Loaves, Fishes, Tree Bark, Seeds, and Knowledge – Part 1, by The Chemical Engineer

JWR’s Introductory Note:  At just over 20,000 words, this is perhaps the longest single-topic contributed article ever serialized in SurvivalBlog. I consider it an important piece to ponder.  Please read all eight parts before sending your comments. I will post most of them in the Snippets column on October 29th.

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I want to start with a brief but sincere thank you to all the article writers I have learned from here at SurvivalBlog.com. Your efforts have made a difference for me and many others. I hope my contribution can have a similar benefit to others. Thank you.

Let me also begin with a warning. Some parts of this article will sound like heresy or foolishness to conventional preparedness wisdom. I am willing to risk being considered a fool if this article can help someone who read it, to someday save lives. This audience of the prepared and preparing are in the best position to have an oversized impact for good if they have the right knowledge to apply at the right time.

In the preparedness literature, much has been written about how every serious emergency will naturally bring out more of the worst in humanity when people become desperate or they feel that there are no consequences. We would be unwise to ignore the historical facts that support this assumption and not prepare for it. However, I will challenge how we should respond to the retreat of humanity during an emergency. I don’t accept that our approach to dealing with the unprepared around us needs to be 99% guns and bunkers and 1% butter diplomacy as the best way to protect ourselves and our families during a long-term societal collapse. I believe the moral and highest reward approach would be to wisely swing for the fences and aim for a ratio closer to 50% guns and bunkers and 50% butter diplomacy, so our ability to help others around us is just as strong as our ability to protect ourselves. I believe the following thought applies here, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men and women to do nothing.” If we prepare to only defend against evil and suffering during an emergency then that is likely the world we will live in.Continue reading“Loaves, Fishes, Tree Bark, Seeds, and Knowledge – Part 1, by The Chemical Engineer”

Recipe of the Week: 

The following simple recipe for Chicken and Egg Sandwiches is from The New Butterick Cook Book, copyright 1924, now in the public domain. That is one of the many bonus books included in the 2005-2025 20th Anniversary edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that will be available in February of 2026.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup cold cooked chicken
  • Yolks of two hard-cooked eggs
  • 1 teaspoon rich stock
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon melted butter or butter substitute
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Bread slices
Directions
  1. Pound the chicken to a paste.
  2. Add the mashed yolks of hard-cooked eggs, the stock, Iemon juice, melted butter (or butter substitute), salt, and pepper.
  3. Mix well.
SERVING

Spread the mixture onto sliced bread, for sandwiches.

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Do you have a well-tested recipe that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers? In this weekly recipe column, we place emphasis on recipes that use long-term storage foods, recipes for wild game, dutch oven recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic:  Map of Tree Canopy Cover in the United States. (Graphic courtesy of the USDA.)

For the full dataset with useful variant raster maps, see: https://data.fs.usda.gov/geodata/rastergateway/treemap/index.php

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

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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 creation or uncopyrighted.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Both free speech rights and property rights belong legally to individuals, but their real function is social, to benefit vast numbers of people who do not themselves exercise these rights.” – Thomas Sowell

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — October 19, 2025

October 19, 1987: Black Monday. Stock market indices around the world crashed, including the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which fell 508.32 points (22%). That was 4½ times the previous daily record.

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October 19th also marks the anniversary of Operation Gatling; the famous “Green Leader” raid in 1978 in which Rhodesia attacked ZIPRA (Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army) in retaliation for ZIPRA shooting down a scheduled passenger flight, Rhodesia flight 825, during the Rhodesian Bush War. The Rhodesian military suffered only minor casualties in the raid, but claimed to have killed 1,500 ZIPRA personnel as well as some Cuban military instructors. Other sources falsely claimed that those killed were refugees camped near the border. Sadly, history does not seem to remember the two airliners shot down by ZIPRA along with the innocent civilians killed on them, but emphasizes the retributory Rhodesian strikes.

