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Author: Gaye Levy

I grew up and attended school in the Greater Seattle area. After spending many years as an executive in the software industry, I started a specialized accounting practice offering contract CFO work to emerging high tech and service industries. Awhile back I abandoned city life and moved to a serenely beautiful rural area on on San Juan Island in NW Washington State.

These days I call Arizona home and am actively pursuing the purchase of a mountain retreat along the Mogollon Rim.

As you may have noticed, I am a bit of a glamourista but hope you do not hold that against. me. My bug out bag includes makeup and other items to make me look and feel good if SHTF.
What You Need to Know About Zippos and Lighter Fuel Alternatives

What You Need to Know About Zippos and Lighter Fuel Alternatives

When it comes to lighters, Zippos, and lighter fuel in general, there is a lot of misinformation to be found on the Internet. Learn about lighters plus the various types of lighter fuels that are available. Hint: there are alternatives to Zippo lighter fuel!

Cooking With Backdoor Survival: Download a FREE Cookbook

Cooking With Backdoor Survival: Download a FREE Cookbook

If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it is that survivalist preppers know how to cook tasty meals from the ingredients in their pantry and garden. Because of that, I put out a call for pantry recipes that could be cobbled together using five ingredients or less. I asked and you came. In a break from our usual prepper fare, today I share with you a compilation of your recipes. What follows is a booklet that includes those recipes along with a hat tip to each submitter. How cool is that?

This is a cookbook for you to keep, to print, and to share. Enjoy!

When a Prepper Relocates: Finding and Moving to the Perfect Survival Retreat

When a Prepper Relocates: Finding and Moving to the Perfect Survival Retreat

It is hard to believe that a little over a year ago I decided to pull up stakes and search for the perfect survival retreat. More than a retreat, I wanted to find a forever home. It has been quite the journey and now that I am within days of fully moving into my new home, it is time to come clean on the how-to’s of moving, prepper-style.

Learn where I landed as well as some first-hand tips to help overcome the challenges of relocation.

Review: How to Filter Water With a Lifestraw Mission

Review: How to Filter Water With a Lifestraw Mission

We need water for drinking, cooking, bathing, cleaning, and overall hygiene. Without good water, we will suffer and could even die. That said, a struggle for many is not how to source water but rather how to make bad water good. After all, the last thing we want to find a source of water, use it, and end up married to the toilet god or worse.

Over the years, I have learned to trust Lifestraw products for their ease of use and portability.Learn how and why the LifeStraw Mission is the perfect water purifier for those times when portability, affordability, and ease of use are important.

Learn how and why the LifeStraw Mission is the perfect water purifier for those times when portability, affordability, and ease of use are important. Plus enter the giveaway to win one for free.

25 Ways to Use Flour Sack Dishtowels Around the Home

25 Ways to Use Flour Sack Dishtowels Around the Home

One of the cornerstones of being prepared is to identify items that multitask and to embrace their use during normal times. Doing so not only saves money but also saves storage space and eliminates having to choose which product or item to use for what. A good example is the common Mason jar. Another is the flour sack dishtowel.

Here are 25 ways a flour sack dishtowel can be used around the home. Can you think of others?

The Emergency Preparedness Test

The Emergency Preparedness Test

A preparedness test will help you assess how well you are doing in meeting your prepping goals. Take the test and download a free preparedness manual.

20 Strategies and Tips for Creating a Rainwater Catchment System

20 Strategies and Tips for Creating a Rainwater Catchment System

Living in the desert has taught me not to take water for granted. Unlike the Pacific Northwest, I am not footsteps away from streams, ponds, or a vast sea just waiting for me to collect and purify for personal use.

In a continuing effort to educate our readers on the finer aspects of self-sufficiency, I have invited Dan Chiras to share his best strategies and tips for creating a rain catchment system that works. Learn what you need to know about building a rainwater catchment system.

Healing Herbs: What You Need to Know About Mint

Healing Herbs: What You Need to Know About Mint

Mint is a prolific garden herb with many useful healing qualities. Learn to grow, harvest, preserve and use various types of mint for wellness purposes. This is the second in-depth article in the series on healing herbs you can grow yourself.

Prepper Book Festival: The Preppers Canning Guide

Prepper Book Festival: The Preppers Canning Guide

Canning is a blessing and a curse. For seasoned canners, preserving the local bounty not only saves money but is a relaxing and stress-free experience. These same canners giddily prepare fully cooked meals in jars, to be opened and reheated at a moment’s notice.

