Update: Now Mailing the March, 2026 S.O.S. Newsletter

I’ve completed the new issue of the SurvivaBlog Old School (SOS) newsletter.  The March, 2026 issue will be mailed starting today, over the next several days. This issue’s emphasis is on suppressor construction with detailed specifications, tips, and tricks. This is our third issue, and it is six pages long.

SOS is a traditional hardcopy mailed newsletter intended as a backup to Internet delivery, in the event of any sort of disruption — whether natural or man-made. Normally, you’ll receive just one issue each year, with some practical information that is not published in the online edition of SurvivalBlog. But if a crisis develops that limits Internet access, you might get SOS issues as often as once per month.

Subscriptions are simple: $50 for a three-year subscription or $200 for a Lifetime Subscription. (My lifetime, not yours.)

Any new subscribers will also receive the two previous issues. And I will continue to mail out all three extant issues of the newsletters to anyone who signs up in the next four months.

I’d prefer that you send your subscription payments via USPS Postal Money Orders, payable to just “Jim” or well-concealed cash, for your privacy. Alternatively, you can send just $3.25 face value in pre-1965 U.S. 90% silver coinage to cover a Lifetime Subscription.  Please use the address below, and also please put the same address in the upper left-hand corner of your envelope. Similarly, you’ll receive each S.O.S. issue in an envelope with your own address duplicated as the return address. (Again, for your privacy.):

SOS Newsletter
P.O. Box 303
Moyie Springs, Idaho 83845

I also take subscription payments via PayPal (to james@rawles.to), but that of course leaves a digital record.

Note: If for some reason you redundantly receive TWO envelopes each containing the March, 2026 issue, then please let me know, so that I can take the redundant address off the list. Thanks! – JWR

Construction and Design of a Remote, Off-Grid Residence – Part 3, by Mrs. Alaska

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

Storage

A big challenge when living in small homes is storage space. In a climate with dramatic temperature swings like ours, we have, for example, different mittens, boots, parkas and hats for +30, 0, and -30 degrees. All of these are bulky. We also have special clothing for hunting, fishing, and rain, and various accoutrements for outdoor activities. So, we built lots of storage shelves in various outbuildings to hold labeled totes of out-of-season clothes. In our cabin, I store things under, over, behind, and beside furniture. For example, my husband built long, plank bookcases under the windows and at the top of the pony walls (3.5 feet) below the steep roofline. I curtained the space beneath the bookcase to store medical and office supplies. Fermenting beer and wine are stored between a loveseat and cabinet. Long cooking utensils hang on cup cooks inside cabinet doors. Potatoes are stored behind a corner chair. Since I have only two drawers in the kitchen, I hang wicker creels from the spiral staircase to corral small items.

I consider outside “rooms” very important, too, even in a cold weather climate, but surely more so in hot and rainy regions. Outside, we enjoy two 10 x 16 decks upstairs and down, and a 6 x 16, unheated arctic entry (combination mud room and food pantry) that leads to a 10x 10 deck with the cedar soaking tub. We move among our three decks and living room based on sun, shade, rain, and wind.Continue reading“Construction and Design of a Remote, Off-Grid Residence – Part 3, by Mrs. Alaska”

Recipe of the Week:

The following recipe for Basil Buttered Greens is from SurvivalBlog reader Trish.

Ingredients
  • 3 spring onions
  • 2 Tablespoons of butter
  • 1 Cup  frozen peas
  • 1 Cup frozen, shelled edamame beans
  • 1/4 Cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 medium cos (Romiane) lettuce bunch
  • A handful of fresh basil leaves
Directions

1. Slice the three spring onions, both the white and the green parts. Melt half the butter in a wide saucepan and stir the spring onions over a low heat, letting them soften but not brown.

2. Tumble in the 1 Cup each frozen peas and edamame, along with the 1/4 cup of stock and a teaspoon of sugar. Raise the heat and let the stock bubble away and reduce slightly, stirring all the while.

3. Trim the base from the cos lettuce and roughly slice the leaves. Drop them into the pan, stirring till they wilt a little into the other greens. Remove from the heat.

4. Tear the handful of basil leaves and stir through, along with the remaining butter.

 

SERVING

This recipe serves just two adults as a full side dish. Double it, as needed.

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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: Global GDP Clusters. These three regions, spread across three continents, together generate half of the world’s GDP  (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

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.

