Backyard Chicken Flock on a Quarter-Acre Lot
Check zoning first, build 24 sq ft coop and 60 sq ft run, budget 9 lbs of layer pellets weekly, and lock up every dusk.
All guides
49 documents
Salt-Curing Meat at Home: Dry, Wet & Equilibrium
Salt curing preserves meat without refrigeration. Cure #1 handles cooked products; Cure #2 is for long dry-aged meats. Equilibrium curing is safest.
Rendering Lard and Tallow for Storage
Render pork fat for lard, beef suet for tallow — low heat, thorough moisture removal, tight seals, cool dark storage for a year-plus shelf life.
Power Station to Sump Pump: Wire It Safely
One legal DIY method: plug the pump directly into the power station. Anything else needs a licensed electrician and a permitted transfer switch.
Hand-Crank vs Solar vs Propane: 72-Hour Backup
Three backup-power formats, one right answer per situation: how to match hand-crank, solar, or propane to a 72-hour outage.
LiFePO4 Battery Safety: Storage to Disposal
LiFePO4 resists thermal runaway better than other lithium types, but overcharging, physical damage, and heat still create real fire and gas hazards.
Cold Storage: Root Cellars, Pits & Alternatives
Root cellars, pits, and low-tech coolers each fit different climates and crops. Pick the method that matches what you store — not what looks cool.
Size a Solar Generator for Fridge + Freezer
Four numbers size a solar generator: daily Wh, depth-of-discharge, surge watts, panel math. Get all four right and the correct unit selects itself.
Rotating a 55-Gallon Water-Storage Barrel
Siphon the barrel dry every 6–12 months, scrub the interior with unscented soap, sanitize with dilute bleach, refill, re-treat, and label the fill date.
Water Treatment Methods: Pick the Right One
Boiling kills everything but burns fuel. Filters miss viruses. Chemicals skip Cryptosporidium. Match the method to your actual threat.
Calcium Hypochlorite for Emergency Water: Safe Dosing
Dissolve 1 tsp cal-hypo in 2 gal water for a 500 ppm stock, dose 1:100 into target water, wait 30 min, verify 1–4 ppm residual.
DIY Sand-and-Charcoal Pre-Filter for Surface Water
A sand-and-charcoal pre-filter strips turbidity and some chemicals but does NOT kill pathogens — always add a purification stage after.
How to Chlorinate Stored Water for Long-Term Safety
Shock new stored water to 5–10 ppm free chlorine, hold a 1–4 ppm maintenance residual, and re-treat or rotate sealed barrels yearly.
Water
BOB Water Filters Ranked by Weight and Flow
3 BOB water solutions ranked by weight, flow, capacity, and grid-down longevity — with explicit scores for each.
Readiness
David's Shield Review: Worth $67?
David's Shield earns its $67 for faith-based preppers new to fermentation and folk medicine — secular preppers with 2+ years of prep find it redundant.
Readiness
AMF 90-Day Montana Homestead Test
A Montana RN ran a logged 90-day AMF trial through four work phases. Modest real gains by week five; every confounder acknowledged; 30-day washout pending.
Readiness
How to Treat a Wound Without a Doctor
Size, depth, location, and contamination type determine whether a wound can be closed at home or needs evacuation — here is the decision tree.
Readiness
David's Shield: Community Prep Reviewed
David's Shield covers neighbor organizing most prepper guides skip — but falls short on the operational depth a real mutual-aid cluster needs.
Water
Best Water Setup for Grid-Down Survival
Grid-down water isn't one filter. Berkey for daily filtration, Smart Water Box for humid-day collection, David's Shield for know-how. Pick by climate.
Readiness
EMP Prep Guides Ranked: What's Worth Buying
David's Shield tops the EMP guide field, but a guide alone won't keep water running when the grid goes down.
Readiness
Best Emergency Radios for Preppers: Full Ranked Guide
Ham radio wins on range and flexibility, but GMRS and FRS work without an exam. Here's how to pick the right radio tier for your grid-down plan.
Readiness
Best Supplements for Preppers (2026)
Three picks that cover hydration, cellular energy for adults 40+, and emergency dosing knowledge when pharmacies close.
Water
Home Water Security: Storage Planning Guide
Home water security needs three layers: physical containers, a filter that handles untreated stored water, and storage math to keep rotation honest.
Power
Off-Grid Power by Budget Tier: Real Math
Five budget tiers — from $0 to $15k+ — with real brands, watt-hour math, and the honest answer for each household size.
Water
Smart Water Box: Apartment Prepper Review
AWGs collapse in HVAC-conditioned air (30–40% RH). Our 3-week Boston test: 0.24 gal/day — half a person's survival minimum. Wrong tool for most apartments.
