A friend who already has an AR-15 with a red dot sight asked me about getting a shotgun for home defense and I figured I'd share my response here. This was just an e-mail response and wasn't intended to be a complete discussion of the issue, so feel free to add your comments and thoughts.

A kind person is still a kind person when there's nobody around to show kindness to. A hard worker is still a hard worker when he's taking a break. The kind person's lack of an audience, and the hard worker's lunch break don't suddenly turn them into something else. In the very same way, preparedness is who you are as a person, not what you happen to be doing at a certain point in time.

Whether from neglect or from livestock and wildlife, soils deteriorate, producing less and less vegetation every year. On a large scale, this is called desertification and it's affecting over half of Earth's surface. On a small scale, it can dramatically reduce the value and useability of your land, and hinder your sustainability. Fortunately there's a cost effective and sustainable solution you can implement yourself.

New policy announcement:

Effective immediately, Badger Peak will no longer sell any items to local, state, or federal governmental agencies that citizens in that same jurisdiction cannot legally purchase. This policy applies to individual officers and agents as well. There will be no exceptions...

In the wake of the re-election of history's most anti-American president, and the horrible events in Newtown that followed, we have received hundreds of e-mails and calls. Preppers across the nation are desperately trying to fill gaps in their preparations. Guns (all types, not just AR-15s), ammo, and magazines are in record high demand, and selling for record high prices. As prepared Americans, how should we view buying panics and price gouging, and what should we do about it?

When I think about living without modern conveniences, the two things I am convinced I would miss most are toilet paper and tampons. I have done enough backpacking to know that I could survive without toilet paper (I may not be thrilled about the idea, but I could make it), however I am pretty sure I would feel like dying if my monthly cycle came and I didn’t have my tampons!

My fear prompted me to find some type of sustainable tampon solution and I eventually found reusable menstrual cups. They sounded great to me on paper,  but the concept is so different than what I am accustom to I had to build up the nerve to finally try using one… and I am so glad I did!

Precious metals are often part of a well rounded battery of preparations. Whether you view them as an investment, or a hedge against inflation, or simply a universal currency, there are some things you need to consider.

A variation of the old flint and steel concept, ferrocerium rods produce larger, hotter, and more sparks than their predecessor. There are dozens of different ferrocerium rod products available, and today we're going to take a look at the StrikeForce from Ultimate Survival Technologies.

A fairly recent development in small arms technology is the advent of “barrier blind” bullets. Law enforcement agencies and groups within our military weren't satisfied with the performance of current ammunition when fired through intermediate barriers like car doors and windshields, but until the Black Hills 5.56mm 50 grain TSX round, every bullet designed to rectify this problem shared the same fatal flaw.

Developed as a specialty cartridge for use in military SPR sniper rifles, the Mk 262 Mod 1 from Black Hills Ammunition has proven significantly more capable, both in accuracy and terminal performance (damage to target), than previous 5.56mm military ammunition. The increase in accuracy is due mostly to Black Hills Ammunition's outstanding quality and consistency, but the reason for the increased terminal performance is a little more involved.  

All water sources are vulnerable to contaminants that can kill you or make you sick, so you better have a water purification plan. There are many ways to make water safe to drink, and they are not all equal.

Maybe you had a power outage that lasted a few days, or maybe you just pay attention to the news and the condition of our economy. Regardless of the reason, you've decided to make yourself more prepared and you don't know where to start. This doesn't have to be a daunting task if you know where to begin.

Even people who don't prepare at all can usually grasp the idea of preparedness. Somehow they think being prepared to care for their loved ones is “not for them” as if we have the right to shirk this responsibility, but in a general sense, they can be led to understand why we do it. The real confusion comes when we discuss physical security, defense, and weapons.

Any discussion about preparedness will naturally lead to the question, “Prepare for what?” We can't possibly get prepared if we don't know what it is we are getting prepared for. There are thousands of reasons that Americans are “prepping”. Some should make you concerned, and others should just make you laugh.

If you're an experienced rancher, this won't be new to you, but for anyone considering raising livestock as part of their survival preparedness plan, you might just learn from our mistakes. We are very new to owning livestock (yaks), and we continually make mistakes. Fortunately we have more experienced friends who are very patient with us and all our newbie screw ups.

We've all heard people rave about how Black Hills Ammunition is the best thing since sliced bread, but what makes Black Hills ammo so much better than any other manufacturer's ammo?

With the increasing popularity of AR-15 rifles among preparedness minded Americans, we are constantly asked about the capability of AR-15s and .223/5.56mm ammunition in general for big game hunting. Does it work? Is it ethical? Is it a good idea? To answer this, let's consider two other questions. First, what does a hunting bullet need to accomplish? Second, does .223/5.56mm ammunition accomplish this?

