Welcome to Practical Self Reliance!
Where you’ll find hands-on guides for foragers, gardeners, preservers, and homesteaders.
Food Preservation
Beginner's Guides
Home Freeze Drying (Beginner’s Guide)
Beginner's Guides
Pressure Canning: Beginners Guide
Beginner's Guides
Beginners Guide to Cheesemaking (with Recipes!)
Beginner's Guides
Dehydrating Food: Beginner’s Guide
Welcome!
Hi, I’m Ashley
I’m an off-grid homesteader in rural Vermont and the author of Practical Self Reliance, a blog that helps people find practical ways to become more self-reliant.
The Latest
Search The Site
Searching for something specific? Enter the keywords below to find what you’re looking for!
Trending Searches:
Beginner Guides
Beginner's Guides
How to Make Soap ~ Soap Making for Beginners
Beginner's Guides
Canning Meat: Beginners Guide with 30+ Recipes
Learn New Skills
Beginners Guide to Lock Picking
Beginner's Guides
Beginners Guide to Water Bath Canning
Homestead Lists
70+ Uses for Wood Ash
Wood ash from your fireplace, wood stove, or outdoor boiler may seem like a waste product, but there are a…
Herbalism
Herbal Medicine Guides
10 Ways to Use Purple Dead Nettle
Salves
Calendula Salve
Craft Herbal Remedies
Mullein Tea
Edible Wild Weeds
10+ Ways to Use Mullein
Canning
Pressure Canning
100+ Canning Recipes from A to Z (How to Can Everything)
Once you start canning food at home, you’ll want to find canning recipes to put up everything in a convenient…
Foraging
Edible Wild Weeds
Foraging Garlic Mustard (Alliaria petiolata)
Edible Wild Weeds
Wintercress: Identification & Uses
Edible Wild Weeds
60+ Edible Weeds (& How to Use Them)
Off-Grid
Off Grid Appliances
Living off-grid doesn’t mean giving up modern conveniences. There are a number of companies that make specialized off-grid appliances, and…
Grow Your Own Food
Grow Your Own Food
10+ Fruits You Can Grow from Cuttings
Gardening
Raised Bed Gardening for Beginners
Grow Your Own Food
