Category: Self-Employment & Home-Based Businesses

Rawhide and Brain Tanning, by J.M.

In today’s world, you might wonder why working rawhide and brain tanning buckskin skill would be a benefit to anybody, when you can run to the hardware store and buy an unlimited supply of plastic, nylon, fiberglass, and what not to do your jobs. And why would anybody in their right mind want to wear anything made out of buckskin? When you have designer jeans, and all kinds of clothing to buy, in most stores like Wal-mart, K-mart, or even the used clothing stores? One question you might ask is how much of these things will be available when the fiat …


Survival Aspects of Cartridge Reloading, by Jerry M.

Having spent my teenage years in my dad’s commercial reloading shop, circa 1955 to1958, I learned quite a bit about reloading ammunition. Back then we loaded mostly .30-06, .30-30 Winchester, .270 Winchester, .300 Savage, 250 Savage and other old calibers that were excellent deer and elk rifles. Long before the magnum mania came about, these rifles were killing big game, and doing it quite well. Many today find this unbelievable, but back when the silver certificates were money, and fiat currency was only a dream of the globalist bankers, you could buy a pound of DuPont 4895, a box of 100- .30 caliber JSP bullets, and …


Letter Re: Farmer’s Markets in the American Redoubt?

Dear James- I just recently found your blog through a story on The Daily Crux by Stansberry and Associates. I am very impressed by the amount and quality of the info. I now feel less alone! The people that I have tried to talk to here don’t have a clue-they either say that if something bad happens they know we will take care of(feed) them or they say that they have guns and will take what they need. I only know of two other preppers and they are many miles away. We run a greenhouse business and vegetable farm in northern Wisconsin. …


An Overview of Handloading .45 ACP by Pat Cascio

I’ve had numerous requests from SurvivalBlog readers for some articles on reloading, and in particular, on how to reload. It is beyond the scope of any single article to teach anyone how to reload in several easy steps. There are many videos and reloading manuals available that can teach you, step-by-step, how to reload. There are also some on-line courses you can take to teach you how to reload. There isn’t anything magical about reloading, it’s really pretty simple and enjoyable – I’ve been reloading for more than 40 years now, and I personally find it a relaxing way to …


Three Letters Re: A Treasure-Hunting Prepper

Hi James. I only have a few comments on Greg’s treasure hunting article. First! All people new to metal detecting need to know the first rule is: what ever you dig- fill in your holes, please fill in any holes you make, learn to dig a ‘plug’. You Tube has a ‘how to’ do it the right way video. (Note: He’s using a Mine Lab detector in the video) Damaging the grass in your own yard isn’t a big deal, but if a million people (since Greg posted on a very popular blog, and people might rush to buy a …


A Treasure-Hunting Prepper, by Greg R. in Indiana

If you have been following the precious metals market lately, and you either have been or are considering the idea of investing in silver or gold, you fully appreciate the degree of value both metals have increased to. Market volatility is sparking renewed interest in precious metals as a means of protecting investments. Historically, civilizations understand the value and rare properties gold and silver offer. Regardless of what Ben Bernanke thinks, gold is money, and has been a form of currency, more so than the fiat currency that he continues to run off the printing press. The problem is that …


Finding Work in Your Intended New Locale

A key goal for many preppers is moving to a lightly-populated region that they deem safe. Except for retirees, the ability to relocate to another state often comes down to the practicalities of finding a job. I hear this all the time from SurvivalBlog readers and my consulting clients. In the American Redoubt region, jobs tend to be lower paying than those on the east or west coasts. Many jobs are related to forestry, mining, and agriculture. Some jobs–especially in the timber industry–are seasonal. Some of the most stable jobs tend to be in healthcare, in city and county government, …


Letter Re: The Forest’s Sweetener–How to Make Maple Syrup

Jim: As a maple producer I want to comment and expand on a few things regarding The Forest’s Sweetener. The original poster instructs you how to find sugar maples which are the best for sugar content but any native maple tree will work (Japanese maple is not native), I even tap silver maples. When making a spile take special care to have clean hands. Trees heal ia a way similar to humans do (bacteria helps close the wound) and will end your season quickly. A better alternative to people in the Northeast ever considering making syrup is to buy some …


Lessons in Survival: Family Innovation and Industry in the U.S. Great Depression by W.J.

