How to Master The Art of Bread Baking

Estimated reading time: 14 minutes

You’ll Succeed Every Time You Bake a Loaf of Bread if You Follow These Simple Rules.

The fundamental thing to keep in mind is that bread baking goes beyond the chemistry and physics of cooking. It enters into an area best described as alchemy. You’re engaged in bringing a living organism to life in the dough to allow it to rise up and grow.

That’s what yeast is all about. Temperature management is also critical and precision measurements always add up to success.

The Two Types of Bread

Breads fall into one of two categories: yeast breads and batter breads. A key ingredient defines them both and causes them to rise. Yeast breads have a form of yeast as an ingredient and batter breads have baking powder and/or baking soda as the rising ingredient.

Yeast Breads

Yeast breads use yeast as their rising ingredient. Yeast is actually a form of fungus. It’s a benign mold that is sold in a dormant state in packets, jars of soft cubes.

When the yeast comes in contact with warm water, sugar and the gluten in flour it springs to life and begins to grow and multiply. As it grows, it gives off a waste product in the form of carbon dioxide gas. This release of carbon dioxide is what causes the bread to literally inflate and rise.

Yeast breads have a classic, dough-like consistency after kneading and require time to rise. This allows the yeast to continue to grow and the dough to rise.

Batter Breads

Batter breads use baking powder and/or baking soda as the rising ingredient. There is no rising time required for a batter bread because the rising occurs while the batter is baking. It’s a chemical process rather than an organic one like yeast.

Batter breads have a batter-like consistency when poured into the bread pan and they usually show a crack along the center/top of the loaf after baking.

Equipment Basics

Bread baking doesn’t require an extensive amount of equipment. Here’s the list:

• Measuring spoons
• Measuring cups for both liquid and dry measures
• A mixing bowl
• Bread pans both metal and Pyrex-glass

Metal bread pans are best used for yeast breads. Oven-safe Pyrex-glass bread pans are best used for batter breads. Pans for yeast breads are usually lightly oiled before the dough is dropped into the pan. Glass batter-bread pans are rarely oiled because most batter breads have oil as a primary ingredient.

• Baking sheets for buns, rolls, and biscuits
• Cast iron pans and skillets for the oven or over open coals.
• Heat sources

Heat sources for baking include electric and wood-fired ovens or open coals for cast iron baking. If you don’t have a built-in thermometer on a wood-fired stove, there are oven thermometers that you can place inside to help you manage the heat.

Baking over open coals is trial and error, but if you bake that way on a regular basis, you’ll get a feeling for how to best manage temperature and time.

The 6 Rules of Bread Baking:

1. Measurements Need To Be Precise

Baking is a highly dynamic cooking process with both organic (yeast) and chemical components. One of the simplest mistakes many people make is capriciously measuring ingredients. Here are some things to keep in mind.

• Always level off dry ingredients when measuring.
• Hold any wet ingredient measuring cup at eye level to make sure your liquids are at the proper line.
• An alternative dry measure method is by weight. There are scales that measure dry ingredients in grams. Professional bakers use this method.

Worth Remembering:

• 2 cups of flour = 1-pound loaf
• 3 cups of flour = 1.5-pound loaf
• 4 cups of flour = 2-pound loaf

2. Understand Your Yeast

There are three basic yeast forms used for baking. They usually come in packets or jars. They have varying characteristics for different types of baking.

• Active dry yeast is the standard yeast for most baking. Packets typically hold 2 ½ teaspoons of yeast.
• Fast rise yeast has yeast granules that are smaller and added ascorbic acid to accelerate the rising process.
• Cake yeast is a soft form of yeast usually sold in foil-wrapped cubes. It’s used for breads requiring a long cool rise and leaves the bread with a sponge-like consistency. It has a short shelf-life of two weeks and must be refrigerated.

One more thing worth doing, especially if your yeast has been sitting in the fridge for a while, is to proof it before you commit a whole batch of dough. Yeast is a living organism, and it does eventually die.

To test it, dissolve the yeast in your warm water (around 110 degrees) with a pinch of sugar and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. If it foams up and turns bubbly, your yeast is alive and ready to work. If nothing happens, it's dead and you'll want to start over with a fresh packet. This one simple step saves you from baking a dense brick and wondering what went wrong.

Worth Remembering:

• Yeast should be refrigerated at all times before use.

3. Know Your Flours

• Bread flour is a bleached flour made from wheat that has the highest amount of gluten of any flour. Yeast thrives on gluten and bread flour delivers a better rise as a result.
• All-Purpose flour is a bleached flour made from wheat used for a variety of recipes. It also has gluten but not as much as bread flour.
• Wheat flour is an unbleached flour resulting in an amber color. It has less gluten than all-purpose flour.
• Rye flour was a common flour in pioneer recipes due to the fact that ryegrass grew so easily and profusely in the wild.

It has very low gluten levels but is not gluten-free.

• Gluten-free flours are not made from grass seeds like wheat or rye. They include rice flour, cornflour, almond flour, pine bark flour, sorghum flour, and chickpea flour.
• Ancient grains have been used for thousands of years for breads including amaranth, quinoa, and buckwheat flours. They are also gluten-free.

4. Learn To Mix and Knead

It’s a mistake to simply dump bread ingredients into a bowl and mix them arbitrarily. This is particularly true for yeast breads. Batter breads are more forgiving and batter bread ingredients can be combined in any way, but yeast bread ingredients should be added in a certain order.

Here’s the best approach.

• Start with the liquid, usually water, and sometimes milk. The liquid should ideally be 110 degrees Fahrenheit. The easiest way to do that is to microwave the liquid on high for 45 seconds in a microwave-safe measuring cup. The liquid should be warm to the touch but not hot. Pour it into the mixing bowl.
• Add the sugar or other sweetener to the mixing bowl and stir to dissolve it.
• Add the yeast and stir.
• Add the flour and give it a quick mix.
• Add salt or oil if the recipe calls for it and mix again. You want to keep the salt from coming in direct contact with the yeast at the beginning. The salt actually moderates the yeast growth to create a more balanced rise.
• When the dough begins to take shape in the bowl and the ingredients are mixed, dump onto a floured surface and begin to knead.
• A table is best for kneading rather than a countertop because a table is lower and allows you to use your back to work your hands and arms up and down as you turn, press, fold, and knead the dough.
• Knead for at least 5 minutes to thoroughly combine the ingredients and blend the yeast into the dough.
• Use the windowpane test: If you're not sure if you've kneaded enough, pinch off a small piece of dough and gently stretch it between your fingers. If it stretches thin enough to let light pass through without tearing, the gluten is well developed and you're done. If it tears right away, keep kneading another minute or two and test again.
• If you are adding fruits or nuts, drop them onto the surface and turn and fold them into the dough at this time.
• You could also use a countertop mixer with a dough hook for all of the mixing and kneading.

