Green Surviving

Radio Show tonight!

2012-02-02T14:41:00.003-05:00

On tonight’s radio show, we will share a list of some forgotten items to stash away for an emergency, an awesome recipe site I found and talk about some gardening ideas. I hope you will listen in on shtfradio.com. @ 8:00 p.m. eastern time. Come a bit early and jump onto our chat so you can comment or ask questions!

FOOD for thought...

2012-01-31T08:25:00.000-05:00

In today’s world, it is important that we learn more about taking care of ourselves. The price of fuel is unstable and we are hearing that it will pass the $4 a gallon mark this year, perhaps even climb to $5.The price of food is climbing as well. We also have gotten into the habit of eating food more and more, from other countries. We don’t know how safe our food is anymore. We insist on having orange juice every morning and salads year round. Many countries allow spraying of certain things on their produce and fruit to help control disease and insect damage that we don’t allow here. In America, GMO foods (which we are learning have long term health affects) are allowed on the shelves without being labeled as such, but it’s strictly forbidden in the EU. The secret to having safe food is to grow it yourself or buy it locally! When you buy local, you not only get food better suited to your body, you are supporting a local small business. When you grow your own food, you are learning a skill and practicing it. You also are intimately familiar with your food and know everything that went into growing it. You even can choose how to preserve that food and have control over what is added.As preppers, we often just stock up and buy whatever we can find at a good price. While this is a great way to get your pantry stocked quickly and with items you are familiar with, at some point, no matter how much you store, the food will run out and be too expensive to replace. You need to grow your own if you plan to eat!A small garden is not hard to do or maintain and will give you practice for a larger one if you don’t already garden. You can grow in raised beds (which gives you better yields) if you want an easier way to grow. If you live in a place with little sun or a small yard, consider The Global Bucket System or other container growing. (http://www.globalbuckets.org/). With either a Global Bucket System or raised beds, it’s easier to expand. I am now up to 16 raised beds that are 4’ x 16’. This year, we may be expanding again. That is up for debate in our family as I am more in favor of trimming what we grow (not the amount) and fine tuning what we do in the garden. One of my raised beds is our green bean bed (our favorite) and it grows all the green beans and dill bean pickles for our family. In raised beds, you don’t grow in traditional rows…you grow everything an equal distance apart in all directions. I can customize the nutrients I put in each bed this way also. Last year, we started a mulching system where I planted my plants, then lay down compost on the dirt, topped that with wet newspaper and topped that with wood chips I got free from the local power company’s tree trimming. I had wonderful, lush plants but NO weeds at all! I like gardening smarter, not harder. Preserving the harvest is fairly simple (though admittedly a bit rushed with everything coming in at the same time). We have invested in the right tools for the job; a water bath canner (for pickles and jams), a pressure canner (for veggies and meats) and jars…lots and lots of jars! The MOST important item in my canning supplies is The Ball Blue Book of Canning. ( Ball site: http://www.freshpreserving.com/home.aspx).We also have planted fruit trees (though they are still young ones) and I usually find great deals or glean from friends and neighbors trees. I started making juice for us and found that a juicer/steamer was an excellent investment for this (http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Juice_and_Beverage_Making___Steamers___8_1_4_Qt_Stainless_Steel_Steam_Juicer___1152245?Args=)I was lucky last year and got a chance to buy seconds from a local orchard for $6 a bushel. I made dozens of jars of jam and apple butter, dozens of jars of apple sauce and dozens of quarts of apple juice out of them. I added it up and here was my cost:$79.00 for the juicer$36.00 for the applesI got the equivalent of $108.00 of juice $ 90.00 of apple sauce $150.00 worth of apple butter and jamI used some of those jars for gifts, saving on that expense. As you can see, it was a good deal and use of my time. I’ll try and estimate my other canning and dehydrating savings as well soon.It’s not rocket science; anyone can do this and get savings like that. Next year, I don’t have to worry about the cost of buying the tools, so my savings will be even better.Survival and preparedness, as well as good health, means taking care of yourself !

Freedom and stuff...

2012-01-28T19:34:00.000-05:00

The Saturday movie at our house was "Brave heart". My family is of Scottish decent and I take my heritage seriously!The movie always gets me thinking about how important FREEDOM is and how we can sometimes take it for granted!

I've started following a blog that many of you might be interested in: http://cheftessbakeresse.blogspot.com/Tess has wonderful recipes on her blog and the majority of them use long term food storage items! Check her out if you can!Another friend of mine who blogs (and writes books!) Kathy who writes: http://justincasebook.wordpress.com/She is actually going to be on Tv on the new show from National Geographic "Doomsday Preppers"! She writes a great blog about her family's attempts to homestead and be prepared!Our country is so big and productive. It has lovely lush soil for growing food and we are lucky! Our ancestors worked hard to make it productive, we need to take a leaf out of their book and make our own little corners of the country just as productive for our won families! What are you and your family doing to make your little corner productive?Have a great weekend!

Living like Grandma...

2012-01-25T06:42:00.000-05:00

According to some reports and news articles, people who are prepparing for the coming hard times now are more than 10% of the population! This is good, but I have to wonder who they are including in those figures. To me, preparedness, when you really learn about it, is a self reliant way of living. A little like what our grandparents did. I admired my grandma and had a close relationship with her. I strive to be a grandma like that to my grandkids. She was born in 1895 and was the youngest of a well to do family in north central Vermont. At that time, people pretty much lived in a common sense manner. Women(sorry, no gender bias intended) knew how to cook, sew, clean and manage a home. Everyone lived within their incomes, paid their bills and no one had credit or debit cards. When hard times came, like WW1,WW2 and The Great Depression, folks tucked in their belts and bartered/traded and added more to the garden. My grandfather was a Commissioner of Education in another New England state so a decent paycheck wasn't an issue and he had summers off. Instead of having parties and fancy vacations, they would pack up the car and head to his parents house in Vermont and then plant a garden. I have (somewhere) some of his garden notes and plans...amazing how much he would fit into a regular plot of land! He and his father would prepare, plant and tend the garden all summer long. My grandmother and great grandmother would prossess the harvest as it came in. Some canning was done and some drying. At the end of the summer, they would pack up the car and go home, with a few weekend trips thrown in to gather more and then put the garden "to bed" for the winter. My grandmother would take the kids and go berry picking to make syrups and jams for the winter. It was a way of life! As the Wars came and the Depression came, my grandmother would barter or trade for things she felt were important. She'd save her ration stamps and trade some for coffee and sugar, she was a big baker and wanted her pantry to have plenty of sugar! People got by, made do, reused things. Even though they lived in a "big city", they would make the effort to get what they needed without added expense. They pantry was full for grandma, the basement shelves were full for great grandma and they had what they needed for the year ahead because they made it happen!Though things are different now, we can still live like that. Some call it preparedness, some call it common sense. It makes no difference as both are something to strive for!Thursday night (8 eastern) the radio show will be talking about hydroponics! Join us please, on shtfradio.com

Funky weather and other stuff...

2012-01-18T15:56:00.000-05:00

This is the normal winter view up the drive. Nothing like that this winter!First, I'd like to say thanks to all my new followers! I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read what I have to say. I try to answer all comments as a reply in my comment section.We have been having some funky weather...of course, the entire winter has been pretty odd. I was warned as early as last winterthat we could expect odd weather patterns at least through this year. The weather service said it was something like El Nina. Ns time of the year, we have quite a lot of snow. We are in New England and in the mountains! While we had a huge storm at the end of October, mostly what we have gotten is little bits of snow here and there. A bit of ice, some cold, but until this week, nothing extreem. I'm sure we will still get hit by a couple of whopper snow storms, but with this little precipatation and lack of snow "pack", we worry aboutthe possibility of drought in the summer.We put up a gutter system on the front of the house, where we could let the rain collect into barrels, but I think this is the year we will put one on the back as well. We have lots of fruit trees that will need watering and a big garden. How do you handle a lack of water? We are lucky to have a pond down the road and a small brook by our drive, so if we needed to we could get some from that (although the brook might dry up). This is always something we need to be aware of, even if you aren't in an area prone to drought. What would you do if your water ran low or if it was shut off? Water conservation is becoming more of an issue throughout the country. If you garden, there are a few tricks you can do to help.Mulch- a good thick mulch will help keep water in the soil. Often times, when it does rain, the mulch will get drenched and retain a bit of the water, helping to water the plants and breaking down and composting in place. This adds to the nutrients your plants are getting.#10 Cans- when we had a 4-H group, we did garden experiments each year. One thing we did was collect #10 cans from the school cafeteria. We punched holes in the bottom half of the cans and put a handful of compost or straw into it and then sunk it into the garden. This acted like a drip irrigation system of sorts. Sometimes the rain filled it up but sometimes we had to keep them full. Soaker Hose- A soaker hose is much better for your garden than most other types of irrigation. It's a kind of drip irrigation. You have a thick spongy rubber hose and the water leaks out of it onto the soil. If you put mulch over the top of this hose, all the water will go to the plants and soil, reducing evaporation and sunburning of the leaves. It also uses reduces the spread of viruses and mildew in the garden.I would dearly love to have a soaker hose, but if our water has to come from barrels, I'll have to put the barrel on a stand so it's higher up and then figure out how to connect hoses so I'm not watering between the beds. I know there are all kinds of gadgets out there for this, I just have to find them, order them and get it done when the weather gets better!For those of you who are interested in preparedness, try and catch my radio show. SHTFradio.com Thursday nights from 8-9 p.m. eastern time! We have a great chat room and you can add comments or ask questions while the show is on. We also keep the shows archieved so you can listen to them later. We are starting this week to talk a bit about gardening and will continue to do so each week through the season. I hope you can join us!

It's about time!

2012-01-14T09:00:00.000-05:00

We finally started having winter around here...the kind we are used to! Hopefully the picture will show up like it should.The new chicken "garage" is working pretty well as far as letting them get out into the pen and keeping them warm, but I worry about how much of a snow load it can take (I worry about odd stuff like that. lol)Hubby is making his way up the drive to snow blow, while I sit here with some low lever virus crud. Not real sick, yet sure not feeling my best either. It will run it's course and I'll get back to doing things I should. Until then...internet, tv or a good book, some ginger ale and mucinex as well as the occassional cup of elderberry tea will help.I want to start my garden plan this week, but we'll see how it goes. One thing new I noticed is some catalogs are offering rice seed for the north. This would be a good thing, but I'll have to research it more. I wish my family liked rice a bit more, it's a great storable item for the pantry and you can do a million and one things with it. It also stretches pretty well. All rice, with the exception of brown rice, stores for ever if packed properly. Note: obviously the picture didn't load. I'm having trouble resizing. We have a good 8" from last night and 6" from the day before yesterday, plus some ice.

Stocking the herb and spice cupboard...

2012-01-12T14:36:00.000-05:00

The more I cook and the more I learn about natural medicine, the more I feel the need to make sure that my spice cupboard is well stocked! I looked at most of my recipes,both for cooking and for herbal remedies and home made cleaning products and noted the main seasonings.spices, and herbs. Then I made a list of what I needed. I buy from a place I have used for 20 years (Atlantic Spice) and placed my order. It is so much cheaper to buy in bulks! I got one pound packets of most items, some that I use a lot, I got 2 pounds. The things I could grow myself, I didn't bother with...things like oregano, basil, chives, dill all come yearly from my own garden. I have more herbs of the medicinal sort, that I started last year and hopefully these will do well and I can cross more off my list. Many people worry that their herbs and spices will go "bad", but in reality, they are most likely to fade in flavor rather than go "off" or bad. I figure that in the old (old, old, old)days, spices were brought around by pedlers once a year at the most and those had come around the world by pack animals and ships a year or more before that. My grandma had spices she had kept in her cupboard for 10 or more years that still were flavorful. I just don't worry too much about it. Either I can get them or I can't, but I'm going to start with a full cupboard if I can! Many herbs and spices are also natural insect rellants as well.Here is some my list that I keep:Cinnamon - I have powdered AND bits. It's a good medicinal herb as well as seasoning for many items!Cloves - again, both medicinal and flavoringCilantro - though I can grow it if I need to, I haven't had a lot of luck with it, so I got some in bulk.Curry - we don't use it much, but it can make many plain dishes flavorfulNutmeg - I got some powdered and some whole.Mustard - both powdered and seeded. It has some medicinal uses, but mostly it's for flavoring. Bay - I used to use this in floral crafting, but it's a good spice to have and is an excellent insect rellant. Buying in bulk is the way to go with this as a jar with a few leaves can cost $5 in the store...a pound of bay leaves will surprise you with how much it is!All Spice - a good seasoning for baking special treats. I like it also in potpourri.Garlic - though I grow some, I have yet to get the crop I want. I use it so much in my canning and cooking that I find it handy to have some dried in the cupboard. It is an ingredient in some herbal antibacterial stuff as well.Rose Hips - I picked some up in bulk to make teas with, even though I have roses. Many of my roses are not of an age to give me enough for a year of teas yet. Rose hips have an incredible amount of vitamin C in them! They have a light fruity taste and mix well with other herbs for a tea blend.Celery Seed - I have yet to be able to grow this to the point of getting seed, so I got some in bulk. It makes a fine seasoning, but you can make a tea with it also and it's supposed to be a good diuretic.Rosemary - I don't grow this, it has never over wintered for me whether I leave it out of bring it in. It's a basic seasoning, but it's also an ingredient in 4 Thieves vinegar, being an natural anti bacterial supposedly. Elderberries - I have some elderberry bushes and use what I get from them, but I make a lot of elixer for family, so I get dried in bulk to make sure I never run out...like I did this year! Some folks like the blossoms in a tea and the berries are ok for that as well. They have a lot of vitamins in them, particularly vitamin C. They are anti viral, anti bacterial and have a particular affect on the flu. Many like making jam from them, but it's a lot of work to get the seeds out. I go through several pounds of these for tea and elixer, so I find it a worthwhile purchase.There are other herbs I get as well, but that's a personal taste thing for teas. Check out the company: Atlantic Spice and their sister company on the west coast SanFransisco Herb Co. Great service and great pricing!If you couldn't get tthese seasonings due to a shortage or economic reasons, I think our families would really miss what they add to cooking! It doesn't hurt to stock up!Tonights radio show will be on the important of talking with other preppers and the particulars of having a group or group get togethers. I'll be having a guest as well. This was sceduled to be on last week, but we had tech issues and postponed it until this week. Check us out at: shtfradio.com Thursdays @ 8 eastern time!

