Category: Retreat Groups

Update: Letter from a Kansas Consulting Client

Introductory note from JWR: I just received this update letter: “I wanted to write to the readers of SurvivalBlog about the search for a family to live on our family farm. The opportunity is still open. Many areas in the United States are deteriorating, but our conservative area remains safe and prosperous. We are willing to consider letters from readers anywhere in the country as we are not concerned about the distance, but we are about finding a quality family to eventually join our family in living on our farm. There is still time in the preparedness window in which …


Day One of TEOTWAWKI: A Written Plan – Part 1, by St. Funogas

Last year I did a 10-day test of my preps. (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4) It was the most important prepping activity I’ve every done and a real eye-opener to say the least. I found it an enjoyable experience that required a lot of problem-solving. For 2024, I highly recommend such a test of our preps, even if only for a few days. How about during a week’s vacation? I promise it’ll be one of your most memorable and educational. As the test began, I quickly I discovered I only had a very fuzzy idea of what …


Updated: Opportunity to Live on a Secure Kansas Family Farm/BOL

Late last year a consulting client asked me to help him find potential members for a retreat group membership at his family farm/bug-out location (BOL) . That opportunity is still open and his family prays to be able to find a like-minded family soon. Please read the entire post as the retreat owners have opened up their search to include many more families and that may potentially include your family to have a safe place to retreat. After much prayer, the farm owner has decided again to open up his request concentrating on families who are able to move to …


How to Prepare to Counter Sovereign Cryptocurrencies

Today, in place of my regular Friday column on Economics and Investing,  I’d like to address an important monetary issue. This article expands on a piece that I posted in SurvivalBlog back in July, 2022. — During the recent COVID pandemic, multinational corporations stayed open for business via the Internet, and grew larger. People cocooned at home, watched movies on Netflix, and ordered many of their household supplies via Amazon.com. But meanwhile, millions of small “Mom & Pop” businesses that dealt face-to-face with customers were forcibly shuttered and ruined, during the protracted lockdowns. When viewing national and world affairs, always …


What To Do in 2024?, by SaraSue

There has been a tremendous amount of change in our country, just in the past three years, not to mention the years and decades before.  It’s as if, the worst of the worst scenarios have accelerated, and many of us feel it in our bones that things are going to get worse in our country (America).  I grew up in the 1960s and 1970s, and it was a wonderful childhood. But, as I look back, I can see how the gross inflation and economic problems of the 1970s affected my father, while he insulated us children from most of it.  …


Buying and Developing Rural Land With Friends or Family, by Jonathan Rawles

The current real estate market, economic situation, and high interest rates continue to limit options for buying real estate. While prices have come down from their peak in many areas, the recent increase in interest rates means that affordability has not improved for the average buyer. There is also very limited inventory on the market, as many would-be sellers are choosing to stay put. Many buyers have to look in more affordable regions, go even more remote, or consider homes or properties that are smaller or in poorer condition. With all these challenges, many would-be property buyers are turning to …


Thinking About Resilience, by C.H. in Kansas

Introduction I would like to direct this article to new SurvivalBlog readers. Perhaps you were referred here by a friend or coworker. Perhaps you stumbled into SurvivalBlog through an internet search. However you arrived, if you’ve taken the time to poke around, you may be overwhelmed by the abundance of information on preparedness both here and at other sites. As of this writing, the war between Hamas and Israel has entered its third week. The death toll continues to rise. Dead and wounded among the victims—the Israeli citizens and other nationals—number in the thousands. Violent demonstrations against the US have …


Some Lessons Learned in Israel’s Kibbutzim

Like most other Americans, I have been closely watching the recent events in Israel.  I traveled there once, as a tourist, for several weeks. On that family trip, we drove up to the northern border with Lebanon, and all the way south to Eilat, on the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba. My wife (Avalanche Lily) has studied Hebrew for many years, and she has traveled to Israel more than a dozen times. In all, she has spent more than three years in Israel. So for us, watching the Israel-Hamas War brings back a lot of our travel memories. Lily lived …


Downsizing: Back to Farm Basics, by SaraSue

Things can change overnight, and recently, they have.  In my opinion, we have entered WWIII.  We don’t know yet how bad it’s going to be. But what we do know is that things are heading south, fast. There is no way to rationalize that we Americans are “going to be okay” with what is happening on the world stage. Not to mention, how quickly goods and services have degraded here at home.  You’d have to have your head stuck so deeply in a sand dune that you can’t get it out.  It is better to stand up and face reality …


Reunite Your Family After a Black Swan Event, by J.P.

Like many of you reading this, I have been in the preparedness community for more than a decade. We have seen the videos, read the blogs, read and listened to books, and thought about the what-ifs and I would-bes…. Seemingly endless “when it goes down imma gonna get my kit and my body armor and my weebo disk made by Acme company” or “in the first hours imma gonna go here and do this and that”. The first person tends to be me, myself and I. To be honest, no you are not. Hard stop! You may have loved ones …


Update: Opportunity for Retreat Group Membership in a Secure Kansas Bug Out Location

I currently have a consulting client who lives full-time with his family on a highly-productive farm in Kansas. He has asked me to use SurvivalBlog to add a family to his retreat group. Unlike the caretaker position that I posted earlier this year (which was a salaried position) posted earlier this year, this is not a paying job, but if you have the qualifications think of your response as the first step toward a potential space for you and your family in a lifeboat which in a collapse scenario could be very important. Imagine if the collapse has occurred and …


Grab-and-Go Rifle and Pistol Kits for Impromptu Visitors – Part 1, by S4H

Disclaimer: In this article, situations are discussed regarding loaning firearms to friends or relatives for mutual aid and defense of our families and properties. Clearly, one should not allow a mentally ill criminal type touch your guns, but my family doesn’t associate with those types of people anyway. That said, you are responsible for knowing the oppressive laws and unrealistic regulations in your own area – before handing a firearm to anyone. It may indeed be a felony to even let someone else touch or handle a firearm without expressed government approval. I am not a lawyer (because I have …


Hospitality in Exigency: Opening Your Home, by Jonathan Rawles

The tragedies of the wildfires in eastern Washington and on Maui, followed by hurricanes and flooding in California and Florida brought a secondary topic to mind: hospitality in exigency. It’s often alluded to, but it’s worth exploring the practicalities. How can a prepared household effectively support friends and family who have to leave their homes? If you successfully make your household productive and resilient, it will assuredly become a refuge to others at some point. It’s wise to consider what this might look like now. Types of Scenario Let’s start with considering the cases where you might have to offer …


A Local Disaster Network – Part 5, by J.M.

(Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Cloud Dancing Next, we’ll set up the Nextcloud application. Assuming your laptop and Raspberry Pi are still connected to your GL.iNet router and it has Internet access, open up a web browser on your laptop and enter the following address: ‘http://nextcloud.local’ – depending on your operating system and browser you may get a warning that says the connection isn’t private – just click to proceed anyway (or click on ‘Advanced’ and then ‘Proceed’). The first screen that will pop up is the following:           You’ll notice that there …