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 the issue of open carry.

Publix Supermarket Bans Open Carry by Customers

Publix Supermarket Bans Open Carry by Customers.

Farmers Market Attendees Angered by Open Carry Demonstrators

Reader H.L. sent this: Farmers Market Attendees Angered by Open Carry Demonstrators. JWR’s Comment: As I’ve mentioned several times in my blog and in one of my books:  Much like a muscle that atrophies with disuse, any right that goes unexercised for many years devolves into a privilege, and eventually can even be redefined as a crime.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” – 2 Timothy 3:1-7 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — September 14, 2019

This is the birthday of James Wilson, a lawyer and signer of the Declaration of Independence. (1742 – 1798)

Today is also the birthday of actor Clayton Moore (1914–1999). His name is almost synonymous with Lone Ranger.

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SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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 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 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.
  3. 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,
  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. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 84 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Pharmacy Around Us – Part 2, by Jen R.

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(Continued from Part 1.)

BERBERINE

Why you want it:  With actions similar to penicillin and amoxicillin, it is used for treating cholera, acute dysentery, diarrhea, E. coli, infected wounds, giardia, and yeast infections.

While there are not as many uses for extracts from berberine plants as for juniper and Usnea, a berberine tincture is still very nice to have on hand in case of cholera or giardia.  The most common plants high in berberine content are Japanese barberry, Oregon grape, Nandina domestica, Hydrastis canadensis, and Phellodendron amurense (not to be confused with the common philodendron houseplant).  And you’ve probably got some growing near your home or in a local shopping center parking lot.  Japanese barberry (Berberis thunbergii) is extremely common in the West as a landscaping shrub.  In the East, it propagates like blackberries and raspberries, which is to say it is very invasive.  Oregon grape (Mahonia aquifolium) and Nandina domestica, also both very popular landscaping ornamentals.  Medicine from all of these plants is equally effective.  It’s extracted from the roots of the first four species listed; however, from the latter, Phellodendron amurense, the medicine is extracted from the inner bark.

To make the medicine, first target which plants you will be using.  (Don’t do this on private property unless our society has truly collapsed.)  Check for berberine content by scratching off the outer bark of one of the lower branches.  The inner bark has to be yellow.  If there is no yellow, the plant does not have adequate levels of berberine, and you should move on to another plant.  In the fall dig up the roots of any of the above-listed plants or use the inner bark from Phellodendron amurense.  Japanese barberry roots are going to be quite tough, and it would be best to cut them into 0.5 to 1 inch pieces before they dry.  Oregon grape roots aren’t so difficult, so if you’ve got the option, go with Oregon grape.

Tincture: Tincture the dried root in a 1:5 ratio (1 part herb by weight to 5 parts alcohol by volume) in 50 percent alcohol (100-proof vodka is a good choice). The dosage is 10-60 drops, 3 times per day, or more in acute gastrointestinal conditions. Because we have a very well developed pharmaceutical industry in this country, berberine just isn’t used all that much in the US.  Very little information is available on dosages to treat various conditions.Continue reading“The Pharmacy Around Us – Part 2, by Jen R.”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

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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. We always welcome you to share your own successes and wisdom in the Comments. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

I’ve been helping a relative for the past few days. I brought along one of my Stihl chainsaws and my Fiskars pole trimmer, and have made good use of both of them. Having the right tools handy is always a time-saver. And I should mention that it is also often safer.  If I had been up on a ladder with a bow saw instead of standing on the ground with my pole trimmer, I would have put myself at needless risk.

I took some of my own advice, and have been more aggressively buying pre-1899 cartridge guns, whenever I can find bargains. My goal is to gradually sell off much of my modern “trading stock” and replace it with pre-1899 guns, in the interval before the Democrat/RINO-planned “universal background check” law goes into effect. Enactment of some variant of this vile and entirely unconstitutional piece of legislation now looks very likely.  PLEASE repeatedly contact the White House, your congressman, and both of your U.S. Senators.

I now have just eight days before the second half of my book manuscript is due to the publisher, so I must make this entry short. We now shift our attention to my dear wife’s weekly report:

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

Preparedness Notes for Friday — September 13, 2019

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September 13th, 1951 was the birthday of President Salva Kiir Mayardit of South Sudan.

—

Uh, oh!  Here comes the back stab… just as I warned you, folks: Trump says good progress made on gun proposals. Please call and write the White House today to say: No Background Checks on on private party INTRAstate sales!  There is no Federal jurisdiction, period!  The White House Comment Line is: (202) 456-1111.

—

Harvestguard is running a 13-hour sale just today, Friday the 13th, 2019, from 7 a.m.  to 8 p.m. Mountain Time. Customers who enter the coupon code Friday13 will receive an additional 13% discount, on top of their current 20% introductory discount, making it 33% off regular pricing. Stock up on these great canning lids!

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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 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 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.
  3. 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,
  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. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 84 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Pharmacy Around Us – Part 1, by Jen R.

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Editor’s Introductory Note and Proviso: This is the first installment of a three-part article series.

The following is for informational purposes only and is not be taken as medical advice. Consult your local physician before taking any herb or supplements, being mindful of interactions with either prescribed drugs or any other herbs or supplements.

—

Most SurvivalBlog readers already know about brewing pine needles for vitamin C, crushing egg shells for calcium, using willow for aspirin, and making an elderberry tincture for influenza.  It’s important to know about these remedies and be able to use them to care for our loved ones.

