How to Install a Woodstove in an RV or Small Cabin, by Tunnel Rabbit

As the collapse occurs, slowly or suddenly, friends and family will need to be provided housing at a retreat location. Most retreats are not large enough to adequately house all the family and close friends that you’ll want to help with security and food production. They can park their recreational vehicle (RV) on your property, or perhaps locate a large storage shed that is converted into a small cabin. In either case, in all but the southeastern United States, these shelters will need a wood stove installed.

This discussion focuses on installing a wood stove in an RV as that is the most challenging. The same techniques can be used in a small cabin. In an off-grid setting, wood stoves are essential and most of our lives will revolve around it as a means to heat, to cook, and to preserve food. I have decades of experience with wood stoves of many kinds and have built my own. I am by no means an expert, but a jack of all trades who has built homes and just about everything else. Even if the instructions are incomplete, the principles needed for a successful installation are provided.Continue reading“How to Install a Woodstove in an RV or Small Cabin, by Tunnel Rabbit”

May 2024 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran & Everett Millman

Editor’s Introductory Note: Steven Cochran is transitioning to a new job, writing for an investment company. Starting next month, this column will be authored entirely by Everett Millman, who is also employed by Gainesville Coins.

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Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance and examine the factors that affected gold prices.

WHAT DID GOLD DO IN MAY?

The gold price opened the month hovering around the $2,300 level, taking a breather after notching record-high prices in mid-April.

Beginning in earnest on May 8th, both gold and silver resumed the blistering rally the two precious metals have been on in 2024. Prices rose almost continuously over the next two weeks. Gold jumped $35 per ounce on May 15th and surged another $38.50 higher on the 17th.

May 20th saw spot gold hit a new all-time high of $2,425 per troy oz. Meanwhile silver breached the $32 per oz level for the first time in 11 years.

A combination of profit-taking and normal market correction pushed the gold price back down almost 4% lower, trading back below $2,350/oz in the final week of May. Over the same period, silver saw a deeper pullback of about 6% to the psychologically important $30 support line before rebounding to close the month above $31/oz.Continue reading“May 2024 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran & Everett Millman”

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 kept quite busy, early this week: Hauling black soil (1+ year-old rotted down manure) to our main garden, rototilling, cutting up a couple of surplus telephone poles to fence post length, and dragging them with our UATV to a pile for future use, packing and mailing out 15 Elk Creek Company orders, and working with our livestock.  One day was dedicated to delivering two cow-calf pairs from our herd to their new owners. The next day, I came down with a head cold. At first, I thought it was just a reaction to Alfalfa dust — since I had moved a 1.5-ton pile of compressed bales, the day before.  But by that afternoon, I knew it was a bad cold.  So I started in on zinc lozenges, 6 grams of Vitamin C,  and elderberry gummies, immediately. By Thursday, I was felling better.

Now, Lily’s report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day: 

“For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him:

But they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the Lord; neither be dismayed, O Israel: for, lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and shall be in rest, and be quiet, and none shall make him afraid.

For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee: though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered thee, yet I will not make a full end of thee: but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished.

For thus saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous.

There is none to plead thy cause, that thou mayest be bound up: thou hast no healing medicines.

All thy lovers have forgotten thee; they seek thee not; for I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity; because thy sins were increased.

Why criest thou for thine affliction? thy sorrow is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity: because thy sins were increased, I have done these things unto thee.

Therefore all they that devour thee shall be devoured; and all thine adversaries, every one of them, shall go into captivity; and they that spoil thee shall be a spoil, and all that prey upon thee will I give for a prey.

For I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord; because they called thee an Outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no man seeketh after.

Thus saith the Lord; Behold, I will bring again the captivity of Jacob’s tents, and have mercy on his dwellingplaces; and the city shall be builded upon her own heap, and the palace shall remain after the manner thereof.

And out of them shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry: and I will multiply them, and they shall not be few; I will also glorify them, and they shall not be small.

Their children also shall be as aforetime, and their congregation shall be established before me, and I will punish all that oppress them.” – Jeremiah 30:8-20 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — May 31, 2024

On May 31, 1859, Big Ben rang out over London for the first time.

