Today, in 1492, after sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sighted a Bahamian island, believing he had reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.
Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Thursday – October 12, 2017”
In an emergency situation, one has to consider how you are going to diaper your child for the duration. If you choose to store disposable diapers and wipes, you must have an action plan for how you will dispose of them properly. Obviously, this is not a sustainable option for an emergency with an undefined length of time, but many prefer this method.
Most people would call me a “crunchy” mom. I gave birth at home in our bedroom, I avoid big pharma, and I am a huge proponent of the sustainable nature of cloth diapering. After much research, I excitedly stocked up our cloth diaper stash with various options before our daughter was born. My goal was to try as many methods as possible and determine the most suitable solution for our family.
It didn’t take us long to determine that the popular Pocket Diaper was not ideal. The amount of laundry required, the pieces and inserts that had to match each one, the time spent air-drying each item, and the time spent stuffing was just not going to work for me long term. I did enjoy bamboo terry flat diapers with Thirsties covers for the newborn period because they held in the explosive newborn poop quite well and they air dried quickly, but I have since found that wool is my favorite method of cloth diapering.
My daughter was three months old when I discovered diapering with wool. What started with a desperation to figure out a night-time solution for her heavy wetting, turned into complete and utter wool diaper love! At first the whole idea was scary. I wondered, can you really go for months without washing? Isn’t it gross? What if they shrink? Doesn’t it stink? I’ve tried a few different types of wool, and I’ve landed on interlock as the best long-term choice, because of how ridiculously forgiving and durable it is. You can even machine wash it if you need to!
Continue reading“Long-Term Preparedness for Your Baby or Toddler Part 2, by K.F.”
Dear SurvivalBlog Readers,
I would love to see some discussion about what people in the crowd in Vegas could/should have done to protect themselves, short of avoiding the crowd altogether.
If you find yourself in a crowd during a mass shooting like this, what should you do?
In such a chaotic environment, it would have been very difficult to know where the shots were coming from. Do you run to cover? Which direction? Crouch in place? How do you avoid being trampled?
Even if you had a concealed carry gun, it wouldn’t have been very helpful, and probably it would be unwise to pull it out.
Thank you for your thoughts. – A.M.
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 “HJL”. Stranger Danger! Now drones are being used to lure children.
It’s not just the American civilian population that is spinning out of control. The honorable West Point is having much of the same issue with lack of respect for authority and moral values that match those that founded this nation. Reader P.M. sent in this article: Army Opens Investigation Into West Point Grad For Promoting Communism. Of particular interest in one sworn affidavit. This sort of juvenile delinquent behavior is unbecoming of anyone, especially a West Point Cadet.
Home Depot is in a tough spot. They traditionally market to the “Do it yourself” (DIY), but now the next generation is coming of age. What do you do when you sell lumber, hardware and tools to someone who doesn’t even know how to hammer a nail or use a tape measure? They have spent millions creating a series of videos on how to do basic things like read a tape measure or even mow a lawn. It’s not just home repair companies either. “Do it yourself” seems to be morphing into “Do it for me.” Thanks to G.G. for the link.
“[A] Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give…” – Ida B. Wells (1862–1931), African-American journalist, suffragist, sociologist, and Civil Rights leader
On this day, in 732, at the Battle of Tours near Poitiers, France, Frankish leader Charles Martel, a Christian, defeated a large army of Spanish Moors, halting the Muslim advance into Western Europe. Abd-ar-Rahman, the Muslim governor of Cordoba, was killed in the fighting, and the Moors retreated from Gaul, never to return in such force.
Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Wednesday – October 11, 2017”
Consider feeding your baby or small child in the midst of tropical storms, flooding, and with threats from nuclear testing. As world events are painting an increasingly grim picture, my husband and I have felt the urgency to set aside some backup resources in case of a long-term emergency. My husband is the “must-have-a-plan-for-everything” kind of guy. Therefore, he has excitedly mapped out our emergency storage space, along with the details of its contents. He is an avid “outdoorsman”, so many of the items that we would need for long-term preparedness are either already in our arsenal or familiar to him in some capacity.
But, when we found out we were expecting a baby, it added a whole other level of things to consider. How do you feed a baby or toddler in a long-term emergency? What about diapers? Medicine? With my background of farming, gardening, and canning, suddenly, my areas of expertise became valuable for our emergency storage preparation. Below are a few of the things that I find essential to have on hand when preparing to sustainably care for a baby or toddler in a long-term emergency situation.
