SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets

Our 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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At Clark Howard’s site: Food Expiration Dates: What You Need To Know.  The included charts are quite useful. Here is an excerpt:

“Here are the most common terms you’ll see:

  • Best If Used By/Before: Peak flavor or quality, not a safety deadline
  • Use By: Last date for best quality (safety only applies to infant formula)
  • Sell By: Guidance for retailers, not consumers
  • Freeze By: Suggests when to freeze for best quality

Bottom line: These dates usually tell you when food is at its best, not when it becomes unsafe.”

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Our Editor-At-Large Mike Williamson liked this video: The Real Reason Modern Lumber Is So Bad (Here’s The Solution.)  Mike’s comments:  “An excellent video on how lumber is cut, useful for people cutting their own. Good information on knots and grain.”

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SurvivalBlog staffer Tom Christianson suggested this item: What are the world’s deadliest animals, and can we protect ourselves against them?

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What Should I Do Before, During, and After an Earthquake?

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Deputy shot and killed while serving eviction notice.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog Readers’ & Editors’ Snippets”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — April 14, 2026

On April 14, 1849, Hungary declared itself independent of Austria, with Lajos (Louis) Kossuth as its leader.

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On this day in 1865, just after the effective end of the American Civil War, U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while attending a production at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., and died the next morning.

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April 14, 1881: The famed Four Dead in Five Seconds gunfight in El Paso, Texas.

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Today’s feature article is a guest post from a long-time SurvivalBlog reader. Because it is partly self-promotional, it is not part of the writing contest judging.

We need entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $984,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 124 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. 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.

Preparing Future Generations for an Uncertain Future – Part 3, by Single Farmer

(Continued from Part 2.)

Give Up the Fantasy

A daughter may need to move, bend, compromise, and pivot. Those are all signs of maturity and embracing reality. A successful farmer looks at changing conditions across soil health, larger economic forces, and continues to refine their decisions onwhat crops are planted, and when.

Young women and their families need to give up on fantasies and embrace reality. Fantasies are very dangerous delusions that often leading to negative long term consequences. When preppers think their food supply is adequate, but it would not feed a 19th Century waif for a fortnight, it is just as dangerous as families thinking that appropriate spouses will just appear exactly as they are envisioned. Many times God sends people what they need, not what they want.Continue reading“Preparing Future Generations for an Uncertain Future – Part 3, by Single Farmer”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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. Today’s feature photo: The Blitzen River Wilderness Study Area (WSA) is located 60 miles south of Burns (less than 1 mile south of Frenchglen), in Harney County, Oregon. Frenchglen is named after Pete French, with whom my Shirk family cousins had a well-publicized range war. The northwestern edge of the WSA is adjacent to Oregon State Highway 205. (A public domain photo, courtesy of the BLM.)  The thumbnail image below is click-expandable. – JWR

Redoubt News Links

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

Preparedness Notes for Monday — April 13, 2026

On April 13, 1012: A ransom of 48,000 pounds was paid to a large band of Vikings, led by Danish warlord Thorkell the Tall, for the liberation of Canterbury, after a raid on the city and the capture of Alphege [Aelfheah] Archbishop of Canterbury

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April 13, 1743, was the birthday of Thomas Jefferson.

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And on April 13, 1933: First flight over Mount Everest, by Lord Clydesdale.

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We’ve just started a two-week-long sale on all of our pre-1899 antique shotguns at Elk Creek Company.  There are some deep discounts. This sale will end on Monday, April 27th, 2026. Please note that some of these guns have been re-sleeved and re-proofed for modern shotshells!

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Today’s feature article is a guest post from a long-time SurvivalBlog reader. Because it is partly self-promotional, it is not part of the writing contest judging.

We need entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $984,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 124 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. 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.

Preparing Future Generations for an Uncertain Future – Part 2, by Single Farmer

(Continued from Part 1.)

Preparations for Daughters

The number one thing that a parent can do for their daughter who wants her to have a great life is to prepare her for marriage. The preparations necessary for a young woman for success in life are extremely different than the preparations for a son or grandson. The easiest way for a young woman to be successful in life is to enter into an excellent marriage. The number one problem is that most parents and grandparents are doing a poor job at preparing daughters and granddaughters for this role because they think it is just going to happen naturally or is to something where planning is not effective. I know how to grow crops and harvests do not randomly happen: they require preparation. If a young woman wants to enjoy an excellent marriage, it takes years of pre-planning. It does not happen overnight!

