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Best way to survive is not being close to any problems. Like I describe in my survival course about my experience in Balkan war I missed my chance to bug out in time. I ended up surrounded by enemy army and trapped in city for a year without power and regular resources. Everyone fighting for the little what was left and being shot at by snipers and artillery from enemies did not make experience any better. There are many reasons why people fail to bug out. Last week Jay (guy I run this website with) left Bangkok because of military...

Polish Occupied Territories in 1941 Note the Radom District, Center Left This story is purely anecdotal.   It was told to me by the principle participant about his actions during WWII when he was a teenager/young man in NAZI occupied Poland.   I believed him when he told it to me; I still believe him.  I doubt that he will write a biography, so I will relate the events here so that they may be preserved. I met the old soldier while I was working for the U.S. Army in Panama.  It was 1986, just before Christmas.  Another friend had brought...

Last night on a new episode of "Dual Survival" on Discovery viewers were shocked to hear that one person is not returning next season to the show. On Tuesday, IB Times shared some information that reveals who is leaving the show and how it all went down. Cody Lundin will not be back next season. Joe will be back on the show again. You can see Cody during the rest of season four of the show, but he will not be back for the fifth season.

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Preparing for the worst by setting yourself up with only the best. As CBS 2′s Maurice DuBois reported Thursday, luxurious kitchens, swimming pools, even gyms are being added to bunkers built just in case of an emergency. Bomb shelters were a common site in backyards in the Cold War 1950s. But as one bunker promotional video shows, today’s backyard survival bunker looks more like a five-star resort, equipped with everything from an indoor pool and state of the art movie theater, to a dog run and even an interactive classroom — all underground. “The overall scope of the project was...

Author Lewis Dartnell poses an interesting question in his new book, The Knowledge: How To Rebuild Our World From Scratch: If our technological society collapsed tomorrow, perhaps from a viral pandemic or catastrophic asteroid impact, what book would you want to press into the hands of the survivors?Just over a decade ago, I was living in Texas and taking occasional trips out to the hill country for camping, hiking, and climbing. There’s a whole-lot-of-nothing out there, if you’ve never been. It’s beautiful, but you can go days without seeing another human being if you’re in the right spot. Bringing...

Tomato planting guide with state specific recommended varieties and planting dates...

Complete Spring Seed Source Guide with alphabetical listing of many sources of Seeds, Transplants, and Bulbs for Vegetables, Herbs, Flowers, Grains, Grasses, Ground Covers, Vines, Fruits, Sprouting, Trees, Wildflowers, and much more. Many are Open-pollinated, Non-GMO, Organic, and Heirloom varieties...

I remember our daily food always coming from a long, long line at the end of which was a loaf of bread, a liter of milk, a stick of butter, a bottle of murky cooking oil, or a kilo of bones with traces of meat and fat on them. [...] If we wanted to eat, we learned at a very young age that we had to stand in long lines every day, often in bitter cold at 4 a.m. in hopes that the store would not run out of bread or milk by the time we made it to the...

"It seems like every winter there are news stories of people getting stranded for weeks in bad weather while driving through the many remote areas of our country....I have written many articles about how to prepare your home for a power outage or national emergency, but today I want to address how to be prepared for an emergency when traveling in your car... .....;

When winter weather starts to get ugly, it’s times like this that your hour-long commute on the interstate can turn into an unexpected adventure, leaving you stuck in a snowy ditch miles from help. In most cases you can expect to be there for no more than a few hours, says Tony Nester, founder of the Ancient Pathways survival school in Flagstaff, Ariz. and author of the e-book A Vehicle Survival Kit You Can Live With. “Statistically, you’re more likely to encounter small scale episodes where there’s a blizzard, you spin off the road and you’re there for maybe a...

Advice or a Warning? You be the judge– American media mogul and creator and editor of the Drudge Report, Matt Drudge issued a dire warning this weekend. The influential conservative warned his Twitter followers “Have an exit plan…” Drudge has access to confidential information from numerous sources inside media and politics.STHF Plan reported, via Free Republic: His web site may consist of just a single page, but Matt Drudge is arguably the most influential media personality in the world. Garnering nearly one billion readers monthly, the Drudge Report is able to literally shift public sentiment, making it an essential read...