Having something to say and writers block..

2012-01-10T09:18:00.000-05:00

Gosh! I have so many things going through my head right now and can't get a single one out! I don't know if that is really writers block, but it sure is frustrating! Maybe if I just keep typing out my thoughts it will miraculously organize itself! I apologize in advance for any spelling mistakes I make and don't catch...still haven't found the dang spell check.So, I made my "Preps To Get" list and my "2012 Projects to Do" list. I'm not discouraged exactly, just a bit overwhelmed. It's amazing when you try to put down a years worth of goals, you realize how much work is involved! I have limited energy and my husband has limited time, so now it's a matter of prioritizing how to get these things done. Do we hire someone? Do we just slog along and get done what we can? Instead of building something on the list do we buy it? I guess we'll hammer out the gritty details of these things, it's all part of the goal setting proccess.In the garden, we have realized that in order to progress our plans more, we will need to hire a brush hog and get an over grown field cleared. We don't have many fields at all here, only woods and somewhat cleared woods. This had been cleared a year or two before we moved in here and rapidly grew into a blackberry field and then a field of shrubby young trees. It would be the "orchard" expansion area. Sounds fancy, but really, it's just a small field (potentially) and will be home (hopefully) to the last of the fruit trees we want to get (another on the "list"). We do not generally have water issues up here, which is good, but there is always a first time for everything. This field is too far away from our water sources to pipe water to, and hauling would be a real issue as well. We could go for that natural "let nature take care of it" type of thinking, but this will be food forthe family and somewhat expensive trees as well. I'm thinking that a small lean-to type shed to hold tools for that garden area with a tin roof that we can collect water in a barrel might be the answer. The other big thing on the list is the new workshop for the husband...we/he really needs this, but I think if we are going to all the trouble to do this, we should do other things to the location as well...like move the chicken coop up there while we have the equipment. We are, in essence, expanding our back yard with this new workshop. Cutting back trees to create the space, so why not make it big enough to handle a few other outbuildings at the same time? Just thinking out loud here (lol).I have so many ideas for blog articles I want to write as well. What do you all want to hear me ramble on about? As you can tell, some days I am all over the place, some days I'm focused. I think that's life and that is what this blog is about...my life, but then I don't have to read it so I thought I'd ask. I have a real urge to teach, especially preparedness, but I did start this just as a journal. GAH! See, I'm all over the place this week.At any rate, share in the comments what direction you'd like me to go in, if you have an opinion! I'll try and come up with something concrete later in the week.

Ready, set and GROW !

2012-01-06T07:06:00.000-05:00

Ok, maybe not grow YET, but at least we can plan! The holidays are over, the seed catalogs have arrived (eventhough I'd rather do it online and skip all the catalogs piling up)...time to plan the garden!How do YOU garden? We use a raised bed system. One of the first things I did when we moved here was to build raised beds...and we've added to them since. I built

mine using 2"x12"x16' boards. We had to truck in dirt from a local organic farm which is a 50/50 compost mix, to fill them. There are many things about them that I like and some things I would do differently. I change the contents of each bed yearly, except for the ones that I have perennials in. These are a great size and deep enough to grow wonderful carrots in! I put up some pvc pipe and bent it so I can easily put up plastic or a row cover...mostly, it works well for us.What would I do differently?? Well, for one thing, I wouldn't have rushed and I'd have removed the ground base (grass). I'd have placed them closer to the house and put them closer together. I put a layer of landscape fabric underneath each one, but I attached it wrong and now have a handy crop of grass at times in some. I got smarter as I added more. In the latest bunch of beds, I actually has some old carpets and moved the soil bed, laid down the carpets and then did a double layer of weed block on the bottom of the raised bed frame before I filled them. MUCH better! We have two of these filled with strawberries (yum!) and two filled with raspberries, one with asperegus and one half filled with rhubarb. The rest are for veggies. Now, it's time to plan the garden for the year ahead. Each year, we try a new vegetable, one some of us have never had and some we haven't tried for years. Last year was the year of the turnip and ground cherry. Some years we find we have left overs from the year before, so we don't plant much of that item...this year we won't be having as many cucumber, only needing fresh for salads as our pickles are not moving like I thought they would. I found a new way to cook yellow squash that everyone likes, so I'll be growing more of those. With my list of what we like and need in hand, I'll be scouring the seed catalogs to select what we need. I like using FEDCO seeds, out of Maine. They have organic seed and the pricesare great. I focused on building my medicinal herbs last year, and I may add a few more to the mix. My husband loved flowers, I am more of a "can I eat it or heal with it?" type of person. I don't know what we will be growing for our "experiment" this year; but looking through the catalogs will surely make something grab my attention! One those seeds arrive, we will start most of them inside, since growing season won't happen until after Mother's Day here.

TP and how Mama said to use it...

2012-01-03T18:39:00.000-05:00

TP a.k.a. potty paper, toilet cloth, arse wipes...it's important stuff! Go camping and forget the TP and you'll know how important it is. One of my readers noted that once a week bathing, due to lack of water, will also tell you how important it is!

A friend of mine, grew up with an outhouse, he recommends that if you are using a catalog, not to use the shiney paper in the winter time! So many stories about wiping the bum that it should tell you how important it is! A lady prepper friend kept track of the use she and her husband had for their TP over the course of a year, and she found they used about 144 rolls. She had him make shelves over the bathroom doors that would hold precisely that amount, so now she knows she has a two year supply as long as the shelves remain full. Cha Cha Answers states that the average person uses 57 sheets of TP per DAY, this was according to Charmin. About 50 rolls according to most sources (per person)and you use less if you get the softer plusher stuff. That means, for my family of 3, I go through 150 rolls...maybe, maybe more. I don't care! Yep, I know I'm probably destroying trees and stuff, but I want to wipe with comfort. It IS biodegradable, so I can take some small comfort in that. I even try to get the more natural brands if I can. I figure, if I use cloths, I would have to use water to soak them in and then water to wash them in and fuel to heat the water.Keeping a clean bum is kind of important, it's for your health, not just because you'll mell better! In reality, this has been a tough subject through the ages...how to take care of, um, your business. Paper, weeds (be careful about which ones!), herbs, cloth...all been tried. Corn cobs, hay, snow, hands...all been tried. Toilet paper makes sense to me.If you want to save money, get the cheap stuff. If you want to save toilet paper, get the cushy stuff. If you are a Mama, perhaps you have used the "3 Square Rule"...for most uses, 3 squares of paper is sufficient. I think it is Cheryl Crow who states she has it down to using one square for the wee stuff. My kids never quite got it down to 3 squares, but they do try (or at least they did when they were younger. I'm no longer privy to their potty habits). I was told that one of those sitz bath things that squirts you with water is the best way to stay clean, but I have neither the space nor the money for that. Perhaps I'll keep a hand towel and a spray bottle next to the potty to see if that catches on.Any way you look at it, it seems to make sense to me to stock up on toilet paper (I hear the price will be going up another 10% soon)! I, by the way, have at least a full years worth stashed away and more on the shelf...unfortunetely, it's never the shelf nearest the potty when you need it the most! (Something that will never change no matter how much or what kind of paper you use!) Share with us in the comment section your very own potty paper stories!Join me Thursday on my radio show: 8p.m. eastern time on shtfradio.com. We'll be talking about the importance of talking with other like minded people about preparedness, our guest will be Southernprepper1. The week after, we will be starting to tak about the garden!

What IF's...

2011-12-31T10:18:00.000-05:00

What If’s…This year, we have had some interesting weather! In one 3 months period, we had an earthquake (unheard of here pretty much), several tornados (also a rarity here), a hurricane and a snow stom before Halloween that dropped 24”. I would guess that half of lower New England was without power several times for more than two days.While it has woken up many people to the dangers (and inconvenience and cost) to not being prepared, many others say “It won’t happen again!”. Well, history tells us that it most certainly WILL happen again! Sure, it wasn’t the end of the world as we know it, but it sure threw people for a loop! For us, it wasn’t so bad since we use common sense and prepare for events like this. We have a heat source (wood stove) , a way to get energy (generator), non-electric lighting, stock plenty of batteries, food and water. We take the time to prepare when a weather event is imminent by removing objects that can fly around or be damaged. We take the time to fill up a gas can and the vehicles.The hurricane took out all three roads into our place and a major road nearby. We stayed in comfort without incurring extra cost (no food loss, no hotel stay), as did our neighbor who does the same. It just makes sense. Meanwhile, daughter was warning friends to at least stock up on water, milk and bread as well as have a flashlight and batteries on hand…some listened, some didn’t. There is nothing more a person can do except try to alert folks. “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make them drink” is the saying!This year is supposed to be unusual as well; I ask “What IF?”...”What if” one of those solar storms/CME’s actually hit earth? This would result in a lot of problems for those unaware and unprepared for even a short term power outage! “ What IF” YOUR area was hit with a freak weather storm when it’s not normal? Would YOU be able to manage? These things happen all the time, so perhaps, if you haven’t already, you could take some measures to be prepared!Things You Need to be Prepared –1) A heat source if you live where low temps are normal2) A water source and water storage. If you don’t have a working water well on your property, in a lights out situation, city water won’t be working. (that means sewer also) A person needs a gallon of water per day for eating and drinking. More for flushing and cleaning.3) Food. A kit of easily stored food for 2 weeks is not hard to get together! Simply buy some easy to prepare food that you normally eat and keep at least two weeks’ worth in the cupboard. Don’t forget to have some means of cooking that food! (a simple Coleman camp stove works fine)4) A can of gas (or two!). Gas pumps could be off and it will be hard to find a fill up so you can get to work. Never letting your vehicle get below half helps!5) Light. Make sure to set aside some batteries and flashlights. I also recommend and oil lantern as well as the oil lasts a super long time and the lamps are pretty and don’t have to be stored…cheaper than batteries also!All of these things are fairly cheap (perhaps not the wood stove!) and easily obtainable. Have a plan of action in the event of an emergency, discuss it will your faily and know where everything is! For more information, go to Ready.gov. Though I feel their list is a bit limited, it’s a great place to start!If YOU haven’t got an emergency kit and plan, PLEASE, I urge you to do it now. The New Year is a great time for starting new projects like this.

2011-12-30T10:07:00.000-05:00

Thank you to all the new folks who have choosen to follow my blog! I love comments and will try and reply back to you in the comment section!For those who asked for a link to the grain mill we got: http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/KoMo_grain_mill_wolfgang_flour_mill_grinder_mills.aspxIt's the PK1 110v model. Pricey, but oh so worth it! I'm not in "get back to baking bread" mode. I tried the first few loaves with my Kitchen Aid mixer, but wasn't happy with the results. Yesterday, I made my oatmeal bread by hand and was much happier...I thought I was loosing my touch! I'll be trying various recipes over the next couple months, incorporating more and more fresh ground grain into them as I go. I'm waiting until after the holiday to get into my garden seed starting going, so stay tuned! This year, we hope to get a greenhouse up and going. We want to go with glass, since the wind here has a tendancy to rip most other materials to shreds. We'll see how that goes. I've got hoops up over a couple of my beds for the purpose of putting plastic over them and getting an early start. However, as mentioned, the wind ripped my previous attemp to shreds....maybe a different plastic this time.I found a nifty little thing this week when researching my radio show. I try to incorporate a "recipe" or "prep" of the week each show. Lately, the recipes have been for homemade cleaning products. I''m trying to find dual uses for things I store and reduce the extra stuff like the cleaning supplies from the store. Here is what I wrote on this item:Cream of Tartar – this is an ingredient often used in baking. It comes in a little jar in the grocery and it usually sits on the shelf happily, at the back of the cupboard for years. I think the bottle I got cost about $3 for a couple of ounces. When I was stocking up on bulk supplies, I accidentally got sent a pound of cream of tartar and it cost $6 for a pound. Of course, remembering the small jar that has sat in the cupboard for years I wondered how many life times it would take to use that pound up!So, I researched what it was and how it could be used. I found that there are several household cleaning recipes that use cream of tartar! PLUS, if you have kids or grandkids, you can use it to make home made play dough!Cream of tartar has acidic and mild abrasive properties. Most of the uses I saw were for cleaning metals.you can make a paste of cream of tartar and vinegar (or another acid, such as lemon juice) which is great for buffing and cleaning many metals.In addition, you can boil a solution of 2 tablespoons cream of tartar, 1/2 cup vinegar or lemon juice, and 1 quart of water in a metal pot for ten minutes to help clean it.Another way to use cream of tartar for cleaning pots and pans is as part of a homemade scrub powder to remove grease and grime. Here are the ingredients:• 2 1/2 cups baking soda• 1 1/2 cups salt• 2 tablespoons cream of tartarCombine these ingredients together and place in a large container, with a cover.When you are ready to use it pour a couple of tablespoons of the powder onto the cookware and scrub with a nylon scrubber which has been slighly moistened with water. You can also use this on most sinks and other fixtures as well. Very cheap and useful item when bought in bulk. This will replace an item like Comet or Ajax. Have a very Happy New Year folks! Make your goal list a good one!

