I still have the photo of our first egg. We keep chickens in a suburban backyard, and we fought for the right to do that. The photo is of my son holding a single egg in his two little hands.

All these years later the humble egg has become one of my favorite foods, an essential part of my pantry I will never discard. It’s rare that a day goes by where I am not cracking and frying eggs for breakfast. The backyard raised eggs are beautiful with a deep orange yolk.

Storing eggs for the long term is always challenging because once the shell is cracked you pretty much must eat them right away. If you have a lot of chicken or even quail eggs, then you can pickle them.

In the raw state you can preserve them in lime water, however, if you want something you can open and not have to cook, that’s where the pickled eggs come in.

What is Cowboy Candy?

Traditional cowboy candy is pickled jalapenos, and they are a real treat! This time of year, I like to make a mix of pickled red onions and jalapenos. The cowboy candy is often cooked, and the jalapenos softened. I like to use a warm brine and slice the onions and the jalapenos extra thin.

I found this recipe here, and it’s not the only recipe I make from it – I found a lot more useful tips to make food last for a really long time. This includes burgers and other savory treats.

Cowboy candy pickled eggs use that same sort of spicy, sweet, tangy flavor profile. With the help of cider vinegar, cayenne pepper, and sugar you get that same flavor dynamic with a splash of surprise for your family. Pickled and stored in a cool dark place these can be kept unopened, for months.

• 2 1/2 dozen hard-boiled eggs
• 2 cups of apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 2 jalapeño peppers, diced small
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Making Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

The perfect boiled egg starts in a pot of cold water. You are going to bring this to a rolling boil and then shut off the heat and take the pot off the heat.

Cover the pot with the eggs and warm water inside. Then set a timer for 10 minutes. Once you reach the 10-minute mark you can remove the lid.

Related: The Best Old Fashioned Pickled Eggs Recipe

Your eggs are now in the perfect state of doneness. You will not have any blue on the yolk. Perfect.

Making Cowboy Candy Pickled Eggs

Peel the eggs while warm, and place them in a few large sterilized mason jar. A quart jar will hold about 8-10 eggs depending on how determined you are to squeeze them in there.

Meanwhile, add the rest of the ingredients, like the garlic, into a saucepan and bring it to a boil until the salt and sugar are completely dissolved.

This is your surprisingly versatile homemade pickle brine and will do all the work of turning your humble boiled eggs into something amazing.

Place your eggs in the jar and pour the warm brine over them. Make sure to wear gloves to avoid any possible injury. If you want to, you can also add some pickling spice from the store. Obviously, this is just optional.

Place the jars in the refrigerator and allow the eggs and brine to cool completely before screwing on the lid. In 2-3 days, you will have yourself a sweet, spicy, and tangy batch of cowboy candy pickled eggs, a savory dish you will never forget.

These eggs will last up to a month in the refrigerator.

Longer Storage

This method will allow you to store these eggs in a cool dry place for much longer than in your fridge. However, you have to be careful because when canning eggs there is a risk of botulism.

You cannot use eggs that have been damaged during the peeling process and all your eggs should be smooth.

To prevent any risk, you should follow these steps that will help you make no mistakes and learn how to create survival meals that truly last from pemmican to candied jalapeños.

To your mason jars you will add peeled eggs, while they are still warm. Then you will add the brine, while it is hot, too. Put the canning lids on and screw them down just until snug.

Related: Quail Eggs vs Chicken Eggs

Place the jars into a water bath and bring the temperature of the water up to 200 degrees or to a rolling boil for a few minutes. Then let them cool overnight and store them in a cool dark place like a basement or root cellar.

Pickle Other Stuff

You have a very interesting brine here. This is not your run of the mill pickled egg. This stuff has a lot of character and there is no reason why you should only pickle eggs with this. You should also try pickling vegetables with this.

• Okra
• Asparagus
• Cabbage
• Cucumbers
• Zucchini

Final Thoughts

Cowboy Candy Pickled Eggs are just one example of how you can leverage the preservation power of a pickle brine to build up your food storage. What stands out about pickled eggs is the fact that you are preserving protein and that is always a challenge.

Enjoy these but don’t forget that you are the Chef on this one. You can adjust the spices and sugar to your taste. At the end of the day, you are the person who will pull these off the pantry shelf for your family to enjoy.

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The post Cowboy Candy Pickled Eggs first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

From leisure activities to practicing survival skills, let’s explore small and simple survival projects. These aren’t big DIY builds needing plans and lots of tools.

You might see limits when you look at your property, thinking you’ve done all you can. In reality, there’s much more you can do with just a few small spots in your yard or nearby woods.

The First One

Making fire and cooking over a fire are essential skills for any survivalist. Creating your own firepit is as simple as stacking some stones in a circle in your backyard.

You could also repurpose items like cast iron grills to use for burning.

Your firepit can be as basic or creative as you want, but having one lets you practice starting fires and cooking over them regularly.

Be sure to understand local burning laws and avoid using river or creek rocks, as they can contain water and burst, causing hot rock fragments to spray. Fire bricks are the best material for the inside of a firepit.

A Protein Source On Your Property 

Keeping hens has greatly improved my overall preparedness. Having a daily source of protein from the eggs produced means we have a reliable food source. We’ve also taken steps to manage predators, planted trees for natural food, and set up a chicken coop.

Building your own chicken coop is simple. Even without building skills, you can convert an old shed into a coop. The shed must be secure, draft-free, and able to lock tightly at night to protect against predators.

Small shed coops are easy to clean and spacious for the birds, even on rainy days. However, you’ll need to make some modifications:

• Cut and screen windows
• Add roosting poles
• Create nesting boxes (you can even repurpose old bowls and chairs)
• Set up a feeding area
• Install a water container

Alternatively, you can build a small coop from scratch using various coop-building plans available. This can be a fun project with many design options to choose from.

An Ingenious Project

Smoking meat has been a preservation method for thousands of years. It’s effective and produces delicious results. Having a small smoker in your backyard allows you to smoke ribs or chickens and is a useful off-grid cooking option for any homesteader.

To build a simple smoker, use a cinderblock base and an A-frame smokehouse. Here’s how:

• Construct a 2-foot-tall cinderblock base.
• Frame the A-frame smokehouse with 2x4s and place it on top of the cinderblock base.
• Attach a firebox to the base to create smoke. Use a small metal or brick firebox with a door or opening that can be closed.
• Install a flue to direct hot smoke from the firebox to the smokehouse. Ensure the materials used can withstand the heat.
• Add hooks to your smokehouse instead of racks. These are cheap, easy, and can be forged at home if you have blacksmithing skills.

This setup allows you to smoke meat efficiently and is a valuable addition to your survival preparations.

The Most Simple One

The post Small Survival Projects You Are Missing On Your Property first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

The blatant corruption at the highest levels of power is no longer concealed, and it’s disheartening.

Here are 9 ways the government is stopping you from living independently.

Restricting Freedom of Speech

The ability to freely express oneself is paramount.

In 2020, we witnessed extensive censorship on social media platforms and in the media. People even faced job loss due to what they said. Recent revelations about government associations with tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter shed light on the extent of speech limitations.

It’s clear that the modern-day soapbox is under surveillance, and the government won’t hesitate to silence voices it deems inconvenient.

Limiting 2nd Amendment Rights

The thing about being able to say what you want is that it only works if you are able to protect that ability, in our case it’s a right.

There is a reason that our founding fathers said, “#1 freedom of speech and #2 right to keep and bear arms.” They understood the power of your words and more importantly your ability to defend that right to say what you want!

Related: This Is Why The Government Doesn’t Want You To Be Self-Sufficient

Attacking At Home Food Production

Backyard hen-keeping, a simple means of food production, faces legal restrictions in many areas. Eggs cost around a lot right now in this nation.

A government that cared about its people would be loosening backyard hen keeping restrictions and talking about how easy it could be for millions of Americans to produce 6 eggs a day in their own backyard!

Obstructing Water Storage

Access to water is vital for independence. Some governments prohibit the collection of rainwater in barrels, depriving citizens of a crucial water source in emergencies. Rainwater can be filtered for drinking or used for basic needs like flushing toilets.

Whatever you use it for having that extra water makes you stronger as an individual and more prepared. It is mind boggling that the government would want to stand in the way of that.

Allowing Monopolized Purchasing of Single-Family Homes

Powerful investors are acquiring a significant portion of single-family homes, raising concerns about housing access and affordability. With homelessness on the rise, the government should consider measures to prevent such monopolization, as it aligns with conspiracy theories like “The Great Reset.”

“You will own nothing and you will like it”, it seems impossible, right? How could they pull something like that off?

Well, what if they’ll own more percentage of single-family homes in the nearest future?

Starting Wars

Living independently is tough when the threat of nuclear war is looming over your head. In our nation the President must seek approval from Congress to go to war.

Yet, of the many wars or ‘conflict’ we have been involved with there hasn’t been a lot of approval seeking!

