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 look at so-called Doomsday Bunkers being constructed by ex-pat millionaires in New Zealand.

Doomsday Bunkers in New Zealand

Hunting the One Percent’s Doomsday Bunkers in New Zealand. JWR’s Comment: The documentary film maker takes 28 minutes to show about 10 minutes worth of interesting content. And there is the usual liberal hand-wringing about “the shortage of affordable housing.” Only a committed socialist would complain about  hundreds of millions of dollars invested into a local economy by mostly absentee neighbors who use hardly any public services. But this is still worth watching.

Subterranean Survival?

Reader Paul B. sent us the link to this interesting Yahoo News Australia article: The only way is down: subterranean survival warning

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“My friends, we are gathered here today to stand up for our freedom and our sovereignty. The most precious things we have. Because without a strong nation state, there is no democracy. And without democracy there are no liberties…. My friends, our countries are strong nations. Based on a Jewish-Christian and humanistic civilization. That should never change. So, we want to control our own borders again. We do not want mass immigration. And we do not want to be invaded by a tyrannical ideology.” – Geert Wilders, leader of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV)

Cold Steel Crawford 1, by Pat Cascio

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I’ve followed the career of custom knife maker Pat Crawford for many years. And about 20 years ago – maybe longer, his son, Wes joined his dad making custom knives – and their custom knives are always in great demand. Today, we’ll look at the Crawford 1, designed by Wes Crawford, and produced by Cold Steel, in a very affordable version of one of Crawford’s custom folders.

Its nice to see a son following in his father’s footsteps, you don’t see this very often these days, for some reason. Another thing that is getting to be a rarity are custom knife makers – period! Certainly, making hand made knives is no easy task, I tried my hand at it once, and just didn’t have the patience or talent. Oh sure, I can “design” knives, but I can’t make them. I’ve known a few custom knife makers over the years, and have always been amazed at their talents, and how much work is involved in making knives – they are artists, no doubt about it. Each knife is a work of art, as well as a work of love, you aren’t just paying for a hunk of steel, you are paying for the talent involved in making a knife – a custom knife.

Many years ago, I used to collect (and design) custom knives, and found that it was a very expensive hobby. My entire collection was sold many, many years ago, when my family and I moved back to Oregon, after traveling all around the country, always looking for greener pastures. It was a tough decision to sell all those knives, but I have no regrets at all – other than selling off some of the knives that I personally designed and commissioned custom makers to produce for me. However, you do what is right for your family’s best interests.

Cold Steel is owned by my long-time friend, Lynn Thompson, and Lynn has had a long relationship with Pat and Wes Crawford over the years. We are fortunate that Cold Steel has collaborated with the Crawfords over the years to bring us some of their designs, in a very affordable package. I know I could never personally afford to own any of their custom, hand-made knives, but owning a well-made production knife designed by this father/son team is the second best thing. And we can thank Lynn Thompson for bringing some of these designs to us.Continue reading“Cold Steel Crawford 1, by Pat Cascio”

Recipe of the Week: Cornbread Crumble Turkey

Reader Arlene X. kindly sent us one of her favorite recipes:

Arlene’s Cornbread Crumble Turkey (Serves Four Adults)

Ingredients:

1 C Buttermilk
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 Skinless turkey fillets (about 3 oz each)
4- by 4-inch square of cooked cornbread (about 1 C of cornbbread crumbs)
1 Egg white
1 C Chicken broth
1 Tbsp Cornstarch
1 lb Frozen baby carrots
1 Tbsp Fresh sage, rinsed, dried, and chopped (or 1 tsp of dried sage)
1 Tbsp Butter

Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 ºF.
  2. Combine buttermilk and Dijon mustard. Mix well.
  3. Add turkey fillets to buttermilk mixture to marinate for 5–10 minutes while preparing cornbread.
  4. Grind cornbread in a food processor, or use your fingers to make coarse crumbs. Place breadcrumbs on a baking sheet, and dry in a 300 °F oven or toaster oven for 4–5 minutes. Do not brown.
  5. Pour breadcrumbs into a dry, shallow dish. Put egg white in a separate bowl.
  6. Remove turkey from the buttermilk, and dip each fillet first in the egg white and then in the cornbread crumbs to coat. Discard leftover buttermilk mixture and cornbread crumbs. (Our chickens love it.)
  7. Place breaded turkey fillets on a baking sheet, and bake for 10–15 minutes (to a minimum internal temperature of 165 °F).
  8. While the turkey is cooking, combine chicken broth, cornstarch, carrots, sage, and butter in a medium saucepan.
  9. Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring occasionally. Lower temperature to a simmer.
  10. Simmer gently for about 5 minutes, or until the butter is melted, the sauce is thick, and the carrots are warm.
  11. Serve each 3-ounce turkey fillet with 1 cup of carrots and sauce mixture

Some Useful Related Links:

Economics & Investing For Preppers

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Here are the latest news items and commentary on current economics news, market trends, stocks, investing opportunities, and the precious metals markets. We also cover hedges, derivatives, and obscura. And it bears mention that most of these items are from the “tangibles heavy” contrarian perspective of SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor, JWR. Today, we look at the importance of growing U.S. natural gas exports to European Union (EU) countries. (See the Commodities section.)

Precious Metals:

We’ll begin with: Seven Laws of Investing (as they relate to gold investing.)

o  o  o

David Lin: Finally, Silver Prices May Have Bottomed, But What Happens Next?

Economy & Finance:

WSJ video: Why Amazon Is Gobbling Up Failed Malls

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Eric Peters: The Glut Cometh

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Zero Hedge reports: Why Trump Has All The Leverage In China Trade Negotiations, In 3 Charts

Continue reading“Economics & Investing For Preppers”

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — May 12, 2019

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On May 12th, 1949, one of the first crises of the Cold War came to end when the Soviet Union lifted its 11-month blockade against West Berlin. A massive U.S.-British airlift had broken it.

At the end of World War II, Germany was divided into four sectors administered by the four major Allied powers: the USSR, the United States, Britain, and France. Berlin, the capital, was also divided into four parts, though it was located well within the USSR sector. The future of Germany was hotly contested among the allies. The United States, Britain, and France eventually united their sectors into one economic zone, which became the independent nation of West Germany. The Soviets withdrew from the council and formed East Germany. Likewise, Berlin was formed into two parts under separate rule.

When the Western powers introduced a new Deutsche Mark currency, in West Germany and West Berlin, the Soviets saw that as an attack on the East Germany currency and began a blockade of all rail, road, and water communications between Berlin and the West. Britain and the United States responded with the largest airlift in history. 278,288 relief missions in 14 months flew in 2,326,406 tons of supplies, 2/3 of which was coal to run the power plants. Flights were made around the clock. At the height of the airlift, in April 1949, planes were landing in the city every minute.

The Soviets made no effort to block the airlift and on May 12th, 1949 allowed the first American and British convoys to drive the 110 miles to Berlin to continue to supply West Berlin.

The Crash In US Economic Fundamentals Is Accelerating, by Brandon Smith

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Note: This article first appeared at Alt-Market.com, and is re-posted with permission.

When looking at the health of an economic system it is impossible to gauge growth or stability by only taking two or three indicators into account. The problem is, this is exactly what central banks and governments tend to do. In fact, governments and central banks wildly and deliberately promote certain indicators as the signals everyone should care about while ignoring a whole host of other fundamentals that do not fit their “recovery” narrative. When these few chosen indicators don’t read well either, they rig the numbers in their favor.