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 15, 2026

After a multi-month restocking hiatus, we are again taking orders at Elk Creek Company. Here are our updated inventory counts:

  • Pre-1899 Antique Rifles:  24 (We have deeply restocked 7×57 and 6.5×55 Mauser rifles.)
  • Pre-1899 Antique Shotguns: 9 (Most are 12 gauge and most of them have fluid steel barrels!)
  • Pre-1899 Antique Pistols and Revolvers: 21  (Mostly S&W top break revolvers.)
  • Blackpowder Revolvers: 23 (Most are .44 caliber, with modern cartridge conversion cylinders available. We have deeply restocked the much-in-demand Ruger Old Army revolvers.)
  • Blackpowder Rifles: 7 (Most of them are .50 Caliber deer/elk hunting rifles.)
  • Knives and Bayonets:  24 (Edged weapons and tools from the 1870s to the 2010s.)
  • Magazines and Other Accessories:  7 types (These include some scarce original Rhodesian camouflage-painted FAL magazines!)

No paperwork is required for buyers in most states!  (Consult your state and local laws before ordering.)

We accept payment by USPS PMO, check, or pre-1965 U.S; silver coinage at a divisor that changes often.  That divisor is presently at an all-time high of 58-to-one!  (Just take the total for your order and divide by 58.  For example, say that you are ordering an antique rifle priced at  $750 plus $45 postage.  (A total of $795.)  You would pay just $13.70 face value in U.S. silver in any mixture of 1964 or earlier dimes, quarters, and half dollars.

Take a look at our inventory!

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Today, we present a guest post by our friend and long-time SurvivalBlog reader Mrs. Alaska.

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We need a few more entries for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 123 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. 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.

Construction and Design of a Remote, Off-Grid Residence – Part 2, by Mrs. Alaska

(Continued from Part 1.)

Power

Most remote homes and lodges rely on generators. The problem with generators is that they are noisy and smelly. So many people build a ventilated shed around them to buffer the noise. I appreciate that! In our case, we built the power tower (for the wind turbine, solar panels, antennas, and satellite dish) and power shed on the highest point on our property, so the 120 foot tower rises above the tallest trees, 400 feet east of the cabin. When we use the small generator as supplemental power, on rainy, snowy, still days, I am grateful that I do not have to listen to it, in part because it is so far away, and in part because the engine is angled east -away from us.

Unfortunately, because of that distance, we had to dig a 400 foot trench for the electrical wires from the power shed to the cabin, by hand, on our hands and knees through thousands of roots. That was tiring and uncomfortable work. We had similar issues with other buildings in which we wanted electricity, but by that time, we had bought a small backhoe that we can tow behind our ATV, which quickly dug the trenches.Continue reading“Construction and Design of a Remote, Off-Grid Residence – Part 2, by Mrs. Alaska”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

Mohamed Jalloh Learned the Real Meaning of the Acronym ROTC:

Rendering Oafish Terrorists to Corpses

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, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour Jesus Christ:

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge;

And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness;

And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity.

For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:

For so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth.

Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance;

Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shewed me.

Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance.

For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.” – 2 Peter 1:1-16 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — March 14, 2026

On March 14, 1899, German Ferdinand von Zeppelin received a US patent for a “Navigable Balloon”.

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Today’s feature article is the first installment of a three-part guest article from our friend Mrs. Alaska.

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We need entries for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 123 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. 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.

Construction and Design of a Remote, Off-Grid Residence – Part 1, by Mrs. Alaska

We bought undeveloped land in rural Alaska, in a region with no municipal infrastructure within a 20-minute flight to the nearest community. So, we built everything from scratch, after we hauled all the requisite supplies in by snowmobile trailer or by float plane. We made many mistakes in our design and construction, as well as a few good decisions. I actually think that people who buy a property that has an old-timer’s cabin, layout, and tools, may have an advantage in making future adjustments. The following are my suggestions for considering how to build and design property in a remote area that has no grid-based resources. My priorities are efficiency, low maintenance, and low power usage.

Water

Natural sources: The most important resource is, of course water. If your property has a lake, pond, creek, or river, you can certainly make good use of these natural sources for irrigation and washing. Otherwise, or in addition to these wild sources, you will likely dig a well. Either way, you will want to invest some sort of filtration system, whether homemade, simple, or complicated and expensive. We utilize a series of three increasingly fine filters that we screw into our sink and wash house plumbing. For water that came from the lake, we needed to change out the filters three times a year. For water coming from our well, we still need to replace filters twice a year. Even with the filters, we clean out the sticky silt that coats hoses and storage drums twice a year.Continue reading“Construction and Design of a Remote, Off-Grid Residence – Part 1, by Mrs. Alaska”

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:

Bummer!  We are now in the middle of lambing season, and we’ve had to care for a few bummer lambs.  Lily had poured her time into handling most of this responsibility.  She is such a trooper!  My part was mostly putting up more windbreaks for the in-pen sheep shed, driving to get supplies, and so forth.

Pictured above is my Great Aunt Martha Rawles, bottle-feeding some bummer lambs, circa 1948, in Mendocino County, California.

