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 Washington State Rep. Matt Shea. (See the Region-Wide section.)

Region-Wide

The UK’s Guardian posted this hit piece about Matt Shea and The American Redoubt movement: Revealed: Republican lawmaker aided group training young men for ‘biblical warfare’. The piece was written by Jason Wilson, a liberal Guardian stringer who was born in Australia, but who now lives in Portland, Oregon. Wilson employs the classic Guilt By Association whitewash. But the plain fact is that Matt Shea is not a racist. One of Shea’s closest political allies is Alex Barron (the Bard of The American Redoubt), who is black. But reading Wilson’s smear piece, the average non-discerning reader would think that Shea is some sort of radical racist neo-confederate.

The Guardian piece was picked up and amplified by Chad Sokol of the leftist Spokane Spokesman Review. And of course Sokol felt obliged to once again dredge up some 1988 news about the founders of the Marble Fellowship. Sokol smeared them by misstating that in the present tense they are “attempting to distance themselves” from an ill-advised association that they made 32 years ago. I have news flash for Sokol: They’ve long since disassociated themselves. Using some ancient association of an association to demonize someone is not legitimate journalism. It is propaganda. These pseudo-journalistic tactics were developed by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). These repeated smears are all-too transparent!

Idaho

Grizzly predation tour in Boundary County

o o o

This Is the Marine Corps’ 1st Female F-35B Fighter Pilot. (She’s from Boise.)

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 a new Ebola cure.

In Atlanta, There Is a Free Lunch

Reader H.L. forwarded this: All students to receive free lunch regardless of family income in Atlanta school district. H.L.’s Comment: “Creating more welfare mentality, that someone else owes you…”

Bosnian Survivor Warns America to Never Give Up Their Guns

Reader Larry H. spotted this: A 1992 Bosnian Holocaust Survivor Warns America to Never Give Up Their Guns.

An Ebola Cure is Heralded

A Zero Hedge piece: “The Success Is Clear”: We Finally Have A Cure For Ebola. Here is a quote from one troubling portion of the article:

“Drugs based off of monoclonal antibodies have become popular in modern medicine, helping fight off diseases like cancer and lupus.

On the negative side, it takes years of reverse engineering to create these types of drugs. ZMapp, for example, was created by infecting mice with Ebola and then collecting the antibodies that the mice produced against the virus. From there, those antibodies had to be engineered to look more like human ones, so as not to provoke an immune reaction.

Since Ebola infiltrates victims cells using spiky proteins on the virus’s outer shell, researchers look for antibodies that do a good job of binding to these proteins. From there, if access is blocked, the virus can’t replicate and spread. Ebola is especially difficult because it is large and has the ability to change shape, making it difficult for any one antibody to block its infection. This is why a drug cocktail approach is in favor, like the Regeneron product, which is a combination of three monoclonal antibodies first generated in mice.

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

Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 26, 2019

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August 26, is the official anniversary of the invention of toilet paper by the Chinese, in the year 526 AD. We celebrate this, though not because of its convenience. In fact, it has many shortcomings, some which are described within the articles and letters of SurvivalBlog. Our celebration of it is primarily because we now have an official metric of just how hard core of a prepper you are as well as a metric for just how economically unstable your country is.

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Today we present another product review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio.

Glock 19X, by Pat Cascio

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I can just hear it now from our readers:  “Another Glock! Don’t they make enough different models?” Well, quiet honestly, this Glock – that they are calling the 19X is quite a bit different in many ways, so hang in there, and read this article to the end. This isn’t your everyday Glock 19.

Several years back, the US military decided it was time for a new handgun for our troops, as the Beretta M9 is reaching the end of its service life. The Beretta M9, and its civilian version, the M92, are very good guns – Yes, I know, they are big guns, not especially designed for concealed carry, but many folks do carry these guns concealed. I have, with the right holster and covering garment. In any event, it was decided that our military needed a new handgun. However, this time around, there wasn’t a lot of “hoopla” about it for some reason. It was an open competition, and anyone who could build a gun to the specifications, could enter the trials. Strange as it may seem, several big gun makers, like Smith & Wesson, pulled out on their own accord, after entering the game.

Of course, all the rage these days is for striker-fired polymer frame handguns, and I can understand that. It seems like there are a lot less parts involved in building these types of guns, and fewer parts means, less things to break or go wrong. Glock handguns have been around since the mid-1980s, and has a proven track record of reliability and accuracy. So it comes as no surprise that Glock entered the trials for a new US military handgun. Honestly, the Glock line of handguns are being used all over the world by military and law enforcement agencies. It is hard to put a number on this, but last I heard is that, about 70% of US law enforcement agencies are using a Glock of some type, for their duty handguns. The security detail at the UN building carry Glock 19s. Even the US FBI has been using Glocks for some years now – and they are the premier law enforcement agency in the world. Many state and local law enforcement agencies emulate what the FBI does – right down to the same ammunition that the Feds use.