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Today’s feature article is by SurvivalBlog Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson. We usually post his review articles on Mondays, but I moved this one up to Sunday, since we have a seven-part article in the queue. That will be posted starting tomorrow.

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We need more entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Benjamin M600 Airbow, by Thomas Christianson

The Benjamin M600 Airbow is an outstanding development in the world of archery. It is powerful, accurate, and easy to use. Using pre-charged pneumatic power, it delivers arrows downrange at up to 600 feet per second with 300 foot pounds of energy.

With a weight of 6.8 pounds and a length of 33 inches, the M600 delivers these features in a reasonably light and compact package.

The M600 is made in the USA with globally sourced components. At the time of this writing, it cost $829.90 at benjaminairguns.com.Continue reading“Benjamin M600 Airbow, by Thomas Christianson”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

 

Meme Text:

Thankfully, “Fall” is Three Months Long

But “Pumpkin Spice Latte” Season Only Lasts About A Month

News Link:

Why is there such a strong aversion towards Pumpkin Spice Lattés?

Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

 

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;

Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:

How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

For where a testament is, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.

For a testament is of force after men are dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth.

Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.

1For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book, and all the people,

Saying, This is the blood of the testament which God hath enjoined unto you.” – Hebrews 9: 11-20 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — October 18, 2025

October 18th 1356: The Basel Earthquake. This was the most significant historically recorded seismological event north of the Alps. It destroyed the city of Basel, Switzerland. It was rebuilt with many of the buildings that can still be seen today.

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October 18th, 1662 was the birthday of Matthew Henry (died 22 June 1714). He was a Presbyterian minister who lived primarily in Chester, England. Matthew Henry’s six-volume Exposition of the Old and New Testaments (commonly called Matthew Henry’s Commentary) (1708–1710) is a must for the bookshelf of any serious Bible scholar.

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Today’s feature article is short piece by our friend Hub Moolman of South Africa.

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We need entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

 

Gold: The US Dollar Bank Run Is Speeding Up, by Hubert Moolman

Previously, I have shown how the US dollar banking system is in the midst of a bank run. We have entered the critical part of this bank run. The US dollar banking system has become too debased, and nations are running to an asset like gold as a reserve asset instead.

It can be described as very similar to the events since Nixon ended the direct convertibility to gold in 1971. In the Gold/Monetary Base chart (below) you can see currently how a similar pattern has developed to the 1971 end of convertibility.Continue reading“Gold: The US Dollar Bank Run Is Speeding Up, by Hubert Moolman”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both long-term and short-term plans. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities and planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, ranch improvements, bug-out bag fine-tuning, and food storage. This is something akin to our Retreat Owner Profiles, but written incrementally and in detail, throughout the year.  We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I completed all of my fall slash pile burning on a rainy day early in the week. This was just a day before our first snowfall of the year.

Lily and I constructed a new rain/snow shelter in one of our sheep corrals.

I helped our #2 Son move. We used our 4WD pickup and horse trailer for the furniture, major applaince, and miscellany hauling.  He now lives three hours of driving closer to the Rawles Ranch, so we will get to see him much more often.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And I will set my glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them.

So the house of Israel shall know that I am the Lord their God from that day and forward.

And the heathen shall know that the house of Israel went into captivity for their iniquity: because they trespassed against me, therefore hid I my face from them, and gave them into the hand of their enemies: so fell they all by the sword.

According to their uncleanness and according to their transgressions have I done unto them, and hid my face from them.

Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Now will I bring again the captivity of Jacob, and have mercy upon the whole house of Israel, and will be jealous for my holy name;

After that they have borne their shame, and all their trespasses whereby they have trespassed against me, when they dwelt safely in their land, and none made them afraid.

When I have brought them again from the people, and gathered them out of their enemies’ lands, and am sanctified in them in the sight of many nations;

Then shall they know that I am the Lord their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.

