Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

Update: A Home-Based Business — Your Ticket to The Boonies

JWR’s Introductory Note: This article is an update and substantial expansion to a piece that I wrote back in December of 2005. — The majority of SurvivalBlog readers that I talk and correspond with tell me that they live in cities or suburbs, but they would like to live full-time at a retreat in a rural area. Their complaint is almost always the same: “…but I’m not self-employed. I can’t afford to live in the country because I can’t find work there, and the nature of my work doesn’t allow telecommuting.” They feel stuck. The recent Wu Flu pandemic proved …


Preparedness Regrets and Priorities, by N.C.

We all have our own ideas of how much risk we’re running and what type of disaster seems the most likely threat. Your answer to that will depend largely on where you are. Doubtless, my focus would certainly be different if I lived in Germany and it would be different if I lived in Ukraine or in New Zealand. Since I live in the United States the one that has cost me more than a little sleep is the prospect of a civil war in the US. It used to be that this was an extreme subject, raised only rarely …


No Ammo, No Primers, No Problem! – Part 4, by M.B.

(Continued from Part 3.) 20 Gauge Shotgun Shells and Black Powder Safety Note: When loading black powder shotgun shells, there must be no empty space inside the shell, and the powder should be compressed slightly (about 1/16 inches, or about 2mm). You may need to use a wadding or other “filler” inside the shell, so that there’s no empty space below the crimp. Six 20 gauge shotshells were primed with recharged shotgun primers. Note: The primers were recharged WITHOUT black powder in the primer bodies, and no tissue paper was used to close the flash holes. I measured out 7/8 …


No Ammo, No Primers, No Problem! – Part 3, by M.B.

(Continued from Part 2.) FOR SHOTGUN PRIMERS ONLY You will need the following to recharge shotgun shell primers: Large (3/8-inch or larger) hex nut – Depriming stand for shotgun shells and assembly holder for shotgun primers. A 1/4-inch hole is drilled in one of the flats for the primer body. Used with the C-clamp for pressing the primer cup into the body, the open space in the middle of the nut allows gases to vent if the primer “pops” during assembly. 8mm Nylock nut – Supports a fired shotgun primer to aid disassembly. Small nail with point cut off flat …


No Ammo, No Primers, No Problem! – Part 2, by M.B.

(Continued from Part 1.) The components for black powder really are not all that hard to obtain. In many cases, you can buy potassium nitrate and sulfur locally with cash, generally at a nursery, garden or home improvement store, “Garden sulfur” is what I have used in powder making. It’s used as a fungicide and insecticide, and you can even make black powder without it. Black powder can be made with just potassium nitrate and charcoal. Sulfur serves to make black powder easier to ignite, so keep this in mind if you decide to make sulfur-free black powder. Potassium nitrate …


No Ammo, No Primers, No Problem! – Part 1, by M.B.

Introductory Disclaimer: Recharging primers and making black powder, while safe in the author’s experimental experience, can be dangerous. The author and SurvivalBlog.com do not endorse recharging primers, nor making black powder, and you do so at your own risk. Making primers and/or black powder could also be in violation of the laws in your jurisdiction. You are responsible for compliance with all laws in your area. Neither the author, nor SurvivalBlog.com, are responsible for your use of the information in this article. The processes described herein are therefore for informational purposes only. Important Safety Note: Black powder can be dangerous …


Old School Weather Monitoring, by Hollyberry

It is so convenient to be able to turn the television, visit an Internet site, or turn on a weather radio to get the weather forecast for the next seven to ten days. But what happens when all the modern conveniences stop working? Anyone can tell the obvious current weather without much skill but it would be very helpful to predict future weather on the homestead, especially stormy and inclement weather. I am not going to use the scientific name for most of the clouds because as humans, we remember the descriptions of them rather then the scientific name. We …


Making Your Own Sauerkraut – Part 2, by E.P.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) My grandmother used open ceramic crocks to make sauerkraut. The problem is that they, like the Gartopf style ceramic crocks, are quite expensive compared to glass jars, so I bought several used crocks to try. It is hard to seal open crocks adequately to provide the anaerobic environment necessary to make sauerkraut without having to regularly skim off the spoilage that forms at the top of the crock. I tried using a piece of lexan sealed to the top of the crock with silicone glue, drilling a hole in the lexan to …


Making Your Own Sauerkraut – Part 1, by E.P.

