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, I’m starting off with news about a City-Killer Asteroid.

Approach of ‘City-Killer Asteroid’ was Missed

By way of Whatfinger.com (my favorite news aggregation site): Scientists almost didn’t detect approach of ‘city-killer asteroid’. An excerpt:

“Alan Duffy was confused. On Thursday, the astronomer’s phone was suddenly flooded with calls from reporters wanting to know about a large asteroid that had just whizzed past Earth, and he couldn’t figure out ‘why everyone was so alarmed.’

‘I thought everyone was getting worried about something we knew was coming,’ Duffy, who is also lead scientist at the Royal Institution of Australia, told The Washington Post. Forecasts had already predicted that a couple asteroids would be passing relatively close to Earth this week.

Then he looked up the details of the hunk of space rock named Asteroid 2019 OK.

‘I was stunned,’ he said. ‘This was a true shock.’

This asteroid wasn’t one that scientists had been tracking and it had seemingly appeared from “out of nowhere,” Michael Brown, a Melbourne-based observational astronomer, told The Post. According to data from NASA, the craggy rock was large, roughly 110 yards wide, and moving quickly along a path that brought it within about 45,360 miles of Earth. That’s about one-fifth of the distance to the moon and what Duffy considers ‘uncomfortably close.'”

Land Expropriation Without Compensation

A hat tip to D.S. for sending this from South Africa: Three major criticisms of the government’s land expropriation position.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“A decline in courage may be the most striking feature which an outside observer notices in the West in our days. The Western world has lost its civil courage, both as a whole and separately, in each country, each government, each political party, and of course in the United Nations. Such a decline in courage is particularly noticeable among the ruling groups and the intellectual elite, causing an impression of loss of courage by the entire society. Of course there are many courageous individuals but they have no determining influence on public life […] Should one point out that from ancient times decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?” – Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

Preparedness Notes for Monday — August 5, 2019

August 5th is the sad anniversary of the Mann Gulch Fire in Montana that took the lives of 13 firefighters (including 12 smokejumpers and one former smokejumper), in 1949. The intense, fast-moving forest fire took place in what later became the Gates of the Mountains Wilderness. The events of that fire were chronicled in the book Young Men and Fire by Norman Maclean and immortalized in the haunting lyrics of the ballad Cold Missouri Waters by James Keelaghan. (Warning: Grab a box of tissue, before listening.)

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Today, we present a product review by our Field Gear Editor, Pat Cascio. But first, we’re announcing the winners of Round 83 of the SurvivalBlog Nonfiction Writing Contest. Round 84 is already underway. If you’d like to win one of these prize packages, then get busy writing!

 

The Latest Writing Contest Winners (Round 83)

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After a brief delay due to some gun show travel, we’ve completed the judging for Round 83 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. That round ended on Just 31st, 2019. The winners are:

First Prize Winner:

First Prize goes to Doctor Dan for Family Medical Preps Part 1 & Part 2 (posted July 17 &18, 2019).  He will receive the following prizes:

  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 Winner:

Second Prize goes to Marica Bernstein for Including Old Books in Your Preps Parts 1-4 (posted July 23-26,  2019).  She will receive the following prizes:

  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 Winner:

Third Prize goes to SoCal9mm for Our Wildfire Evacuation Parts 1-5, (posted June 11-15 2019).  They will receive the following prizes:

  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.

Honorable Mention Prizes

Honorable Mention prizes ($30 Amazon gift cards, funded by JWR) are being awarded for these six articles:

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.

Lifelite TCP Pepper Ball Launcher, by Pat Cascio

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Lethal force, less-lethal force, less-than-lethal force, non-lethal force…it can all be very confusing, and when it comes down to it, a jury will be the ones deciding your fate, in a court room, whenever you use any type of “force” to defend yourself or your loved ones. And, no matter what you might think of the amount of force you use, you could still be wrong. Not too many years ago, a Texas judge ruled that a man who was involved in a fight, used lethal force to kill another man. The “lethal” force used – it was his cowboy boots – you see, he stomped the other man to death. Ordinarily, you wouldn’t consider a pair of cowboy boots as a lethal weapon, or for that matter, a “weapon” at all. So, you see, it all boils down to what a judge and jury say, vis-a-vis the amount of force you might have used.

