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Author: Jodie Weston

Jodie considers herself to be an 'optimistic prepper'. Though she is a strong believer in preparing for the worst, Jodie wants nothing more than to help her neighbors, near and far to avoid these scenarios.

Prepping came about to Jodie through permaculture farming and embracing a simple, frugal lifestyle. Though she cannot claim the title of living from the land entirely, she thoroughly enjoys eating the fruits of her labor, when they come from her back yard!
35 Reasons Coffee Filters are Survival Multitaskers

35 Reasons Coffee Filters are Survival Multitaskers

Have you ever considered adding coffee filters to your stash of multi-purpose preps? As you know, every prepper knows that multipurpose items save space and money. Because of this, we stash things like salt, duct tape, vinegar, and paracord like they are going out of style. Coffee filters are another inexpensive item to add to your list of versatile survival preps. Here are 35 reasons why!

How and Why to Grow Elderberry

How and Why to Grow Elderberry

There are quite a few good reasons to grow elderberry; those range from the many medicinal benefits to the culinary delights such as elderberry syrup, jams, and it is even…

How to Forage and Use Purslane & Stinging Nettle: Two Super-Foods for Spring Foraging

How to Forage and Use Purslane & Stinging Nettle: Two Super-Foods for Spring Foraging

Editor’s Note: This is an updated and revised edition for 2018. Editor’s Note: Special Contribution by Donna “All good things are wild and free.” – Henry David Thoreau 1. Purslane…

Why and How to Grow Kohlrabi

Why and How to Grow Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a highly prized plant in home gardens and hales from Germany where the name means turnip cabbage. In fact, you can think of Kohlrabi as odd cabbages with…

Prepping the Body: Physical Fitness for Men

Prepping the Body: Physical Fitness for Men

As a preparedness-minded person, it’s easy to get tunnel vision on bug-out bags, stored food, solar panels, and all the other supplies we stock to help us feel like we’re…

Top 9 Health Benefits of Aloe Vera

Top 9 Health Benefits of Aloe Vera

Do you have an aloe vera plant sitting on your kitchen window sill or on your patio? If you do, it is likely you use it for when you burn…

How Important is Reverse Osmosis for Drinking Water Filtration?

How Important is Reverse Osmosis for Drinking Water Filtration?

In a previous blog, we discussed the benefits of a mechanical filtration system for prepping and in that blog, we began a conversation about Reverse Osmosis (RO) filters. In this…

Best 5 Ways to Warm a Cold Frame

Best 5 Ways to Warm a Cold Frame

Where I live in California, the growing season is generally from mid-March until Mid-October. This has more to do with the intensity of the light which shifts around the fall…

The Ultimate Guide to Physically Stashing Your Money (Including Gold, Silver, and Barter Items)

The Ultimate Guide to Physically Stashing Your Money (Including Gold, Silver, and Barter Items)

How to safely store your money for a variety of circumstances. How to store it in your bug out bag so it doesn’t get lost or stolen the moment you’re…

Apple Cider Vinegar: Essential to Have in Your Health Preparedness Arsenal

Apple Cider Vinegar: Essential to Have in Your Health Preparedness Arsenal

If you are paying attention to “trends”, you may have noticed that Apple Cider Vinegar is quickly becoming a “trending” home remedy, even though it has been a staple home…

Best Greenhouse Kits for Backyard Gardening

Best Greenhouse Kits for Backyard Gardening

There are a ton of greenhouse kits available on the market but like everything else: which one is best for you? There is a lot more that goes into choosing…

4 Secrets to Becoming a Successful Gardener

4 Secrets to Becoming a Successful Gardener

Gardening is a skill and anyone who tells you something different is not being totally honest. That being said, having a successful gardening experience depends on many outside factors including, but not limited to soil conditions, available sunlight, the length of the growing season, seed quality, and pest control. Still, many of these factors can be overcome with skill and experience.

In this article, Dan Chiras shares his time-proven tips on what it takes to become a successful gardener.

How to Grow Sprouts: How To Store 182 Servings of Raw Green Vegetables in a Quart Canning Jar

How to Grow Sprouts: How To Store 182 Servings of Raw Green Vegetables in a Quart Canning Jar

Editor’s Note: This is an updated and revised edition for 2018. It is not dehydrated, freeze-dried or cooked in any way. It will provide 182 generous servings. It is inexpensive…

The Ultimate Guide to Cast Iron Skillets & Cookware

The Ultimate Guide to Cast Iron Skillets & Cookware

I love my cast iron skillet. Even though I have had it for less than a year, it is the most used piece of cookware in my home. Perhaps it is nostalgia for what I perceive to be the good old days – think Pa and the boys cooking up some chow on Bonanza – or simply a longing to, in some small way, shun our spit-shined, high tech society.

Whatever the case, I am now really “in” to cast iron.

If you were lucky enough to get some cast iron cookware from Santa, you probably have some anxiety about using it. And even if your are a cast iron diva – well experienced in its glories – you may have some questions about it’s use and care for the long term. Today I offer some suggestions that will guarantee your cooking adventures with cast iron succeed.

1. Seasoning is your friend.
Cast iron needs to be seasoned in order to acquire non-stick capabilities. An unseasoned piece is a disaster waiting to happen. You food will taste like, well, rusty iron. Food will stick like crazy. And clean-up? Forget it.

These days, if you are starting new, you can purchase a pre-seasoned pan. That is what I did. Lodge as well as other manufacturers sell pre-seasoned pans for just a few dollars more than the unseasoned kind. But not to worry if you acquired an old rusted out or unseasoned pan from a friend, relative or thrift store, You can find my instructions for seasoning a cast iron pan from scratch in the tip area below.

Pros and Cons of Mechanical Water Filtration

Pros and Cons of Mechanical Water Filtration

Part of a solid home preparedness plan involves some sort of water filtration system. All of the prepper stores include water filtration from tablets to straws and some offer some…

The Guide to Prepping for Pregnancy

The Guide to Prepping for Pregnancy

A lot of things change once you get pregnant and prepping should be one of those things. You’ll need to be prepared if there’s a possibility you or your wife…