Self-Reliance
Converting a Lawn Mower Into a Generator
With Spring almost here, keep on the lookout for many of your neighbors clearing out their sheds and getting rid of their older lawn mowers in hopes of upgrading to newer models. I see them every year around this time lying in front of their houses, waiting for the trash man to come pick them up. [...]
Off-Grid Wheat Grinder Reviews
Whether it’s due to a natural or man-made disaster, an extended grid-down situation is a very real scenario and one that I am always trying to prepare for. For this reason, I like to buy tools and gear that can still function without the need of electricity. Since I have quite a bit of wheat grain [...]
How to Dehydrate Foods without a Dehydrator
Dehydrating foods is one of the oldest long-term food preservation methods known to man. If you think about it, it must have been exciting for early man to discover that small pieces of raw meat, fruit, and vegetables — when left outside in the sun or wind — did not go bad but were actually preserved for quite a [...]
The Survivalist’s Bucket List
There’s a lot more to being prepared than simply stockpiling a bunch of stuff. It’s knowledge and skill that often makes the difference between being a survivor or a statistic. Just as in stockpiling goods, in a long-term crisis the more knowledge and skills that you have about how to deal with a wide variety of [...]
Biomass Gasification – A Primer
I’ve been researching alternative energy sources that could be used during an extended grid-down situation for a while now. Well just recently a good friend of mine had reminded me of one that I had long since forgotten (having originally passed over it in a Mother Earth News article a few years back): Wood or Biomass Gasification.
Wild Edibles: How to Make Elderberry Jelly
With the summer coming to a close here in New England, one of my favorite wild edibles that I seek out in the late Summer and early Fall is the Common Elderberry (Sambucus nigra). In this article I’ll be showing you how to properly identify the Common Elderberry, where to find it, and how to process it into a delicious jelly.
How to Make Cheese from Powdered Milk
Here’s another recipe I wanted to test out that puts to use the buckets of powdered milk I have stored. Remember if you are constantly rotating your stored food (especially the 3-month food supply) not only will you greatly reduce the chance of anything going bad, but you’ll actually be learning to use your bulk-stored food and eating what you store — some of the most important rules in food storage.
How to Make Powdered Eggs
The incredible edible powdered egg.
Despite the at-times negative media attention (we all know how reliable the main-stream media is nowadays) eggs are a very nutritious source of food that is one of the cornerstones in baking. With it’s low-cost but high-quality source of protein, if it weren’t for its short shelf life and fragility, it would be a great addition to your survival store if only you could store it.
Off-the-Grid Living on only 1/5th of an Acre
For you homeowners that think you don’t have enough land to live off the grid, think again…
Ten years ago, Jules Dervaes along with his three adult children, set out with the goal of becoming completely self-sufficient. Today, these residents of the Pasadena California suburbs have taken their small 1/5th of an acre lot and converted it into a (almost) completely self-sufficient paradise.
The Importance of Self-Reliance
There have been quite a number of programs set up by the government in addition to well-meaning individuals to aid those in need. The problem with most of these programs is that they are stuck on the short-sighted view of “helping people” as opposed to “helping people help themselves”.
