Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

From Timber to Lumber: A Beginner’s Experience, by Sam D.

The recent article on Do it Yourself Timber Harvesting prompted me to share my experience starting a homestead on our 200+ acre tree farm in East Texas. Almost two years ago I settled on a site back in the woods next to a dry run-off creek bed for my home. Our farm has been in the family for well over a century, and the forest area I picked sat untouched for 60 years. One of my first investments was a 20” Stihl chain saw. Starting with little experience, about 10 chains, one sprocket and 2 replacement bars later I’m finally …


Make Your Own Retort Style Charcoal, by Dan in Alabama

I make charcoal to sell at the local farmers market. I’m a farmer and prepper. I use two steel drums, retort method, which produces high quality charcoal. Charcoal has many uses. It used for cooking and heat without flames, water filtration, making pyrotechnics and has some medicinal uses. This is hot, hard work but simple to do. With a little imagination all components can be changed or modified as long as age-old principles are followed. I prefer using red oak. It comes out naturally pitted so there is no need for enhancements for water filtration. Concept: Small pieces of quality hardwood …


Surviving on Reptiles and Amphibians in a Worst Case Scenario, by Misphat

“Do you think you could survive on your own in the Everglades if you had to?” The question rang in my mind as I thought about the implications, logistics and hardship that would be involved. I’m an ecologist specializing in Reptiles and Amphibians – which basically means I spend a ton of time up to my waist in swamp water, catching snakes, alligators and other creeping things all the while being assailed by endless hoards of mosquitoes and deer flies. One tends to learn a few things under these conditions, about these animals and about survival where they live. Now …


Do it Yourself Timber Harvesting, by SMJ

Wood is one of the most readily available materials for homestead construction projects and is also an important fuel source for many of us. I’ve always loved forests and trees, so I drew on my experiences growing up in Alaska and my work in the timber industry in Western Washington to write this post.  If you are lucky enough to own your own forest, I highly recommend the book A Landowner’s Guide to Managing Your Woods by Hansen/Seversen/Waterman.  This book will give you an excellent overview on how to keep your forest healthy and profitable, as well as giving you …


Letter Re: The Barter Store — Update #2

JWR: To make the most sense of this note, please refer to the SurvivalBlog archives for the December 22, 2011 original post with an update March 29, 2012.   The range of feedback to the post and update ranged from supportive to beyond hostile–which was more or less what I expected. Those critical to the “Barter Store” concept mostly missed the premises–that at least in some smaller, conservative towns/cities, small-scale commerce will help preserve order and civilization; security is handled and will not be a driving issue; that “preppers” have stocked up on and will be willing to sell/trade/barter some …


Constructing a Triple-Strand Concertina Wire Obstacle, by CPT Blackfox

Digging fighting positions, trenches, and emplacing various obstacles take a great deal of time and effort.  The greatest danger in emplacing obstacles is not being thorough enough due to the difficulty involved.  Stringing out wire and actually driving the pickets into the ground not only gives you good practice as how to physically create the obstacle but also gives you an idea of the challenges you will face and how long it takes to put up 100 lineal meters of obstacle. Triple-strand concertina wire obstacles consist of two rolls of concertina wire side-by-side on the bottom with one roll on …


How To Find A Post-TEOTWAWKI Job, by D.M.

The Schumer has hit the fan. Hyperinflation has crushed the economy, an EMP has disabled the United States, or some other disaster has brought TEOTWAWKI. And you’re not ready. Your retreat isn’t stocked up, or you haven’t found one that fits right. Or you have, but you’re far away from it. You’re stuck in the city when the SHTF, or you’re out traveling and you’re far away from your new home. The credit-card infrastructure has sizzled. Your credit card is only good for opening insecure doors. All you have is the cash in your wallet. Travel to your retreat, if …


Pat’s Product Review: Family Grain Mill

I learned to cook out of necessity – I was raised by my grandmother, and she was one of the worse cooks, ever! However, she managed to raise 9 children and myself, but her cooking ability was lacking. So when I was quite young I started experimenting in the kitchen and learned to cook on my own. Of course, over the years, I learned a lot from other folks along the way. And, being from Chicago, and being Sicilian, I learned to cook some great Sicilian style Italian meals. My pasta sauce is next to none. Now, with that said, …