For a lot of years, I carried either a Glock 19, or a Glock 23 – same frame – different calibers. The 19 is the 9mm version, and the 23 is the .40 S&W version – both very good guns. I love the size of the 19 for duty use as well as concealed carry – it is “just right” if you ask me for both purposes, not too big, and not too small. Over the years, Glock made several changes to the 19 and 23 models. Some changes were subtle, some were obvious in each generation. I believe the guns got better and better.

Continue reading“Glock 19X, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Karen D.’s Carrot Bread

Reader Karen D. kindly sent us her recipe for a Carrot Bread that is a great use for your stored hard red winter wheat, if you have a grinder available to make whole wheat flour.

This recipe can be baked three different ways: In loaves, in a Bundt pan, or as muffins.

Ingredients
  • 2 C. Packed Brown Sugar
  • 1 C. Cooking Oil
  • 3 Eggs (or substitute 3 T. powdered eggs and 1/3 C. Water)
  • 2 C. Carrots, Finely Grated (or substitute 1 C. dehydrated carrots. Chop them in a blender before re-hydrating to reduce their size.)
  • 1 C. Crushed Pineapple, Drained
  • 3 C. Whole Wheat Flour, preferably freshly-ground. The flour need not be ground fine.
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1T. Baking Soda
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon
  • 2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 C. Raisins (first soak them in warm water, and drain)
  • 1 C. Walnuts, chopped to medium-sized pieces
Directions
  1. Grease and flour 2 bread pans, 1 Bundt pan, or 2 muffin pans (12 muffins per pan) with oil or vegetable cooking spray.
  2. Beat together brown sugar, oil and eggs. (There is no need to separately reconstitute powdered eggs in advance before adding to this mix).
  3. Stir in the pineapple and carrots.
  4. Blend together the other dry ingredients; stir this mixture into the batter thoroughly.
  5. Add vanilla, moistened raisins, and nuts.
  6. Stir again.
  7. Pour batter into prepared pan(s).
  8. Bake in bread pans for 45-40 minutes, or in a Bundt pan for 60 minutes, or in muffin pans for 20 minutes. With any of those methods, check to be sure the baking is complete, with a toothpick. If the toothpick doesn’t come out clean, then give it a few more minutes of baking, and then re-test.

SERVING

Makes 1 Bundt pan loaf, 2 bread pan loaves, or 24 muffins.

Best served hot. But also great served cold, along with a glass of milk.

STORAGE

This stores for several days, refrigerated.

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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 pre-1899 cartridge guns. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Silver To Push To $22 An Ounce, Drive Gold Higher – Bloomberg Intelligence

JWR’s Comments: When the silver market starts to catch up to gold (normalizing the silver-to-gold ratio), I can see that things will get really exciting. I recommend that you hold on to all of your silver until the silver-to-gold ratio is under 75-to-1. In fact, if you have the chance, this is a good juncture to swap some of your gold for silver. Then, after the ratio reverts, swap back out.

o  o  o

Gold Price’s Next Target Could Be $1,600 Says Peter Hug

Economy & Finance:

At Zero Hedge: Midwest Farm Loan Repayment Issues Hit Highest Level Since 1999

o  o  o

Wolf Street reports: Freight Shipments Suffer Steepest Drops since Financial Crisis, Overcapacity Balloons

o  o  o

At IWB: China is in worse shape than the US in this trade war, possibly cause or start of the next global meltdown

o  o  o

The yield curve inversion panic, explained

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — August 25, 2019

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August 25th is a birthday shared by humorist Bret Harte (born 1836), novelist Frederick Forsyth (born 1938), and the late American humorist Patrick F. McManus (born 1933 – April 11, 2018). Forsyth was the author of The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil’s Alternative, and many others. McManus was born and raised in Sandpoint, Idaho, so his books could be classified as American Redoubt humor.

—

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.

Solutions to Post-Event Problems, by Old Bobbert

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Post-event situations can be surprisingly difficult to discuss.

Let’s first cover more positive and productive word usage. We can all readily agree that there is nothing positive, enabling, or uplifting about the acronym WTSHTF. The Editor of this blog euphemistically uses “When the Schumer Hits The Fan”, in defining it.  But we all know what these letters really stand for, and that is often felt to be negative or low class language. Moving up in the world of solution communications, we can instead choose to say or write “Event.”

Our newly adopted word (much more expressive) can convey a disaster date, a dangerous situation, a current environment, and a correction starting point. Using the word event will immediately include those folks who have maintained a sense of honor and personal standards. They have demonstrated positive proprieties in the new world we will be attempting to make more usable. Such positive and generative people will help make a better life for ourselves, our families and our many others.

Now, moving forward to our favorite topic, preparing to survive any disaster that happens to smack us directly, affecting the pantry and in the medicine cabinet located in the utility room right next to the useless circuit breaker box opposite the suddenly defunct food freezer. Ah, you saw right through my not so funny description of a sudden regional power outage.Continue reading“Solutions to Post-Event Problems, by Old Bobbert”

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 tractor tire gardening.

