Category: Self-Sufficiency

The Time to Plan is Now, by Prepping Engineer

The single biggest reason for failure is failure to plan. “When you fail to plan, you plan to fail” Another way to think of this is: planning is being prepared. That is prepping in a nutshell! This is stated in many publications and articles about many subjects. I have experienced this more times than I can remember in my life. What I have noticed the most is the repetition of this error by both people and groups. Sometimes this seems to persist and someone else “helping” them out of the repeat failure to plan. It is a mistake the first …


Join Or Die: What Can You Contribute?, by Michael X.

Okay, it’s here: The Stuff has Hit The Fan (SHTF). You are either ready or you are not. Time is limited. Even if you are the most ready of anyone, you probably still can’t do it all, in isolation from others. In getting to where we are at this moment, many of us think we have done a very good, even great, job of prepping. Prepared people read and watch the news critically, identify what they think the most likely problem is that will occur, and prepare for it (plus many related issues). They use information sources like SurvivalBlog to …


Prepper Envy, by 3AD Scout

What is Prepper Envy? Prepper envy is when one Prepper looks at the preps of another Prepper and becomes jealous. Just looking at the comment sections of a Prepper YouTube channel or in Prepper blogs with comment sections will establish this phenomenon. Prepper Envy can become a psychological roadblock that prevents people from being better prepared. Do you have Prepper Envy? What can be done to overcome this self-imposed artificial hurdle to becoming better prepared? We all start with one step Regardless of the motivation to prepare, all Preppers, regardless of our demographics, started by taking some type of initial …


Get Ready for Tariff War 2 or World War 3

This brief essay serves as a reminder, for the new year. As we enter 2025, both geopolitics and global economics are displaying some profound changes.  The Ukraine war, the fall of Assad’s government in Syria, and the ongoing civil wars in Burma (aka Myanmar), Yemen, Sudan, South Sudan, and Ethiopia all have the potential to spill over into wider conflicts. Ditto for potential invasions in Taiwan and South Korea. Meanwhile, the rise of the BRICS trade bloc, the out-of-control U.S. National Debt, global debt as a whole, and the run-up of precious metals prices are all evidence of deep-seated economic …


Staying Sane and Happy in Isolation, by M.J.E.

When an October snowstorm brought down leaf-covered tree branches all over the city and onto the power lines, we were without electricity for nearly two weeks, and took in our friends who had neither a wood burning fireplace nor gas appliances. During the pandemic, lockdowns found people all over the world sheltering in their homes in isolation. In the dead of winter, with feet of snow on the ground, getting out of an isolated cabin can be not only dangerous, but sometimes impossible. Since we all prep, we have food and water and heat, our people are fed and the …


Twelve Live Gifts that Keep on Giving, by Mrs. Alaska

In the spirit of the season, I offer a “Twelve Days of Christmas” list of LIVE gifts that keep on giving to us here, at a remote homestead in Alaska. 1- Gallon of red wiggler worms, divided among my food gardens. They eat the kitchen scraps I toss there and rapidly improve the soil. 2 – Years’ worth of seeds (many degrade after that: check with a float/sink test each year). 3 – Rabbits (1 buck and 2 does). They can be mated at about five months and over the year, fill our larder. (In the photo at left, can …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 4, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 3. This concludes the article.) Question: Will I have power when the grid is down? Question: Can I get net metering with a solar-only system, or do I need storage? Battery size With all the information above, you will be better situated to properly size your storage system. Just be aware that (unless you’re in a totally different socioeconomic class than I) you probably won’t get all the storage you want. I started off with the idea that I wanted to be three-days independent of the grid. When I found the cost of that, I scaled back. …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 3, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 2.) When it came to setting angles, my installer wanted to install at the U.S. default angle of 20 degrees. That angle serves the most people across the country in most situations. Now, I’m a taller-than average, bigger-than-average guy and wear extra-large gloves, so I know one-size does not fit all. You must consider what is best for you and your goals and not just what may be the rule of thumb. I happened to hear the guys talking about the angle after they had already set the poles in the ground. Like I said, I hadn’t …


Photovoltaic Power and Prepping – Part 2, by B.S.V.

(Continued from Part 1.) Question: How is my system size being determined? Question: How many hours per day of power production will I have? Here is where a little ‘art’ comes into all this ‘science’. Panels come in a few different sizes, usually around 325 to 425 Watts. The most common seems to be 400 Watts of generation. What they try to do is balance your usage with the size of panels. In the above case, it would take about 50 panels @ 400 watts per panel to equal the 19kW system (actually 20, but that is where the ‘art’ …


Our Hurricane Experience in South Carolina, by K.U.

We live in a rural county about 60 miles from Augusta, Georgia. The night of September 26th, 2024 was one we never thought we’d experience so far inland. A full-blown hurricane was upon us (winds were recorded at 80-100mph in our county). We awoke early on the 27th to no power and 1 bar of very spotty cell service. We built our house on a hill and made sure that no trees were nearby, so our house had minimal damage. We had some water come in and down a wall from the chimney, but plan to fix that with a …


The Final Countdown: Last-Minute Readiness Checks – Part 2, by Michael X.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Water List This is an item for the first three days. This is super important and needs to be one of the first items confirmed. Check locations and condition of water sources: Bottled Water/Stored water containers Well water (power dependent) Lake water – are there containers to carry and larger containers to store lake water? Is there a rainwater collection option available? Is the Berkey/Filtered water system ready? Can the tub be successfully filled with water from the system before the power goes out or the line pressure is gone? Can I …


The Final Countdown: Last-Minute Readiness Checks – Part 1, by Michael X.

Hypothetically, (of course), assume for a moment that the proverbial fan has been hit. Now you have three days….or two weeks….or two months…until the consequences of the event hit where you are. Good luck guessing how long it takes to hit you. Are you as ready as you can be? Are you sure? How do you know? How and when it hits you, whatever it may be, may be based on three key things: the type/cause of disaster, your proximity to the disaster or populated areas, and the stability of your systems (electricity, water, fuel, and human support systems). THE …


Top Priorities for Surviving the Coming Civil War, by Tunnel Rabbit

Introductory Note:  This brief article is a response to The Patriot Nurse’s latest video: How To Prepare For Civil War which was recently linked in SurvivalBlog Water Secure your fresh water source now. It is the most important thing you can do after getting right with God. If you only have access to a deep well, get a solar-powered water pump from such a place as Backwoods Solar or install an inexpensive Shurflo model number 9325 yourself. The Dankoff Slow Pump is ideal for surface water sources and can be set up to be portable. All of these water pumps …


Ballistics, Rifle Marksmanship and Why They Matter – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article. Handloading to Getting Top Performance from Classic Rifles For the same reasons that the military has developed high-performance ammunition, I’ve worked hard to find this load in a common cartridge that is the .30-06 and 6.5×55 for my personal rifles.  It is competitive or superior at mid range to extreme long ranges out to 1,200 yards with .300 Winchester Magnum commercial hunting loads, because the bullets used have extremely high ballistic coefficients.  Like the .300 Win Mag, 7mm Magnum, .30-06, and others in this class, they are good all-around cartridges for any …


Why We Do What We Do, by Hollyberry

Thankfully, we are blessed to live in a country where we still have choices to make that impact our lives. It is our job as Christians and citizens to make good decisions that affect us and others. The window of opportunity to have choices is getting narrower, soon it will be closed. Some folks laugh at homesteaders for doing things the hard way. You won’t be laughing later if something happens and you have to fend for yourself. Wake up people, and learn how to provide for yourself and your family. Make good choices. Learn from elders and experienced people …