Here we sit again, facing a couple of ‘conflicts’ that are affecting our freedom and daily life, yet not one of us gets to raise our hand and say yes or no for involvement with this war in Ukraine or the brewing conflict in Taiwan.

While you might think you can move away from cities and get to an isolated place where war will not affect you, if it gets bad enough it will affect everyone on this planet!

Related: 25 Basic Life Skills That Should Be Taught in School (But Aren’t)

Manipulating Energy Prices

Access to affordable fuel is essential for rural homesteads and suburban life.

Government interference in the energy market can disrupt the supply and affordability of fuel. A balanced approach should ensure energy security while meeting market demands.

In this energy crisis that we are in there has been one hindrance bigger than all the rest. Our government here in the US has weakened our fuel production to levels not seen before. We have been pulling from our strategic oil reserves and none of it is necessary.

Attacking Your Income

Over the past few years, substantial changes have occurred without adequate public input, leading to taxation without representation. Even smaller payments through platforms like PayPal and Venmo are now subject to taxation, eroding financial independence.

Every bit of income that is taken from you by your government and reappropriated in a way that you have no say in is killing your independence and stopping you from living independently.

The End-Of-Life Monopoly

When someone you love gets terminally ill or passes away it is one of the hardest things on the family at large. It’s such a big issue that it can literally rip families apart. Whether you are seeking affordable medical care for the person you love, or dealing with an estate and all that goes along with it, the government is there to “help” at every turn.

Were you aware that if you lack the financial means to cover the expenses of caring for your elderly parents, the government may step in by taking possession of their assets and liquidating them, ultimately enabling you to place them in a nursing home?

Furthermore, the government may interject itself into the contents of your will, attempting to divert a portion of your inheritance toward bureaucratic ends.

In instances where you struggle to maintain inherited property or meet tax obligations, the government may not hesitate to seize the wealth designated for you in the will your parents had crafted.

Related: What I’ve Learned Homesteading With My Family of 8

Over the past two decades, the government has expanded significantly, demanding an exorbitant amount of financial resources. This isn’t the first time in history we’ve witnessed such a trend.

In our current era, individual independence and strength are imperative. Despite the government’s apparent efforts to curtail our independence, there are often alternative avenues. Our right to vote and the ability to engage with our representatives remain intact. Additionally, presenting your concerns before a city council is a viable option.

While this may appear challenging, I’ve witnessed changes in laws and regulations when organized groups voiced their concerns to elected officials.

This raises a pertinent question: Is the government encroaching on our independence because we’ve become too complacent to defend it?

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The post How The Government Is Stopping You From Living Independently first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

The hot shower is a marvel of modern technology. There is nothing like a hot shower after a cold, hard day of work.

The good news is that DIY hot water is not nearly as tough as you might think. In fact, you can even recruit the sun to help heat your water.

I took the liberty of explaining the best way to turn these DIY solar water heaters into showers, too, since that is likely to be your number one priority when using them.

Greenhouse Solar Water Heater

The greenhouse is usually on the top of every homesteader’s wish list. It is a means of growing through the cold weather seasons.

I have employed greenhouses effectively and unsuccessfully, too.

Some brands are very helpful and some are downright terrible.

If you have a sturdy greenhouse or you plan on building one, then you could create a greenhouse solar water heater by catching the sun’s heat in the very same way you do using your greenhouse.

1. Begin by noting the part of the greenhouse that gets the most direct sunlight throughout the day.

There is likely a portion of the roof or even a side of the greenhouse, or both, that gets the majority of the direct sunlight. This is much like planning a garden because you are going to use this section of the greenhouse to warm your water.

2. Next, you can start building your hot water pipes. Many DIYers use a thick black hose for this, and I think it is one of the best ways to do it.

You can also use black iron pipe that will heat up really well, or you can use PVC that you spray paint black. Obviously, we want the black pipe or hose to attract the direct sunlight.

3. These pipes will heat up first, and then the water inside will heat up, too. The more pipe you can run the water through, the more time it will have to heat up. So a smaller pipe covering more of the surface area that gets sun is going to work best.
4. Finally, you can build a simple wooden enclosure off the back of the greenhouse and run the hot water pipe to a spigot or shower head of your choosing.

This will give you the ability to stand under the heated water and take that hot shower even if you are living off-grid.

Now, if you don’t have a greenhouse but plan on building one, it’s better to be two steps ahead and build a greenhouse that is able to support a water heating system. Hopefully there’s no need to think about this design yourself because you can find all you need and the blueprints here.

This greenhouse design is one of the most versatile out there and the thing I like about it is that you can scale up everything. For example, if you’d like a bigger greenhouse, you can use the exact same design and simply make it bigger. This is one of the simplest greenhouse designs and at the same time is one of the best if you also want it to serve as a water heater. The roof is not curved and this allows you to install your pipes with no struggle.

Click here to get the exact design I’m talking about and start heating your water off-grid →

Black Barrel Solar Water Heater

Another very simplistic type of solar water heater is the use of a black barrel to both catch and hold water. If you can’t find a black barrel, then it is time to break out the black spray paint again. Once you set this thing up properly, you are going to be able to turn the water on and stand underneath for a warm 55-gallon shower.

1. The first step is to ensure the barrel is outfitted with a screen on the top, an overflow and a spigot. The barrel should be prepped and ready for use as the first step.

If you want to use a standard spigot, that is fine, or you can add some threaded pipe and affix whatever fixture you would like.

2. Next, we have to build a platform that the barrel can sit on. This barrel has to be above your head. So, where you choose to install this thing is very important.

If you build a platform and attach this barrel to a tree, then your platform and attachment have to be very secure and stable. You do not want a 55-gallon barrel of water falling on you.

3. You could also place this large barrel on a deck or build a small, raised deck for this purpose. This is a nice stable design, and it would be easy to build a small shower enclosure off of that. The key is to use gravity to deliver the hot water.
4. No matter where you decide to affix the black barrel, just make sure that you have it in a place that gets lots of direct sunlight. That is what is going to heat the bucket and, in turn, the water inside.

Solar Water Heater Panel

This concept plays off the greenhouse idea a bit, but instead of needing a greenhouse as a prerequisite, you are creating simple panels that will collect the sun’s rays and the solar heat.

These panels can be linked together, and the water can be sourced from rain barrels already on the home.

1. Start by creating a frame for your solar water heater panels. These can be simple lumber and plywood just to create an open frame that you can snake black hose back and forth.

You might even consider spray-painting the frames black on the inside to draw even more sunlight towards the black hoses.

2. Once you have snaked your hose through the frames and secured them in place, you will want to drill a hole large enough to snake the intake hose out of and the outflow on the other side.

This way you can chain these frames together. Make a few so you can run the water through a nice length of hose and give it time to warm up.

3. After that, you can cover each frame with a thick clear plastic of your choosing. The clearer the better, but with the black hose inside, you will get plenty of heat and sunlight inside to warm your water.
4. Finally, attach the first panel to the outflow of your rain barrel, chain the rest of the panels together and then on the last panel attach a fixture to the outflow.

If you can build the shower below this section, then it will be much easier to use that way. However, if you are just pulling hot water from this system, it can be left on the ground in the sun.

What I like most about these three designs is that none are too complex.

The Amish Water Heater

These guys have been living off-grid since forever, so they know what they’re doing. The method they use is a more sophisticated one, but at the same time, it is the most efficient and the most reliable one from this list because it resembles modern water heating systems the most, and because it does not rely just on the sun. You can design it to be fully solar, but if you want to have a backup plan for rainy days, this is the one.

The idea is simple: you need a cold water source, be it rainwater, spring water, or simply your faucet. If you want to go with rainwater, since it’s free, you can see how to build the most complete rainwater catchment system here. After you’ve got your water source, you need a way to heat it. For this, the Amish will use fire. Some of them use a big pot of water they heat up solely for the purpose of having a heated water source, while others will create a pipe system around the oven they’re already using for cooking and not lose any heat.

Once you have your heated water, you can simply use a spigot and take the heated water directly from the source, or you can distribute it through pipes around your home. It’s your choice regarding how much you want to develop this project. If you just want an easy fix, you can just use the simple method.

If you want to see the full Amish heating system project, click here → 

Final Thoughts

Each one of these can be created for minimal expense and if you watch the local marketplaces and yard sales, you could likely get it all done for even less than you think.

Placement of your system is going to make all the difference. You need lots of sun and you should set the water heater up in a way that gravity is working for you. Otherwise, you might have to add a pump to your system to make it effective.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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A great way to make that happen would be to bring on an economic collapse. That is exactly what we are witnessing in our country right now.

With the help of inflation, which even Janet Yellen said will last through 2023, we are going to face struggles with food, fuel, and labor in 2023.

The economic collapse will be severe, and I want you to be prepared for it. Do these 8 things before the 2023 economic collapse.

Establish Your Local Supply Chain

We have been working through struggling supply chains for the last 2 years. As the economic collapse approaches these issues are only going to get worse.

