L.L. Bean Wool Cresta Hiking Socks, by Thomas Christianson

Transportation is a wonderful thing. Whether flying a jet aircraft or bumping along in an oxcart on a dirt trail, it is great when someone or something else is expending the energy to carry us and our stuff where we want to go.

There are some times and some places where transportation is just not available. At those times and in those places, we are dependent upon our own two feet. In those types of situations, good boots and good socks may be the difference between getting where we need to go and not getting anywhere at all. Foot problems like blisters or frostbite can immobilize the hiker, leaving them vulnerable to hypothermia, sun stroke, dehydration, starvation, and other external threats.

I recently tested a couple of pairs of L.L. Bean wool Cresta hiking socks. I found them to be pretty good socks, although even better socks are available for a similar price. At the time of this writing, the Cresta socks cost $24.95 a pair at www.llbean.com. Darn Tough or Smartwool offer slightly better socks at a similar price. If you can get the L.L. Bean socks on sale or second-hand, they are good enough to be worth the investment. If you need to pay full price, the buy Darn Tough or Smartwool socks instead.Continue reading“L.L. Bean Wool Cresta Hiking Socks, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: Honey Mustard Chicken

The following recipe for Honey Mustard Chicken is from SurvivalBlog reader J.P.V..

Ingredients

  • 6 bone-in chicken thighs

    Sauce:

  • 4 Tbsp butter or ghee, melted

  • 1/2 cup honey

  • 1/4 cup yellow mustard

  • 1 tsp salt

  • 1 tsp curry powder

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400.

  2. Place chicken in baking dish. 

  3. Stir all sauce ingredients together until well-mixed.

  4. Pour sauce over top of chicken.

  5. Bake 30-40 minutes until chicken is done.

SERVING

Great served with rice and steamed veggies and sauce drizzled over all.

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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!

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, a recap of last week’s market rout in precious metals. (See the Precious Metals section.)

Precious Metals:

Gold and silver both bounced back on Friday, following a rout for most of last week. On Friday afternoon, spot gold had recovered to $1,846.10 per Troy ounce (up .81%).  Meanwhile, spot silver had jumed back up to $21.88 (up 3.5%.) Kitco reported: Gold price ends nine-day losing streak but still negative for the week.  For the record, I don’t expect silver and gold to resume a substantial bull market until the Federal Reserve capitulates and starts lowering interest rates again. I expect that to happen before the  November 2024 presidential election. – JWR

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Adam Hamilton posted this analysis, over at Gold-Eagle.com: Gold’s Violent Breakdown. Here is an excerpt:

“Gold just suffered a violent technical breakdown, plunging even deeper out of favor.  Heavy gold-futures selling has cascaded following the FOMC’s latest hawkish surprise.  That pummeled gold sharply lower, shattering key support zones.  But big gold-futures selling quickly exhausts speculators’ capital firepower.  Then they rush to buy and normalize their excessively-bearish bets, catapulting gold proportionally higher.

Only two weeks ago, gold was looking solid heading into late September’s FOMC meeting.  After closing at $1,931 the day before, the yellow metal just drifted flatlined following Fed officials’ latest decision.  That proved a hawkish surprise, despite no rate hike.  Top Fed officials’ projections for their federal-funds rate at year-end 2024 were boosted 50 basis points, implying two rate cuts next year instead of the previous four.

That should’ve been a nothingburger for markets.  Traders had expected this latest dot plot to moderate to three rate cuts forecast in 2024.  And Fed officials’ FFR projections have proven notoriously inaccurate, as the Fed chair himself warns.  Divining the FFR 15.4 months into the future may as well be an eternity away, as the actual coming FFR trajectory will likely vary radically depending on how the US economy fares.”

o  o  o

Bond yields can’t keep gold down forever as ING sees higher prices in 2024.

Economy & Finance:

Federal Debt Increased By $2.2 Trillion In Fiscal Year 2023.

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Mortgage rate races toward 8% after hitting a high not seen since late 2000.

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Another from CNBC: Why borrowing costs for nearly everything are surging, and what it means for you.

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A Peter St. Onge video on X that I found linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site: BoA: When Fed starts cuttings things will break. 276 rate hikes are finally crushing the global economy. But history says the real storm comes when they start cutting rates. Because cuts means they broke it.

o  o  o

Treasury’s Yellen says US overdependent on China for critical supply chains.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — October 8, 2023

On October 8, 1918, Corporal Alvin York single-handedly captured 132 Germans and killed another 25 during the Meuse-Argonne offensive of World War I.

