Rejuvenating and Old PC with Linux Mint Xfce – Part 1, by Thomas Christianson

Our Motto; “Use it Up, Wear it Out, Make it Do or Do Without”.

Getting the most out of what you already own instead of buying something new is a good way of using your resources more effectively. Then your resources can be used instead for something that will bring you more long-term benefit. Extending the useful service life of an older computer is one way of utilizing your existing resources more effectively.

JWR Adds: Given the huge number of online books, web archives, offline copies of Wikipedia, service manuals, military manual PDFs, e-Book Bibles and Bible commentaries, and other references that are available, a reliable laptop computer can be an important part of your family’s long-term preparedness and self-suffciency library. What good is owning a waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick, or a complete archive of The Mother Earth News on CD-ROM if you have no way to access them?  Every well-prepared family should have a reliable laptop computer and a hefty backup battery of some sort. Just an inexpensive Lithium-Ion power station from Jackery or Harbor Freight and a 40-watt solar panel to charge it will suffice.

I recently tested a number of different operating systems (OSes) on a Toshiba Satellite L500D with an AMD Semrpon M100 processor, 2 GB RAM, and a 138 GB hard drive. This testing was in preparation for an installation on an Acer Aspire ES-551 with an AMD A8-7100 processor, 6 GB RAM, and a 757 GB hard drive.Continue reading“Rejuvenating and Old PC with Linux Mint Xfce – Part 1, by Thomas Christianson”

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. Pictured is a train trestle near Winchester, Idaho, at the edge of the Camas Prairie, Idaho.  (Photo by JWR.)

News and Links of Interest:

Send Your Redoubt 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 — March 2, 2026

On March 2, 1793, Alexandre de Beauharnais, the first husband of Joséphine de Beauharnais, was arrested during the Reign of Terror. He was later executed.

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And on March 2, 1799, Congress standardizes US weights and measures.

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Please pray for peace in the Middle East, and the replacement of Iran’s Islamic theocratic regime with a reasonable, limited government. After 47 years of tyranny, the Iranian people deserve better!

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Today’s feature piece is by Field Gear Editor Ton Christianson.

Midwest Industries AK Multi Tool, by Thomas Thomas Christianson

Built around a rugged windage and elevation adjustment tool for the front sight of AK-pattern firearms, the Midwest Industries AK Multi Tool is a great range-bag-companion for the AK owner.

Constructed of heavy-duty, nickel-plated 4140 steel, the tool provides a gas tube wrench, handguard cap lever wrench, and multi-function knubs for muzzle brake detents or recoil button compression in addition to the windage and elevation adjustment tool.

The tool comes with a clear set of directions for those who are new to adjusting the sights on an AK. It is made in the U.S.A., and cost $84.95 at midwestindustriesinc.com at the time of this writing.

If you own an AK and are looking for a rugged and versatile tool for sight adjustment and other AK-specific tasks, the Midwest Industries AK Multi Tool would be an excellent choice.Continue reading“Midwest Industries AK Multi Tool, by Thomas Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week: 

The following recipe for Braised Spring Vegetables is from SurvivalBlog reader Ellen H.  She says:\ “This is my variation on a recipe that I found posted online a decade ago. I now make this in springtime, every year.

Ingredients
  • 4 scallions or 1 spring onion, trimmed and thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons low-sodium chicken broth, or water
  • 8 ounces asparagus, woody ends trimmed off. Cut the stalks into 1-½ inch pieces
  • 1 cup shelled fresh fava beans (from about 1 pound pods), peeled, or sugar snap peas, trimmed and halved crosswise
  • 1 cup shelled fresh English peas (from about 1 pound peas in the pod)
  • ½ head escarole, torn into bite-size pieces (about 2 cups)
  • 3 cups loosely packed baby spinach leaves
  • ½ cup loosely packed fresh basil leaves
  • 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • Kosher salt, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives
  • Parmesan cheese (for grating)
Directions
  1. In a large heavy skillet, combine the spring onion, garlic, oil, and broth and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and cook for about 2 minutes, or until the spring onion softens slightly.
  2. Add the asparagus, fava beans, and peas and sauté for about 2 minutes, or until the beans and peas are heated through.
  3. Add the escarole, spinach, and basil and sauté for about 2 minutes, or until the escarole wilts and the asparagus is crisp-tender.
  4. Stir in the lemon zest and juice.
  5. Season to taste with salt.
  6. Transfer to a serving platter.
  7. Sprinkle with the chives, and grate the Parmesan over the dish, and serve immediately.