Major corporations all over are cutting massive amounts of jobs in preparation for just this kind of event. They see the writing on the wall.

Rather than wait on the supply chain to recover, or not, it is time for you to establish your own local supply chain. Start with farmers and food.

Create A Collapse-Proof Wealth Matrix

Lately, I have been wondering if it will always be about diversification. In a disaster, it’s nice to have cash, even though it’s frowned upon in many establishments these days. In a true economic collapse, I think that a variety of wealth is going to prepare you the most.

Your collapse-proof wealth matrix should include things like cash, precious metals, bonds, and other transferable assets like land, or even gems and precious stones.

Barter items will be key in an economic collapse, too. Vices like coffee, tobacco, and alcohol will go a long way.

Bug In Preps

Think of all the things we have experienced in the last 2 years. From lockdowns, and occupied portions of cities, to massive civil unrest.

I know a lot of preppers and I don’t know anyone that executed a true bugout. So, for most of us, the economic collapse of 2023 is going to be another bug in the situation.

Hopefully, you have made improvements in your preps to be even better prepared for an extended bug-in situation.

Your greatest concerns in this 2023 economic collapse are going to be access to things like food and fuel. You will also have to consider security if things get bad enough.

Know Thine Enemy

Where are the bad guys in your world? Do you know who is going to come out of the woodwork when things get bad? Now is the time to learn about the local gangs in your area. It is a time to watch the crime statistics and learn about the flow of things like drugs.

Conduct an area study to better understand all the influences in your neighborhood.

Economic desperation will create new community leaders. They might not all be good people. So, it will do you much better to learn about them now rather then when they show up on your front door with an offer or a threat.

On-Grid/Off-Grid Balance

In Colorado, this year, thermostats were locked during the summer. Smart thermostats of course. They were locked because the government of Colorado had decided that due to the power constraints, the people would only be able to cool down their houses as much as the state desired.

This is the future and one of the only ways you can avoid that future is if you start to develop an on-grid/off-grid balance.

In 2023 you should begin building off-grid infrastructure to support you and your family when the lights go out or when the government decides you have used too much power.

Things like outdoor kitchens, grey water sinks, smokers, solar showers, greenhouses, root cellars, and the like will all help you start to create that kind of balance we will all need to survive 2023.

Learn To Cook

The fact that we eat three times a day and most people do not know how to cook is just mind-blowing to me.

Not only is it a wonderful thing to prepare the types of foods you want to eat when you want to eat them, but it is also so much more affordable than eating out.

There are whole cookbooks on depression-era recipes that are designed to stretch limited amounts of protein, and create stuffings to make meals more filling with fewer ingredients and much less cost.

If hard times are coming then you need at least one person in your home who knows how to cook using less expensive cuts of meat, offal, and how to stretch every meal.

Build A Neighborhood With Allies

This should be everyone’s goal in 2023. We all could use more of each other. It would help heal our nation but moreover, it will give us the ability to help each other in tough times. Everyone has skills that you may need.

Also, if you are dealing with bad guys, then having lots of people will make things much easier for you. The quantity has a quality all its own. You do not need a busload of spec ops soldiers on your block.

Start building your neighborhood back by having events, and gatherings, and even starting a small community garden. This will engage people and before long it will make other connections.

2020 set us all back and forced us all into a little more isolation but it’s time to get back to being communal again. The very worst thing you can endure in an economic collapse is serious isolation.

Learn The Resources Of The Natural World

In the prepping world, there is bushcrafting and there is foraging. These take you closer to the natural world and allow you to practice some survival skills along the way. However, in an economic collapse, you are going to need an even more intimate understanding of the natural world.

You see, man-made resources are going to be limited. Right now, we get most of what we need from a company. In an economic collapse it will be the natural world that suddenly has a lot of resources for those who can recognize them.

Now, is the time to develop a strong relationship with the trees, plants, animals, fish, and all they can offer you from medicine to building materials.

The year 2023 will be one that we never forget. In fact, it is starting to look like we are now in one of those historical decades. From 2020 to 2030 could be some of the wildest times we have ever seen on the planet.

At the very least you should try to accomplish these things before the full onset of the economic collapse of 2023.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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This price reflects a considerably basic shelter. It is not something that you are going to be happy with. You will use it when the tornado sirens go off or if you are told to seek shelter from a dangerous thunderstorm. However, a bunker at this price will not be the grand survivalist home base that you would like it to be. Therefore, you will be spending tens of thousands of dollars and merely settling.

There is a way to build a cheap bunker in your backyard that can protect you from many disasters and be used as an alternate storage space for preps.

Earth Bags

Have you ever heard of the earth bag? This is a modern building method that uses minimal materials to build literal homes above ground or underground! Earth bag building can yield incredible structures that will take your break away but also build simple ones that are highly effective.

Most people can understand the value of a root cellar. The earth bag is a great method to consider for building your own root cellar outback.

Earth bag building is basically the process of layering sandbags, filled with dirt. You add barbed wire between each layer, and you can even use lumber for some minimal framing, but it is not necessary. When it comes to bunker building earthbags are a great option because they are one of the few building materials not affected by moisture.

Cost

Because of the minimal material requirements, the cost of building a backyard bunker will be significantly cheaper than the steel model we talked about above. I mean substantially cheaper. Let’s take a look at the cost to build a bunker like this in your backyard.

Building your Bunker

1. What Kind of Bunker

Before you fill a single earth bag you need to sit down and consider what you are building a bunker for. The reasons can be quite different depending on the person. If you are looking for a safe shelter to hide in during a tornado that is going to look a lot different than a bunker designed to live out the apocalypse.

In this step you should really sit down and draw the entire project out. What do you want for this bunker and what don’t you want? Also, how can you make this shelter as structurally sound is possible by using a circular shape or some other method.

A great plan will result in a great bunker and the opposite is true, too!

2. Digging Your Hole

If you can bring a backhoe in for this that is probably the way to go. By planning out your bunker you should at least have the dimensions of your bunker. Now you are going to have to dig this space out. You can build your bunker so that the very top of it is a above ground. However, this won’t protect you from a nuclear blast.

Digging the hole for your bunker is about the worst part of this whole process.

3. Framing

If you are building a corridor or a larger style bunker you should consider framing that bunker with some wood, internally. Earthbags are great but building a roof will require some wood for the earthbags to sit on. A simple frame topped with strong pallets can be just what you need to stack the earthbags on and keep them sturdy and secure overhead.

If you go with a circular style earthbag home, you don’t even need a frame for the roof. Your circles just decrease in size gradually as you taper the roof. It’s a remarkable building material that can literally work without anything else but bags, dirt, and barbed wire.

4. In and Out

If you are going to build a bunker out of anything you should also plan on having a way in and a way out. Otherwise, you could just be building an earthbag coffin for you and your family.

The good news, you can literally dig and build steps using earth bags. They can become your staircase from the surface, down into your bunker. Now, what you do with doors and entranceways is your personal preference. All I am going to say is: get creative!

5. Start Filling and Stacking

By this point you should be able to grab a shovel and start filling bags. The best way to do this is to lay the bags around the pile of dirt that you removed with the backhoe. Get a few people around that pile of dirt with bags and begin filling them. Closing your filled bags is nothing fancy, you can simply fold up the remaining top of the bag and stick a nail through it.

Old tires are a great first layer if you want something other than just earthbags at the bottom of your bunker. You can also use tires just as a perimeter layer. Of course, there is nothing wrong with simply building that first layer with earthbags completely.

Continue to build layer upon layer with razor wire between each. Before long you will have walls and even a roof. It will take energy and the more people you have the better it will go, but before long the bunker will be finished from merely stacking bags filled with dirt!

6. Bury and Conceal

Now that your earthbag bunker is fully built you can cover the roof of your new bunker with the same dirt you pulled out of the ground to make the space.

Not only should you cover your new bunker location, but you should consider concealment, too. At the very least your entrance and exit ways should be concealed.

You can grow thorned bushes all around them or just allow the natural landscape to grow back and conceal them.

Conclusion

Most people assume that a doomsday bunker is just too far out of reach. While you might not wind up with a massive set of corridors that is outfitted like a real home, you could have a simple bunker of your own. You might even use this bunker as something of a root cellar while you wait for a serious disaster to strike.

You can add electrical and other amenities to your earthbag bunker, you just need to take the time to plan for all that in the beginning.

No matter how you design it or what you plan on doing with it, your bunker can become a reality. You can also learn a very impressive skill for building shelter using some dirt, bags, and razor wire. In survival, knowing how to make shelter is everything!

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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The biggest is the value. Canned foods can be had for a handful of dimes when they are on sale. You cannot say that about many things in our society today. Canned foods have a long shelf life and are low maintenance.

Canned goods, meats in particular, offer huge benefits through fat and protein. Homesteaders maybe don’t always account for the importance of healthy fats in their diet. Healthy fats are not easy to find in the wild. However, things like canned fish can be full of the same oils as those Omega 3s you take in pill form.