But there is a whole lot more to learn about, and it goes far beyond honey for coughs or peppermint tea for calming an upset stomach. Skeptics aren’t too sure of herbal remedies, and indeed it can be hard to distinguish hope from hype. I this three part article I will describe some potent natural treatments that can be obtained from items we have on hand or that are commonly found in the great outdoors. Many of these treatments not only work, but actually outperform conventional treatments. So why don’t we know about them? Why aren’t these treatments researched? Because there is no money in it for Big Pharma. Big Pharma can’t patent a naturally occurring plant.Continue reading“The Pharmacy Around Us – Part 1, by Jen R.”

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. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at investing in discontinued sand AR-15 PMAGs. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

An interesting primer, over at Visual Capitalist: The Silver Series: The Start of A New Gold-Silver Cycle (Part 1 of 3)

o  o  o

H.L. spotted this at Zero Hedge: Russia, China Continue “Massive Substitution” Of Dollar Assets By Gold

Economy & Finance:

How Is Negative Interest Possible?

o  o  o

Wolf Richter: Men’s “Real” Earnings Below 1973 Level: Census Bureau.

o  o  o

US hiring slows. Economy added 130,000 jobs in August.

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — September 12, 2019

1

After nearly 40 years of riding across millions of American television and movie screens, the cowboy actor William Boyd, best known for his role as Hopalong Cassidy, died on this day in 1972 at the age of 77.

—

A reminder: To help cover some family medical bills, I’ve put a few guns from my personal collection up for sale on consignment through a trusted friend who has an FFL. They are being auctioned at GunBroker.com. They all have modest opening bids, and no reserve prices. If any of these interest you, then please consider bidding. These guns include:

These auctions end this coming Sunday evening (15 September, 2019), so please get your bids in soon.

The auctions will be followed at weekly intervals with auctions for two more of my pre-ban HK91 rifles. Those are both in original condition.

These guns are all good investments, and you’ll be able to say: “This once belonged to Jim Rawles.”

Many Thanks! – JWR

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 84  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3,000 gift certificate towards a Sol-Ark Solar Generator from Veteran owned Portable Solar LLC. The only EMP Hardened Solar Generator System available to the public.
  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 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 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.
  3. 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,
  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. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  5. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  6. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 84 ends on September 30th, so get busy writing and e-mail us your entry. Remember that there is a 1,500-word minimum, and that articles on practical “how to” skills for survival have an advantage in the judging.

The Prepper’s Smartphone, by Aden Tate

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It seems as if pretty much everybody has a smartphone of some sort today. Considering such, and that a phone is something that people tend to have on their person virtually 24/7 in today’s society, it makes sense to make one’s phone as versatile of a tool as possible. If it’s going to be in your EDC to begin with, why not have it work for you as hard as it is capable of? Do cell phones die? Yes. But at least in the beginning stages of a disaster, there’s a very good chance that your phone will both have battery and be functional.

Have there been issues discovered relating to smartphones and privacy? Absolutely. Unfortunately, I need my GPS, I need social media for my business, and I greatly enjoy having a rock-solid camera with me all the time. And so, I have opted to retain my smartphone. I would argue that since the majority of the population within the States seems to have smartphones, that there’s a good chance there are a sizeable number of preppers out there who agree with me.

And so, it brings me back to my earlier point: if your EDC matters, and your phone is something you will have with you all the time, doesn’t it make sense to have your smartphone be as fully useful to you as possible?
I think the answer should be a strong yes here, and started delving into helpful apps as a result. And here’s what I found. The apps that will help the prepper’s smartphone be everything it can.Continue reading“The Prepper’s Smartphone, by Aden Tate”

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 how Hong Kong protestors are using a mesh messaging app.

SHTF Intelligence Gathering

Tim J. sent us this Forward Observer video link: SHTF Intelligence Gathering

Arctic ‘Global Warming’ Mission Foiled by Sea Ice

Linked over at Whatfinger.com, there was this bit of schadenfreude: Delingpole: Ship of Fools VI – Arctic ‘Global Warming’ Mission Scuppered By Mysterious Hard White Substance

New Property Listing: A Wyoming Silo Missile Site on 1.6 Acres

I just heard about this new listing over at SurvivalRealty.com: Wyoming Silo Missile Site on 1.6 acres.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“If the citizens of the United States are to turn away from the Communist Manifesto and preserve the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, and our Bill of Rights, we must first thoroughly reexamine and learn about each of them, and uphold America’s founding documents by testing every political action in light of them.” – Chuck Norris

 

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — September 11, 2019

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September 11th is of course the anniversary of the 2001 Al Qaeda attacks on the U.S. , but it is also the anniversary of the Benghazi Embassy attacks, in 2012. (Those events were recounted in the Hollywood film 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi.) Please remember the sacrifice of J. Christopher Stevenson, Sean Smith, and CIA (former Navy SEAL) agents Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty. Between them, Woods and Doherty reportedly dropped at least 60 of the attackers, before their position was overwhelmed. Please also remember the spineless worms in Washington, D.C. who decided to not back up the embassy staff when they were in dire need of help. Eventually, they will pay for that. Time wounds all heels.

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Don’t forget that September 20th is Paratus. That is the annual survivalist gift-giving holiday. It was the invention of Commander Zero of the Notes From The Bunker blog.

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Today we present a short guest article. Because it is less than 1,500 words long, it will not be ncluded in the judging for the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.