The Rugged Life

A modern guide to self-sufficiency, homesteading, and building an independent life, from New York Times bestselling author, retired Navy SEAL, and survival skills expert Clint Emerson.

In an era of escalating crises, what would you do after disaster struck? Are you prepared to keep yourself and your family alive for a month? A year? What about a lifetime?

Add The Rugged Life by former Navy SEAL Clint Emerson to your library today and get on the path to independence and self-sufficiency. - Jack Carr, Navy SEAL Sniper and #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Devil's Hand

Clint Emerson is the go-to expert for surviving the first minutes, hours, and days of a crisis. Now, in The Rugged Life, he works with modern homesteading experts to show you how to thrive over the long term by being prepared and self-sufficient.

You can live the Rugged Life completely off-the-grid by farming your own food and using the waste from your toilet for compost. You can also live it by adding solar panels to your home, keeping chickens and bees in your backyard, or starting a windowsill garden. Each of these homesteading and prepper long-term survival skills stand on their own, and taken together, they can help you design the independent life you want for yourself and your family.

Be your own protector - Create a last-resort emergency plan; gather medicinal plants; protect against dangerous animals and threats; understand survival first aid.

Be your own provider - Hunt for game; make a gillnet; set snares; forage for wild foods; build a rabbit hutch; ice fish; butcher a pig; keep bees.

Be your own builder - Retrofit a van; set up solar, microhydro, and geothermal power; create a water catchment and filtration system; build a shipping container home.

Be your own farmer - Grow a victory garden; build a greenhouse; waffle garden to save space and resources; build a root cellar; can, dry, and store crops; operate a tractor.

Be your own homesteader - Make your own shampoo and face creams; pickle and ferment food; make natural bug spray and cleaning products; smoke meat; tan a hide.

With hundreds of step-by-step, illustrated skills and projects, The Rugged Life is for everyone who wants to become more self-reliant, live off the land, and be prepared for anything.