The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“A Federal Reserve created digital coin could be one of the most dangerous steps ever taken by a government agency. It would put in the hands of the government the potential to create a digital currency with the ability to track all transactions in an economy—and prohibit transactions for any reason. In terms of future individual freedom, this would be a nightmare.” – Robert Wenzel, editor and publisher of the Economic Policy Journal

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — March 1, 2020

Today is 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.)

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. A transferable $100 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!

Round 87 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.

Feeding Your Family When There Is No Meat, by S.E.

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Imagine that you are nine months into a long-term crisis. You have a garden, you’ve stored food and you have a healthy flock of chickens for meat and eggs. Then the unthinkable happens. You lose your flock to disease, thieves, or predators, or maybe your animal feed has run out. What do you do now?! How will you feed your family with no meat?   Sure, you can try your hand at hunting, but so is everyone else, and maybe it’s not safe enough for you to venture off your property due to violence or disease. This article is designed to help you think about ways of getting adequate protein into your family…  …when there is no meat.

A bit of background. Following my series of back-to-back illnesses in 2017 ranging from bronchitis and strep throat to pneumonia, I felt that my immune system was not functioning correctly, likely due to inflammation issues related to diet. I decided to undertake some nutritional research to try and fix this problem through diet. (I am not someone who likes medications). A few months later we opted to give the Whole Food, Plant Based way of eating a try. You have probably heard of this, it’s becoming quite popular – even with professional and Olympic athletes. Essentially it consists of eating only plants – fruit, vegetables, grains and beans. No added oil, no meat, no dairy, no fish, no processed sugar and minimal salt. Yes, it’s a big lifestyle change but the proven benefits to your health are numerous. People are reversing Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and other ailments.Continue reading“Feeding Your Family When There Is No Meat, by S.E.”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods

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SurvivalBlog presents another edition of The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods— a collection of news bits and pieces that are relevant to the modern survivalist and prepper from “JWR”. Our goal is to educate our readers, to help them to recognize emerging threats and to be better prepared for both disasters and negative societal trends. You can’t mitigate a risk if you haven’t first identified a risk. Today, we look at some disturbing coronavirus news.

Desperate to Stop Virus’ Spread, Countries Limit Travel

The AP reports:  Desperate to stop virus’ spread, countries limit travel. A pericope:

“Officials scrambled Tuesday to halt the spread of the burgeoning new virus, from northern Italy where troops were dispatched to enforce quarantines and schools were shuttered, to South Korea, where some neighborhoods in a city of 2.5 million were brought to a near standstill.

New clusters of the illness popped up far from its apparent point of origin in China, fueling apprehension in world financial markets and political institutions. The spread fueled an increased sense of urgency among officials in some of the wealthiest nations in Europe and Asia, as well as in countries like Iran, with far fewer resources to stem the disease. But many remained uncertain about how best to contain it.”

Coronavirus: Outbreak Spreads in Europe from Italy

Linked over at the Whatfinger.com news aggregation site, there is this from the BBC: Coronavirus: Outbreak spreads in Europe from Italy. JWR’s Comments: These reports of an asymptomatic spread now makes a global pandemic almost a certainty.  In my estimation, the remaining key questions are:  1.) What are the true morbidity (infection) rates and the mortality rates — including those who are re-infected? 2.) What will be the hospitalization rate, in the U.S.?   (There are only 900,000 hospital beds for a national population of 350 million.)  3.) Are there enough hospital ventilators, for those who become critically ill? (I’m fairly sure that there are not.) 4.) Will the China-dependent supply chains break down for antibiotics, intubation supplies, N95 masks, and so forth? 5.) What are the full global economic implications? This may very well be the Black Swan event that were warned about.

P&G Warns 17,600 Products Possibly Hit by Coronavirus

Reader DSV sent this news of supply chain chaos: P&G warns 17,600 products possibly hit by coronavirus.  The article’s opening lines:

“P&G’s CFO Jon Moeller, speaking at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference in the US, said P&G used 387 suppliers across China, shipping more than 9,000 materials.”

Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods”

February 2020 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran

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Welcome to SurvivalBlog’s Precious Metals Month in Review, where we take a look at “the month that was” in precious metals. Each month, we cover gold’s performance, and the factors that affected gold prices. – Steven Cochran, of Gainesville Coins

Gold In 2019: A Review

Before we get into gold’s wild ride in February, let’s take a look at it’s performance last year. (Data for this review was supplied by the World Gold Council.)

Overall global gold demand was down 1% in 2019, to 4,355.7 metric tonnes (4,801.3 US tons). Higher prices slowed physical gold demand, but this was more than offset by a huge surge in physical gold-backed ETFs. Gold-backed ETFs added 401 tonnes (442 tons) in 2019. This was 426% higher than in 2018.

Central banks bought 650.3 metric tonnes (716.8 tons) of gold in 2019, the second-highest total since 1967. 2018 was the highest, at 656.2 t. Fifteen central banks bought at least 1 tonne of gold last year.

Retail gold demand in 2019 fell 11% due to higher prices. Gold rose in nominal terms against a stronger US dollar. A stronger dollar hurts gold demand in other countries, because it becomes even more expensive in their own currencies. This led to gold prices rising in every nation on Earth. Several countries saw all-time high gold prices in their currency in 2019, due to this currency weakness.

Higher gold prices meant that more old gold was sent to the scrappers last year — a total of 1,304 tonnes. This 11% growth in gold recycling helped the global gold supply rise 2% in 2019, to 4,776.1 tonnes.

This was a good thing, as global gold mining production fell 1% to 3,463.7 tonnes. This is the first annual drop in global gold production since the Financial Crisis in 2008.

China’s domestic gold mining (all of which remains in the country) has now fallen 3 years in a row. It would seem that they are on the downside of “peak gold” in their mining sector. This means that China has to rely more on gold imports to fill demand.

Russia and Australia are still increasing production, but how long they can keep their gold sectors expanding remains to be seen.

Gold So Far in 2020

Spot gold started 2020 at $1,516.80 an ounce. It gained $71.70 in January. As of the close of the spot market on February 27, gold had gained another $56.10.

Gold futures started the year at $1,523.10. It added $64.80 in January, and gained $54.60 by the February 27th close.

What Did Gold Do in February?

Gold started February with a $35.80 loss over the first two days of the month. This crushed prices from $1,588 to a monthly low of $1,552. Prices had worked their way back to $1,583 by Valentine’s Day.

It was when the markets came back from Presidents Day that the afterburners were lit under the gold market. Spot gold gained $20.40 on the 18th, closing at a seven year high of $1,601.20. This was the first time gold had broken the psychologically important $1,600 mark since March 27, 2013Continue reading“February 2020 in Precious Metals, by Steven Cochran”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“And therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done these things on the sabbath day.

But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.

Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.

Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.

For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.

For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.

For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son:

That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.

For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;

And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.

Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true.

There is another that beareth witness of me; and I know that the witness which he witnesseth of me is true.

Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto the truth.

But I receive not testimony from man: but these things I say, that ye might be saved.

He was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

But I have greater witness than that of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me.

And the Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape.

 And ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

I receive not honour from men.

But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.

I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive.

How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only?

Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust.

For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me.

But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” – John 5:16-47 (KJV)

Seven Steps to Survival, by Allen A.

12

Back in the day, when my hair was a different colour, the Seven Steps to Survival was part of the survival course that I taught.  This article will discuss those steps and how I applied them in a recent survival event that I found myself in.

RECOGNITION

Simple as it may sound the first step to surviving is to identify and accept that you have a problem and that it is serious.  Denial of your situation or the refusal to accept how serious it is can get you killed or injured.  Without acknowledging the nature and seriousness of the situation you will not do what is necessary to survive.

