A Well-Stocked Pantry, by Hollyberry

The crazy Covid lock downs taught us many lessons. One of the biggest take a ways was just how fragile the supply chain is. Most people I know are somewhat prepared with basics as our nearest grocery store is 20 minutes away. The big box stores are an hour away. When the covid lock down was announced, our little grocery store had it’s shelves stripped in hours, followed by the dollar stores. We are stocked up but were still surprised at how fast this occurred. As we are rural, we learned years ago that our stores get whatever is left on the delivery truck. An example of this is about eight years ago we were looking to get more bug nets in early spring. The store worker said they were slated to get 25 bug nets but when they went to unload the truck, the big city store said they needed the bug nets and took them. It happens all the time. The idea of prepping or stocking up can seem very overwhelming. Just where do you start and how do you do it in these days of skyrocketing inflation? I hope to provide a few tips to help you get started.

Even though I grew up in a suburban area, my mom always purchased meat in large quantities. She would get a whole pig or half a cow butchered and this was not common at the time. No one was purchasing meat like this. Our neighbor, Lucy, grew up in the Great Depression. One day, Mom asked me to go and borrow a can of something from Lucy. She took me to her basement and wow! It looked like a mini grocery store. Can upon can on neatly stacked, well-organized shelves. Paper goods stacked to the ceiling! Lucy’s basement and mom’s meat purchases left their mark on me. There were no buying clubs until the 1980s came along which made bulk purchasing much easier. Stocking up took on a whole new meaning!Continue reading“A Well-Stocked Pantry, by Hollyberry”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. (Idaho, Montana, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington, and Wyoming.) Much of the region is also more commonly known as The Inland Northwest. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, Glacier National Park, as seen from the air. (See the Montana section.)

Region-Wide

An interesting geography video: Why “Nobody” Lives In Eastern Oregon, Eastern Washington, or Idaho.

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Man arrested after chase on I-90 stretching from Idaho to Mineral County.

Idaho

A video/podcast: 5 Reasons Why North Idaho is the Ultimate Safe Haven When SHTF — Discover Safety & Security.

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State fails to execute Idaho death row inmate Thomas Creech.

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Tort claim filed against Omodt, Bradshaw.

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Reported by the left-wing Inlander tabloid: New data shows when people are moving to Idaho — and what their migration has to do with politics.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“If we as Christians do not speak out as authoritarian governments grow from within or come from outside, eventually we or our children will be the enemy of society and the state. No truly authoritarian government can tolerate those who have a real absolute by which to judge its arbitrary absolutes and who speak out and act upon the absolute. This was the issue with the early church in regard to the Roman Empire, and though the specific issue will in all probability take a different form than Caesar-worship, the basic issue of having an absolute by which to judge the state and society will be the same.” – Francis Schaeffer, How Should We Then Live?

Preparedness Notes for Monday — March 11, 2024

On March 11, 2004, Madrid suffered a series of terrorist attacks when 10 bombs, detonated by Islamist militants, exploded on four trains at three different rail stations, killing 191 people and injuring some 1,800 others.

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared that the COVID-19 outbreak was a pandemic.

Trapper and survivalist Claude Lafayette Dallas, Jr. was born March 11, 1950. The subject of several books and movies, Dallas had a “colorful” life. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the deaths of two game wardens, in Idaho. He served 22 years of a 30-year sentence before being released in 2005. He reportedly now lives in the wilds of Alaska.

Today is the birthday of author Douglas Adams (born 1952). He is the author of Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Also on this day, the Great Blizzard of ’88 struck the northeastern United States (1888).

March 11th is the birthday of the late actor Anton Yelchin (born 1989, died June 19, 2016). He is remembered for his portrayal of Kyle Reese in Terminator: Salvation, and as Ensign Pavel Checkov, in a recent Star Trek movie series. He died in a freak accident wherein his parked Jeep Grand Cherokee unexpectedly rolled forward on an incline, pinning him to a security fence.

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In honor of Elmer Keith’s birthday, I have put all of my percussion revolver inventory on sale, at Elk Creek Company.  Every cataloged percussion revolver has been discounted! This sale ends on March 22nd, 2024.