Of course, access to protein is huge and canned meats make that a breeze. While things like fishing and trapping are great opportunities for protein sourcing in a disaster, nothing is easier than a can opener and a can of roast beef!

TRUE EXPIRATION ON CANNED MEATS

As the manager of Safety and Food Safety at a prominent food bank, I established the guidelines for shelf life on a variety of foods. In the food banking industry, everything is close dated unless its purchased. It’s just the nature of donations.

Had we tossed all the food that was close or passed expiration, we would have wasted a lot of food.

A canned good’s shelf life is based on the acidity level of the food inside. There is a protective lining in every can and that deteriorates over time. This is the true threat with canned goods, aside from damage to the can or poor canning practices.

Canned meats also hit the retail shelves with longer dates than most foods. Next time you are at the store, take note of how long the shelf life is on these canned meats.

The true expiration date is about 5 years past the date on each can. So if your canned Spam goes out of date in 2023, the reality is that you have until 2028 to safely eat that food. You could likely go even further out.

The risk increases the further you go past that date of the lining wearing away and your food touching tin or aluminum directly. That could lead to heavy metal poisoning over time.

CANNED BEEF: Kirkland Canned Roast Beef

Beef is king in terms of protein and nutrient density. It’s the reason that athletes who are overworked take time off and eat a steak.

Some people even argue that eating meat, cooked meat in particular, allowed our brains to grow rapidly because of the easy access to such high digestible, quality nutrients.

Storing beef in cans is a great way to hold onto the benefits of beef over the long haul.

• 2 Servings per can
• Protein: 13g
• Sodium: 290mg
• Total fat: 1.5g

CANNED PORK: DAK Canned Ham

This amalgamation of mechanically separated meats and fats is more like a luncheon meat than an actual cured and dried leg of a pig.

Canned ham is a powerhouse of flavor and protein. It is also a great ingredient that can be added to other things like eggs, rice and vegetables.

• 8 Servings per container
• Protein: 9g
• Sodium: 620mg
• Total fat: 7g

Yoder’s Canned Bacon

Do I really need to breakdown the benefits of having canned bacon?

Of course, bacon contains nitrites and while it is delicious, these are recognized as cancer causing carcinogens. Just keep that in mind.

Of course, the delicious bacon can be eaten by itself or added to other dishes.

• 18 Servings per can
• Protein: 5g
• Sodium: 190mg
• Total fat: 5g

Tyson Canned Chicken

The neutral flavor and high protein profile of canned chicken makes it a great candidate for that food storage pantry. Tyson is a name that we all recognize, so I thought it would be great to profile their chicken.

There is a strange manufactured quality to canned meats and that doesn’t change with canned chicken. That said, it’s a good way to dump protein on top of your beans and rice.

• 5 Servings per container
• Protein: 13g
• Sodium: 300mg
• Total fat: 1g

CANNED FISH

#1. Sardines in Olive Oil

Some people cannot stand the sight or the idea of eating sardines. I don’t mind eating them at all. If you are going to store them for SHTF, you might as well get those packed in olive oil. This becomes a tin of healthy fats that your body will be craving if you are consistently eating dry food storage.

Fish has a whole host of benefits. It also has mercury…that’s just the deal. The bigger the fish the more mercury content. Sardines are nice and small.

• 1 Serving per can
• Protein: 14g
• Sodium: 300mg
• Fat: 20g

#2. Double Q Canned Wild Salmon

Salmon is an absolute powerhouse. When it comes to buying salmon, you have to buy the one which is wild caught. Salmon is one of the most farmed fish on the planet. Farm raised salmon is not the same thing as wild caught salmon. The nutrient profile is very different.

This product is fully cooked and ready to eat out of the can, or mix into other things. My mother would make amazing salmon meatballs with this and serve it up with a lemon cream sauce and spaghetti. Probably not an SHTF meal but a testament to how good this stuff can be.

• 7 Servings per container
• Protein: 12g
• Sodium: 230mg
• Fat: 5g

CANNED FORCEMEAT OR MYSTERY MEAT: Spam

How could we put together a list of canned meats for homesteaders and preppers without including Spam? It’s synonymous with the survivalist and now the prepper.

While it can be frowned upon, because of its highly processed beginnings, Spam has something of a cult following.

It can be prepared many ways, and offers up a legitimate protein that is ready to eat at the pull of a metal ring. No, it’s not a ribeye on the grill but it’s some collection of meats that will fuel you through TEOTWAWKI.

• 6 Servings per container
• Protein: 7g
• Sodium: 590g
• Fat: 16g

WHAT IS THE BEST CANNED MEAT?

Well, if you can stomach fish, I would say fish is kind of a no brainer. It offers up so much to your body. You probably take fish oil pills in the morning, for good reason!

When we look at nations that live long and happy lives, they are often predicated on a diet of things like fish and rice, maybe a little wine in the Cretin people’s case. We must be careful not to through diet in the trash when the SHTF.

While spam seems like the prepper’s best friend because it “lasts forever”, a diet full of that stuff will certainly assure it outlives you.

I guess the cynic in me would say that the best canned meat for homesteaders is the one that’s on your shelf. However, we have some time. You can manipulate your food storage to assure you are putting healthy options into your body.

Homesteading and survival is a lot like life, in that, it’s made up of small choices that reflect the bigger picture. What you put in your body will affect your performance. Keep that in mind when stocking your pantry shelves.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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It was also very important that they cared for these items because Walmart was not a short car drive away. Amazon did not deliver to the homestead in the 1800s.

It is not uncommon to find some old cast iron cookware in yard sales or flea markets, but most of the time it is rusted or crusted with the use and storage. Some pieces of cast iron cookware can be very disheveled looking, and you might wonder who would ever buy something so beat up?

Well, if you know how to restore cast iron cookware you can wind up with an entire inventory of high-quality, durable, cookware that was nearly someone else’s trash!

Benefits of Cast Iron Cookware

Modern cookware is pretty bad. It’s cheaply made, like most things, and you can get about 3 years out of it, at best! Cast iron is incredibly durable and is made to take a beating both physically and from the heat of an open fire.

Cast iron is also much safer to cook on because modern cookware is designed to assure that foods don’t stick rather than other factors.

So, chemicals like Teflon and other cheap metals are used to create the pans that you feed your family with each day.

You will also absorb some of that iron from cooking in the cast iron pan which can be great for your overall health.

Restoring Cast Iron Cookware

There are several steps in restoring cast iron cookware. Depending on how bad off it is, you might be able to skip some steps or spend less time on them. I have seen varying degrees of cast iron cookware. Some are so rusted and crusted with debris that it’s hard to tell what they should look like?

Others are just a little rusted and that can be worked off pretty easily. Let’s look at the steps:

Assess

Before you begin anything, you are going to want to assess the condition of your piece before you begin step one. This will be a time to decide what tools you might need. At the very least I would have the following tools for this job.

• Wire Brush or Dremel
• Towel
• Oil
• Coarse Sea Salt

Cleaning Debris

#1. This is likely to be your most involved step. The worse off the piece the more weapons I bring to the fight. If I am going to restore multiple pieces of cast iron cookware that are in pretty bad shape, I will first place them in the oven and run them on a full oven cleaning cycle.

Never hurts to run the old oven cleaning cycle, right! Your oven probably needs it anyway.

After the cycle is complete, I will let the cookware cool down before starting to get at it with elbow grease. If there are still thick layers of stuck-on debris and rust, you may need to employ the help of a Dremel or a wire brush. You could also use a wooden spatula to knock off a good amount of the buildup.

If you are dealing with light rust, then you can simply pour some salt and oil into the ban and scour it with a dry rag.

In fact, if you had no power or no access to power tools you would eventually wear anything down with this method, as long as the cookware is warm.

Warm Salt and Oil

#2. Once I am through with the initial debris removal, I like to move to another round of oil and coarse sea salt. This time I am going to look to “polish” the edges and really get this cast iron looking good. Some people say they use sandpaper, but I just count on the salt.

Be sure the pan, salt, and oil are warm, and it will make all the difference. Work the inside of the pan the edges, the bottom, and the sides. They all need love.

Seasoning

#3. Wipe the pan out with a dry rag and remove all the salt.

You are now going to reseason your pan. After all this work the pan needs a good seasoning. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Using corn or vegetable oil you simply coat the entire piece of cookware in oil. Both sides. Buff it a bit with a dry rag as you do not want the oil dripping off the cast iron and onto the bottom of the oven or that will start a fire.

Place a sheet pan on the lower rack of your oven and place the pan, mouth side down, and bake it for 30 minutes. Repeat this process a few times until the pan has taken in all that good oil.

Storing and Use

#4. The most important part of this process is to use the pan regularly. It’s easy to spend all that time and effort on making the pan look good and store it in a drawer till it looks rusty again. The key to storing cast iron properly is to not store it too long! This is high-quality cookware that you should use each day or at least each week.

