Although at about 14% of your energy bill hot water is not nearly the greatest user of energy, but it is still an important chunk of the bill and deserves a look.  First off, you may want to replace your heater.  On demand, tankless water heaters are an option, but they require a gas source…

We had a bit of a run there in October with the Ebola / ISIS scare. Who knows what will come of these issues moving forward. But I learned something. It was very interesting to me how quickly our supply chains dried up. And it’s not that the supply chain wasn’t producing at normal levels,…

On a recent trip to my local country hardware store, I noticed that the maple syrup tapping supplies have come to the shelves. For those of us who strive to be as self reliant as possible, tapping a few maple trees can be a great way to put up some sugar. Maple syrup is a…

It’s 5am. I sit here, having woken out of a deep sleep with such a start that it launched me out of bed and into the general blurry direction of my laptop. My article! It’s due today! The screen blinds me as I try to make my sleepy fingers type. My brain strains to string…

“May you live in interesting times’ is how a supposedly ancient Chinese proverb (or curse) goes. It means that the most interesting period of history are often those we’d least like to live through. But many of the ‘dreamers’ in survival and preparedness think that the interesting times are those that they yearn for, an…

Well, I would love to tell you all that the last few weeks were restful for me, but there is nothing restful about moving your family 100 km into the mountains.  Although we are settled enough to make life fairly normal, there is still plenty of unpacking to do.  Above that, the outdoors needs quite…