Category: Self-Sufficiency

My Experience with a Bluetti AC180 – Part 2, by Rick S.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) THE BLUETTI 180P This brings us to a real-world solution: the Bluetti AC180. This is a charge controller/battery bank/inverter in a single, elegant package. The heart of the AC180 is a bank of Lithium Iron batteries with an advertised life of 3,500 charge/discharge cycles and is warranted for five years. Integrated into the package is a charge controller capable of charging from a number of sources: 120 VAC house supply, car charger, or solar panels. It then is capable of supplying that stored power in a number of ways: various USB connections, …


The Time It Takes, by SwampFox

I work as a truck driver. That means I spend a lot of long, boring hours driving from state to state. I have a regular route, covering the same roads each day. On good days, not much happens that is new or exciting, and to pay attention to my job I need a bit of entertainment in the background. So I listen to a lot of audiobooks. A handful of these have been survivalist fiction or preparedness-oriented. I have discovered that many authors and readers may possess some unrealistic ideas about what a prepared life looks like, or what life …


Could You Live Off Your Land, Right Now?, by SaraSue

As world events, both nationally and internationally, explode in violence, deep debt, instability, and uncertainty, I ask myself have I done enough?  Am I far enough away from the violence?  Do I have systems in place that will hold me and my family in good stead for years to come?  It’s complicated, and a heavy burden, to detach from the culture, from the world systems, and to create a self-sufficient lifestyle.  It is also freeing.  There’s so much detail to each aspect that it’s no wonder people throw up their hands and say it’s impossible.  I think it’s possible to …


The American Redoubt: America’s Empty Quarter

A major part of my consulting work revolves around relocation and retreat property selection, for my clients. When I have conversations with clients from the eastern United States, they often have difficulty grasping just how empty The American Redoubt is. Their view of “The West” is often skewed by the teeming masses of California that they see on television. I’d like to quantify, describe, and anecdotally illustrate the American Redoubt in this brief article.  As our friend Joerg Sprave would say: “Let me tell you about its features.” Vast and Lightly-Populated First, let’s discuss basic geography. The American Redoubt consists …


Third World Living: Austerity Lessons, by T.S.

When I was a younger and more idealistic man, I had the opportunity to spend a year “nation building” in a Third World country. Although I now think those aid dollars would have been better spent at home, I did learn some lessons that could help in a dire situation. After all, there’s no better teacher to prepare you for SHTF than people who have been living in austere off-grid conditions for their entire lives. After some reflection, I organized the lessons I learned into four major categories: Power, Communications, Climate Control, and Food. Power None of the villages in …


A Recent Power Outage Experience – Part 1, by Big D.

INTRODUCTION I am writing this within a few days after a power outage on June 18, 2023, so that I will remember the details. I am a 74-year-old and somewhat handicapped grandpa who lives alone in the country. I still get around okay but a lot of physical effort wears me out rather quickly. Sometimes I think that I still have the physical capabilities of the athlete that I was as a younger man. Mentally, yes. Physically, not so much! I was awakened just after midnight on Sunday morning by the sounds of a storm with very high winds buffeting …


Cows and Chickens and Goats, Oh My!, by Elli O.

In this article, I compare different livestock – Start-up costs, Continuation costs, Profits, and Contradictions. I was not raised on a farm but when we purchased 20 acres I knew that we needed to put the land to good use. Thankfully, I have a husband who is almost as adventurous as I am so we jumped into the farm and homesteading life with both feet. God was gracious and we landed well- not very gracefully but we are surviving and even thriving in most areas! This article will compare the different animals that we have tried to raise on our …


Practical PV Power, by Graton

Even though I have been dabbling in solar power since about 2008 I hesitated to share my experiences because I felt totally incompetent about the subject. I still feel that way in large part, even though my “knowledge” has increased dramatically. One of my first projects was setting up a solar-powered well for a friend’s cattle where obtaining grid power would have been financially prohibitive. The equipment included a Grundfos 11 SQ-Flex 2 pump, 6 solar panels, Midnite Solar 60 charge controller, golf cart 48-volt battery bank, etc. You may have noticed that there is no mention of an inverter …


A Retreat for Aging Preppers, by Barbara H.

Addressing the problems facing aging preppers. Start early! Our initial problem was two-fold: Finding sustainable land while still trapped until I was retirement-eligible. Two years before retirement, we began our search for viable land approximately 100 miles from any major city. Our initial search was for about 20 acres, a nearby small town, and off of well-traveled roads. The land had to have a water source with a full-year-running creek. Remember moving to an unknown rural community places you at a disadvantage of finding appropriate skilled help and unscrupulous persons who will overcharge you based on your lack of knowledge. …


Bank Failures are Driving What I’m Doing, by Sara Sue

I’ve been trying to figure out what The Powers That Be (TPTB) are up to and how it’s going to affect me. I can only speak of my own strategy for the coming deep recession and/or depression. I can’t solve the big picture crisis. I can only attend to my own farm and family. My primary goals have been to grow food as if our lives depend upon it, and to get as far away as possible from any big city without being so remote I can’t get help. Additionally, since I rely on banking, a year or so ago …


Foraging for Fun & Survival – Part 2, by Hobbit Farmer

(Continued from Part 1.) Foraging Best Practices 1.) Make sure you are collecting in a legal manner. Many state forests or public lands allow foraging for personal use (not for profit/resale) and as long as the plant is not endangered/protected. It is your responsibility to find out those details. 2.) Ask for permission on private land just like you would if you were hunting. Be responsible, be reasonable, be considerate, and be ready for people to think you are a weirdo. When possible share a taste of your harvest. People will more readily understand why you are foraging if they …


Long-Term Survival Poultry, by J.S.

A few years ago, we moved out of the suburbs and onto a farm/homestead with plans to start raising every farm animal imaginable. Lots of friends and family thought we were crazy, but we had spent years researching animal husbandry and couldn’t wait to put our book knowledge to work. We moved in around Christmas and by mid-January we had baby chicks in the brooder and some donated hatching eggs in an incubator. While our farm is not our main source of income, we do run it like a business and each spring we raise a few hundred pullets (young …


It Is Chick Season!, by Hollyberry

I open the mailbox and oh… there it is! Nothing perks me up from the winter blues more than getting the McMurray Hatchery chick catalog or a garden/seed catalog. I spend hours pouring through the pages of the catalogs and planning and plotting where I can add more chickens or growing space! I really don’t need any more birds in my flock but that will not deter me from adding at least 4-5 more this season out of our incubator. The first time I purchased chicks I ordered 50 meat birds and 50 Leghorn layers figuring I would kill at …


Some Stark Realities of the 2020s are Pushing Us Off-Grid

There are a number of societal changes that have accelerated our plans to fully go off the grid. The day may soon come when we decide to lock our gate at the county road, and hunker down. Our only regular contact would then be with our contiguous neighbors. For many years, I thought that the only circumstance that might necessitate such a move would be a societal collapse. But now, I have many other concerns. The most prominent motivators for taking on the mode of self-isolation include: Currency inflation The surveillance state Increasing regulation Forced vaccination schemes Supply chain disruption …


Beginning Bees on a Budget, by St. Funogas

“Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with the spices of a million flowers.” Ray Bradbury, Dandelion Wine It’s January and getting close to time to get your bees ordered for anyone wanting to try their hand at beekeeping this year. Most bee suppliers have begun taking orders for bees and they typically sell out by late March so now is the time to start looking more seriously into whether or not you want to want to give beekeeping a shot. Many people want to get into beekeeping until …