Category: Livestock, Feed, & Fencing

Repairing Gardening Hand Tools, by Christian Souljer

Being able to plant your own vegetables during hard times will be greatly desirable. In order to do this, a preparedness person should have multiple duplicates of commonly used garden tools. Gardening tools such as rakes, hoes, and pitchforks often break at the connection between the handle and the head. The wood becomes aged and with downward pressure/force – the wood can break away and or the tool head can just become loose and fall out. This occurs mostly on older tools where the wood has shrank but can also occur on the cheaper imported garden tools. I recently had …


Letter Re: Some Observations on Self-Sufficiency and Retreat Security

James, I greatly appreciate SurvivalBlog and the solid, thoughtful info it contains, and have printed out numerous posts for future reference. It seems for many the ideal is having a bug-out location, so perhaps readers could glean some useful information from my experience owning and operating a fair-sized ranch, one of the goals of which is to be as independent as possible. Specific observation on particular issues: WATER Top of the list, everything else is secondary. If you don’t have indoor water for cooking, bathing, toilets, etc., the quality of life quickly plummets. Try hauling all of the water you …


Cutlery Considerations for TEOTWAWKI, by Gage

In a post-TEOTWAWKI environment many of the services we take for granted now will be nonexistent. We will be growing or own produce, butchering our own livestock, cooking our own food, performing our own minor surgeries and protecting or own lives. We will have to rely on our own skills, knowledge and equipment. Of all the tools available to humans none has more importance than a wide selection of cutlery. History has revealed to us six simple machines that revolutionized the world: the wheel, the lever, the pulley, the inclined plane, the screw, and the wedge. As you may have …


Weather Forecasting the Old-Fashioned Way, an Important Skill for WTSHTF

One thing that we take for granted in our modern age is ready access to sophisticated weather forecasting, complete with satellite imagery. But when the Schumer Hits the Fan (WTSHTF) and the power grid and Internet go adios, those will no longer be available. Under these same circumstances, gardening, hay cutting, and small scale grain raising will be crucial. You will need to be able to predict the weather with some accuracy. If you cut your hay at the wrong time–just before the advent of a wet summer weather system–you could end up with a moldy hay crop. And if …


SurvivalBlog Reader Poll: What is Your Profession?

I’m amazed at the wide variety of people that read SurvivalBlog. I”m starting a new poll: in seven words or less, tell us you profession, (via e-mail) and I will post an anonymous list. For any of you that are doctors, lawyers, or engineers, and so forth please state your specialty. If you have two (or more) vocations, please state the both with a slash in between. (Such as “neurosurgeon / musician.”) As standard policy, unless specifically given permission I remove people’s names, titles, e-mail addresses, company names, and other identifiers from letters before I post them. Without mentioning any …


Ponies for Survival, by Jen’s Hens

Horses will be quite handy in a survival situation to be pack animals, to ride, to do farm work, and many other things. But horses eat enormous amounts of food and generally are not surefooted. So how are you going to have pack animals, riding animals, and farm workers? Well, ponies of course! Ponies are smaller than horses no taller then 14.2 hands high so they are easier to handle, they are more surefooted then horses, and eat a lot less than horses. (One hand equals four inches.) Horses (Especially Draft horses) require high quality feed, but ponies can easily …


Four Letters Re: Raising Goats for Self-Sufficiency

Jim, Perfect timing on this article by Freeholder, as my wife and I were literally talking that day about getting goats! That alone made me think that I need to hang out here for a while. I’ve gone through a lot of the posts on here, and I’m very thankful to have found your place! I’m in Iraq right now, for the 3rd time, this time I’m working in the Embassy. I retire in five years, and the wife and I can’t wait to move to our rural home! I’m lucky, I’m married to a woman who is very self …


Raising Goats for Self-Sufficiency, by Freeholder

It seems like more and more people are becoming aware of the need to grow some of their own food. Usually they start with a garden, and maybe some chickens or meat rabbits. But eventually, if the family has room for them and the zoning allows, they decide that they need their own milk supply (with a little home-grown veal or chevon [goat meat] as a bonus). Cows have their place, but in many situations goats are a better choice. They are smaller and easier to handle; less expensive to purchase; require less room; and can eat, and even thrive …