Full Steam ahead....goals for the New Year

2011-12-25T17:59:00.002-05:00

I hope you all had a great Holiday! I did for sure...my "Binford 5000" (new grain mill) came. My husband chose a KoMo, I was pretty sure it was American made, but *sigh* it's from Germany. It's a beautiful piece of equipment. I think the bowl and the base is birchwood. We unpacked it, figured out how to run it and put in sme wheat. It went through 6 cups of grain and spit out 8 cups of flour in 3 minutes! We have a solar panel to dedicate to it, so I won't feel too guilty. Especially if it gets me baking bread on a regular basis! I was talking to some friends and they were talking about New Years Resolutions. I don't do "resolutions" as such, most people don't really mean them. I do like goals though...goals are always good, but unlike resolutions, these are generally well thought out, with a logical path planned to reach them. So, I figured since I wanted to post anyways, I'd try and get some of my thoughts and goals down here. As usual, most of what I'd like to accomplish has to do with our homestead. We always seem to have one big infrastructure project and a bunch of little ones and some garden goals. It seems to work well as far as being managable. So, here goes;#1 is a new small barn for my husband to have as a work shop. Poor guy keeps getting moved from place to place with his tools! One year he was in the sunroom...until we turned it into part of the house. Then he was set up on the deck...until we replaced it. Then he was going into one of the sheds, but it got full of tools and storage items. Right now, most of his stuff is in the basement, but due to him having one of his hobbies set up down there and our food storage, there isn't enough room and he doesn't want to get saw dust all over everything. So, since he needs a real place to do woodworking and to store all his tools, we decided on a small barn/shed type building. That's a big thing and will take most of the money we have set aside.#2 is to expand the fruit trees we have. We wanted to do that last year, but we only got some elderberry bushes. All the trees I had gotten before are doing ok, but they were those mail order trees that come as basically sticks. I'm hoping to get a few fruits from the mthis year. We're going to head to a real nursury and pay the price to get well established trees.Our "wish list" includes:2-4 apple trees2 pear2 peachand maybe a couple of plumI'd also like to get some highbush cranberry and a few more lowbush cranberries. The 4 I got a couple of years ago started producing this past year. I only got a little dish of them, but they are pretty much care free. Along with the new plantings, we need to brush hog the area where we want to plant them and build up our blackberry bed/patch. I had ordered some fancy blackberries the first year we were here and they came as tiny little baby plants, I think they were tissue cultures or something like that. Last year, those finally had a couple of blackberries on them and they were HUGE and very tasty! I had ignored the bed and given up on them for the most part, but like blackberries will, they persisted!#3 is to make the best use of the garden that we possibly can. I know that one sounds like a no brainer, but it's aweful easy for me to get distracted and not take advantage of every growing opportunity and green bean out there. So, consistancy is the key word for me!Then there will be little things, like making sure the fire wood gets cut early, so we aren't cutting and stacking at the hottest time of the year. Hopefully we'll have at least sme harvest from the bees next year. Plus, there is always the hope we'll make new friends and have some fun along the way!So share with me; what are some of your goals for the coming year? Don't forget to tune into the radio show this week as we discuss goals for the year ahead! Thursday at 8 p.m. eastern on shtfradio.com

We interrupt this blog for an important message...

2011-12-21T09:28:00.001-05:00

Hey folks! Thank you for all reading along with me! I DO appreciate comments, so don't be shy!I'm tired...just plain tired. Tis the season for that. I apologize for not being better at keeping up with the blog!So, a funny thing happened on the way to preparing a demo I was doing on grinding wheat and making bread. I have been stocking up on wheat for a while. It lasts for 30 years if packed right and regular flour is lucky to make it past 3 years, so I figured it would be a wise thing to do. Then one day, I said "how am I going to grind it?". So I researched and bought a hand cranked grain mill (the WonderMill Jr) and it came and since I had flour, I put it up and didn't think much more about it, except that I had it for when I needed it.One day, I had a request to do a demo on grinding the wheat...so I thought to myself "hey! great chance to put the grain mill to work and get a feel for things!". So, I set it up, went and hauled up a bucket of wheat and started grinding. Well, the wheat went everywhere...didn't think that was right, so I checked the stones that were grinding and discovered that they weren't seated just right. Fixed that and started all over again.OH MY GOD!!!! Now, I realize several things: now I know why folks with hand crank grain mills talk so much about how they've semi motorized them with bikes. I also know (without a doubt) why our forefathers settled near a grist mill! I was seriously worried that I would end up looking like Popeye! However, I ran out of steam way before that happened...and had less than a cup of flour to show for it!So, being the wise woman I am, I waited (like a spider) for hubby and a friend to come home. Big manly men that they are, I figured it was just ME, being out of shape. They attacked the handle and cranked, frequently saying "this isn't bad!" then looking at the other one and saying "you try!". It wasn't long before they retired to the basement and came back up with a giant powered screw driver thingy and it's chargers....much better, but before long I was hearing "my finger is getting sore". *snicker*I know now what I am getting for Christmas...an electric powered grain mill, and an inverter for a solar panel we have so that I don't have to worry about the power it's using. I heard a lot of grunting coming from the guys (a la Tim the Toolman Taylor)and figure it will be a "Binford 5000" model. I urge everyone to give grain grinding a try...it will open your eyes to the whole proccess. I have to say though, the bread was delcious! The grain smelled so much better ground than any flour you can buy off the shelf, that I believe this is a good thing to do! I also made notes on costs and a loaf of home made bread can be made for HALF of what a regular loaf goes for in the store (average loaf/average price). I know the health benefits are well worth it too. I suggest that if you start making your own bread, that you do a "baking day" in the old tradition and make several batches and store them for the week ahead. It was a fun, zany and great experiment with lots learned by all!I'm using a new version of the google blogger and can't find any of the usual buttons I use, so I apologies for any errors in spelling and typing! I'll post pictures of the mill and bread IF I ever figure out how!Join me tomorrow for my weekly radio show! We'll be talking about safety in the home during long time crisis and things you can do now to mitigate those issues. Also, more on the depression era mindset. Thursdays @ 8.pm. eastern time on shtfradio.com

Holiday Gifts; you made it!

2011-12-14T04:14:00.006-05:00

I've been busy, so I neglected my blog! I found I had a bushels of apples in the back room, and I needed to get something done with them. I had gotten 6 bushels in October for $6 per bushel, which is a great price, since in some stores they are $1.99 a pound and a bushel is 50 pounds (more or less). I've been using them up here and there as I had time, the bulk going into sauce and juice.
I made juice last year with my little Jack LaLane juicer...oh my gosh! What a hassle that was! I had to clean it out after about a pound of apples. The juice, though delicious, had to be filtered twice and it was just a messy business all around. So, I said "never again" until our own apples started giving a reliable harvest and we could get a cider press.
That lasted until we started drinking the juice! Everyone loved it and it is one way to get good, vitamin rich juice into the family. So I saw a steamer/juicer at Lehman's that has been reccommended to me and I ordered it early in the summer.
http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Juice_and_Beverage_Making___Steamers___8_1_4_Qt_Stainless_Steel_Steam_Juicer___1152245#1152245 I chose this one because it was sufficient for my needs and way less than half the price of their "best" juicer.

I also invested in another item. I'd had one of these before, years ago, but after 7 moves, parts were missing and a major piece had gotten crushed. I had learned when my kids were little how valuable a good squeezer strainer can be. So, after much debate (after all, my Foley Food Mill could do the work) I went back to Lehman's and got one of these - http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Canning_and_Preserving___Food_Mills___Roma__Food_Mill___070801?Args=
My purchase didn't come until 5 of the bushels had been done because I kept up the debate in my mind. I'm glad I broke down and got it. It's done now and I'll have the equipment for a long, LONG time. It's good to invest in solid, practical equipment. Both are non electric, so if anything happens to the grid, I can stick provide the family with juice and sauces.
So, I set out washing and cutting the apples. I only quartered them, threw them in the steamer and started getting juice. It doesn't take long at all. Many folks just pour it from the steamer into hot jars and let them seal on their own. I water bath can mine, just in case. I took the steamed pulp from the top of the juice and ran it through the food mill/strainer. It gave me much more sauce then the Foley food mill and was much neater and easier to use.
This time, I decided that I would make apple butter with most of the sauce. I hadn't made apple butter since the kids were little, because I had such a hard time keeping it from scorching, so I was a bit nervous. I used a heavy bottom sauce pan and put one batch on to cook using an automatic stir thing I'd gotten on the advise of a friend. It was only about $10 and as you can tell, I'm a sucker for gadgets.
I waited and waited ....and waited. The auto stir thing did it's job and kept the sauce from scorching, but I still had 3 or 4 more batches of sauce waiting for me to turn into butter! I finally hauled out the big crock pot and put the rest in there to cook away during the day. I have to say, I thought the crock pot method was a bit of a cheat, but I tried both methods and the crock pot won by a mile. It was cleaner and much easier and didn't take all that much longer.
In the end, I ended up with 7 quarts of juice, 2 pints and 11 half pints of apple butter and about 5 pints of apple sauce! I turned the little bit of apple pulp left after the food mill got done with it over to the chickens to eat. I can honestly say that every last bit of the entire bushel was used.

Now, I have a nice gift of apple butter to give to the folks I give gifts to. It cost me pennies to make. (ok, we're going to look the other way on the equipment I purchased since it will keep working for years!) I have a demo to give this weekend on grinding grain and making bread with the resulting flour, so I'll add a small loaf of bread in with the apple butter. This how to give gifts! It's all hand made, all pretty much organic, all healthy and best of all...very inexpensive!
Cookies, though a bit more pricey to make, are also a great gift. Many people are so busy that a homemade food gift is a real treat. They know how much time it took and appreciate it. Even kids can appreciate homemade goodies. When my kids were little, I had 5 nieces and nephews to buy gifts for and little money to do it with. I decided to make their favorite cookies and jam and instruct their parents that it was ALL theirs. I even made little labels with their name on it. Before long, they were putting in their orders early..."Mom and Dad don't like raisins, so make sure you put them in my cookies" or "I really like the kind of jam with three berries mixed together". I was surprised, but I went along with it and the kids looked forward to their own treat each year. And, bless their hearts, those kids made sure I got my jars back so I could fill them up again!
When it comes to the cookies, many folks work so hard and worry about what to make and I just crank out old fashioned favorites. I sometimes make 200-300 dozen at this time of the year, so I have the system streamlined. I start with No Bake cookies, but I generally toss in a handful of coconut and raisins. I make double batches and cover the entire counter with waxed paper and just cook and drop...until I drop! These will last for several weeks to a month if kept covered. Then I make up chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, magic cookie bars and my grandmother's meringue cookies (which last 6 months!) I make double or triple batches of each. Then I get little bags or tins and put a dozen of each inside and tie with a ribbon.
You can make an ordinary cookie "special" by drizzling a bit of icing or chocolate on top. Applesauce cookies are easy and healthy, as are oatmeal raisin cookies if that's important to you. I personally give up worrying about the health issue for the two weeks of holiday time.
If you save seeds, make up small packets and give them to folks who garden (or want to start)! I like to decorate terra cotta pots, which I get on sale at Michael's once a year, and I put the seed in that and give as a gift. Some times, you can find small garden tools at the Dollar Store or Michael's and those could go into the garden gift bag also.
Gift wrapping is easy with home made gifts! People don't really expect much wrapping on these gifts, but I use a paper bag to give them in. I like rubber stamping them, but you don't even need to do that! A piece of fluffy tissue sticking out the top is attractive and you can make (or buy) a ribbon bow. Even a handful of raffia tied to the handles looks attractive. This year I have a running joke with some friends about bandannas, so instead of tissue paper, they will have a bandanna cushioning their gifts...pretty, but practical!
By choosing home made, you spend much less cash, but you are investing a bit of time. Make your time count by choosing less fussy recipes and making in big batches. Decorate simply, remember, you are giving a gift of time and quality and that's what's important, not the premade fancy wrapping.

I hope that gives you some ideas! The radio show this week will be on Back to Basics with food packing, amounts to store and inventory and rotation. Please join us at shtfradio.com. Thursday nights at 8p.m. eastern time!

tonight on the radio...

2011-12-08T08:57:00.000-05:00

Join us tonight (8 eastern on shtfradio.com) as we talk about a few odd preps for the pantry and share a recipe for a cleaning product. Our main topic for the night will be all about hygiene! The importance of it, the difficulties we might encounter in a long term crisis with it and some of the tools and supplies you might want to have on hand to ensure you can take care of your family. Be Prepared…there’ll lots of talk about poop and creepy crawlies! I’ll be joined by a friend of the forum, Wulfin, as my guest co-host. Join us in chat and share your tips for dealing with hygiene and sanitation issues. Shtfradio.com

It's going to be fun and informative so join us!

Depression Era Mindset #2

2011-12-03T21:10:00.002-05:00

"Use it up, make do or go without"
We are so lucky in that we can try all kinds of foods at any time of the year, fresh, and found in your local store. This is not something that fits in with a Depression Era mindset!
Special food items were treats back then. They were precious and only found at certain times of the year for most folks. It's funny that we are hearing more about how we should eat local and in season these days! There is a "diet" called The Hundred Mile Diet (http://www.ehow.com/facts_7280141_hundred-mile-diet.html) that is gaining popularity as an eating style, though strict adherence isn't easy do to some locations not raising grains. In general though, it's a sound idea. The Native Americans also followed this practice. The theory is that when you live in an area and drink the water and eat much of your foods from the area, your body is healthier and in harmony with itself due to the fact that your intake will all contain the same nutrients, minerals and chemicals as it is used to. Makes sense to me. However, it makes sense in other ways as well...you are supporting local folks and the fuel use is so much less due to transit being so much less.
Eating in season is the same...less transport costs. There is also the benefit of knowing that the people who are producing the foods have certain rules they must follow which makes the food more likely to have/give diseases. I heard once that the average tomato traveled 1200 miles most of the year! Fruit and vegetables that travel that far are often picked unripe and often ripened artificially with gas. As a special treat, perhaps at Holiday time...but to just go out each week and put whatever produce/fruit you feel like in your basket isn't going to save people money or save fuel or help local folks!
Grow your own food! The best way to make a real difference in your food budget and health, in my opinion, is to grow your own. By trying to produce the bulk of what you eat - not including grains - you get a real appreciation for how folks used to live! You begin to understand how valuable food is. You will have followed that Hundred Mile Diet for sure and you will have little choice but to eat in season. This makes your food special! You wait all year to have those new peas and baby potatoes...the first ear of corn is an occasion.
A year is the goal. When folks lived during the Depression, the garden produced the food for the year ahead. It was grown and pickled, preserved,canned, and dried. Many had root cellars to store some items in. No one thought it was odd to start the winter knowing you had food for a year in your larder/pantry. Now, most people think it's odd to have more than a couple of weeks worth of food. Imagine, not having the need to go to the store each week! Imagine not having to spend the money on groceries!
Eating is something we all must do, several times daily. It's the most constant thing on our lives. What we eat and how it gets to our table should be of equal importance to us. By focusing in on this, we not only save money,, we redirect our attention from things that waste time and money as well as bring the focus back to family. Meals become important because of the food, but they end up being important because of family interaction and that's always a good thing.
I've seen pictures of Depression Era meals and they were wholesome and filling. People took pride in creating special recipes of their own, using their own produce instead of going all out to make a recipe using fancy stuff that's out of season and that they have no personal attachment to. I can promise that if you focus on these aspcts of Depression Era thinking (and food) your family will appreciate it and your health will be all the better for it, not to mention your pocket book!

Depression Era Mindset #1

2011-11-30T16:58:00.004-05:00

"Use it up, Make do or Do without!"

