Prayer Before You Prepare, by C.H.

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My first memory of SurvivalBlog is reading the Rawlesian precepts, almost a decade years ago. I remember quickly hurrying over to the ‘Quick Start Guide’ to find out where I should begin. It was there that I read the most important piece of advice for any prepper: “Before you begin to prepare, pray.”

Unfortunately, I thought that this meant little more than a salutary ‘tipping of the hat’ toward heaven before starting out on whatever I thought was best. ‘Do your best, pray it’s blessed, and let God do the rest.’ So I asked the Lord for his blessing and guidance, without really expecting any answer. And then I set forth.  I looked for a job in the American Redoubt, began stockpiling guns, ammo, and precious metals. I read any material on prepping I could find. I devoured books and scoured the Internet. I kept a close eye on the news for any hints on what to get ready for.

And then I watched all my prepper plans lead to frustration. I couldn’t find a job outside the major urban complex where I lived. I have forgotten how many resumes I sent, and how many interviews I had. No bites. I wound up having to sell my stockpile when financial hard times came. My timing was always wrong – I would buy at high prices during panics and be forced to sell when medical or credit card bills came due. I struggled to build a common vision for the prepping life with my wife. Where and when should we move? Should I quit my career in the city and try something else? To homeschool, or not to homeschool? I couldn’t seem to get off the ground. I was frustrated, exhausted, and angry. I was stuck.

Maybe this is your experience too?

In this little article, I would like to share what the Lord has taught me about ‘prayer before prepping’ and how these lessons have changed my life and my preps.Continue reading“Prayer Before You Prepare, by C.H.”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. The focus is usually on emergency communications gear, bug out bag gear, tools, books and movies–often with a tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. This week the focus is on the upcoming release of the Kevin Sorbo movie The Reliant. (See the Movies section.)

Books:

40th Edition Blue Book of Gun Values. When visiting a gun show, knowledge is power.

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The Dehydrator Cookbook for Outdoor Adventurers: Healthy, Delicious Recipes for Backpacking and Beyond

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Hidden Success: A Comprehensive Guide to Ghillie Suit Construction

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The Complete Illustrated Guide to Furniture & Cabinet Construction

Continue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The fact is that the modern implementation of the prison planet has far surpassed even Orwell’s 1984 and the only difference between our society and those fictionalized by Huxley, Orwell and others, is that the advertising techniques used to package the propaganda are a little more sophisticated on the surface.
Yet just a quick glance behind the curtain reveals that the age old tactics of manipulation of fear and manufactured consensus are still being used to force humanity into accepting the terms of its own imprisonment and in turn policing others within the prison without bars.” – Paul Joseph Watson

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — September 10, 2019

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On September 10, 1776, George Washington asked for a spy volunteer. Nathan Hale stepped up to the challenge of an intelligence-gathering mission in New York City. Unfortunately, the British captured and executed him. He is probably best known for his last words before being hanged: “I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country.” He has long been considered an American hero, and in 1985, was officially designated the state hero of Connecticut. It is good for us to remember that every American patriot and hero from the times leading up to and during the American Revolutionary War would have been considered traitors to the crown and would have suffered much the same fate as Hale had America not won her independence.

 

210 Days of Freedom: The Coming Private Firearms Sales Frenzy

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The U.S. Senate returned from its summer recess on September 9, 2019. It has been widely reported that the Senate’s Republican leadership has caved in to media pressure. They have promised to create a Senate version of H.R. 8 — the “Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2019”. (It already passed in the House, back in February.)

The phrases “Universal Background Checks” and “Comprehensive Background Checks” sound all warm and fuzzy to the leftists. But here is what they really mean: “We’ll make you a felon if you sell a gun to your next door neighbor”. Please don’t allow this blatantly unconstitutional bill to become law. Turning a fundamental right into a felony is the worst sort of legislative tyranny.