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We are running low on entries for Round 111 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 111 ends on March 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.

Merrell Chameleon 7 Stretch Hiking Shoes, by Thomas Christianson

I generally love Merrell hiking shoes for everyday wear. They are usually comfortable, fairly durable, provide good support, and give good traction under most conditions.

I recently tested a pair of Chameleon 7 Stretch Hiking shoes. They have a neoprene collar around the ankle and over the top of the arch that makes them extremely comfortable as walking shoes.

Unfortunately, the neoprene collar of the Chameleon begins to feel uncomfortably tight if one wears the shoes for an extended period of time while sitting at a desk, driving a car or doing pretty much anything that is not walking. The neoprene collar cannot be loosened like traditional laces, so the shoes feel gradually tighter and tighter.

I wore the shoes on a regular basis for almost two months, hoping that they would stretch out and become more comfortable. Unfortunately, that was not the result.Continue reading“Merrell Chameleon 7 Stretch Hiking Shoes, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Asparagus Omelet

The following recipe for Asparagus Omelet is from Good HouseKeeping’s Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries (253 pages, copyright 1925, now in public domain). That is one of the 11 bonus books included in the 2005-2023 edition of the SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick.

Ingredients
  • 2 tablespoonfuls butter or margarine
  • 3/4 teaspoonful salt
  • 1/4 teaspoonful pepper
  • 2 tablespoonfuls flour
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cupful milk
  • 1 cupful asparagus tips
Directions

MeIt the butter and add the flour. When blended together and bubbling, add the milk gradually, stirring constantly. Cook until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Season with one half teaspoonful of salt and one-eighth teaspoonful of pepper.

Separate the eggs. To the yolks add one-fourth cupful of the white sauce, one-fourth teaspoonful of salt, and. one-eighth teaspoonful of pepper, and beat until thick. Beat the egg whites until stiff and cut and fold them into the egg-yolk mixture.

Heat an omelet pan and grease the sides and bottom. Turn in the mixture, spread evenly, and. cook slowly
until delicately browned on the under side and well puffed.

Then place in a 300-degree oven until the top of the omelet is cooked. Remove from the oven, fold, and turn on a hot platter.

Garnish with the asparagus tips and pour the remaining white sauce around the omelet.

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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!

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“The militia is the natural defence of a free country against sudden foreign invasions, domestic insurrections and domestic usurpations of power by rulers. It is against sound policy for a free people to keep up large military establishments and standing armies in time of peace both from the enormous expenses with which they are attended and the facile means which they afford to ambitious and unprincipled rulers to subvert the government or trample upon the rights of the people. The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered as the palladium of the liberties of a republic since it offers a strong moral check against the usurpation and arbitrary power of rulers and will generally even if these are successful the first instance enable the people to resist and triumph over them. And yet though this truth would seem so clear and the importance of a well regulated militia would seem so undeniable it cannot be disguised that among the American people there is a growing indifference to any system of militia discipline and a disposition from a sense of its burthens to be rid of all regulations. How it is practicable to keep the people duly armed without some organization it is difficult to see. There is certainly no small danger that indifference may lead to disgust and disgust to contempt and thus gradually undermine all the protection intended by this clause of our national bill of rights.” – Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 10, 2024

Today we remember the birthday of jazz cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, an outstanding improviser whose style was characterized by lyricism and purity of tone, was born on March 10, 1903 in Davenport, Iowa.

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On March 10, 1910, China officially ended slavery. But unofficially, China now has one of the world’s largest slave populations. These are mostly political prisoners, working in prison factories. Sadly, there is no way of reliably knowing whether or not most of the “Made In China” merchandise that you buy might originate from these prisons.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 111 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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  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 111 ends on March 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.

Lambing Woes, by H.F.K.

Sheep are mostly binary creatures: Zero or One. Either they are strong and healthy, or they’re dead. There isn’t much in between. Once they’ve lived for 24 hours, they are likely to do well for the rest of their lives. But the exception to that rule is when they’re lambing.