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October 8th is the birthday of economist and libertarian commentator J. Orlin Grabbe. (Born, 1947, died March 15, 2008.)

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As I’m sure you’ve already read, starting with a massive barrage of 5,000 Katyusha 122mm rockets coming from the Gaza Strip on the morning of Saturday, October 7th, war has broken out on both the southwestern and northern borders of Israel. This was the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles. More than 200 people were killed the first day, and more than 1,000 wounded. Please pray for peace, freedom, and good government, for everyone living there. And please add special prayers for those who have been taken hostage, and their families.

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Today’s feature article is a review written by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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We are in need of entries for Round 109 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 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.

KA-BAR Dozier Folding Hunter KA4062-BRK, by Thomas Christianson

Every once in a while I run across a product that looks like an exceptionally good value. The KA4062-BRK fell into this category. It is manufactured by an iconic American company of good materials at an excellent price. I decided to purchase a sample to review.

Overview

Like many American firms, KA-BAR offers some foreign-made items in their product line. The Taiwanese-made Dozier Folding Hunter model KA4062-BRK is one of them.

The knife has a razor-sharp, 3-inch blade made of AUS 8A stainless steel, that folds into an easily-gripped Zytex handle. With a manufacturer-suggested retail price of $34.16 and widely available online for under $25 , the KA4062-BRK would seem to offer excellent value for the money.Continue reading“KA-BAR Dozier Folding Hunter KA4062-BRK, by Thomas Christianson”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

The FBI Has Created A New “MAGA Terrorist Group” Category
It Is So Good To Know That The FBI Is Still Unbiased and Apolitical

News Links:

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, provide that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

 

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?

For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.

So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.

Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.

For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.

But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.

But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.

For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.

For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.

Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” – Romans 7:1-12 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — October 7, 2023

On this day in 1949, a constitution went into effect in the Soviet occupation zone of Germany that formed the country of East Germany, which existed alongside West Germany until 1990, when the two Germanys reunited.

On Octrober 7, 1765, the Stamp Act Congress convened in New York City to frame resolutions of “rights and grievances” of the American colonies.

The Battle of Lepanto was a naval engagement taking place on 7 October, 1571 in which a fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of European Catholic maritime states arranged by Pope Pius V and led by Spanish admiral Don Juan of Austria, decisively defeated the fleet of the Ottoman Empire on the northern edge of the Gulf of Corinth, off western Greece.

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We are in need of articles for Round 109 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 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.

 

Caged Retail Stores: A Sign of Deeper Societal Degeneracy

In this essay, I will be quite brief and to-the-point:

The recent waves of large-scale shoplifting, flash mobs, store lootings, and “street takeovers” in America’s cities illustrate a profound change in American society. I can see that it will only be in retrospect that historians will recognize this turning point for America. This is the stage where the basic Social Contract — characterized by civility and trust in retail commerce — has been severed.

I found these two articles indicative:

Continue reading“Caged Retail Stores: A Sign of Deeper Societal Degeneracy”

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 was able to get all but one of my slash piles burned, early in the week. Sequentially untarping and igniting them, and then tending all of those fires occupied my time from 6:30 AM until 4:30 PM.   This was a tiring, but gratifying day. Other than mounting snow tires, this was the last major hurdle to clear, in our preparedness for winter.  The last slash pile consists of some green bows from a pine tree that looked diseased. I cut that down just three weeks ago. That pile may have to wait until next spring. I have the pile tarped, so it should be easy to touch off — either late this fall, or just after the snow recedes, next spring.

On Wednesday, I slaughtered and butchered nine chickens.  Then on Thursday, I did in another six of them. These were our notorious Eag Eaters. As usual, I slaughtered, beheaded, de-winged, de-legged, gutted, and skinned the birds. Then they were carried into the house, where Lily did the final cleanup, at the kitchen sink.  We have already raised a younger flock that will soon be laying eggs, so it was definitely time for the older flock to head to the freezer.

Now, Lily’s report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And the vale of Siddim was full of slimepits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and fell there; and they that remained fled to the mountain.

And they took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their victuals, and went their way.

And they took Lot, Abram’s brother’s son, who dwelt in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

And there came one that had escaped, and told Abram the Hebrew; for he dwelt in the plain of Mamre the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner: and these were confederate with Abram.

And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

And the king of Sodom went out to meet him after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer, and of the kings that were with him, at the valley of Shaveh, which is the king’s dale.

And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

And he blessed him, and said, Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth:

And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand. And he gave him tithes of all.

And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the persons, and take the goods to thyself.