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On Thursday evening, after DJT’s conviction was announced, I got a few queries from readers, asking my opinion… All that I can say is that Trump should be very quick to make a very clear and unambiguous  “Turn The Other Cheek” speech, urging calm, respect for the court system, restraint, and civility. He needs to make it very clear that he doesn’t want to see anyone do anything rash. Otherwise, he might be blamed for inspiring some lunatic to do something horrible.

DJT has a good chance of a successful appeal, on procedural issues. Just by themselves, the jury instructions were a travesty. With the high likelihood of a successful appeal, to my mind the question is: Will Trump’s legal team seek a standard appeal reversal or an expedited writ of error?

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present the final entry for Round 112 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. The photovoltaic power specialists at Quantum Harvest LLC  are providing a store-wide 10% off coupon. Depending on the model chosen, this could be worth more than $2,000.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any of their one, two, or three-day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A Peak Refuel “Wasatch Pack” variety of 60 servings of premium freeze-dried breakfasts and dinners in individual meal pouches — a whopping 21,970 calories, all made and packaged in the USA — courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $359 value),
  4. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  5. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.

Second Prize:

  1. A SIRT STIC AR-15/M4 Laser Training Package, courtesy of Next Level Training, that has a combined retail value of $679
  2. Two 1,000-foot spools of full mil-spec U.S.-made 750 paracord (in-stock colors only) from www.TOUGHGRID.com (a $240 value).
  3. A $200 credit from Military Surplus LLC that can be applied to purchase and/or shipping costs for any of their in-stock merchandise, including full mil-spec ammo cans, Rothco clothing and field gear, backpacks, optics, compact solar panels, first aid kits, and more.
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  5. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun. There is no paperwork required for delivery of pre-1899 guns into most states, making them the last bastion of firearms purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. A $300 gift certificate from Good2Goco.com, good for any of their products: Home freeze dryers, pressure canners, Country Living grain mills, Emergency Essentials foods, and much more.
  3. Three sets each of made-in-USA regular and wide-mouth reusable canning lids. (This is a total of 300 lids and 600 gaskets.) This prize is courtesy of Harvest Guard (a $270 value)
  4. A transferable $150 FRN purchase credit from Elk Creek Company, toward the purchase of any pre-1899 antique gun.

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More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 31st, 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.

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Last Day of The Sporter Sale!  All of the remaining sporterized rifles in my inventory are on sale, at Elk Creek Company. The sale ends at Midnight tonight: Friday, May 31st. When I last checked, we still had milsurp sporters available chambered in .22-250, .243 Winchester, .257 Roberts, 6.5×55 Mauser, 7×57 Mauser,  .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO, 7.65mm Argentine Mauser, and .45 ACP. And yes, we do accept credit cards.

A Glimpse of Armageddon, But Not For Me, by T.M.

Having lived in the American Redoubt for 26 years gives me hope that I chose the right place years ago to spend my final days on earth. In this article I will relate my upbringing, a story that happened on May 27, 2024, and two other incidents that occurred around this location in April, 2024 and July, 1996. These happenings demonstrate how ill-prepared the general populace is for any coming catastrophic event. We all know that absolute chaos will ensnare all major and minor urban enclaves when the SHTF.

I am a 79-year-old, somewhat crippled. I have had drop-foot on my left side for 13 years due to a spinal disc rupture and nerve damage. I’m white Christian straight un-vaxed right-wing conservative meat-eating AR-15, AR-9, and AR-10 owning male. Those are all factors that are sure to enrage contemporary liberals.

My birthplace was Cleveland, Ohio but my early youth spent near my grandparents in rural southeast Ohio near the West Virginia border where my parents were born. You might say, “I was brought up on the fringe of Appalachia.” Everybody was poor. We lived in an old company house from a defunct coal mine that my maternal grandma’s neighbor bought during the Great Depression. We had no indoor plumbing, an outhouse out back, coal-fired heater, and a handpump on the back stoop. The train ran on tracks out the back of the house. Grandpa lived the same way high on a nearby ridge and farmed a small piece of ground.Continue reading“A Glimpse of Armageddon, But Not For Me, by T.M.”

