Living Life in Rural Iowa

You make choices every day. It has been guessed that an average person will make 2500-3200 choices in a single day. That seems like a lot. However, it makes sense. You are consciously and unconsciously making choices every minute of your day. Even if you don't believe so, you are still making choices.   Even though you may be on autopilot right now, you are still making choices. You may have routines in place to don't need to think, but those are still choices. You could upset your entire routine by making a decision to change your alarm, change your route to work, or even stopping to help someone. You make choices even if you are on a routine. What choices do you make every day?  You choose how you spend your day and where your time goes. You make think you don't decide to go to work because you think it has to be done, but you choose every day to go to work. You could choose differently. You choose to stay stuck. You choose who you surround yourself with. You choose who y

Gas shortages are going to happen. What happened with the Colonial Pipeline was nothing new. There have been shortages since the 1970s in some way, shape, or form. In addition, natural disasters have delayed shipments for a week or longer.  However, people panic very quickly now and show very little good sense while doing so. We have seen a lot of panicking over the last fifteen months and we will continue to do so. Why?  People do not want anything to disrupt their daily lives or inconvenience them in any way. We saw it with the toilet paper shortage and we will continue to see it with anything else that may become a shortage.  Fuel, especially gas, is not necessarily something you want to stockpile large quantities unless you know what you are doing. As someone who has worked in this industry for several years, you have to be diligent and plan when stockpiling fuel. For starters, gas is not the same as diesel. This may be common knowledge for most people, but I still run across peopl

The self-sufficient life isn't for everyone, but everyone can do it. Unfortunately, with the direction prices are going and items are becoming unavailable, being self-sufficient may be the only option most people have to make ends meet. But, with a little creativity, you can be self-sufficient too. You may not be able to be completely self-sufficient. Most people who practice this are not 100% self-sufficient. However, they realize they can grow most of their own food. They can make most of their food from scratch for their families. They can mend, fix, repair, or make most of their own things to make them last longer. They have learned to live without most of the conveniences that we think we need to have. They try to keep their impact low on the natural resources by avoiding single-use products and shopping secondhand when possible.  However, we all have to start somewhere. I am not afraid to admit that I still have a lot of work to do to get as self-sufficient as I want to be. I

  Have you wondered why you should get started homesteading and being independent? I went on that journey myself over the last fourteen years and I have learned quite a few things. I put all those things together and wrote a book!  I truly believe in these uncertain times of food shortages and global insecurities that the best thing you can do is being self-sufficient. However, to be self-sufficient, you must take control of your food supply and learn new skills. That is where this book comes in.  I am giving you everything I know. Most of the information in this book I have never written about because I knew one blog post would never cover all the information you needed to have in one place to start homesteading and further your independence.  The Dirty Truth About How To Start Homesteading is the guide to get you started on your journey towards self-sufficiency. 2020 taught us many lessons and still is teaching us lessons, but the most important lesson that the supply chain is extre

A somewhat hypothetical situation has always been in the back of my mind when prepping. However, this hypothetical situation is not becoming so hypothetical anymore. With past and pending shortages on everything from food to vehicle parts plus unfolding global events, this situation bears much consideration for anyone who needs to consider being prepared at home.  The question bearing consideration is this: How long could you stay at home without leaving for anything?  A week? A month? Six weeks? Two months? Three months? Six months? A year? This is a question that requires some hard, honest thinking. Now is not the time to be brash or bold about how long you could reasonably stay at home without leaving. You know the person who would be saying they could do a year at home without leaving when, in reality, they wouldn't last a week. This needs a hard, honest assessment about how long you could last without leaving for needed items. This is also not addressing how long you could go