There are several construction methods you can use. A dugout is the cheapest way to go in stable soil. If you are going to construct it out of wood, be sure to use pressure treated wood. It can be built out of cement as well.
For the floor of your root cellar, dirt is the simplest way to go and excellent for humidity control. In a very damp or very dry area you will want to put down three inches of gravel. If your cellar is unusually wet, you may want to even dig a sump in the middle of your cellar floor and fill this with gravel, in addition to the three inches on the floor. In very dry soil conditions you can sprinkle water on the gravel, which will greatly increase the evaporation surface area. If using wood for your flooring, be sure to put gaps in your boards for a higher humidity cellar. If you want a storage area that is lower in humidity, cement is a good way to go.
You may wish to build two rooms in your cellar. One with a cement floor for lower humidity storage items, and another room with no floor for higher humidity storage items. If you do this, the wall between the rooms should be as air-tight as you can make it. If you have a venting system, you should have a separate set of vents for each room. And lastly, the high humidity storage area should be the far room in the cellar.
Make sure you keep a thermometer and humidity gauge in your cellar. Keep the door(s) closed to your cellar as much as possible if it is warm outside. During the spring and fall of the year, open your vents (and even perhaps the door) at night when the temperature is dropping below the temperature of the air in your cellar. Close them early in the morning before the outside air warms up. (Be careful not to do this if the temperature is expected to drop below freezing.)
If the humidity in your cellar is too low you can raise it by leaving at least the floor of your cellar exposed to the earth (a dirt floor or air gaps in your floor down to the earth), sprinkle water on a graveled floor or lay out damp towels or burlap bags.
Pack root vegetables in damp sawdust, sand or moss. One caution about high humidity: If you get much of a temperature fluctuation in your cellar, humid air will condense on the ceiling, walls, and produce. Excess water on your goods can induce spoilage. Cover vegetables with burlap, towels, etc. to absorb excess condensing moisture. Also, if your air is condensing inside, open your vents if the air outside is cooler than it is inside. Even if it is very humid air, as it warms in the root cellar, its relative humidity will drop. Of course, the opposite can happen. If you let warm damp air in, moisture will condense as it cools.
Put a light bulb inside the cellar during extremely cold weather, if your cellar is threatening to freeze. If you do this, you’ll need to cover your potatoes so they won’t turn green. (Do not use a kerosene lantern. Kerosene lanterns produce ethylene, which is a fruit ripener.) Also remember that snow is an excellent insulator. Don’t tramp down or remove the snow on top of your root cellar any more than you have to in order to gain entry.
Keep a close eye on your produce and remove any that has begun to spoil. It is true that one bad apple will spoil the bushel.
Our Barnyard Friends
by John Milandred
Before buying animals, you should learn as much as you can about them, but don’t expect to become an expert just by reading. When you get your animals you will need to also listen to them, watch them and notice their behaviors, because they can tell you a lot.
Note: Never give growth-stimulating hormones and medicated feed to your animals. This may have long-term side effects that are as yet unknown. If medicine needs to be given for some reason do not eat or drink anything from that animal for at lest two weeks.
Chickens
Chickens are possibly the most common animal seen on small ranches and farms. They are easy to raise and produce large quantities of meat and eggs. A family of four will use about 30 chickens at a time: 10 laying hens, 15 fryers and broilers, and 5 larger capons.
Some good all-purpose choices include Rhode Island Red, White Leghorn, and California White. Our favorite is Rhode Island Red, as we have found them to be great egg layers. Production from egg layers lasts about 16-18 months. When your hens are no longer productive, they should be removed and used as a stewing hen. Meat varieties like Cornish and Cornish Cross are bred for larger breasts and rapid growth.
You can purchase laying and meat chickens at all stages of development, from eggs to mature birds.
Starting fertile eggs in an incubator is fun, but not especially practical for starting out. It takes approximately 21 days for a fertile egg to hatch, and each egg must be turned 2 to 4 times per day.