In the Senate version of the bill, they’ll probably carve out an exemption for transfers within immediate families. And they might make an exemption for holders of current CCW permits. There will of course be a compromise version of the House and Senate bills, in Conference Committee. So the exact wording of the finalized law is uncertain. But if the effective date stipulated in the House version is left intact, then the new law will take effect 210 days after it is  signed. (“The amendments made by this Act shall take effect 210 days after the date of the enactment of this Act.”)

President DJT has made repeated public announcements that he wants to see a “universal background check” law.  So there is a very high probability that he will sign the bill, if it crosses his desk. Once that 210-day window opens, watch out.  I predict that we’ll witness the biggest gun-buying frenzy in U.S. history.  President Obama was jokingly named Gun Salesman of the Year for a couple of years, but Donald Trump is about to become The Gun Salesman of the Century. And his signature on that law may even cost him getting re-elected.Continue reading“210 Days of Freedom: The Coming Private Firearms Sales Frenzy”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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This weekly column features news stories and event announcements 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. We also mention companies of interest to preppers and survivalists that are located in the American Redoubt region. Today, we focus on the upcoming Inland Northwest Freedom Fest. (See the Idaho section.)

Idaho

The 2019 Inland Northwest Freedom Fest will be held Saturday, September 14th, 2019 at the Bonner County Fairgrounds, in the Main Exhibit Hall 8 AM to 6 PM. “Speakers include: Pastors Tim Remington, Shahram Hadian, and Dr. John Denny; State Representatives Dan Fisher, Matt Shea, and Heather Scott; Alex Barron, and many more! Special lunchtime music by patriotic/gospel singer Rebecca Huseby.”

Alex’s Barron’s speech will most likely be around 1400 (2:00 pm). His speech is titled: What We Are Fighting For? The speech will include his thoughts that have developed “…from over nearly 10 years of talking to various conservative folks about a unifying theme of what the ‘more conservative’ side of America is trying to accomplish.”

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Elissa wrote to mention: “Owen Benjamin will be at the Panida Theater in Sandpoint, Idaho on Monday, September 30th at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online. Owen Benjamin has been de-platformed by YouTube and others for his truth-telling and non-PC views. This comedy show is rated R, for age 21+ only.”

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First American settlers may have been in Idaho 16,500 years ago, study says

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Mongol Derby is ‘world’s longest horse race.’ A 70-year-old Boise man just won it.

Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”

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 upcoming Big Tech antitrust hearings.

DEA Agents Make Controversial Searches on Amtrak

Reader DSV sent this: Southwest Bust: DEA Agents Ambush Amtrak Passengers With Controversial Searches and Seizures. Here is a quote:

“It’s legal for Perry to search people without probable cause, a warrant, or a dog because travelers supposedly realize that they have the right to decline to submit to his searches. Perry and others in his interdiction unit have testified that they receive manifests ahead of time listing the passengers who will be arriving in Albuquerque. The courts have ruled this is also legal — functioning like a helpful tip sheet on whom to question.

More problematically, Perry has been captured on surveillance footage boarding empty Greyhound buses and pulling bags out of the checked luggage bin. One clip captures him pressing on a bag so aggressively that he appears to be tackling it. But he stops short of opening the bag, which would be blatantly unconstitutional. Several people that Perry has seized cash from insist that they are not drug couriers and, in fact, were never criminally charged as such, though that didn’t help them get their money back.”

JWR’s Comments: The correct response is:  “No thank you. I’m sure that that you recognize that you lack probable cause. I do not consent to any search, and I refuse to answer any questions. Have a nice day.”  Then start reading a book or magazine and ignore the officer as if he is mute and invisible, even if he persists.