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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: Percent of Population without Health Insurance, by County (U.S.). (Graphic courtesy of Reddit and ZipCrawl.)

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

From the ZipCrawl website:

NOTE: Gray indicates insufficient data or a suppressed estimate.

Explore the geographic distribution of uninsured Americans across every county in the United States. This map traces the consequences of Medicaid expansion decisions, immigration patterns, and labor market structures – revealing how a single state policy choice created dramatic coverage disparities at state borders, and how the Texas-Mexico corridor has become the uninsured capital of the developed world.

JWR Adds:  Illegal immigration is undoubtedly the key contributing factor, along the Mexican border. The only yellow spot on the map inside the American Redoubt is an Indian Reservation.

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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.

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“The great object of my fear is the federal judiciary. That body, like gravity, ever acting, with noiseless foot, and unalarming advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding what it gains, is engulfing insidiously the special governments into the jaws of that which feeds them.” – Thomas Jefferson, letter to Judge Spencer Roane, March 9, 1821

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 1, 2026

March 1, 1872: Yellowstone became the world’s first national park.

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Today is the birthday of actor and former WW2 commando David Niven. His full name was James David Graham Niven. (1910-1983.)

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Today is also the birthday of the late singer, songwriter, and cowboy poet Allen Wayne Damron. Damron was quite the Texan, through and through. (Born 1939, died August 13, 2005, in Terlingua, Texas.)

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All eyes are on the Middle East. The Iranian ex-pat news service Tousi TV seems to have the most complete coverage. But note that they have a strong bias toward Shah-in-Exile Pahlavi.

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Today, we present a guest article by long-time friend and fellow blogger, Patrice Lewis.

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We still 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.

Processing Spaghetti Squash, by Patrice Lewis

JWR’s Introductory Note:  This photo-intensive article was written by our long-time friend Patrice Lewis. It was posted at her excellent Rural Revolution blog.  We highly recommend bookmarking it.

Last fall, if you remember, we had a bumper crop of spaghetti squash. With this much abundance, we were tasked with how best to store the sheer volume.

 

 

 

In the end, we divvied up the ripe squash from the unripe, then stored the ripe squash in the well house.

 

 

 

 

The unripe squash was stacked in crates in the library, where it slowly ripened over a period of two months or so. As it ripened, we stored it in a cool room off our porch.Continue reading“Processing Spaghetti Squash, by Patrice Lewis”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week: 

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

Finally, Some Epstein Co-Conspirator Arrest Warrants

But Pam Bondi is Baffled Why There Have Been No Arrests

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:

“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;

Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.

(Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?

He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ:” – Ephesians 4:1-15 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — February 28, 2026

On February 28, 1638, Scottish Presbyterians signed the National Covenant at Greyfriars, Edinburgh.

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February 28, 1810: The first US fire insurance joint-stock company was organized, in Philadelphia.

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And on  February 28, 1844 a 12-inch gun aboard USS Princeton exploded, killing US Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur, Secretary of the Navy Thomas Gilmer, and other high-ranking federal officials.

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Today, we present a guest piece by fellow blogger Mrs. Alaska. She is a long-time SurvivalBlog reader who lives off-grid and off-road in the interior of Alaska.

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We still 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.

Home Pressure Canning, by Mrs. Alaska

The following describes my approach at pressure canning meat and dairy products, with some comments on fruit, vegetables, and other preservation methods

Pressure canning cookbooks, like Ball’s Blue Book, include recipes for making and canning meat broths, but, in my experience, most do not for meat itself. Similarly, they lack recipes for canning most dairy items.

However, families have canned both for generations. Below, I share my positive experience of canning meats, cheese, and butter, for shelf-stable pantry items, based on the advice of friends whose families have done so for decades, and from my own experiences over many years in Alaska. However, readers should do their own research and tests for safe food canning, and storage, for their storage temperatures.

Scenario 1: Imagine that you have a freezer and refrigerator full of food when the power fails for an extended time. How much did you spend to acquire all that food? How can you preserve it for an extended time? If you have a propane stove, you can pressure can everything.Continue reading“Home Pressure Canning, 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:

I am slowly getting back to my usual level of activity, while recovering from my cold and bronchitis. Now that the snow has mostly cleared here at the Rawles Ranch, I’m starting to cut up this winter’s wind-fallen trees.

Now, Lily’s part of the report, where she will bring you up to date on lambing season at the Rawles Ranch…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”