Worth Remembering:

• You do not need to heat any liquid for a batter bread recipe, only for yeast breads.

5. Know The Success and Failure Factors

Yeast breads require a rising cycle that can take anywhere from a half-hour to hours depending on the recipe and type of bread. As a general rule, yeast bread dough should be allowed to rise in the pan for at least an hour.

That said, time is just a guideline. The real thing to watch for is size, because your dough is ready when it's roughly doubled. That's a more reliable cue than the clock, since a warm kitchen speeds things up and a cold one slows them down.

For an even better texture, you can give your dough two rises instead of one. Let it rise in the bowl until doubled, then punch it down to release the gas, shape it, and drop it into the pan for a second rise before baking. That extra step develops more flavor and a finer, more even crumb.

A warm, wet washcloth placed over the pan can help to keep the surface moist, or you can lightly oil the surface. This keeps the dough surface elastic as the dough rises.

Keep an eye on any rising dough. If it rises too long, it can over inflate and fall over the side of the bread pan. It could also deflate and collapse.

6. Understand the Baking Basics

The ideal environment for baking bread is an oven that can hold a consistent temperature. Electric or gas ovens make this easy because they have a thermostat. A wood-fired oven will require you to monitor the temperature and maintain it.

Baking in cast iron over open coals is also a good possibility but you need to monitor the bread and check it for doneness. Here are the doneness tests for yeast breads and batter breads.

Yeast Bread Doneness Test

Tap the top and or the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds hollow, it’s done.

For a more precise result, you can also check the internal temperature with an instant-read thermometer. A soft sandwich loaf is done at around 190 degrees Fahrenheit in the center, while a leaner, crustier bread is ready closer to 200 to 210 degrees. That takes the guesswork out of the hollow-sound test.

Batter Bread Doneness Test

Insert a toothpick into the center. If the toothpick emerges wet, bake for another ten minutes until the toothpick emerges dry.

One more step that's easy to skip but makes a real difference is letting your bread cool before you slice it. Turn the loaf out of the pan and onto a wire rack so air can circulate all the way around it. As tempting as it is to cut into a warm loaf, the inside is still setting up right out of the oven. Give it at least 20 to 30 minutes and you'll get clean slices instead of a gummy, squashed crumb.

Worth Remembering:

• The standard time and temperature for baking most yeast bread loaves is 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 35 minutes.
• The standard time and temperature for baking most batter breads is 400 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour.

Foundation Bread Recipes

To apply these bread-baking principles, here are 3 bread recipes developed by our pioneer ancestors that demonstrate basic bread mastery. Remember to follow the advice about mixing, kneading, and tests for doneness.

Yeast Bread

Basic White Bread

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast
• 4 cups of bread flour or all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of butter at room temperature

Directions:

1. Mix the ingredients in the bowl.
2. Knead the dough for 5 to 10 minutes on a floured surface.
3. Dump into a lightly oiled, metal bread pan.
4. Let rise for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Bake 30 to 35 minutes.

Batter Breads

Southern Cornbread Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 1 ¼ cup flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs – lightly beaten
• 1 cup milk
• 1/4 cup melted butter

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl until batter is smooth.

2. Pour batter into a buttered cast iron frying pan
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
4. Bake for 45 minutes and check for doneness with a toothpick in the center.

Bannock (Frying Pan Bread)

Bannock bread was a mainstay of Alaskan Sourdoughs. It’s also called “Frying Pan Bread” and a cast iron frying pan was always used.

It’s made over open coals in a large cast-iron frying pan and was turned once midway through the cooking process.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• ¾ cup of water (add more if the dough is too dry)
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 2 tablespoons of cold butter

Directions:

1. Pour the flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl.
2. Before you add the water, you need to cut in the butter with the flour using a couple of knives, a fork or a pastry cutter.
3. After the texture appears crumbly, slowly add water until you get a putty-like consistency.
4. Oil a cast-iron frying pan.

5. Pour the mixture into the pan.
6. Place the pan over open coals or on the stovetop and brown for about 3 to 5 minutes.
7. Flip the bread over in the pan and finish the other side.
8. Poke with a stick to test the center for doneness. If the stick emerges wet, flip, and continue to cook over coals and test until done.

You May Also Like:

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• How Pioneers Made Bread With No Yeast
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• Easy French Bread in 10 Minutes for 30 CENTS

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What to Do If a Civil War Breaks Out

Nobody wants to picture Americans fighting Americans. But more people now say out loud that they worry about it, and history shows that stable countries can unravel faster than anyone expects.

If it happens, it will not look like 1861. There will be no neat front line and no clear starting date, just a slide of outages, shortages, and local violence that leaves ordinary families to fend for themselves.

This guide covers what to do if a civil war breaks out, from the first 72 hours to the long months after. It focuses on what keeps civilians alive: water, food, medicine, communication, mobility, and staying out of the line of fire.

What a Modern Civil War Would Actually Look Like

A modern civil war would most likely be messy and local. Instead of two armies facing off, expect a patchwork of armed groups, contested cities, and regions where government control comes and goes.

For most civilians, the biggest threat would not be battles. It would be the collapse of services: power, water, fuel deliveries, hospitals, banking, and policing.

Cities would carry the heaviest risk. The International Committee of the Red Cross warns that heavy explosive weapons used in populated areas wreck the health care, electricity, water, and sanitation networks civilians rely on, which forces people to flee in search of basic services.

That pattern has repeated in conflicts from Syria to Sudan to Ukraine. Plan for it now, and you will not be caught in the panic later.

The First 72 Hours: What to Do Immediately

The opening days decide a lot. Stores empty, roads jam, and rumors spread faster than facts, so your goal is to act early while others are still waiting to see what happens.

Get Everyone Home or to Your Rally Point

The moment you see clear signs of organized violence, bring your family together. Pick up the kids, call working family members home, and meet at your agreed rally point if home is not safe.

Families who are split up when roads close or phone networks fail can lose each other for weeks. Do not wait for an official announcement to make this call.