Practical Wisdom: Building a Tractor Tire Garden

Over at the great Rural Revolution blog, Patrice Lewis relates some hard-earned wisdom: How our tire garden evolved.

Inside a Clever Fugitive’s Bunker

Reader Jeff W., spotted this fascinating television news segment: Jeremiah Button vanished two weeks before trial. Here’s the bunker where he survived. JWR’s Comments: The man allegedly has despicable morals.  But that didn’t keep him from being clever, resourceful, and industrious in keeping himself alive and hidden.  This story also illustrates how genuinely wealthy America is. In Third World countries, that sort of stuff would have never made it to the dump while still in working order.

Rights Are Not Things to “Make Deals” With

From Patriot Nurse: Rights Are NOT Things to “Make Deals” With.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“At the same time came the disciples unto Jesus, saying, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?

And Jesus called a little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them,

And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

And whoso shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me.

But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.

Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!

Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.

And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.

For the Son of man is come to save that which was lost.

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray?

And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray.

Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.

Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother.

But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.

And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican.

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?

Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.

But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest.

And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt.

So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done.

Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:

Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.” – Matthew 18 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 24, 2019

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On August 24th, 410, Rome was overrun by the Visigoths in an event that symbolized the fall of the Western Roman Empire. This is a moment in history that we would do well to remember. An empire that ruled the known world was corrupted from the inside to the point that they could not defend themselves from a much weaker enemy. This could conceivably be the beginning of the dark middle ages.

—

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.

Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 5, by T.R.

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(Continued from Part 4. This part concludes the article series.)

Moving on to drinks as a subject, I prepared a similar smaller “cube” container for drinks and soups. More coffee filter packs, zip lock bags of tea taken out of their cardboard retail packaging, hot cocoa, more honey, powdered lemonade tubs, powdered ice tea, Tang for astronauts or space aliens we might meet (just kidding) that I found in the pantry, instant coffee, another jar of coffee mate, a red plastic Folger’s coffee tub of ground coffee, a few boxes of flavored Emergen-C powders that give you 1000mg of Vitamin C and make flavor choices for plain water to spice things up (took those out of the box and put the little envelopes into zip lock bags), more instant oatmeal, a large bottle of Almond flavored coffee syrup got tossed in from the kitchen counter along with jars of beef bouillon and chicken bouillon.

In camp, when I make canned soup, assuming I don’t have water constraints, I typically double the soup batch by adding a bouillon cube or two to chicken noodle and keep extra bags of dry Egg Noodles in the food pantry. In a pinch, I can make a broth which adds warmth on a cold night or acts as a side dish or appetizer on occasion. I doubled up on Tylenol and Motrin and threw in two extra bottles of pain medicine to duplicate what I had in the first aid kit, added an extra can opener and a few bottles of multi vitamins from the bathroom closet.

By the time I was finished, we had a modular system of containers or carriers. This took almost an entire day, plus part of the next morning. Each one was sealed, with an inventory list tucked inside, and was organized based on the purpose/use and labeled. We had a breakfast canister, a drink canister, a lunch/dinner canister plus a snack bag of loose food & fruit on hand. Perishable food pulled into service that was on hand from our previous regular grocery buys got tossed into a canvas boat bag (to use first since it had a limited shelf life), a red Galls gear bag with a high quality first aid kit from last year’s project list, and then added a few cases of canned chili, canned baked beans, a sack of mixed dry beans which I can add to canned soup to double up their calorie count and pack protein punch, tuna fish, more canned soups, powdered soups (miso and Thai noodles), more peanut butter, Nutella left over from the kids last visit, and a sweep of pantry items from recent grocery trips plus a large sack of basmati rice which we keep in a sealed bucket. The bucket would pull double duty as a dish rinse or camp bucket.Continue reading“Build the Plan vs. Test the Plan – Part 5, by T.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’m getting close to my September 2nd manuscript deadline, but I managed to squeeze in some more firewood cutting time. This week it was a large dead-standing fir. This tree was 28″ at the butt, and felling it was complicated by the fact that it was quite close to a corral, a shed, and a fence line, That only left two narrow  paths for it to fall, safely. So I used the “Phone a Friend” method: I called my neighbor who owns a backhoe.  We attached a heavy chain and a come-along attached to a choker around the base of a nearby tree that was in the intended direction of fall. I watched the top of the tree almost continuously as he dug, snapping roots.  I kept the tension tight on the fall-steering cable. Since he had a lot of experience at this felling method, the tree dropped right where we wanted it. Success!  Then my kids got busy with the limbing (with lopping shears and an axe), while I broke out out one of our Stihl chainsaws. The stump was so large that my neighbor had trouble dragging it with his tractor. So I attached an extra length of tow chain and dragged with my pickup — in 4WD “Low.”  I had no problem getting it to a slash pile.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”