Category: Self-Sufficiency

Seven Years of Preparation, by CHG (Chicken Hating Grandma)

We work best when we have a deadline, so our preparation began in October 2008 with hopes of reaching our goal in seven years. Our son, who is a university professor, became convinced that we had seven years to “prepare”; we were not sure of exactly what we were to prepare for though. (We thought perhaps he had changed his name to Joseph, since the Biblical Joseph had seven years to prepare before the seven years of famine.) We decided to join him, because it couldn’t hurt to be ready for any calamity. Our half-hearted efforts took on urgency after …


Letter Re: Generators And Their Proper Implementation During TEOTWAWKI/Disasters

Excellent article about generator usage. I might mention that when using a portable generator there is a better option than running an extension cord to an outlet and then cutting off the main breaker. You can buy a manual transfer switch that will allow you to wire selected circuits in your breaker panel through the transfer switch. After plugging up and starting the generator, you flip breakers on the transfer switch. This transfers the selected circuits to the generator output and isolates them from the main incoming power. These switches are readily available at almost any home improvement store or …


Generators And Their Proper Implementation During TEOTWAWKI/Disasters, by RKM

I want to share useful generator information so that serious and possibly dangerous pitfalls can be avoided and tactical efficiencies can be realized. Outside Only: First, there is an important warning– generators MUST be run and exhausted OUTSIDE! Carbon monoxide can and will kill you with no warning. Carbon monoxide has no smell or taste. Of course there are things you can do to run one inside, but that involves technical issues not covered here. Be careful and plan accordingly! Our emergency implementation: On August 23rd of 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck Southeastern Louisiana and Mississippi. Fortunately, I was living in …


Product Review: Harvest Right Freeze Dryer, by HJL – Part 2

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Why It Works I spent quite a bit of time, over the last three years, researching how freeze drying is accomplished. I wanted to know why and how it worked and ultimately, if I could do it at home. Earlier, I alluded to some pretty bad information I had run across, and I think a short primer of what makes freeze drying successful is in order, so that the user can understand just how useful this appliance actually is. It is well understood by any high school student who has taken a physics or physical science course that there are …


Product Review: Harvest Right Freeze Dryer – Part 1, by HJL

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I have to admit, I was excited when I was first contacted by Harvest Right. A freeze dryer in my own home? What a thought! This has been a dream of my family for a number of years. I have even played around with the idea of creating my own freeze dryer several times, but in the end, the work involved and the daily grind always won out. The Dream Our food preps have always had issues, with the solutions seeming just out of reach. When we first started, the preps simply meant two things– remodeling the pantry to hold …


Letter: Mastitis

HJL, Mastitis nearly killed me. In a more primitive country, I could have been another maternal death statistic. Mastitis is just one path of infection and death for new mothers. Mastitis cannot be downplayed. Nor can the value of breast feeding “support” be over estimated. While my response to the excellent and informative article by Dr. Goscienski is intensely personal and private, perhaps in the future it may save a baby or mother’s life. I come from a comfortable family, in the socio-economic sense. It would not be correct to just say we are advocates of breast feeding. Simply, everyone …


Letter Re: Multi-Purpose Power Solution

HJL, Liquid fuels are expensive, heavy, dangerous to transport, and a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Even if you have enough stored for a year, what then? Direct conversion of biomass to fuel for gensets has been proven successful for thirty plus years now. I have operated a design for powering small gensets that works as well today as it did in the early 80’s. It’s also driven a few thousand miles on a truck that runs on nature’s finest. Due to space and weight limitations not present in stationary applications, refining wood into gas on board a vehicle …


Trades for Surviving After the Collapse, by A.W.

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You have been preparing for the unknown– economic collapse, social unrest, nuclear war, or even just a downsize at work– for quite awhile now. Perhaps you are feeling confident in your ability to survive a catastrophic event by putting to use your survival know-how and stores of food. You even learned valuable gardening skills that will ensure your long-term survival. Now, imagine what life will be like after the collapse for which you have diligently prepared. You will be surviving, but will you be thriving? You will be eating, but will you be contributing to the rebuilding of your region …


Guest Article: A Recent Experience On An Ultra-Low Calorie Diet, by BadIdeaGuy

Caloric intake, in a post-SHTF, has been mentioned before, but I wanted to share a recent experience with a low-calorie disaster and what its implications are for challenging times that lie ahead. After some health concerns, my doctor asked if I’d like to try their physician-overseen weight loss program. I’m a 38 year old man, who is busy raising a family and performing in a career. I eat what I can when I can. The long workdays following by parental responsibilities have cut into my workout time, which results in my being fatigued, and have resulted in some poor dietary …


Another Option for Emergency Power, by Freedom Loving Texan

I’m a long-time reader of SurvivalBlog, and like so many others I am deeply concerned about the choices our country has made in the last twenty years and the as yet unfelt repercussions. We seem to be living in a season of grace, but the day of reckoning will come, sooner or later. With this thought in mind, my family has been steadily pursuing the ability to care for ourselves (and perhaps some of our neighbors as well). Like many others have done, I have read and researched many methods of generating enough power to live on. Today, most Americans …


The “Smart” Prepper: Purchasing With A Purpose, by L.D.M.

I was turned onto the idea of prepping about two years ago, and thankfully, shortly thereafter, found SurvivalBlog.com. This website has been one of many important and cherished resources to a “rookie prepper,” and I count it a true blessing to have so much shared knowledge at our fingertips. One of the many important resources that I have found in SurvivalBlog.com are the advertisers on the site. In a digital world full of endless choices when it comes to preparedness supplies, it can be very daunting to not only decide WHAT you need and in what quantity you need it …


Guest Article: How to Set Up a Solar Electric Survival System, by LaMar

The majority of the U.S. population lives in a city or suburbs connected to a city and is completely reliant on grid power from coal, hydro, or natural gas power plants. In the event of a national or local disaster, regardless of the cause, the electricity system is the weakest link. Without power almost nothing else in a city or town will work. These disasters may be of short- or long-term duration, but depending on the weather and medical needs of your family going without power for even a short time could cause great hardship and even death. In this …


Amazon’s Mechanical Turk– A Real, Honest, Stay-at-home Job, by LAT

This article is not about practical survival skills; it’s quite the opposite. It is a pre-collapse idea only and will disappear post-SHTF. Why this is useful information is that it’s an idea that may let you make the leap to living at your retreat full-time sooner and help you make ends meet while other income sources are developed. It is a plan for your home-based business, requiring no start up capital, and it’s a job for which you are already hired. You won’t have to leave the house to work or to get paid. There is actually no selling either. …


Tornado Survival and Recovery, by J.M.

You’d think an old lady would learn. Going through old papers and files the other day in my attempt to clear out clutter and be organized, I came across the file containing receipts and all sorts of paperwork that reflected our experience with the May 3rd, 1999 tornado that went through southwest Oklahoma City and Moore, Oklahoma. I shook my head thinking, “What did I learn from this?” Allow me to provide some detail of that experience. First of all, I was home alone with four dogs….big dogs. These were dogs that didn’t get along well with each other. Two …


Learning to Adjust Your Preps for the Small Ones in Your Life, by SCP

I am probably your less than common prepper. I’m a working mom who lives in the suburbs of a mid-sized city and has a husband who just barely tolerates my prepping. Luckily for me, a lot of the prepping skills and lifestyle choices just come naturally for him; we just don’t call it prepping! I don’t know where exactly my prepping started, but I remember at nine years of age packing a bag with clothes and food for both my brother and me “just in case” Mom decided to finally take off from the abusive boyfriend. At the age of …