JWR’s Recommendations of the Week:

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Here are JWR’s Recommendations of the Week for various media and tools of interest to SurvivalBlog readers. This week the focus is on FoodSaver vacuum packing machines. (See the Gear & Grub section.)

Books:

Recommended by SurvivalBlog reader S.H. in Texas: Letters of a Woman Homesteader, by Elinore Pruitt Stewart. S.H. writes: “The hardships she faced in early 20th Century Wyoming would make many of us lie down and die today (after rifling through a bottle of Prozac!), but through it all, the joy that she experienced from her life is evident. It’s a good, short, read, that reminded me that love of life is not necessarily connected to property and leisure!”

o  o  o

The Ultimate Dehydrator Cookbook: The Complete Guide to Drying Food, Plus 398 Recipes, Including Making Jerky, Fruit Leather & Just-Add-Water Meals

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Gunsmithing Made Easy: Projects for the Home Gunsmith. Here is a description of the book: “One of America’s foremost experts on gunsmithing, Bryce Towsley here provides the definitive guide for anyone interested in building or maintaining guns. He gives detailed explanations and color illustrations for just about every aspect of gun repair. Featured tutorials include: stock modifications, accuracy enhancement, weather preparation, a total rifle makeover, and much more. Beginning with shop design and maintenance, Towsley builds on the knowledge he provides until ending with directions on rifle building from scratch. For anyone interested in fixing or building guns, Towsley’s book is a complete education from A to Z.”

o  o  o

Cook Once, Eat All Week: 26 Weeks of Gluten-Free, Affordable Meal Prep to Preserve Your Time & Sanity

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

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 look at investing in discontinued car models. Pictured is a pre-1999 air-cooled Porsche 911 — made before the major engine design change and body style re-vamp (See the Tangibles Investing section near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

From the perspective of chartist Mark Mead Baillie: Gold Sits On Its Box Whilst The Herd Chase Stocks

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As of May 6, 2019 I issued a physical silver a Strong Buy recommendation. Presently at around $14.75 per Troy ounce, I see nowhere for it to go but up.

Economy & Finance:

Wolf Richter reports: Fed’s QE Unwind Continues at Full Speed in April

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Trucking Skids into Downturn after Phenomenal Boom

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At Seeking Alpha: P/E Ratios At Market Peaks

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Text and audio from Ron Paul: The War on Cash Is A War on Liberty.  Here is a quote from the former congressman:

“Authoritarians are forever trying to surveil and manipulate humanity to their desired ends. Advances in technology have surely made it easier in many respects. A very big goal, from the point of view of any true authoritarian, would be the abolition of cash. All economic transactions monitored. No privacy whatsoever. The accomplishment of such a goal is far from a done deal. We should stand against it at every turn.”

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Tuesday — May 7, 2019

On May 7, 1992, a 203-year-old proposed constitutional amendment barring the U.S. Congress from giving itself a midterm pay raise was ratified—the 27th Amendment.

On May 7, 1954, the Battle of Dien Bien Phu ended, and with it the French involvement in Indochina. The climactic French defeat influenced the 1954 Geneva Accords, which divided the country of Vietnam into North and South and set the stage for the 1960s/1970s Vietnam War.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  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 82 ends on May 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.

It is Planting Time- Part 1, by L.R.

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PART 1 (Of 3)

With the end of winter and the frost date for my area passed, my thoughts naturally turn toward my vegetable garden and this year’s crop. During the harvest last year, I saved a number of seeds for planting again this year, I also saved a ton of money purchasing seeds from our local Co-op left over from the end of last year’s growing season. Properly stored, I’ve found they germinate at very respectable rates and I have always had good luck planting them.

I’ve been an avid home gardener for better than twenty years; that’s certainly not to say that I know all about raising my own food, I don’t. I still make mistakes, still experiment, and still sometimes fail here and there. But, I generally have enough successes to eat healthy home-grown food during the summer, and preserve food for my family for the coming months. My wife cans quite a bit; we also freeze some food, and I have done some dehydrating – I need to do more this year.

I’ve also been into prepping for five or six years and consider myself an experienced learner (that’s my way of saying I know the basics reasonably well and have done a lot of things to help me and my family prepare for a possible a grid down situation), but I am certainly no expert. I still read books, still search for quality articles on prepping, and still look at quality blogs and a few YouTube videos on the subject. I strive to be well rounded in prepping just as I strive to be a well rounded gardener.Continue reading“It is Planting Time- Part 1, by L.R.”

SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt

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Here is SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt. This weekly column features news stories and event announcements from around the American Redoubt region. We also mention companies of interest to preppers that are located in the region. Today, we are making special mention of a 7,000-pound “drug bust” that turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. (See the Idaho section.)

Idaho

The test results are in. Here’s what was in that semi-truck full of a green, leafy substance. Here is how the news story begins:

“A federal judge on Friday approved the release of test results on 7,000 pounds of a green, leafy substance seized by Idaho State Police in January.

