Providing Pictorial Gear Manuals for Your Group, by R.H.

Introduction The generator sputtered one more time, the noise only slightly louder than the un-Christian commentary coming from my mouth. The quarterly test-run for my generator checkout was not going well. I have a Robin 11 HP generator that provides electrical backup for critical circuits in my house through a transfer switch and separate Circuit Breaker box. I can place the generator outside my garage, connect the cable from the generator to the junction box in the garage, start the generator, change the source isolation transfer switch in the basement circuit breaker box and start turning on the breakers to …




Canning Potatoes, by Patrice Lewis

If you remember, early in May I put up a blog post asking for reader input on canning potatoes. You all came through beautifully in sharing your wisdom.           Well, I just tried canning them myself, and what do you know … they came out very well. Ironically, the day I canned potatoes was a day I had absolutely no interest in canning. Our weather has done a great big celestial 180 degrees this week, and we went from cool and rainy to hot and dry. Who wants to can anything in hot weather? But I …




Task-Driven Preparedness Planning, by J.M.

At it’s core, preparedness is a planning activity – we think about what bad things can or may happen and take steps to help ensure our survival if one or more of those events does occur. But what is it that drives that planning? Many of us tend to take a list-driven approach – we identify the types of resources we think we’ll need to survive such as food, water, medical supplies, plans, skills, etc., evaluate relevant factors such as our location, weather, family and finances, then make or find lists of what we think we’ll need to increase our …




Assembling Advanced Medical Cabinets, by K.B., M.D.

No doubt, we all have a medicine cabinet of some size. Lately, I reorganized and consolidated our medical supplies with the major assistance of my kind talented husband who built a set of floor-to-ceiling cabinets dedicated to that purpose even though he dislikes doing carpentry. (Thank you!) Because I am a retired and disabled physician, I obtain supplies to mainly care for those under our roof in a TEOTWAWKI situation. Of course, we all are very aware of recent supply shortages (masks, hand sanitizer, medications-both over the counter and prescription) but what about the possibility of a decline in the …




Grow Food in Summer That Lasts All Winter – Part 2, by J.T.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) — Cabbage: One cabbage plant only produces one head weighing about two and half pounds. We like coleslaw, cabbage rolls, cooked cabbage with potatoes, and stews with cabbage. One cabbage each week should be sufficient for eating. Like broccoli, cabbage will not survive after year end, so we will plan to harvest only about 8 heads. (I harvested one cabbage in December. It lasted in our refrigerator until it was eaten 8 months later). These plants will need an area 5′ by 6′ of garden space for 8 plants placed 2′ apart …




Grow Food in Summer That Lasts All Winter – Part 1, by J.T.

Gardeners: You can grow crops in your summer garden that will feed your family during the non-growing season. It’s all about the proper timing for starting your seeds and knowing which plants can make it through the winter. When summer comes to an end and you no longer have those wonderful veggies that came from your garden, what are your options? Well, for many of us gardeners, we are at the mercy of shopping for produce at Safeway from November until next year’s summer crop which won’t become available until June or July. Therefore, through winter and spring you will …




Handling Trash and Garbage at a Remote Home, by Mrs. Alaska

Editor’s Introductory Note:  This article will prove to be instructive for anyone preparing for a grid-down societal collapse,  where public services are disrupted. — Living off-grid, a 20-minute flight from the nearest road means not only that we receive no electricity, but also no municipal services at all, including those for disposal of garbage, trash, sewage, and gray water. So we have become very intentional about what we buy, make, and use, because we have to figure out how to dispose of or repurpose what remains. The following are some examples of what we do with wood ash, packaging, vegetable …