Some months back, I did an article on Lifelite’s pepper ball “flashlight” – for lack of a better term, and it was very impressive – it even had a laser for aiming it, still it wasn’t quite what some folks were looking for. It is a very popular item in many teacher’s desks – as a last resort to help defend against a school shooter – nice idea and many teachers are storing these “flashlights” locked in their desk drawer.

Now, Lifelite just came out with a pepper ball “gun” – and it does resemble a handgun – though any knowledgeable person would readily realize it isn’t a handgun – or at least they should. The TCP Launcher is quite unique if you ask me, first of all, it fits the hand nicely, and secondly, it has sights so you can aim it. And, it is a semi-auto “handgun” – it will fire 6 pepper balls or practice balls as fast as you can pull the trigger.

The TCP is advertised as a non-lethal solution to many problems–more on this later–but it is a darn good idea for anyone who doesn’t want to own firearms for self-defense. I believe this launcher would be great for home-defense, as well as on the streets. It is a bit big, but it can be carried in a holster than Lifelite sells – and it is a nice holster. Many security officers are not armed these days – some have nothing more than a pair of handcuffs and if they are lucky, a can of pepper spray, and it doesn’t always work, especially in the outdoors where the wind might be blowing – it can, and does get blown back into the face of the user – not a fun thing. Then we have pepper spray, that isn’t a spray, rather it comes out of the can in a stream something akin to Silly String – and it is a better option than the spray, plus it can be had with dye in it, to help ID an attacker who might have run away.Continue reading“Lifelite TCP Pepper Ball Launcher, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Angie’s Beef and White Bean Soup

Angie kindly sent us her recipe for a hearty beef and white bean soup. This makes good use of your stored dry white beans, or canned beans.

Ingredients
  • 2 pounds beef stew meat, trimmed and cut into 1-inch cubed pieces
  • 2 cups chopped onion
  • 2 cups sliced or chopped carrot
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced or grated
  • 2 tablespoons Canola oil, divided
  • 2 cups water
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
  • 3 or 4 whole bay leaves
  • 32 ounces beef broth
  • 5 cups of dried white beans, soaked overnight. These should swell to just over 6 cups. Alternatively, you may use three cans (15.8-ounce cans) of Bush brand Cannellini Beans, drained.
Directions
  1. Heat a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon canola oil and heat to a ripple.
  2. Add beef to pan and brown on all sides, working in batches if needed. Remove the beef from pan.
  3. Add remaining 1 tablespoon canola oil to pan and heat. Add onion, carrot and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes.
  4. Return beef to the pan. over the sauteed mixture. Stir in the water, bean, salt, black pepper, thyme, sage, bay leaves, and beef broth. Bring to a simmer. Cover and allow to simmer for at least 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until beef is tender.
  5. Remove and discard the bay leaves.
  6. Salt and pepper to taste.
Variations

Other varieties of beans can be substituted.

For extra creaminess: Use a potato masher to crush about half of the beans after the soup has cooked for one hour.

For an electric crock pot, prepare as above, but then transfer to a slow cooker once all ingredients have been added. Slow cook the soup for at least three hours. It may be slow-cooked for 8 to 10 hours on a low setting, if you add an extra cup of water or broth.

STORAGE

Once cooked, this soup stores well refrigerated for up to three days.  After that, feed it to your chickens, or compost it.

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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

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 traverse from our normal “E&I” column items to look at tangibly investing in “Pre-Remington” Marlin firearms.

Tangibles Focus: Pre-Remington Marlins

My friend Commander Zero, the editor of the Notes From The Bunker preparedness blog has several times mentioned the significance of “Pre-Remington” Marlin firearms. This term refers to Marlins that were produced before Remington acquired the company in December of 2007, whereupon reportedly the quality control of their rifles began to suffer.

In 2011, Marlin closed its North Haven factory, ending 141 years of manufacturing In Connecticut. That was the end of an era, in the eyes of most American gun collectors. There were many “transitional” Marlins made between 2008 and 2011, but those will never have the resale value of true pre-Remington Marlin rifles.

