Protecting Your Farm Animals With a LGD, by Kit Perez

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If you’re serious about prepping and/or homesteading, chances are you have some animals on your property. Maybe it’s just a few chickens for eggs; maybe you have some other birds as well. You might have a beef steer or heifer, pigs, or even some goats or sheep. There’s a huge variety of animals to get, and just as many reasons to get them: meat, milk, wool, whatever. The point is that if you’ve taken on the responsibility (and privilege) of raising animals, then you’ve also taken on the responsibility of protecting them from predators. Anyone who’s raised chickens for a …


How NOT to Build a Retreat, by The Jewish Prepper, Pt. 4

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(Continued from Part 3. This part concludes the series.) Final Electric Up until this point, we had been working off generator power. Flashlights and battery powered LED lights were our only light source, and a kerosene heater and an old window AC unit were our only climate control. Once I had the drywall up, the inspector signed off on permanent power. This meant I was legally allowed to have the power company hook up a line to the house. There was only one problem: they needed to be able to get a truck in to set a pole. To get …


How NOT to Build a Retreat, by The Jewish Prepper, Pt. 3

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(Continued from Part 2) Windows and Siding You will often see people recommending salvaged windows for construction projects. Ignore those recommendations! You want new windows, and the ones with a complete rectangle of vinyl trim that snaps into place on the front. I got a good deal on windows that had no interior frame and no exterior vinyl fins, which meant I had to cobble those parts together myself. Every time I drive by a house with beautiful vinyl-framed windows, I feel a pang of jealousy, because mine not only took far longer to install, and they will always look …


How NOT to Build a Retreat, by The Jewish Prepper, Pt. 2

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(Continued from Part 1) A Word On Showers & Toilets I can tell you that no matter how much you like hiking and camping, you will quickly get tired of working construction all day and not being able to take a nice shower. You also get tired of relieving yourself in the woods. Early in the process, I built a small out-house, which I used for years. For a couple of years, I maintained a membership at a local gym for $10/month, just so that I could have a place to go shower each night I was up there working. …


How NOT to Build a Retreat, by The Jewish Prepper, Pt. 1

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Introductory Note: Please forgive the length of this essay, which will be posted in four parts. My project took me 10 years, so I have a lot to include. As a public service to those of you who are considering building a retreat for your family, I humbly offer a few of the lessons I’ve learned through the blood, sweat and tears I spilled to build a 480 square foot cottage in the woods. Prior to this project, I had no real construction experience, and no clue what to expect. The effort wiped out my savings, caused tremendous stress, and …


Making Flour From Mesquite, by Pete Thorsen

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My goal this past year was to make flour from Mesquite pods and I did meet this modest goal. To do this I planned ahead and I was able to purchase an old hand crank meat grinder and a hand crank grain mill. Both were used but appeared to be in excellent shape. The all-metal grain mill looks much like the old-style meat grinder but has two flat plates between which the milling takes place. New hand meat grinders and new grain mills like what I bought are still made and readily available. Many can be found on eBay and …


Recipe of the Week: Yogurt Ranch Dressing

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Okie Ranch Wife’s Yogurt Ranch Dressing This yogurt ranch dressing is a pantry-friendly recipe. I have made it several times already and it is always gone quickly. What I like about making this recipe is that you choose what you put into it. I stay away from commercial products like mayonnaise that has soy or canola oil in the ingredients. You can make your own mayonnaise using just olive oil. You can also make your own yogurt and apple cider vinegar. This recipe easily doubles or triples.   Ingredients ½ cup Plain Yogurt (not Greek style) 2 Tbsp Mayonnaise 1 …


Is Venezuela on the Verge of Becoming Another Syria?, by Brandon Smith

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Establishment elites have always had a predilection for regime change. Obviously, this strategy helps weed out nation states that might be uncooperative with their future plans for a fully centralized global economic and political order. We have also seen regime change occur when former puppet leaders go rogue and refuse to follow the script they have been given. Most of these men have acted as dictators and are not very empathetic public figures, so we rarely care when they get overthrown or murdered. That said, there are always wider implications to such events. I believe the reasons for regime change …


