Category: Self-Sufficiency

Homestead and Financial Ledger Books- Part 1, by S.T.

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Looking back in time, George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and the other founding fathers of the United States all maintained Homestead and Financial Ledger Books of one kind or another. Some, like George Washington, had one for each of his businesses (grist mill, whiskey, et cetera). With the advent of computers and the move to city life, these ledgers have gone out of fashion. But they remain an important tool, and it is to sad that families do not use them anymore. We would spend less on unneeded items if more of these were used. What Are Homestead Ledgers? Benjamin Franklin …


Editors’ Prepping Progress

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As preppers work to make progress to achieve prepping goals, we took some actions this week too. The SurvivalBlog editors made plans earlier in the week and now reflect upon these. At this time of year, gardening is at the top of our lists. Below, the editors share what we each accomplished. Please write to us in the comments and tell us what you did this week to get your preps in place and to be ready. JWR Dear SurvivalBlog Readers, My, what a busy, wonderful week!  We had beautiful weather during the beginning of the week and rain at …


Building Or Purchasing Your New Country Property – Part 2, by S.T.

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After our move across the country and decision to purchase rather than build our new country property, we had some work ahead of us. Our home was more than 30 years old and needed considerable work. In this section of the article, we continue to review the improvements made and plans for the future. Year 3 Property Improvements (cont.) New Flooring and Wall Storage The floor was updated and unused space appropriated. The original lino floors were replaced with new tile floors. The back wall of the kitchen had not been used. I installed four open shelves with the bottom …


Building Or Purchasing Your New Country Property – Part 1, by S.T.

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Our Journey We left the Peoples Republic of Kommiefornia in 2013 for the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains with a list of the minimum requirements for our new county property. After making this journey of more than 2,300 miles to start the second half of our lives, we opted to purchase a home rather than build one. Our decision was mainly due to time issues and the discovery of a house within one mile and on the same country road that my aging father and step-mother lived on. What we left: 3 bedrooms 2 baths 1400 sq. ft. California city …


Review Of The Jøtul F 50 TL Rangeley Wood Stove, by S.T.

First let me state up front that I have heated with a wood stove for over 20 years, so I am not a novice and I understand the use of wood stoves. Additionally, as a person who worked for over 30 years in the defense industry, I also understand that there are products that are ill or poorly planned by engineers who never used the product and/or have large egos and refuse to accept any feedback from the end users of a product. Our previous wood stove was a Regency brand, which we located in a single story home. In …


Starting Life In The Country, by J.E.

Sitting here in the living room with a hot fire in the wood stove and arctic winds blowing the snow across our property, I smile at just how lucky we are. The power has been out for a couple of days, and the snow and ice make driving into town not worth the risk. Just over twenty years ago, we decided life in the city was no longer for us. Now, reflecting on how good we have it, I would like to write my first post and share with those of you considering a move into rural life. The first …


Letter Re: Hurricane Preparedness

HJL,That was a great article about his experience and some practical advice [for hurricane preparedness]. For those interested in a possible simpler solution a product named “Generlink” at www.generlink.com is available. It is a collar that fits behind your meter at the power pole, and it allows you to control your power usage through your current breaker panel. The only cord needed is between the Generlink collar and the generator. As long as the power pole where your meter is located is intact and you have underground wiring to the house, you should be okay. It’s worth a look. – …


The Get-Home Cache, by The Feral Farmer

Bugout bags are a popular topic, and the content lists are long and varied, sometimes reading like a LRRP combat loadout. However, they have a couple of obvious problems, including that you have to carry it and keep it handy. It takes a good degree of conditioning to carry a load any distance and a great degree of determination to do so while injured or frightened. Additionally, (unless your kit looks like a baby carrier and diaper bag), your chance of hitching a ride plummets the larger your bag appears to be. Any situation that requires a bugout bag automatically …


Giving Thanks in 2016, by Sarah Latimer

I don’t know about you, but I greatly enjoy the “Quote of the Day” section of SurvivalBlog. They often put a big smile on my face and get a “wow” response. Some people really know how to put use words to put a situation into perspective. Recently Hugh posted one such quote that was quite timely. The quote seemed so relevant to our experiences of late, with our nation’s liberals literally breaking down in tears, marching, and going so far as to turn their backs on our nation by leaving and giving up their citizenship and even some who are …


Making The Move To The Michigan Wilderness As A Corrections Officer, by M.M.

My wife and I are originally from the northeastern U.S. Our particular area, which had consisted primarily of farmland and small towns while we were growing up in the 80’s and 90’s, increased in population by about 20% between the years 2000 and 2010. The region had become noticeably over-developed, with many corn fields and woods being sacrificed for housing developments and strip malls, and it had become busy to the point that driving during daytime hours involved more waiting in line than actual driving. We like to experience the serenity of the outdoors, and I have always been a …


Five Acres and Independence- Part 2, by D.C.

Get By With Little and Barter We slept on the floor on blankets for two years, used a Coleman camp stove to cook on, bought a $25 used fridge and a $50 yard sale clothes washer, dried our clothes on a line, traded a .22 pistol for a freezer, and hand dug and turned in a new garden with pitchforks. We have put many deer in the freezer that were taken off our land every year with no cost of a hunting license. We can everything possible from the garden. We stopped getting sick, because our food is simple and …


Five Acres and Independence- Part 1, by D.C.

How You Can Do It- Getting Started Many of us find the prospects of individualism and self determination, on a level of becoming a self-sustaining individual or family or even maybe tribe or community, simply daunting. It is germane to contend in this day and age, some aspects of this are difficult to fully appreciate, where they are so foreign from daily life to be almost inscrutable outliers. Just where to begin can be an overwhelming situation. Don’t feel alone. There are a myriad of ways to begin, indeed, and the simplest answer is it all begins with each of …


Letter: Advice for Rural Retirees

Dear Editor: My husband and I are older, he is 84 and I am 70.  We are very concerned about the way this country is traveling and are even more concerned if Hillary Clinton is elected.  I realize that we need to start gathering supplies and storing them.  My question is: we live in a small, rural, agricultural community. However, we live on a main road and are within 50 miles of two major cities and about 70 miles of another one.  Our economy took an unusually hard hit in 2008 and is recovering at a slower rate than many …


How To Find Food in Your Own Backyard, by Z.M.

If it ever really comes down to it, you can easily find food in your backyard. I remember reading a survival book when I was younger that mentioned how absolutely ludicrous it is to die of starvation in the wild. The book mentioned the sheer number of times that starved lost hikers’ bodies are found lying in a patch of edible plant life. After reading that, I agreed with the author and set out to educate myself on the edible plants I walk by every day. The end result is that I can now take a hike through the woods …


Live Your Survival and Gain Sufficiency-Part 2, by E.M.

Mental Health Physical health for the mind is equally as important as exercising it. Like our body, if we have an unhealthy mind there will not be much exercise. We must make sure that we are not taking with great excess or frequency those things that alter and damage our mind and cause us to lose focus. There are also foods we can eat daily and place in our preparedness food shelter which will aid the biological make up of our physical mind. This topic is a book in and of itself, and there is a very large selection of …