How does a jobless father of four keep his family warm and fed in Detroit during the harsh winter? By donating his plasma and collecting wood from the abundant amount abandoned homes around the bankrupt city.

When toxic chemicals spilled into the Elk River in Charleston, West Virginia a couple of weeks ago we got another glimpse into what the world might look like in the aftermath of a major, widespread disaster.

I’ll be honest: for years, I never considered the survivalist/prepper crowds as target audiences. I mean, we’re on totally different ideological wavelengths, right? I’m not into shooting things, and they likely think I’m a touchy-feely hippie who wouldn’t survive a week after SHTF. What could we possibly have in common? Quite a bit, it turns out – apparently, ideology ain’t everything. As we’ve started doing more DIY/upcycling/self-sufficiency content, we’ve seen a steady rise in readership from sites like The Homestead Survival and Knowledge Weighs Nothing. And, as you might expect, I’ve spent more time checking out these sites and those...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)With NASA reporting a “potentially hazardous” asteroid nearly half-a-mile wide possibly heading toward earth, and some upstate New Yorkers claiming they experienced a loud boom and a bright light in the sky last night caused by a meteor, a doctors’ organization is offering some timely advice: Just as when the American populace first prepared for the possibility of a nuclear blast, a person’s best option for surviving a meteor strike is the same “duck and cover” created during the 1940s and ’50s when nuclear weaponry was still in its infancy. The warning comes from Physicians for Civil Defense, which issued...

On a tight food budget? Here are seven inexpensive and nutritious items you should consider adding to your grocery list.Trying to live on a food budget of about $4 per day can be quite a challenge. People quickly discover this when they take the Food Stamp Challenge and try to learn what it's like to be poor for a week. The challenge mirrors what someone can get through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, the federal program that helps low-income people buy groceries. One in seven Americans receive the benefits, which were significantly reduced by Congress in November. To...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)BOUNTIFUL -- It sits in the parking lot of the Emergency Essentials store in Bountiful, all but daring you not to stop and stare. The massive, bright yellow, corrugated metal section of pipeline is 10 feet across and thrice that length, with a few smaller sections of pipe sticking out at various angles. And just in case that's not enough of a draw for the terminally incurious, there's even a banner on the side -- at least there was until the last Bountiful windstorm -- that reads "Tour a 'Bomb Shelter' ... Atlas Survival Shelters." Bomb shelter? Trust us, you...

How are birds in your area dealing with the cold weather? Any sightings or interesting stories worth sharing here? There are reports of Arctic birds coming down into North America, including parts of the United States during this 'polar vortex'.. Any sightings? Some birds flee the cold areas for warmer climates, and some stay and endure it by hiding in sheltered areas such as hollow or thick trees in groups. If you have the means to set food out for birds, finding food is more of a problem for them during cold temperatures than enduring the temperature is.

I have read that ethanol alcohol—the kind of alcohol that makes us drunk—was the first synthesized product that humans made. Originally made from honey, fruits, berries, grains, and other plants left in the sun to ferment, alcohol and its first use documented as far back as 10,000 B.C. Historically, fermented beverages: Acted as a substitution for water Fixed nutritional deficiencies Served medicinal purposes Alcohol also had its place in religious ceremonies and even used as currency. Supposedly, vodka was an ingredient in early European gunpowder. And of course, people drank alcohol in order to become intoxicated. When shopping for liquor,...

Today I have an update for you on my hydroponics adventures. The system has been up and running all season (April 20 - November 1) so there is a lot of information to be shared. The system currently includes 12 beds - 4 outdoors and 8 in a greenhouse - for a total surface area of 56 sq.ft (~ 5.5 m2). An in-depth description of the system was published last year on Survivalblog. I made only 1 substantial change since then and that is in the way the polyethylene drain pipes are connected to the beds. The connections need to...