Downturns and Financial Crises – Sequence, by Gary Christenson

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Editor’s Note:  This concise bullet point market and economic summary article first appeared at The Deviant Investor and is re-posted with permission. Pay attention folks. This echoes my own writings on the economy. Another global economic crisis could be approaching. — Bond Market Turned Down & Interest Rates Up – Check! Two-Year yield bottomed September 2011 Five-Year yield bottomed July 2012 Ten-Year yield bottomed July 2016 The 30+ year bond bull market is done. Housing Market Turned Down – Check! Mortgage rates bottomed in July 2016. Mortgage applications have fallen hard. London, Vancouver B.C. and Australian prices are down. New …


Cutting Your Power Utility Cord, by Dennis Williams – Pt. 1.

A Short Primer on Making Your Own Electricity Most of us have thought of the dream: A secluded retreat nestled in the woods, off the beaten path, no mortgage, no utility bills, raising our own food, homeschooling our children, spending time with our family, etc. Then we pop back to reality, and try to plan out and prioritize how we make it happen. How do we get from where we are to where we want to be? Ten seconds of background on me: I have been playing with solar energy for 40 years. I am an Army combat veteran, and …


Age-Adjusted Prepping, by Wandering Will

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It is said that prepping is not a movement or a philosophy. It is a way of life, and a way of life must accommodate changes in life. Having squarely arrived into my “Golden Years,” I was reluctantly forced to take a fresh look at my prepping agenda. Not exactly a newbie to the game. I’m still eating Year 2000 Problem (Y2K) food, I have accumulated food, gear, and training over the years and have reached a somewhat reasonable level of comfort. However, we all know what happens when we start feeling confident. After a few recent practice drills and …


Misadventures in Moving, by Tober

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Editor’s Introductory Note:  I generally avoid posting rants, but this one about a Budget rental truck was genuinely epic and tragi-comic.  If you don’t enjoy rants, then only read the first section. – JWR I think sharing this story will help me a bit, as this was quite an adventure that was mentally and physically exhausting. This article is long, so I decided to put the tips at the beginning. If you want to read the story of why I thought these tips were important, continue below. Here are my mental health tips for you if you’re planning on making …


The Editors’ Quote of the Day:

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“The Five Levels of Trust: 1. The government man says: Its raining outside. I can look out the window and verify. Trust level is good. 2. The government man says: its 35 degrees outside. I can use simple technology to verify, trust level is good. 3. The government man says: the temperature at 70,000 feet altitude is -42 degrees, I cannot verify without extremely expensive equipment, but others can, so I kind of trust this because someone else can verify it. Trust level is Okay, at this point it does not affect me. 4. The government man says the temperature …


Letter: A Recent Test of Stored 2008-Vintage MREs

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Dear Editor: I am always interested in the viability of stored supplies, and am amazed at how quickly expiration dates are reached when one becomes a prepper. I’m the fellow that sent in the report of long-frozen yeast some months ago, and recently conducted a taste-test of an MRE purchased in August, 2008. I thought our brother and sister readers may be interested in my findings. The MRE was packaged by the MRE Star company, out of Hollywood, Florida. It was purchased in a case lot from a Brigade Quartermaster “brick & mortar” store in August, 2008. Though I have …


Sundries For Survival, Part 1, by 3adScout

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This article centers on logistics. This is not a list of what you need, but rather an inspiration to get us to think about a category of supplies that isn’t discussed a lot. Beans, bullets and band-aids are definitely key in survival but when you consider many of the items we will discuss in this article, they support our ability to raise, process or prepare food, ensure we can use our bullets if needed by having maintained and operational firearms and providing an ounce of prevention by supporting our health, safety and hygiene so we don’t have to use our …