The more you use it the better seasoned it becomes.

If I know I am going to store a piece for a long time, like my cast iron wok. I will just reoil before long storage. We don’t always break out the wok here so it can go away for a month or so at a time. The coating of fresh oil keeps the rust at bay and also keeps the pan seasoned.

There is really no substitute for the durability and capability of cast iron cookware. Teflon-coated pans are dangerous and often thin-bottomed which is just a nightmare in the kitchen. Expensive cookware is beautiful and polished but would be ruined over an open flame.

Cast iron cookware can get the job done over a conventional range or a campfire. It really doesn’t matter. For preppers, survivalists, and campers there is no better set to have on hand.

You can often save lots of money if you know how to restore cast iron cookware. Flea markets and yard sales are full of pieces that people have long given up on and assume are little more than fodder for a few bucks or could be used as decorative pieces at best.

This article first appeared on Ask A Prepper.

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We have causes like:

• War
• Hyperinflation
• Stock Market Crash

Beyond the causes on the board, we also have the signs which are like blinking neon in the face of the average American. Here are the signs:

• Debt Crisis
• Currency Crisis
• Rising Interest Rates

Will the bottom fall out of this thing? Will a true economic collapse take hold of our world?

No one can really be certain, but you can be certain of the 10 things you should do on the day of the economic collapse.

At the very least you can create a plan.

1. Don’t Panic

The most dangerous thing anyone can do at the beginning of an economic collapse is to panic. When you panic you have trouble making good decisions, you exhaust yourself and you struggle with self-doubt.

When you realize that the worst case scenario has occurred the best thing for you to do is take a few minutes and allow your brain to process that fact that you are now going to have to survive the next great depression. In this case, “a few minutes” can be actually “a few hours” if you were prepared, or “a few days” if you start from scratch with your planning. It is not going to be easy, but you have a plan. You do have a plan, right?

2. Increase Your Security Posture

In 2020, we expected chaos and we increased our security posture. Being proactive here is one of the best things you can do.

This could be how you protect your home, what you carry on your person or even how the nature of security is governed in your community or neighborhood.

Related: How To Secure Your Homestead Against Intruders

3. Bug Out, maybe?

If you have a place to go and that place is prepared to take you and yours in for a long time, then a bug out might be one of the things you do on the day of an economic collapse. If you are in an urban area that is surrounded by millions of people and you know their needs will not be met, then it is a good bet that you are going to need to bug out.

4. Notify Your People

I don’t know who ‘your people’ are but you have people.

These might be your family, tribe, crew, neighbors, friends and so on. When you realize that the economic collapse has begun then you need to notify your people and let them know what the next phase is here, if they don’t already know.

Life is going to change rapidly and there are going to be plans that need to be enacted.

5. Buy What You Can

While the lead up to a collapse will be ugly for retail, there might still be things on the shelf. If your cash is going to be worthless in days or hours, then you should try and buy as much of what you can before people realize what is happening and before all of it is gone!

Related: How To Store Food Without Electricity That Can Last Up To A Year (Video)

6. Gather Intel as Long as Possible

Understanding how an economic collapse is evolving will be of the utmost importance. It is so critical that you have some sources of information and intelligence that feed you the situation report.

• What is happening to your town or city?
• Is there law and order? Are you safe homesteading?
• Who is in control?
• When are supplies coming in?

A network of intelligence from HAM radio or just simple phone communications can help you develop that picture. This direct line to intelligence will also help you with deciding on your next move.

7. Plant Anything and Everything You Can

In the 20th century starvation killed 10’s of millions of people. Communists used it as a weapon of their culture wars, and it devastated the people of Russia, China, and North Korea.

There is a good chance that you will have a garden growing but you need to rapidly expand food production to its limits. If you have grow lights for sprouting seeds then you should be growing food indoors, too!

Related: 10 Recipes From “The Great Depression” To Survive The Next One

8. Be Prepared to Move

This is a topic that a lot of rural homesteaders and preppers do not like to discuss but in the great depression, lots of rural families had to move to the cities because resources were so scarce.

There was massive migration. If the hearty people of those days had to move to survive, you better believe that modern families will go where the food, resources, and conveniences are.

9. Start a Collapse Routine

There is a good chance that the economic collapse will affect your daily routine. The quicker you can establish a new routine the more effective you will be.

You can have a polished daily routine that allows you to handle the important things each day. This can be done and tweaked while the rest of the world is dealing with the reality of what has happened.

Related: What to Eat When the Power Goes Out

10. Look for Help

Last but certainly not least you need to find out who can help you.

While it might feel good to assume you are prepared for everything and able to weather any storm, you should never be too proud for help. There might be organizations or people around you that can help if you get in trouble. Knowing who you can trust and who you can depend on for help is critical.

All the signs are flashing. We are headed towards some kind of economic reckoning. If you take advantage of these 10 things, then you will be way ahead of the pack.

There are tons of preparations that you can make now, during the leadup. However, when the moment comes and you cannot get money out of the ATM or the deliveries of food stop coming to shopping markets, you need act.

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Americans will pay more this winter to heat their homes and to fuel their vehicles. Europeans are looking at prices that could be 5x higher than last year! Of course, Russia being a source of natural gas to Europe, means they never really know how winter is going to go.

How is all this going to affect your home? What are some of the steps you can take now to prepare for the rising energy prices in the latter part of 2021 and through 2022?

Consider Storage

As prepared homesteaders, we see problems coming and we bulk up and fortify our resources to deal with them. When it comes to fuel storage, you gotta be really careful and considerate about the nuances.

Storing highly combustible fuel comes with an inherent safety risk. You do not wanna fill a garage, shed or crawlspace up with extra fuel because you are basically creating a massive fire risk! You could turn your home into a firebomb.

Storing 200 gallons of gasoline or other fuel also brings to bear the importance of rotation. If you do not use your old fuel first, then you are likely going to wind up with fuel that will either not work when you need it or perform poorly.

Fuel storage is not something you can set and forget! However, it would be silly not to store a little extra gasoline, propane, and kerosene, if you can use those fuels to heat your home.

Buy Now

Whether we are talking about buying fuel oil for heating, gasoline for machines, or something that is not even fuel related. If you have preps, gifts, or other purchases that you think you should make, well, there is a good chance you should make that purchase now.

Rising energy prices are going to affect the price of everything, so buying now is going to save money and will also play a huge factor in availability.

With the shipping issues, microchip issues and rising energy prices, I have been really thinking about buying a new vehicle just to lock in the price and availability.

Related: 6 Things You Need To Do Before The Upcoming Crisis

Multiple Ways To Heat Your Home

The people of South Dakota are looking at the price of heating their home going up exponentially!

We are looking at the price of oil potentially hitting $100 a barrel through the winter, or higher! So, there are two scenarios that you should be preparing for today.

1. The price of fuel for heating your home goes up to the point that it seriously affects your monthly budget.
2. Shortages of fuel limit availability.

Your modern home heating system is a marvel but if it doesn’t have fuel then it will do you no good. So, you need other ways of heating the home and RIGHT NOW is the time to buy those before more people start running into this problem.

• Wood Stove
• Electric Space Heaters
• Kerosene Heaters
• Propane Heaters
• Fireplace

These are a few examples of ways to heat your home that will not require oil or natural gas.

Handle The Holidays Now

When you think about energy you might get all spun up over the cost of things like fuel, but rising energy prices affect everything that moves around on this planet. It affects how the food is produced and shipped as well as all the goods.

There are going to be two crowds this holiday season. There will be people who buy early and get what they want. Then there will be people who may literally fight for what is left as the holidays close in. Don’t be part of the latter group.

Consider The Geopolitical

Rising energy prices affect the entire world! In fact, these energy prices effect struggling nations much more than 1st world nations. We gotta pay more for our steak but they might not even get the food or water they need to live!

A strategists team from a multinational investment bank and financial services, believes that the rise in coal prices and the effects of inflation could extend to all fossil fuels. In short, they believe that $150-$200 a barrel oil could be a reality in the near future.

Tensions between Taiwan and China are a huge issue right now and rising energy prices could only add to that problem. China is going to make a move on Taiwan, but timing is everything.

Economic downturn is always a precursor for war and that downturn for China could force their hand and affect the entire globe.

Prepare for no fuel and no resources if the nation gets involved in any kind of war with China. You have to start setting up your own local supply chain now. Local goods and foods should make up a lot of what comes into your household.

Our world is run on and made from fossil fuels. Its staggering when you realize just how much of what we make and what we do is derived from crude oil, or the leftovers of processing that fuel.

Rising energy prices are going to affect every aspect of your life and that is just the reality of it all. It doesn’t look to me like the American government has an answer for these shortages either. So, the burden will fall onto you, the consumer.

Prep up for tough times and be sure you can keep your family warm this winter, no matter how expensive fuel gets or what effect it has on the world at large.

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It is up to you, the homeowner, to install the upgrades on home security. Do you know where you should begin?

