Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 2, by Tennessean

Seed (continued) Winter Squash One needs to give these cultivars a LOT of room, planting on a grid 8’ by 8’ is about right. This year we are growing two winter squash cultivars that keep a long time in a root cellar. Anna Swartz is a C. maxima and Waltham Butternut is a C. moschata and will not cross pollinate (this is why you must have Suzanne Ashworth’s book!), so we will be saving the seed from these. Insects pollinate the cucumber family, and we’ve oodles of all sorts of pollinator insects in East Tennessee, and they fly for many …


Our Experience Growing and Storing Our Own Food- Part 1, by Tennessean

A recent post commented on how it is next to impossible to grow one’s own food. It’s very hard work, has a difficult and long learning curve, but it can be done. This essay explains how to efficiently grow and store your own food. You can learn from our mistakes. Both my sets of grandparents farmed with a team of mules. We know a couple in a county north of us who farm using with a team of mules; they are able to feed themselves, the mules, and also customers at a farmer’s market. About Me I’m 73 years old …


Getting Home – Part 2, by BF

First, I had to decide where to spend my time bargain hunting and then plan my trip to maximize opportunities. The places where I decided to shop for the remaining necessary “get home” items were: Thrift shops Estate auctions Pawn shops Tag sales Craigslist.com online listings Walmart Dollar stores Grocery stores Thrift Stores These are stores that serve as outlets for the donation of goods to support the charity’s mission. Goodwill, DAV, and Salvation Army are the mainstays in this area. These are generally good to browse at, but they can be hard places in which to find bargains, as …


Getting Home – Part 1, by BF

I recently had to travel for work to a large, Midwestern city with a population of about two million. I needed to spend two weeks there working with a team to help recover an IT development project that had gone “south”. I could have traveled back home for the middle weekend; however, I didn’t want to spend all the extra time traveling, waiting for connections in airports, and so forth, so I stayed in the city. The Challenge For fun, I decided to spend that weekend seeing what I could put together for a get home bag, with a target …


Bugging Out “Alone”, by Professor Prepper

There have been many articles written about the folly of bugging out into the wilderness in a TEOTWAWKI event. However, if you want to see what it will be like to bug out alone in the wilderness to try to survive, then you need to watch the History Channel’s new show Alone. The concept of the show is to drop 10 survival experts off on Vancouver Island alone, with minimal supplies. The last man on the island wins $500,000. You can read the ten men’s bios and the list of the 10 survival items that each chose on the History …


The Cycle Express, by W.N.

Food? Check. Water? Check. Tools and other supplies? Check. Do you have the entire rest of the list? Check. You are prepared and ready for an economic collapse, a catastrophic natural disaster, a terrorist attack, martial law, and a host of other scenarios. In fact, you have even convinced your family and friends to get prepared and they have totally bought in. Then that day arrives, and the power is out. The banks are closed. Water and gasoline are being hoarded. There is no phone, no tv and no Internet. On the radio, there are only official broadcasts, but these …


The Importance and Art of Fire-Making, by N.P.

Obviously, being able to make a fire in a SHTF scenario is of utmost importance. In addition to providing warmth and cooking capabilities, fire also provides a psychological boost. As an avid outdoorsman, who is originally from Canada, I’ve got a lot of experience and training, but I’m by no means claiming to be an expert. I just want to share some of my findings that may prove useful to others. I have several stories about the importance of fire-making. Here’s an example: I was in the Boreal Forest in Canada and noticed a large billboard containing the writing “Nature …


Raising Meat Rabbits: Mistakes and Successes, by JEE

We currently live on one acre. So finding a protein source that is easy to house, is inexpensive, has a fairly good turn-over rate, and doesn’t require a lot of land, was hard at first. We actually stumbled upon it by accident. We were given two Rex rabbits with a cage shortly after moving into our new house. Three months later, we had babies, lots of them. However, not ever having butchered anything before and not really wanting to, as they were such small animals, we re-homed them. However, it got me thinking and researching. It turns out that there …


Thoughts on Pre-Event Healthcare Preparations – Part 3 , by B.E.

Vaccinations [Editor’s note: This article takes a pro-vaccination stance. It is SurvivalBlog’s position that every parent has the right to raise their children as they see fit and that mandatory vaccination programs are an overreach of governmental authority. Aside from the discussion of whether the vaccinations cause reactions of one sort or another, there is an ethical issue on what materials are used in the production of vaccines. SurvivalBlog will never advocate using vaccines that are manufactured with aborted fetal tissue and/or toxic ingredients.] Now back to my initial story about having to get a vaccine due to a lack …


Thoughts on Pre-Event Healthcare Preparations – Part 2 , by B.E.

Waste Elimination When confronting sanitation issues, the basics are still the most important. Practicing good personal hygiene, such as bathing regularly and washing hands before handling food, eating, and after using the toilet, will prevent the spread of pathogens. However, sanitation can be over done. All these antimicrobial soaps and hand sanitizers are probably contributing to the emergence of MRSA (Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus) and other resistant bacteria that are so prevalent in the news now days. I don’t think the importance of waste elimination can be overemphasized, despite it not being a very palatable subject (no pun intended). In …


Thoughts on Pre-Event Healthcare Preparations – Part 1 , by B.E.

…”An ounce of prevention is worth….” I am fairly new to this blog but have found it immensely interesting and useful, and it prompted me to write down some thoughts I have been having for years. As a physician, I am particularly interested in how healthcare and basic needs will survive in a post-apocalyptic world. If this article is redundant for long-time users of the site, I apologize. On June 5, 1976, at around 12:00 p.m., a catastrophic failure of an earth-built dam in southeastern Idaho occurred, resulting in the release of 250,000 acre-feet of water on an unsuspecting Snake …


Taking Control of Your Health and Your Pocketbook at the Same Time, by RWL

[Editors note: This article contains information about a multi-level marketing system. There are generally two ways to look at these programs. If you like the products, you usually get a discounted price if you are a reseller. If you are looking at some sort of income, understand that marketing is a skill and not everyone excels at it. There is generally a “buy-in” to a sales program and if you are not motivated, you will lose your investment. Multi-level marketing in particular depends on people selling below you. If you don’t recruit sellers, you have to work harder for your …


Are You Fit to Survive, by S.D.

Disclaimer: This article is presented as an example only. The author is not a licensed medical practitioner and is unable to diagnose any medical condition or give recommendations on treatment of any medical condition. There is inherent risk involved with any physical training, and if you undertake anything mentioned in this article it is at your own risk. Neither the author nor SurvivalBlog.com are responsible for any injury that occurs while exercising under the guidance of this article. Please consult with a physician before beginning any exercise program. About the author: I’ve spent the largest part of a decade in …


To Bee, or Not to Bee – Part 2, by Prepared Grammy

Getting Bees You have two options for getting bees; you can buy them or capture them. As a beginner, I would suggest buying bees or have an experienced beekeeper help you to capture a swarm. (I will not go into the process of capturing bees in this article.) If you capture a swarm, you must make sure that you capture the queen too. There are two ways to capture “wild bees”. You can capture a group of bees that are swarming. These are bees that are on the move and looking for a new home. They are relatively easy to …


To Bee, or Not to Bee – Part 1, by Prepared Grammy

About Me When I was a small child, I know I was a bit odd. I loved bees. I played with bees and tried to get them to crawl on my hands. I caught them, put them in a jar, and wanted to keep them as pets. I wanted my own beehives, so I could harvest my own honey. I told you, I was odd. Yes, I was occasionally stung, but my love for bees did not waiver. I never got over the desire to have bees. My husband and I have three grown children, and our third grandchild is …