Category: Self-Employment & Home-Based Businesses

Strategies for Buying Rural Land

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Over the years, I’ve heard from many of my readers who yearn to live in the hinterboonies. But they often say that they feel “stuck”, living where they are.  One of the biggest impediments seems to be the cost of land, in their desired locale. Let’s face it: If you buy land in an area with a fairly mild climate, plentiful water, and fertile top soil, then odds are that it will have a fairly high “per acre” price. There is plenty of affordable desert scrub land on the market, for as little at $1,000 per acre. But good land …


Synthetic and Natural Fibers, by Madison B.

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Modern commercially-produced clothing probably makes up the vast majority of your wardrobe. Commercially-produced clothing has many advantages: It is inexpensive, it is widely available, and it comes in millions of different colors and styles. It is also available in a myriad of textures and materials. Many of these materials promise to perform at levels that would only be found in a Sci-Fi novel twenty years ago. Moisture-wicking, antimicrobial, ripstop fabric pervades sportswear and workwear alike. The modern performance fabric also has a sleek clean look that promises ease of movement and impenetrable protection. For all of the benefits these fabrics …


Preparing – Practicing & Preaching, by TJ in Georgia

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Regardless of who you are now, who you were in the past, or who you will be in the future, I think everyone will now be a ‘prepper’. Please consider this: We’ve all had a taste of doing without something in the past month or so, and I for one don’t look forward to this time in history becoming the new normal. I was in Girl Scouts from about 2nd grade until 7th grade. We learned many skills such as hiking, cooking outside, sleeping outside, fire starting, selling cookies (yes, that is a skill) and being a responsible citizen. In …


Ready for TEOTWAWKI: What’s Bringing Us Along – Part 2, by K.G.

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Food for Health I am also working on growing and preserving my own food. This is another family project that my wife and children enjoy participating in. We do not have a large plot of land, so we need to make the best use of what we do have. We really challenge ourselves to see if we can get more than the preceding year. We have had some successes and some setbacks. We learn more from the setbacks than we do from the successes. When the divine hand of providence reaches down …


Running a Gun Show Business – Part 3

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(Continued from Part 2. This installment concludes the article.) Legal Issues I’d be remiss if didn’t go over some of the statutory legality issues, liability issues, and tax issues associated with running gun show tables. As most folks know, when they walk into a gun show they will be seeing two types of sellers with guns on their tables:  Professional dealers with FFLs, and casual unlicensed sellers. The FFL holders can buy and sell both new and used guns. Legally, they must display their license. Casual sellers like me can only buy or sell guns that have already been “papered”, …


Running a Gun Show Business – Part 2

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(Continued from Part 1.) Not Just Guns There is a lot more for sale at gun shows than just serialized modern guns. Magazines are always good sellers. In fact, your average guy walking in to a show cannot afford to buy another gun, at any given show. But he  usually wants and can afford to buy a few magazines. It is magazines that have always been my “bread and butter” sellers, at gun shows. There is also a lot of money to be made with ammunition, but that as a primary inventory should only be considered by men under age …


Running a Gun Show Business – Part 1

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At the urging of my readers and consulting clients, in this piece I’m going to go over the basics of running a gun show business. Renting gun show tables and then selling and/or trading items for tangible gain can be quite fun and rewarding. I rent show tables to make trades, primarily to improve my personal collection. For example, this weekend (Friday and Saturday only–Oct 25 and 26, 2019), I’ll have three tables at the Butte, Montana gun show. I won’t be there on Sunday. To begin, I must start with some caveats on why renting tables is not for …


Practical Survival Chemistry – Part 2, by 3AD Scout

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(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Apple Cider Vinegar This is one of the examples of where biology and chemistry cross over. Apple cider vinegar is mostly Acetic acid and is easy to make. The process starts with fermenting apples (biology) and ends with acetic acid (chemistry). Like baking soda there are many uses for vinegar, both in cooking and other applications. I now stock several gallons of white vinegar for cleaning rust off of items, especially if they are going to be used around food. For the price, this is the best method for getting rid of …


Practical Survival Chemistry – Part 1, by 3AD Scout

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I have been involved in survival and preparedness since I was a teenager. I have done a lot, seen a lot, and heard a lot about preparedness from many sources. This has come from hands-on practice, reading books and magazines, watching YouTube, and talking with others of like mind. One area of survival or preparedness for TEOTWAWKI that doesn’t get discussed a lot is chemistry. I am by no means a chemist but I have always had an interest in chemistry and am a member of my local Hazardous Materials Response Team. While in the Army I was also on …


Re-Post: Becoming a Savvy Pre-1899 Gun Buyer

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JWR’s Introductory Notes: It is very unusual me to re-post any of my SurvialBlog articles.  But I am doing so today, because we are living in very unusual times. I wrote the following article in February of 2019.  I am re-posting it now, as it appears that the Republican leadership of the Senate is caving in to the demands of the mass media and some liberal constituents.  The word inside the D.C. Beltway is that plan to fast-track the passage of a “compromise” Universal Background Checks law, before the end of October.  Signing by President DJT could come as soon …


Quality Control Requires Ethics, by H.L.

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It seems to me that many Americans have gotten used to lack of quality control regarding many desired and needed items for use around the home. I have not! I had the good fortune to have a Father (born 1904 in Connecticut) who would not tolerate shoddy workmanship, either in running our 100-acre farm with the help of a hard working wife/mother of five children, or anything that he purchased after he had to medically retire from the Service Station that he built and ran. I am 76 years old, and have the same philosophy. Too many American companies have shifted …


Methods of Attachment, by J.D.

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This article is all about attachment. But I don’t mean the girlie kind… In austere conditions there is often a great need to attach objects. Sewing, tying, gluing, and press fitment are always basic options. For more secure attachments man has developed more robust means of Chemical (various glues and epoxies), Physical (nuts and bolts, nails, rivets and pins) and heat-based attachment such as welding, forging, brazing, and soldering. This article will not go over the types of welding which require a forge or inert gasses, since those resource intensive topics are beyond the scope of even a single book. …


Investing in Businesses and Schools as Well as Preps?, by Captswife

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I have been disturbed lately to hear about profitable, mom-and-pop businesses closing because there is no one willing to buy them. The circumstances that bother me the most have been businesses that served preppers and others who wish to be part of maintaining important, traditional skills, such as gun manufacturing and quilting. I have done my share of prepping and know others who do and have, and I have seen thousands upon thousands of dollars spent on items that likely will never be used because they are supplies for a nationwide, grid-down scenario. Most emergencies — and I have been …


Are You Building Capacity or Capability?, by 3ADScout

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First let’s define “capacity.” Capacity is how much of something we have. Think about your “capacity” in terms of beans, bullets and band-aids. For food, your capacity might be 72-hours’ worth of food in a bug-out-bag, or 1-year supply for 4 people. Your capacity for bullets might be 1,000 rounds for rifles and 500 rounds per pistol. For band-aids, you might have 10 boxes of 4×4 gauze pads, 2 boxes of gauze rollers and 2 rolls of tape enough to dress one small wound for about a week. When your capacity runs out, you have no more unless you somehow …


Our Garden Produce Roadside Stand, by R.J.

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For the past 10 years, my wife and I have been selling our produce out of a small (4 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and 5 feet high) open-faced vegetable stand which is located on our property next to a public road. The stand contains a variety of produce, priced to sell. It is unmanned, thereby relying on human honesty to pay the asking price. Our efforts have been most rewarding in more ways then just giving us a little extra spending money. We are eating better, have more meaning in life, are healthier, and often have discussions with our …