Ok, I've been doing a bit of research and came up with one of my new favorite books! It's actually a government publication and recipe book combined! It's from waaay back in the day when the government tried to help folks be more self sufficient. It also contains some way of speaking that is no longer considered "politically correct", however, since this is merely an excessive in how to wrap our minds around ways to save money in our household, this should still come in handy.
The book is called "Foods that will win the war" and you can find it here:
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15464/15464-h/15464-h.htm

other great books on depression era living, including this one, can be found at:
http://www.vintagerecipes.net/books/foods_that_will_win_the_war/toc-foreword.php
Let me start by writing the foreword, and you can see quickly that though you will have to tweak things a bit, the savings can add up!
Food will win the war, and the nation whose food resources are best conserved will be the victor. This is the truth that our government is trying to drive home to every man, woman and child in America. We have always been happy in the fact that ours was the richest nation in the world, possessing unlimited supplies of food, fuel, energy and ability; but rich as these resources are they will not meet the present food shortage unless every family and every individual enthusiastically co-operates in the national saving campaign as outlined by the United States Food Administration.
The regulations prescribed for this saving campaign are simple and easy of application. Our government does not ask us to give up three square meals a day--nor even one. All it asks is that we substitute as far as possible corn and other cereals for wheat, reduce a little our meat consumption and save sugar and fats by careful utilization of these products.
There are few housekeepers who are not eager to help in this saving campaign, and there are few indeed who do not feel the need of conserving family resources. But just how is sometimes a difficult task.
This book is planned to solve the housekeeper's problem. It shows how to substitute cereals and other grains for wheat, how to cut down the meat bill by the use of meat extension and meat substitute dishes which supply equivalent nutrition at much less cost; it shows the use of syrup and other products that save sugar, and it explains how to utilize all kinds of fats. It contains 47 recipes for the making of war breads; 64 recipes on low-cost meat dishes and meat substitutes; 54 recipes for sugarless desserts; menus for meatless and wheat less days, methods of purchasing—in all some two hundred ways of meeting present food conditions at minimum cost and without the sacrifice of nutrition.
Not only have its authors planned to help the woman in the home, conserve the family income, but to encourage those saving habits which must be acquired by this nation if we are to secure a permanent peace that will insure the world against another onslaught by the Prussian military powers.
A little bit of saving in food means a tremendous aggregate total, when 100,000,000 people are doing the saving. One wheat less meal a day would not mean hardship; there are always corn and other products to be used. Yet one wheat less meal a day in every family would mean a saving of 90,000,000 bushels of wheat, which totals 5,400,000,000 lbs. Two meatless days a week would mean a saving of 2,200,000 lbs. of meat per annum. One teaspoonful of sugar per person saved each day would insure a supply ample to take care of our soldiers and our Allies. These quantities mean but a small individual sacrifice, but when multiplied by our vast population they will immeasurably aid and encourage the men who are giving their lives to the noble cause of humanity on which our nation has embarked.
The Authors.
All the recipes in this book have been prepared and used in The School of Modern Cookery conducted by The Forecast Magazine and have been endorsed by the U.S. Food Administration. They have been worked out under the direction of Grace E. Frysinger, graduate in Domestic Science of Drexel Institute, of Philadelphia, and the University of Chicago. Miss Frysinger, who has had nine years' experience as a teacher of Domestic Science, has earnestly used her skill to make these recipes practical for home use, and at the same time accurate and scientific.

I believe this book has reached it cope infringement date and has been put on the Guttenburg site. As such, I believe it is available for copying. I try to follow the rules, so I hope no one is offended.

As you can see by the forward, it is not your usual cookbook. I found the details of each subject to be worthy reading, as I learned a lot, particularly about grains. One thing that became apparent to me, is that the number one way to save money in the modern day is to cook from scratch! This is something that is hard for many of us to take the time to do. I hated cooking when I was a young mom, but necessity forced me to learn! One book that helped me a lot build both "home made from scratch" in with convenience is a cook book called "Make-A-Mix" Cookbook. It's still in print and can be found here, at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Make-Mix-Karine-Eliason/dp/0762426020

We are modern and savvy and have the Internet at our fingers! I'll be continuing with this "series" until I run out of ideas and comments from my reader. It's worth investigating how we can change our lives in order to survive the crumbling economy and I believe, we can do it without giving up all of our modern ways. I sometimes equate the "old ways" with too much drudgery for my peace of mind. If the worst were to happen and we had to live with less or no electricity, that's one thing, but for now, I'll ease my way into a Derpession Era mind set using the gifts of modern life.

Depression Mindset...

2011-11-29T07:57:00.002-05:00

I read that inflation is supposed to be 35% this year and more of an increase coming next year. What does that mean? To me, it says that I'[d better get into a Depression Mindset.

How can someone get into the mindset of a time that is long gone as well as most of the folks who lived it?
I remember my parents, in-laws and grandparent talking about how things were, how people survived back then. Times were tight, but most folks still gardened, still had a few animals, and were used to not having all kinds of modern conveniences. The web is full of stories and helpful hints as well, so we should be able to get into the mindset. I do know that Depression Era folks were the original recyclers! The term "use it up, make do, go without" were the words that many lived by.

I believe that a garden and preserving as much of your own food is one key to survival during a Depression. Other ways is to find folks who have what you want and find out what they want and perhaps trade or barter. I also suggest that you make a list of everything you spend money on and sit down with the family and go through the list to find ways to save money. Do you need 250 channels on the tv? Do you need the fancy phone plan? Is a new outfit for anyone really in the budget if food and heating costs are going up 35%?

Are you still able to feed and keep your family warm? That's great, but be prepared for cut backs. Those cutbacks might also mean that family members can't make ends meet and might need a place to live. It might mean that soon, you have to choose between heating and eating, or know folks that will. What if YOU are the one who looses a job? Can you make it on unemployment? If not, it's time to reduce, reuse and do without before it's too late. A little bit of prethought here can really help!

Go through your cupboards and menus (yes, even if you don't really make a firm menu, you still have a rough one in your head). Can you start making substitutions in ingredients? Can you eliminate items that you can do without? We eliminated fresh salads from our menu except during the summer when I can grow them myself. We also eliminated fresh fruit out of season and use home canned that I made myself. We have increased the garden and have purchased the proccessing equipment we need.

I challenge you all to find something in your budget and menu you can change!

Just thoughts...

2011-11-26T20:17:00.003-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and were able to spend some time with family! We had a simple, but oh-so-good meal, just the three of us. We watched some movies, relaxed and enjoyed our day. Daughter had to work the dreaded Black Friday at her retail job...12:30 a.m. until 9 and then she had to go right to a place she is hoping to get a job at and take a typing test. Apparently, they give you two chances and it's a good thing since she practically fell asleep at the second try, but her first was good enough to get her the job! She's been working at Target since she got out of high school and now has finished college, so it's time she moved on with her first full time job. She's not one for rushing to get out of her comfort zone; but now she'll be able to at least afford to pay her bills! Yay for her. She's a good kid and I appreciate every day that she moved back with us after school. She has a very practical and common sense type of attitude and is enjoying learning all the skills she can. In fact, last year, she made the entire meal for Thanksgiving. This year we all did it together a bit. It was really great.

In case it isn't obvious, I am a "prepper". I am not waiting for something horrible to happen. I simply believe that being prepared for anything gives me confidence and peace of mind. I like not having the stress of worry. It's a life style, common sense, like when folks couldn't just run to the store and get something every day. I learn something every day, feel like I live a life of purpose and I try to be productive every day. I'm not unusual, and I think more and more people are trying to live like that. I have to share; we were asked to be on the National Geographic tv show "Doomsday Preppers". We went through all the talks and such and when discussing what our story was going to be...what aspect of our lives they wanted to present, I came to the conclusion that we are just regular boring folks. No big deal, nothing fancy. We ended up declining to do the show because of some privacy and contract concerns, but it was still an honor to us to be asked.

Preparedness is not just our life style, along with some homesteading; it's my hobby as well. I like learning everything about it. All the little interesting tidbits about different aspects of preparedness just facsinate me! I love organizing my supplies, I love knowing the zillion things you can do with vinegar and I love the people who also prepare. They are so interesting to watch, look (YouTube) and listen to (forums and radio). They just seem to be loving life! Is it because they love to learn? Is it because they can find a million doomsday messages each day and still sleep because they are confident with the supplies they have stored or is it because they actually have a practical purpose to their lives? I just am glad there is a "prepper movement"! I wonder if the "back to the land" movement of 30-40 years or so years ago was just as interesting? Probably, because the folks were learning, had a practical life and had interesting things to talk about to each other.

Any how...I just felt the need to remble a bit today. Next week I will be bringing some of my craft things upstairs to fill the cupboards that were built for them in the sunroom. Maybe I'll even get to do some crafting! I won't hold my breath since I know by now that if there's something moving to a new location, that means there's a space I can fill with something, and that means shopping!!! Ok, even my shopping is kind of boring since I get pretty practical things, like food and paper goods. I have yet to set up a bread making area that works smoothly, so I may do that as well (I'll let you know) and I have some more apples to making into something...since the family has decided to LOVE the apple juice I've been making, I can do up some more of that, and maybe make some fruit leather with the pulp.
I hope your weekend has gone well. The radio show will be back as normal on Thursday at 8 p.m. on shtfradio.com. Hope to see you there.

End of the year...

2011-11-22T08:23:00.003-05:00

It's getting close to the end of the year, harvest for us is over and I turn to straightening up the pantry area. I keep it fairly neat, but I'm also always reorganizing to fit in more "stuff" so I'm always worried I may loose track of things. I try to keep an inventory, but I don't like how it's been set up, so I think I will do another one this year.
The benefits on doing an inventory are many, no matter how much trouble it is to do. I find stuff that I had forgotten, I find things that I bought because the price was great, but that I don't really use. I also get to see what I used and what I need more of. I take this time to check meticulously for any signs of pests and damage.
This is a great time to implement a simplification plan as well...can I cut costs by making my preps do double duty? Let's take the laundry for instance...I used to store: stain remover, fabric softener sheets, laundry booster stuff and the liquid soap. Now I store fels naptha soap, baking soda, vinegar, borax and washing soda. I consider vinegar to be a power house for both cleaning and canning so I hate that any ways...I use it in the rinse cycle. Baking soda I use to help soften the laundry on occasion and boost the cleaning, but I have it for many other reasons as well! The borax is also used to cleaning nasty stuff off hands and for a pest repellent. Each year I find more uses for things and each time I do, it cuts out something else I had to store. Now I make up 6 months of laundry soap at a time and always have the items on hand to make more...it also makes a great gift item or an item to give to your kids when they are hard up for money to buy stuff.
I have never found a pest issue, but once in a while I find a vacuum sealed bag that has lost it's vacuum and I can put that in the rotation to be used sooner. I enjoy planning my pantry and being able to take advantage of deals and coupons to bulk up my purchases. At this time of the year, I also review my garden journal and see what I can grow better for the next year. Did we use a lot of tomato sauce? Do we enjoy the apple juice? Why didn't the canned apple pie filling go over well?
It's simple, normal household organization and everyone should consider doing it.

Oh! I got a new video camera and hope to be able to post more pictures and mabe a video soon!

There will be no radio show this week because of the Holiday. I have to say that I am glad for the short break as I need a bit of down time and this will help. Take care everyone and enjoy your special meal with your family!

I thought I'd start the week off right...

2011-11-21T08:59:00.002-05:00

I found this and honestly do not know who the original author is. If anyone knows, I'll gladly give them credit! I found it amusing, but accurate, so give some thought. Murphy's Law pops up whenever you least expect it!

Murphy’s Laws of TEOTWAWKI

From Wikipedia: Murphy’s Law is an adage that is typically stated as: “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong”.

1. Food, you still don’t have enough
2. People without back up shelters might be without shelter
3. People with guns and no food are finding out that people with food have guns too
4. Look hungry, they might leave you alone.
5. Seed bank, the new source of wealth
6. Insects, It’s what’s for dinner
7. Gun shots, they attract unwanted attention
8. Ask everyone if they have food or water, Jedi mind tricks might work on desperate people
9. Wood burning stoves, they are like pots of gold
10. The less people you know, the better off you are
11. Mormons, suddenly they have a lot of new friends
12. Friendly hungry people…..aren’t
13. People who thought they could make it with just a survival knife are finding out they can’t
14. Satellite Dishes, they make great family dinner tables
15. If invited to a dinner party and you can’t figure out what’s on the menu, it’s you
16. Houses full of food attract the unwanted envy of hungry people
17. Friends who show up without food are not good friends
18. Electricity, the good old days
19. Dog Food, who knew
20. Cash, it’s a great way to start a fire
21. Alternative energy, you’re kicking yourself now for not investing in it
22. Watching your garden grow, the new Sunday afternoon sport
23. The Government, it will feed itself first
24. Large groups of people with guns make the rules
25. Bad water & Montezuma’s Revenge, they have come to America
26. People who thought the Government would save them, found out that it didn’t
27. Hospitals, no longer a place of healing
28. EMP, now everyone knows what it means
29. Sandy dry soil, suddenly not such a cool place to live anymore
30. If food is the new currency then fresh water is a hot commodity
31. Gold coins, they don’t taste very good
32. Toilet paper, should have bought more of that stuff
33. Ham radio operators, who are the nerds now?
34. Burning Green Wood = Smoke / Smoke = Attention / Attention = Bad
35. Trying to start a fire with two sticks? Should have stocked up on more matches

Tonight's radio show...

2011-11-17T16:49:00.000-05:00

Join us tonight @ 8 eastern time on shtfradio.com as we discuss Post crisis issues such as bartering, canning and storing meat and have a frugal tip of the week. Join us in chat and share some of your ideas with us!

shtfradio.com

deep fried turkey and other normal stuff...

2011-11-15T09:07:00.003-05:00

Not much to talk about here...we got the burn pile done, the chicken pen repaired and more things brought in for the winter...still have a few more apples left to do up, but I'm thinking apple fritters will taste nice tonight! We had friends of the daughter over for her birthday and it was great fun!
The chickens have slowed way down on egg production, I think it might be a molt, but then again, the weather changed and their pen got damaged and they were stuck inside for a couple of days, so it may just be chickens not liking changes. We shall see. They turned a year old at the end of September, so a molt wouldn't be out of the question. I'm just not seeing a huge amount of feather loss. I love the sound of my roosters, but they seem to be doing a bit of damage to the hens and have gotten pretty territorial so we may end up with a nice stew down the road a ways.
This Saturday, we are learning about deep fried Turkey. Several friends have those tturkey deep fryers, but have never used them for cooking turkey. I have never had deep fried turkey, so this will be an interesting experiment. We have company coming and we'll all learn about the turkey deep fryer. Anyone got any tips? It will be the only meat we have for food, so I'm trying to make sure it comes out right. I'm told this is actually a very efficient way to cook a whole turkey and it comes out very moist.
I'm continuing to clean and organize the basement...I think I'm at the point where I can do nothing more without removing items that I want to keep. I have no where to put it right now....grrr. The frustration of downsizing!