Every American is capable of turning their home into a fort for survival. This article will cover the planning and execution of a number of fortifications in your home.

How To Turn Your Property Into A Fort: Planning Your Fortress

While it can be alluring to pull the drill out and get to work hardening your fortress, you should not disregard the planning phase. This is where you really devise your strategy and make sure you have all the parts and pieces you need to execute.

Start with an outside assessment of your home. Walk the perimeter of the home and take note of all the entranceways. Note doors, windows, or other means of access to your home and simply write down the course of action you are going to take to harden that access point.

Ex. Back Door: Install Deadbolts, Upgrade Glass, and Fortify Hinges.

By following these steps, you can turn your property into a fort, ensuring that every potential point of entry is well-protected.

Take this preplanning phase as deep into the house as you like. You might even consider creating a safe room deep in your home.

Hardening Your Fortress

I understand that the planning phase might seem very daunting if you don’t have a background in home defense. So, we are going to offer up some ideas below, to help you with your planning phase.

Perimeter

You might assume your home has only one perimeter, but actually, you have successive perimeters around your property and community.

You have the physical perimeter of your home, the perimeter of your property, the perimeter of your street, your community, and so on.

Affecting bad guys at those larger perimeters is the first and best course of action. You can deter bad guys by making it hard to get to your home, or by presenting your home as more of a problem than an opportunity.

Deterrents are the most important part of how to turn your property into a fort because they can eliminate threats long before they step foot on your property.

Fences, walls, sandbags, and debris are all great ways of creating a problematic perimeter. You can focus on a concept called Area Denial that covers things like booby traps, funneling, and even lethal approaches to perimeter security.

Related: Avoid These 6 Signs On Your Property

How to Turn Your Property Into a Fort with Proper Entryway Security

There are many ways to turn your home doors into fort doors. You should start by considering the door itself.

Solid wood doors or hollow metal doors are both good options. I prefer the metal doors because I always prefer metal when fortifying anything. Beyond the door, you should install fortified locks and deadbolts on your door.

Hinges can be a weak spot but if you install a metal pole that runs the length of the door, then bad guys will not be able to cut around the hinges. The removal of hinges from the door or the door jamb is one of the quickest ways to overcome a home door.

When a thin metal pole runs the length of the door, on the hinge side, you get protection against a saw Zaw. Door Armor is another great product that can fortify the doorway and keep your door in place.

Patio Doors

Patio doors add a nice touch to homes, but they are all glass and very hard to fortify. You can upgrade the locks and use 3M tape to harden these doors.

Making a true fort of your home will require that these doors be covered with wood or some other material that can keep people out.

Turn Your Property Into a Fort by Strengthening Your Home’s Vulnerable Points

New windows with locks are the first step in turning your home into a fort. If you want to take it to the next level than you can layer the windows with 3M shatterproof tape. This tape prevents the windows from shattering and falling to the ground. Instead, the windows will crack and stay in place.

Sometimes this obstacle is enough to make a criminal run away. You will be alerted long before they gain access to your home.

Walls

Turning your home walls into a fort will be very hard to do if you are just living behind vinyl siding and wood. Obviously, rebuilding your home is out of reach due to budget restrictions. Creating a fortified area of cover in the home using metal or stone can be a great option.

Or retreating to a basement or other fortified portion of the home can help, too!

A cheap option is using sandbags to fortify the outside or inside walls or your home is another option.

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Garages

Garage doors are installed with locking mechanisms. These can often be fortified using locks on the inside. You could also park your cars against these doors as another layer of fortification.

How to Turn Your Property Into a Fort by Managing External Threats

If someone winds up at your fortress and is attempting to test your defenses then you need some plans for that, too. Just turning your home into a fort is not enough. If you are to take advantage of that fort, then you need plans to deal with potential threats should they arise.

Rules of Engagement

Someone is walking towards your home, and you do not know them. They step on your property. What actions do you take? Do you start firing guns? Do you warn them? What if it’s SHTF? What if it’s a normal weeknight?

If you do not have answers for these questions, then you need to develop them. Part of turning your property into a fort is having clear rules of engagement for people you do not know showing up on your property.

Essential Tips to Turn Your Property Into a Fort and Keep Your Home Secure

Turning your home into a fort can be totally negated if you open your door to every person who approaches it. All the bricks in the world cannot protect you from a threat that is let right in the house.

A common attack in America in bad involves a bad guy disguising himself as a salesman or city worker and convincing you to open the door before barging in.

A fortified door should never be opened until you are 100% sure that what is on the other side is not a threat. This comes down to observing and communicating with the person on the other side of the door.

Related: The Best DIY Traps Against Property Intruders

Many people have a RING system on their home but, home cameras and even a good window that sees the porch or main door can be effective.

Everyone in my home verifies who is at the door before opening it. It’s a good practice, especially for kids. If you do not have an appointment with someone there is really no need to open the door. If you choose to, just come to the door prepared and tell your family what is about to happen.

Fortifying your home does not require a massive investment of money.

It could require time to install new hardware, but it will give you serious piece of mind. Windows, doors, and other entryways can all be hardened for minimal investments. Roofs and walls will cost more but it can be done.

Your fort is only as powerful as the procedures you put in place to keep it safe. You cannot just open your doors to anyone, and you have to have a plan to deal with aggression outside the home.

Just firing rounds out the window is not going to end well for anyone.

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While we have never done it, we have friends that tell us you can quiet down an onery rooster with a low powered shot from a pump pellet gun! Seems a little risky. We will stick with our high powered water gun for animal behavior management.

However, there are instances when the ol’ water gun just isn’t going to get it done. When you are managing predators, you need a weapon to protect your animals. Also, when it comes time to process animals on your property, you want to dispatch them quickly and as humanely as possible. The right gun can make that a much better experience.

Let’s look at the 6 best guns to have around the homestead.

Pellet Gun

There are a couple guns that you might not expect to see on this list, and the pellet gun could be one of them. However, a pump style pellet gun is a great tool to have on the homestead.

If you are dealing with little creatures getting into your garden, well, you might decide to dispatch them in order to keep them out. This could be rabbits, squirrels, and the like. With the right pellet gun, you can sit on your back porch and conduct your own kind of pest control.

Its also not a bad weapon to ward off predators that might be after your chickens. Its pretty common for things like fox to get chased off your property and wait at the perimeter for you to go away. It can be very annoying to watch them circling out there. Well, with a little pellet gun you can reach out and touch them!

Water Gun

A great livestock management system is a high powered water gun! Whether you are dealing with an ornery goat or chickens that just keep pecking each other, you can hit animals with a pressurized stream of water to break them of some bad habits.

This is a great option because you will not wound or kill any animals, but you will get their attention. Don’t discount the efficacy of a super soaker on the homestead!

Handgun

The handgun is about personal safety. It’s a mobile personal safety system. That could be safety from animals on your land or safety from nefarious people who might wander onto your land. Hunters might accidentally wonder onto your homestead or they might sneak onto that property over and over.

Gun fire is almost always going to scare off animals like bears or wolves, particularly if they are just passing through. It’s a great option if you run into a stubborn animal that will not go away from the sound of your voice.

When it comes to the human animal, first impressions are everything. If you happen upon someone on your property, it’s nice for them to see that gun on your hip. This lets them know that you are not just the owner of the property, but you are prepared to defend that property.

Of course, you do not want an armed altercation with trespassers, but guns have a way of deterring people.

12 Gauge Shotgun

A 12 gauge shotgun is an important weapon because it’s the most powerful weapon on the average homestead. Dave Canterbury said it best, “A 12 gauge will kill anything in North America, period.”

The 12 gauge shotgun is what I call ‘the problem solver.’ This gun is great for homestead security, its great for dealing with predators, it’s one of the best weapons for hunting multiple animals and it can also be a good time if you shot skeets or targets.

The 12 gauge is a must have for any homestead.

If you have kids and smaller people on your homestead than a 20 gauge is also something to consider.

Related: 25 Things We Did as Kids That Would Get Someone Arrested Today

Scoped Hunting Rifle

There is always much debate about caliber when it comes to hunting rifles. I use a 30-06. I know plenty of people who use different calibers. I don’t think the caliber is as important has having a bolt action rifle that can take down a deer from a respectable distance.

Harvesting wild game is a great way to offset meat cost and the strain on your own livestock. With a zeroed scope you can consistently kill dear from a distance and that can make a hunter who is less effective at stalking deer or finding deer a little more successful.

Hog Weapon

You might be wondering about carbines. I think I see more homesteaders carrying carbines around on YouTube than any other group. Where one of these weapons can be highly effective is in the battle against the hogs.

If your homestead finds itself in the warpath of wild hogs, then you will want a high powered semiautomatic rifle to deal with them. If you are growing on 5 acres, it is no big deal for pigs to eat all your plants and smaller animals in a very short period of time.

30rd magazines give you some say in how much eating they do on your property.