Although the quality issues have now largely been remedied, there is still a stigma attached to any post-2007 Marlin rifle. From a practical prepping standpoint, the contemporary Marlins–now often made with composite or synthetic stocks and weather-resistant finishes–are quite serviceable guns. But it is the pre-Remington Marlin rifles that are considered most desirable, by collectors.

The newer Marlins, sometimes derisively called “Remlins”, are scoffed at, by many serious gun collectors.  To them, a “proper” Marlin Firearms rifle must:

A.) Have been produced by the original Marlin company, in North Haven, Connecticut.

B.) Have no Remington markings.

C.) Have a “JM” acceptance stamp on the barrel, just forward of the receiver.

D.) Have no cross-bolt safety. (Added to all of their lever-action rifles, in 1984.)

E.) Be unaltered, from the way that it came from the factory. (No sling swivels or recoil pad added.)

And, of course just like any other collectible modern firearm, the accompanying original factory box is a huge plus, when appraising value.

Marlin has a fairly detailed company web site that shows their various models.

I recommend that you keep your eyes peeled when visiting guns shows, gun shops, and pawn shops, to find “correct” collectible pre-Remington Marlins.

Provisos:

SurvivalBlog and its Editors are not paid investment counselors or advisers. Please see our Provisos page for our detailed disclaimers.

News Tips:

Please send your economics and investing news tips to JWR. (Either via e-mail of via our Contact form.) These are often especially relevant, because they come from folks who closely watch specific markets. If you spot any news that would be of interest to SurvivalBlog readers, then please send it in. News from local news outlets that is missed by the news wire services is especially appreciated. And it need not be just about commodities and precious metals. Thanks!

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — August 4, 2019

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On August 4th, 1944, 15 year old Jewish diarist Anne Frank and her family were captured by the Nazi Gestapo. The Franks had taken shelter is a small space in a sealed off area of an Amsterdam warehouse along with another Jewish family and a single Jewish man. They were aided by Christian friends who brought them food and supplies. Her diary survived the war, overlooked by the Gestapo, but Anne and nearly all of the others perished in the Nazi death camps.

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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. 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 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.

My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

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

The #1303 model of Dankoff Slow pumps has the highest ‘gpm’ (gallon per minute) rating of the less expensive 1300 series. The #1303-24 pumps the most water for the money, and to a height that it will pump that is adequate for most situations. The advantage of a 24 volt system over a 12 volt pump, is that most surface water sources would likely be in a shaded environment, so the panels would need to be located some distance from the water source to obtain the needed amount of sunshine.  We should place the panels where the sun shines most to get the needed solar power output to pump the *maximum* amount of water for your individual requirement.

If we need 225 gallons per day, we only need sunshine for the time needed to pump that 225 gallon goal.  More sun is not necessarily needed. For example, if the system as installed produces 1 mpg with full sun, and 225 gallons are needed, then 4 hours of full sun is required to produce 225 gallons.  On cloudy days it will produce less. However, the garden will require less water on cloudy days. I use 20, or 55 gallon drums, and 40 gallon troughs to store water for times I would like to water the garden using the gravity fed method through a valve, or siphon effect, but slowly saturating, or flooding the garden could also be done.  If enough water is held in reserve for cloudy days, one could just let the pump run and saturate the ground, but we would then be putting excessive time on the pump. It’s best not to expect the maximum output as solar conditions are usually less than optimal, so give your system a real world test, and see what it really does. We should estimate that the actual output will be less, therefore we should have built in, a wide margin of error just to make sure we can easily meet our greatest estimated requirement.Continue reading“My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit”

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 bee colony health decline in the United States.

Bangladesh and Geographical Determinism

To start out today’s column, our Editor-At-Large Michael Z. Williamson flagged this article: Over 4 million at risk of food insecurity, disease due to floods in Bangladesh: IFRC. Mike’s Comments: “This will be an ongoing issue. Bangladesh is geographically a river delta, and India has dammed all the rivers. With water levels and silt levels dropping, the land is eroding away into the sea, and every storm and seasonal rain is flooding what is left.”

Bee Colony Health Decline: Highest Winter Losses Ever

Overall, bee colony health in the United States is quite poor. Varroa mites and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) are still with us. Here is a recent headline from Science Daily: U.S. beekeepers lost over 40 percent of colonies last year, highest winter losses ever recorded.  An excerpt:

“Beekeepers across the United States lost 40.7% of their honey bee colonies from April 2018 to April 2019, according to preliminary results of the latest annual nationwide survey conducted by the University of Maryland-led nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership. Honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of food crops in the United States each year.

