Best Pillow Stuffing - Down Feathers

Let's assume you have mastered cloth making and are tired of laying down to sleep without a truly soft pillow to comfort you. This luxury, I can guarantee you will not feel like a luxury after a while. And as I have mentioned before, if you live a miserable life just struggling every day you will surely lack the will to overcome some of the obstacles that will surely befall you in a post-apocalyptic world.

Seems strange, but a pillow could very well determine whether you live or die solely due to it giving you some comfort and allowing you to unwind. Is this over the top? Maybe, but even so, you will truly appreciate a soft pillow after months of sleeping with your head on a folded up shirt.

So the question arises, what to stuff your pillow with. There are a number of things that fit the bill. At the top of the list is down feathers and milkweed floss.

Down feathers are the small feathers found underneath the larger, outer feathers on birds. Down is smaller and doesn't have the sticky spines that the larger feathers have. Down fibers are not only soft but also great in insulation. Today Down is typically gathered from ducks or geese, however, you should be collecting the down from any bird you kill for food or from any bird nest that you stumble upon.

The stuffing of pillows might need to be changed periodically as it can become moldy or infested with insects. Not good.

Milkweed floss is another great choice of stuffing that you are likely to be able to acquire without pre planning before the SHTF. Milkweed is a common plant east of the Rocky Mountains. By September the fluff inside the pods the plant produces to disperse its seeds are ready to be collected. It is easier to collect the floss while it is concentrated in the pods than after they have opened and is found blowing in the wind.

After you have collected a LOT of the pods and have some spare time break open the pods to remove the floss inside. Do this indoors. If you are outside you will surely lose a lot of your stuffing to the breezes that will carry it away. Once most of the floss has been removed the rest of the pod can be used as a fire starter.

Other alternatives to down are of course cotton or wool if you can find it. Other less desirable stuffing's include straw, moss, grain or hair.