Frugal home stuff...

2011-11-13T20:30:00.003-05:00

I made my second batch of laundry soap this morning. I purposely didn't get any the last coupld times I went to the store. It was sheer laziness on my part that I had picked up some a while ago. I like the homemade much better and our skin seems to like it better as well!
My Rcipe:
2 c. grated Fels Naptha
2 c. Borax
2 c. Washing Soda (Arm and Hammer)

I dissolve the Fels Naptha in about a quart of boiling water.
Then I use a 5 gallon bucket with about 2 gallons of hot water to dissolve the Washing Soda and Borax. I then add in the dissolved Fels Naptha, mix well and fill the bucket the rest of the way with hot water. As it cools, it gels.
Then I fill a container (from previous purchases of ready made laundry soap) half way with the gelled soap and fill the remaining with water and shake. That's it; it's just that simple. One 5 gallon pail, which is hundreds of loads will last us 6 months and costs far less than one regular brand jug of laundry soap!
I found nice gallon jugs at the Dollar store to put my soap in, since I have a small laundry area and don't want a 5 gallon bucket being kicked around and in the way. I filled them up with the gel and they fit neatly on the shelf in the basement. One of these jugs will fill my saved laundry jug halfway, two times. Neat, organized and all set for 6 months of laundry. I was also able to fill two more jugs for my son and daughter so they would have some. Not bad for under $5.00!

The next item I am going to try is automatic dish washer detergent. I can't believe how expensive it is now! It used the same basic ingredients, Washing Soda and Borax, so I don't need to make any more purchases for the ingredients.

Convenience items are so, umm, CONVENIENT and it's a hard habit to break! Instant is something we have gotten so used to..in fact, "boomers" are probably the first generation who have had "instant" their entire lives...Fresh frozen veggies, canned pasta meals, condenced soups, tv dinners, instant cleaners. Today, we are faced with so many issues in our home lives with rising prices and products with added chemicals we discover aren't healthy or good for the environment, that it worth the time to discover ways of doing better. This one was simple and easy and I look forward to finding more!

Simple Comforts

2011-11-11T09:56:00.003-05:00

My friend Kathy, over at the Just in Case Book blog (http://justincasebook.wordpress.com/2011/11/11/on-a-bad-news-day-one-can-count-jars-of-applesauce-days-1112/) had a great post today about the comfort you get from your preps. It's true...it gives me great comfort when I'm feeling down, to go and just sit and look at my preps. My foods that I took great time and effort to create. I planted seeds, nurtured the plants, watched them grow and harvested the fruits and then created something that will store for the year. My family can live from my effort and it is a comfort. I have food...that makes me better off than much of the worlds populace and that makes "things" not seem so bad.

This way of life is something our grandparents and great grandparents had. No depending on the store or uncertain income...it just was the way things were done. Why does that sound so odd to so many people? The satisfaction of having your efforts actually mean something is a good thing. Maybe it's time for society to do a major reality check!

Enjoy your weekend folks, it's going to be chilly here, but again, thanks to our hard work and efforts, we can snuggle by the fire and not worry about anything. Our youngest is having her 25th birthday on Sunday and we will celebrate with friends and family...at least those who can travel out to us.

Tonight on the radio...

2011-11-10T15:29:00.001-05:00

Tonight we will discuss double duty preps and we’ll talk about some ways to talk prepping if your spouse isn’t on board. Please join us at shtfradio.com, 8p.m. eastern! There’s a chat room so you can share your tips with us!

shtfradio.com

Pumpkin Fries and Just in Time Inventory....

2011-11-06T18:54:00.002-05:00

The two have little, if anything, to do with each other. I just wanted to mention one before I launched into the other...
I made pumpkin fries tonight. I had them the first time when my folks decided to do a "pumpkin night" meal. They did these theme meals once a month or so when I was a teenager..bored the hell out of me back then, but I understand it more now. Anyhow, I cut into a smallish pumpkin, scraped out the goo and then made slices about 2-3" wide and the length of the pumpkin. I popped it into the microwave, but you could bake them. I did this to partially cook it and make it easier to peel.
After peeling, I cut it into shoestring type slices and fried them in olive oil. Sprinkle a bit of seasoning salt and you have a treat that beats regular fries and sweet potato fries all the way! Yum! My daughter didn't remember having them when she was little and was pleasantly surprised (ok, she ate about a quarter of a pumpkin!). I used to cook real good (but simple) meals for my family with fresh bread and desserts, but got out of that habit due to a divorce and meeting the King of Take Out. Now we live in the boonies where there will never be a delivery and I am trying to gently urge The King into a simpler and healthier lifestyle, so I'm back to cooking. It's funny though, I have a hard time doing it some days...probably a combination of being out of practice and being hooked on the convenience of "instant" food. We're trying, and each time everyone sits down and loves what I make, it gets easier! EVERYONE needs to feel appreciated, so let the cook at your house know how special the meals they make are!
Just in Time Inventory: From what I hear, years ago, the efficiency experts over in Japan figured out how to improve inventory control for businesses. The method makes it easy for businesses to order new inventory, helps cut costs on waste and eliminates the need for storage facilities for inventory. The way it works is that when you go into a store and buy an item, let's say ketchup, that goes right into a computer and it gets put on an inventory order sheet and when a case of ketchup have been bought, a case of ketchup gets put on the next truck to replace it. There is a smooth flow from purchase to shelf. This is called the "just in time" method of inventory...meaning that replacement product is delivered "just in time" to avoid the store running out. Almost all businesses use this now...your grocer, your pharmacy, your larger hardware stores. Because of limited under ground storage, gas stations receive deliveries more frequently also. On average, this means that most stores only have 3 days of product on their shelves. It seems like more and of course there are things that don't sell as fast and may stay on the shelves a bit longer, but basic needs are only in about a 3 day supply.
This is a very efficient system and greatly reduces costs, but it is also very dangerous too. If something happens, like a storm where the trucks don't run, your store runs out of things. If a road is closed or the power is out, again, the stores start running out of things. This has happened time and again all around the country. What some of us have seen is temporary, but annoying and a bit scary. Imagine if there was a major crisis! Now, let's add into this "just in time" way of doing things, the fact that crops are being farmed the same way. There are few, if any, stockpiles any more. No more "grain reserves" like there used to be, to cushion us from a back crop year. There are potential serious food crisis's in the works for the future for all of us.
How can you prevent being affected by "just in time" inventory? Ya gotta know what I'm going to say here...Be PREPARED! Have your own inventory in your home so if there are shortages, price increases and crisis's, your family has a cushion. In the old days, folks didn't think much about this as they prepared with by putting up the harvest and growing enough to get them through the next year, until it was time for another harvest. So, if you haven't already, build an inventory of what your family eats in a year...don't worry, it won't go bad! Then you will find less stress when things go wrong, more convenience in preparing meals, less time spent in the stores...which leads to lower costs and being able to take advantage of sales.
If you are unsure how to go about building an inventory in your home pantry, just leave me a message in the comment section and I'll try and answer your questions. Being prepared is just common sense!

Tonight's Show...

2011-11-03T15:44:00.001-04:00

Please join me tonight!

This week on Food & Home Preparedness with HP, we will be talking about preparedness with kids of all ages. Special preparedness issues you might face, how to get the kids on board, teaching them preparedness and how to do all this without panicking them ! All of this can be translated into helping and teaching non preppers as well.
Join us on shtfradio.com Thursday @ 8 p.m. eastern

Listen Live: Food & Home With HP | SHTF Radio Survival, Preparedness Online radio and podcast
http://www.shtfradio.com

A little bit of snow...

2011-10-30T19:24:00.004-04:00

So we heard we were going to get some snow on Saturday afternoon, but daughter and I had a shopping trip planned, while husband had a meeting to go to with a friend on the other side of the state. Since he was planning to spend the night and we planned to take our list (ALWAYS go shopping with a list!) we hit the town specifically for the grand opening of a big box store (one that takes coupons!!!).

We were very happy with our "haul" and filled in many of the holes in our preps. One part of the haul was sugar (!!!). We found the best price in town and since we use a lot of sugar in our canning,cooking, with the bees and a few other things, we really stocked up. Because we can't depend on WHEN our road will be in great condition, it makes sense for us to stock up for the winter. I like knowing that I can wait for a good day to go to town instead of running out of the things I need and HAVING to go to town. So, we headed home with the sky darkening and made it home before the storm hit.
We're from the north east and a little snow doesn't worry us at all. Besides, it's October! How much snow could we get in October? (famous last words!)

At about 3:20, the first flakes started to fall. By a little after 5, we had 5". An hour later we had 7". Even for the northeast, that was a fast build up! Our grand total forthe storm was 24". WE were lucky that we never lost power, though I was afraid withthe saturated soil from Irene, we would loose a lot of trees. However, maybe all that work the power company did in trimming trees this summer did some good. I am sorry to hear that millions of folks were not as lucky as we were! I hope at least some of them were prepared.

So, it's been a long day with the clean up. I'm beat and I still have stuff to put away and stuff to can. So, I'm going to take a day or two to do that and I'll get back to you! This week, I have a listener request on the radio show to discuss prepping kids and working with them to make living through a crisis easier...all while not scaring the crap out of them in advance! I think it will be a great show!

tonight's radio show...

2011-10-27T11:00:00.002-04:00

Tonight we talk about winter needs for the medicine cabinet, mental preparedness, and other prepping thoughts for encouragement and practice. Join us in chat or call in to participate!
Shtfradio.com 8p.m. eastern time

Canning continues...

2011-10-25T19:04:00.004-04:00

I finished up the ground beef..we ended up with 44 pints of seasoned ground beef, 8 meat loaves and 6 meals of meatballs. I'm happy with the results, but next time I will be making Mama Bear's Canned Meat Loaf. http://challengedsurvival.blogspot.com/

I got 5 bushels of apples that I have put off doing something with and finally started in on them today. I got a new steamer juicer from Lehman's this year and have been waiting for a chance to try it out. http://www.lehmans.com/store/Kitchen___Juice_and_Beverage_Making___4
The instructions say to steam the fruit and just pour the juice into hot jars. I chose to pour the juice as it was produced into a large stock pot and then fill the jars and finish them off in a water bath for about 10 minutes. It worked great! I did have the steamer basket full of apple mush after I was done each batch and the first few I just tossed in the compost pail...DUH! I realized that there was so much more I could do with it. I put the rest of the mush through my food mill and had fantastic apple sauce! So I got 6 pints of sauces to go along withthe 9 quarts of juice. Tomorrow it's back to making juice and sauce, but I think I might make up some apple fruit roll ups as well. The juicer steams up the fruit and leaves a perfect pulp for sauce or fruit leather. I was very pleased!

I've been writing up notes for my show on Thursday which will be on the "prepared medicine chest" and find myself constantly disracted by news. The economy, the "occupy anything" folks, the politics, the weather annomalies...I'm just glad that in all of this I am able to pack away food for the family! Folks need to learn how to be more self reliant, things in the outside world are so rocky right now that it looks like a table of dominos. One falls and they all fall.

While writing on the prepared medicine chest, I find a great difference in "medicine chest" versus "first aid kit". While my medicine chest has many first aid items in it, it also has medicines for normal comfort that wouldn't be found in a first aid kit. It also doesn't have items like a surgical kit or trauma kit such as you would find in an expanded first aid kit. I deal with Food and Home, so my medicine chest is just for that...the tummy medicines, the cold stuff, and I make no apologies for that. I am a Mom and Grandma and boo-boo's are my thing. I do have the more extensive stuff and the books and instructions to go with it, but for this week, it's just the stuff I know about and use on a regular basis. Of course, being me and loving bulk, I will relate to my store in terms of a year.

Back to distractions...It's supposed to snow this week here! ARGH!!! I guess it's time for winter to start, so I'll think "warm cheery firesides" and hot chocolate and yummy soups instead of being stuck and having to slog through slush. Much nicer!

Tonight's radio show...

2011-10-20T16:09:00.001-04:00

Tonight’s show will be a rambling look at different food storage methods combined with a serious talk about what you REALLY need if things go really wrong…all from a chance encounter on a forum!
Join us tonight on shtfradio.com @ 8 eastern and don’t forget to come in and get on chat so you can contribute!

Busy busy around here!

2011-10-18T21:08:00.002-04:00

I'm sorry for not posting more this week, but homestead "stuff" needs to get done.
I lucked out on a great sale on hamburg. Last year, I canned up some and we loved it. It was convenient and tasty. Very easy thing to do and handy. It was "on sale" back then for $2.39 a pound. This time I got the hamburg for $1.77 a pound so I got about 80#'s. We started out making meat loaf. My daughter, who still lives with us, is quite the prepper and is enjoying learning all kinds of things around the home, including canning and cooking. She made 8 meat loaves, 6 went in the freezer.
So far, I have made 16 pints (and one quart) of seasoned ground beef and a batch of meatballs for the freezer. I think I have enough hamburger for another 16 jars...or maybe more meatballs. I also tossed a nice head of cabbage into the dehydrator...one down, 6 more to go!
After that I have 5 bushels of apples to do something with...so you can see why I'm a wee bit busy! We also put the heat tape on the roof - fun to do when both people doing it are scared of high places- and we finished up the new deck as well.

I'm happy with the things we have accomplished this year, in looking back. Could we have done better with our preparedness efforts, our projects, our garden? Yep, but as long as we improve each year, move forward and enjoy life, that's what really matters!

Saving money with the food budget

2011-10-14T09:44:00.004-04:00

I'm copying my show notes on this segment of the "saving money" radio show. I got a ton of comments and tips from listeners, so I thought it was worthy of sharing here.

I do know that there is plenty of things that aren't included, so if you think of something, by all means, please post it in the comment section! The wonderful thing about the internet is the community we create to share these things.