Fill Every Container With Water

Fill bathtubs, pots, and clean jugs while the taps still run. Municipal water depends on electricity, chemicals, and staff, and all three can disappear quickly.

Ready.gov recommends storing at least one gallon per person per day for drinking and sanitation, and notes that in very hot weather your needs can double. In a conflict, aim for weeks of water, not days.

Get Cash and Fuel

Withdraw cash in small bills before ATMs run dry or banks lock their doors. Card readers stop working the moment the network goes down.

Fill every vehicle and every approved fuel can you own. Fuel deliveries are among the first things to stop when roads become dangerous.

Go Quiet

Stop posting your location, plans, or political opinions online. In a conflict, social media becomes a tool for finding and targeting people.

Keep a low profile in conversation too. The less people know about your supplies and your views, the safer you are.

Should You Stay or Leave?

This is the hardest decision you will face, and there is no universal answer. It depends on where you live, who controls your area, and how close the fighting is.

When Sheltering in Place Makes Sense

Staying home is usually safer if you live in a rural or quiet area, have supplies, and know your neighbors. Your home gives you shelter, storage, and familiar ground that no road or camp can match.

People on the move are vulnerable. They carry everything they own, depend on strangers, and pass through checkpoints run by people they do not know.

Warning Signs That It Is Time to Go

Leave when the danger at home becomes greater than the danger of the road. Clear signs include fighting moving into your neighborhood, armed groups going door to door, water and power gone with no end in sight, or credible warnings from people you trust.

Set your trigger points in advance and agree on them as a family. When emotions run high, a decision made calmly weeks earlier is far more reliable than one made in a panic.

How to Leave Safely

Plan at least two routes to your destination, ideally back roads that avoid city centers, major bridges, and government buildings. Keep paper maps in every vehicle, since GPS and cell service may not work.

Travel in daylight when you can, move as a group, and carry a packed bag for each person. Know exactly where you are going before you leave, whether it is a relative’s farm, a friend’s cabin, or a small town well away from strategic targets.

Build Up Supplies for the Long Haul

Civil wars tend to last years, not weeks. Your preps need to move beyond the standard 72-hour kit toward months of self-reliance.

Water

Storage only goes so far, so learn to treat water you collect from rain, wells, or streams. Ready.gov calls boiling the safest method: bring the water to a rolling boil for one full minute, then let it cool.

For chemical treatment, the same guidance calls for 1/8 teaspoon of plain, unscented household bleach (5.25 to 6 percent sodium hypochlorite) per gallon, followed by a 30-minute wait. Keep a quality gravity filter as well, because you may be treating water for a long time.

Food

Stock foods your family actually eats and that keep without refrigeration: rice, beans, oats, canned meat, peanut butter, salt, honey, and powdered milk. Rotate them so nothing expires on the shelf.

Add a garden and a seed supply if you have land, plus a way to cook without the grid. Remember that a full pantry is also a target, so store supplies out of sight and never talk about them.

Medicine

Pharmacies close or run dry early in any conflict. Ask your doctor about a longer supply of critical prescriptions, and keep a written list of every medication and dose in your family.

Pay attention to drugs that need refrigeration. The CDC advises discarding refrigerated medication after a day or more without power unless the label says otherwise, but if a life depends on that drug, keep using it until a new supply is available.

Power, Heat, and Light

Expect long blackouts. Solar panels, battery banks, hand-crank radios, and plenty of flashlights will carry you further than a single generator with a limited fuel supply.

If you run a generator, camp stove, or grill, do it safely. Carbon monoxide kills quietly, and the CDC warns never to run a generator inside your home or garage, or within 20 feet of a window, door, or vent.

Set Up Communications That Do Not Need Cell Towers

When towers go down or get shut off, families who cannot reach each other are in serious trouble. Build a communication plan that works without the internet.

GMRS radios are a strong option for families. According to the FCC, applicants must be 18 or older, one license covers immediate family members of any age, and typical range runs from one to twenty-five miles depending on equipment, terrain, and repeaters.

Add a battery or hand-crank radio for news, and agree on regular check-in times. Then write a simple PACE plan: a primary, alternate, contingency, and emergency way to reach each other, on a card everyone carries.

Get Ready to Handle Medical Emergencies Yourself

In a civil war, emergency rooms fill up fast and ambulances may never come. At least one person in your family needs to know how to handle a serious injury.

Severe bleeding is the most urgent threat. The ACS Stop the Bleed course teaches three skills anyone can learn: applying direct pressure, packing a wound, and using a tourniquet, and it is available both in person and online.

Build a trauma kit with tourniquets, pressure bandages, hemostatic gauze, gloves, and a good first aid manual. Then take a full first aid and CPR class, because skills matter far more than gear.

Stay Neutral and Keep a Low Profile

For most families, the safest position in a civil war is no visible position at all. Armed groups target people they see as enemies, and flags, bumper stickers, and loud opinions make that easy.

International humanitarian law exists to protect people like you. As the ICRC explains, civilians under the power of armed forces must be treated humanely and protected from violence, and that protection extends to those delivering food, clothing, and medical aid.

The ICRC also admits the hard truth that these rules are often ignored. So do not count on the law alone; dress plainly, keep an ordinary vehicle, and avoid crowds, protests, and anything that looks like a target.

Picking a side and taking up arms changes how every armed group sees you. Unless you are defending your own life and family, staying out of the fighting is the surest way to stay alive.

Handle Checkpoints and Armed Groups Calmly

Checkpoints are a fact of life in civil wars, and many encounters go wrong because of panic rather than malice. Stay calm, keep your hands visible, and follow instructions.

Carry ID and be ready to explain where you are going in a sentence or two. Do not argue politics, crack jokes, or film anyone.

Before you travel, ask locals which routes are safe and which groups control them. Sometimes the smartest move is to wait a day.

Keep Your Family Together

Family separation is one of the cruelest effects of war. The ICRC notes that families can be torn apart within minutes in the chaos of armed conflict, sometimes leading to years of not knowing what happened to a child, spouse, or parent.

Give every family member, especially children, a laminated card with names, phone numbers, addresses, and two rally points. Take recent photos of everyone and keep copies in each bag.

Agree ahead of time on what to do if you get separated. Decide where to go, how long to wait there, and where to leave written messages for each other.

Protect Your Documents and Money

Records can be destroyed or become unreachable when government offices close. Ready.gov suggests keeping copies of insurance policies, identification, and bank account records in a waterproof, portable container.