Continue reading“Long-Term Preparedness for Your Baby or Toddler, Part 1, by K.F.”
Here are the latest 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 JWR. (SurvivalBlog’s Founder and Senior Editor.) Today’s focus is on raising Tibetan Yaks. (See the Tangibles Investing section, near the end of this column.)
First, over at Seeking Alpha: Has Gold Found A Bottom?
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At MarketRealist: What Led to the Slump in Precious Metals on October 2?
Over at the leftist New York Post: Trump’s insane Dow Jones rally just keeps going. JWR’s Comment: President DJT’s rally is actually just a continuation of President BHO’s rally. This was all created by artificially low interest rates. This cannot go on forever without seeing a sharp correction.
U.S. Oil Rig Count Falls As Prices Falter
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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 raccoon traps. (See the Gear section, near the end of this column.)
Killing England: The Brutal Struggle for American Independence (Bill O’Reilly’s Killing Series)
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Bushcraft 101: A Field Guide to the Art of Wilderness Survival
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Blade Runner: The Final Cut – Blu-ray
“An efficient and valuable man does what he can, whether the community pay him for it or not. The inefficient offer their inefficiency to the highest bidder, and are forever expecting to be put in office.” – Henry David Thoreau
On October 10th, 1913, the Panama Canal officially linked the Atlantic to the Pacific when the Gamboa dike was demolished with dynamite charges.
Continue reading“Preparedness Notes for Tuesday – October 10, 2017”
Let’s talk about practical, tactical, and agricultural survival principles and details that pertain to developing land in a way that will facilitate agricultural productivity, sustainability, and security.
Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field; and afterwards build thine house. Prov. 24:27.
First of all, we are likely to be constrained by property boundaries. Therefore, in selecting property, what are our priorities?
Not everyone has the same priorities, and priorities change as the world around us changes. For example, a property that is perfectly usable today may become untenable if grid power is cut off. This occurs because the ample well water is too deep to access effectively by primitive means. Or, it may be too public, or too inaccessible.
Agriculture being our focus, the first priority is soil. Meadow silt, especially when found on a bench partway up a mountainside, is nice. However, less hospitable ground can be utilized if it offers other advantages.
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. The emphasis this week is on B.A.S.E. Camp USA
I recently heard about an ammo loading company in Idaho. It is called B.A.S.E. Camp USA. They make a wide range of ammunition–both newly manufactured and reloaded. The majority of their offerings are handgun calibers. They even make special subsonic loads. They recently opened a third retail store at 415 South Challis Street, in Salmon, Idaho. Their other stores are in Post Falls, Idaho, and in Murray, Utah. They also sell their loaded ammunition through distributors, and directly to the public at gun shows throughout the Intermountain West region. At their retail stores they stock long term storage food, body armor, water purification and storage supplies, essential oils, and a variety of other survival supplies. Phone: (208) 303-7470. Stop by and check out any of their stores. Or contact them by phone for their gun show schedule. That way you can make a private cash purchase closer to where you live. That will avoid both a paper trail and shipping costs. Contact: Heidi Zender, at (801) 550-2243.
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Meridian church helps one of their own after deadly home invasion, fire
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One man and 20 cows killed in semi crash
Continue reading“SurvivalBlog’s News From The American Redoubt”
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 “HJL”. Yet another company is caught violating your electronic security and privacy.
Reader T.J. sent in this article from Wranglerstar on chainsaw cutting for beginners. Many of us don’t really want to admit that we don’t know how to handle a chainsaw. Some of us think we know how to, but really don’t. This is a great little primer for getting started with this most useful homesteading tool. Even if you are an experienced faller, you might want to get this video link to give to those whom you know need it.
Yet again, a company is caught red-handed, collecting user information and selling it without notifying the users that they are doing so.
Dictionary.com made several updates to their app that snuck in the data collecting code and did not make it obvious to it’s userbase that it was doing so. The only way these companies will learn that this is not OK is if people just quit using their apps. In the meantime, there is no way to disable the data collection and to ensure the code does not collect information, you have to delete the app entirely. Thanks to DSV for the link.
“A society that puts equality … ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom.” – Milton Friedman
