Colonial Era Technology, by B.

13

I have always loved history. A large part of my fascination with history I believe I can thank my parents for. From an early age I was able to visit historical sites and locations that brought these descriptions of great battles, events, and people into a real-world context that made them seem to come alive. Re-enacting and research into the lives of people piggybacked on my history interest and allowed for a much greater insight into what it meant to live or experience certain eras and events. Later on in my life I began branching out into the preparedness community and found a lot of roll-over from some of my reenacting and living-history experiences. I believe that there is a wellspring of useful information and skills available from the re-enacting and historical research community for people interested in preparedness to tap into. In this article I hope to lay out some of my thinking regarding this example and showcase a few examples of skills and information I have managed to pick up from my time in the living-history community.

Pre-Industrial Society

It is often difficult to comprehend the effects industrialization has had on the everyday realities of life the majority of people face. While the technology created has removed some of the urgency that may have existed for peoples of the past, our basic needs remain the same. Whether a person is alive now or living 300 or even 1,000 years ago, the basic needs to stay alive and functional are the same. We all need food year round, a clean source of water, to stay clean and hygienic, and shelter from the elements.

I think one of the most interesting aspects of a post-industrialized world is that we no longer need to utilize materials and resources that are nearby, instead relying on various entities to produce and provide materials that may be shipped from the other side of the globe for our consumption. Everything from architecture to basic hygiene products like soap bars reflects this change and the differences that have occurred. Where previously a local community might produce its own lye and tallow for soap, or harvest its own nearby forest for lumber, now most people’s goods are bought from supermarkets and come from all over the planet. Continue reading“Colonial Era Technology, by B.”

Economics & Investing For Preppers

6

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 collectible Colt firearms. (See the Tangibles Investing section.)

Precious Metals:

Commerzbank: ETF Holdings Of Silver Up Sharply Since Start Of June

o  o  o

Texas Takes Another Step to Facilitate the Use of Its Gold Bullion Depository

o  o  o

What is Up With the Silver Market? Who Is the Whale? – Mike Maloney

Global Economy & Finance:

“The Deutsche Bank As You Know It Is No More”: DB Exits Equities In $8.4 Billion Overhaul, To Fire Thousands.

o  o  o

And even worse news, regarding DB’s huge derivatives book: Bank Run: Deutsche Bank Clients Are Pulling $1 Billion A Day. JWR’s Comments:  Mark my words, folks: The nascent crisis at DB could trigger a cascading global derivatives melt-down and even threaten the Forex value of the Euro. Get out of paper and into tangibles!

o  o  o

At Wolf Street: The Fed’s Stealth Stimulus Has Arrived

o  o  o

Socialism: A Man-Made Malthusian Trap

o  o  o

Reader DSV spotted this piece by Mark Nestmann: Banks Will Soon Be Obsolete

o  o  o

At Seeking Alpha: Free Falling RV Shipments Signal Recession

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“And I hear from the outgoing ship in the bay The song of the sailors in glee: So I think of the luminous footprints that bore The comfort o’er dark Galilee, And wait for the signal to go to the shore, To the ship that is waiting for me.” – Bret Harte

 

 

Preparedness Notes for Thursday — July 18, 2019

1

July 18th, 1954 is the birthdate of Ricky Skaggs, an American country and bluegrass singer, musician, producer, and composer. He primarily plays mandolin; however, he also plays fiddle, guitar, mandocaster and banjo.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 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.

Family Medical Preps – Part 2, by Doctor Dan

18

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.)

