I am excited to announce our February Giveaway at Apartment Prepper. This month we are giving away a copy of The Weekend Homesteader: A Twelve-Month Guide to Self-Sufficiency, by Anna Hess. I am reading a copy of this book as well, thanks to the publisher, Skyhorse Publishing. I am sure to try one or more projects described in the book, and I will let you know how it went.
The book will help you try your hand at various projects to get you on the road to self-sufficiency without getting you overwhelmed. It is an attractive book, with full color photos, glossy pages and is packed with information. You will learn to cut your grocery bills, eat healthier and learn new skills whether you live in an apartment, suburban home or acres of farmland.
To enter, just leave a comment below on one of these topics:
- the most recent prepping or self sufficiency skill you have tried out OR
- what self-sufficiency project you are most interested to try out this year and why.
The winner will be chosen at random on Saturday, February 9th at 8 pm Central. Good luck! I look forward to learning about your new skills!
This giveaway has ended.
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For beginning preppers
This year I plan to start my own little garden. I have finally moved out of an apartment into a little townhome with a small patio. I plan on growing lots of herbs, and hopefully venturing to tomatoes, lettuce, and some other easy to grow veges!
The self-sufficiency project that I am going to try out is solar cooking. I’m going to a workshop this Wednesday, where I will assemble my solar cooker and receive numerous recipes. Then next weekend I plan to make my first solar cooked dish (weather cooperating).
The most interesting self-sufficient skill I am going to try is start a fire with a bow drill.
This year I am going to expand my garden and grow some plants that are not normally on the average gardener’s radar. This year I am going to try to grow Amaranth (a complete protein grain) that looks like a flower. Also gooseberries, ground cherries, and sun flowers.
I also want to continue to improve my skill canning. Last year I had way to many failures and I need to hone that skill so that I don’t waste food. I bought a good canner and all the tools needed so this year should be much more successful.
?what self-sufficiency project you are most interested to try out this year and why – I am going to look into solar energy. I have a back up generator with propane tanks but want to make sure that i have other options so i can conserve the gas and stay quite during a power outage.
My self sufficiency project this year will be construction of a root cellar combined with a temperature stable dry area for long-term storage of wheat, rice, beans, and so on. I have a lot of big plans for development of my retreat property, but this is the highest priority.
Lots to accomplish first this year – find a new job, possibly with relocation. Once settled-in, I would like to start gardening, most likely with a medicinal and culinary herb garden.
The prepping skill I tried recently was taking a basic firearms safety course and then taking a course in both revolver and semi-automatic pistol handling and use. This has given me a new confidence and have been to the range several times.
I want to work on a radiation free safe room. I would like to do it on the property but space is tight with a big pool. I need to have a room that the temperature is consistent. Living in California it’s ok in the winter but summers can get hot also
working on solar for the house and cooking.
This year I’m engaged in a really big project. We are moving to the country in a couple of months, we have already planted our garden with all kinds of vegetables and we plan to raise some chickens and rabits. Moreover, we sold our car last year and we will have no electricity from the grid. It will be a really big change!
This year, I want to really understand solar power, and build a basic solar panel array. Granted, living in an apartment, I can’t really operate on this, but to build a small system capable of powering a light or a small fan – this seems doable. Yes, you can buy some very sophisticated systems to do this, but (pardon the pun) knowledge is POWER!
I am planning on starting a small orchard this year in my backyard using dwarf trees. I am also adding two new veggie beds and hope to start a permanent herb garden. My lot is rather big for one person, and my ultimate goal is to eliminate as much as the lawn as possible and use the land.
Project- I am doubling the size of my garden. 6 4×8 beds into 12 with a mini orchard, blueberry bed, strawberry bed. Trying new veggies (artichokes and asparagus). Am expnading my flock from 5 hens and a rooster with the addition of 25 birds unknown sex, breed. Could be full size, bantam or broad breasted turkey. Its going to be crazy & I cant wait 🙂
I would like to know more about laundry post SHTF.
This year, I want to learn about native plants (and how to forage safely).
Our goal toward self-sufficiency this year is raising 8 chickens for eggs, growing as much veggies as we can, planting fruit/nut trees, planting berries, and slowly learning how to preserve as much food as possible. This book would greatly help us.
We lost our place in Ca and are temporarily staying at a home of my brothers in Nv but he is selling so…. we are going to move back to Ca and hopefully we can get our hands on a shipping container or a sizeable shed to live in and we will have to run solar and fix it up like a home on a small scale and do without a lot of luxuries that people tend to take for granted. Thankfully, my husbands Mother has the space we can put this dwelling on. I have tons to learn so that’s where we are at and also because space is such a problem, I have to figure out how to store all our food and preps. That will be a HUGE challenge as the weather gets hot in the summer but we have no other options. Thanks for the opportunity!
My wife and I are gonna try our hand at doing container gardening. We moved into a new place last year but it was late in the season. So this year we are gonna give it a try. I’ve also been thinking about building a battery bank to start on self sustaining energy source project.
