Editors’ Prepping Progress

…our freedoms remain intact as we pull together in agreement to defend ourselves for the common good. As always, as your sheriff, I am committed to the least amount of control by government, which means more freedom for citizens of Idaho County. You can be particularly proud of sheriff office deputies, dispatchers and office staff who have been vigilant, faithful in their duty, and have not wavered in their jobs. In the same way first responders, medical professionals, and emergency service providers have continued to provide for community protection in spite of personal exposure. Let’s not forget other services, like those who are working to keep food supplies stocked up and gasoline flowing. When others have stayed home, these folks have maintained important continuity for our communities. The sheriff’s office sees no need at this time to enforce the governor’s required restrictions with criminal penalties, and will maintain this position…




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

…Nov. 10, 2004, in Fallujah, Iraq.” Google Search Manipulation Update Video: Google vs DuckDuckGo — Search engine manipulation, censorship and why you should switch. JWR’s Comment: I use Start Page as my default search engine, because it is has neutral, unfiltered search results and it maintains no search histories! And here is a quite recent example, showing their ongoing manipulation: Google Protecting Jussie Smollett From ‘Disparaging’ Searches YouTube is Treating You Like a Robot Some cogent analysis by Matt Christiansen: They Think You’re a Stupid Robot — Reading Between the Hit Piece Lines. JWR’s Comment: The only way to avoid being manipulated by YouTube’s algorithms is to manually subscribe to the sites that you decide are worthy. Otherwise, the Corporate Thought Police’s constantly changing algorithms will gradually make anyone to the right of Karl Marx disappear from view. Oh, and as each of your favorite commentators is de-platformed (and they…




Behind the Scenes, by 3AD Scout

…remember your history, the US had to ration gasoline during World War Two to help conserve rubber for tires and other things needed for the war. Japan had pretty much cut off the US access to rubber from southeast Asia. China could cut off the flow of several minerals or raw materials needed for defense contractors. This is why the national defense stockpile is so important. The rush to procure the needed strategic materials shows we are marching towards a war footing. To learn more about the stockpile, see this piece. Semiconductor Sources Semiconductors are very important to the modern military. Taiwan is the powerhouse when it comes to manufacturing of the newest semiconductors. South Korea is also a major producer of the current most high tech chips. Although China manufactures chips they are not the newest generation nor of the quality. The 100 Day Supply Chain Review acknowledges the…




Train Your Tracking Dog – Part 1, by Dogdancer

…years that individual dogs within all breeds and mixes have the energy, desire, and scenting skills to learn to search and find someone or something. You just have to be able to communicate the idea to the dog, and make sure the dog “gets paid” at the end. Search dogs differ from dogs trained in property protection, or law enforcement “bite” dogs, or those taught to sniff out drugs or contraband. In fact, the ideal search dog is generally well-socialized and enjoys people, learns quickly, is energetic, but calm and steady in temperament. Most search dogs are medium to large size, but that doesn’t mean a smaller dog couldn’t qualify. Smaller dogs are better at getting into cramped spaces and narrow culverts than big ones are, but it’s harder for them to cover long distances. It is possible that you may have a potential search dog laying at your feet…




Rourke on: Establishing a Survivalist E-Mail/Cellular/Wireless PDA Alert System

…mention of any additional ones that you find to SurvivalBlog. Alerts to your email you can set for free now: Terrorist Alerts http://www.terroristwarning.com/ News Alerts by CNN, you can control why area of news: http://edition.cnn.com/youralerts/ News or Web alerts using your own key words: http://www.google.com/alerts   (try doing “Bird Flu”, you won’t believe how many you get each day) Severe Weather Alerts: http://www.weather.com/services/alerts.html?from=servicesindex Weather, Alerts for your area: http://www.weathercenter.com/personalforecast/ (or find a station in your local area, this is an example) Earthquakes in your area: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/products/services.html#email Conditions in Space: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/alerts/ Examples of things that you can monitor on original source web sites: Current National Weather Information: http://www.weather.gov/ National Weather Radar: http://www.crh.noaa.gov/radar/ Earthquakes – http://earthquake.usgs.gov/ The Jet Stream: (where is fall out going) http://virga.sfsu.edu/gif/jetstream_init_00.gif Near Earth Object Program: (Asteroid/Comet Watch) http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/ Space Weather: http://www.sec.noaa.gov/ World Tsunami, Volcano, Earth quakes: http://map.ngdc.noaa.gov/website/seg/hazards_pacific/viewer.htm As an example of real time video cameras you can log…