At the time, ISP called the seizure a marijuana bust — perhaps the largest in agency history. The company that owned the crop claimed it was hemp. Test results found that it is indeed industrial hemp.

Big Sky Scientific, the company that owns the hemp, sued Idaho State Police asking for the release of its industrial hemp and its truck. On Feb. 19, U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Ronald Bush denied the release of the hemp, but on Friday determined that the testing results would be made public record.

The 2018 Farm Bill made the growth and sale of industrial hemp legal across the country, as long as it has a THC concentration of less than .3 percent. THC is the psychoactive component in some forms of cannabis that creates a high for the user.”

o o o

Marker Claiming Civilization Started In Boise With Arrival Of Europeans Put In Storage

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”.  Today, we focus on Internet censorship.  I’ve already described this trend in SurvivaBlog. For example, see: Phase Three of the Internet Censorship War. I believe that it is important to present other perspectives on the growing censorship and blacklisting problem. The first few posts in this column are just a sampling.

Beginning of the End for YouTube?

Vlog commentary from Vincent James of The Red Elephants: Is This the Beginning of the End for YouTube? James documents blatant de-ranking and de-monetizing. This is censorship, plain and simple.

Infowars and the Use of Name Alex Jones – Banned

Alex Jones Responds to Facebook Banning Infowars – And His Name!

President DJT Retweets PJW and Shares Infowars Video

The mainstream media is aghast that President Trump is taking sides. This is from Esquire: Trump Spent His Morning Retweeting Alt-Right Extremists and Shared a Video from InfoWars.

Twitter Bans Election Campaign Accounts

A recent commentary from Montana vlogger Matt Christiansen: Twitter Protects Election Integrity… by Banning Sargon & Tommy Robinson’s Campaign Accounts.  JWR’s Comments: He points out the supreme irony that the same liberals who have hounded DJT for some non-existent collusion in foreign election meddling are now doing their own foreign election meddling!  And here is another good commentary from Matt: Facebook Purges Alex Jones, Paul Joseph Watson, Milo, Laura Loomer & More — ‘Dangerous Individuals’

Paul J. Watson Banned By Facebook & Instagram

Video from Paul Joseph Watson: BANNED BY FACEBOOK & INSTAGRAM.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”

QLav Personal Bidet, by Pat Cascio

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I wasn’t quite sure how to approach the testing of this product, as it is something that is a bit out of the ordinary. I’m not sure how many readers are familiar with the bidet – I never saw one or heard of one, until I was in New York City back in 1978, staying at a hotel – my first time ever in a hotel. I was working an undercover gig, that took me from my then home town of Chicago, to Miami and finally to NYC. Up until then I had only stayed in motels when traveling.

Upon stepping into the bathroom, I couldn’t help but notice that there were two toilets, but one was sure different from the other. It had water that squirted up, instead of actually flushing down. I felt a bit like Crocodile Dundee. Hmmm? I agree, I’m not always the sharpest tool in the tool shed, but in short order, I figured out what the second “toilet” was – it is called a bidet, and it is for washing your backside, after you’ve taken care of your “business.” What the bidet does is, it gently directs a stream of water to your backside, to help cleanse it. While we Americans mostly use toilet paper, in much of Eastern Europe and other places around the world, toilet paper is at a real premium. So they use clean water to help clean their backsides after using the regular toilet.Continue reading“QLav Personal Bidet, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Alan’s Smothered Steak & Potatoes

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Alan’s introductory comments: This is one for my favorite meals. It requires the use of a garlic press and a pressure cooker, preferably with an internal elevated cooking rack. It makes five adult-size servings.

Ingredients:

2 lbs. boneless round steak, 1-1/2″ to 2″ thick
2 TBSP Cooking Oil
1/4 cup Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Pepper
1 Clove of Garlic, pressed
1 Medium Onion, sliced
1 TBSP Fresh (or 1 tsp dry) sage, thyme, basil, or rosemary–depending on your herb(s) preference
10 ounces (1 can or 1.2 cups) of beef broth (fresh or canned broth)
10 ounces of water (1 can or 1.2 cups)
5 Medium Potatoes (or 3 Large Potatoes)

Directions:

Cut meat to divide it into five serving sizes. (Trim any fat, if you so desire.) Combine flour, salt, and pepper, and then sprinkle over the steaks and pound this mixture into both sides of the steaks with the back edge of a knife. Once you’ve pounded in this mixture, let the meat stand at room temperature for 1/2 hour.

Heat oil in an open 4-qt (or larger) pressure cooker pan. Brown the steaks in the hot oil. Add garlic, onion slices, your chosen herb, broth, and water. Close the pressure cooker lid securely. Place the pressure cooker pressure regulator on the lid’s vent. Cook for 10 minutes at 15 pounds pressure. Then immediately vent and cool the pressure cooker.

Warning: Do not attempt to remove the pressure cooker lid until after the pressure is completely reduced.

Place cooking rack above the meat in the pressure cooker. Arrange potatoes on the rack. Close pressure cooker cover securely. Place the pressure cooker pressure regulator on the lid’s vent. Cook for 10 minutes at 15 pounds pressure. Then vent and cool the pressure cooker gradually.