Diet Soft Drinks are Truly Bad for You

Just two diet fizzy drinks a day ‘increases your risk of deadly heart attack or stroke by 50%’

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

SIG 556 Classic, by Pat Cascio

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Anyone who knows even a little bit about real battle rifles, knows that the Swiss military has issued the SIG Sauer STGW90 for years, and that it is still being used. The original STGW90 was the envy of gun owners – who, of course, couldn’t own them. First of all, they couldn’t be imported into the USA. Secondly, they were select-fire – a big “no-no” in our once free country. The Swiss also developed a semi-auto only version, known as the PE 90 or SIG 550/551. Still, American gun owners lusted for one of these rifles. Only a few hundred SIG 550 and 551 rifles were imported before an import ban. SIG Sauer finally came out with a semi-auto version in the USA, and called it the SIG 556. This was available in several different versions.

I elected to get the Classic version of the SIG 556, after checking out one at my local gun shop. I was quite impressed with it, compared to all the variations of AR-15s on the market.

Of course, make no mistake, SIG Sauer firearms are not cheap, by any stretch of the imagination. Prices have come down some, since many are now made in the USA, instead of Germany, but they are still spendy! As I recall, the SIG 556 Classic model was retailing for around $1,800, and that was a big chunk of change, no matter how you look at it. I ordered a sample from SIG, for an article several years ago, and in short order, my sample arrived. It was more than I expected it to be!

But there are usually problems in many new guns. In this case, there was unusual wear on the bolt carrier. It wasn’t anything to really be concerned with – it was self-limiting after a short time. One really nice thing was that the 556 was redesigned to take AR-15 magazines, instead of the nearly impossible to find, SIG 550/551 magazines. So good on SIG for being smart enough to do this for American shooters.Continue reading“SIG 556 Classic, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Sue’s Home-Canned Tomato Catsup

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Reader Sue H. kindly sent us her recipe for tomato catsup. Because tomatoes are fairly high acid and this is sweetened with sugar, this recipe may be canned with a water bath canner.

Ingredients

5 lbs tomatoes – cored and de-seeded.

1 large diced onion

3 cloves garlic

⅓ cup sugar

¾ cup white vinegar

¾ tablespoon salt

¼ tsp celery seed

½ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp paprika

¼ tsp cloves

Optional: A bit of black pepper

 

Catsup Cooking Directions
  1. Prepare your tomatoes. Sauce variety tomatoes have less water content per pound, so you won’t have to cook the catsup as long.
  2. Remove the stems, cores, and as many seeds as you can. You will need 5 pounds of tomatoes after coring and de-seeding.
  3. Placed my large stock pot on a kitchen scale, and zero it. Then fill the pot with 5 pounds of cored and de-seeded tomatoes.
  4. Add garlic and diced onion, and place the stock pot on your stove.
  5. Cook the tomatoes over medium heat. Simmer the tomatoes for one hour, stirring them fairly often. (Keep the heat fairly low and stir often, to prevent scorching on the bottom.)
  6. Strain and puree in a blender — for the first time. In blender-size batches, use a slotted spoon to transfer the tomatoes to your blender.  Note: The more juice you remove in this step, then the more quickly your catsup will cook down.
  7. Puree at a high blender speed for several minutes until very smooth.
  8. Transfer the catsup batches to a large bowl, while you process the other batches
  9. After processing all of the tomato batches, dump out the juices in the pot and set it back on the stove.
  10. Pour the pureed tomatoes back into the stock pot.
  11. Add the remaining ingredients –sugar, vinegar, and spices — and bring to a boil over medium heat.
  12. Once it has boiled, reduce the heat and simmer for about three hours, stirring occasionally.
  13. Cooking down the catsup is an art. The length of time depends on how much juice you removed, and how thick a catsup you desire.
  14. As it cooks, the catsup will reduce to about half of the volume that you started with.
  15. When the catsup has reached the desired thickness, puree it a second time, again in blender-size batches.
Catsup Canning Directions
  1. Wash and pre-heat your jars, as with any other home canning process.
  2. Fill jars with hot pureed catsup, leaving a ¼ inch headspace. Run a knife down the inside of any jars with air bubbles, to remove them.
  3. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean damp cloth and place clean lids on the jars.
  4. Tighten canning rings, finger tight.
  5. Process in boiling water for 18 minutes. Start your timer only after the water starts to boil.
  6. After 18 minutes, remove the lid from the canning pot and remove from heat. Allow the jars to sit for 10 minutes in the water before removing.
  7. Set the jars on a towel in an undisturbed spot overnight. Check for correct seals before storing. If any jar lids have popped, then immediately put those in your refrigerators and use them first.  The remainder will store for up to two years.