The survey results show, the annual loss of 40.7% this last year represents a slight increase over the annual average of 38.7%. However winter losses of 37.7%, were the highest winter loss reported since the survey began 13 years ago and 8.9 percentage points higher than the survey average.”

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,

That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?

And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.

And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.

And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:

That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.

Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,

Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and work.” – 2 Thessalonias 2 (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — August 3, 2019

August 3rd, 1846 is the day that the Donner party found a note warning the emigrants that their expected route through the mountains ahead was nearly impassable. Hastings, an unscrupulous trail guide had created his own “short cut” route and wasn’t even at the planned meeting place at Fort Bridger, but had left word for the party to continue on. Hastings had claimed easy passage through the rugged Wasatch Mountains, but had left a note attached to a forked stick for the party explaining that the route was more difficult than he thought. That shortcut cost the Donner party 18 valuable days, but their difficulties were only beginning. They crossed the Sierra Nevada Mountains late in the season and on October 28, a heavy snowfall blocked the high mountain passes, trapping them in a frozen wilderness. Eventually reduced to cannibalism, only 45 of the original 89 emigrants reached California the following year.

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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. 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 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.

My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit

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This article is essentially a poor prepper’s guide to the affordable solar-powered Dankoff Slow Pump. In my case, I put together a portable DIY solar water pump for only $1,500, including photovoltaic panels.

Water is life and the more ways we can get it, the better. For surface water, the Dankoff Slow Pump is what I would use in many situations.  There are so many pumps to choose from, but to make a simple and easy choice; if I could only afford the least expensive, and most reliable solar pump for all surface water sources, it would be this pump. I have the Dankoff Model #1308-12, but I now recommend the #1303-24 as the best for the money for most folks, for several reasons. I learned by doing, and found that I should have got the #1303-24 instead. Learn from the mistakes of others, we’ll likely not live long enough to make all of the mistakes ourselves. [JWR Adds: Dankoff also makes a 48 VDC model.]

That said, the Dankoff Model #1308 is actually not all that bad a choice. It works reliably too, but it only pumps about half of the water volume of the #1303.  The #1308 is a better application when used for pumping longer distances, or up mountains as high as 450 feet. And because photovoltaic panel prices have dropped significantly since I purchased the #1308, the #1303 now makes more sense. I have also built many ram pumps that perform well in certain sites with enough ‘head’, but the Dankoff Slow Pump will pump from all surface water sources.

Ram Pumps?

A good quality ram pump will cost about the same, plus the galvanized drive pipe, stand pipe, long feed pipe, and fittings, but it requires flowing water, and a minimum amount of head, or drop in elevation, given a specific lift, or distance to be pumped. However, ram pumps are not a plug and play device, but requires some real engineering to get it right. It is technically more difficult.  If you have the right kind of water source, then the ram pump could be a much better choice. The Dankoff Slow Pump is, fortunately, much easier to use. It can be used for all surface water situations.  The YouTube vlogger Engineer775 has many excellent videos on the development of many types of water resources, including the Dankoff Slow Pumps that can be used for creeks, ponds, springs, and cisterns.  He prefers these over other types of pumps for these situations. The slow pump is the best ‘tool’ for the job when it comes to surface water that is no lower than 15 feet from where a slow pump can be mounted.Continue reading“My Solar-Powered Dankoff Slow Pump System – Part 1, by Tunnel Rabbit”

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:

This past week was typical for our summers: busy! 

In addition to my regular writing tasks and ranch chore and projects, I helped a neighbor repair a piece of his haying machinery. As is typical in this country where it is a long drive to the nearest hardware store, this turned into a multi-day project.  Life in the country does have its own set of frustrations. But overall, it is a joy, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other sort of life.

Lily will describe how our new heifer is getting settled in. Other than doing the driving (with our horse trailer in tow), I was only peripherally involved in that little rodeo.

This weekend I’m attending a gun show, so my input to this column is brief. Prepping for the gun show took just a few hours.

Now, over to Lily…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”