Water
Smart Water Box: Builder's Verdict
Honest builder's verdict on the Smart Water Box AWG DIY blueprint — what $39 buys, the $312 in parts, and where the engineering falls short.
Water
Smart Water Box: AWG by Region
AWG works in humid Gulf and PNW climates but fails in desert and cold zones — 6-month, 5-region test shows 28–34 oz/day vs. near-zero.
Readiness
David's Shield: 72-Hour Blackout Drill Results
72-hour blackout drill at Sarah's Montana homestead: water and food sections held up; Faraday cage and comms sections exposed real gaps.
Readiness
AMF for Homesteader Stamina: Does It Fill the Gap?
Homesteaders 40+ burning 10-hour days face a real stamina gap. AMF is a credible CoQ10+PQQ option — but fix sleep and diet first.
Readiness
Home Emergency Preparedness Audit
A 12-question home audit you can finish in 30 minutes that maps your biggest gaps across water, food, power, comms, and six more categories.
Food
Build a 3-Month Food Pantry for $500
Skip the $1,500 freeze-dried kits. White rice, dry beans, oats, peanut butter, and canned tuna cover 3 months of 2,000 cal/day for under $500.
Power
Solar Charging Station Setup Guide
A 100W panel and a 40Ah LiFePO4 battery give you 30-40 phone charges per sunny day — here's how to size and wire the whole system.
Readiness
Stay Warm During a Winter Power Outage
Room consolidation and a 0°F sleeping bag are your best weapons against a cold house. Here's how to stay safe when the heat goes out.
Food
How to Pressure Can Meat at Home Safely
Pressure canning is the only safe method for home-canned meat. Water-bath canning cannot kill botulism spores in low-acid foods.
Readiness
Start a Fire Without Matches: Ferro Rod Method
A ferro rod with pre-made char cloth beats matches and lighters as a backup fire starter — here's the exact technique that works every time.
Water
Best Water Filters for Bug-Out Bags
BOB water needs three layers: portable filter on your back, gravity filter at home base, AWG at your destination. Miss one and you're exposed.
Food
Store Rice and Grains for Long-Term Emergencies
White rice sealed in mylar with O2 absorbers stays palatable for 10-15 years — not 25. Here's how to store grains you'll actually eat.
Water
Purify Water With Bleach in an Emergency
CDC dosing: 8 drops per gallon for 6% bleach, 6 drops for 8.25%. Bleach kills pathogens but won't touch heavy metals or Cryptosporidium.
Readiness
Advanced Mitochondrial Formula Review
90-day Montana homestead test: CoQ10 mechanism is real, subjective stamina gains noticed on hard labor days — talk to your doctor first.
Power
Best Off-Grid Power for 3–7 Day Outages
Solar generators cover 3–7 days silently; gas generators handle heavy loads outdoors. Match source to load first, then supplement.
Water
Rainwater Collection for Off-Grid Water Supply
Most states allow rainwater harvesting. Skip the first-flush diverter and your stored water will taste like roof tar — here's how to do it right.
Food
Grow a Survival Garden: 5 Highest-Calorie Crops
Potatoes and sweet potatoes yield 3-5x more calories per square foot than most vegetables. Here's the land math for a real survival garden.
Long-Term Home Water Storage: 21-Gallon Math
Most people buy the wrong container first. At 1.5 gallons per day, a family of two needs 42 gallons stored — here's the exact gear to do it right.
Smart Water Box Review: Honest Field Results
Real-build AWG review from 8 weeks in Montana — works above 55% humidity, nearly useless below 45%. Know your climate before you buy.
3 Prepper Picks That Earn Their Keep After 12 Years
Twelve years off-grid narrowed it to three: water (Smart Water Box), knowledge (David's Shield), stamina (AMF for adults 40+). The rest is noise.
Water Filtration vs Water Purification — What They Actually Do and When to Use Each
Filtration removes particles, sediment, protozoa, and most bacteria by pushing water through a physical barrier. Purification kills or inactivates viruses and other pathogens — usually chemically or with UV. Most backcountry and emergency water problems need both. If you only hav
Water
How to Use Iodine Tablets to Purify Emergency Drinking Water
Drop 2 tetraglycine hydroperiodide tablets per quart and wait 30 minutes at room temperature — 60 minutes for cold or cloudy water. If anyone in your group has a thyroid condition, a shellfish-iodine allergy, or is pregnant, skip iodine entirely and boil instead. Iodine will not
72-Hour Blackout Checklist — Power, Water, Food, Communications
A grid-down 3-day outage is survivable with zero heroics — if you act in the right order. Water comes first, food second, power third. This checklist runs minute-by-minute from the second the lights go out through hour 72, with specific quantities and zero filler.
How to Boil Water for Safe Drinking in an Outage
Boiling kills pathogens but won't remove chemical contaminants. Here's when boiling is the right call and when you need a filter instead.