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...

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.

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.

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.