I bet you think you know how to light a fire, and you've probably done it several times before. Many people think they know how to shoot because they can make the gun go, “bang”. Just as making the gun go, “bang” doesn't mean you know how to shoot, getting a fire going doesn't mean you really know how to light a fire.  

Aimpoint currently makes over a dozen models of red dot sights. Each utilizes Aimpoint's ACET technology for outstanding (multiple years) battery life, and industry leading reliability. Picking the sight that's right for you will, of course, depend on your intended use, so let's take a look:

Tom: My hunting rifle isn't accurate enough. I'm going to get a nicer one.

Bob: How accurate does a rifle need to be? My rifle shoots three inch groups at 100 yards. That's more accurate than I am, so I don't need anything better.

Bob doesn't know it, but he has just committed the great fallacy of rifle accuracy. He somehow believes that because he isn't the most skilled shooter, he won't benefit from a more accurate rifle. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth.

A hand well pump is one of the largest purchases that the average prepared homesteaders will make, so it's important to get it right. You don't want to lay out that much cash only to decide later that you should have bought the other brand. MacKenzie and I did a lot of research before choosing which hand well pump was right for us, and here's what we found.

After using EOTech sights for several years, I now prefer Aimpoint sights for most applications, so I think I can offer a fairly objective explanation of the pros and cons of each.

The vast majority of people in the “prepper” movement are very careful with their money, choosing less expensive options for their tools, cars, clothing, survival gear, etc. Are they thrifty, or just cheap, and what's the difference?

Whether you're an experienced hunter, or just starting to consider the idea of hunting to supplement your food stores, there are some things you should think about. Some are general hunting concepts, and some are more geared to survival hunting in hard times.

The primary applications of firearms for our customers are food gathering (hunting) and defense in a survival or preparedness context, so we'll discuss weapons suited to those goals.

My interest in edible wild plants began when I was ten years old running around in the woods “playing Army” with friends. My friend, Tim, had a book about Special Forces soldiers that said they were trained to live off the land by hunting animals and gathering edible wild plants. We got library books on the topic and began sampling more or less anything green.

A good generator with a few gallons of fuel is a great thing to keep around in case of short (1-3 days) power outages, and for more common tasks like construction, but does it really make sense as a long term solution?

Like a gun, cell phone, manners, etc., a knife that you left at home does you no good, so it's important to buy a knife that you will actually carry. You've probably heard that for a hard use knife you have to have a fixed blade (not a folding knife). This may have been true in your grandpa's day, but not anymore...

A few years ago I started doing a lot of research into edible wild plants and became really frustrated with most of the books out there. After many library trips, hours on the internet, and spending way more money than I would like to admit on books, I have narrowed down my favorites to just a handful with one that really stands out:

Yup! We are just crazy enough to own a small herd of Tibetan yaks!

What exactly is a yak? Well, we did our research before we started our herd and we learned that a yak is an extremely hairy horned member of the bovine family, etc. ... but there are a few things the text books forgot to mention.

With all the internet buzz about Sawyer water filtration systems (most notably the Sawyer Squeeze Filter), we decided to evaluate the product for our own personal use, and to potentially carry it on our site.  Here's what we found:

We really wanted to use and sell Berkey water filters.  Berkey filters are well marketed, do a good job of filtering water, and frankly, have an attractive dealership program.  Here's what we found.

For a long time I called myself a “grain mill skeptic”. It wasn't that I doubted the ability of a grain mill to do its job, I just had a hard time seeing the financial return on investment for an item that seemed so narrow in its use. But the more self-sufficient  our lifestyle became, the more I started to realize the value of a good grain mill goes way beyond just grinding wheat berries stored in buckets for bread.

When I first saw the price range of Chris Reeve Knives I wondered if they could truly be that much better than, say, a $60 knife.  After working for Chris for several years, I can say that there is truly no comparison in the industry today.

For over a decade my husband and I have been making efforts to become more prepared and self-sufficient. When we lived in the city we stored food, water filtration equipment, etc., but we came to realize that while we could make it for several years with the supplies we had, we were not capable of true long-term self sufficiency. Then, a few years ago, we were blessed to find 5 acres in the mountains of central Idaho to start our mini-homestead project.

It used to be that we chose our gun based on our intended use and chose the scope as an afterthought.  Optics have come so far in quality and specialization that the scope/sight choice is now critical in determining the capabilities of the weapon with the actual underlying weapon being something of a secondary thought.

I was working for Chris Reeve when he first started making the Green Beret knives, and I remember hearing a very loud "TING" "TING" "TING" "TING"...  I stopped working and went to find out what was making all the noise...