From Self Sufficiency for the 21st Century by Dick and James Strawbridge In the US, roughly 80 percent of the population lives in urban areas, and whether you see city life as a necessary stage before moving to your rural idyll r you’re a confirmed city-dweller, you’ll be amazed how easy it is to reduce [...]

When it comes to lighting choices, light-emitting diodes (LED’s) are the most energy-efficient option.  An LED uses about 4W to produce as much light as a 50W halogen bulb. The most popular under-cabinet lighting on the market uses halogen bulbs.  Ten lights with halogen bulbs in a kitchen use 50W each.  If they are on [...]

Provincial Blue by Metlox is a very popular pattern with collectors. The Metlox Story Early History and the Proutys This information is reprinted from http://metloxpottery.blogspot.com/ . Metlox created art pottery and dinnerware during its operation from 1927 until 1989. T.C. and son Willis Prouty opened their California-based firm to sell architectural tiles in 1921. The [...]

What would you do in the wake of a global catastrophe? Even if you survived it, could you survive the aftermath? Season Two of THE COLONY introduces viewers to a new group of volunteers with differing backgrounds, skills and personalities, to bear witness to how these colonists will survive and rebuild in a world without [...]

If you are dehydrating vegetables like potatoes or carrots, you may have discovered that your vacuum sealer bags become punctured by the sharp edges of the dried foods. There are a couple of things you can do to help reduce the risk of punctured bags. 1. Try to cut foods with a smooth, rounded shape. [...]

While most preparations are centered around being at home, there is always the possibility that you could have to evacuate, and in a hurry.  Many events can trigger a mandatory evacuation warning including a severe weather event, chemical spill, uncontrolled fire, floods, mud slides, explosion, gas leak, terror event.. and so many other things.  You [...]

Flooding is one of the most common natural disasters.  It can affect your home, entire neighborhoods or even an entire region.  Flooding can build slowly as steady rains cause creeks and rivers to swell out of their banks, or quickly as a wall of water brought about by torrential rain, a breach of a dam [...]

Stomach flu and food poisoning are different ailments with different causes. However, many people confuse the two because the symptoms are so similar Most people who get food poisoning attribute their symptoms of nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain to a sudden case of stomach flu, and vice versa.  The disagreeable symptoms discourage from eating [...]

I got the idea for building a mini greenhouse from listening to Jack Spirko on TheSurvialPodcast.com. I haven’t really had good results with starting plants inside under grow lights or from placing them in a sunny window sill. The plants come up fine but end up lanky and weak. The look terrible compared to the [...]

The most common large hawk in North America, most birds are year round residents except in the northernmost areas. This is one of the most variable of the hawks as far as plumage is concerned. Adults of most forms can be told by the rusty red tail. In general the species is a large hawk [...]