Since isolation, we’ve come to see ‘home is our sanctuary,’ and we can make it even better! While getting out is important, we can prepare for success and survival by adding some small DIY survival projects to our to-do list.
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
Gardening can be tough and might not always yield consistent results, especially depending on your location and soil. In our marshy area, we’ve experienced both great and terrible years, leading us to diversify our food sources.
To supplement our garden, we started planting a micro orchard. We added peach trees and thinned wild paw paw trees in our backyard. This year, we’re planning to add apples and persimmons.
A micro orchard allows us to grow a lot of food on a small piece of land. Currently, we harvest fruit from eight different trees on just 0.8 acres of property. This approach helps ensure a steady supply of fresh food, even when the garden doesn’t perform well.
Compost Pile
This seems obvious, but it’s surprising how many people throw away leaves every fall.
In my yard, fallen leaves are like gold. You can easily start a compost pile using three pallets or just cover a pile with a tarp. It’s not a big investment.
Growing your own food is crucial, and compost gives you a nutrient-rich medium to improve your soil each year.
A Remarkably Simple Build
Creating a microclimate herb garden might sound complex, but it’s actually quite simple. It’s just a spiral stack of bricks or stones, with fewer bricks on the outer wall and increasing height towards the center.
This design provides shade and wind protection for some plants while ensuring others receive direct sunlight. Simply stack the bricks, fill the spaces with good soil, and plant a variety of herbs.
Hygiene Bin
Living through a pandemic, people have come to appreciate things like soap, sanitizer, toilet paper, and masks.
To create a simple hygiene bin, you just need to buy a large trashcan with a lid, or some other waterproof container simply begin adding items to this bin on a weekly basis.
Buy an extra bar of soap and toss it in the bin. Add a pack of gloves and some toilet paper the next week. Just keep at this until you fill the trash can or container up. When the next disaster occurs and you have people rushing the stores, you will be able to sit back and know you have hygiene taken care of.
An Uncommon Idea
Pest control is crucial for homesteading. Though not glamorous, it becomes essential when faced with a pantry full of mice.
Mosquitoes, disease-carrying pests, are a major nuisance. Bats can devour 6,000 to 8,000 mosquitoes nightly, a remarkable benefit.
Building bat boxes is a rewarding family activity with significant outcomes. Amid today’s complexities like pandemics and social unrest, simplicity holds great value. Finding peace in simple joys, like shooting arrows into a homemade haybale target, offers a calming escape from turbulent times.
These DIY projects are not only practical but also therapeutic, making them ideal for involving the whole family in fortifying your survival setup.
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