It was blowing about 30-40 MPH and there were soft feathers of snowdrifts forming up to half way across the road at about a 45º angle.  Suddenly there was one drift that was darker than the rest and it went all the way across the road.  It was as hard as a rock.  Hitting that drift threw my car sideways almost as fast as I was going forward. Immediately, I was pioneering my own road in the wilderness.

Trying to steer, once I left the roadway, was useless so I just sat back and enjoyed the ride.  All I could so is to let off the gas pedal and wait to stop.  Luckily the bank there was rather at a shallow angle so I wound up in a wide ditch that had filled with snow.

When the cloud of snow settled I had snow just above the grill, up to the driver’s side window, and half way up the passenger side doors.   Snow had swirled around the rear effectively blocking the rear hatch.

Recognition?  Yeah, that was pretty easy for me. I was traveling along one of the more lonely stretches of road in Canada.  It was about ten miles from the Alaska border crossing and I had about an hour before the border closed for the night.  I had not seen another car or building for a couple of hours and with the border closing in an hour there was no reason for anyone to be traveling this road until the next day.  I have traveled that road many times and knew the closest help was at the border.  I also knew that the most likely scenario is that the snowplow driver would be the next person down the road and he wouldn’t even show up at the equipment barn for nine or ten hours.  I wasn’t walking ten miles in the summer let alone in -7 degrees Fahrenheit, in the dark, and with a 30-40 MPH wind.  When you do the math that works out to a windchill of dead.

INVENTORY

After accepting your predicament  the next thing you need to do is to take an inventory.  In many survival situations you only have what is on you.  For me, my EDC in Canada, is a knife, two lights, a Leatherman, two coats, gloves in each coat, military surplus winter gloves, and my fur hat.  Sorry, it’s Canada, no gun.  I felt naked but technically I wasn’t.

The vehicle I had just packed for a three week trip so I had a pretty good idea what was aboard.  Mostly it was my clothes, medical supplies, and a few odds and ends from Costco that my Mom wanted.  There was also my food, water, and emergency gear.  Each vehicle also gets two flashlights, a fire extinguisher, a tow strap, and a folding shovel.  One of these flashlights has a flashing red light option that will come in handy.

Most of my emergency gear is in a rollup tool kit. I keep various tools like a sturdy knife, crescent wrench, vice grips, and screwdrivers.  I also have three ways to start fires, large plastic bags, duct tape around the handles of a couple of the tools, a roll of quarters, a flashlight, a small water filter, space blankets and space bags.

I pack my car in what I term a “combat load” and have done so for years.  What I mean by this is that my food, water, and emergency gear are all accessible from the front seat.  All these years of packing this way finally paid off.  First of all I couldn’t get out of the car except by crawling out of the drivers window.  Second, if I had left the car it would have been life threatening in that weather. So much as walking once around the vehicle would have chilled me too much.  My best option was to stay put.  Staying warm was hard enough without trying to warm up after getting cold.Continue reading“Seven Steps to Survival, by Allen A.”

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — February 29, 2020

7

On February 29, 1996, the Siege of Sarajevo officially ends.

—

I’m pleased to announce the return of Steven Cochran’s monthly precious metals column, to SurvivalBlog.  Steven is with of Gainesville Coins — not one of our advertisers, but a well-established and very reputable company. Take a look at their available coins and bars.

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. A transferable $100 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!

Round 87 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.

Editors’ Prepping Progress

47

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make 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. Note that as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I’m again traveling out of state, to help an ailing elderly relative. While I’m gone, I’ve put Elk Creek Company on a shipping hiatus for the month of March, 2020.  On that same trip, I’ll be buying some inventory, mainly at estate sales and gun shows. I won’t take any credit card payments during the month of March. But if you want any of my listed antique guns and don’t want it to get away, then you can phone in your reservation, and send payment via  USPS Postal Money order. But just be advised that your order won’t be mailed to you until Monday, April 6th.

