Category: Traditional Skills/Fieldcraft

Advantages of Owning a Small Sawmill for Homestead and Retreat Building, by Tennessee Hillbilly

There are many ways to be prepared for whatever the future may hold and no feasible way to be prepared for every scenario. While “Beans, Bullets and Band-Aids” should be given the top priority, there are many situations where a small band saw mill fits the bill. In the current situation, it’s a cheap source of lumber for building projects. On a homestead/retreat there is always a need for lumber. Having selected a remote area for security reasons, by default, places an individual a long way from any supplies, but usually an abundance of trees are available. There have been …


Letter Re: U.S. Civil War Era Hardtack Recipes From North and South

Sir, These recipes are in addition to the letters on hard tack that you posted on your site: Union Army Hardtack Recipe 2 cups of flour 1/2 to 3/4 cup water 1 tablespoon of Crisco or vegetable fat 6 pinches of salt Mix the ingredients together into a stiff batter, knead several times, and spread the dough out flat to a thickness of 1/2 inch on a non-greased cookie sheet. Bake for one- half an hour at 400 degrees. Remove from oven, cut dough into 3-inch squares, and punch four rows of holes, four holes per row into the dough. …


Letter From David in Israel Re: Blue Water Sailing as a Retreat Option?

James: Anyone near any body of salt water should consider purchasing something like the Navy/Coast Guard [approved] Manual Reverse Osmosis Desalinator (MROD) They are sold on eBay and as far as I know are only made by PUR. They can provide drinkable water at sea for one to two people with quite a bit of work but PUR also makes a larger bicycle pump model. I have tested mine in both the Med (not as salty as ocean) and the Salt Sea (the saltiest water in the world). More salt just means more work. A creative person might make a …


Letter Re: Advice on Using Oak Acorns as a Survival Food

Hi:. I live in Florida where there are a lot of oak trees with a lot of acorns. Is there any way to prepare acorns so that humans can eat them in a survival situation? Thanks. – Joe in Florida The Memsahib Replies: Yes! The California Indians’ main staple was acorns. Along the creek where I played as a child, there were many grinding holes in the rocks where the native California women ground their acorns into flour. One anthropologist has speculated that it was the acorn as a diet staple that made the development of civilization in Europe possible. …


Blue Water Sailing as a Retreat Option?, by CMC

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Coming from a Southern family and having hunted as a child and adult, and having backpacked the Smokies, I would not want to depend on a mountain man scenario for survival during TEOTWAWKI. I want to walk a bit further with this. Most particularly consideration of a sailing vessel and the ocean as a way of survival. I seriously question the concept of mobility, particularly mobility at sea. I remember Sun Tzu said something to the effect that “when the army of maneuver meets the army of the fortress, the army of the fortress generally looses.” But I think that …


Letter Re: The Next Pandemic: Starvation in a Land of Plenty

Sir: Seeing the discussion regarding the gentleman who loaned a flashlight and leaf blower to his ungrateful neighbors, I’d thought I’d share my method of loaning out items. First off, never loan out primary tools. I have three sets [that I’ve designated – mine [primary], for friends, and a lower quality set for loaning. If you’ve never borrowed from me before and I don’t know your “borrowing character”, then you get the cheap set of greasy, grimy tools or the flashlight with weak batteries. If you return them in the state that you borrowed them, you get to borrow them …


Letter Re: Junk Shop Survival Tools

James, I read Nuclear War Survival Skills [by Cresson Kearney) several years back and have read and re-read the book on a regular basis. In fact, along with your novel “Patriots” (acquired 5 months back) I have loaned out and gifted copies of each to family. All were ‘struck’. After realizing the need for expedient and planned shelter, but lacking the real buying power that I desired, I set about securing many of the hand tools that I had previously overlooked, i.e. tools that were essential according to Cresson: Picks, Shovels, etc. Lowes and other stores didn’t stock old world …


A Minimalist 50 Mile Hike in the Smoky Mountains, by Albert J.