Warning: Again, do not attempt to remove the pressure cooker lid until after the pressure is completely reduced.

Continue reading“Recipe of the Week: Alan’s Smothered Steak & Potatoes”

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 examine investing in Ruger 77 International stainless steel rifles. (See the Tangibles Investing section near the end of this column.)

Precious Metals:

Italy Is Latest Country Seeking To Bring Their People’s Gold Home

o  o  o

Johann Wiebe interview: Here’s Why You Shouldn’t Give Up On Silver Prices

Economy & Finance:

Nomura: The Fed Will Go Large; Expect A 50bp Cut Out Of The Gate… And Soon

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Charles Hugh Smith: There Are Two Little Problems with “Taxing the Rich” to Pay for “Free Everything”

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The Chicago Tribune reports: Farmers wash up ‘in a fragile place’ after historic Midwest floods

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“For at least the past half-century Christian pastors and churches have been all but neutered. On the whole, they have ignored Christ’s admonition to be the “salt of the earth,” and as a result, have failed to do much of anything to preserve freedom’s Biblical Natural Law principles in this great land. In fact, the average church is so sugary sweet that it is downright sickening!

And the two main reasons for this dereliction of duty by America’s pastors and churches are the IRS 501c3 non-profit tax status, which turns the Lord’s church into a government corporation; and the erroneous, fallacious interpretation of Romans chapter 13 that teaches Christians are obligated to submit to government regardless of whether government acts within the confines and jurisdiction of God’s law or not. In reality, the American church today, on the whole, is not even a church. It is a government corporation whose loyalty is offered first to Caesar, not to Christ, and whose message is first politically correct before it is Biblically correct.

It is more than interesting that some 95% of the 14,000 evangelical churches that graced the German landscape during Hitler’s rise to power bought into the identical misinterpretation of Romans 13 that the vast majority (probably at least 95%) of the 300,000 evangelical churches that grace America’s landscape have bought into today.

For example, one German pastor in 1933 gushed, “Christ has come to us through Hitler.” In like manner, many pastors today foolishly preach that God directs us through our President (whoever he is), or our Supreme Court, or virtually any other government agency. And speaking of the ignominious infatuation with government by Nazi-era German clergymen, Erwin Lutzer, in his brilliant book, “Hitler’s Cross”, wrote, “The swastika meant more to some pastors than did the Cross.” And there is absolutely no question that many pastors in America today place far more value on the US flag (symbolizing to them the power and authority of the state) than they do the Cross of Christ or the teachings and authority of the Holy Scriptures.” – Pastor Chuck Baldwin

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — May 5, 2019

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May 5th is the birthday of Pat Frank (1908-1964). This was the pen name of newspaper journalist Harry Hart Frank. His novel Alas, Babylon is a survivalist classic. His personal life was marred by alcoholism, but his writing is admired and still surprisingly popular, today. (Alas, Babylon is still in print, after more than 50 years!) As an homage to Pat Frank, one of the settings in JWR’s novel Expatriates is Mt. Dora, Florida, which was fictionalized by Pat Frank as Fort Repose in Alas, Babylon.

—

SurvivalBlog Writing Contest

Today we present another entry for Round 82  of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. The more than $12,000 worth of prizes for this round include:

First Prize:

  1. A $3000 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 Model 175 Series Solar Generator provided by Quantum Harvest LLC (a $439 value),
  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. A Royal Berkey water filter, courtesy of Directive 21 (a $275 value),
  2. A large handmade clothes drying rack, a washboard, and a Homesteading for Beginners DVD, all courtesy of The Homestead Store, with a combined value of $206,
  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 82 ends on May 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.

Preparedness Lessons from the 1930s – Part 2, by J. E.

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

Twice a year the cabin was emptied of everything. The walls, floors, and ceilings were scrubbed with lye soap and a bristle brush. All the belongings were also cleaned before they came back into the house. This was pest control and it was needed until DDT became available. Even then, bedbugs, lice, ticks and other creepy crawlies were a fact of life and were controlled by brute force. Failure to do so left you in misery and maybe ill.

Foods were stored in bug proof containers. The most popular was fifteen pound capacity metal coffee cans with tight lids. These were for day to day use in the kitchen. (I still have one of them. It’s a family heirloom.) The next were barrels to hold the bulk foods like flour, sugar, corn meal, and rice. Everything was sealed or the vermin would get to it. The vermin was also why people sifted flour in particular. There was always at least one, preferably two, months of food on hand. If the fall cash allowed, they would stock up for the entire winter before the first snowfall.

The closest thing to a cooler was a metal box in the kitchen floor. It had a very tight lid and was used to store milk, eggs and butter for a day or two. Butter was heavily salted on the outside to keep it from going rancid or melting. Buttermilk, cottage cheese and regular cheese was made from raw milk after collecting for a day or two. The box was relatively cool in the summer and did not freeze in the winter.Continue reading“Preparedness Lessons from the 1930s – Part 2, by J. E.”