I spent some time this week buying and installing a replacement car battery and reconfiguring a spare car that we plan to give to one of our daughters, for her “Daily Driver.” (Maybe. There are other additional options available to her.)  Since she is planning to get her Extra Class ham radio license, I also had to check on the car’s radio and antenna. The car is equipped with a dual-band Yaesu radio. Regardless of her choice of vehicles, we plan to give her that radio.

I’ve been busier than usual this week, with writing and editing.  I recently wrapped up writing the latest issue of the S.O.S. Newsletter. Then I had to make a trip into town to get them printed. I also had to print out all of the address labels with my desktop printer. Next, I’ll be stuffing envelopes. I expect some more newsletter subscriptions in the next three weeks, so that will surely mean even more printing and envelope stuffing.

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“Now therefore hearken, O Israel, unto the statutes and unto the judgments, which I teach you, for to do them, that ye may live, and go in and possess the land which the Lord God of your fathers giveth you.

Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it, that ye may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you.

Your eyes have seen what the Lord did because of Baalpeor: for all the men that followed Baalpeor, the Lord thy God hath destroyed them from among you.

But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive every one of you this day.

Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it.

Keep therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.

For what nation is there so great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our God is in all things that we call upon him for?

And what nation is there so great, that hath statutes and judgments so righteous as all this law, which I set before you this day?

Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

Specially the day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God in Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Gather me the people together, and I will make them hear my words, that they may learn to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and that they may teach their children.

And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.

And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even ten commandments; and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.

And the Lord commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the Lord spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire:

Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth:

And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” – Deuteronomy 4: 1-20 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Friday — March 13, 2026

On March 13, 1639 Cambridge New College, Massachusetts was renamed Harvard in honor of clergyman John Harvard. The College was founded as a Christian institution. All students were expected to be proficient in Latin before acceptance into the college. Scripture reading and prayer gatherings were held twice each day, for all students.  Harvard College was founded with the motto: “All for the Glory of Christ.” It was changed to “Truth for Christ and the Church” in 1836. But the words “for Christ and the Church” were dropped from the motto in 1880, leaving the now familiar motto: Truth. (Veritas.) Pictured above is Harvard’s business school. The school (presently organized as a University) and has now reached its terminal moraine. – JWR

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March 13, 1933: American banks were allowed to reopen after a government-imposed bank holiday.

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And on March 13, 1961, the old type, black-and-white currency notes ceased to be legal tender in the United States.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 123 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. 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),
  2. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses. Their course catalog now includes their latest Survival Gunsmithing course.
  3. HSM Ammunition in Montana is providing a $350 gift certificate. The certificate can be used for any of their products.
  4. Harvest Guard is providing a 200-Piece Bulk Mix Pack of their Regular and Wide-Mouth Reusable Canning Jar Lids & Gaskets. This is a $161 + shipping value.

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 TOUGHGRID.com (a $287 value).
  3. Preparedness author Jennifer Rader is providing a $200 purchase credit for any of her eight published food storage and medical preparedness books, including the Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café series, the Armageddon Pharmacy series, and the Medicine Surrounds Us series.
  4. 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 gun purchasing privacy!

Third Prize:

  1. A Berkey Light water filter, courtesy of USA Berkey Filters (a $305 value),
  2. Two sets of The Civil Defense Manual, (in two volumes) — a $193 value — kindly donated by the author, Jack Lawson.
  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. 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 $981,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 123 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. 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.

Understanding Hydrocarbon-Based Fuel, by Industry Guy

Editor’s Introductory Note: I’ve had many e-mailed questions about buying, transporting, and storing gasoline and diesel fuel in recent days. I also had a question about the available blends of gasoline. So, I thought it would be apropos to re-post a few fuel-related articles from SurvivalBlog’s deep archives.  This article dates back 16 years, to April, 2010. It was written by an anonymous reader in the fuel refining industry.

Background

Fuel supplies are essential for many aspects of modern society. Complex supply chains rely on hydrocarbon-fueled trucks, trains, and planes to deliver food and other supplies in near real-time. Natural gas is is used to heat homes and fuel generators that supply approximately one-sixth of all electricity produced in the US. Large-scale food production is only possible with diesel-fueled farm equipment and synthetic nitrate fertilizers, made from natural gas.

It is not hard to imagine that anything more than a brief blip in fuel supplies would result in TEOTWAWKI. We have seen the result of Hurricanes Katrina and Ike on fuel supplies and prices. Some of us are old enough to remember the Arab oil embargo of 1973. Much motor fuel is transported by long pipelines that cross active earthquake faults and are also vulnerable to “man-caused disasters”. I once asked an oil company employee responsible for fuel supply logistics, “how vulnerable is the system to disruption?”. She replied they could handle one hiccup, but two sequential events, or one large event would bring the system down. In my opinion, the question is not “if” we will see fuel supply disruptions, but rather “when” and “how severe?”Continue reading“Understanding Hydrocarbon-Based Fuel, by Industry Guy”