Day-old and very young laying chicks can be purchased from any farm outlet. They will need a brooder box with controlled temperature. You will need to keep the chicks in the brooder box for 4 to 5 weeks, and count on a 20% mortality rate from hatching to the start of laying at 20-24 weeks.
Pullets - young hens approximately 20 weeks of age provide a practical alternative to eggs and chicks. They are usually healthy and ready to start laying. Pullets are a little more expensive but they are ready to put into a hen house right away.
Chickens are easy to care for. They need feed, water, and a coop or house to live in. You will want to build a protective fence of chicken wire around the enclosure. Otherwise, you can plan on having chickens in your garden and roosting in crazy places. It’s wise to keep laying hens in one coop, and fryers & capons in another.
The hen house needs feed and water containers and nesting boxes. Make feed and water containers from available materials around your house, (wood, old plastic containers, old 5-gallon cans). Make roosting benches along 2 walls, 3 feet above ground and 18 inches wide. Use 1x2 inch boards for the top and separate each board with a 2-inch space for droppings and cleaning. On the roosting bench add a few nesting boxes, 1 for every 3 laying hens. You can make nesting boxes from cardboard boxes or permanent wood structures. The only necessity is that each box be about 14 inches wide, 20 inches long, and 20 inches high with a cover and an easy-to-clean floor. A little hay or straw makes good nesting material.
Rabbits
They are excellent animals to raise for meat. Not only are they delicious and hardy but they’re also inexpensive to feed.
My favorite breed is the New Zealand white. They have a good weight of about 5 pounds at 12 weeks old. At this stage, they can be butchered as fryers. When fully grown, New Zealands average about 10 pounds for females and 12-13 pounds for males, this makes an excellent roasting and stew rabbit. You can use older rabbits when they have outlived their production purposes to make fantastic stews.
Raising rabbits for meat is a great, cost-effective way to keep your freezer full. Also, rabbit meat is very lean and healthy for those who are trying to cut fatty foods from their diets. Since raising rabbits doesn’t take up a whole lot of space, you don’t need to live on a farm to do it. People in the city who have a decent-sized garage can join the program and get a little taste of the country life. There are a few things that everyone should know before getting started, though.
What Types of Rabbits Make the Best Sense for Meat Production?
There are many breeds of rabbit, but not all make meat rabbits. Some rabbits are strictly show or pet varieties and would not serve your purpose very well. While any breed can be used for meat, the best ones have thick, heavy muscling along the back (loins) and hind legs. Finding the right breed of rabbit is critical. Some of the best choices are as follows:
New Zealand Whites
Californians
Beveren
American Chinchillas
Silver Fox
Satins
Cinnamon
Palomino
These are the most popular and common breeds of meat rabbits, growing as big as ten to twelve pounds on average (the mighty New Zealand White can actually attain weights of up to twenty-five pounds each!). Keep in mind that “live weight” will produce less when slaughter time comes. However, rabbits are one of the most efficient animals for meat production livestock. The average cow converts
live weight to what is known as “hanging weight” (the meat and carcass remaining after processing) at about 30 to 35%. Rabbits have about a 50% average conversion, so for a ten-pound rabbit, you can expect a five-pound carcass for food.
Husbandry Practices
When raising meat rabbits, you will want to keep a few choice breeding animals around. These rabbits are the lucky ones, and will not make it to the dinner table. Breeding your rabbits is actually a quick and easy process, but there are a few tricks to keep in mind when you get started. You always want to take your female rabbit and place it in the male rabbit pen. You wouldn’t think it makes a difference, but it does more than you think. Female rabbits tend to be overprotective of their space and if you place a male rabbit in the female pen, they will be fighting too much to get any breeding done.
You will also need to put a nesting box in the female pen so the rabbit has a place to have her babies.
