Category: Self-Employment & Home-Based Businesses

Livestock Breeding Strategies For When SHTF – Part 2, by S.W.

The goat is called the poor man’s cow. They are inexpensive, easy to handle, and eat a wide variety of vegetation. They are basically browsers, meaning they eat leaves and stems from shrubs and trees. They are the most efficient animal to convert browse to lean meat. When commercial feeds become unavailable, they would be the most likely survivors. They are also easily trained as pack and cart animals, able to pack 20 to 40% of their weight and pull five times that. They can negotiate more difficult terrain than any other pack animal and continue with only the water …


Letter Re: OPSEC and Paid Security

Dear Jim and Hugh, I agree with the statements about private security. However, having too much visible security implies you have something worth protecting inside, and with the glut of marijuana production getting legalized in many states, the price of that drug has dropped, meaning the growers who were used to a certain income are now scrambling and desperate. There have been many reported incidents of home invasions in pot growing areas, with violent outcomes, and it is likely there are many that weren’t reported because the invaders were all killed and buried. Falling crop values and potential full legalization …


Soap Making Before And After Interesting Times, by Laura and Jim Fry

Over the years there have been occasional posts on SurvivalBlog about making various “homemade” soaps using easily found commercial ingredients. These often include store-bought washing soda, Fells Naptha, Zote soap, baking soda and such. Simply grate them up in the right proportions, mix and there you go. There have also been posts going a step further that explain how to make soap from easily purchased oils, meat counter fat or suet, commercial lye and fragrances. It’s just not that hard if you make use of the ingredients and instructions easily found these days. But what do you do in TEOTWAWKI if the stores close, either from lack of product to sell or from looting? What if …


Skills for the Coming Collapse by Jackie S.

I think we all, at one time or another, need to do a serious self-assessment to determine exactly where we stand in regards to the future and what it will mean to us on a life sustaining basis.  Most people reading this have already done this, to a degree.  After all, you are prepping bacon, beans and bullets, and it is an admirable and necessary pursuit that you are engaged in.  But, what about when (not if) the SHTF?  Sure, you have food, shelter, and the means to protect it, but what about when things settle down and life begins …


Review of 2013 Self-Reliance Expo, Denver, Colorado, by L.K.O.

The National Self Reliance Organization (NSRO) sponsors the Self-Reliance Expos. The expo returned this year to Denver, Colorado on October 4-5, 2013. I also toured the prior Denver Self-Reliance Expo on Sep. 16-17, 2011 here and one last year (May 18-19, 2012) in Colorado Springs. Prior expos have been held in Salt Lake City, Utah (October 7-8, 2011), and during 2012 at Dallas, TX (July 27-28), Hickory, North Carolina (September 14-15) and Mesa, Arizona (October 26-27). Upcoming expos in 2014 will be held in Mesquite, Texas and back in Denver, Colorado. The next upcoming expo is featured here. As usual, several of the vendors at the expo were SurvivalBlog advertisers. d Multiple …


A Contractor’s Preps: Materiel Storage, by Paul W.

I’d like to discuss my perspective on family preparedness, from the perspective of a architectural design and building contractor. There are four categories to this aspect of preparedness:  Materials, Tools, Knowledge and Usefulness I read a lot of articles about things to stock up on when TEOTWAWKI situations occur.  One thing I do not hear discussed as much is keeping a well stock material shed at your bug out location.  Now keep in mind this is not a Bug out bag list.  The is a Bug Out Destination or Home list. Coming from the world of Architectural Design and Contracting …


Letter Re: Storing Whiskey For Barter

Hi Jim, I love SurvivalBlog! I have a question: I would like to store whiskey for bartering in SHTF. I thought of taking empty 187 ML (about 6 oz) wine bottles with screw caps, washing them, refilling with whiskey, placing a short wine cork in top, then screw cap, then wrap in Saran wrap to limit evaporation loss. I would then label bottles with content and date, and store for SHTF. How does this sound to you? Thanks, – Tom R. JWR Replies: While I don’t approve of bartering whiskey, I must concede that many folks do see some utility …


Using Auctions, Goodwill and Second Hand Stores to Stockpile Prepping Supplies at Bargain Prices, by Chris M.