The most promoted and and by extension most rigged indicators include GDP, unemployment, and inflation. I would include stock markets to a point in this list, but as I’ve always said, stocks are a trailing indicator and never tell us accurately when an economic crash is taking place. If anything, stocks are and always have been a placebo for the masses, a psychological crutch meant to lull them to sleep while the crash begins. Other than that, they have no value in determining the health of the system.  As a lagging indicator, we will cover stocks at the end of this analysis.

GDP Rigging

GDP rigging is mostly a government affair, as much of how GDP is calculated today includes government spending. So, even though the government has to steal your money through taxation in order to then spend money, government spending is still counted as “production”. This includes programs like Obamacare, which despite assumptions among some conservatives, continues to operate today. “Official” establishment estimates of government spending as a percentage of GDP stand at around 20%. More accurate estimates accounting for ALL expenditures show that US government spending accounts for around 35% of GDP. This is an enormous fraud.Continue reading“The Crash In US Economic Fundamentals Is Accelerating, by Brandon Smith”

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 Michael Z.  Williamson’s latest book: Freehold: Resistance.

There is No “Healthy Dialogue”

Whenever you hear the phrase “healthy dialogue” these days, you can substitute either the words “imperious leftist lecture” or “SJW censorship”, to be closer to reality. This recent news article from Illinois provides a good example: Pritzker hopes for ‘healthy dialogue’ with business community.  And, even more pointedly, there is this from The New York Post about the amped-up social media bans: Beware social media’s push for ‘healthier dialogue’. For what its worth, I have abjured all use of social media by my family.

CO-TCCC Recommends New Tourniquets

From SkinnyMedic:  “CO-TCCC Recommends NEW Tourniquets” on YouTube.

Cory Booker: Federal License for All Gun Owners

Colion Noir breaks this down in a video: Cory Booker Wants to Require Federal License for All Gun Owners.  For details on Booker’s 14-point “action plan”, see: Cory Booker just unveiled a plan that would make buying a gun a lot like getting a driver’s license. JWR’s Comments: My prediction is that now that Booker has broken the ice, the majority of the 20+ Democrat  presidential candidates will each put their own spin on “common sense” civilian disarmament. And those among farthest left will try to “out gun control” each other. This should be entertaining to watch, as these socialist bufffoons gyrate on unconstitutional policies and gradually disaffect even non-gun owners.

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

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;

For the truth’s sake, which dwelleth in us, and shall be with us for ever.

Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father.

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.

If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:

For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Having many things to write unto you, I would not write with paper and ink: but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our joy may be full.

The children of thy elect sister greet thee. Amen.” – 2 John (KJV)

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — May 11, 2019

On May 11, 1949, Israel was admitted into the United Nations.

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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.

Train Your Tracking Dog – Part 2, by Dogdancer

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(This part concludes a two-part article.)

Step One: Show the dog that searching is a game played under special circumstances. The way our search team did this was by having a unique harness that dogs wore only when training or going on a search. In this way, every time you put that one harness on the dog, he understands he is getting ready to search for something. It’s like a boxer putting on his gloves, or a biker pulling on his helmet.

Step Two: Associate following a ground scent with gaining a food reward. Here’s where one friend can help. The friend walks a distance away, perhaps 50 feet, so you and the dog can still see him. The dog sits by your side on a leash. As your friend walks away, he drops tiny pieces of food treats – pea sized – every pace. This will give the dog a good taste, without filling it up. When your friend stops, tell the dog to “Find it”, or “Find [person’s name]”. Point to the food treat until the dog discovers it. Then do the same with the next treat in line. Pretty soon, the dog will realize there is a line of treats between himself and your friend. He’ll lead you down the trail to the friend. Have the dog sit at the friend’s feet, then immediately give the dog his paycheck for a minute or two.