Add birth certificates, passports, property deeds, medical records, and vehicle titles. Keep one set at home and a second set with a trusted relative in a different region.

Hold some cash in small bills, and consider a modest amount of silver or other easily traded goods. Banks may freeze accounts or fail outright, and barter often takes over in long conflicts.

Lean on Your Community

Lone wolves rarely last. Neighbors who trust each other can share watch duties, pool resources, swap skills, and look after the elderly and sick.

Start building those relationships now, while things are calm. Find out who on your street is a nurse, a mechanic, a farmer, or a ham radio operator.

Still, choose carefully who knows what you have. Trust is earned slowly, and in a conflict it can be lost in a single day.

Defend Your Home Within the Law

Personal safety matters more when police response slows or stops entirely. Harden your home with solid exterior doors, good locks, security film on ground-floor windows, and motion lighting, and keep valuables hidden.

If you choose to keep firearms for self-defense, follow your state’s laws, store them securely, and get proper training. Avoid confrontation whenever you can, because every fight carries a risk of injury with no hospital nearby.

Stay Mentally Tough

Long conflicts wear people down. Fear, boredom, grief, and uncertainty can lead to bad decisions as easily as any physical threat.

Keep routines, especially for children: regular meals, chores, lessons, and prayer or quiet reflection if that is part of your life. Limit how much bad news you take in, share the good news, and take turns resting.

Watch each other for signs of exhaustion or despair, and talk openly about how everyone is holding up. A family that stays steady together makes better choices.

When the Grid Fails, Your Skills Become Your Real Stockpile

You can store food, water, medicine, and emergency supplies, but eventually every stockpile begins to run out. If stores stay closed, utilities remain down, fuel becomes scarce, or outside help simply isn’t coming, the people who know how to provide for themselves have a very different set of options.

That’s why I recommend The Lost Skills of Independence.

This isn’t about collecting more survival gear. It’s about relearning the practical skills that allowed earlier generations to live with far less dependence on supermarkets, power companies, modern supply chains, and other systems we now take for granted.

Inside, you’ll discover old-fashioned methods and forgotten know-how for becoming more self-reliant, producing and preserving what you need, making better use of the resources around you, and handling everyday necessities when modern conveniences are unavailable.

In a prolonged crisis, knowing how to do something can be far more valuable than owning another box of supplies.

If you’ve already started building your emergency stockpile, the next step is building the knowledge to keep going after those supplies begin disappearing.

Discover The Lost Skills of Independence and start rebuilding the practical self-reliance skills your family may one day depend on.

Learn more about The Lost Skills of Independence here!

Final Thoughts

Nobody can say whether a civil war will ever break out in America, and most people hope it never does. But the steps that would carry you through one also protect you from long blackouts, riots, economic collapse, and natural disasters.

Start with water, food, medicine, communication, and a plan your whole family understands. Build your skills, know your neighbors, and keep a low profile.

Preparation is not about expecting the worst. It is about making sure that if the worst comes, your family is ready.

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Why I Regret Stockpiling These 21 Popular Items

My storage room had a graveyard section in the back corner, and it sat there for eleven years before I admitted what it was. Clearing it out took most of a Saturday, and I made two trips to the dump before the shelves were empty.

The strange part was that nothing back there had spoiled. The rice was fine, and the buckets were still sealed the way they arrived. So what I’d really been paying for all those years was the feeling of being ready, and that feeling never got tested once.

I’d take back twenty-one of those purchases today. A few of them still live in my pantry in smaller amounts, bought and stored a different way. But the rest went into the truck bed that Saturday, and I haven’t replaced a single one.

Then again, hauling everything to the dump wasn’t the smartest move either. Plenty of old stuff sitting in a garage becomes useful again in a crisis, and I covered the best examples in 7 Pieces of Junk That Could Save Your Life When SHTF. So before a clear-out pile goes into the truck, that list is worth a read.

21. Emergency Food Buckets

The sealed buckets sold as a month of food count their days in servings, and a serving is a lot smaller than a meal. So if you divide the calories on the side panel by the days promised, many of them land near 1,200 a day. That’s close to what a dieting office worker eats, and it won’t hold up anyone splitting wood in February.

On top of that, a good share of the pouches inside are drink mix and dessert, and the label still counts them as food. The sodium also runs high, so your water needs climb right when water gets hardest to find.

That’s why it pays to run the numbers before you order one. You can divide the total calories by the days claimed, then count how many pouches are real meals. After that, pricing the same calories in rice, beans, oats and canned meat usually shows the bucket losing badly.

Some decent buckets do exist, but they rarely come in the loudest packaging. Instead, you can buy each item yourself, but it pays to have a good plan first so you don’t waste money and time. For a more organized approach, I recommend The Lost Superfoods, a book that many of my prepping friends rely on. And if you don’t have it yet, it’s worth at least taking a look at the blog. You’ll find plenty of good advice there that you won’t come across anywhere else, whether in libraries or online.

20. Freeze-Dried Meals I Never Taste-Tested

I bought a case of freeze-dried entrees because the reviews looked good, and I opened the first pouch four years later. Turns out my family couldn’t get past the first few bites. Worse, the salt coated your whole mouth, and my wife said the texture reminded her of wet paper.

Freeze-drying is good technology, but brands vary a lot in whether the result tastes like dinner. So make sure you cook one pouch and test it before you buy a whole case. 

19. Duplicate Survival Tools

In the early enthusiasm, I bought a survival axe, a folding saw, a machete and a multi-tool with its own saw blade. Meanwhile, a good felling axe and a bow saw were already hanging in my shop.

Turns out a lot of gear marketed to preppers is a weaker copy of tools made for farmers and tradesmen. And the prepper version usually costs more because of the branding. So checking the tools I already owned before ordering would have saved me a few hundred dollars.

Meanwhile, I tried to make sure I had exactly what I needed, but at some point it became overwhelming. It felt like I needed everything, and in the end it was like packing for a vacation. You bring 70% more clothes than you’ll ever wear. So you can skip that mistake by going through this list of 27 tools you need to have in your stockpile.

18. A Gas Mask Without Spare Filters or Fit Testing

Mine hung on a hook for six years with the original filter still sealed in its sleeve. That filter is the part doing the work, and it’s also the part that expires. So a mask with no spare filters on the shelf stops being useful the day that first one goes out of date.