It was the summer of 1980. I’d read Robert Ringer and John Pugsley books on surviving coming economic collapses. Both taught how you should prepare yourself for such events. In another year I would finish graduate school and start living the 9 to 5 dream. Ha! So this summer it was time to do a little survival training and think on these things. I decided to hike part of the Appalachian Trail through the Great Smoky Mountains. Being a minimalist anyway and having read much of H. David Thoreau and about a Greek philosopher, Diogenes, I wanted to carry as …


Gardens for the Future, by JLM

There are many reasons to make open pollinated [“heirloom variety”] seeds an integral part of your gardening experience and food storage. If seeds are collected from F1 hybrids, the plants grown from those seeds will generally not have the characteristics that you desired in the parent plant. Open pollinated seeds allow the gardener the option of saving seed and growing the plants you like, year after year. In the April 1991 issue of National Geographic, in an article titled, “World Food Supply at Risk”, the authors point out past failures of agriculture being based on only a few varieties. Such …


Two Letters Re: Survival Biscuits

Mr. Rawles: Regarding SF in Hawaii’s letter about hardtack biscuits posted on January 21st, I have made more than a few of these recently, both for survival purposes, as well as just for getting used to them. If you make them to specification they come out hard, like thick crackers. Be sure to cut them to size before you put them in the oven, as even after the 1-hour of cooking they will be too hard to cut effectively. The best way I’ve found to eat them is take a bullion cube, dissolve it in water. Next add the hard …


Land Navigation – More Than Just a Walk in the Woods, by GlobalScout

While sheltering in place has many advantages during an End-of-Civilization-Schumer-Dispersal scenario, there may be good reasons to travel on foot cross country. (In “Patriots” for example, squads and patrols traveled afoot for security, reconnaissance, communication, ambush and assault missions.) The following tips are offered for your consideration should you have to resort to “Shank’s Mare” for transportation. Land Navigation can be divided into “tactical” or “peacetime” methods. While even in peacetime there are times that it is better to travel undetected, in a tactical scenario, being caught might be fatal. You’ll have to judge the situation yourself, but when in …


Letter Re: Survival Biscuits

The history of biscuits started off in Rome around the 3rd Century BC. The word biscuit comes from the Latin bis coctum which means “twice-baked”. Back then, a biscuit was a thin unleavened wafer, quite hard, and with a very low water content – hence the name “twice-baked”. The advantage of the low water content was that the biscuit would have a long shelf-life, because it wouldn’t get moldy. Adding eggs or meat to the biscuit mix increases protein content but it will not last as long. Mixing a complementary proteins (grains with dairy, grains with beans and beans with …


Letter Re: Yet Another Article Touting “Mobility” for Survival

Jim: Thank you for response on the mobile survival fantasy. I think it is dangerous for the average Joe to believe that he can be a mountain man. Sure, some can, in some climates and locations with lots of training. Even then it’s dangerous and unpredictable. A twisted ankle can be the end of you. Remember too, those mountain survival stories were from the days when the wildlife in this country was at much higher levels. For most of us it means being cold, wet, tired, hungry and thirsty in the woods and being targets on the streets. (“Nice pack …


Letter Re: Yet Another Article Touting “Mobility” for Survival

Dear Jim: See this piece on Survival Preparedness as: “The Ultimate “Contrarian” Investment for 2007 — Be Prepared” The author knows a lot about economics (excellent web site), but one can certainly critique his “Batman in the Boondocks” or “mobile refugee” survival strategy. Regards, – OSOM JWR Replies: I’m dismayed to see such strategies proposed again and again, usually by folks who have never actually attempted to fill–much less actually shoulder–their “everything that I’ll need” backpack. It is incredibly naive to think that anyone can “head for the hills” with just what you can carry, and survive for an extended …


Horse Power, The Real McCoy, by S.N.

While I have only been a reader for a year or so, I have not noticed a lot of references to the advantages to livestock. Depending upon your retreat location, the extra logistics of livestock ownership will outweigh the costs. As fossil fuel availability becomes more limited, the conversion of non-protein nitrogen into energy will begin looking more attractive. Today I want to focus on the horse. Let’s look at the four major benefits of the equine: Transportation –A horse can move you from your residence to your retreat. You can (i) ride, (ii) drive a wagon or buggy, (iii) …