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
Salves
Chickweed Salve
Grow Your Own Food
How to Grow Grapes from Greenwood Cuttings
Charcuterie
30+ Types of Cured Meat to Make at Home
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Beginners Guide to Lock Picking
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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
Salves
Dandelion Salve
Craft Herbal Remedies
16+ Kitchen Herbs to Plant for Pollinators
Herb Gardening
12+ Easy to Grow Medicinal Herbs

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
60+ Edible Weeds (& How to Use Them)
Edible Wild Weeds
30+ Edible Lawn Weeds (Food beneath your feet!)
Wild Foraged Medicine
Foraging Wild Lettuce (Identification & Uses)
Foraging Mushrooms
Foraging Fairy Ring Mushrooms (Marasmius oreades)
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
Beginner's Guides
Beginners Guide to Seed Saving
Beginner's Guides
Seed Starting (Beginner’s Guide)
Permaculture
How to Grow Hardy Kiwi (Hardy to -40 degrees!)
Grow Your Own Food
The Best Garden Seed Organizer
Newest Posts
Winemaking & Mead Recipes
Chamomile Wine (& Mead)
Dehydrating
Dehydrating Lemons
Emergency Preparedness
How Long Does Freeze Dried Food Last?
Winemaking & Mead Recipes