Category: Retreat Locales

A Goldilocks Tale of Three Lake Docks, by Mrs. Alaska

When we bought our undeveloped land on a lake in Alaska, the first thing built was a little dock on the lake, so that boats and float planes could deliver workers and supplies. What type of dock is best in a cold climate where lakes and rivers freeze and thaw? In general, I found that Americans writing from states like Minnesota favored light metal docks that you could pull out of the water at the end of the season.  We saw that approach frequently used in Wisconsin.  From friends there, we have heard that it is something of a seasonal …


Another Look at Your BOB and INCH Preps, by Dr. Rick

In my most recent article which was posted on June 23, 2025, we looked at and evaluated your EDC and GHB equipment in the framework of survival priorities. Hopefully, you found that information useful. In the preceding article, the focus was on individual preparedness for drastic situations. Now we are going to look at two very different situations. In the two situations presented here, the focus is on family or group preparedness. Both involve evacuation. In this article, we will be looking at your BOB (Bug Out Bag) and your INCH (I’m Never Coming Home) kit using the same survival …


Avoiding Those Jurisdictional Layers

Many of my consulting calls focus on the selection of retreat property locales. I always advise my clients to look first at state, county, and local laws, before they even start to look at individual real estate listings. In this essay,  I will address the issue of jurisdictional layers, when considering retreat locales. In two previous SurvivalBlog articles, I discussed the whole concept of jurisdiction: In 2018: The First Question is Always Jurisdiction. and, in 2024: Fencing In Federal Jurisdiction. But in this essay, I will be going over the application of jurisdiction, and most importantly how it varies, additively, …


Leftist Plantation: It’s Now “Treason” For White Farmers To Leave South Africa?, by Brandon Smith

Editor’s Introductory Note: This guest article (reposted with permission) describes some recent news that might outwardly seem tangential to the focus of SurvivalBlog. But I believe that it is indeed relevant because it highlights the importance of preparedness for international migration. The 20th Century taught us that national politics can change rapidly, and minority groups can be marginalized, exploited, disenfranchised, persecuted, imprisoned, and systematically killed. This happened again and again in places like Armenia, Russia and Ukraine (with the rise of the Bolsheviks and Soviets from the 1920s to 1950s), Greece and Turkey in the 1920s, Nazi Germany, the partition …


Expatriating to the Philippines: 12 Years to Reflect, by M.B.

Twelve years ago, I moved to the Philippines to escape U.S. economic pressures—tax hikes, healthcare mandates, and a struggling economy. Now, with over a decade of experience, I’ve gained a perspective on life here. This guide, refined for aspiring expats, covers natural disasters, construction, security, education, a unique location in Subic, and critical considerations for accessing specialized services like medical care. The Climate and Agriculture The Philippines offers a year-round growing season, but gardening is tough. Red clay soil demands effort, and ants and weeds are relentless. The dry season—hot and arid—requires irrigation or hydroponics. Fresh produce prices spike during …


SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic: The “Stickiest” States: Showing the share of people born in each state who were still living there, as of 2021. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit. Based on Dallas Federal Reserve Bank statistics, via the U.S. Census Bureau.  Map created by Kavya Beheraj/Axios.) JWR’s Comment: The low numbers in Wyoming, Alaska, and Hawaii say a lot about differences in both climate and job opportunities. The thumbnail below is click-expandable.       — Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own …


A Red State Manifesto: Two Americas in 2025 – Part 3, by Jonathan Rawles

(Continued from Part 2. This concludes the article.) Red State Prospects It seems almost redundant to try to list the benefits and advantages of “red state living.” Red America is vast and offers opportunities for every climate, lifestyle, regional culture, and personal preference or situation. Red State America includes something of everything of America: – Mountain West logging and mining towns. Lakeside resort towns. Ranching country. Vast empty spaces. Arizona sunshine. – Midwest and Plains Americana, from small farming towns to prospering cities. The Great Lakes. America’s historic manufacturing and agricultural heartland. – Texas, a nation to itself. The economic …


A Red State Manifesto: Two Americas in 2025 – Part 2, by Jonathan Rawles

(Continued from Part 1.) Political Migration: Origins of the Big Sort In 2008, demographers Bill Bishop and Robert G. Cushing put a name to a trend that had been going on in America since the 1960s with their book The Big Sort. The authors’ contention is that Americans are sorting themselves geographically and that as a consequence, all areas are becoming more politically polarized. In their model, people do not necessarily move for explicitly political reasons, but based on lifestyle and cultural choices, which tend to correlate with political outlooks. As they describe it: “People who move to Portland want …


A Red State Manifesto: Two Americas in 2025 – Part 1, by Jonathan Rawles

The Landscape In 2025, the divide between red states and blue states has not gone away, but only become more distinct. The decisive results of the 2024 election saw all the swing states shift significantly toward the Republican candidate, and even typically “purple” metros like Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and Houston voted for Trump. This victory has further cemented the idea of Red America as a distinct entity, directly opposed to what is happening in Blue America. It’s a clear cultural and political divide cutting across the country. The electoral map makes this abundantly clear: The core of America is firmly …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 5, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is the last part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. (Continued from Part 4. This concludes the article.) Solutions: The Journey for Possible Future Retreat Owners It would be nice if there were other easy solutions out there. But for a family man the road of hard work done intelligently will often yield good results over many years. There are some who claim that you cannot save to afford land without a …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 4, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — Economics of Land in the 21st Century Arable land is no longer free nor available at reduced cost. As you learned in Part 2, over a hundred million acres of land in our country were sold for some sweat, initiative, and a small filing fee during the main Homestead years from the 1860s to the 1930s. Even earlier, land was available for a …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 3, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — Economics for Farmers The first lesson that I’d like to address in this installment is that our family is very conservative, economically. We chose to avoid all debt. Yes, it is a choice for most people. Debt is no longer passed down intergenerationally as it was previously in American history. As Christians, we are taught to avoid debt. In Proverbs, we are warned: …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 2, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he discusses. — The Land: Your Base of Operations Our farm can support the core food needs of hundreds of people. Farm productivity has been increasing much faster than the population. Over the space of two centuries, the number of people who are living on farms has decreased from almost universal to around two percent. Since the number of people who now live on farms is …


Thoughts on Retreats: History and Land – Part 1, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This is part one of a multi-part article series on retreats written by a Christian farmer who is praying and searching for a wife. Please prayerfully consider all of the topics that he will discuss. — Preparedness Terminology History My family preparedness history goes back generations. Before the term “prepper” was used, people who were into preparedness were known as “survivalists” and even before then people were known as “retreaters.” Our survival library is very extensive covering preparedness-related subjects including original civil defense publications from the 1950s until today. I have spent many hours reading the articles …


The Final Countdown: Last-Minute Readiness Checks – Part 2, by Michael X.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Water List This is an item for the first three days. This is super important and needs to be one of the first items confirmed. Check locations and condition of water sources: Bottled Water/Stored water containers Well water (power dependent) Lake water – are there containers to carry and larger containers to store lake water? Is there a rainwater collection option available? Is the Berkey/Filtered water system ready? Can the tub be successfully filled with water from the system before the power goes out or the line pressure is gone? Can I …