Fit is the second problem, because the mask only protects you when the rubber seals tight against your face. A beard breaks that seal completely, and so does a strap adjusted wrong.

You can check it with a negative pressure test, which means covering the filter with your palm and inhaling gently. If the seal holds, the mask pulls in slightly and stays there. 

17. A Thousand Feet of Paracord

Paracord is cheap and useful, so it’s easy to buy far more than you’ll ever cut. I’ve gone through maybe sixty feet in a decade, and most of that went into tarp lines and a clothesline.

What I actually reached for were ratchet straps and a roll of baling wire. On top of that, bank line saw plenty of use, and it’s a thin tarred twine that holds knots well and costs pennies a foot. So two hundred feet of paracord covers a whole household, and anything past that just gets moved from shelf to shelf.

16. MREs Kept in Hot Storage

Military rations look like the serious choice, and that look is a big part of why people buy them. But per calorie, they cost more than almost anything else you could stock.

The shelf life printed on the box also assumes cool storage, and a shed in summer runs much hotter than that. Kept at 70 degrees, an MRE holds up for years, which is the number the box is built on. But at 100 degrees, an ordinary afternoon in a Texas shed, quality starts falling off within months. So the price of one case could put away far more food that stores better and tastes like something your family would pick on purpose.

15. Tactical Gear Bought for the Look

I owned a plate carrier, which is a vest built to hold armor plates, and I never wore it for anything harder than a photograph. The chest rig that went with it, a harness of magazine pouches worn on the front, saw even less use.

Some of this gear makes sense for people who train with it every month. But for everyone else it’s an expensive outfit, and it can send the wrong message to neighbors about what you’re planning. That’s why I’d rather have spent that money on water barrels or a hand pump for the well.

14. Potassium Iodide Tablets in Bulk

Potassium iodide, often sold as KI, fills your thyroid with safe iodine so it can’t absorb the radioactive kind after a nuclear release. But it does nothing against any other type of radiation exposure. On top of that, it only helps when taken within a short window around the exposure. And the tablets themselves last about five to seven years on the shelf.

A single bottle in the medicine cabinet costs little and isn’t a bad idea. Still, plenty of people I know bought whole cases in 2022, and that much KI reaches its expiration date long before they needed it.

13. One-Pound Propane Canisters

The little green propane cylinders are convenient, but they’re an expensive way to store fuel. A twenty-pound grill tank holds about as much as twenty of them for a fraction of the price. And it won’t rust through at the seam the way small canisters do when they sit on concrete.

An adapter hose costs about twenty dollars and lets a camp stove run straight off the big tank. I still keep a few small canisters in my truck, but everything at the house runs on twenty-pounders.

12. Whole Wheat Flour Instead of Wheat Berries

Whole wheat flour carries the same kind of oil in the germ, which is the part of the kernel that sprouts. So it goes bitter somewhere between six and twelve months, and a fifty-pound bag rarely gets used in time.

Wheat berries are the whole, unground kernels, and sealed in a bucket they keep twenty-five years or more.

On top of that, a hand mill costs less than a decent rifle scope. And grinding a cup at a time gives you fresh flour you can bake with this week.

11. Toilet Paper by the Closetful

I filled a whole closet with toilet paper in the spring of 2020, like half the country did. It all stayed usable, but that closet could have held three months of food instead. And toilet paper is mostly air by volume, so you give up a lot of shelf space for very little.

Two months’ worth makes sense for a household. After that, a stack of washable cloths and a lidded bucket handle the long stretch in a fraction of the space.

10. Fifty Pounds of One Single Food

Buying deep on one item feels efficient at the register, but it gets hard to eat by the third week. Disaster relief workers call this appetite fatigue, which is when people get so tired of the same food that they eat less or skip meals. And it hits children and older folks hardest.

My first year of storage was almost all rice and beans because they were the cheapest calories I could find. But what I should have added cost almost nothing, like bouillon, vinegar, hot sauce, canned tomatoes, dried onion, cumin and curry powder. With those on the shelf, the same two staples turn into a different dinner most nights of the month.

09. Canned Soup

Canned soup is mostly water, and water belongs in its own part of your plan. On top of that, a standard can runs 150 to 250 calories. So a family of four needs six or eight cans at supper to get anywhere near full.

Canned meat and dry beans, on the other hand, give you several times the calories per inch of shelf. That’s why I keep about a dozen cans of soup for sick days and give the rest of that shelf to heavier food.

08. Ammunition for Calibers You Don’t Shoot

I bought cases of ammunition during a panic because I figured it would always be good for trading. Turns out some of it was for calibers nobody in my house even shoots.

Ammunition is heavy and expensive to store in bulk. And handing it to strangers in hard times is a lot riskier than it sounds from a comfortable chair, because you may be arming the person who comes back for your supplies. So buying deep makes sense for the guns you actually own and practice with, and the panic buys can go.

07. Cases of Retail Bottled Water

Thin retail cases and flimsy gallon jugs are made to be used up within a week or two. But stored for years, the plastic lets water seep out slowly. Worse, thin plastic lets odors pass through, so water stored near the gas can ends up tasting like gas.

The same money buys food-grade barrels or rigid seven-gallon containers that hold several times the water in better shape. I keep mine up on wood pallets, which keeps them off the bare concrete and away from whatever’s in the slab. Still, even the biggest barrel runs dry eventually, so I added a DIY AWG to my setup. On humid days it keeps adding water while the barrels only go down.

06. First Aid Kits With No Trauma Supplies

At one point I owned four store-bought first aid kits spread between the house and our vehicles. Put together, they held several hundred adhesive bandages and a few gauze pads. But there wasn’t a single thing in them for a wound that bleeds hard.

What I needed first was a tourniquet, which is a strap you tighten above a limb wound to stop arterial bleeding. Next to it belongs hemostatic gauze, which is treated with an agent that speeds up clotting. Chest seals round it out, and they’re adhesive patches that cover a puncture wound in the chest so air can’t get in. Still, every one of those items needs a class behind it, because a tourniquet put on wrong can slip when it matters most.

On a homestead, the likely emergencies are chainsaw cuts and falls from ladders or equipment. And a box of cartoon bandages can’t do much for either one. That’s why every first aid kit should come with a manual, and the best one I’ve ever put my hands on is a doctor’s survival guide written for regular folks. After all, even the best supplies only help if someone in the house knows what to do with them.