I hope some of our recommendations caught you off guard. You might have scoffed at the water gun, but I implore you to give it a try. While it is not the uber tactical answer you might have been looking for, it is certainly an effective tool to have around.

Each one of these guns serves a purpose on the homestead. In this modern, gun obsessed, society it is quite enlightening to sit down and ponder the firearm as a tool, and not necessarily a weapon. Many are buying guns to fight fantasy wars, and others are trying to take those guns away; but there are lots of people who buy guns for the purposes listed above.

It’s a shame we so rarely hear their voice on the issues.

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The post 6 Best Guns To Have Around Your Homestead first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

Take from those who have come before you, these days, when the kids are young and full of innocence and enthusiasm, these are the best days of your life! These are incredible moments that you should enjoy and overindulge in. Truly!

While you have their ears and their eyes, there are also tremendous lifesaving skills that you should teach your child when living on your homestead. These are a wide range of skills. Some of these your child will learn just from living with you and seeing you in action. Others, well, others will only come if you teach them.

Let’s look at 15 things you should teach your children to save can their lives.

1. How To Grow Food

From sunlight to soil, there are some simple things that anyone can do to be successful in growing food. There is no part of the process that an older child cannot participate in. There is also a great satisfaction that a child can have from planting a seed, watering it and eventually eat the fruits of their labor.

Growing food is fundamentally a human skill of survival that has supported our kind since the Neolithic age.

2. How To Start A Fire

Don’t worry about the bow drill fire. Its not about creating fire from primitive means. Get some matches, a lighter and a good fire extender in your kid’s hands. Show them how to gather pencil sized sticks, kindling and fuel and how to create an effective fire lay. From there it’s a just a matter of setting the whole thing a blaze. There is not a kid alive who won’t enjoy that part!

3. How to Swim

Our world is covered with water. The mighty seas and oceans, along with ponds, lakes, and manmade water attractions, are all opportunities for great fun, if you know how to swim; or life and death situations if you don’t know how. Swimming can be learned at a school by a coach, or by consistently bringing your children to a water source and swimming with them.

If you are not a trained swimmer, there are some benefits to having your child learn how to swim at a young age by a professional, but paying for lessons is hardly a necessity.

Water can either be a source of great fun or anxiety for your child. Still, no matter how great a swimmer they are, it is also important to let them know about limitations like tides, floods, the power of the ocean and threats while in the water. However, in a life or death situation, if there is a flood and your child must save himself, your child needs to know how to swim.

4. How To Hide

Kids love the game hide and seek. There is no reason why they shouldn’t become downright experts. If a child can hide well, they can quickly disappear in a dangerous situation. Hiding from a dangerous person who is trying to do others harm, is always going to be one of the best ways for a child to stay safe.

Start a hiding game with your kids where you use a code-word to let them know it’s time to hide, and use the same code-word to let them know its OK to come out. This is a great way to get your children used to hiding at the drop of a dime, without telling them the world can be a terrible and dangerous place.

5. How To Dial 911

When we hear a story about a 4 year old calling 911 to save his/hers sibling or family, it’s not by accident. When children are taught how to call 911 and taught their address, at a young age, they are prepared to save themselves and others. It’s a powerful skill!

Related: Backyard Projects That Might Get You Arrested

6. Instinct

Building confidence in your child’s instinct is a massive part of keeping them alive. They are equipped with an intricate survival system that teaches them to fear the dark, fear snakes and spiders. It goes beyond that. When they get a feeling that something isn’t right, listen and help them feel that out. In time they will trust their instinct and it could save their life!

7. How To Layer Clothing

Kids hate this one, but they will understand it if you take them on a walk in the cold weather. Unfortunately, most kids don’t like getting all bundled up. However, if they have been really cold before, they will appreciate the difference it makes when they have base layers and outer layers and insulating layers. Hats, gloves, and good boots are another pain but when a kid understands that they work they can be safe in the cold weather. In extreme weather, layers and materials can make a difference between hypothermia and survival.

8. How To Think

There has never been a society so setup for preprogramming like ours. The screens and the schools are just built to show your child how to be, rather than teaching them how to think. Learning to think for yourself is a skill and it is one of the most important survival skills your child can learn. It can be applied in the wilderness or in a high rise during a job interview.

The key is to ask them questions like, “What do you think about that?” and “How would you fix that?”

9. Self Defense

There are serious limits to what your child can do to get away from a dangerous person who wishes to do them harm. A grown adult is a real problem for a small child. However, if they know how to bite, pull hair, attack the eyes, the throat, and other weak points, can give them a chance to pull away from a bad person and get away.

In the school yard, self-defense training is often the difference between who gets picked on, and who doesn’t. It’s not about punching each other, but it’s about a kid’s confidence that they can handle themselves.

10. Resilience

The ability to get up after you have fallen and fallen and fallen, is key to life. Its critical to have a good life. Resilience in the face of the physical, financial, and emotional setbacks is something your child has to learn.

Pushing your child to do hard things and allowing them to fail and get back to work, is what it takes to build resilience. Children only learn resilience in the face of adversity so be sure you don’t shield them from adversity.

11. How To Cook Over A Fire

Cooking is probably the most valuable and overlooked skill in our society today. When you can cook, you control what goes in your body and that is a big deal. Even if you teach your children how to boil pasta and warm up some sauce, it is better than them being terrified of the stove.

However, knowing how to grill food over a fire is essential. Cooking food with stakes, kabob style, is something kids can do with hot dogs when they are 4 years old! Its not that hard, but it is about exposure.

12. How To Filter and Boil Water

When you say filter and boil water it is easy to move right to high grade water filters that are store bought. However, with the charcoal that you create from your fire above, and sand from the river bank, you can create an effective water filter in a large handkerchief or the sleeve of your shirt.

Teach your kids to filter water enough to make it palatable, and boil it to make it safe, and they can stay hydrated and alive.

13. How To Navigate Using The Sun

While navigation using the sun is not as exact as a compass, it is a basic skill that can put your child back in the right direction if they are lost. By understanding the sun’s path across the sky, you will easily be able to explain how to find east and west.

If your child knows what direction they are traveling, they can simply head off in the opposite direction if they can discern a little about the sun. You can also teach the to track the sun’s movement by placing a stick in the ground and marking the shadow with a stone. Wait 15 minutes and mark the shadow change with another stone. This will give you a truer east to west line and from there you can intersect a line to create north and south.

14. How To Use a Knife

Like fire, most kids are scared of knives, because of the possibility that they could be hurt. Teaching a child how to hold a knife and how to do some fundamental things with it, can make a world of difference. A child should be able to strip bark off a stick, create a point on a stick and slice food with a knife. They should also be able to sharpen that knife.

15. How To Tie Knots

Knots are critical in setting traps and building shelter. Start them young with knots, so that they can become proficient. Most kids don’t go beyond the knots they use to tie their shoes. However, there is a world of knots and uses out there.

Related: 25 Things We Did as Kids That Would Get Someone Arrested Today

Academics are merely one aspect of learning that your child should undergo in their lives. You decide the curriculum of life skills that your children are exposed to. These skills are things that the world cannot take from your child, no matter how crazy it gets out there!

The beauty of teaching your child these skills is that it can be a great time for both of you! You don’t need a lot of reason to go for a swim, hit the heavy bag, head out into the woods, or just sit down and talk about something important as thinking for yourself.

The future is looking strange. So, get your kids trained up!

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The post 15 Things You Should Teach Your Children That Can Save Their Lives first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.

We are living through a revolution of self-reliance and independence, where vegetable and herb gardens are even showing up in front yards around the nation. People are looking at their land much differently now. It is more of a resource and can become home to something like a small flock of egg producing hens.

Let’s look at 8 projects that you can DIY in your backyard, to create a more healthy and self-sufficient homestead.

Outdoor Fitness Area

Fitness has long been a dirty word amongst homesteaders. It has been one of those things that people hate to hear. It’s hard work and it sucks, and it hurts but it makes you a better person. Nothing builds your will to live and your capability the way that cardio and strength training do. There is nothing on a shelf that can replace a body and a mind that is working optimally.

So, why not create a small outdoor fitness area in your yard.

• Hang a Heavy Bag
• Invest in Kettlebells
• Build a simple set of monkey bars for pullups (the kids will play, too)
• A simple inclined bench with a bar across the top can be the best place to do sit-ups
• A short bar that is anchored to the ground can give you the ability to do difficult pushups outside.

Choose some or all these options. A simple box built of wood can be jumped up on for a great workout. Don’t forget, your outdoor fitness area will also get you in the sun more, and that is critical. Vitamin D deficiency is fast becoming an epidemic in our nation.

Constructing An Outbuilding

The types of outbuildings you can build vary widely. You can do things like build an outhouse as a backup waste management system on your property. A barn for keeping livestock is another option. You might also create a workshop for working wood and metal.

Working wood with blades and shaping metal with heat are two of the most underrated skills when it comes to self-sufficiency.

Outbuildings can also be great for storage of equipment and items that are not negatively affected by weather.