Historically, fathers would try to get their daughters married because an unmarried woman’s prospects were not usually good. Most young unmarried women without the benefit of a family resources in the form of an inheritance or dowry had a few very negative dead-end choices such as in domestic service. A lot of popular books during this time covered these various themes of marital success and how to achieve it. Unmarried women’s prospects on average are still not that good with a lower than average net worth with never married women often having up to one third less than single never-married men.Continue reading“Preparing Future Generations for an Uncertain Future – Part 2, by Single Farmer”

Recipe of the Week: 

The following recipe for Sweet Moroccan Lamb Stew is from SurvivalBlog reader Cartol in Delaware. It makes 4 to 6 servings.

Ingredients
  • 3 pounds lamb shoulder on the bone, trimmed of excess fat
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 2 large onions (about 2 pounds), grated or finely chopped
  • 3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (divided use)
  • 1/2 cup sugar (divided use)
  • 2 pinches of saffron threads, lightly toasted and finely crumbled or powdered in a mortar with a little salt
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1 cup golden raisins
Directions
  1. Place the lamb in an enameled cast-iron casserole, Dutch oven or earthenware casserole with a cover along with the olive oil, onions, garlic, ginger, 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, the saffron, salt, pepper and water.
  2. Toss so all the pieces of meat are coated, then bring to a boil on a burner over medium-high heat, using a heat diffuser if using an earthenware casserole or tagine. Reduce the heat to low, partially cover and simmer until the meat is tender, about 2 hours. Remove the meat from the sauce and set aside.
  3. Increase the heat to medium-low, add the raisins to the casserole and continue cooking until the sauce is thick, about 45 minutes.
  4. Tilt the casserole and spoon out fat. Remove the sauce from the casserole to a measuring cup or small bowl.
  5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
  6. Return the meat to the casserole and arrange on the bottom. Cover with the sauce and sprinkle with the remaining 6 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
  7. Place in the oven until the lamb is falling off the bone and very tender, about 1 hour.
SERVING

Serve this hot.

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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!

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — April 12, 2026

On April 12, 1811, the first US colonists on the Pacific coast arrived at Cape Disappointment, in what is now the state of Washington.

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April 12, 1933: US Navy commissioned Air Station Sunnyvale (later renamed NAS Moffett Field) in Santa Clara County, California — at the southern end of San Francisco Bay.

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April 12th is the birthday of the late novelist Tom Clancy. (Born 1947, died October 1, 2013). It was Clancy who almost single-handedly created the modern techno-thriller genre, with his first novel, The Hunt For Red October. Coincidentally, Tom Clancy’s first literary agent is now my agent, Robert Gottlieb.

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Today’s feature article is a guest post from a long-time SurvivalBlog reader. Because it is partly self-promotional, it is not part of the writing contest judging.

We need entries for Round 124 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $984,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 124 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. 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.

Preparing Future Generations for an Uncertain Future – Part 1, by Single Farmer

Editor’s Introductory Note: This young man is prayerfully seeking a wife. He is offering an after-marriage gift of up to $50,000 to whoever introduces him to his bride with $18,000 after their marriage and another $16,000 to the individual who provided the introduction after the first two births of healthy children born to him and his wife, for a total potential gift of $50,000. For further details, see this link to his article posted on July 13th, 2025: My Quest for a Wife: I’m Willing to Move, and in his February 24, 2026 article on rural migration starting at the bold section on “Continuing My Quest For a Wife”. – JWR

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I am still working on my “Decline and Fall of Western Civilization” article that I mentioned in my February article, but as I have been writing the article several large themes have emerged which deserve the full attention of a separate article because I know the large majority of readers have an actual stake in the future by having children, grandchildren, or even hope to be married someday, so this article needed to be written as a preface to how to prepare for the collapse of Western Civilization. As I mentioned in July 2025, “We are probably in the opening stages of the Third World War.” Events that are occurring in the flashpoints of the Middle East and Asia will most likely decide the direction of the world in the next decades of the 21st Century as the 20th Century was dominated by the results of the Second World War. Many readers here have children and grandchildren and are rightly concerned about their future. I encourage you to send the link to this article to people you know with children to get the word out to even people who are not regular readers as it might help to turn our country around.

Bottom Line Up Front: Their future is not good. This is one of the worst times to be a young person, but there are certain steps you can take as a parent or grandparent to make your children or grandchildren’s future better and even your future better!
Continue reading“Preparing Future Generations for an Uncertain Future – Part 1, by Single Farmer”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR, based on an idea suggested by my brother Bruce Rawles:

Meme Text:

This Bird’s Problem is Medical…

It Has Irritable Owl Syndrome

Notes From JWR:

I was pleased to see that this meme was included in a meme video by Johnny B, on Friday. (I sent it to him early.)

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:

“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

And patience, experience; and experience, hope:

And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.

6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.

But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.

For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

(For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.

Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.

For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.” – Romans 5: 1-18 (KJV)