And everyone else? They suffer a fear of the canning process, botulism, and of blowing themselves up along with their kitchen. Don’t let this canning curse prevent you from learning and benefiting from this important skill. With The Prepper’s Canning Guide, my good friend Daisy Luther teaches you how to can without fear! Enter the giveaway to win a copy for free. There will be three winners!

Review: Learn About Wiebe Specialty Skinning Knives

Review: Learn About Wiebe Specialty Skinning Knives

If there is one piece of gear that is universal in any bug out bag or survival kit, it is a knife. Simply put, in situations of self-reliance, there is no shortage of work to be done with a knife. Having the right knife is simply a must.

One company that is doing their best to put out a lineup of quality knives is Wiebe Knives. In this review, learn about the Wiebe line of specialty knives plus enter to win a set of two knives in a giveaway. There will be two winners.

How to Raise Meat Rabbits in Small Spaces

How to Raise Meat Rabbits in Small Spaces

Whether you are planning to survive disasters or simply want to be self-sufficient and less dependent on outside resources, raising your own meat animals is a smart choice. That said, raising farm animals can be tough for those who live in urban areas, small homes or apartments, or under the rule of restrictive homeowners associations. If that sounds like you, consider raising meat rabbits. Rabbits make it possible to produce your own meat without raising an eyebrow!

If you have a garage, a basement, a porch, a backyard or even a small corner of a living room, you can raise meat rabbits and produce quite a bit of meat for you and your family. Sound interesting? In this article find detailed information about selecting healthy rabbits, breeding, housing options, butchering, and more.

Prepper Book Festival 14: Books to Learn, Prepare, and Be Ready for Anything

Prepper Book Festival 14: Books to Learn, Prepare, and Be Ready for Anything

Prepper Book Festival #14 includes the latest books to teach you how to be better prepared, more self-sufficient, and better informed. Twelve books are included, featuring everything from a comprehensive, 16-month program to achieve self-sufficiency, to personal safety, canning, essential oils, and more. Not to be left out are titles in the survival fiction genre. Be sure to keep an eye peeled for author interviews and a weekly giveaway to win free copies of one of these fantastic new books!

Prepper’s Guide to Dental Equipment and Dental Exams

Prepper’s Guide to Dental Equipment and Dental Exams

Dental equipment and dental exams are not often written about within the context of long-term survival. This is surprising because our mouths are a portal into our body. Oral bacteria and decay can quickly move throughout our system using saliva as a carrier. The result is sickness and a compromised immune system.

In this article from our Survival Medic Series, Dr. Joe Alton explains what procedures and supplies we need to know about when dealing with dental health. Learn how to perform a dental exam and about the tools and equipment you need resolve dental emergencies, Plus, enter the giveaway to win a Survival Dental Kit valued at $199.

Healing Herbs: What You Need to Know About Comfrey

Healing Herbs: What You Need to Know About Comfrey

What is Comfrey? How do you grow it? What is it used for? Comfrey is a healing herb that grows almost everywhere. Learn about planting, growing, and harvesting comfrey, along with instructions for making a poultice, infusion and more.

16 Reasons Why a Second Great Depression Will Be Different

16 Reasons Why a Second Great Depression Will Be Different

It is no secret that prepper-types use the Great Depression as an example of what can and will happen when the stuff hits the fan. We do this because the possibility of a national or even a global economic collapse is something we prepare for.

Learning about life during the Great Depression has its value and the lessons we can learn will go a long way in helping us formulate our own plan for survival under such dire economic circumstances. That being said, life in the 21st century is much different than it was during the thirties. This makes it important to toss some modern realism into the mix. Here are both reasons and facts why a second Great Depression will be different the next time around.

Catching, Cleaning, and Cooking Fish for Survival

Catching, Cleaning, and Cooking Fish for Survival

When you think about being out in the woods, what do you envision as a staple meal? Do you see yourself sitting by the fire roasting some fresh venison on a spit? Maybe you live in an area with a great deal of waterfowl, and you can see yourself enjoying some roasted duck? What you imagine in your mind is probably in large part dictated by the environment you live in. Wherever you live, one food that should be on your list of wild food is freshly caught fish.

In this article, you will learn the basics of cooking, cleaning, and cooking fish in a survival situation.