One self-reliant project that I enjoy, but haven’t got around to videotaping is home sausage making. I believe that the ability to cure and store meat is a vital skill to anyone interested in producing a majority of their own food (vegans and veggies excepted).
I can deal with a lot of things, but a life without bacon and sausage are just not worth dealing with (IMHO). All preppers need to know how to How to Harvest Your Livestock and Wild Game
Luckily I found this little gem. The Complete Book of Butchering, Smoking, Curing, and Sausage Making is a well illustrated book on dispatching, skinning, and then butchering both common livestock, but also common game animals.
Not only does this book describe how to cut up a larger animal into usable (and well defined) cuts of meat, it also describes how to prep it for storage by curing and smoking it.
This book has been a very useful to me, its detailed enough to show me what to do, and modern enough to have great illustrations.
How to Harvest Your Livestock and Wild Game has been a great help to me as I learned to make sausage, bacon, and other cured meats.
This is an introductory video for some jigs from Speedy Jig. The jigs are high quality steel and powder-coated to last.
I was extremely pleased when they asked me to review these devices as I was planning on making my own bracelet jig, but I did not want to mess around with wood designs.
I would just make a video showing how to use these two awesome jigs.
However, my my son made me promise to wait for him so he could make a sling for his toy gun.
I below is a video showing how to make a paracord bracelet later and use the jig to make a monkey fist pretty soon also.
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These kits are complete. Additionally, they include enough materials to make a couple different projects. I love how the jigs are designed to last and how easy they are to use.
Both kits are adjustable and can make large or small projects.
I can’t wait to make a monkey fist large enough to launch out of my black powder cannon.
With this kit you can easily make small key chain monkey-fists up to using a billiard ball as a center.
You should really look into these affordable jigs.
How to Make a Paracord Bracelet with the Speedy Jig
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This speedy jig is just the thing for tying paracord bracelets. I find it is an easy and stress free activity that you can not only do with your kids, but you can make useful things.
Features of the Speedy Jig
Made from Powder Coated Steel – Not Soft Wood – Wide base Won’t Tip Over While You Are Weaving
Change Buckle Styles and Sizes Without Tools – Just Slip Any Size or Style Buckle over the Tabs and Start Weaving
Versatile Design – Make Bracelets, Lanyards, Keychains and Other Items Using Rings, Carabiners, and Closures
Completely Assembled and Ready to Use Parcord Bracelet Kit – Includes Paracord, Buckles and Full Color Instructions
Made in the USA – 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed – Lifetime Warranty
I have made this type of knot without the jig, as well as experimented with making my own jig, but this is by far the easiest method I have found. Add to it that the jig is very high quality, comes with very clear pictorial instructions, and has enough materials to make several bracelets for a very reasonable price and the speedy jig is a great tool to have in your home.
My son loves his red bracelet – he had to wear it to school for show and tell. He now wants to make more. More importantly than his liking his bracelet he liked making a paracord bracelet. We did it together, we played and goofed around, and made something useful and functional.
We could have done this without a jig, or we could have made our own jig. But balance the cost and the ease of use, and this jig really was worth it.
Harvesting Urban Timber explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so.
Three to four billion board feet of potential lumber is being fed either directly or indirectly into landfills throughout the United States each year.
Case studies illustrate how some cities and counties have reduced waste through the use of urban timber for various projects. Explained in detail are felling, safety, converting trees to sawn lumber, how to hire a sawyer, how to season the wood, sawing for figure, and what types of trees are worth harvesting.
Also described are the various uses for the timber, including use by the home craftsman or to build park benches or bumper strips. Each alternative use is illustrated through case studies of several municipalities and their respective programs of urban timber utilization.
As an owner of a small portable sawmill I can’t afford to buy logs, this book helps me find trees to make the lumber I need to do the projects I need to do. Harvesting Urban Timber is a great book for homesteaders and prepsteaders. I highly recommend it.
Harvesting Urban Timber explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so.
Cheating Chicken Pot Pie came from messing around with making mini pies. I love chicken pot pie and I planned to make a chicken pot pie from scratch, but at the last minute I decided to cheat.
How did I cheat? Instead of making a chicken pot pie filling from scratch, I filled the mini pies with chicken soup.
I will admit, I just (finally) learned how to make a flaky pie crust, but when I did, man did I get into a pie kick. Over just a few days, I made a bunch of things that needed pie dough. We made mini apple pies, tomato pies, and chicken pot pie with a cheat recipe that turned out to be my favorite.
However in order to do all of this we needed to learn to make pie dough.
This is an introductory video for some jigs from 
I was extremely pleased when they asked me to review these devices as I was planning on making my own bracelet jig, but I did not want to mess around with wood designs.
Harvesting Urban Timber explains the importance of harvesting urban trees and how to do so.