I think we may have all heard these two sayings, and now we are realizing how true they are! The first is: Reduce, reuse and recycle. The second, used in my grandparents day is similar: make do, use it up or go without!
This winter, with food and fuel prices so high and so many folks out of work, it’s going to be very important to save as much as possible!

When we think about saving money, we automatically think about cutting back and feel the most likely place to cut back is the food budget. While this is a good place to save, there are so many other places to cut back that we should explore. Years ago, we found ourselves in a serious money crisis with 4 teenagers to raise. The first thing we learned about when it comes to cutting out expenses is “the latte factor”. The “latte factor” is simple; it asks you to look at how much you spend each day for coffee. We found that even buying disposable coffee to go cups is cheaper than stopping at the mini mart to get their coffee…it gets cheaper if you have a travel mug. Just cutting this out saved us $4 a day! We were surprised because with that many kids, you don’t think you are spending a lot. That was $80 a month saved simply with the purchase of two travel mugs.

We have taught our kids to keep a small notebook with them at all times. The guys can fit it in their pocket and gals in their purse or just keep it in the car. Write down EVERYTHING you spend money on. Snacks, purchases, drinks, office contributions, charity,tolls….everything. At the end of the week, go through it and see what you spend your money on and make it a habit to really question each and every expense. Some of us have done this, but it’s so easy to slip back into bad habits. With a Depression in the wings, it’s time we gave serious consideration to learning how our grandparents and parents did things.

Saving money is all about living frugally. It’s a different lifestyle, just like prepping. It’s a lifestyle that is unfortunately going to be somewhat mandatory for many, if not all of us due to the economy.
As I started writing this weeks show notes and got suggestions from forum members, I can only say that it’s a wonder we aren’t all rich with the great ideas. One thing led to another and I never did finish this weeks notes…there is always more that you can do!
As I mentioned above, it’s a lifestyle to live frugally, whether by choice or nessesity and it requires you to think outside the box, follow certain rules; such as "make do, use it up or do without" – and it requires you to actually take control of your life instead of just merrily floating along. If you do it NOW, you will fare much better than 90% of the people. Just like prepping, consider living frugally a way to be prepared for an economic collapse. Just like prepping, you never know when the benefits will come in handy.

Let’s separate out some of the savings categories so we can focus on the points on group at a time. (I will try t post some of the other categories later this week)
Food Savings:
Coupons and rebate Tips & Changing your shopping habits
If you think you have to spend money to coupon, you are wrong. People get their coupons from many different places.
-I buy two weekend papers a week; it costs me $1.75…I get far more coupons out of that than $1.75.
-You can find coupons on line, just print them out…company sites have them as well as store sites.
-Stores often have machines that will print out some coupons for you at the door.
-You can join a coupon site and print them off their.
-Rebates and extra dollars off can be gotten by joining the store’s “member club”…then you get immediate discounts off your purchases and if you are lucky, you can find one of the stores that has a gas discount as well. I think in most stores, you can get 10 cents off a gallon for each $50 you spend. If you read your store flyer, you will see that they offer extra gas savings for buying certain products, if you use your coupons for those products and your store doubles the coupon, you can find amazing savings.
-Many people get extra coupons and discounts by writing the company. It may cost you 40 cents to mail the letter, but companies will send you sometimes up to $10 in coupons as a thank you!

Some other common tips for saving money when shopping:
-Always AKWAYS, use a list. While you can certainly get extra of a good sale item, sticking to the list is always as sound practice.
-INVEST time and effort in your shopping. Clip those coupons and read the ads…search the store web sites for offers and unadvertised sales. You need to look at regular shopping the way you look for bargains on EBay or Craigs List or yard sale finds. It’s a job…but it can make a big difference in your budget.
-Comparison shop on line! Today, almost every store in your area has a web site. Find it and see what they have going on.
-PLAN your shopping trip route. Visit the stores you are planning on ging to on one side of the street and then at a turn around point go down the other side, visiting those stores. A direct and planned route could save you $5 in gas and an hour in time. A bargain, isn’t a bargain if it costs you more money that the savings to go across town to get it!
-NEVER SHOP HUNGRY
-Don’t shop when rushed or stressed. If you have to, take the kiddies to grandma’s or hire someone to watch them. While this might not always be an option, the better prepared and more planning you do, the easier it will be. When you are rushed or stressed, you miss bargains and end up paying more. Older kids can really get into bargain shopping. Give them a challenge to find this or that and reward their work (using the savings that they found to pay for the reward)
-Always bring a calculator with you! Sometimes, sizes and per ounce pricing and coupon discounts can get confusing. A calculator will help.
-Keep a mini notebook with the items you buy most frequently in it. Mark the best price for the item and where you found it…this gives you a guideline for just how good a bargain is or isn’t. It also lets you keep track of how much prices have increased over time!
-Many folks, guys especially enjoy making a game out of getting the best deals and savings. Encourage the whole family to do that!

Eating Habits – Changing your eating habits is a BIG thing to living frugally!
-Eating out is a SPECIAL treat, no a fact of daily life.
-Home cooked meals are always cheaper unless you can really think you can live off the dollar menu
-Snacks can help curb impulse buying, and make those drive thru’s less attractive. ---Invest in granola bars, dried fruit and other snacks you bring from home. You can buy many of these at the dollar store.
As preppers, we know that having a well stocked pantry saves you money! I read that on average, people buy 20% more stuff than they expect each time they go to the store, having a stockpile of foods and supplies means you don’t need to shop as often.
-Shop no more often than once a week (!) twice a month if you can manage it. This means, no running out for that one ingredient. Change the menu instead!
Flexibility is the key to not shopping more often. Collect recipes from regular people instead of the “foodies” who want you to use all kinds of fancy stuff. Learn to think outside the box and substitute stuff.
-Learn how your grandparents cooked. Food costs should be important down to the penny! If you care about those penny’s you will be more careful with them. So often we say “oh, there’s only a 10cent difference and I like this”…but those dimes add up!
-Instead of fancy cookbooks, I buy those little community cookbooks I find at yard sales or used bookstores.
-Consider eating only seasonal foods…not including what you stock up on or have canned of course. But seasonal foods cost less and are usually local. Don’t buy the grapes from Chili in April, wait and get them in September when they come in from local growers. This means a change in what you eat on a daily basis, less fresh salads (unless you have a way to grow your own), but in all actuality, you and the kiddies won’t get scurvy or rickets from not having a fresh salad several times a week!
-Scratch cooking doesn’t have to be inconvenient!
-Make your own quick mixes! I use the Make-a-Mix cookbook, found on Amazon.
-Make a bunch of meals at the same time and freeze them to bring out on days when you are over tired. My Mom used to take one weekend a month and make 5 scalloped potatoes and freeze them, 5 meatloafs and freeze them. I used to do this once every three months and make a big batch of beef stew and freeze it or meatballs and freeze them in meal sized portions.
-Right now, the tomato harvest is still going on and many folks are feeling over loaded. He is using those tomatoes to make home made tomato soup and canning it. Homemade goodness without the work each time he wants soup.

Recipes-
-Look for older recipe books and recipes.
-Talk to the older folks in the family for recipe ideas, not only will you learn a lot, but they will love sharing their knowledge with you.
-Look for recipe books on line and in used bookstores.
-Read up on Cooking from the Great Depression and cooking from WW2 when they rationed items. Foods that will win the War is a great coking book that is free on line now. It explains how to use grains and lesser quality cuts of meat.
Gardening-
-Gardening is not only a cost efficient way of saving money on the food bill, but it is a great family activity and exercise.
-Gardening builds an appreciation for healthy, wholesome foods. There is nothing like eating a vine ripened tomato that you started from seed!
-A regular garden, if managed right can provide you with $1200 of food a year.
Scavenging-
This does not mean dumpster diving, but it does mean getting to know your area.
-As you drive, notice what is in the yards of your neighbors…perhaps an apple tree they don’t ever getting around to picking from. Offer them a couple of apple pies in exchange for picking it.
-If you take walks on in a park r on a bike path, look t see what is growing there. On of our local bike paths has lots of wild grapes. Perhaps one path has raspberries or blackberries. One of my friends found acorn trees and picks the acorns with his son and grinds flour from it.
-Ask the locals where the blueberry fields are…or any other type of wild fruit patch.
-Invest in a fishing liscence and go fishing! FREE food! Make sure to check the banks to see if there are wild goodies you can pick. One of our local ponds has cranberries growing in it and another is loaded with wild apples.

I hope some of those tips are new to you and will help you in your efforts to save money! Please, takethe time to comment and share any ideas YOU might have on this subject!

Saving Money

2011-10-13T14:35:00.000-04:00

Tonight on the radio show, we will be talking about how to save money in all areas of your life! If you have tips and ideas, join us in chat and share them. If you feel you are doing all you can in this way, maybe you will hear something worth sharing with someone who is going through hard times. There’s bound to be something for everyone tonight!
Shtfradio.com
8p.m. eastern

Beautiful Weekend!

2011-10-10T06:36:00.002-04:00

As many of you know, we are in New England. Last month (September alone) we had about 30" of rain through out the month. The entire summer has been rainy. This didn't make for the best of gardens, but it was "ok", interesting what did well and what didn't. I've never seen tomatoes so water logged that they split their skins! My cabbages did wonderful, where as in previous seasons of normal wet and then dry, they tended to split with a hard rain. However, except for the carrots and some struggling spinach, the garden is done for the year!

Other opportunities can be found for extending my canning, with 5 bushels of apples being found at an orchard as "seconds". $6 a bushel and these are lovely apples! I'll be making apple sauce, apple juice and dried apples for snacks this year. I have some jam and pie filling left, so I'll focus on those items...maybe some fruit roll ups too. I got a new steam juicer, so I'm excited to give that a try.

We've had my son and his wife down to help finish the deck. It's been a project that rain delayed, but they are whipping it right out and it looks like they will get in done in this round of work! We still have a couple of other pressing projects, but the "big bad" ones are pretty much done. It's good to look back and see where you spent your time, money and energy each year...did you make life better? Did you move forward? What will you do different next year?

For us, we've learned so much doing the radio show, researching and listening to guests, that we have many different things to try next year! The garden is going to be expanded again, to make room for more fruit trees and better techniques. We've been collecting glass over the summer and will be putting in a greenhouse next year, and our big purchase will be a backhoe attachment for the tractor. With the storms, we realized how important those drainage ditches are!

So, with things starting to calm down in the garden, what good things did YOU accomplish this year? A major health crisis over come? A new veggie tried? It doesn't matter whether it's a big thing or a small thing as long as you move forward!

This weekend is a gift with all the sun and warmth and we are taking full advantage of it! We got to sit out on the deck last night and ate pizza and had a fire. It was a most beautiful thing even with the guys covered with drips of tar and scraped knuckles and the gals with cricks in out necks and streaks of paint!

Busy weekend ahead!

2011-10-07T08:54:00.002-04:00

We have a stretch of sunny weather ahead, so we've got a BIG work weekend planned. My son and daughter in law are coming down to help. Hopefully, we will get the deck finished, the chicken coop fixed, the back shed propped up, the heat tape on the roof, the garage organized for winter and a TON of other items.

In the meantime, I have to bottle up a batch of elderberry tincture and a crock of kraut that's been fermenting...plus process all the bits of veggies that have been cleaned out of the garden.

Sometimes, I wonder what I would do with my time if we didn't have this place and our life style, but then I remember why we moved here: so we'd have practical and rewarding stuff to do! I think that life is meant to be work...so you can appreciate it!

I have a "master plan" for organizing and it seems like the more I do, the more the family gets on board! Let's hope I can get 'er done and they don't mess it up! (yeah, well, dreams are important!)

Feeling poorly

2011-10-05T09:19:00.002-04:00

I've been under the weather this past week, so not too much to say. I've been treating the symptoms with sinus meds but also trying to boost my immune system with vitamins and elderberry tincture. So far, it hasn't gotten as bad as it could have. I try to take my own advice when I get some health issue and take it easy, but that isn't always as (erg) easy as I'd like it to be!
Luckily (again, erg!) the weather hasn't insisted that I work outside...honestly! How much rain can we get (knocking on wood/hoping Murphy wasn't listening)???
We have only had a light, barely there, frost so far. NOT normal for around here, but this week sounds like that will come to an end. I'd like to feel good enough to gather whatever herbs I haven't gotten to already.
There WILL be a radio show tomorrow night. We'll be talking about planning your food preps around menus and apples!

Winter is coming!

2011-10-02T07:02:00.002-04:00

This week, we'll take a look at winter preparedness issues. Items to help ease your winter are going on sale at most stores, so it's a good time to get them and then you can relax. I hate having to get things like sand and ice and other prep items in the mush, mud and snow!
Obviously we are a large and climate-diverse nation and what works for me, may not be needed for you. Adjust my suggestions to your location, but I can generally only talk about what I do and experience for the most part.

My "List" (isn't there always a LIST?)-
SAND - we deal with slippery conditions and ice is much more environmentally friendly than salt, so we use it whenever possible. We also use sand as weight in the back of our vehicles and it does double duty if we get stuck, giving us traction.
You can get bags of sand at places like Home Depot, but you may also be able to find some at a local sand & gravel place or full service greenhouse. In the car, we keep a tub to hold the sand and in the yard we use a covered trash can. Many folks keep a 50 gallon drum full of sand turned on it's side near a slope or consistently trouble prone area in their drive.
SALT - We DO keep salt as well for our walkway. We have frequently icy spots and sometimes salt is a better option. Sometimes we mix it with sand. This is kept in a covered smaller trash can.
DeIcer windshield fluid - Next time you fill up your windshield wiper fluid, switch to a de-icer type. We find it makes enough of a difference to make it worth while. It's not a big deal, but where we are, it helps.
OTC - over the counter meds are a great thing to stock up on! I can't imagine having to go to the drug store or pharmacy section when I am sick to pick up something to ease my symptoms! Everyone gets sick in some way and they all end up in the isles coughing, hacking, and practically oozing germs all over! It won't go bad over a year, so you can get two instead of one and relax a bit. Plenty of tissues and hand sanitizer are good things to pick up as well. I rely on some herbal remedies and lots of herbal teas when I am sick, but I'm certainly not any different from anyone else when it comes to being sick and not wanting to suffer!
TEA - If you don't make your own, make sure you pick up some herbal teas. Again, they aren't going to go bad in a year, so get the ones you like or that will be helpful and you can snuggle down at the first sign of a cold and make yourself comfortable! Herbal teas are also a good way to help you hydrate and take in the benefits of the herbs. If you like cocoa, pick some of this up as well! Remember that milk products aren't always the best choice when you have a running nose and the dairy can thicken mucus.
HONEY - Before the Farmer's Markets end for the season, pick up some local honey! Honey is a great sweetener for those teas, but it's also great for coughs and sore throats!
Of course, there are a TON of more things you can stock up on to be prepared (and we'll get to them at some point, but this list will get you started! Have a great day (I hope your day isn't as drippy-wet-chilly-foggy as mine is)!