This past week I was quite busy mailing out antique guns and packing up for my trip.  I also had to get some studded snow tires swapped out, bought 480 pounds of poultry layer pellets.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

1

“In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust: let me never be put to confusion.

Deliver me in thy righteousness, and cause me to escape: incline thine ear unto me, and save me.

Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort: thou hast given commandment to save me; for thou art my rock and my fortress.

Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.

For thou art my hope, O Lord God: thou art my trust from my youth.

By thee have I been holden up from the womb: thou art he that took me out of my mother’s bowels: my praise shall be continually of thee.

I am as a wonder unto many; but thou art my strong refuge.

Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.

Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.

For mine enemies speak against me; and they that lay wait for my soul take counsel together,

Saying, God hath forsaken him: persecute and take him; for there is none to deliver him.

O God, be not far from me: O my God, make haste for my help.

Let them be confounded and consumed that are adversaries to my soul; let them be covered with reproach and dishonour that seek my hurt.

But I will hope continually, and will yet praise thee more and more.

My mouth shall shew forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day; for I know not the numbers thereof.

I will go in the strength of the Lord God: I will make mention of thy righteousness, even of thine only.

O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Now also when I am old and greyheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.

Thy righteousness also, O God, is very high, who hast done great things: O God, who is like unto thee!

Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.

Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side.

I will also praise thee with the psaltery, even thy truth, O my God: unto thee will I sing with the harp, O thou Holy One of Israel.

My lips shall greatly rejoice when I sing unto thee; and my soul, which thou hast redeemed.

My tongue also shall talk of thy righteousness all the day long: for they are confounded, for they are brought unto shame, that seek my hurt.” – Psalm 71 :1-14 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Friday — February 28, 2020

February 28th is the birthday of famed Swiss investor and economic pundit Marc Faber. (He was born in 1946).

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. A transferable $100 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!

Round 87 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.

Feast or Famine?, by A.B.S.

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For those of us that pay attention, the mass media is shouting about a massive locust plague ravaging much of eastern Africa and a wide swath running across to Pakistan. ‘Locust’ is a generalized term for swarms of grasshoppers and similar species that emerge when they reach a high population threshold. Due to more rain than average, the last few years have seen increased vegetation, and thus a peak in the locust population cycle in these areas. While this uptick in locust numbers occurs every 50-to-75 years and has for centuries, the politicians and other “leaders” are debating if “climate change” is to blame. Study your history folks:  It happens regularly. Always has, always will. The politicians should get over themselves and get to work helping those impacted.

Reports state that the food and feed crops in these areas are being devastated as locusts can consume their body weight in vegetation daily. These reports state that nobody knows what to do to help with the problem. A few years ago I wrote several articles in magazines and newspapers about the viability of using insects as an alternative food source in emergencies. The UN even came out with a similar report on the subject, but the information is not being distributed to the people that need it.

A Time-Proven Food Source

If anyone bothered to study history, they would find out that many native peoples throughout the world have used these insects as a very viable food source. Documentation by naturalists in the 19th century found that Native American communities in the Great Plains region formed massive circles and beat the brush to drive thousands of grasshoppers and Mormon Crickets into bodies of water or trenches constructed with precise vertical walls for mass collection. They would then throw burning bundles of grass on bulk catches that killed and cooked the insects. These could then be ground into flour that could be stored for later use. This was a well-established method of food procurement that preceded the bison hunting activities that resulted from the introduction of horses.Continue reading“Feast or Famine?, by A.B.S.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. Most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at Stock Market Volatility. (See the Stocks section.)

Precious Metals:

Spot silver briefly touched $18.90 per ounce on Monday, before settling to $18.60 in New York after-hours trading.  I expect silver to out-perform gold and and platinum in the next few weeks.  (The current silver to-gold ratio of 89-to-1 will probably be somewhere more like 85-to-1 by the end of April.)