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 expected shortfalls in the world’s copper supply. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

Frank Holmes: Gold SWOT: The “safe haven” of choice is shifting from U.S. Treasuries to gold.

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At Gold-Eagle.com: Report of New Partially Gold-Backed BRICS Settlement Currency.

Economy & Finance:

Repudiation, by Robert Gore.

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Report: More Than Half of Immigrants in U.S. Are Unemployed.

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Scott: “There is no shortage of finger-pointing for the failures of Bidenomics.”

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At Zero Hedge: Ugly Beige Book: “Negligible Job Gains”, “Lower Discretionary Spending”, “More Pessimistic Outlook“.
Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — May 30, 2024

On My 30th, 1806, future US President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson accused Jackson’s wife of bigamy.

On May 30, 1626, an explosion at the Wanggongchang Gunpowder Factory in Beijing destroys part of the city and kills 20,000 people.

May 30, 1783: Benjamin Tower of Philadelphia published the first daily newspaper in the US.

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We are seeking entries for Round 113 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $875,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 112 ends on May 31st, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry for Round 113. 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.

Aging RINOs Roaming America

The U.S. has a RINO problem. There are herds of epublicans in Name Only that have entrenched themselves in State capitols and our nation’s capitol. The core problem is a statist-collectivist attitude that pervades both the Democrat Party, and to a lesser extent, the Republican Party. The RINOs are little better than Democrats. Like the Democrats, their agenda is socialist. They are just more deceptive and patient about their socialistic goals.

Like the Dems, the RINOs seek reelection for multiple terms, where they enrich themselves through corruption.

The key differences between true conservative Republicans and RINOs are as follows:

  • Conservative Republicans stand for limited government while RINOs only rarely object to expanding government.
  • Conservative Republicans want balanced budgets while RINOs go along with massive overspending.
  • Conservative Republicans are firm in their convictions, while RINOs compromise on most issues.
  • Conservative Republicans want to minimize foreign entanglements, while RINOs seek a New World Order.

There is no need to elaborate any further about where RINOs stand. For most other issues, just extrapolate on the preceding bullet points.

Sadly, the genuine conservative and freedom-loving Republicans are now outnumbered by well-entrenched RINOs. So, even in states with a Republican majority, Democrat/’Statist laws keep getting enacted, and government bureaucracies continue to grow. With each passing year, we are less free, more clore closely surveilled, and burdened by regulations, licensing, zoning, and gradually increasing taxes.

As a preparedness-minded Christian libertarian (note the lowercase “L”), I am alarmed at how our elected “representatives” have exposed us to so many perils travails, and indignities.

I expect this situation to get worse before it gets better.

I urge SurvivalBlog readers to remain politically active. Vote out incumbent politicians with statist voting records.  Even at the risk of turning genuine representatives out of office, we now must seek term limits. And we must demand that Congressmembers be denied their present insider trading advantages, by instuting blind investment trusts. Nothing else will curb their corruption.  – JWR

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods. This column is a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from JWR. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats, and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. In today’s column, some updates on the war in Ukraine.

Russia is Making Daily Gains in Eastern Ukraine

CNN: Russia is making daily tactical gains in eastern Ukraine, as concerns swirl around Ukrainian military reporting.

Draft-Dodging Plagues Ukraine

Over at the left-wing Politico: Draft-dodging plagues Ukraine as Kyiv faces acute soldier shortage.  An excerpt:

“Ukraine is perilously short not only of ammunition — especially artillery shells and air defense missiles — but also of soldiers to see off a Russian attack. The average age of Ukraine’s frontline soldiers is 43 — and evidence of draft-dodging is mounting.

The BBC recently reported that 650,000 Ukrainian men of fighting age have fled the country in the past two years, most slipping across its borders with Poland and Slovakia, some with false exemption papers allowing them to exit Ukraine despite a ban on fighting-age men leaving the country.”

Life on Ukraine’s Front Line

From Reuters: Life on Ukraine’s front line: ‘Worse than hell’ as Russia advances.

Preppers: Whatever Disaster is Next, They’re Ready

Preppers: Whatever disaster is next, they’re ready.
Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — May 29, 2024

On May 29, 1999, Discovery became the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station.