05. Brown Rice Instead of White

Brown rice keeps its bran layer, and that bran is what makes it the healthier choice. But the bran also carries oil, and that oil turns rancid in about six months at room temperature.

White rice has the bran polished off, so there’s no oil left to spoil. That’s why it keeps for decades in a sealed bucket with an oxygen absorber, a small iron packet that pulls the oxygen out of the air inside. And the small nutrition gap matters very little next to a bucket of brown rice that’s gone bad.

04. A Generator That Never Gets Started

I’ve watched this happen many times over the years in my friends circles. The generator arrives and gets unboxed, and then it sits in the corner of the garage through four quiet winters.

But when an ice storm finally knocks the power out, the problems show up all at once. The gas in the tank has turned to varnish, a sticky residue that clogs the carburetor. Worse, the oil was never changed, and nobody knows which extension cord reaches the freezer. So the generator ends up as the heaviest useless thing in the garage on the worst night of the year. That’s why a generator needs a monthly run and a yearly service.

So, to make sure I’d never be stuck with a generator that won’t start, I decided to switch to a backyard generator that never needs gas. That way, there’s no fuel sitting in the tank to go stale.

03. Hybrid Seed Packets

Many seed packets on the hardware store rack are hybrids, and hybrid seed doesn’t grow true to the parent plant. So if you save seed from a hybrid tomato, next spring’s plants come up as a mix of the grandparent varieties. And many of them won’t give you anything worth eating.

Open-pollinated and heirloom seed produces the same plant year after year, which is the whole point of saving seed. Still, germination drops as seed ages. That’s why I keep mine in a sealed jar in the freezer and buy a fresh batch every few years.

These days, that batch also includes a set of apothecary garden seeds chosen by an herbalist I trust. So right next to the tomatoes and beans, I’m growing the start of a home medicine cabinet.

02. Dollar-Store Solar Lights

Cheap solar path lights run on small nickel-cadmium batteries that usually die after a season or two. On top of that, the plastic lenses cloud up in the sun until barely any light reaches the panel. So they work as yard decoration, but they’re miserable to rely on when the power goes out.

One rechargeable lantern with a lithium battery and a decent solar panel will outlast a whole box of them. And it puts out enough light to read by. As for the dead cells from those path lights, learning how to bring “dead” batteries back to life changed what I do with them. So instead of the trash can, that drawer of old cells now feeds spare power to every flashlight in the house.

01. Silver Bought at a High Premium

I paid heavy premiums on fractional rounds and commemorative coins during a stretch when I thought the dollar had months left. The premium is the markup over spot price, meaning the market value of the silver itself. And when you sell, that markup stays with the dealer.

Common bullion coins and generic rounds carry the smallest markup, and they’re the easiest pieces to trade. So if bartering in bad times is the reason to own metal, a fancy design on the face adds cost without adding any trading value.

After years of investing, I’ve come to see silver as valuable, and it has held its worth through plenty of economic crises in history. Still, there are good reasons not to put too much money into it. In fact, economist D. Bates argues there are better options, and he makes a strong case against both silver and gold in his latest book about the US economy and beyond. From there, it’s up to you to decide whether his argument holds up.

What I Would Have Done Differently 

Most of the items on this list have a place in a stockpile, and I’d still keep a few of them today. But I bought them in bulk and stacked them in the back, and that turned good gear into wasted money. Worse, a lot of it would have failed me in a crisis, because the flour went bitter and the bleach went weak long before I needed either one.

So if I could redo those eleven years, I’d buy the same categories in a smarter way. These are the habits I run on now:

• Match quantity to shelf life. I figure out how much of something we go through before it expires, and I stop buying there. For bleach that means one jug every six months, and for whole wheat flour it means only what I’ll bake in three months.
• Put a date on everything. Every bucket and jug gets the purchase date in marker on the lid. I also keep a master sheet and check it twice a year when the clocks change.
• Spend on storage before quantity. Mylar bags, small packs of oxygen absorbers and buckets with gamma lids (screw-on lids that seal tight) protect what you already own. That money goes further than another fifty pounds of anything.
• Store below 70 degrees wherever you can. An interior closet or a basement keeps food and medicine good for years longer. Meanwhile, a summer garage cuts that shelf life down to months.
• Run the equipment under load. On the first Saturday of every month, I start the generator and plug the chest freezer into it for twenty minutes. And the stored gas gets stabilizer, then goes into the truck every six months so fresh fuel replaces it.
• Put training on the same budget as supplies. A Stop the Bleed class costs little or nothing, and it makes the tourniquet in your kit worth carrying. On top of that, a practice afternoon with the gas mask or the grain mill shows you what’s missing while there’s still time to fix it.

That approach costs less than the way I started, and everything on the shelf still works when the power goes out. Of course, experience taught me which mistakes to avoid, but so did research, and a lot of it. Out of all the books, videos and blogs I went through, this one resource stood out, and I wish I’d had it when I started stockpiling.

It comes from an experienced prepper, so the whole course treats the house itself as the main prep. And reading his one-year stockpile plan felt like someone had walked through my graveyard corner with a clipboard. The MREs and emergency food kits I regret are left out entirely, and the plan builds around healthy food you’d actually eat.

What sold me was the section on how to inspect every prep you own in about an hour, since that’s exactly the habit I was missing for eleven years. On top of that, the checklists that come with it made it easy to spot what was still missing from my shelves. So if I could hand my younger self one thing before that first bulk order, it would be this smart bug-in course, along with a note to read the stockpile chapter twice.

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The post Why I Regret Stockpiling These 21 Popular Items appeared first on Ask a Prepper.

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What To Plant In October

Do you think that because the air temperatures are cooling down, you can’t plant anything this time of year? While it may be true that most vegetables won’t have enough time to produce before the first frost hits due to cooler temperatures, there are plenty of things you can plant this month. If you’re unsure what to plant in October, keep reading to learn more about what to grow this month.

Nowadays, the Zones are off due to the weather. We used to be able to base our planting on the Zones in our region. It’s a bit trickier now due to the excessive rainfall and fluctuating temperatures. We may have trouble growing things we used to grow, so keep an eye on the temperatures in your area. Don’t forget to check the soil temperature as well. Please continue teaching your family how to garden; it will be a valuable skill sooner rather than later, trust me.

I update this series every month of the year. This year, it seems even more important to grow our own food. We can do it in pots, buckets, raised gardens, and, of course, in the ground if you have a yard that will support a garden. If nothing else, get your soil amended now. It will be ready for a late-fall planting, giving you an early start so you’ll be well prepared for next year.