Paul Wheaton will be my guest this week.

2011-09-28T19:48:00.001-04:00

This week we are having a special garden guest. Paul Wheaten will be joining us to discuss Hugelculture. Paul is known as the “permaculture guy” and has a web site, a forum and makes some great You Tube videos. I know we’ll learn a lot from Paul, so join us with your questions! shtfradio.com , Thursdays at 8p.m. eastern time.

For those of you who'd like to check Paul out, his web site is: http://www.richsoil.com/paul-wheaton.jsp
The Hugelculture article is here: http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur
His permaculture forum is: http://www.permies.com/permaculture-forums

His YouTube videos can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/user/paulwheaton12

I hope you'll join us for the show! We will also finish up our talks on National Preparedness Month.

What do you prepare for?

2011-09-25T12:05:00.003-04:00

I think this is a question that everyone has to ask themselves at some point; both those who do not prepare and those who DO prepare. After all, if you do NOT prepare, you have to justify that, at least to yourself and if you DO prepare, you need to know what is most important as far as preps go.
You have lots of choices in "what" you prepare for from a day of power outage to some really tin foil ideas like Zombie Apocalypse. Most folks prepare for something in the middle (which comes as no surprise). We, at our house, have a "most likely" and "could happen" scenario for why we prepare, but in truth, we LIKE a common sense life style where we rely on OURSELVES, and not the government if something happens.

It's been a wild weather year for many folks, so weather issues are probably the most common thing to prepare for. Many places have had weather issues that have resulted in a loss of power for one,two or more weeks. Shortly before, during and after storms, you find that the stores have nothing that you need...panic buyers have bought the water, food, flashlights, batteries and lanterns. If power is out the ATM's and cash registers won't work. Gas stations rarely can pump gas in a power outage and those ice machines you think will provide for your cooler won't be running either.
Economic hardship is another that many folks prepare for. We are seeing inflation at the grocery (and other places) and while you can choose not to by a new TV, it's hard to choose not to eat. Depending on what numbers you read, as many as 20% of the people are unemployed...with more expected. If you have a stock of food and supplies, you can weather economic hardships a lot better. With the stock market as it is, we can't count on investments and our 401k to keep us well fed in the future. Savings accounts have interest so low that it's hard to justify the trip to the bank to put it in the account. What better way to invest your money than in your security. It's not like you plan to stop eating or using toilet paper any time for the rest of your life. If If food prices are going up 20% a year, what you buy now ends up being a HUGE savings for your future!
I find many people think that severe hardships, food lines, a market crash and food shortages can't happen here. "This is America"...well, America is on the brink of something horrible economically. WE could have a crash (frankly, I don't see how it can be avoided). We see pictures of the Great Depression or have heard stories and we think that can't happen again. If YOU think that, then you are CORRECT! This time it will be worse. Just think, 40 million Americans are on the Federal Food Stamp Program. If Food Stamps weren't there, those people would be in food lines, begging or starving. We have these "fail safes" like bank regulations, Wall Street safety nets, Food Stamps, welfare, charity and think they can't disappear. Who pays for those things? WE DO. What happens when WE are out of money? What happens when more of us join the 40 million who are out of work and on Food Stamps and can't pay the taxes that support those programs? They will disappear.
I have friends who firmly believe that if one grocery is closed, there will always be another down the street that is open. This is true, for now. What happens when gas prices rise so much that they cut back on their orders. Right now, almost all stores do not keep inventory. Stock is delivered "just in time", generally every two or three days. Imagine if they only stocked half of what they do now.
Go look in your kitchen and see how many days you could feed your family. Do you have 2 weeks on hand? That's the minimum of time you have to wait to get your unemployment benefits. Do you have 4 weeks on hand? That would be about the wait for food stamps. The next time some one laughs at you storing food and supplies, ask them how much they have on hand. Make them grab the ingredients for 2 weeks worth of meals for their family from their cupboard...
Many preparedness people (known as preppers) never stop. The know they will always eat, so it's a constant thing for them. They rotate their food stores, like a grocery and replace when they find the need. Many feel that a full year is their goal, as they want to be able to eat until a garden is harvested. This makes sense, similar to what our grandparents had to do. It's just common sense! If you are new to prepping, don't let that goal throw you off or discourage you. EVERY prepper has to start with ONE can and ONE roll of toilet paper!
If you aren't preparing but you want to and don't know how, let me know and we can work on a plan for you. If you are preparing, let me know WHY.

Special Guest tonight!

2011-09-22T10:05:00.001-04:00

We have a special radio show this week with a guest appearance by YouTube favorite SouthernPrepper1 (http://www.youtube.com/user/southernprepper1). Not only is Southernperrer1 known for his extremely informative videos, but for his appearance on Doomsday Preppers. Why would a prepper go on national tv? Join us tonight and find out! We’ll be talking about taking your preps to the next level, a year or more. The show is at 8p.m. eastern time, please join us, links are below. Consider joining us in chat so you can ask questions! Chat is on the shtfradio.com page.
http://www.shtfradio.com/
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shtfradio/2011/09/23/food-home-with-hp

All shows are available on archieves, but we hope you will join us and ask questions!

Beyond the basics and other stuff...

2011-09-19T14:45:00.002-04:00

My house smells yummy right now. I picked a lot of herbs in anticipation of the frosts, and I have them drying. Sage, thyme,catnip, oregano, basil,St John's wort, and feverfew right now. I still have a few more to pick and dry, but we'll see how it goes. I'm content with the herbs this year.

In my salute to National Preparedness month, I wanted to mention a few things. We covered the basics last week. If you got a chance to look at the entire Ready.gov site, you would see that for pandemics and major events, they suggest a 3 month supply of food and other needed items, including over the counter meds and a water purifier. One other item they recommend is a generator to provide power. Generators are a vital item in a crisis where the power may not be on in 1-3 days. After that time, it becomes very uncomfortable and you definitely loose everything in the fridge and freezer! We have had our power go out 3 times in the last 8 years for a long enough time to loose all of our food. Each time, except one, we had to go to a hotel. The loss of food was about $1000 each time. The cost of a hotel stay was about $1200...not to mention eating out during that time, so let's say $1500.
$2500 times 3 is $7500. That is a LOT of money. A generator costs about $600 (more or less depending on how big and how it's hooked up). Our newest generator is easy for me to use...I pull a lever and turn a key, go down to the basement and flip a switch. It runs on propane, which doesn't go bad. We purchased 3, 100 pound tanks to go with it and these should last for about 20 days, running about 4 hours twice a day. I runs pretty much the entire house. It cost us less than the cost of what the loss of one freezer of food cost us. We also had it hooked into the house professionally. During Irene, the power went out for 3 days...our generator took care of thing beautifully. It has paid for itself twice in the year and a half we have had it. I urge you all to consider this as one of your major preparedness purchases. We could run the generator for a couple of days, while I cleaned out the freezer and canned or ate the contents, and then run the genny once a day to preform the basics and pump water if we had to, extending the length of time the fuel would last.
There will be no generator when there is an emergency...everyone with half a brain will be running to any store that might have them. I mentioned we had lost power 3 times in the last 8 years for longer than 3 days. That was in three different states with 3 different power companies. It can happen any where. State number one was in the sunny south with a freak ice storm!
I mentioned, in detail, the simple steps we have at our house for starting the generator as well as talking about what we would do to run it for a longer time. This comes from our having a plan and a back up plan. Plans are important...what would you do in such a case as we ran into? The other thing is that everyone in the house can run the generator. This comes from practice. We practice our fire escape plans and our emergency meet up plan, why wouldn't we practice running the generator? Generators should be tested once a month to make sure they are running properly. This is a great time to run a practice to make sure everyone remains up to date on how to run it correctly. I also think it's a great time to have a "family blackout weekend". This means unplugging (not the freezer though!) and using your preps and less power to see what your prep weaknesses are. It also gets everyone used to being in an emergency situation and less fearful if it should happen for real.
Preparedness is for everyone! Give it a try and let me know if you have any questions and how things are going for you.

I love FALL !

2011-09-17T18:55:00.003-04:00

This is my absolutely favorite time of the year! I don't know if it's because it's my birth month or because some of my earliest memories were of my father tossing me into great piles of leaves he had raked up. It has never been any different, no matter where we lived, but New England definetely has other places beat at fall time.
As the garden progressed, we had good results and dissapointing results, but it's a thrill to me to look out and see ripe pumpkins and herbs, red tomatoes and peppers. This week we got our first frost, which entailed certain garden-in-fall rituals. The extra sheets and old table cloths came out, at the ready to cover still ripening veggies. The "weather bug" chirps that a frost is predicted. Corn stalks are up for sale and of course, there's a mad scramble to pick anything that even looks like it's nearing ripeness.
The kitchen and back room are loaded up with baskets of picked veggies, ready for turning into something canned or dried. The kraut I am trying to make is still making bubbles, and stinking away in it's crock. The herbs are drying, either by hanging or in the dehydrator. I'll be putting them in jars or making tinctures with them...this year the new thing is going to be 4 Thieves Vinegar.
Now is the time when the first wood fires are lit, making the smells of fall almost tangible. Next week or the week after I will be getting bushels of apples. "Seconds" from a local farm. This year, these will be turned into more apple sauce, juice (with my new steamer juicer)and dried apples for snacking.

This is what preparedness really is...taking advantage in a common sense manner of the different seasons. Being aware that winter is coming, like an ant storing up food or a chipmunk. It gives you a sense of accomplishment and and comfort that you are secure and safe from many of the dangers we may face.

I'll be writing more on National Preparedness Month later this week, but the day has been so perfectly fall-ish, that I just had to give tribute to it!

Guests and friends...

2011-09-15T10:03:00.000-04:00

This week on the radio show we’ll be having a special guest to talk with us. Kathy Harrison is the author of Just In case: How To Be Self Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens. She has more than 30 years’ experience in food preservation and small scale agriculture. She presents classes and workshops on food all phases of food preservation and preparation both locally and nationally. She and her husband, Bruce, run Barefoot Farm where they raise organic fruits, vegetables and bees. Her books are available at most major retailers or direct form Storey Publishing.
I know Kathy and she really lives what she talks about. We’ll be focusing on 3-6 months of preparedness and beyond. Join us in chat and ask questions!
Shtfradio.com 8:00p.m. easern time!

Life and pickles...

2011-09-11T12:28:00.000-04:00

My daughter in law has never canned or made pickles and she wants to learn, my daughter has done it last year...so we cleaned out what was ripe from the garden and started! We've got two batches of dill beans done and a batch of dill pickles ready to go in, another in the wings. Then we have 7 heads of cabbage to blanch and freeze and half a bushel of tomatoes. Guess both will be a bit more confident when we get done. That's how you learn when it comes to canning and food preservation.

Then I'm off to help another daughter who is getting ACL surgery in the morning. She has 2 kids and a husband who has to work, so I'll lend a hand. I'm hitching a ride with my son and daughter in law who are visiting and a ride home from my youngest who will come up to visit that side of the family.

This Thursday on the radio show, Kathy Harrison who wrote the book "Just in Case" will be joining me as a guest. We will continue saluting National Preparedness Month by going beyond the FEMA reccommendations to 3-6 months and maybe a bit more. Kathy is a homesteader, writer, and prepper. I think we're going to have fun, so join us and throw some questions or comments our way!

The Basics...plus

2011-09-08T16:52:00.000-04:00

On tonight’s radio show: Since school has started and the weather is getting cooler, we are going to discuss how to protect against infectious diseases and prepare for quarantine. We will also be talking about some garden things to do at this time of the year and we’ll be discussing cleanliness, rotation and organization in the prep storage room. September is National Preparedness Month so we’ll visit FEMA and see what they recommend and discuss what YOU can do to spread the message about preparedness. Join us on http://www.shtfradio.com/
We have a great and active chat and you are welcome to call in and join the discussion or ask questions on air 8 p.m. eastern time.

September is National Preparedness month

2011-09-05T09:09:00.003-04:00

Since this is National Preparedness month, I thought I'd push preparedness to those of you who aren't getting prepared yet. I'm sure I'm preaching to the choir for the most part, but it's important to really talk about. I'll be talking a lot about it this month in honor of the "National Preparedness Month" thing!

So, let's answer the first question out of most folks mouth: "what am I supposed to prepare for?". This is quite a good question, after all a person who "gets prepared" needs to justify any time and expense involved. There is also the fact that non preparedness minded folks might laugh at you or roll their eyes (can't have that now can we?)

Simple, basic preparedness is a form of insurance. Insurance to protect you, calm you, ease your way into an emergency of any type. Basic preparedness is also a way to handle minor crisis's without panic. Basic preparedness also is common sense, after all; are you really prepared to bet your life,safety and comfort on the fact that someone will always be there to help you?

I recommend that everyone (even hard core preppers) go to Ready.gov and print out their check list. http://www.ready.gov/
The site is actually quite good and the "kit" list as well as other check lists can be easily downloaded and printed out. I think there may even be a phone ap on there. Once done, if you are so inclined, you are done and can relax, knowing that you won't be stranded without some comfort and supplies, knowing that you have a plan to be able to meet up with your loved ones and knowing you won't be a burden on the authorities and the kindness of strangers.

One doesn't need to "live the preparedness lifestyle" in order to use common sense and protect yourself. There is no "lifestyle" involved in getting a flashlight, water and food for 3 days. There is no "lifestyle" change needed to make a firm plan on where you will meet a loved one in an emergency or making a family member your contact person if cell phones are down in your area.

If you are NOT prepared with at least a 3 day kit and a plan (see web site for those details)please let me know WHY! I look forward to hearing from you. If you ARE prepared, please check over the website (http://www.ready.gov/) and let me know what you would add differently.

Just a reminder...