I have always been fascinated with history and might have become a history teacher if there had been any possibility of making substantial money at it.  Growing up in the 1950s and ‘1960s in rural Texas the lessons of the U.S. “Great Depression” were still fresh in the memories of my family, so our frequent family get gatherings produced many stories from those days, some of which were “not so good old days”.  I want to relate some of this story for the benefit of those preparing for possible future, harder times: There was no money.  For a few years …


Affordable Preparedness, by Phil in East Tennessee

I enjoy reading SurvivalBlog each morning as I prepare for my day. I have only been a reader of the blog for six months, and enjoy all the varied insights. So I feel compelled to share some of my experiences. Let me start off by saying I was raised in a Christian preparedness household.  Both my parents suffered through the Great Depression as children and my mother was deeply impacted by the possibility of being hungry and cold again. As a teenager in the mid-1970s I remember we had a basement full of Neo-Life brand long term storage food, thousands …


Letter Re: Funding Your Preparations with the Underground Economy

For many people funding your survival cache/ preparedness stockpile has to come out of your budget. Whether you work for someone every day, draw a pension check or work for yourself you have to find a way to fit your projects into the limits of your paycheck. And with Uncle Sam taking a larger share at every turn it seems to be getting harder to find those extra nickels to put to use. Once most of us pay a house and car payment and then monthly utilities and food there is hardly enough left to worry about buying ammo, additional …


The Backup Plan to a Backup Plan for Telecommuters, by Tamara W.

Assumption: “If it snows or storms, I can work from home and telecommute.”  Assumptions are not always correct. The major ice storms at the end of January and start of February 2011 prompted creating this plan for my husband and myself. (Or first backup plan was alternate transportation routes.) Lessons learned day by day: Day 1 When power goes out at the house, such as during the first day of the storm for about 6 hours, the only way you can work from home is by using precious generator  fuel or laptop batteries. Due to my husband’s higher pay rate, …


Buy It Wholesale–Free Food Now and Free Food Later, by P.O.

I wanted to share with my fellow preppers a way to rapidly increase your food storage. Yes, it’s legal and for real!  I have no sales pitch and nothing to gain out of this, I’ve been doing this for almost a year now and the results have been just amazing.           My wife and I started a Farmer’s Market in our community almost three years ago.  The following “system” I have developed since then has come from our experiences there as well as my almost 20 years in restaurant management.  It can easily work for you with minimal effort.  Please …


Letter Re: Post-TEOTWAWKI and Off-the-Grid Entertainment

Dear James,   Thank you for the excellent work you do for those that listen and hear your guidance.  I’ve been an avid reader for many years and moved my family from urban Michigan to a full-time retreat property in the woods of North Idaho largely on recommendations here on SurvivalBlog.   Reed’s article on pastimes really should include the card game of cribbage. Any game, like chess, which has survived pretty much intact for many hundreds of years must have something good doing for it!   Adding cribbage is as simple as investing in a quality board and taking a few minutes to learn …


My First Year Raising Broiler Chickens, by R.W.L.

I’m writing to share stories and lessons from my first year raising chickens for meat for my family and for sale. Knowing the tricks to successfully raising your own meat could really be a game-changer post TEOTWAWKI, so I want to spread this wealth of information I’ve gleaned in hopes that others may benefit.   I followed the model popularized by Joel Salatin where the chickens are put into mobile pens that move along the ground to a new, fresh piece of pasture each day.  Receiving day old chicks in the mail from the hatchery and watching them grow is a …