You can either buy a nesting box, or if you want to save some money, you can always make one yourself. They are really quite simple to assemble. You also want to make sure you put some wood shavings inside to help insulate the babies when the female isn’t in there.
Caring for Your Meat Rabbits
A rabbit’s diet is pretty basic and cheap. You can find rabbit food online or at any local feed store. You really don’t have to worry about over-feeding your rabbits; they are pretty good about only eating when they need to. Rabbit pellets do provide the best diet, but food can be supplemented with hay, fresh grass, vegetables, fruits, and leaves.
As you can see, raising meat rabbits is rather easy. Once you get started it only gets easier.
Note: Rabbits will need plenty of clean water and a small salt lick in the summer heat. Other Small Homesteading Animals:
Ducks
Ducks are extremely hardy and will forage for most of the food they need. You can supplement with the same food you feed your chickens, if needed. We buy young birds - about 4 weeks old. Two males and six females is a good number to start with. I think Peking ducks are the best breed for meat. They’re fast growing and bigger than most other breeds. They also require very little care and in my opinion, I think they taste the best! They lay 1 egg every other day and their eggs are great for baking cookies, cakes and pastries.
Duck eggs are larger than chicken eggs and have a stronger taste, but can be treated and used the same way. Peking ducks are ready to butcher at about 8 to 10 pounds live weight.
Dairy Goats
Goats make ideal dairy animals for a small farm or homestead. They’re easy-to-handle, and are excellent at foraging. Their milk is comparable in flavor and in many ways is superior to cow’s milk. It is naturally homogenized and the fat particles are so small, they do not separate from the milk, making it easier to digest. The breed I prefer are Nubians.
Goats will forage for most of their food, but you should include well-cured hay and additional mixed-grain in their diet at times. Remember; never overfeed your goats with grain, since this can lead to bloat. To prevent overeating, feed them grain only after they have eaten plenty of grass or hay and only enough for that moment. Make sure your goat area is free of buttercups. If ingested, they will get sick and lethargic and will require a shot of vitamin B complex.
Note: You must have 2 goats minimum, if not they will get lonely and become too stressed.
John Milandred grew up in a rural area in the Pacific North West, learning from his parents and grandparents what it takes to survive by doing! He has studied survival in the woods, desert, hills and plains of America, practicing pioneer and Native American methods. Now, at 45 years of age he has started teaching his survival and self-reliance skills to others. He is the owner/co-editor of Pioneer Living Survival Magazine (www.pioneerliving.net) and is the founder/manager of The Prepper Podcast Radio Network (http://www.prepperpodcast.com/). He and his wife now reside in SE Oklahoma where they maintain a 10-acre homestead.
Don’t Throw That Away
by Jim Cobb
As the saying goes, “One man’s junk is another man’s treasure”. Much of what ends up in landfills today are things that could easily be re-purposed. The basic idea is to take an item that might no longer serve its original purpose and use it in a different way to accomplish a goal. Re-purposing is something of a mindset you need to learn, rather than a set of skills that can be taught.
To help illustrate this mindset, here are some examples of ways you can re-purpose things you probably would otherwise just toss in the trash.
Egg Cartons: Simple, effective fire starters, and just about free in cost for the materials. Take a cardboard egg carton and fill each section with dryer lint and sawdust. Melt paraffin and pour over the lint, sealing each section. When cool, cut apart and store in a plastic bag until needed. Some people report an offensive smell from the burning lint but we’ve been using it for years in our wood stove and never smelled a thing.
Egg cartons are also great for paint trays for small projects. Simply pour your different colored paints into each of the sections.
35mm Film Canisters: Yes, even in this day and age of digital everything, there are still people out there using old fashioned film cameras. Head over to your local film developer and ask if they have any canisters you can have. They make great little waterproof containers for small items like matches, meds, fishing implements for the bug out bag, or just to store sets of screws for various projects.