Stockpile Medical Supplies:
  • Basic Household First Aid Kits: These are essential for treating the very minor/nuisance injuries one encounters in their daily lives. This is not as comprehensive as any prepper should have on hand, but its low cost is a starter towards having some medical supplies on hand. Many of the items could prevent worse problems, such as Neosporin preventing a life-threatening infection in a TEOTWAWKI situation. (These kits can be obtained at virtually any retailer for under $20.)
  • More Comprehensive First Aid Kits: Useful for someone with slightly more advanced medical training than the non-medical lay person. These can be purchased online (from prepper or EMS websites, Amazon, or by assembling your own kit from a “shopping list”)
  • IFAK (“Individual First Aid Kit”):
    • Commonly used in military and tactical EMS applications. They are usually packaged in a MOLLE style pouch that can attach to a tactical bag.
    • There are many variances, but all are designed to be used in an austere environment and provide life-saving, but often times not definitive, care.
    • At a minimum, these kits need: tourniquets (at least 2), CPR mask, gloves, Kwik-Clot gauze, and chest decompression needles (at least 2).
    • Every prepper (each member of the family/group) should own his/her own kit, keep it stocked, and know how to use it. My wife and I keep a kit in each vehicle, since we believe that most preparedness skills will be far more likely needed at an “everyday” emergency, than the possibility there will be a total breakdown of our medical system with care unavailable in a WTSHTF. Each member who carries their kit in a vehicle should also maintain a duplicate IFAK for their plate carrier/bug out bag (BOB) or remember to get the IFAK attached to their BOB if TEOTWAWKI occurs.
  • Advanced/Specialized Medical Supplies:
    • This can range from sutures for wound management, surgical instruments, diagnostic tests, casting/splinting supplies, to antibiotics, etc.
    • Most of these purchases should depend on the level of training of someone in the preparedness group, or someone who you reasonably anticipate at your bugout location. (For instance, if your brother-in-law was likeminded and also happens to be a board-certified Emergency Physician, but lived 3 states away, you might want to stock up on more pre-positioned advanced medical supplies, if your in-laws’ plan was to bug out to your retreat in a TEOTWAWKI situation. He might even have access to antibiotics and other live-saving medication to add to the larder.)
    • While I cannot legally advocate for anyone to practice medicine above his/her current scope of certification/licensure, I can also say that in a true WTSHTF situation there will be no licensing boards to restrain your actions. At that time, it may be an “every man for himself” world, and your family or friends’ lives may depend on your actions. So, by all means, read/attend seminars/watch YouTube videos on skills that may be useful in such a world. Just remember that you can do harm to a loved one if you do not know what you’re doing, so I would encourage you to learn, train, and continually practice.
    • I highly suggest learning about wound management (including disinfection/ irrigation and debridement/ suturing) and having an abundance of supplies on hand to attend to such wounds. These will be frequently seen in a TEOTWAWKI scenario.
  • CPR Equipment and an AED:
    • CPR equipment (Ambu bag/mask, oral or nasal airway, or pocket CPR shield) is useful so that the rescuer is not exposed to body fluids on the patient they are rescuing.
    • AED (automated external defibrillator): AED’s are now found in many public places and can also be purchased for private residences or small businesses. This is a worthwhile skill to have in the event that anyone around you experiences a cardiac arrest.
    • An AED is not a cheap investment (they cost close to $1,000) but early defibrillation saves many more lives than just doing chest compressions, so the question might be, how much would you pay to have an AED in your hand if your loved one just collapsed with a cardiac arrest, and you have 4-6 minutes to save their life?
    • The more remote you live from EMS services and/or the more that members of your family or preparedness group have a history of cardiac issues/risk factors, the more I would recommend emphasizing an AED purchase as part of your preps.

Continue reading“Family Medical Preps – Part 2, by Doctor Dan”

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

37

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 wolf-attack nightmare.

Wisconsin Farm Family’s Wolf-Attack Nightmare

Reader Jon C. sent us this: Wisconsin farm family lives wolf-attack nightmare. The article begins:

“On July 8, my father-in-law walked down to the sheep pasture to check on the flock, the same way he has for over 20 years. It was a beautiful summer morning, feeling much cooler after a spell of heat and humidity had just ended, but only one ewe greeted him. It was by the grace of God that she was there.

As he began checking fence to see where the sheep might have gone, he saw a sight straight out of our worst nightmares. He started to find the massacred remains of our family’s sheep. This wasn’t my family’s first go around with a wolf kill on the farm, so my father in-law knew what to do.
Less than two hours later, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife adjuster was out and began his investigation and, after finding tracks, was able to confirm it was a wolf kill.

Imagine waking up one morning and everything that you have worked towards for the last 30 years is gone. In a blink of an eye you have lost over 30 years of genetics, 30 years of blood, sweat, and tears. Just to be told that there is nothing you can really do about it except fill out some paperwork and wait for a small reimbursement that won’t equal the true value of the animals you lost.”

U.S. Army’s New Armored Robotic Vehicles

Reader G.P.  sent this item: U.S. Begins Testing Armored Robotic Vehicles Next Year.

That Viral Lake Tahoe Brown Bear Video…

By way of Whatfinger.com: Nevada Bear Smells Freshly Baked Cookies (Video)

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“I’ve been walking in my sleep
counting troubles, ‘stead of counting sheep
Where the years went, I can’t say
I just turned around and they’ve gone away

I’ve been sifting through the layers
of dusty books and faded papers
They tell a story I used to know
Gone that happened so long ago

Gone away — in yesterday
and I find myself on the mountainside
Where the rivers change direction
across the Great Divide

Well I heard the owl calling
softly as the night was falling
With a question, and I replied
but he’s gone across the borderline

The finest hour, that I have seen
is the one that comes between
The edge of night and the break of day
when the darkness rolls away.” – Singer-Songwriter Kate Wolf, from the lyrics to Across The Great Divide

Preparedness Notes for Wednesday — July 17, 2019

July 17th, 1889 was the birthdate of novelist Erle Stanley Gardner. He was an American lawyer and author. Though best known for the Perry Mason series of detective stories, he wrote numerous other novels and shorter pieces, as well as a series of nonfiction books, mostly narrations of his travels through Baja California and other regions in Mexico.

