The Dirty Side of Homesteading, by Patrice Lewis

Too often, homesteading articles, blogs, websites, and videos (including this one – guilty!) show only the successful side of homesteading. The abundant harvest, the completed projects, the fresh eggs and baby chicks and overflowing milk, the healthy livestock … by golly, this lifestyle must be easy-peasy, right?

Yes and no. Of course things go right. And of course things go wrong. But what is seldom shown is the nitty-gritty day-to-day dirty side of homesteading, including the daily chores that must be done for the comfort and welfare of animals. For that reason, I thought I’d show you something I do every day, rain or shine; namely, cleaning the barn.Continue reading“The Dirty Side of Homesteading, by Patrice Lewis”

SurvivalBlog’s American Redoubt Media of the Week

This weekly column features media 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.

Some OTHER Recent American Redoubt News Links

Send Your Media Links

Please send your links to media from the American Redoubt region to JWR. Any photos that are posted or re-posted must be uncopyrighted. You can do so either via e-mail or via our Contact form.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Gy menne, de nyn harnsch anne en hebben, gy solt achter uns beharnscheden gaen, und wyket nycht und schuwet uns und steket myt den peyken under de iseren hode.”

“You men, who have no armour on you, you shall go behind our armoured [men] and will not move nor fear and you will stab with the pikes underneath the iron hats [in the faces and necks of the enemy].” – Captain Hynrick van Gemen, explaining the use of pikes, before the defense of Münster from invaders, circa 1407.

Preparedness Notes for Monday — November 17, 2025

November 17,  1774: First City Troop, Philadelphia City Cavalry formed at Carpenter’s Hall, Philadelphia. It is one of the oldest US military units still in service.

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On this day in 1777, the Articles of Confederation were submitted to the states for ratification.

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Be sure to mark your calendar for February 1, 2026, to order your 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick. The 2005-2025 edition will have at least 12 more bonus books.  These will include the 4-volume Audel’s Carpenters and Builders Guide as well as Horace Kephart’s classic book on Woodcraft, and the USMC’s most recent photo-illustrated Hand and Arm Signals field manual. There will also be two more books authored by Lowell Thomas, an Army manual on Rigging, and a 645-page textbook on Practical Physics.

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Today’s feature article is a review penned by Field Gear Editor Tom Christianson.

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We still need some articles for Round 121 of the blog’s writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Mantis TitanX 702, by Thomas Christianson

The new Mantis TitanX provides a training pistol that is compatible with both motion-based and laser-based training systems.

The MantisX motion-based training system is freely available for iPhone, Android and Kindle devices. It is a sophisticated app that provides an extensive collection of drills and courses. The TitanX pistol is also compatible with the Mantis Laser Academy Kit, which cost $159 at mantisx.com at the time of this writing.

As a dry-fire training aid, the TitanX does not expend ammo, can be safely used at home, and provides immediate feedback. In this way, it improves marksmanship while saving both money and time.

The TitanX is made in the United States and cost $199 at mantisx.com at the time of this writing.Continue reading“Mantis TitanX 702, by Thomas Christianson”

Recipe of the Week:  

The following simple and largely forgotten recipe for Eggs in Brown Butter is from The New Butterick Cook Book, copyright 1924, now in the public domain. That is just one of the dozens of bonus books included in the 2005-2025 20th Anniversary Edition of the waterproof SurvivalBlog Archive USB stick that will be available to order in January of 2026.

Ingredients
  • 6 eggs
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 3 tablespoons butter
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
Directions
  1. Sauté the eggs in one tablespoon butter or butter substitute until set.
  2. Season wiih salt and pepper, and place on a platter.
  3. Brown two tablespoons butter in the pan,
  4. Add one teaspoon of vinegar, and when hot, pour over the eggs.

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Do you have a well-tested 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 recipes, slow cooker recipes, and any recipes that use home garden produce. If you have any favorite recipes, then please send them via e-mail. Thanks!

SurvivalBlog Graphic of the Week

Today’s graphic is a map that shows that only 33 of the world’s 195 countries are in the Southern Hemisphere. (Graphic courtesy of Reddit.)

The thumbnail below is click-expandable.

 

 

 

 

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Please send your graphics or graphics links to JWR. (Either via e-mail or via our Contact form.) Any graphics that you send must either be your own creation or uncopyrighted.

The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

“Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest.” – President Calvin Coolidge

Preparedness Notes for Sunday — November 16, 2025

On November 16, 534, the Second and final revision of the Justinian Code (“Codex Justinianus“) was published. This was a codified set of imperial and classical laws that initially began in 528.

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November 16, 1933: Swiss physicist Fritz Zwicky published the first evidence for the existence of dark matter in his seminal article “The Redshift of Extragalactic Nebulae”.

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November 16th was the birthday of Michael D. Echanis (born 1950, died September 1978), a former United States Army Special Forces and 75th Ranger Battalion enlisted man. He was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star with “V” device as a LRRP in the Vietnam War. He was born and raised in eastern Oregon. Echanis was killed while working for the CIA in Nicaragua in 1978 in a plane crash along with his colleague Charles Sanders and members of the Nicaraguan armed forces. There was conjecture that the plane was destroyed in flight by a saboteur’s bomb. My novel Survivors includes a minor character from Oregon with the surname Echanis, as a small homage to Mike Echanis.