And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the Lord, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth…” – Genesis 14:10-22 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — October 6, 2023

October 6th, 1960: The American adventure film Spartacus, directed by Stanley Kubrick and starring Kirk Douglas, had its world premiere; it won several Academy Awards, including best supporting actor for Peter Ustinov.

50 years ago today in 1973, on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur, Egypt and Syria attacked Israel, which suffered heavy casualties, but Israeli forces successfully fought back, and the war eventually ended inconclusively.

Today is also the birthday of science fiction author David Brin (born, 1950.) He wrote The Postman, which was very loosely the foundation of a same-titled movie starring Kevin Costner.

And October 6 is also the birthday of Thor Heyerdahl. (Born 1914, died April 18, 2002.)

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Electric Bike Company — one of our affiliate advertisers —  has several new models, including some sturdy utility models, like their Model S. They are now running some sale prices. Their bikes are all hand-assembled in the USA, using hand-picked parts sourced from around the world. If you’ve wanted to get an e-bike but were waiting for prices to come down, then your wait is over. Take a look at their bikes, and get your order in soon!

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 109 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 $2000.
  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. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  4. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  5. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.
  6. 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 $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.
  2. 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)
  3. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 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 $850,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest. We recently polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic. Round 109 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.

Reunite Your Family After a Black Swan Event, by J.P.

Like many of you reading this, I have been in the preparedness community for more than a decade. We have seen the videos, read the blogs, read and listened to books, and thought about the what-ifs and I would-bes…. Seemingly endless “when it goes down imma gonna get my kit and my body armor and my weebo disk made by Acme company” or “in the first hours imma gonna go here and do this and that”. The first person tends to be me, myself and I. To be honest, no you are not. Hard stop! You may have loved ones walking in circles or second-guessing how to move forward and that leaves you trying to figure out where everyone is.

Give me a moment to set the stage:
It is early January shortly after lunch, generally an average day for your climate. I reside in the south where everything is closed at the mention of snow. Others may be in Canada or near the equator, or in New Zealand where it is summer. Let’s play out the classic EMP or CME storyline. The lights pulse and go out. Normies check their phones and the usual normie activities of “my phone is dead”. People look out the window and cars have ground to a halt. (I know the scale and scope of what would happen to vehicles from an EMP is a hotly contested topic, but bear with me.) The family lives outside suburbia and dad commutes 30 miles to the city to the west, Mom works in the next town 12 miles east of home. The baby is at daycare 2 miles from mom’s work. The next youngest is in elementary school 2 miles north of the house and the next child is in middle school 8 miles south and the oldest is 12 miles north a freshman at a charter school. If it helps grab a pencil and paper to draw it out. This is an illustration so feel free to also draw a map of your average circumstances.Continue reading“Reunite Your Family After a Black Swan Event, by J.P.”

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 lumber prices. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

Spot gold and silver both took a pounding this week. This was mostly attributed to Dollar strength, with news that interest rates would remain high. But part of this was also due to the stock market decline — a 400-point drop on Tuesday.  Doubtless, some traders liquidated part of their precious metals ETFs, to cover stock losses. Look at any such dip in the metals as an opportunity to stack more silver.  The fundamentals haven’t changed: Buy low and sell high.

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At Gold-Eagle.com: Gold SWOT: ETFs Backed by Gold Are Now on Track for the Biggest Weekly Outflow Since June.

Economy & Finance:

Both the Biden Regime and the Federal Reserve seem to be in denial of the unfolding recession.  The yield curve has been inverted for more than 16 months. Maintaining higher interest rates may temporarily stave off inflation, but these rates are not a cure for the underlying systemic problems: fiat currency and fractional reserve banking. Mark my words: The Treasury and Fed are now squeezed between recession and inflation, with no room to maneuver.  If they lower rates, then inflation will come back with a vengeance.  If they raise rates any higher, then they will kill the engine of the economy. And, if they dawdle and continue their “pause” then we’ll sink into a recession. The 400-point NYSE drop on Tuesday, October 3rd was indicative: The markets are not easily fooled by rhetoric.  Bottom line: Brace for recession, widespread layoffs, and a stock market crash. – JWR

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Dimon Warns 7% Fed Rate Still Possible, Times of India Says.

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Where Did Neel Kashkari’s Infinite Cash Go?

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Data Firm Finds Greenwashing On The Rise.

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Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site, a Steve Bannon interview: Dr. Navarro: “Before Our Eyes, Our Entire Economy And Financial System Is Disintegrating”.

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CNBC: 10-year and 30-year Treasury yields rise to their highest levels since 2007.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”