What is the Window for Planting in October?

The window for planting in October is approximately 6 weeks before your first frost. In my area, that date typically falls between September and October.

I highly recommend these for seedlings: CowPots and Organic Seedling Soil. This way, you plant your seeds and place the CowPots in your garden when the temperatures are correct.

How I Store My Garden Seeds

Plastic Photo Container and Label Maker

What To Plant In October

Find Out Your Garden Zone and Frost Times

If you’re unsure of your zone or when your first frost is expected, you can check here for your zone information. All you need to do is enter your zip code.

What to Plant in October by Zone

I live in Zone 8a, so most of what I have written would apply to that Zone. So, I wanted to make sure my readers know what they can plant in their Zone. Below is a list of things you can grow in each zone in October!

Zones 1 and parts of 3

In Zones 1-3, October is the time to harvest. In fact, in some places, we’ve had blizzards in October in these zones. October is not the best time to begin planting outdoors. However, you can grow herbs, peppers, and tomatoes indoors.

Zone 3

In Zone 3, be cautious of frost. October can be your best friend or your worst enemy. Instead of planting things in October, you’ll want to harvest your crops. Crops you should be harvesting include:

• Apples
• Root Veggies

Zone 4

The weather is starting to deteriorate in Zone 4. This means it’s almost time to start wrapping up your outdoor garden. It is time to harvest your root veggies and apples. However, you can also plant:

• Garlic

Zone 5

October is the perfect time for Zone 5 growers to begin compost and mulching efforts. Again, there isn’t much you can plant in this zone in October, but you should harvest fruits. You can plant:

• Asparagus

Zone 6

In Zone 6, it’s still a little late in the season to begin planting much. This is the perfect time to start tidying up your garden and adding to your compost pile. You can still plant:

• Spinach
• Lettuce
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Carrots

Zone 7

Typically, you’ll want to plant more in September than in October if you live in Zone 7. However, you can still plant the following if you plant in early October:

• Radishes
• Garlic
• Onions
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Turnips
• Broccoli
• Kale
• Lettuce

Zone 8

If you live in Zone 8, you are in luck because there are still various things you can plant in your garden this month. These include:

• Lettuce
• Cabbage
• Spinach
• Carrots
• Beets
• Peas
• Strawberries
• Garlic
• Onion
• Radishes
• Turnips
• Broccoli
• Bok Choi
• Bright Lights Swiss Chard

Zone 9

In this Zone, the weather is much the same as in Zone 8. This means you also have a few options for planting in this zone. Here are items that you can start planting this month:

• Radishes
• Spinach
• Greens

Zone 10

If you live in Zone 10, it’s time to plant and transplant. Here are some things you can start doing in October

Transplant………..

• Tomatoes
• Eggplants
• Peppers

Plant…………………

• Beans
• Root Veggies
• Lettuce
• Spinach

Why Plant in October?

In many states, you may still be feeling warmer weather in October. Fall is about to sneak up on you, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have time to plant more in your garden before winter hits. Here is why it’s essential to plant in October:

• Autumn’s cooler weather is easier on plants and on you.
• The soil is still warm, allowing the plants to take root, and healthy root growth ensures robust plant development.
• Fall has more good days for planting than spring does.
• You don’t have to wait for the soil to warm up.
• It’s typically a great time to shop at the stores. This means you can get plants and seeds for a fraction of the cost.
• Autumn showers are plentiful, so you won’t have to water your plants as often or as long.
• Pests and disease problems are minimal in October.

What to Plant in October

If you haven’t planted year-round, you are in for a real treat! There are various plants you can grow even in October! Hopefully, you can find the seedlings for the plants you want at the garden centers near your home. Better yet, get some seeds and grow your seedlings.

Brussels Sprouts

Fortunately for you, Brussels sprouts grow best in cool weather. This means that October is an ideal time to plant them. They can sprout from the seed when soil temperatures range from 45°F to 85°F.

It is best to plan to plant them 6-8 weeks before your first expected frost. Gardeners in zones 9-10 can plant Brussels sprouts between October and December.

How to Grow Brussels Sprouts

Brussels sprouts are pretty easy plants to grow, especially in the fall. Here are some tips you need to know when planting Brussels sprouts:

• Plant your sprouts 6-8 weeks before the first frost.
• Select an area of your garden that gets full sun.
• Make sure the soil is rich.
• Sow seeds 3-4 inches apart. Or, if you have seedlings, plant them 18-24 inches apart.
• Keep the plants watered so the soil remains consistently moist.
• Fertilize your plants a month after planting with All-Purpose Food Granules.
• You will want to keep an eye out for worms.
• Brussels Sprouts can be a great choice if you want to have low-maintenance plants in your garden.

How to Harvest Brussels Sprouts

Your Brussels sprouts will ripen around 80-90 days after being planted. Snip off the sprouts when they are about 1 to 2 inches in diameter. The leaves will turn yellow as the plants mature. Store your unused Brussels sprouts in the refrigerator.

Bulbs

Did you know that most plants with bulbs can be planted in October? Bulbs actually need to be planted during the early fall so they have enough time to root and develop before spring. Let’s get busy and plant bulbs now so we can enjoy a plentiful harvest next year. Some people refer to these plants as spring bulb plants because they are planted in the fall to produce blooms in the spring.

The cold, dormant period from October to March provides these plants with the “chill hours” they need to thrive the following year. However, plant your bulbs at least six weeks before the first frost.

How to Grow Bulbs

Planting your bulbs is super easy, but remember that you won’t reap the benefits until the following spring. Here are some tips for planting and growing bulbs this fall:

• Choose a spot with full sunlight. This means at least 6 hours per day.
• Dig a hole 2-3 times deeper than the bulb is long. For a 3-inch bulb, the hole should be 6 to 9 inches deep.
• Place your bulb on the ground, pointy side up (if there is a pointy side).
• Plant in rich, well-draining soil.
• Spread a layer of mulch to prevent small animals from digging up your bulbs.
• Plant in groups instead of in straight rows.
• Keep them watered well.

Carrots

The great thing about growing carrots is that they are fun and easy to grow during the fall months. Carrots grow best during fall and winter in zone 8. It takes 70-80 days to reach harvest.