How To Be A Financial Prepper- Part 3, by Brandon

…late notifications. Truly, financial freedom comes in being able to say, “I owe no one a single dollar.” And our best ability to be a prepper comes at that same moment. Finances Should Be Ally of Your Prepping and Not the Enemy In conclusion, whether you believe being debt free is the best option for you or not, the principles mentioned here will undoubtedly make you better able to prepare for your flavor of doomsday. If you will budget, assess your financial situation, save, and live below your means, these things combined will free up a surprising amount of resource. Your finances should be the ally of your prepping and not the enemy. Being a financial prepper will take your prepping to the next level! See Also: How To Be A Financial Prepper- Part 1, by Brandon How To Be A Financial Prepper- Part 2, by Brandon SurvivalBlog Writing Contest




Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 2, by T.R.

…worth visiting with wildlife or hunting or nature or some combination might make our field test more fun along the way as well, obviously, so we picked Rocky Mountain National Park and Yellowstone. As engineers, we looked at the array of learnings from our readings and a few observations from camping trips in the past – and realized that we can’t “test” everything at once. Our test scope comprised: getting out of dodge, tailoring our packing list and inventory to perfection, testing out menus and food preparation for ease and quality (including taste and calorie heavy for expected large workloads as well as minutes of preparation and fuel consumption or cold prep only); fitness testing our backpacking gear for back country hiking at distance for stamina and strength around a fully loaded backpack vs. our routine of an EDC pack. And then finally on completion, calibrating which items were heavily…




Gunsmith Training: Pistolsmithing- Week Four, by R2

…away with much knowledge. I’m confident that I can deal with most problems that present on revolvers, though I’m sure I will be reviewing the videos as I come across the individual handguns. The Test Once I had completed the pistolsmithing section, I logged onto the AGI site and downloaded the testing materials. My plan was to have a physical copy of the test in hand to actually answer the questions. After completing the test, I would log on to the online testing site and simply transcribe my answers to the system. This allows me to have instant feedback upon the completion of the test as well as the ability to print the certificate on my own printer. The First Surprise I had already taken one of their tests (the introductory test) and was prepared for the fact that many of the questions would not be directly addressed by the…




Buying Land in the American Redoubt, by G. in Virginia

…you. First things first, how to find the land! The rest of my tips will do you no good if you do not know how to find what you want. As I have said, I am not a realtor, but I can show you how to get around without one until you really need one. Realtors are great, don’t get me wrong, but you don’t want to waste your time or theirs. It really helps to narrow things down before you contact one. That way they can build a clearer picture of what you want and helps you to better express your expectations for the property. For example you would look silly insisting the house you want have a basement when the local water table is only three feet down. For demonstration purposes I am going to be using the Flathead Valley in northwest Montana a lot for my examples….




The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

…Steve’s Pages has hundreds of gun manuals (military and civilian) available for free download. Internet Archive: US Military Manual Collection The Internet Archive (Archive.org): US Military Manual Collection. JWR’s FAQs FAQs and Reference Articles by James Wesley, Rawles. Survival Dan’s Site At SurvivalDan’s Site: Survival Library— The Best 100 PDFs That You Can Download For Free. Seasoned Citizen Prepper’s Library Free Survival PDFs, Manuals, and Downloads (2021 Update) Sources for Free Survival and Preparedness Information on the Internet This 2008 article in the SurvivalBlog archives is still fairly useful: Sources for Free Survival and Preparedness Information on the Internet, by K.L. in Alaska. USGS Maps Download Site How do I find, download, or order topographic maps? Some Free Homesteading Books Homesteadimng Today: What Homesteading Books Have Free Downloads? More Free Homesteading Books Fifty Free Farmstead eBooks. The Forgotten Weapons Videos Series Ian McCollum’s great series of videos: Forgotten Weapons. The…