I was unexpectedly laid off two years ago.  Although I eventually landed another position after months of searching, losing my job was perhaps the most humbling and painful experience I’ve been through in recent years.   Truth be told, I was also bitter.  The frustrations of hunting for a new job in a tough market, starting up a sideline family business and wondering where in the world my family of six will end up really began to take their toll.  I sorely needed a distraction and an excuse get out of the house! On a whim, I started going to auctions. …


Two Letters Re: Being Charitable When the SHTF

Mr Rawles, Thank you for taking the time to read my articles and to comment on them. I appreciate the points you raised regarding charity via the church and other local organizations. I was possibly a little unclear and maybe should have stressed more that I was referring to the time during a collapse when getting supplies to organizations in order that they can disperse them could be difficult if not downright dangerous. I disagree that I am your diametric opposite Mr Rawles. I am neither a thief nor a looter and I agree with your assessment that a collapse …


Life in the Year 2020: America With 20/20 Hindsight

By the year 2020 we may be in the midst of (or in the early stages of recovery from) a major depression or perhaps even a full-blown socioeconomic collapse. An old saying is: “Hindsight is 20/20.” So here is a gedanken: What will people observe in the year 2020, with the benefit of hindsight? The following is my conjecture on what folks will cite when asked: “What went wrong?” Profligate government spending at all levels Multigenerational welfare Rampant food stamp dependence (1/6th of the populace, as of 2013!) Loss of American competitiveness Declining academic standards and performance Decline in manufacturing …


How to Budget for TEOTWAWKI, by Louie in Ohio

Prepping is never far from my mind. A few months ago I was talking with a friend and the subject of TEOTWAWKI (The End Of The World As We know It) came up. Tom (not his real name) said that he would like to prepare for upcoming emergencies but didn’t know where to start. The answer was simple; start where you are. Obviously most people cannot start with a full larder and weapons/ammunition cache. That is of course, unless you really do have all of that, in that case…well, that’s where you are. I asked Tom what scenarios he wanted …


3D Printing: Is it in Your Future?, by Kevin L.

There is a lot of talk in the media these days about three dimensional (3D) printers. For our community there is the Liberator, a 3D printed gun. It is an amazing development but certainly not ready for widespread use. 3D printers also make it possible to print your own magazines, holsters, and just about anything else you can think of that is made from plastic. But how good are these printers? Should they be part of your survival arsenal? If so, which one should you get? You can get used 3D Printers for around $550 without trying very hard but …


Guest Article: Self-Employment as a Form of Preparedness, by S.G.

As the economy in the United States becomes increasingly complex, job opportunities continue to shift toward specialized skills. Employees working at large companies are required to have little or no understanding of how their company operates as a whole. Like any specialized tool, many employees have become useful for only one thing. This presents a real problem for workers who get laid off or fired, because finding another job with a specialized skill set can be a difficult task. A side effect of this problem is an increasing dependence on our interconnected system. Necessities like food and water are expected …


Wouldn’t it be Great if Someone Made… (A List of Needful Gear)

I love dropping hints. Wouldn’t it be great if someone made any of the following products? (Some of these might already exist.) A set of stencils designed for camouflage spray-painting rifles and other field gear to replicate popular camouflage patterns, such as Woodland pattern. Custom checkered wooden grips or molded checkered plastic grips at a comfortable Glock/1911 grip angle, to solve a problem that has existed since 1896. A Kydex holster that would fit a HK 26.5mm flare pistol. Kydex belt pouches shaped to fit all of the most popular Leatherman tool models. Kydex belt pouches for FN FiveSeven pistol …


Rabbits for a Stable (and Staple) Protein Source, by S.F.D. in West Virginia

What if you could have a protein source that is inexpensive to maintain, that would not draw attention the attention of prying eyes and ears and it actually produces valuable bi-products that can be used/traded/sold to help offset remaining costs?   Consider the common domestic rabbit. Rabbits have been kept as a meat animal since before the times of the Roman Empire.  They have fed people during good times (as a farm or ranch animal) and in bad times such as: wars, famines, even in America during the Great Depression and both world wars.    Today you can find rabbit meat in …