Odds ‘n Sods:

In keeping with our well-entrenched philosophy of redundancy, we now have five ways to cut firewood at the Rawles Ranch: 1.) A reliable (but noisy) Stihl 024 gas engine chainsaw with a 20″ bar, 2.) An assortment of felling axes and mauls, 3.) an early-1900s vintage 1-1/2 man saw, 4.) A Makita electric chainsaw that can be powered by quiet a Yamaha 2.8 KW inverter genset carried in the back of our utility ATV, and 5.) An even smaller Black & Decker 18-Volt cordless electric chainsaw. (The latter lacks the muscle for anything more than cutting saplings or for limb …


Navajo Corn, by Rachael E.

When people stockpile food they like to stick to the basics; beans, rice, and pasta. The one crop I would like to include to this list is corn. The corn I will be talking about is fresh corn and not the canned corn you can buy all year round. Unlike rice and pasta, many people have the ability to grow more corn if they run out. With beans you have limited ways to prepare it. Corn on the other hand can be used in many different ways.  From one ear of corn you can collect enough seeds to grow enough …


Skills You Never Knew You Had–Eliminate the Starting Point, by Natural State

As a newbie prepper I have gone through the emotional progression of realizing my lack of preparedness.  It started with the feeling that something bad was going to happen now!  This quickly subsided, followed by the overwhelming feeling that I must act now.   This impulse quickly digressed to the obvious and most important step in my preparedness action plan, honest self-evaluation.  With the growing database of information on preparedness, I felt overwhelmed with my apparent lack of knowledge when it came to surviving.  I had less than a week’s worth of food in my home, no guns, and a vehicle …


Letter Re: How to Make an Old-Fashioned Utility Quilt

Hello James, We had a hurricane watch here in Long Island, New York today, and I raced home with my kids relaxed, knowing we had food and water for a month minimum. That is because of your blog.  I was thrilled to read Jean’s article on how to make a quilt. My mother is a master quilter. I am writing to let people know that dryer lint is an excellent quilt filler. If you hang you out your clothes, terrific! But if you use a dryer, do what I do, and put your dryer lint aside in a bag. You …


How to Make an Old-Fashioned Utility Quilt, by Jean P.

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Quilters tend to be perfectionists.  However, quilts have been used to keep our poorly-furred bodies warm for centuries.  When you just need warmth, and not a perfectly crafted heirloom, a quilt is just the ticket.  Utility quilts can be made from discarded items around the home, as long as you have a needle and some thread.  A quilt is merely 3 layers, fabric/insulation/fabric, stitched together to keep you warmer.  In a perfect world we all have our Wiggy’s, but in a real-life situation, especially with the economy these days, that perfect scenario may just not be possible.  Also, remember that …


Letter Re: Observations on Post-Tornado Cleanup

James, We have been volunteering at the remains of a home of a prepper here in Ohio for the past two weekends.  Their home was destroyed by a tornado.  I have some simple suggestions that you might incorporate into your future work.                 1.  Store / Organize photos and documents in Ziploc bags.  In this case, they had the preverbal box of pictures stored on the second floor of a three story 1860 brick home with brick interior walls located flood plain.  The tornado remove the upper story plus half of the second floor.  The box of pictures was found …


Letter Re: Self Defense Without Firearms

James: Concerning the recent article on traditional weapons, I have a couple of comments: Knife fighting:  Stabbing may have it’s place, but a good knife fighter will slash and cut.  Someone who stabs with a knife is relatively easy to disarm.  Someone who slashes is much harder to defend against.  A stab wound is unlikely to be instantly fatal.  A slashing attack directed at tendons can instantly render the victim defenseless and eliminate his ability to fight back or flee.  (See the following link for more info http://www.martialbladeconcepts.com/ A word of warning regarding arrows:  If you shoot a compound bow …