Keeping Livestock

No matter how urban you might be, you could own some semblance of livestock. Many localities are changing zoning laws to allow for things like a small flock of chickens. These new rules often allow for hens only, egg laying, no slaughtering, and a small group of around 6 birds.

However, you can call the zoning office in your area and get the full scoop. You might even have enough space for a small pygmy goat! These little goats can produce some serious milk! Milk and eggs need to be part of your backyard.

Archery Range

Whether you shoot traditional bows, compound bows or even crossbows, a simple range will get you outside using those weapons more often. An archery range can be as cheap and easy to build as a few stacked hay bales with some red spray paint on them as a bullseye.

If you want, you can add some foam deer and turkeys or just more bales at different heights and distances.

Excellence at archery requires a dedication to shooting on almost a daily basis. You will also learn how to hunt this way. If you have a fun archery range, you will look forward to shooting that bow each day.

Mushroom Farm

While a mushroom farm sounds extravagant it is merely a collection of hardwood logs that are inoculated with shiitake spore, or some other edible mushroom. These logs can be stacked or stood up together in the woods and as long as they are ‘knocked’ or activated each year they will produce mushrooms in the fall.

A mushroom farm not only gives you access to mushrooms for cooking and eating, but also gives you a product that you could sell locally!

Root Cellar

One of the best projects that you can create with minimal materials in your backyard, is the root cellar. The root cellar is a multi-use build that is underground. Because it maintains a consistent temperature you are able to store all kinds of things inside a root cellar.

Some people use these rooms to store vegetables, hang meat or even keep food storage. These were the refrigerators of the old days when consistently cool temperatures were required to keep food from spoiling.

Shelter For Native Animals

We are living through an age of invasive species. Whether they are growing on the ground before us, in our rivers or in the microbiology that surrounds us, we are ‘under attack’. Native species are also feeling the pressure from these invasive species.

On our property we have created a small orchard of native Paw Paw trees that love our wetlands. They were being choked out by invasive species. So, we started pulling those invasive and the paw paws thrived. Every September we are gifted with that incredible tropical fruit that survives the southeastern winters.

Animals need the same kind of care. If you build the right structures you will be able to shelter and protect native species and they will reward you in return.

Bat Boxes

Bat boxes are better than bug spray! Bats eat lots of mosquitoes a night, and when you build some bat boxes and place them around your property, you will keep the bats close by and, nightly, they will sift the air around your home for those nasty biting mosquitoes.

Bat boxes are simple builds that can be done in an afternoon and great to do with kids.

Owl Boxes

Owls are another form of pest control. The damage that small animals can do to things like animal feed and gardens is outstanding. Moles, mice, rabbits, and the like can eat you out of house and home if you are not careful.

Just like with bats, you can create a safe haven for owls on your property. Owl boxes will keep these night hunters on your property allowing them to be a natural pest control.

Related: What To Do If You See A Bat On Your Homestead

Pollinator Gardens

We are all well aware of the trouble that bees have been. They are dealing with mites that are invasive and are destroying bee populations around the world. However, a pollinator garden inside a simple raised bed will provide a new safe haven for your bees and a source of nectar for local hives.

In return these bees will pollinate your trees and plants year over year.

Ridge Pole

This might sound silly but having a simple ridge pole set up between two trees gives you the ability to do all sorts of things. This can become a hub for you to practice a variety of survival shelters.

• Tarp Lean-to
• Tarp A Frame
• Primitive A Frame
• Primitive Lean-to

These are just four examples of things that you can setup on a simple ridge pole. Building these shelters will give you an edge in homesteading. You can also add to these locations and create a full scale bush-craft camp!

These projects can also be done with the help of your kids. Get the family involved and you can round out your perfect homestead.

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While the standard is 1 gallon per person per day, in reality you would need about 3 if you factor in things like cooking and cleaning and probably much more if you have a garden that needs watering, which is a standard for homesteaders.

To store 3 gallons of water per person per day for a month would be 360 gallons each month for a family of four! A 24 pack of 16oz water bottles is only gonna be about 3 gallons of water total. Simple math dictates that you are gonna need 120 cases of water, for a family of four, each month! Where does all that go?

Therefore, lots of people set up 55-gallon rain barrels on their downspouts to harvest rainwater. These are 55 gallons per clip and can be used for everything from drinking to washing to cooking. Of course, nothing is perfect so there are some pitfalls you need to avoid when harvesting rainwater.

Let’s look at 7 mistakes to avoid when harvesting rainwater.

Construction

My earliest rain barrels were just sad. They always leaked. They would be full after a rainstorm and then hours later the water level would be down below my poorly constructed spigot. If you have or make poorly constructed rain barrels it is going to defeat the purpose.

You need a way to cut these barrels effectively and a waterproof adhesive to keep the spigots in place. If you cut a jagged hole it will be harder to seal the spigot in without leaks. Take your time and do it right the first time.

Overflow

You are probably accustomed to seeing a spigot on the bottom of the rain barrel. This is where you hook up the hose to gain easy access to your stored water. You should also place another spigot a few inches from the top of your rain barrel. This will become on your overflow spigot.

The overflow spigot should be tilted upward when installed to allow for a slow release of water that is above this fill line. You don’t want a bunch of water spilling over the edge of your rain barrel and settling around your home’s foundation.

The overflow allows your barrel to stay full but not expose your foundation to a massive overflow so easily.

Screening

Mosquitoes are the worst. If you really want some bad mosquitoes the best thing to do is create a 55-gallon mosquito larvae farm to terrorize you and your family. Without a fine screen these little blood suckers will be popping out of the surface of your rain barrels and they will be hungry

The screen will also keep your water free of debris that could blow in during a storm or make it down the gutters. Screen is cheap and easy to work with. Just cut it a little larger than the mouth of the rain barrel and use a large rubber band to secure it.

I use a screen and I add a few capfuls of bleach to my rainwater, too! This will kill off those pesky mosquito larvae.

Gutters

Not all mistakes happen at the rain barrel level. Harvesting rainwater also involves your roof and your gutters. If your gutters are full of debris it could limit your rain harvesting capabilities, it could allow sticks and other debris to damage your rain barrel screen. Your water will also filter through all kinds of foliage that you might not want in your drinking water.

Gutter guards or consistent cleaning will assure you have clean water and a fully operational rain harvesting system.

Sanitization

No matter where you live or how you harvest the rainwater be sure that you treat it. It should be filtered and sanitized by boiling or the use of bleach to kill any bacteria or parasites. Never assume your water is safe to drink.

If you drink water directly from your rain barrel you run the risk of contracting waterborne illnesses that will require you to use up much more water and resources to recover.

There are some pressurized jerry cans on the market and they are a great tool for this. The jerry can fills to about 4 gallons of water and the included filter is good to roughly 10,000 gallons! Buy some unscented bleach and store it for a number or uses, water sanitization included.

Origin

Not every barrel is appropriate for harvesting rainwater. Lots of barrels hold dangerous, flammable, or poisonous materials before they wind up emptied out and considered as a potential rain barrel. If your family will be drinking out of these barrels you want to be sure they cleaned, food grade barrels. Settle for nothing less.

If you have money to throw at this problem of procuring rain barrels to harvest rainwater, there are some great premade options out there. You can buy decorative barrels, or you can buy barrels that have little grow areas on top of them. There is cool stuff out there

Local Regulations

This is where things get interesting. Some people aren’t happy with the idea of you harvesting rainwater. Some local governments claim they own the water that falls out of the sky and even create laws to keep you from having and using a rain barrel.

If you find yourself in this situation you have two options:

• Don’t harvest rainwater
• Establish a cover rainwater harvesting system.

Now, number 2 might sound like a complicated ordeal. However, a cover rainwater collection system is not that tough to accomplish. You are going to have more work to do than the average person and it’s gonna cost you more…

Rain barrels can be buried, and a simple pump can be used to fill buckets or containers. Rain barrels can be well concealed in the backyard of a home with something as simple as a fig tree. Foliage will cover these barrels and only those searching for them would know they exist.

Be a good neighbor, too! Most of these infractions are reported by neighbors.

3^rd option: Move away from the crazy place that thinks it owns the water.

Related: How to “Winterize” Your Pipes and Prevent Damage

Water is essential and it’s a rare resource that you will die without in a short time. Our hyper convenient lifestyle means that we disregard the infinite source of water that runs through our home. If an emergency cuts that off, life gets vastly different in a hurry.

From hygiene to hydration emergency water storage is key to surviving any possible scenario. The population will suffer from something like ‘water shock’ when they realize there could be nothing coming out of the tap.

I don’t recommend storing all your water indoors. Use rain barrels to harvest rainwater because, for most of us, its cheap and easy. Be sure you have filters and sanitation methods for water, include a little bottled and stored water for convenience. Avoid the 7 mistakes we mentioned, and you will be prepared for a water emergency.

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The post 7 Mistakes To Avoid When Harvesting Rain Water first appeared on Self Sufficient Projects.