The best-selling American author of the 20th century at the time of his death, Gardner also published under numerous pseudonyms, including A.A. Fair, Kyle Corning, Charles M. Green, Carleton Kendrake, Charles J. Kenny, Les Tillray and Robert Parr.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 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.

Family Medical Preps – Part 1, by Doctor Dan

29

As Americans, we live in a time of relative peace and prosperity and are blessed to enjoy the most advanced healthcare system in history. Yet, as good as we have things now, we do not know what the future may bring. How can we find better health now, prepare for medical emergencies we may encounter in daily events, and also prepare for an uncertain future where medical resources may be limited or completely absent? The latter is commonly called a When The Schumer Hits The Fan (WTSHTF) scenario. Here are a few suggestions from a practicing physician:

Preventative Health:

Prevention is superior to treating diseases or injuries after they occur.

  • Immunize against preventable diseases. (This may be a controversial topic to some readers, but vaccines do save lives from many preventable, deadly diseases.)
    • Communicable diseases will become more prevalent in a WTSHTF situation simply due to lack of sanitation, medical care, and antibiotics/antivirals.
    • These problems will be exponentially magnified if a pandemic is a major component of a TEOTWAWKI scenario.
    • Young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and the immunocompromised (those whose immune systems are weakened due to other diseases) are especially vulnerable to all communicable diseases and should especially be immunized according to recommendations.
    • The CDC publishes a list of recommended immunizations by age, which serves as a good reference for consideration.
  • Diseases which are preventable by immunization and “herd immunity” (such as measles and whooping cough) are especially prevalent when large groups of prisoners, refugees, and illegal immigrants…many of whom are unvaccinated…are concentrated. In a WTSHTF scenario, the likelihood of ordinary law-abiding citizens becoming refugees (or being falsely incarcerated as political prisoners) is greatly increased. Being immunized ahead of time may thwart a preventable death from a multitude of diseases.
  • Take advantage of the modern preventative care options you have while they exist:
    • Visit your Primary Care Physician regularly for a general physical exam to screen for diseases.
      • Ladies, this includes screening for breast and cervical cancer; Men, this includes prostate cancer.
      • Yes, I realize everyone dreads the thought of a colonoscopy, but I’ve witnessed them save many lives throughout my career. Most colon polyps can be found early enough with scheduled colonoscopies that they can be removed through the scope before they become life-threatening cancers. Most caught in this stage do not require any surgery other than the removal via the scope, with the patient returning home within a couple of hours. (I frequently perform the anesthesia for these procedures, and they are not painful. Most patients say the 1 day of diarrhea from the bowel prep was the worst part of the entire ordeal. This seems like a small price to pay to avoid a life-changing cancer.)
    • When working with your PCP, you should optimize your management of any chronic diseases (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, etc.) and prevent them from taking as many of the long-term effects on your body.

Continue reading“Family Medical Preps – Part 1, by Doctor Dan”

JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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, books and movies that have any tie-in to disaster preparedness, and links to “how to” self-sufficiency videos. There are also links to sources for both storage food as and food storage containers. You will also note an emphasis on history books and historical movies. This week the focus is on Milwaukee brand cordless chainsaws. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

Alone at Dawn: Medal of Honor Recipient John Chapman and the Untold Story of the World’s Deadliest Special Operations Force

o  o  o

Edible Wild Plants: A North American Field Guide to Over 200 Natural Foods

Instructional Videos and Vlogs:

Dr. Bones Nurse Amy: Boiling Water To Make It Safe To Drink: Disinfection, Filters and Fire. “Many sources of water, even sometimes from a tap, are contaminated and unsafe to drink. Using filters and boiling water will go a long way towards making the water safer to consume. Boiling will not remove certain toxins nor kill all pathogens. Learn more with Dr. Joe Alton’s sound advice.”

o  o  o

Of interest to those who own metal detectors: Unexpected Discovery Forces Treasure Hunter to Question Everything He Knows. JWR’s Comment: My guess is that with that many discarded broken shoe buckles, the scissors, the hammer head and the thimble, the original owner of the property was a cobbler. It bears mention that the hammer head he found was the right size for cobbling work. Take a look at his other videos. It is nice to see that he packs a Glock, when he’s out in the woods. And there is more than just metal detecting in his videos. He often points out the wild edibles that he finds.

o  o  o

Reader Tim J. mentioned this video from Wranglerstar: Close Call Caught On Tape.

o  o  o

An important recent video from “Max Velocity”: How Not to Shoot Your Buddies – Drills to Avoid FratricideContinue reading“JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

2

“Vices are simply overworked virtues, anyway. Economy and frugality are to be commended but follow them on in an increasing ratio and what do we find at the other end? A miser! If we overdo the using of spare moments we may find an invalid at the end, while perhaps if we allowed ourselves more idle time we would conserve our nervous strength and health to more than the value the work we could accomplish by emulating at all times the little busy bee.