Update: In-Town Versus Isolated Retreats

This feature article is an update to a SurvivalBlog article that I wrote back in August of 2005: — There are two distinct modes of fixed location survival retreats: ”In Town” and “Isolated.” The former depends on some local infrastructure while the latter is designed to be almost entirely self-sufficient and self-contained. Isolated retreats are also often termed “remote” retreats. Not everyone is suited to tackling the tasks required for self-sufficiency at an isolated retreat. Advanced age — with the inevitable loss of muscle mass — physical handicaps, lack of trustworthy family or friends, or chronic health conditions could rule …




Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 4, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) As discussed previously, I followed two important principles in achieving a 7-year food supply using basic foods. First, let “everything from scratch” be your motto, avoiding processed and genetically modified foods. Second, buy in bulk. These two principles together will contribute to good health and definitely get you ahead of the steep inflation curve. Take the time to read the book, Nourishing Traditions, that I refer to as the “food Bible”. It will help you understand the real nutritional needs (“nutrient dense foods”) of adults and children, give you recipes, and help …




Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 3, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 2.) Food Basics In 6 months, I was able to stock up on basic, healthy, foods for a single person relatively inexpensively. You won’t necessarily have to take what I did and multiply it by the number of people in your household because it depends upon food needs and tastes. I avoid “emergency food supplies”, which are basically either dehydrated or freeze-dried foods at a premium price, because the budget matters to me. I avoid processed foods unless I see an exceptionally good sale, and know that these items will be good for the purposes of bartering …




Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 2, by SaraSue

(Continued from Part 1.) For many of us, the following are well-known concepts that we try to implement in our day-to-day living. I share my spin on them. I don’t cover OPSEC in this series because there are individuals with far more security experience than I, who can speak to it. Suffice it to say, I have implemented layers of security. The Basics: Water, Shelter, Tools, Energy, and Food Water: If you live in an urban or suburban area, your sources of water are very limited. However, you can get smart about water storage, storage containers, water filtration, and even …




Shortages, a 7-Year Food Supply, and Beating Inflation – Part 1, by SaraSue

Having a seven-year supply of healthy foods and saving money sounds like an oxymoron, but I want to explain how I did it in hopes it will help others. First, “7 years” is arbitrary. I had just finished reading the biblical story of Joseph and how God directed him to store up grain for 7 years because famine would come upon the land. Because of his obedience to God, he was rewarded both professionally by the Egyptian Pharaoh, and personally as the Lord brought his estranged family to him in need of grain. The story struck a chord in my …




Readying Your Family: Count The Costs

As I’ve mentioned in previous essays, I believe that We Are Living In The Age of Deception and Betrayal (WALITAODAB). Looking back on the trauma and drama of 2020 and 2021, please consider some of the questions that you must ask yourself and the choices that you may have to make in the next few years: 1.) First and foremost, are you right with God? If not, then repent and commit your life to Christ Jesus. (Yeshua, the Messiah.) Salvation in Christ is there for the asking, but you must be saved. 2.) Are you living in a truly safe …




The Handyman’s Tool Pouch, by John M.

Over the decades, I became a seasoned (older) person having built, renovated a few homes, rebuilt a score of autos, maintained survival retreats, watercraft, motorcycles, and so forth. These all at some point require specific tools, be it just a screwdriver, or a Crescent wrench. Chances are, working at a building site, or other situation you will have most tools that you need, but there is that unplanned event that requires a special tool. When I was younger, my goal was to have tools, lots of tools, and soon discovered the need for storage and a large tool chest on …




The Curse of The Cult of Kanban

In 2007, I began warning SurvivalBlog readers about global over-reliance on Just-In-Time (JIT) inventory management. This system — also called lean inventory management or kanban — was first developed by Toyota in Japan, in the 1950s. There, with largely internal chains of supply that were all clustered around the major cities on Japan’s largest island, Honshu, the kanban system worked with wonderful efficiency. Kanban soon branched out to the other three primary islands: Hokkaido, Kyushu, and Shikoku. Manufacturers were able to cut costs by keeping their parts inventory small, and placing frequent orders to their supplying wholesalers and component parts …