Train Your Tracking Dog – Part 2, by Dogdancer

…someone – a friend, child, or family member who is lost or just hiding. When the day comes that someone must be found, you’ll be ready for that too – and so will your dog. EPILOG: WORTHLESS Although Worthless wasn’t specifically trained for searching, he performed the valuable service of a search dog. My background in search helped me recognize what he was doing. I would not have looked where he found Granny – I was going in the opposite direction! Granny lived two more years after her adventure, and never wandered again. This achievement earned Worthless a permanent place on our farm, where he lives in doggy comfort to this day. Further Information: Tracking Dogs: Theory and Methods by Glen Johnson and Don Amur K9 Search and Rescue: A Manual for Training the Natural Way by Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak National Association for Search and Rescue. (Web site.)…




The Pharmacy Around Us – Part 1, by Jen R.

…because some of these tribes were unaware of juniper’s uses for smallpox? Or was it because they all got hit so quickly that there was no time to prepare the medicine? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19683421 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22865029 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17291738 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5955472/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6388510/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6406502/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5739313/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4598063/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26747836 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22063725 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22860587 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23154840 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3175711/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18547046 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26007187 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22739414 https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2211&cont Jen R I checked all the links when I submitted my article to Survivalblog last month. Unfortunately, this link is no longer good. In fact, the entire website has disappeared. http://tipsdiscover.com/health/herbal-antibiotics-the-localized-non-systemics-usnea/ Jen R Thank you for your kind comments. One of my sources, Stephen Buhner, author of Herbal Antibiotics and Herbal Antivirals, is an excellent reference. Both of those books focus on the strongest natural antibiotics and antivirals and provide details on making the medicine from them. I highly recommend both. Unfortunately, some of the plants he recommends are not native to much of the US or cannot be easily grown, especially…




Letter Re: Resources for Preppers in South Africa

…We have been using them for years. (Credit card and EFT) Off grid power. We use two sites/suppliers www.sustainable.co.za and www.redrhino.co.za  They stock all one needs, the service and prices are by far the best we have found. A self-installed solar geyser (hot water system) from Red Rhino is cheaper than taking advantage of the Eskom rebate with a more expensive dealer installed system, as long as you are handy and can do-it-yourself. (Cash, EFT and credit card) Solar water pumping. www.allpower.co.za this is a great locally made solar (PV) pump that can be repaired by most handymen. It uses commonly available spares in most motor spares shops. Proprietary parts are freely available from the manufacturer at a low cost. Well worth the investment. Get a spare controller board in case of a lightning strike, as well as extra diaphragms. (The system comes with a free set, replace every 12-24…




The Future of the U.S. Suburban Real Estate Versus Rural Retreat Real Estate

for now) and where new immigrants are keeping demand high. But within a couple of years, most of the over-bought coastal real estate in the US will resemble Cape Coral Florida, where the listed prices have already dropped 22%, or Phoenix, where the inventory of unsold houses jumped 523% in one year. It is in the formerly “hot market” coastal regions that prices could decline by as much as 40% before the market starts to recover. These areas include San Diego, Orange County, Sacramento, Seattle, much of Florida, the Atlanta metroplex, the entire Washington DC region, eastern New York, and the entire “commuter corridor” portions of New England. Economist John Mauldin recently reported that the largest number of residential home adjustable rate mortgage (ARM) resets–some $110 billion worth–will occur between October of 2007 and March of 2008, with the peak in March. Come next spring and summer, look for the…




Gluten Free Food Storage, by Cassandra R.

…varieties.  Manufacturers claim a shelf life of 27+ years unopened.  Eggs, they claim, are good for 8-10 months after being opened. Dehydrated Egg Whites – see above. These are the binders in any gluten free equation.  They perform the task generally done by gluten.  Some people who are gluten free do not use xantham gum and guar gum, it’s a matter of finding recipes that work for you and your personal preferences (and dietary needs!).  I have found that the gluten free community is often more educated about food, and even sometimes scratch cooking, than the rest of society.  This knowledge will be invaluable in both your storage techniques and long term survival.  I have read some on the topic of substituting ground flax for the gums – this could be an even more long term option with the right research.  Obviously, the gums are not an entirely sustainable option,…