5 Machines preppers need in their homestead before disaster strikes


(Natural News) Running a homestead is an arduous task, but it’s a very beneficial undertaking. After all, when SHTF, you can stay relatively safe in your homestead, which should also give you access to fresh produce and food if you keep livestock and have a survival garden.
If you want to make things easier for yourself before SHTF, consider getting these 5 useful machines. (h/t to TheOrganicPrepper.com)
These machines range in size from small, like a grain mill, to very large, like a shredder. Having these five homestead machines will make it easier to accomplish various tasks on your property.
Note that even though these machines aren’t high-tech devices, they will significantly reduce your physical workload in a post-SHTF world.

Grain mill

Having a grain mill means you can easily produce flour that you can use for various meals.
Consider getting two kinds of grinders:

  • A standard kitchen tabletop grinder.
  • A rotary ball mill where you can load the product into a cylinder that rotates on its horizontal axis. Hardened ceramic balls inside this type of grain mill generate friction with one another and grinds the softer material. While this type of mill is used in the metals industry to grind ores, it can last you a long time if you only use it for grinding organic materials like grains.

You can use a grain mill to make flour from different ingredients such as:

  • Barley
  • Buckwheat
  • Corn
  • Millet
  • Nuts like almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, macadamias, pecans and walnuts
  • Oats
  • Quinoa
  • Rye
  • Seeds like amaranth, flax, hemp, pumpkin and sunflower
  • Spelt
  • Wheat

Flour from these ingredients can be used to make different foods, like bread, cornbread, corn tortillas, or hot rolls.

Shredder

You’ll need a shredder to process recyclables like PET bottles or aluminum cans.
To make the shredder last a long time, don’t use it to shred anything other than plastics, soft metals (e.g., aluminum cans), and animal bones. When shredding chopped dry cattle bones, reduce the bones to a proper size before processing.
You can also use a shredding machine to crush and cut wood or cardboard debris for briquettes. This will come in handy if you have a wood gasifier attached to your generator.

Waste oil burner

With a waste oil burner, you can process regular plastics with a small setup and a good flame to get diesel via a process called pyrolysis.
Note that pyrolysis requires following detailed instructions using proper equipment and knowledge of the pyrolysis process. (Related: 7 prepping projects that you can work on this spring.)

Windmill water pump

If you’re good with tools, you can make a windmill water pump using some recycled materials. With a windmill water pump, you can irrigate pastures and gardens, water livestock and supply and aerate ponds on your homestead.
A windmill will prove very useful if you’re located in a windy area and it can even pump water for you 80 percent of the time. If your pumping needs to move your water source from 50 to 250 feet underground up to the surface, you’ll have an easier time with a windmill water pump.

Wood fuel generator

Did you know that you can build a wood fuel generator even if you’re not an expert? Wood fuel generators work by using gas as a byproduct of wood pyrolysis.
In World War II, wood gas generators supplied fuel for agricultural production without affecting the fuel supply to the Army. But while these machines are simple, they must be handled carefully to keep them running for a long time.
Pyrolysis is the process that gets the combustible gas out of the wood with heat instead of burning it in a chimney. You need to filter the gas and once it’s cleaned, you can use it to fuel engines like gasoline.
You can build some of these homestead machines using instructions from how-to books or by searching online. If you need help, look for someone who can use a decent bead and an angle grinder.
Keep your homestead running smoothly when SHTF with useful machines like a grain mill or a shredder for recyclables.
Sources include:
TheOrganicPrepper.com
Survivopedia.com

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About the Author: NC Scout

NC Scout is the nom de guerre of a former Infantry Scout and Sergeant in one of the Army’s best Reconnaissance Units. He has combat tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. He teaches a series of courses focusing on small unit skills rarely if ever taught anywhere else in the prepping and survival field, including his RTO Course which focuses on small unit communications. In his free time he is an avid hunter, bushcrafter, writer, long range shooter, prepper, amateur radio operator and Libertarian activist. He can be contacted at [email protected] or via his blog at brushbeater.wordpress.com .

9 Comments

  1. Prof. Spartan May 19, 2021 at 14:24

    Great list and things to think about.
    I replaced a gas trash pump w a solar well pump for my garden irrigation via a 12V DC 20gpm pump directly to a 160 panel to feed an elevated 325 gallon tote container which feeds the garden’s drip lines. Would prefer a mechanical device like the windmill described above to mitigate risk, but my current setup wont allow it.

    • Paul Smith May 19, 2021 at 19:25

      Not to keep pushing Mr. Teslonian, but he also concocted a ‘bubbler’ water pump that works on a flapper valve system to pump water, I think he said up to a 6 foot vertical head. Completely passive, no energy required.

      • DirtNasty May 20, 2021 at 08:58

        Ram Pump?

  2. DirtNasty May 19, 2021 at 14:31

    The wood fuel generator and waste oil burner has been on my list for sometime. I never considered a grain mill till yet. Good reads!

  3. Paul Smith May 19, 2021 at 19:22

    Mr. Teslonian on YT has vids on building your own gasifier (pyrolysis) generator out of old propane tanks. He’s demonstrated their use running a truck, generator, and chain saw. He’s produced crude oil and gasoline ( if I recall correctly) as well. He’s built ramjet engines, a remote controlled boat, and all kinds of interesting projects.

  4. Anonymous May 19, 2021 at 20:10

    5

  5. American Yeoman May 21, 2021 at 14:28

    I would add a few small things- Corn sheller and roller/flaker. You need to be able to easily pull corn kernels off a cob and then crush them for chicken scratch etc…They will get much more nutrient value from flaked vs. whole corn……Plus, if you are going to run the corn through a grain mill, flaking it first will make the grinding a WHOLE lot easier. Not items everyone thinks of…..

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