I learned how to plant permafood/perennials and have food come back every year.
Recently my group and I worked on Radio Communications. We are all getting the same Hamm radios but before we all buy them we wanted to test the couple we already had.
We were able to get 5 miles easily without even using a repeater. We not only tested distance but elevation and this was in a semi urban environment. That was the limit of are testing for that night.
This past weekend we tried different methods to kill moles in the yard! This may not seem like the normal type of prepper activity but if you are trying to raise your own food and underground critters are killing your plants, you’d better know how to deal with it!
This year the goal is to can meat in my new All American pressure canner. We will also be going to the shooting range on a regular basis and starting first aid classes. This looks like a great book.
So far, I’ve learned to crochet (Thanks Mom for being such an awesome & patient teacher!) …. Since we live in Iowa where it gets pretty dang cold, I thought crocheting might be a pretty useful hobby/skill since I can use it to keep my family warm. My husband & I also try to get a few extra food items whenever we grocery shop. We’re planning to do as much as we can to get more prepared this year.
This summer, we’ll be doing quite a lot of camping again so my plan is to try to start a solid campfire using as many different methods as possible (without matches or lighters). I’m also looking forward to growing potatoes on my deck in my new garden bags!
As a new Apartment Prepper, there is a lot of skills I need to learn. I think my next project will be “Baking Bread” without the Bread Machine. I can not begin to imagine my life without “BREAD.”
Our family has taken several steps in the past year that we intend to keep up:
* Daughter is now in American Heritage Girls and goes with her brother and AHG troop to many group activities; she’s learned fire safety, basics of nutrition and other topics.
* Hubby earned ham radio license; daughter took the test and is studying to retake it.
* We are stocking up on camping gear and supplies. If anyone asks about the sudden change, it is a simple matter to say, “My husband just took over a scout troop.” Which is true.
I would love to give cheese waxing a try. We eat a lot of cheese, especially cheddar and Parmesan, and it would be one of the most-missed items if we no longer had access to it. Cheese waxing seems as though it should be easy enough to do and I have done some of the research already.
I just moved from tiny apartment to cozy little house – so I’m focusing on three things this year: starting a garden – renovating the basement so it can be used for food storage – finding out about the water supply here …
This year I would like to attend a survival training course. There is one being offered in May.
The self-sufficient goal I am working on right now is medicinal herbs. A couple of months ago I learned how to make homemade bread. In the near future I want to use my dehydrator and learn how to can vegs and meats.
Don’t know if it is too late to enter or not.
Recently I haven’t done too much new stuff. I did teach my brother and sister butchering with a recent moose that we got. Along with nieces and nephews.
Working with the dog to improve ski joring, not sure who is learning more me or the dog, but in a bug out situation, this could be a valuable mode of transportation.
Learned recently how to pressure can and make bread from scratch. I would like next to learn solar cooking.
My wife and I have a pretty good prepping plan at this point and have already accomplished some of our goals but some, like our B.O.B.’s need some polishing. Our big goal for the year is to take the leap and find new jobs and relocate, as well as expand our food storage to a year. Our current rental limits some of the things we want to do and we’re both ready for new scenery. We’ll probably downsize from our already small house to an RV and practice our homesteading skills from a family member’s property until we can save up to buy our own land. (Crap… that’s the first time I’ve written that down and it suddenly looks like a MUCH bigger job! LOL)
We recently moved to a new house and have been reducing and due cluttering 16 years of stuff. We are downsizing and it feels good!
We have joined a fitness center 6 months ago and have been working on getting in shape then we plan to take a martial arts class next.
I will start a larger garden this year and fine tune my soil. I will take more care with physical activity and be more active on a regular basis. Also, trying out my navigational skills in the thick woods! Wish me luck :}
I’m working on expanding my garden, improving my physical health and hopefully my shooting skills this year.
This year I plan on improving my gardening and food storage skills. I’m also working on keeping healthy and building my endurance for hiking and long distance travel by foot and bike.
We have had wonderful gardens, we are getting chickens!! I am so excited! It’s finally legal to have them in city limits so we are going to start off with six.
Most recently, I learned how to use the pressure cooker I got for Christmas.
Next up: homemade bread? 🙂
This year I’m going from container gardening to a raised garden bed. I’m also trying to expand my canning skills, as well as more water storage. If only I could convince my apartment landlord that chickens would be a great addition…I’d be set. 🙂
Last year we built a raised bed on our 10×10 porch… Switched to vinegar & baking soda for most cleaning. We are currently trying to find a non borax based laundry detergent ( it irritates my hubby’s skin). And researching the best water filter system fir our home… Currently the Berkey is winning the race with it’s longevity and stable output! I smiled when I saw the ad on your blog. Thanks for sharing your walk!
I’m going to try making soap, starting with rendering some animal fat. I’m hoping I can talk a local butcher into saving some for me. How’s that for adventurous?