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Stocks (Stock Market Volatility):

This week’s 3.200 point drop in the Dow Jones may very well be the beginning of a scary and lengthy roller-coaster ride. Thusfar, there have been $6 trillion in equities market losses. European and Asian markets were also sharply lower. And, as I’ve mentioned before, commodities markets took a precursor hit.  Mark my words:  The main effect of the Wuhan coronavirus will be more economic, rather than on public health. This is still just a nascent pandemic. Yes, a lot of people will die, but the lethality of the current strain is reportedly not too much worse than a seasonal flu. However, the supply chain disruptions that it spawns will be much more lethal to corporations. We can expect spot shortages of many products (especially N95 masks and pharmaceuticals, nebulizers, and oxygen concentrators), supply chain disruptions that will idle all major car, computer, and aircraft makers, spot and futures price collapses of many industrial commodities, soaring precious metals prices, renewed interest in cryptocurrencies, bankruptcies of some airlines and many cruise ship lines, and yes, more scary drops in equities markets. Look for the biggest drops in stocks of American and European manufacturers that depend heavily on China for their component parts. Meanwhile, look for the biggest stock gains for companies that will benefit from people “coccooning” at home: e-commerce companies, online streaming movie services, et cetera. In a nutshell: Go short United Airlines, and long Amazon and Netflix! – JWR

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: Richmond Fed Business Survey Crashes In February As New Orders Collapse

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Taiwan Passes $2 Billion Package to Soften Coronavirus Hit to Economy

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The BBC reports: Brexit: Emmanuel Macron ‘not sure’ of UK-EU trade deal by end of year

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — February 27, 2020

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On February 27, 2012, Wikileaks begins disclosing 5 million e-mails stolen from private intelligence company Stratfor.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 87 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $10,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A gift certificate from Quantum Harvest LLC (up to a $2,200 value) good for 12% off the purchase of any of their sun-tracking models, and 10% off the purchase price of any of their other models.
  2. A Gunsite Academy Three Day Course Certificate. This can be used for any one, two, or three day course (a $1,095 value),
  3. A course certificate from onPoint Tactical for the prize winner’s choice of three-day civilian courses, excluding those restricted for military or government teams. Three day onPoint courses normally cost $795,
  4. DRD Tactical is providing a 5.56 NATO QD Billet upper. These have hammer forged, chrome-lined barrels and a hard case, to go with your own AR lower. It will allow any standard AR-type rifle to have a quick change barrel. This can be assembled in less than one minute without the use of any tools. It also provides a compact carry capability in a hard case or in 3-day pack (an $1,100 value),
  5. Two cases of Mountain House freeze-dried assorted entrees in #10 cans, courtesy of Ready Made Resources (a $350 value),
  6. A $250 gift certificate good for any product from Sunflower Ammo,
  7. American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI) is providing a $300 certificate good towards any of their DVD training courses.

Second Prize:

  1. A Front Sight Lifetime Diamond Membership, providing lifetime free training at any Front Sight Nevada course, with no limit on repeating classes. This prize is courtesy of a SurvivalBlog reader who prefers to be anonymous.
  2. A Glock form factor SIRT laser training pistol and a SIRT AR-15/M4 Laser Training Bolt, courtesy of Next Level Training, which have a combined retail value of $589,
  3. A $300 purchase credit for any of the products from EMPShield.com
  4. A Three-Day Deluxe Emergency Kit from Emergency Essentials (a $190 value),
  5. 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).
  6. An assortment of products along with a one hour consultation on health and wellness from Pruitt’s Tree Resin (a $265 value).

Third Prize:

  1. Good2GoCo.com is providing a $400 purchase credit at regular prices for the prize winner’s choice of either Wise Foods or Augason long term storage foods, in stackable buckets.
  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. Naturally Cozy is donating a “Prepper Pack” Menstrual Kit.  This kit contains 18 pads and it comes vacuum sealed for long term storage or slips easily into a bugout bag.  The value of this kit is $220.
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. A transferable $100 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!

Round 87 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.