Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Michael Z. Williamson’s Commentary: Peak Oil Meets Yuppie Marketing

Over at the One Scythe Revolution web site, Peak Oil expert Richard Heinberg states that in order to continue to grow the same amount of food in the future, without the use of cheap oil, we will need 40-to-50 million farmers, farming 3-to-50 acres each, cultivated with hand tools. No, not like in the Middle Ages. We are talking about “appropriate technology” here. But let’s face it, “appropriate technology” is wielded by slaves. Masters wield guns. Slaves wield scythes. Here is quote: “One good scythe per farm, could revolutionize small-scale farming.” I kinda feel like this has already been done. …


Getting Back to My Roots — Why I am a Prepper, by Chad T.

I was born into a family of preppers.  My grandparents were all farmers and lived through the Great Depression in the Midwest.   My parents both grew up on farms and came from large families.  While my folks would not label themselves today as preppers, they would consider themselves as independent and self-reliable.  In order to understand my journey as a prepper, you have to go back a few years.  Early into my parents’ marriage, my dad just got out of the navy and worked in various cities and towns, from Texas to Minnesota.  The largest town we lived in was …


Letter Re: Holey Ground–The Use of the Auger in Homestead Food Production

James: I’d like to take exception to the recent article by M.S. on using augers to make plant holes. No professional would consider using an auger for planting. Augers compact and glaze the edge of the hole as they work their way down.  While this is great for post holes, it’s a death sentence for the plant roots. A far better and faster way is to use either a small backhoe  or an articulated trencher that will cut a fan shaped hole.  The spoil from the hole is broken up and now suitable for back fill.  Post-SHTF, a good quality …


Holey Ground — The Use of the Auger in Homestead Food Production, by M.S.

When planning to grow their own food, many people understandably focus on the plants. A plant, however, simply expresses its genetic blueprint to the extent it can based on the energy and materials available from the sun and soil. We can therefore state that a critical aspect of successful vegetable production is the quality of the soil. Given the limitations of either the amount of warning you might have before needing to produce food for your family, or the amount of money you are able to put toward improving your soil to the point it will yield reliably, amending your …


Letter Re: Thoughts on Dogs at Survival Retreats

Hello Jim, You have had a couple of good articles about having dogs for retreat/home protection recently. I couldn’t agree more that dogs are a wonderful resource in many ways. I have two German Shepherds who keep my farm and home safe from humans and predators.  There are a couple points I would like to add. First of all, not all dogs will fight to protect their pack. I had a German Shepherd several years ago who would try to hide behind me if there was danger. He was a complete coward, in spite of his attack training. When picking …


Thoughts on Dogs at Survival Retreats, by D.K., DVM

Should you shelter-in-place or move to a retreat?  Lots of pros and cons about this, and most of it depends upon strength in numbers.  Obviously, the more remote and inaccessible your castle is, the harder it will be for intruders to discover or invade.  But I’m 65, and I don’t own any remote property.  My house sits on a very defendable cul-de-sac, essentially surrounded on three sides by water – my “moat.”  I could pull stakes and move to a national park or wildlife preserve, but it would be a simple campsite with tent and no walls, and I would …


Letter Re: A Lesson About Rat Poison

Sir, Thank you for your service and for your tremendous witness and testimony shown through your blog! I am not an expert on poison, but a recent event made me realize this is probably an important topic to cover on this forum. My forum searches did not produce anything on this subject. About a month ago, my daughters small dog wondered into the garage while I was taking out the trash. When I went back into the living room I found him eating something green… which turned out to be an old rat poison bait he found in the corner …


Three Letters Re: Out of Options — Get a Guard Dog

Dear Editor: Congratulations to TJ and family for getting connected with a great dog. I love German Shepherds! Allow me to offer a couple of additions to the concept of survivalists utilizing guard dogs. Food; When you ask people my grandparents age how they fed dogs “back in the day” you are likely to get the answer “the dogs ate table scraps” or the dogs ran around and found their own food. In a survival scenario there aren’t going to be any scraps nor is there going to be much to “forage.” Therefore if bringing a dog on to the …


Beginning Bee Keeping, by A.B.

I always planned to have a bee hive someday but someday had not come until I mentioned my interest to a friend who promptly told me he was splitting a hive (taking a few hundred bees out to prevent them from feeling over crowded) in one week and that he would share the “split” (a couple pf hundred bees) with me.  I promptly ran to the library and checked out three books on bee keeping.  Many questions and concerns kept floating around in my mind, a few of which included:  I know nothing about bees!, What equipment do I need …


Out of Options — Get a Guard Dog, by T.J.

We came late to the prepping party.  We didn’t own any guns.  We lived paycheck to paycheck in a suburban area.  We couldn’t afford to buy property in Idaho, while it’s still a dream.  We have slowly stocked up on short term and long term food and water, bought heirloom seeds and learned to garden, loaded up on firewood for two huge fireplaces for cooking and warmth, but that’s about it.  Recently our son, honorably discharged from the Armed Services, came home to start his life as a civilian.  He owned a 9mm and promptly proceeded to purchase a .22 …


A Prepper’s Holiday by C.E.B.

A preface: This article is not about the perfect excursion to relieve your tensions regarding coming doom and gloom. If you need a vacation from your constant worry, then you have become slave to it. Slaves don’t get to take holiday in Babylon! I wanted to share with friends and family some holidays that I feel were instituted specifically with the prepper in mind. Many of us are well aware of the practical advantages of observing the sabbath. For those of faith it becomes obvious through practice. Those who are not religious but still enjoy a day of rest will …


Letter Re: A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens

To follow up on chicken coop design article “A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens“, please consider:  My first coop had chicken wire all the way down to the ground.  The possums would get one on each side at night, bounce the chickens from side to side (chickens are stupid at night) and then they would grab one through the wire and extrude them through the wire eating as they went.  Within a month they were all gone.  The whole thing was very disturbing. My new coop has plywood sides with hardware cloth (1/2″ squares) on the upper part.  As in the …


Letter Re: A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens

Mr. Rawles and Readers, I would like to make an additional comment on the well written article “A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens”.  It is true, that most of the hatchery breeds of chickens have lost their inclination to brood, however a few breeds still maintain their skills as good brood hens.  We purchased three Silkie chickens two years ago and I have been amazed at their tenacity toward both laying and setting eggs.  One hen tried for six weeks to set eggs in the pen in the middle of a snow drift in February and March.  She was so …


Letter Re: A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens

Jim, I wanted to comment on this article.  I thought it was a great play by play of getting chickens and keeping them for eggs. Just a few comments about the article and some tips I’ve learned over the years (mistakes I made myself) that I figure could help Adventane and others reading the article.   1.  It’s common for a group of hens to find a preferred nest and use it as a community nest.  I commonly find two hens in the same nest.   2.  The crumbles are great for smaller birds but unfortunately for larger laying hens …


A Newbie’s Perspective on Raising Chickens by Adventane, in Northern Virginia

More than fifteen years ago my wife and I began collecting a year’s supply of food.  Once we’d collected almost 20 cases of food in #10 cans, we pretty much let the matter slip from our thoughts.  It wasn’t until about six years ago that we began to realize that we didn’t really know what we had, or how long it might last.  That led us to thinking about what else we needed, and eventually we stepped with full intent into the prepping mindset.  We recently moved out of the urban shadow of a major US metropolis and into a …