Survival Basics

It is important to mouse proof your home. As the weather gets colder, mice are trying to find places to stay warm. You don’t have to live next to a farm, field or forest to have a large mouse population in your neighborhood. It is important to mouse proof your home the best you can

Knowing what you’ll need when preparing for a hurricane is a life or death matter for many. The devastating power of nature is truly amazing. Our thoughts are with the east and west coast as they prepare for and deal with the devastation of hurricanes.  It’s difficult to think that a single hurricane can cause

Fresh Pumpkin Nothing quite says “fall is here!” like seeing the season’s first big bins full of fresh pumpkins at the local store. They’re synonymous with autumn’s holidays — jack-o-lanterns for Halloween and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately, while the pumpkin may be popular in fall, it tends to end up being used for the

heat your home It’s wintertime and the power goes out. If you’re like most of us, you’re not all that worried – you trust that the power will come back on soon. But when 12 hours goes by and you still don’t have any electricity, you start getting concerned. It might be days before the

Listen To The Article Livestock Winter usually means the end of the growing season, shorter daylight hours, and possibly bitter cold temperatures. That means your livestock will need to be handled very differently. The preparation leading up to winter will determine how well your livestock come through the winter months. Preparation is Important Following are

Taking inventory gives me the chance to see what I actually have. Yet, it also gives me the chance to check the condition of everything in my prepping stockpile as well. Many people have special things they do at the beginning of the year. For me, that means taking inventory in more ways than one.

Chicks There’s nothing that hints of spring quite like newly hatched chicks. If you haven’t ordered yet, now is the time to do so, either through a nearby breeder, the local feed store or a mail order hatchery. You’ll also want to have your brooder set up so you’re all ready to go when that

Spring Storms are upon us. The spring storm season is here, and for thousands of people in the United States, that means time to start preparing the homestead. It is important to becoming mentally aware of how to react should you find yourself in the midst of a natural disaster. Summer and fall seasons bring

Keeping warm during a winter power outage can be difficult. The recent polar vortex hit Texas hard. While the entire country suffered with unexpectedly cold temperatures which lasted for days; no other state had as many people without power, without water and dying from the cold weather. But why should this be so? First, no

Dandelions aren’t just weeds In today’s world, people want everything to be neat, tidy and uniform – including their yards. The grass, we’re told, should be one smooth, green carpet. But that’s easier said than done! Everyone knows that if you don’t pull them or spray them, “weeds” such as dandelions will be the first

Listen To The Article Always ask landowners before wildcrafting and foraging. Wildcrafting is the term that people refer to for collecting wild plants. Wild plants often have strong healing properties and exceptional flavor. I have never tasted a store bought strawberry that compared in flavor to the tiny alpine ones that grow freely in wild

Butterflies are attracted to many different flowers. Butterflies — those small, beautiful “flying flowers” of nature — are always a welcome sight in our gardens and herald the coming of summer. Their unique and colorful designs inspire artists and enchant children. How do we encourage butterflies to visit our garden? By having a variety of

Gasoline Stockpiling? Stockpiling supplies for an emergency is at the very core of survival. Unfortunately, though, not everything stores well, especially when we’re talking about months and years. Most food items don’t store well, but we are able to make up for that by the way we preserve and package them. Other items aren’t quite

There are several grass clipping uses that actually improve your soil. People that have lawns both small and big can understand how much of a chore cutting the grass can be. But even worse – what do you do in all the grass clippings once you’ve finished mowing? The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that

Surviving Extreme Heat In The Summer Time Can Be An Emergency Situation. I don’t know how it is where you live, but where I live, it’s over 100 degrees Fahrenheit half the days of the year. We only end up using our home’s furnace a couple of weeks in January and February and then, it’s

When you lose power, the first thing you usually think of is how to keep your food cold during the outage. Whether it’s the wind of a severe thunderstorm in the summer, the weight of an ice storm in the winter or even a traffic accident that takes down a power line, you can experience

There are lots of ways to stay cool off-grid without air conditioning. Since I am living in a century-old home off-grid without air conditioning during what is shaping up to be the hottest summer on record in the Pacific Northwest, I am learning some lessons on staying cool. First, we need to take heat seriously.

Listen To The Article Survival Gear Once someone starts upon the road of preparedness, it seems never to end. The idea of actually having enough to get through any crisis may be something we all aspire to, but it’s an elusive goal. There’s really no way of knowing what will be enough, without knowing what