Sheep farmers of today are not like Biblical shepherds. When the Bible was written, time was measured by most people in days, or fractions of days, according to the movement of the sun. Shepherds could take the time to search for a lost sheep, or dress the injuries of a sheep that had been mauled. These days, when time is measured in milliseconds by clocks based on atomic decay, time is money, and usually, a problem sheep isn’t worth the time it takes to deal with it. A lost sheep is a write-off, and an injured sheep is put out of its misery. If a sheep has problems lambing, she’s marked for culling if she survives.

As a backyard sheep farmer, I’m somewhere in between the Biblical shepherd and the large-scale sheep farmers. My sheep live in fenced fields, so if they go missing, it’s because something or someone took them. If they are injured, I do my best to get them through it, but if it’s clear that they’re not going to make it, I end their suffering with a hollow point round. If they have problems lambing, I balance that against the quality of their fleeces. I’ll keep an ewe that I can’t breed if she has a nice enough fleece. I like sheep, and most of mine are in a gray zone between “livestock” and “pet”.Continue reading“Lambing Woes, by H.F.K.”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

If the Second Civil War is Fought By The Trans & Woke Versus The Trad & Chad

Any Bets on Who Will Win, in the Long Term?

News Link:

Gun Ownership Higher Among Republicans Than Democrats.

Photo Credits:

Photo on left by at a Pride.be event. (Creative Commons licensed. Found using Flickr-commons.)  Photo on right from the outstanding photographer Patrick Hall, on Fstoppers.

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:

“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth;

I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.

Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.

Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” – Revelation 3:6-12

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 9, 2024

Pancho Villa‘s men killed more than a dozen residents in a raid on Columbus, New Mexico.

March 9, 1945, the U.S. Army Air Forces bombed Tokyo with napalm, causing fires that destroyed a quarter of the city and killed some 80,000 civilians.

Today is the birthday of writer John McPhee (b. 1931), a master of creative nonfiction. One of McPhee’s most widely read books is Coming into the Country, which eloquently describes the Alaskan wilderness.

On March 9, 432 BC, the Parthenon was consecrated in Athens.

March 9th is the birthday of Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin – the first man to ever travel in space. He was born in 1934 and died in the crash of a MiG-15-UTI fighter on March 27, 1968.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 111 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. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC.
  4. Montana Survival Seed is providing a $225 gift code for any items on its website, including organic non-GMO seeds, fossils, 1812-1964 US silver, jewelry, botany books, and Montana beeswax.
  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.

—

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 111 ends on March 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.

Making Wine At Home – Part 2, by H.F.K.

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

Some winemakers recommend dissolving the yeast in water first (called “proofing”). I’ve done it both ways, and adding the yeast directly seems to work best for me.

There are many different kinds of yeast for winemaking. (If you want to keep a bunch of oenophiles busy for days, ask them what the best yeast is, and then scurry away while they argue over it.) I use one of four kinds that I keep on hand, depending on what kind of wine I’m making. Yeasts vary in how well they tolerate alcohol. If you prefer a sweeter wine, choose a yeast that isn’t as alcohol-tolerant, such as Red Star Premier Classique. If a drier wine is your goal, you should choose a yeast such as Red Star Premier Cuvee (which is a white wine yeast). Different yeasts bring out different flavors in the wine. You can read about what yeasts produce what type of flavor, but ultimately, the best way to find out which yeast you like best is through experimentation.

Within three to four days, your primary fermentation should start working. If you use an airlock that has water in it, as I do, you can watch the airlock bubble away, like a 60’s lava lamp, and you’ll start to smell your wine. Open the primary every other day and give the material a good stir with a long-handled spoon or stirring rod. Sometimes a crust, made of bits of fruit pulp that stick together, forms on top, and it’s important to break up the crust.Continue reading“Making Wine At Home – Part 2, by H.F.K.”

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:

We had fairly nice weather this week, so I got outdoors to do some snow shoveling and various other projects around the ranch. Spring is coming!

I’ve had a few recent auction purchases arrive, so I soon added them to my Elk Creek Company online catalog.  These include a U.S. Springfield Armory 1884 Trapdoor Rifle that is Chicago “Boston Store”-marked and a scarce Carcano M1891 Torre Short Rifle that is dated 1897 on the barrel ring.

Now, Lily’s much more loquacious report…Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”