After several successful attempts, wait a few days for this fun game to percolate through the dog’s thoughts. Next time make it more challenging. The dog should understand that the friend has some tasty treats, and he gets an extra reward when he arrives and waits at the friend’s feet. This time, have the friend walk further and stand behind trees or bushes. The dog can watch him leave, but not see where the friend ends up. The friend should leave a treat-trail, but on every second pace so there is greater distance between the prizes. The dog again sits at your side on a leash. After the friend is out of sight, point to the first treat, and say “Find it!” Once again, the dog will learn to follow the path – this time utilizing your friend’s scent to lead him to the next treat. If the dog gets confused when the friend can’t be seen, continue to say, “Find it!” and point to the next treat. When he “finds” your friend, have him sit at the friend’s feet. Then, payday!Continue reading“Train Your Tracking Dog – Part 2, by Dogdancer”

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. Steadily, we work on meeting our prepping goals. In this column, the SurvivalBlog editors review their week’s prep activities. They also often share their planned prep activities for the coming week. These range from healthcare and gear purchases to gardening, property improvements, 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:

We’ve had a very busy week here at the Rawles Ranch. Both Lily and #1 Daughter did a lot of refurbishing work on one last saddle and some left over tack. The standing joke in the American Redoubt is that the most popular “perfumes” used by eligible young ladies to attract future husbands are not Diptyque Vetyverio or Chanel #5. Rather, they are Leather Milk and Hoppe’s #9. Speaking of horse tack repair, I stopped by a nearby farm and ranch store (55 miles away) and bought some replacement bull snaps and brass “finger” lead rope clamps. With those, I’ll be able to repair several lead ropes that had their snaps broken by our Problem Child horse. This is a knot-headed 10-year-old that is notorious for breaking tack. That horse has broken more tack than all of our other horses, combined!

BTW, I prefer the Weaver brand 1″ bull snaps. These are imported from Taiwan (Free China). I’d prefer to find some that are American made, but at least these aren’t made in some Mainland China prison factory. The Weaver bull snaps are quite sturdy and don’t seem to break as easily as the alleged “heavy duty” snaps that come on the ready-made horse leads.

On that same trip, I bought a lawn mower for Lily. We don’t have a “lawn” here per se, but we do need something to mow down the weeds between the raised beds in our gardens, and to mow around the fruit trees in our orchard. With a proper shrouded gas mower, there will be less risk of killing a sapling. (All it takes is a moment of inattention, and you can “ring” a small tree with a weed eater. That is a costly mistake!) Yes, Jim, Lily here, commenting on Jim’s section of the preps; Our weedwhacker gave up it’s ghost this spring, and I had accidentally ringed an apple sapling, with it, last summer, oops! It survived, though.)

I also stopped by our local Les Schwab tire center, and had the studded snow tires on our pickup truck switched out for the summer rubber. (We keep both sets mounted on rims.) That pickup rarely leaves the ranch, but to do summer hauling, we need regular all-season tires, to stay legal on paved public roads in the summer.

We’ve also been doing a lot of Spring Cleaning around the place.  But Lily can fill you in on that.

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”

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 the U.S. Army’s “new” Retro Class A Uniform.

The Beehive Thieves

Reader C.B. sent this from National Geographic: Beekeepers hit hard by thefts of hives.

Dennis Prager on College Indoctrination

The recent essay by Dennis Prager is well worth reading: Coming Home From College. JWR’s Comments: Prager has it right. It is very clear that America’s high schools are liberal/statist indoctrination centers, and that our colleges and universities are now advanced indoctrination centers. Unless your kids have tremendous maturity and discernment, after you have home schooled them to a 12th grade level, I recommend that you tell them:  “It is better to learn a trade and then start your own business. But if you insist that you need a degree, then work for a few years, and save money so that you can go to college, and come out of it debt free.”  By starting college at 23 instead of at 19, they will be far more ready to perceive propaganda when it is pushed at them.

Some Sauna Health Confirmation

A link that ties in to a recent SurvivalBlog article on Scandinavian home saunas was sent by Reader H.L.: Confirmed: Sweating Removes Deadly Chemicals From The Body.Continue reading“The Survivalist’s Odds ‘n Sods:”