Letter Re: Consider The Downside of HOAs and CC&Rs Before Making a Land Purchase

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Rawles; I live in so-called “rural” western Oregon. Last month I sold my home that was in a Homeowner’s Association (HOA) and moved to a slightly bigger place (3.5 acres, versus 2 )[that is] a few miles farther out into the country, outside of any HOA. Living there [inside the HOA] was worse than living inside city limits. I was forced to move [because] they had some CC&Rs that made it very diffiicult–if not downright impossible–to prepare for a disaster. Under the [“covenants, conditions, and restrictions”] CC&Rs, my storage space for all my survival goodies was …


Reader Poll Results: Your TEOTWAWKI Resume — 100 Words and 100 Pounds

Some of these stretched the 100 word limit. (I skipped posting one that rambled on far beyond the limit.) The poll’s premise in a nutshell: “If someday you went to the gates of a survival community post-TEOTWAWKI and pleaded the case for why you should be let past the barricades and armed guards to become a valuable working member of the group, would you get voted in? Taken objectively, would you vote yourself in?”   I am a shoe maker (not just a repairman) can repair saddles tan leather have done ranch work mechanics weld gardening skills set a broken …


Letter Re: Livestock at Your Retreat

Mr. Rawles: Just a few tips on the livestock side of things, in response to Samantha’s piece on Livestock at Your Retreat: – Your Mile May Vary (YMMV) on pasture needs. On the coastal plain, two acres per head of cattle will do quite nicely in most area. But in more “brittle” areas, such as the high plains, the East slopes of the Rockies, West Texas, etc, you will find yourself needing considerably more land than two acres per cow. (Check with your Agriculture college or county extension agent.) Hereabouts, one acre of good land will provide both grazing and …


Letter Re: Question on Sizing a New Garden

Sir: How much square footage should I fence off (to protect from deer) for a [self-sufficiency] vegetable garden for my family of five? Thank You Sir, – P.L., near Eugene, Oregon JWR Replies: As a scant minimum, I’d recommend a 25′ x 30′ garden plot. By using French Intensive (double dug) or Square Foot Gardening techniques, you can get a huge yield out of that much garden space. But if you have the acreage available and can afford the extra fencing material, then by all means make your fenced garden plot two or three times that size. This has several …


Livestock at Your Retreat, by Samantha

Livestock, while not strictly essential to post-TEOTWAWKI survival, are certainly on the to-have list of the majority of all survival-minded individuals. However, it is also a subject rarely broached within those same circles, and concise, laymen’s term pointers are a hard find. For the most part where the U.S. is concerned, what was once knowledge crucial to the survival of men the world round has now dwindled, in effect, to the level of a hobby. In brief, I’ll cover the three most basic issues which apply to all manner of livestock, and then broach species-specific information. I encourage everyone with …


Letter Re: Advice on Where to Learn Practical, Tactical Skills

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Dear Jim: As my confidence in the dollar depreciates and my desire for skills increases, I’m wanting to convert FRNs into hands-on knowledge. What weeknight or weekend workshops would you recommend? Are there any places where you can learn Army Ranger skills without joining the military? Animal husbandry, and so on? – Spencer JWR Replies: There is a tremendous wealth of free or low-cost classes available–enough to keep you busy every weekend of the year if you are willing to drive a distance. If you have time and just a bit of money, you can get some very well-rounded training …


The Basics of Keeping a Small Flock of Chickens for Survival Protein, by Korey

A small flock of Chickens are not only fun to raise but also a good source of year round protein. They are good scavengers and can make high quality good tasting protein out of every day scraps. A little known fact about chickens is that they will eat almost anything and everything that grows or crawls on this earth. I have seen my small flock eat grass, seeds, bugs, flies, worms and yes I even saw the flock catch and eat a mouse one day. The mouse was stealing food out of the dish when one of the older hens …