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Off-Grid.net

Off-grid brings you news, knowledge, discussion, and classifieds from the off-grid world. What seems like a tiny niche is growing in popularity as people seek a life outside of the city. Off-gridders must find ways to produce their own energy, food, water, shelter, and other necessities. Connect with people who live off the beaten path or begin the search for your own property on this site.

Build It Solar

Dedicated to do-it-yourself renewable energy projects, Build It Solar provides hundreds of ideas and plans for any kind of home energy endeavor. New to renewable energy? Start with the "Half Plan" that uses a variety of energy saving projects to cut your energy usage in half. New to solar? Look for the do-it-yourself site survey to understand your property's solar potential. Not limited to solar, Build It Solar also includes tons of projects for wind power and biofuels.

Earth2Tech

Energy self reliance is a big topic for environmental, political, and individual reasons. Earth2Tech posts news about technological developments that can affect us on personal and societal levels. Stay on top of the news about electric cars, the smart grid, the bloom box fuel cell, solar power applications, and LED lightbulbs.

Wisebread

Wisebread is well-known for its advice on real personal finance. It's a community of bloggers who write about frugal living, lifehacks, careers, and other financial wisdom. Being smart with your money isn't supposed to inhibit you: rather, Wisebread's advice helps people worry less about money, allowing you to focus on the really important things in life. They also feature an active forum where you can ask questions and interact with other people who are trying to live within their means.

Instructables

Do you want to know how to build a vertical garden? How about your own solar panel array? Maybe you're looking for ways to reuse a linen closet full of old pillowcases. Instructables is a community based site that allows anyone to post a how-to project complete with photos and instructions. The result: a lifetime's supply of projects that can help you save money, recycle, or simply satisfy your appetite for making stuff.

Survival Spot

Disasters are a reality that shouldn't be ignored. That's the reason Survival Spot was created - to share information about a variety of survival and preparedness topics. Topics cover many aspects of survival, including gardening, food storage, health, and self defense. Also read about getting by in the wilderness and reviews of essential gadgets and gear. Like any other type of self reliance, preparedness is something to get into gradually and this blog can give you ideas on where to start.

Self-Reliance-Exchange

Written by a group of self reliant people, Self Reliance Exchange is quickly building an enormous database that covers a huge range of categories on self reliant practices and philosophies. Anyone interested in self reliance will find something useful to take away from this blog - recipes from scratch, emergency preparedness, and personal finance are great categories to start looking into here.

Simple Self Reliance

This writer explores the concept of self reliance and how self reliance fits in this modern society. How far can you realistically go down the path of self reliance? How can you stay on track with your priorities? He also writes on the grandaddy of self reliance, Henry David Thoreau. We can't wait to see how this blog unfolds!

American Preppers Network

For information and news from the world of emergency preparation, American Preppers Network is a great resource. Learn about food storage, what to expect during a natural disaster, and about other survival techniques. You can also connect with other preppers in your region and all over the world in the forum and through the numerous links to other prepping blogs on the web.

Preserving

Canning, pickling, jerking, fermenting, drying, freezing: preserving food is an essential step to year-round self reliant nutrition. Whether you have (or plan to have) a large vegetable garden, a few fruit trees, or buy produce in bulk, different food preservation methods will save money and offer a healthy alternative to preservative and sodium-laden canned and dried foods.

Preserving food can be a complex process, especially if you're new to it. Below you'll find several articles on the basics of home canning (both pressure canning and water bath canning), making yogurt, cheeses, jams, jellies, and pickles.

Additionally, improperly canned food can lead to spoilage and dangerous toxins such as botulism. The resources include several academic, scientific, and experience-based articles that teach how to prevent food spoilage, and how to handle any potential problems.

In spite of the warning, most people who preserve foods take great pride in their work and rarely (if ever) experience problems. Plus, it's not nearly as hard as it sounds!

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Latest Additions

How to Cure and Smoke Your Own Bacon! - Planter Tomato
Hungry for a BLT? If not, you will be after reading Planter Tomato's instructions for curing and smoking bacon. While the curing recipe requires a few specialty ingredients, the smoking process only requires a few hours on the barbecue over low heat. Making bacon would be a great way to utilize a big hunk of meat, especially if you'll one day raise and butcher your own pig.
Tampa Bay News: Do You Have a Can-Do Attitude?
Evidence shows that home canning is on the upswing. Indeed - canning is a great way to preserve your garden harvests and eat homegrown year round. Interested in learning more about canning? This article has a few great resources - also check out our "preserving" category for recipes and different canning methods.
Canning 101 - Pioneer Living
Canning can extend a food's life considerably by killing bacteria and yeasts and sealing the food off from any other contaminants. This article explains how to can food, what equipment you need, and how to ready your equipment so that you can successfully fulfill your food storage plan.
Be Prepared: Take Initiative Toward Self Reliance - Feb 01, 2010
Today's article is a guest post by Tisha Holy who maintains and writes for the website Ready Nutrition . She writes today about her personal reasons for choosing to become prepared in case of disasters and worst case scenarios and provides lists of things we should all consider. We're all prone to....
3 comments    Read more
Food Skills for Self Sufficiency: Making Cornmeal and Grits
Making cornmeal requires a grain mill and sifters and can be processed using corn you grow yourself, or from Indian corn. Cornmeal is a healthy staple that can be used in many recipes. Learn how to make your own cornmeal for pancakes, muffins, and bread.
Passionate Homemaking: Homemade Vanilla Extact
This site shows how to make vanilla extract using vanilla beans, vodka, and small jars. Makes a great gift and is cheaper then buying vanilla extract from stores.
Food Skills for Self Sufficiency: Practical Skills
The average family of four spends between $500 and $700 on food per month. This article explains how you can significantly reduce your food costs and become more self reliant by buying in bulk, freezing and canning, and raising your own animals.
Food Skills for Self Sufficiency: Making Vinegar
Vinegar is the most versatile substance in any home for health, cooking, and cleaning. Learn how to make your own apple cider vinegar by following these simple but detailed instructions.
Food Skills for Self Sufficiency: Making Yogurt
Yogurt is a healthy way to extend the shelf life of milk, and it's easy to make at home. You can use whole, 2%, skim, reconstituted dry milk, a starter culture, and an incubator to make yogurt.
The Simple Green Frugal Co-op: Making Candied Kumquats
Kumquat bushes are common in many parts of the United States. This blog post instructs people on how to make a marmalade out of this tiny citrus fruit.
The Ithaca Journal: Ithacans Take Home Canning to Next Level
Katie Quinn-Jacobs of the website Ithaca.ning unites the web with a community clamoring to become more self reliant. The site has plenty of information, but the real action is at meetups where members share and discuss home preservation techniques.
Stitch and Boots: Garlic Dill Pickles
This recipe for garlic dill pickles shows how you can slice the cucumbers before pickling to make sandwich pickle slices. These pickles can be prepared using the hot water bath canning method.
New Old School: How to Roast Sunflower Seeds
Sunflowers are beautiful, easy to grow, and you can enjoy them after they've run their course. This guide shows you how to determine if the sunflower head is ready to be harvested and how to soak seeds in a salt water bath before roasting.
Hobby Farms: Garlic Breath, Year Round
While there are several ways to preserve garlic, curing and drying best preserves its pungency. Curing is a long-term project, but can be sped up by using a food dehydrator. Preserving your garlic crop!
Hobby Farms: Making Cheese is a Whiz
You don't need a cow to make your own cheese. This article explains the different kinds of milks (goat, sheep, store-bought pasteurized, whole cow) can be used to make cheese and lists the essential cheese making supplies.
 
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