The Survival Weekly Dispatch - Volume 11, Issue 7

Happy Valentine's Day

Hey everyone, thanks for checking out the newsletter this week. I’ve been quite busy the last several days, trying to hit various deadlines before they go whooshing by. I’m writing this on Tuesday afternoon. Once I have it uploaded to send, I need to finish my notes and handouts for a Prepping 101 class I’m teaching this Thursday at the Matheson Memorial Library in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. Then, I have to get my Patreon essay done and posted.

Once those are done, I’ll dive back into edits for Prepper Survival Guide 23. I also have four stories for that issue to write by Friday.

It’s times like this that I’m reminded of the song Roll On by Kid Rock.

Money and success,

I don't complain about the stress

I wanted this and now it's here,

So, I don't bitch

As I often say, I’m truly blessed to be able to earn a living doing what I love. And sometimes that means putting in a whole ton of hours in a short period of time. Gotta take the bad with the good. This line of work is still a whole lot better than my previous career as a private investigator, that’s for sure.

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Prepper Tip -- A friend shared a video with me late last week. It was just a brief snippet from a much longer video involving Sheriff Richard Jones from Butler County, Ohio. It’s a press conference of some sort where he talks about things he learned at a recent training session in Washington DC, including border security issues, cyberwarfare risks, and the strong potential for terrorist attacks in the near future.

Here’s a link to the full video. It’s 25 minutes long, so you might want to grab a snack.

At one point, around the six-minute mark, he mentions a class that they set up through Texas A&M University for people to learn how to respond to disasters. That’s this course, which is being held at various locations around the country. I’m taking it myself next month in Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

Y’all know I’m not an alarmist type. That said, I think we’re potentially looking at a pretty…interesting…year ahead. Plan accordingly.

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If you are a First Responder, or you have someone in your life who is, there’s a tremendous training opportunity available through Camp Hero in Kentucky. My good friend Craig Caudill is leading some Nature Immersion classes this year, and they’re free to First Responders. All of the details are here.

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Just some food for thought. If you’re sitting in a preparedness class or watching an “influencer” on YouTube and they’re advising you to gather a list of the Airbnb properties in your area so that you can break into them during a crisis, whether to use as a bug out location or for just plain looting, I’d think long and hard about anything else they’re advising you to do.

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The new issue of The Backwoodsman is out and among several great articles, it has my review of the Victorinox Venture knife. Here’s the cover of the magazine.

To be clear, as some folks have been confused, this is not one of “my” magazines. I’m strictly just an occasional contributor to Backwoodsman. I’m a huge fan of the magazine and I’ve been a subscriber off and on for many years.

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Vet wrap is a must for your first aid supplies. For those who aren’t familiar with it, vet wrap is a self-adhering bandage. It sticks to itself, without the need for clips or tape. Vet wrap has a variety of uses, including holding bandages in place and supporting injured limbs. It can also be used to hold things in place, such as IV ports. 

What’s nice is that while it sticks to itself very well, it doesn’t stick to hair or skin. This means it won’t hurt the patient when it is removed. It can be worn while showering without a problem, too.

Here’s the pack that I bought on Amazon a while back.

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Our hike this week was a visit to a park my wife and used to live near, about 30 years ago. There were numerous trees and branches that came down in the last round or two of storms.

Survival Tip – Garden Planning

Now is a great time to start planning your spring garden. Think about what worked and what didn’t in years past, and what you can do to improve your overall success.

I encourage you to take advantage of every inch of available space and plant as much as you possibly can. I don’t say this because of any prediction of impending doom. Just that no garden is perfect and no garden produces 100%. But the more you plant, theoretically the more you’ll be able to harvest.

One thing we do at home is try experimenting with at least one or two new-to-us plants each year. We’ve not decided yet what those will be this year. We’ve really struggled with potatoes and have yet to have a really successful crop. So, one of the things I’m looking at is how we can improve in that regard.

Don’t overlook soil amendments. We have a couple of compost bins that are in constant use, even through the winter.

Get your seeds ordered soon, and order more than you think you’ll need, just in case.

Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide

For those new to my little corner of the Internet, I am the Editor in Chief for both Prepper Survival Guide and Backwoods Survival Guide magazines. Here are the covers for the current issues that are available in stores right now. 

You can find them just about anywhere magazines are sold, including:

• Walmart

• Sam's Club

• Costco

• Publix

• Walgreens

• Rite Aid

• CVS

• Tractor Supply

• Fleet Farm

• Barnes & Noble

Subscriptions to both titles are available here.

Questions, Comments, Complaints, Concerns?

I am always just an email away - jim@survivalweekly.com.