I have been making sauerkraut for many years. My grandmother (my mother’s mother) was German, and used to make it many years ago. Unfortunately, she never taught me how to do it, so I had to learn how to do it on my own. Fortunately, I found a really excellent book, Making Sauerkraut and Pickled Vegetables at Home, by Klaus Kaufmann and Annelies Schoneck. This book not only explains how to do it, providing many different recipes but also explains the science behind the fermentation process. I highly recommend it for anyone who is interested in making sauerkraut. The basic …


Boers, Beans, Bullets, and Bear Soup – Part 2, by Tunnel Rabbit

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) A Rifle for the Recoil Sensitive Around here, .30-06 is more common than .308 Win.  The second most popular in my neighborhood is 6.5 Creedmoor (6.5CM), then 6.5×55, and lastly a wildcat for the AR platform, the 6.5 Timberwolf. Ideally, we would be best off to standardized on .308 Winchester. Yet .30-06 is still king in these woods. It is time tested and found to be the best all around cartridge CONUS, good for mouse to moose, and the occasional Griz, because it can shoot the heaviest .308 caliber bullets with a …


Blacksmithing Basics: Working From Next to Nothing, by Richard P.

Iron work is a foundational skill, literally shaping the bones of civilizations for well over a millennium today. As such, the earliest practitioners started out with nothing but ingenuity and raw natural materials. It is possible to do the same in a survival context, but the amount of labor necessary to smelt one’s own wrought iron from ore is prohibitive unless one has no other choice. Much more reasonable in a survival setting would be the repurposing of available metals. In history, this was extremely common. Viking societies would burn longships and sift the ashes to recover nails. We can …


Ways to Combat News-Overload Induced Worry, by Elli O.

During these times of instability and unc+ertainty both in our country and throughout the world, it is easy to become concerned about our future. In fact, if you are a Pollyanna who is not concerned about the future, then your head is probably in the sand dunes of Egypt and you are not being realistic in your thinking. But these are unstable times. There is constantly a threat to our way of life and the peace to which we have become accustomed. Whether it be man-made or by nature, ranging from the international conflicts (pick any two countries- Russia and …


Homemade Yogurt as Survival Food – Part 2, by N.C.

(Continued from Part 1. This concludes the article.) Cooking Tools The pot and metal bowl form a quick double boiler, it’s not strictly necessary, you could just use the pot. Using the double boiler helps keep you from burning or overheating your milk which can lead to a grainy texture. I find it very easy to keep the temperature where I need it and cleanup is easier with the double boiler setup. If you are using a rocket stove or some other live fire source of heat, the boiling water will keep a steadier heat. I use a metal bowl …


Homemade Yogurt as Survival Food – Part 1, by N.C.

Yogurt isn’t something most of us think about. I love my classic “Back to Basics” book, it’s chock full of things that I say “oh yeah I should try that”, from carpentry to basket weaving to tinsmithing to blacksmithing. I love that book. But the section on making your own yogurt I looked at and said “yeah…no. Why would I ever do that?” Fast forward 5 years and I’ve lost count of how many batches of yogurt I’ve made. Some advantages of yogurt: Yogurt can get around lactose intolerance for some people, It is a form of milk preservation, It …


What’s in the Rest of My Bags and Why – Part 1, by D.D. in Arizona

I suppose this is more of a continuation of the first article link that I submitted to SurvivalBlog and that was posted back in March of 2013: What’s In My 72 Hour Bag (and why). I was surprised to see over 400,000 downloads from my website and I got more than a few e-mailed comments. Some Background: In 2011, I started carrying a 5.11 satchel with a Glock inside since I obtained a CCW permit in Colorado. Over the years that messenger bag turned into an intermediate between my EDC key ring and my 72-hour bag. But recently, while in …