How to Grow Carrots

Planting carrots is super easy. Here is how you can grow carrots during October with minimal effort:

• Dig your carrot plot to a depth of 12 inches.
• Make sure the soil is smooth.
• Add a 1-inch layer of compost to the soil.
• Plant your carrot seeds in the soil. Then, cover with a quarter-inch of soil.
• Plant seeds in rows that are 3 inches apart.
• Handle the water carefully, as you don’t want to wash away the seeds.
• Keep your plot moist at all times.

How to Harvest Carrots

To determine if carrots are ready to harvest, dig around the base of the stems with your finger. This will tell you the size of the carrot.

Carrots should be ready for harvest about 8 weeks after planting. To avoid rotting, you’ll want to pick these fall carrots before the ground freezes.

Planting Kale in October

Kale is best planted in the Autumn months so you can have delicious salads come harvest time. It is a hardy, cool-season plant that can even tolerate fall frosts.

How to Grow Kale

Growing kale is relatively easy. Here are some of my tips on how to grow kale in October:

• Mix 1-½ cups of 5-10-10 fertilizer into the top 3 to 4 inches of soil.
• Plant your seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.
• Spread the seedlings 8-12 inches apart after approximately two weeks.
• Water plants regularly, but don’t overwater them.
• Place a heavy amount of mulch around the plants after the first frost.

How to Harvest Kale

Your kale plants can continue to produce leaves during the winter months. When Kale is ready to harvest, the leaves will be the size of your hand. To harvest, only pick about a fistful of leaves per harvest.

You want to avoid picking the terminal bud (located at the top center of the plant) to keep the plant producing more leaves. Kale can continue to grow until it’s 20 degrees outside.

Lettuce

Like Kale, Lettuce is a hardy plant that can grow well in the spring or the fall. The great thing about growing lettuce is that it is a super source of vitamin A.

How to Grow Lettuce

If you plan to grow lettuce in the fall, plant it eight weeks before the first expected frost. Lettuce can tolerate a light frost, which is beneficial. Here are some tips on growing lettuce in the fall:

• Plant your seeds when the soil is above 40 degrees. They germinate best in temperatures between 55°F and 65°F.
• Select a sunny spot to give your lettuce lots of sunlight each day.
• Plant seeds in well-draining, tilled, and prepared soil. Feed the soil with composted organic matter.
• Plant seeds 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.
• Cover seeds with 1/4 to 1/2 inch of soil.
• Water the lettuce when you notice the leaves are wilting.
• Mulch around the plants to preserve moisture.

How to Harvest Lettuce

For the best taste, harvest your lettuce when it has reached full size but is just before maturity. It’s best to harvest it in the morning before the sun has hit the leaves.

For Butterhead or Romaine lettuce, harvest by removing the outer leaves, digging up the whole plant, or cutting the plant an inch above the soil surface.

For Crisphead lettuce, you’ll want to harvest the outer leaves when the center is firm.

Radishes

Radishes can be planted in the spring and the fall. They are hardy and easy-to-grow root vegetables that can be planted multiple times throughout the year.

How to Grow Radishes

Since radishes are among the easiest vegetables to grow, you won’t have trouble planting them in October. Here are some tips on increasing your radishes:

• Plant your radishes in a sunny spot.
• Radishes grow like carrots and should be planted in rich organic matter.
• Plant seeds 4-6 weeks before the first frost.
• Sow your seeds 1/2 to 1 inch deep. Plant them 1 inch apart.
• Thin your radishes to about 2 inches apart when they are at least a week old.
• Keep your soil evenly moist. However, don’t waterlog the plant.
• Put a thin layer of mulch around the plants to keep them moist.

How to Harvest Radishes

Radishes proliferate. You can begin harvesting them three weeks after planting. You’ll want to harvest them when the roots are about 1 inch in diameter at the soil surface. Pull one out to test for size and maturity before harvesting them all.

Blueberries

Did you know blueberries are an ideal fall plant? Planting blueberries in the fall allows them plenty of time to develop their roots and ensures they get the right amount of chilling to set the fruit for next year.

However, you will want to ensure that you purchase the correct type of blueberry bushes for your specific climate zone.

Northern highbush varieties tend to perform better in northern states, whereas rabbiteye and southern highbush varieties are more suited to the southern regions.

How to Grow Blueberries

Blueberries are one of those fruits that need to be planted in late September or early October. Here are some tips for growing blueberries:

• Select a sunny location for your blueberry bushes with well-drained soil.
• You want to plant your bushes approximately 2 1/2 feet apart in diameter and 1 foot deep for each plant.
• Remove 1/3 to 1/2 of the soil, add an equal amount of pre-moistened peat moss, and mix well to improve plant growth.
• Place 2-4 inches of mulch around plants to help retain soil moisture and keep weeds at bay.

How to Harvest Blueberries

You’ll know it’s time to harvest your blueberries because they’ll turn blue! Don’t harvest blueberries until they have turned blue.

When blueberries are ready to harvest, they will fall from the branches into your hands without any tugging or pulling.

Flowers

In addition to food sources, several flowers can be planted in your October garden. Flowers that can be planted during the cooler Autumn weather include peonies and pansies.

You can also replant and divide Hostas during this time. Flowers can be planted in zones 5-10 this time of year.

If you need some sturdy garden gloves, I love these DIGZ Garden Gloves. They come in different sizes!!

Please Check Out What To Plant Each Month:

• What To Plant In January
• What To Plant In February
• What To Plant In March
• What To Plant In April
• What To Plant In May
• What To Plant In June
• What To Plant In July
• What To Plant In August
• What To Plant In September
• What To Plant In October

Final Word

Taking advantage of your garden year-round is the best way to achieve self-sufficiency. Not only is it a good idea to be self-reliant in case of emergencies, but using your garden to grow food also saves you more at the store! What do you plan to plant this October? Let me know in the comments below! May God bless this world, Linda

Copyright Images: Lettuce Depositphotos_150493086_S, Brussels Sprouts Depositphotos_29941119_S BY Pabkov, Bulb Planting Depositphotos_17989315_S By Kassandra2, Carrots Depositphotos_184398376_S By Chromorange, Kale Depositphotos_179513502_S BY Leungchopan, Fresh Lettuce Depositphotos_24718323_S By Viki2win, Radishes In A Wooden Box Depositphotos_273179738_S By Ostariyanov, Blueberries On a Bush Depositphotos_49942891_S By Zigzagmtart, Pansies Closeup Depositphotos_66197041_S By MatildaV

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