I once knew a woman, not very strong, who to the wonder of her friends went through a time of extraordinary hard work without any ill effects.

I asked her for her secret and she told me that she was able to keep her health, under the strain, because she took 20 minutes, of each day in which to absolutely relax both mind and body. She did not even “set and think.” She lay at full length, every muscle and nerve relaxed and her mind as quiet as her body. This always relieved the strain and renewed her strength.” – Laura Ingalls Wilder

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — July 16, 2019

3

July 16th is the anniversary of the first successful atomic bomb test in Alamogordo, New Mexico in 1945. This portentous event heralded the advent of the age of nuclear weapons. Plans for the creation of a uranium bomb by the Allies were established as early as 1939. In 1940 the federal government granted a total of $6,000 for research, but in early 1942, with the United States at war, the limits on spending were removed. The total cost was in excess of $2 billion. Germany was also feared to be working on a bomb as was Japan, though neither of those nations could bring the resources to bear in time before their defeat. With that, the nuclear age was born.

—

Amazon Prime Day (now actually two+ days) is now underway. If you decide to order anything, then please start out with any Amazon link from SurvivalBlog. That way, even if you delete that first item from your cart, we’ll get a little piece of the action on your entire order, to help pay for our server and other expenses. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 83  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. 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)
  2. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  3. Expanded sets of both washable feminine pads and liners, donated by Naturally Cozy (a $185 retail value),
  4. Two Super Survival Pack seed collections, a $150 value, courtesy of Seed for Security, LLC,
  5. Mayflower Trading is donating a $200 gift certificate for homesteading appliances.

Round 83 ends on July 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.

Storing Meat, by Pete Thorsen

39

While some people are vegetarians and get by just fine, I feel that is not the normal eating habits of humans. Humans are omnivores who are designed to eat both meat and plants. Most preppers have the plant part down with growing their own vegetable gardens, foraging wild plants in their area, or a combination of those two. Meat is a more difficult food item for many preppers.

Edible plants and sprouts can be grown even in an apartment or a small outdoor space. But growing meat in a small space is more difficult, but perhaps not impossible. Fish are a possible answer that can possibly be grown in a small area as long as you have the required food for your fish. Rabbits require only a small area as long as you have access to food and water for them. Chickens are often allowed to roam or are caged in larger pens but could likely be grown in much more confined cages.

Larger livestock require both more space and more food. For instance, a cow or goat can be kept in a very small pen but would require a much larger area just to store the required feed. That is why these animals are often allowed to graze in a large area to reduce the amount of stored feed required.

There are also a large number of wild birds, animals, fish, and crustaceans that can be harvested by preppers in the United States. Meat contains nutrients that humans require to stay fit and healthy. Meat is different from plants in many ways. One difference is that many plants can be eaten raw and in fact, are usually consumed raw. For the most part, meat has to be cooked before we eat it.Continue reading“Storing Meat, by Pete Thorsen”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

14

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 Redoubt region. Today, we focus on Cougar Gold canned cheese from the Washington State University Creamery. (See the Washington section.)

Region-Wide

Top 10 Drives in the Northern Rockies

o o o

2019’s Most Patriotic States in America. Predictable results for the Redoubt states.  Oregon and Washington surely would have ranked higher, in their eastern “dry side” halves.

Idaho

I just heard that Kathleen “Kathy” Sims–former Idaho State Representative and State Senator–died on July 5th. My condolences to her family.

o o o

Redoubt News reports: Yankee Fork Restoration Project Disturbs Groundwater

o o o

A television news story from Pocatello: Fish and Game gets girls ready for hunting season

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

The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:

25

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 take another look at Civil War 2.

Volcanic Activity May Cause Crop Failures

I recommend reading this piece at Cold Climate Change, which perhaps has some alarmist predictions: Hiding Volcanic Eruptions. But even if there is just an outside chance of this coming to pass, then it would be prudent to seriously stock up on storage foods!

Sam Culper: Breaking Down “Civil War 2”

Samuel Culper of Forward Observer has now posted two follow-ups with quite cogent analysis, to his Breaking Down “Civil War 2” video:

Part 2. American Balkanization. (He discuses the American Redoubt region, starting at the 15:50 mark.)

Part 3. The Fate of Emrpires.

Part 4. Insurgency vs. Civil War

Tolerance to Degeneracy

Devon at Black Pilled asks: How High is Your Tolerance?

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