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Do you have a favorite 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 and slow cooker recipes, and any that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

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 green frame Glocks. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

I don’t want to sound like some gloating “I told your so”, but the recent run-up in spot silver is noteworthy. It is interesting to see that the silver-to-gold ratio is starting to shift back more toward normal. It is down from the absurd 91-to-1 and now at around 83-to-1. I expect that trend to continue, with the silver-to-gold ratio at 72-to-1 by the end of 2019. This is still a good time to ratio trade out of gold into silver. And for those of you who hesitated to buy silver: Please don’t feel that you’ve missed the boat. You can still buy on dip days.  I believe that silver is headed to at least $55 per Troy ounce, in this bull run.

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Next is this from Gary Christenson: The Silver K.I.S.S. Strategy.

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I noticed that Rhodium is now up to around $4,700 per Troy ounce.  I’m curious: How many SurvivalBlog readers took my advice in 2016 and bought Rhodium? Back then, it had dipped to under $700 per ounce. For any of you who did buy some, I should mention that this is a good time to sell at least half of your physical Rhodium. Buy low and sell high, folks.

Economy & Finance:

On to his at Zero Hedge: US Manufacturing Weakest In 10 Years As New Export Orders Collapse

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Reader H.L. sent us this news from London: Laid-off bankers abandon bikes worth thousands in car parks

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Just when you think you own your own private property…

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“When the day of our departure was approaching, we went to the regular passport control office to get permission to leave the country. Bengt stood first in the line as interpreter. “What is your name?” asked a ceremonious little clerk, looking suspiciously over his spectacles at Bengt’s huge beard. “Bengt Emmerik Danielsson,” Bengt answered respectfully. The man put a long form into his typewriter. “By what boat did you come to Peru?” “Well, you see,” Bengt explained, bending over the mild little man, “I didn’t come by boat. I came to Peru by canoe.” The man looked at Bengt dumb with astonishment and tapped out “canoe” in an open space on the form. “And by what boat are you leaving Peru?” “Well, you see, again,” said Bengt politely, “I’m not leaving Peru by boat. I’m leaving by raft.” “A likely story!” the clerk cried angrily and tore the paper out of the machine. “Will you please answer my questions properly?””  – Thor Heyerdahl, Kon-Tiki: Across the Pacific by Raft

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — September 8, 2019

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On September 8, 1565, the first permanent settlement in what would become the United States of America was formed. (St. Augustine, Florida.)

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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.

Southern California Prepper, by M.J.

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I’ve been a longtime SurvivalBlog reader. I’m glad to say that I’ve learned a lot from reading the blog. Herewith are my two cents:

I’m sick of city life. I’m sick of the endless traffic jams. I’m sick of the endless laws, rules, and political correctness. Yet I’m still here; I am not ready to move at this time. The main reason is getting more job experience. I’ve only been in the IT business for about a year and there is still much for me to learn. I’d like to learn more so that I can be more employable wherever I end up. I also enjoy writing and proofreading and would like to make a business of that as well. Small towns and rural areas have a lower cost of living, which is great – but the tradeoff of less people also means less job opportunities. My need for cash will not go all the way down to zero, so I need to be as employable as possible before I pick my new rural home. In the meantime, I’m prepping while I’m here.

Here in Southern California, the disasters I am most concerned about are earthquakes, riots, and electromagnetic pulse. I think I’m far away enough from the beach to not worry about a tsunami. Other readers may have different concerns depending on where they live.Continue reading“Southern California Prepper, by M.J.”