Newspaper: Even if you don’t receive a daily or weekly paper, you can probably get more than you’ll ever need from family and friends. Turn the paper into logs for your stove or fireplace. Soak the sheets in water with a little detergent mixed in, then layer it around a wood dowel. When the log is as thick as you’d like, slide it off the dowel and prop it up to dry. Only use actual newsprint though, not the glossy ad papers.
You can also use newspaper to make biodegradable pots for starting seeds. Cut strips about five inches wide and ten to twelve inches long or so. Wrap them around the thick end of a wiffle ball bat, leaving about two inches width off the end. Fold those couple inches in and press tightly into your hand or onto the floor to crease it together. Place the pots in a tray, fill them with soil, and plant the seeds. When you transfer the seedlings outside, just drop the newspaper pot right into the hole in your garden. There are available handy little wooden presses to make these pots which makes the process even easier.
Bicycle Inner-tubes: Cut them up and use as elastic bands. A little ingenuity can also turn them into the power for catapult if you want to have a little fun launching pumpkins.
Juice Bags: (Credit given to Vicdotcom at SurvivalistBoards.com for this idea) For quite some time now, there have been available juice for kids in single serve mylar bags. CapriSun is probably the most recognizable brand name for this product. Odds are if you have kids, you’ve purchased these every now and again. Don’t toss the bags away when the kids are done with them! Cut off the tops, going just below the hole for the straw. There is a small piece of plastic on the inside of the bag that you’ll need to peel away. Then, wash and rinse out the bag. Once the inside is completely dry, fill it to within a couple inches of the top with rice, pasta noodles, spices, basically any kind of “just add water” food. Fold the top closed, gently squeezing out air as you do so. Use an iron to press down the fold and seal the bag. Use a marker to label the outside of the packets so you know what’s in them and how much water you’ll need to prepare.
Soup Cans: These work great when melting wax for making candles or fire starters. Fill your pot about 1/3 with water, place the wax chunks into the can, then set the can into the water. Use a hot pad or tongs when removing the can from the pot as it does get hot.
Cardboard Boxes: We often use these for organizing and storage. Cut up some of them to use as dividers to keep things separated.
Tuna Cans: You can easily make handy little burners with these. Take corrugated cardboard and cut strips just a hair narrower than the can is tall. Cut so that the corruga
tion in the cardboard is visible, meaning you’ll see all these little “holes” on the side of the strip. Roll the cardboard into the can from the outer edge in, working your way around and around to fill the entire can. Looking down into the can, you should see all the holes from the corrugated cardboard. Melt wax and pour into the can, letting the cardboard soak up the wax. You can add a wick or two if you want but it isn’t required. Once the wax is cool and firm, you’re good to go.
Jelly Jars: We go through a lot of store-bought jelly and jam at home. Thus, we end up with a fair number of empty jars. They aren’t suitable for canning or preserving, but, they can be pen holders in the shop or store nails or screws. If a guy was a little adventurous, he could even make little Molotov cocktails with them, I suppose.
Coffee Cans: Many a hobo has warmed his dinner using these. Once the can is empty, washed, and dry, turn it upside down. Using tin snips, make two cuts from the bottom, a couple inches high and about three inches apart. Use pliers to lift the flap you just created, bending it to the outside of the can. Drill a series of 1/4” holes around the can about halfway up. You can use the tuna can burner just described as a heat source or just build a small fire and place the can over it. The flap is your heat control, open it wider for more heat, close it down a bit to cool it off. Put your pot on top and away you go.
We also use empty coffee cans to store kitchen scraps before they go out to the compost bin.
Broken Crayons: These can be easily melted down and made into candles or used for making the egg carton fire starters or tuna can burners.
Plastic Soda Bottles: The obvious is to use them for water storage, which is a great idea. However, if you take one of them and cut off the bottom, you have a handy funnel. Put the cap back on and the funnel is now a scoop.
Survivalist Anthologies Volume 1 Page 18