winners for Round 120 are… First Prize Winner: First Prize goes to AppComms, for Memoirs of a Disaster Survivor. (See: Part 1 and Part 2.) It was posted August 1-2, 2025. He will receive as prizes: A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any …


Growing Kabocha Squash, by Rookie Gardener

Until my retirement in the summer of 2021, I had never grown anything but weeds, which evidently, I’m pretty good at. However, growing anything else was hit and miss, mostly miss. During my working life my wife and I spent a lot of time in Asia. One of the commonly used vegetables often sliced thin, breaded, and deep fried on tempura platters is kabocha squash, also called Japanese pumpkin. Kabocha is a winter squash with a creamy texture. It’s used in many Asian cuisines. We could not bring home seeds but here we found that we could purchase them online …


My Most Recent Lesson in Logistics, by Reltney McFee

Last weekend, I was performing my periodic battery survey, assessment and replacement ritual. I have a list of (I had thought) every battery device, and its location, along with a hidey-hole for the batteries to replace those that require them. This list, in the summer 2025 edition, runs 3 pages of 14 point type. On my yearly planner, it is slated for January. (Yes, I am aware that this is September. Let us consider the gulf between plans, and actions, shall we?) As it developed, as I was working my way through each page, I would pass one shelf in …


Text Comms in a Post-Disaster World – Part 5, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) There are a lot of different complicated characteristics in the LoRa radio configuration that can be changed that impact range and transfer speed, so Meshtastic has defined a number of preset configurations so you don’t need to mess with the technical details. The first word of the preset defines range, and the second defines bandwidth, with ‘Long Fast’ being the default. I strongly recommend that you stick with the ‘Long Fast’ preset until you gain more experience with Meshtastic, so make sure the ‘Modem Preset’ field says ‘Long Fast’. Once you’ve selected …


Text Comms in a Post-Disaster World – Part 4, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 3.) Flashing I’ve covered a lot of details regarding how Meshtastic works, so let’s walk through an example of configuring an actual device to see how it all applies. Note that one of the results of Meshtastic currently being primarily a hobbyist activity is that there are multiple ways of doing things. For example, you can connect a Meshtastic device to a PC via serial (over USB) or Bluetooth, you can manage the device from a PC using an Internet-based web interface, a locally hosted web interface or a Command Line Interface (CLI), you can update the …


Text Comms in a Post-Disaster World – Part 3, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 2.) Charging In regards to charging, most Meshtastic devices have a built-in USB-C port for charging the internal battery (except for the T1000-E mentioned above). The USB-C port can also be used to connect to the device to a computer for upgrading the firmware or managing the device via a web browser. Compact Comms Above is a picture of several Meshtastic devices to give you an idea of their sizes:


Text Comms in a Post-Disaster World – Part 2, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 1.) Meshtastic provides native integration with GPS satellite data for location information. Many Meshtastic devices come with a hardware GPS receiver built in, and the Meshtastic app has the ability to share GPS data from a paired cell phone if it’s not built into the device. There is usually a shortcut in many Meshtastic devices for immediately sending your location information to other users in the event of an emergency. The Meshtastic phone app has the ability to download local copies of some maps so you can pinpoint other people’s locations. I realize that many people don’t …


Text Comms in a Post-Disaster World – Part 1, by J.M.

Unless you’re a completely isolated loner, communications are going to play a critical role in both short-term and long-term disaster scenarios. Being able to effectively exchange information with family, friends and community members in both short-term as well as long-term disaster scenarios can literally mean the difference between surviving or going the way of The Dodo. There have been dozens of articles on SurvivalBlog about the use of radios for voice communications, and having appropriate radios and communications plans should definitely be considered a critical part of any preparedness plan. However, there’s another form of communications that should be considered …


Improvised Shower Fixtures and Pumps, by A.F.

My first iteration of an improvised shower came about while stationed in Texas. Our unit was participating in a field training exercise and were allocated one trip to the shower point per week. As this exercise was more of a practice of our daily grind in field conditions rather than a battle simulation, our platoon of mechanics set up a minimal motor pool and for the most part spent time catching up on service work. One of the few actual repairs I was given over those days was replacing the power steering pump on a M1009 CUCV better known as …


Secure Local Comms With POTS Equipment, by Tractorguy

Land-line analog telephone service was ubiquitous in most of the 20th Century. This hardware is now commonly Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS).  This was our primary means of communication. It was simple, robust, and reliable. A few users still have landline service, although most landline service has migrated to digital means over a public Internet connection, with a modem at the user’s residence converting the digital data back to analog and providing ringer voltage to operate the bell. A lot of these telephones and associated equipment still exist, and are sitting in basements and attics. They could be easily pressed …


JIT Training for Trusted Friends, Family, and Neighbors, by Dr. Bob

This article will provide some thoughts on how to address a few common problems seen in the preparedness community. The first problem involves the difficulty finding like-minded people to form a community before the Stuff Hits The Fan (SHTF). The second problem is how to engage friends, family, and neighbors so that they take actions to prepare their families prior to SHTF. These problems are related and center on the realization that many people are bound by their current life circumstances and are unwilling or unable to consider that the current paradigm is in danger and, secondly, many of those …