Surviving on a Small Homestead

Description

In this downloadable 43-page book I share my own journey from a middle class Mom (two kids, a dog, a cat, successful husband, volunteer work, sailing etc.) to homesteading on a North Carolina mountainside half acre– and loving it!  You will learn valuable tips from my triumphs– and mistakes– as we raise much of our own food in difficult conditions.  You can do it, too!

The book also contains a 23-page bonus section provides expert advice from a former US Army Military Intelligence Warrant Officer (Counterintelligence), Army Special Forces, and 20-year security professional on homestead security and personal protection to plan for various threat levels.

From a village in Michigan to coastal North Carolina and finally to our western North Carolina mountainside, I tell about the events that landed us on our half acre homestead.  If you feel a growing need to be self-sufficient and to get away from the big cities, you’ll like reading the hard-won tips and advice found in my book.  I can save you time and money.

Here’s what I cover:

2026 Update:  Tropical Storm Helene
In September of 2025 a deep low pressure system with tons of rain combined with northward-moving tropical storm Helene and the results were devastating to our mountains.  Flooding caused horrible loss of life in our area and widespread property damage.  I recount the experience and give you valuable lessons learned from the tragedy.

Chapter I
Why Prepare? Determine Your “Trigger Point”
Your first step in prepping is to determine your “trigger point” or reason for being prepared. Why are you prepping? Rising food costs? An economic collapse? Unrest in the Middle East and a Third World War? Another global pandemic? An EMP? Any reason that fuels your path to self-sufficiency is a viable reason.

CHAPTER II
Let’s talk about Food
In a time of total upheaval, if you haven’t already spent a ton on freeze-dried survival food, you’ll need to get food the old-fashioned ways:
1. Stockpiling Food
2. Growing Your Own
3. A Barter Society

Chapter III
Going “Little House on the Prairie”
I think we’ll all end up living a Little House on the Prairie lifestyle if things go as far south as I think they will. I try to keep the right mindset for that.

CHAPTER IV
Choosing a Survival Property
I point out the things we considered when looking for our own survival property.

Chapter V
Gardening
This is a big chapter. I am constantly amazed at the number of preppers whose solution in a grid down situation will be to “start” growing their own food. I am a North Carolina Master Gardener. I completed an in-depth, comprehensive program through North Carolina State University that was anything but easy. I’ve grown food for years – in several different states, soils, growing zones and conditions. And I can say unequivocally that, if I had to start from scratch in an “End of The World” situation, we would starve.

Chapter VI
Putting it all Together: includes a Bonus Section on Homestead Security & Personal Protection.
You’ll get a wide range of expert advice and experience based on the author’s real-world military and nationwide professional security experience, helping to keep you safe during rising threat levels. Subjects include home and perimeter defense, alternative power sources, animal and herd protection, firearm selection, legal use of force, OPSEC, communications and much more.

This book covers subjects that may be disturbing to some, and is not for children under 18 years.  And sorry, but purchases on downloadable books are not refundable.

I advise you to only download your book on a desktop or laptop.  The 8.5 X 11 pages aren’t very readable on small mobile screens.

If you have any problems with your purchase or downloading the PDF, contact me and I’ll help!