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On May 29th, 1660 — his 30th birthday — Charles II returned to London from exile in the Netherlands to claim the English throne after the Puritan Commonwealth came to an end.

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The summit of Mount Everest was reached by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

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The Sporter Sale Continues!  All of the sporterized rifles in my inventory are on sale, at Elk Creek Company. By request from several readers, I’ve extended this sale for a week, to end on Friday, May 31st. When I last checked, we still had milsurp sporters available chambered in .22-250, .243 Winchester, .257 Roberts, 6.5×55 Mauser, 7×57 Mauser,  .308 Winchester/7.62mm NATO, 7.65mm Argentine Mauser, and .45 ACP.  Order yours, soon!

Christian Manliness and the Collapse – Part 2, by Dr. Joseph

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

The Philosophy of Manliness

Let us start with a reference to one of the few righteous feminists, Camille Paglia. In her book Sexual Personae [11], she distinguishes between the Apollonian male principle of order and civilization, and the Dionysian female principle of nature = chaos. As she says, “[c]ulture and civilization are created by men in an attempt to control that force.” We see this clearly in the feminist attack upon male “logic,” and the savage postmodernist assault upon scientific rationality. Yet, as she observes, “if civilization had been left in female hands, we would still be living in grass huts.” Reflecting upon the technological wonders that surround her, primarily created by men, she writes: “… One of feminism’s irritating reflexes is its fashionable disdain for “patriarchal society,” to which nothing good is ever attributed. But it is patriarchal society that has freed me as a woman. It is capitalism that has given me the leisure to sit at this desk writing this book.”

We may take rationality and technological mastery to be one of the defining qualities of manliness, as most of the technologies that have ever existed were created by men, and still are, despite affirmative action overload. Mastery is the capacity to develop skill and techniques to enable control over the physical and social environment, and it is a preoccupation of manly males to engage in mastery of themselves and their environment.Continue reading“Christian Manliness and the Collapse – Part 2, by Dr. Joseph”

SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

This weekly Snippets column is a collection of short items: responses to posted articles, practical self-sufficiency items, how-tos, lessons learned, tips and tricks, and news items — both from readers and from SurvivalBlog’s editors. Note that we may select some long e-mails for posting as separate letters.

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What can happen if you park under an overpass during a tornado.

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Here is a new Sharp Pointy Things instructional video from SurvivalBlog’s Editor-at-Large, Mike Williamson: Short Swords.

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SaraSue sent this snippet:

“I decided to not write in detail about the tornado emergency that we had.  Suffice it to say there were 10 documented tornadoes that whipped through Tennessee (EF0 – EF4) in 24 hours.  Our small town was flooded and people are still working through the cleanup, and many lost their homes.  It’s been heavy on my heart.  Thankfully, my farm, which is up on a hill, was untouched.  I never lost power.  My well water, upstream from town, was good, while the town was on a boil water notice.  I feel very fortunate.

Spring is the busiest time of year, and the most beautiful.  Spring grass for the cows means their milk production increases.  Calves are born.  The gardens are prepped and planted.  The days are longer and the sun brighter.  This is my third Spring at the farm, my third gardening season, my fourth calf born on the farm.  I am downsizing my dairy cow herd by one or two, to make sure I have adequate pasture.  Time to get cows “bred back” again for future calves.  One is visiting a bull for the summer, and the others scheduled for A.I.  The new flock of chicks are growing fast and secured in the large hen house.  There is so much work to do that the days fly by and I always feel like I didn’t get anything done.  Keeping an “organic” farm has its challenges.  I waited a couple of months to get my hands on some good, local, organic compost to top my garden beds with.  The 32″ tall beds were filled with my own (unfinished) compost first, then topped with a finished compost.  Only 4 of the 8 beds are assembled, and only 3 planted.  Weed control and pasture management, without the use of fertilizers and chemicals, is a lot of work, and it’s mostly manual.  In the Spring, I always “feel like” it’s all too much to manage and want to give up, but each year I try to develop methods that will work in the long run so that I’m not always shoveling against the tide.  And I’m learning to lower my expectations.  LOL.  I have a couple of neighbor kids helping me.  The boy works outside and the girl helps me inside.  It’s a perfect match for what I need right now.  They are sweet, respectful, and hard-working.”

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”