Neither will I hide my face any more from them: for I have poured out my spirit upon the house of Israel, saith the Lord God.” – Ezekiel 39:21-29 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — October 17, 2025

On October 17, 1814:  The London Beer Flood: A burst vat at Meux & Company Brewery floods city streets with over 300,000 gallons of porter ale, killing eight, with a possible ninth death from alcohol poisoning

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October 17, 1967: USAF test pilot William “Pete” Knight set a record, reaching an altitude of 102,100 feet (31.1 km) in the experimental X-15 spaceplane.

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Today’s feature article is a guest post by A.C. of the Stakeholder Prepping Podcast. Since he is a SurvivalBlog advertiser, this article is not eligible for our writing contest.

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We need entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running the contest.  Round 121 ends on November 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how-to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

The Social and Psychological Cost of Preparedness, by A.C.

This is one topic that rarely gets any attention in the preparedness community, and I want to break it down all the way from the “prepper stigma” to the arguments and counterpoints we can make when confronted with the “tinfoil hat” comments by non-preppers in our lives.

The act of preparing for an emergency is almost universally portrayed in popular culture as a solitary, dramatic, and often paranoid pursuit. Hollywood tends to show only the aftermath, illustrating the lone survivor who only needs their preps, but the reality of the emotional and social journey toward self-sufficiency is frequently ignored.

While preparedness can offer immense psychological benefit by converting generalized anxiety into tangible action, the path to this state of quiet confidence is frequently fraught with significant mental and social challenges. Anyone who commits to self-sufficiency must not only manage their stockpiles of supplies but also navigate the real social cost and the psychological pitfalls that come with this lifestyle that is often labeled as “fringe”.Continue reading“The Social and Psychological Cost of Preparedness, by A.C.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. In this column, JWR also covers hedges, derivatives, and various obscura. This column emphasizes JWR’s “tangibles heavy” investing strategy and contrarian perspective. Today, we look at the end of Dollar Dominance.

Precious Metals:

A clear-pitched bell rang at 9:25 AM Eastern Time on Monday morning, when we saw these numbers posted:

  • Gold: $4,111.40
  • Silver: $52.00

And by Thursday evening (Friday morning in Asia), we saw these even more astounding numbers, marking two more all-time highs:

  • Gold: $4,358.20
  • Silver: $54.22

There will surely be profit-taking today, but most of the Shorts have now covered and exited the market. The Longs are happy campers. A $1,000 face value bag of circulated U.S. 90% silver coins now costs around $38,800 — that is if you can find one. Many dealers are now sold out of silver.

The market wonks at CNBC are now scratching their heads, wondering why their over-hyped equities aren’t matching the returns of precious metals. The simple truth, nay, the hard truth — is that the days of Dollar dominance in world trade are coming to an end. – JWR

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BofA lifts 2026 gold forecast to $5,000/oz, sees silver at $65.

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A long-time reader wrote to inquire:

“I’m considering liquidating a bit to raise a little cash. I’m up over 2 to 1 on [my investment cost for] silver and over 4 to 1 on gold. I am not a market timer but a client reminded me long ago that pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered.”

I replied:

“You might consider selling your holdings in 20% increments each time that silver doubles, starting at the $50/ounce level. But hold the last 20% for the long term.  I seriously expect to see a $200/oz. top for silver, in this bull run.  As for your gold? Perhaps sell 20% of your holdings each time that gold goes up another $500, starting at $4,000.”

I further recommend to the general blog readership: To conservatively diversify, at least half of the proceeds from liquidating precious metals should be invested in another useful tangible, such as land, collectible guns (both modern and antique), or ammunition. – JWR

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At Zero Hedge: Silver Wars: London Fades Away.

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Reader H.L. dug this up: Excavators find $1 million in gold coins from Spanish shipwreck along Florida’s ‘Treasure Coast’.

Economy & Finance:

In an 8-minute video, Andy Schectman summarizes the new global currency paradigm:  It Will ALL Collapse.

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This headline was posted at the same time that silver and gold set new highs: Historic Financial Carnage: More Than A Trillion Dollars In Market Value Was Just Wiped Out In A 24-Hour Period.

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Martin Armstrong: New Hires Fell to 16-Year Low in September.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”