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Today’s feature article is an essay by Brandon Smith.  He is a frequent guest contributor to SurvivalBlog. He is the editor of the free Alt-Market.us website and the by-subscription newsletter The Wild Bunch Dispatch.

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We still need some entries for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest.  More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running the contest.  Round 121 ends on November 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

The Foreign Worker Scam Exposes Trump’s Economic Achilles Heel, by Brandon Smith

If you really want to counter the chaos grifters of the political left in the US, then you have to be willing to offer a coherent and consistent plan which dissolves the chaos they thrive on. Planning eases instability. Consistency defeats confusion. Clarity squashes disorder. The public needs to see a comprehensive list of standards, actions and goals and they don’t like it when their leaders suddenly derail the train.

When it comes to economics, vision is meaningless. Every idiot out there has an economic “vision”, very few people have any idea how to get from Point A to Point Z.

To be clear, Trump has limited political capacity to change the economy for the better. He has three years left on his second term and the fiscal problems he’s dealing with were created through decades of government and central bank mismanagement (or deliberate sabotage).Continue reading“The Foreign Worker Scam Exposes Trump’s Economic Achilles Heel, by Brandon Smith”

JWR’s Meme Of The Week:

The latest meme created by JWR:

Meme Text:

An Alarming Statistic: 1 in 8 Liberal Women

Will Be Diagnosed With Prostate or Testicular Cancer

A Relevant Link:

Cancer Screenings in the Transgender Community.

Notes From JWR: Do you have a meme idea? Just e-mail me the concept, and I’ll try to assemble it. And if it is posted then I’ll give you credit. Thanks!

Permission to repost memes that I’ve created is granted, provided that credit to SurvivalBlog.com is included.

 

The Editors’ Quote Of The Day:

“How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;

God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak.

But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him?

Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,

Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.

And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me.

Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;

And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.

Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” –

Hebrews 2: 3-18 (KJV) 

Preparedness Notes for Saturday — November 15, 2025

On November 15, 1720, pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read (pictured in a woodcut), and Calico Jack were captured by Captain Jonathan Barnet and brought to the Spanish Town of Jamaica, for trial.

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Today is birthday of David Stirling. (15 November 1915  – 4 November 1990.)  He was a Scottish officer in the British Army, mountaineer, and the founder of the Special Air Service (SAS). He saw active service during the Second World War.

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Today’s feature article was too short to qualify for the writing contest judging.

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We need a few more articles for Round 121 of the SurvivalBlog non-fiction writing contest. More than $970,000 worth of prizes have been awarded since we started running this contest.  Round 121 ends on November 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. In 2023, we polled blog readers, asking for suggested article topics. Please refer to that poll if you haven’t yet chosen an article topic.

Experimentally Reloading Aluminum Case .45 ACP, by Aging Plinker

In the past if anyone had asked me if it were possible to reload aluminum-case autoloading pistol rounds I would have said no. Is it possible? Yes and no is my answer now. It’s not a good idea though, in my opinion.

In the milder seasons of the year we do a lot of pistol shooting. Recently, at a spot that at least three generations of shooters use I noticed a pile of spent aluminum .45 ACP cases. I knew the ammunition existed but had never seen any for sale in this area. Examining one, I noticed that it had a small pistol primer. I had recently gotten a good deal on small pistol primers and had stocked up. My press was currently set up for reloading .45 ACP. If there was any aluminum cased ammo you could reload it would be the low-pressure 21,000 psi .45 ACP and not the more common 35,000 psi aluminum cased standard pressure 9mm and .40 S&W was my reasoning. Just because everyone says it’s not possible, did that mean anyone had actually tried doing it? Grabbing a handful, I took them home.Continue reading“Experimentally Reloading Aluminum Case .45 ACP, by Aging Plinker”

Editors’ Prepping Progress

To be prepared for a crisis, every Prepper must establish goals and make both 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 your e-mailed letters. We post many of those — or excerpts thereof — in the Odds ‘n Sods Column or in the Snippets column. Let’s keep busy and be ready!

Jim Reports:

This week, I had a project in cleaning out the accumulated lint from our clothes dryer’s under-floor ducts.  I had always presumed they were a bit gunked with lint when I bought the ranch house, 18 years ago.  But by this year, the ducts were pretty well sclerotic with lint — so much so that the dryer was having a hard time actually drying clothes without repeating drying cycles. Cleaning out the ducts required a lot of time and effort under the house and under our front porch. To obviate full removal of the 4″ ductwork from between the floor joists (running through fiberglass insulation that is held up with stapled-on chickenwire) I jerry-rigged a 6-foot extension to our ShopVac’s hose. I dd so, using some 2″ Schedule 40 white PVC pipe. That way, all that I had to remove were a couple of 90-degree elbows – not the entire duct runs.

I just hope that I don’t have to do this same job more often than once a decade.  (It was NOT a fun job.) Well, I did have some fun quoting the Terry Gilliam movie Brazil.  (“I want to talk to you about ducts.”) But at least now it is done. And our dryer will be working much more safely and efficiently. It also means we’ll be spending less on propane each month. So it was a “win-win.”

Now, Lily’s part of the report…

Continue reading“Editors’ Prepping Progress”