Clean Your Cooking Gear with Wood Ashes
Using wood ashes as a cleaning agent makes alot of sense: they are readily available, free, and relatively safe for the environment when compared to many types of soap. In this Survival Topic we will cover this very handy method for the outdoorsman to clean his dirty dishes. Re-purpose Natural Materials
Making a simple Savonius wind turbine
by Lance Turner There are many situations where you might need a small amount of electricity, for instance running gate openers, safety lights, water level indicators and other low-power devices. While solar would seem like the ideal solution, quite often this is not possible due to location and shading problems. Just such a situation arose when I decided to make our new gates automatic. There were just too many trees in the way for solar power to work, and I didn’t want to run power some 30 metres or so from the house, as it would have meant digging a trench for the cables, which is almost impossible in our rocky ground. Why have automatic gates anyway?
5 Invasive Plants You Can Eat
The logic of eating wild plants is obvious; the logic of eating invasive wild plants is even more so. Culling aggressive species that have a negative impact on native plants, while avoiding the environmental pitfalls of agriculture? And free, local and abundant? Yes, please. Invasive plants are non-native species that can thrive in areas beyond their natural range of dispersal.
Coolest Hack Ever? Cool Water + Pipes + Fan = DIY AC
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade. When life gives you an apartment with no air conditioning, you grab some supplies and make your own air conditioner. A clever Flickr user did just that and documented his project with annotated pictures. Starting off with a regular oscillating tabletop fan, he wrapped copper tubing in a spiral around the front and back of the fan. Flexible plastic tubing connects the copper coils to the reservoir below so that the fan can still oscillate. Fish tank pumps cycle cold water up, through the coils, and back down.
iPhone App Find Free Fruit: NeighborhoodFruit.com
Introducing Find Fruit, your mobile companion of NeighborhoodFruit.com! Locate fruit trees on public land on the go! Looking for local blackberries for a pie? Want to smell fruit blossoms on a romantic walk? Interested to learn fun facts about common edible plants? Want to find fruit on the go in many metropolitan areas nationwide?
Build a Homemade Mosquito Trap
Mosquitoes are more than just annoying pests in your yard or garden. Mosquitoes carry many diseases including West Nile, encephalitis and malaria. There are many commercial products to rid your landscape of these dangerous insects. Most of these products are quite expensive, however.
Substitutes For Baking Ingredients
Let’s say the power has been out for several days, social unrest and violence is at an all time high, and you and your family have decided to “bug in” until the worst is over. You all need a morale boost, so you decide to make pancakes for breakfast. You get your camp grill going, put a griddle on it, get out your Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook
A Rocket Stove Made From a Five Gallon Metal Bucket
The principle behind a rocket stove is simple–rather than cooking on an open fire, you burn wood in an insulated chimney. Rocket stoves are highly efficient and easy to make. They run on twigs, so you can avoid cutting down a whole tree just to cook dinner. We’ve had a rocket stove made out of brick in our backyard for several years. The post we wrote on it in 2007 is–oddly–the most frequently searched post on this site.
Bulk Food Cheap: LDS Storehouses
One of my readers had sent me an email last week wanting to know where to find the storehouses run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or the Mormon church as we’re sometimes called) in order to buy bulk food for long-term food storage. I thought I’d answer this question in a blog post so that all can benefit from it. I’ll also provide some insight into what they are, what you can find there, and of course where you can find them. What is an LDS Storehouse? For those not familiar with the storehouses, I thought I’d explain what they are and what their purpose is.