2011-09-01T14:10:00.000-04:00

This is a reminder about tonight’s radio show on shtfradio.com. We have a player for the show and a great and active chat room! Tonight we’ll be talking about pasta, Jerusalem artichokes and pickles as well as how preparedness has helped some of us during Irene. Hope you can join us!
The show starts at 8 p.m. eastern. Shtfradio.com OR http://www.blogtalkradio.com/profile3.aspx?userurl=shtfradio

Storms over...Lessons learned.

2011-08-30T06:51:00.002-04:00

So, a prepared person rides out a storm and learns that there are always lessons to be learned!
Number One on my list of things to tuck in the back of my head: Habits are hard things to break! I loaded my dish washer and wanted to dry some pants and a shirt for my husband to wear to work...duh! no dish washer and no dryer. It was automatic actions on my part. I was so pleased with myself for keeping things neat and thinking ahead!
Number Two - a generator is loud and annoying while the every day "hum" of your appliances is comforting and soothing. I often wish that we didn't have all this "white noise" during my every day life. When it's gone it means something is wrong. When the generator is growling along in the background, you can't wait for the noise to stop!
Number Three - No matter how prepared you are, and trust me when I say we are prepared, there is always something you wish you had! For me, surprisingly, it is junk food. I don't eat much of it and I'm trying to quit that little bit remaining, but I always want chips when the power goes off. Go figure!
Number Four - we were happy with the results of our efforts to prepare, but practice makes perfect...learn your equipment BEFORE you have to use it. The last run through with the generator showed some issues with a hose which took hours to fix. The first lighting of the Dietz lanterns showed how if everyone had known about certain features, we may not have had a smoking mess when we first used them after the lights went out. Nothing major, just something to note for the future.
Lastly, Number Five - though you prepare, there are some things outside of your control. You can't really prepare for the affects of 10" of rain and high winds. You can protect yourself and the family, make them as comfortable as possible, but you can't avoid all of the issues related to that. I have no control over a ditch over flowing, a driveway washing out or the town road being erased. I CAN affect how we handle that and we did. It was no big deal to be "stuck" at home. We ate, and ate well. We flushed and washed and had light to see at night. That is what preparedness is about...being able to live life, even in a crisis.

I hope all who were in the path of Irene, have fared well. Now to clean up and get ready for the next storm!

Storm update 2.0

2011-08-28T16:17:00.004-04:00

It seems that Irene has headed north now. We started with a clean rain guage at midnight...our total right now is 9 1/2" for the storm. Rain is still falling, but gently now. We are certainly over the worst and hope most others are as well. Some flooding around here with more to come for the next several days. Be safe out there as trees are sure to fall from the saturated soil. I have to say (loudly of course!) that PREPAREDNESS PAYS!

Quick Storm update...

2011-08-28T09:28:00.002-04:00

So far, we have had over 5" of rain. The ground was already saturated. We've some wind gusts of over 40mph, if we get more then we will start loosing trees and power.
Looks like million are out of power up and down the coast and from the sounds of it, there will be millions more. Hope everyone is staying safe and took the time to be prepared!

Hurricane's and finding that preparedness pays...

2011-08-26T09:45:00.003-04:00

This week's hit is hurricane Irene. It's a big one and in unusual fashion, it's headed straight to one of the largest population centers in the country. Since time began, the big population centers have always been located on some sort of water/port, even though it isn't the safest place to be. Transportation and delivery of product is of vital importance to keep a country/city and commerce running. Should we be surprised when at times, those "ports" have a major weather event? Lucky is when they have a year without some kind of issue. NYC has been "lucky" for decades, as has many of the locations along the east coast. In fact, though there have been hurricanes every year, it's been several years since we had a direct hit to the country. I guess "luck" has run out. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean you can hide your head in the sand and expect it to NEVER happen!
So, what can YOU do if you are in the path of Irene? What can you expect is the real question, this will help you prepare better!

For the most part, unless you are right on the water, you can expect high rains and high winds. For us here, we expect between 7-10" of rain and winds up to 50mph. So, I can expect things to blow around (possibly smashing a window if we get a gust) and because of the extreme wet and winds, some trees will blow down. This will knock out power. There will be flooding and some bridges might be damaged and roads washed out.
In general, when a "rain maker" like this storm hits, that's what everyone should count on. There are other "goodies" offered by the storm, but that's a local thing you should keep an eye on.

Here's what to do: Find a place to stay if you live in a low spot. Even if you haven't had much flooding before, this could change that. If you need special services, maybe a local shelter would be best. Ask friends if you can bunk out during the duration if you feel your place isn't safe. At this point, evacuation might not be an option in some locations, and I feel that being in a traffic jam during a hurricane is probably about the worst thing possible! Make sure that several people know where you are!

If you are staying put in your location:
-Find a source for alternate power. A generator, even a rental, can save you thousands of dollars! You may get to the hardware store only to find that a million other people had that thought before you did. So, you will need an alternate lighting, and an alternate cooking source, batteries, flashlights and a weather band emergency radio. A hurricane is over fairly quickly...a couple of days at most, though power could be out for weeks.

-Get food and water! If your are a prepared person, you already have these things. If you aren't or are just learning, then head to the stores...although by now, you probably have to fight the crowds! I'm told many items are selling out. Think outside the box! If you have an oven that is ten years old or less, you probably can't cook in it if the power is out, even if it's gas/propane. I was advised not to even try, though the stove top is good to go once you light it with a match. I also have a grill and a camping stove. Your choices for food should be canned and able to be cooked on top of the stove (think beans and weenies, oatmeal and soups). Be sure that you have water...it won't go bad, so fill all containers you can with water. You'll need a gallon a day per person, plus water for flushing and cleaning.
Again, people are out there right now grabbing cases of water, so hurry and get yours, but don't forget tap water is good too. If power goes out, you may not have water or sewer for a few days (more if a lot of folks get hit with this)

-If you have a basement, make sure you have a pump handy. We make sure to put a large bucket/tub down there with a wringer mop, just in case. Towels and blankets are handy to keep at the ready. In a high wind and rain event, rain can literally blow under the doors and a towel to soak it up can save you money as well as accidental falls.

-Remove all objects from porches,decks, patios and yard. These can become flying missiles in a high wind...don't forget garden art, garden tools and all that stuff.
Secure anything you can't put away.

-Inside, get the family involved in placing flashlights and lanterns or lamps where they are handy. Have them get together a game box to help with boredom. Getting the kids to do this will make it "theirs" and they will be more likely to be happy with it. Everyone should have their most secure shoes (no flip flops) in an easy to grab location (one location is better). Grab a pair of gloves in case glass breaks.
Make up a box of treats if you can, it will make everyone feel a bit better. If YOU don't panic, the kids won't panic!

-Even though you will be sure to be busy, a clean house will make it easier to find things and for people to move around.

-12 hours before the storm hits, crank up the freezer to it's coldest. It might save your freezer food if the power goes out. I also keep some blankets to throw in the freezer to help insulate it when power goes out.

-Use up the leftovers in the fridge!

-After everyone has had a shower or bath, fill the tub with water. This will be handy for flushing and cleaning.

-If you have time, check to make sure there are no lose or low hanging branches that could damage the home or vehicles.

-If possible, put the car in the garage or in a safe spot.

-Give a call to family and let them know what you have done, find out if they need to come to your home (especially elderly)and check with the neighbors. If you are or will be changing locations, let family/friends/neighbors know where you will be as well as how to get hold of you.

-Take a check around the home and yard and then settle in for movies and treats, a game night with the kids or whatever you normally would do.

One last thing...that picture of the storm or debris is NOT worth taking! Stay away from windows and stay indoors!
Good Luck and stay safe!

The motto for any storm should be "BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY!"

another prep item?

2011-08-25T10:49:00.002-04:00

Join us tonight as we discuss a controversial item that may (or may not) be something to consider as a prep item! Hemp and Cannabis are the topic tonight, so join us as we talk about all aspects of this plant. 8p.m. eastern time on shtfradio.com. We can also be found on BlogTalk radio as shtfm.

Why Prepare and for what are we preparing for?

2011-08-23T17:43:00.003-04:00

I was confronted with the news of the earthquake in Virginia by a friend. She was nervous and shaky. I asked what she had done and if they had a plan for escape from her building. She said yes, but she was just nervous now. I told her she should get prepared and she'd be more confident. She asked "prepared for what?"...I replied "anything, earthquakes, fires, hurricanes and storms as well as terror related events". Her reply: "oh, we just don't live that life style".
Life style? I guess being prepared is a life style of sorts; as much as having car insurance and home insurance is a life style. You see, to me, being prepared for the things that trip you up in life, like unemployment, storms and disasters, is like having a giant insurance policy. It just makes sense to me. It's not like people don't think anything can happen (even short term), so why don't they see the need to take care of themselves? Are they just betting that nothing will happen, similar to those who don't get home insurance?
It costs no more than a morning latte to get a flashlight. It takes no more time to pick up 2 boxes of pasta than it does to pick up one. It takes no effort to think of a plan in case of an emergency while you are making your morning commute. Isn't your family's comfort worth the effort?
We prepare for a variety of reasons...primarily storms. However, we are also aware of our county's precarious economic situation. We don't believe that Social Security will be part of our retirement when it comes time for us to retire. Our 401k has taken hit after hit and we are locked into the plan, so retirement is looking kind of bleak. We want to be able to take care of ourselves, so we work towards that. No one can predict when or where the next terror attack will be or if a pandemic might happen. Our electrical grid is weak, an easy target and there is talk of rolling brownouts and black outs as the EPA demands coal fired electric plants go off line (without finding an adequate replacement source for power). I LIKE my life; I don't want to spend time uncomfortable or without the small pleasures that we have worked for...so I prepare. My family is important to me and if I can stop them from going hungry or being uncomfortable by preparing, then that is what I do.
Why do YOU prepare? Why do you NOT?

Another week...

2011-08-18T10:48:00.003-04:00

This week we managed to get most of our wood in the shed, all cut, split and stacked! It's a big accomplishment and a load off my mind. We choose to do most of our heating with wood. It's a ready resource for us, as much of our land is wooded. After 4 years, we are still using mostly only down and damaged trees. If we manage our wood lot responsibly, it should last our life time.
The garden harvest is getting serious and daily there is something to put up. I'm choosing to dehydrate a lot of our vegetables this year. I have plenty canned in the basement "store", so this is good for adding to the long term storage. I'm making sauerkraut this year for the first time, and I see enough cabbages are almost ready for me to do my first batch. I adore cabbage almost any way I can cook it. Last year, I dehydrated a couple of heads and they have been very handy to add to soups.

Join us this week on Thursday, August 18th @ 8p.m. eastern (tonight!). We will discuss “Forever Foods: and storing foods that you can’t grow and how. We’ll also be looking at a recipe, a prep of the week and a plant of the week. For those of you who want to join us in chat, come on over to shtfradio.com!

Thieves Vinegar

2011-08-15T08:45:00.002-04:00

This recipe was used for the so called “Black Death”. The story goes that during the plague, there was a band of thieves who were able to rob people and places without getting ill. When captured, in exchange for a merciful punishment, they told how they managed it.
This is the recipe (or one of them) that the thieves used. It can be taken as a daily tonic; use 1 teaspoon of the vinegar and 1 teaspoon of honey in a glass of water. Alternately, it can be sprayed on a mas as well as surfaces.
The herbs in this have been studied and have been found to have powerful anti-microbial, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties. The vinegar, along with the herbs makes it a good digestive aid.
It’s fairly inexpensive to make, should last a year on the shelf, and the ingredients are easy to find. So consider keeping some of this in your medicine cabinet!
Stock in the following –

1 Gal. glass jar
4 Qt. organic apple cider vinegar
Funnel, non-aluminum
To store finished product: brown, green or cobalt glass bottles

Organic Herbs:
1 oz. clove powder
1 oz. lavender
1 oz. lemon balm
1 oz. oregano
1 oz. rosemary
1 oz sage
1oz. thyme
1-2 bulbs organic garlic, peeled, sliced through, any green (bitter) sprouting removed

Put herbs & garlic in gallon jar; top up with vinegar (it will take ~3 1/2 Qt. ) Cover jar opening with waxed paper and lid, or hold waxed paper in place with tight rubber band. (Vinegar fumes may otherwise corrode metal lid.) Let steep for 6-8 weeks, stirring once a week with a wooden spoon. Pour through strainer into large non-metal bowl or pot. Using non-metal ladle and funnel pour into brown, green or cobalt bottles. (Well-washed olive oil bottles work well.) Store in a cool place, root cellar, or fridge.

Research it yourself, if you wish, it is also called "Four Thieves Vinegar".
I'm not a doctor and don't give medical advice, I am merely sharing a recipe for something that I have found helpful!

Things are getting pretty ugly out there!

2011-08-11T08:45:00.002-04:00

In case you haven't noticed, the economy has had a nasty shake up this past week or so. How is this affecting you personally? It's having a "trickle down" affect on most of us, with high food prices, hogher heating fuel costs and perhaps if you have a 401K or pension, you will see a drastic reduction. It's bad enough that advisors are telling folks to not look at their retirement accounts and, when asked, they tell folks to invest in CASH.

Join us tonight as we talk about things to help you do better at making your food storage work. It all starts with a plan!

Join me Thursday, August 11; as we discuss making candles and raspberry leaf tea as well as our main topic of How much Food, the best method of storing and your goals for food storage. We can be found at shtfradio.com Join us for chat or call in!

Scheduled Prep Maintenence List

2011-08-03T19:24:00.002-04:00

None of us like to do this, most of us think we do an ok job keeping up with it, but regularly scheduled maintenence is an important part of prepping. Make it a family weekend and "get 'er done!".
Prep Maintenance List
Take the time at least once a year to do these maintenance things. It will keep your preps in order and where you need them. After all; you are a “prepper”, you should be prepared. I’ve created this handy “To Do” List with some of the things we do. A list is handy and helps keep you on task. If you set aside one weekend a year to tackle all of these items, it will be over and done with! …until next year. Most of us know these things and actually do them throughout the year, but by taking a weekend to do this on a regularly scheduled basis, it will help the entire family know what and where things are, and honestly, how many of us have said we needed to do this or that and haven’t gotten around to it until it was really needed? This is part of prepping and discipline (also part of prepping). It sucks, but it sure will come in handy!
We find it handy to keep a notebook (for a list of things to get), pen, marker, electrical and duct tape, and a bit of WD40 and sandpaper in a bucket to carry around with us. You might also choose to keep a selection of batteries in with the other items.
Tools:
Gather all tools together, garden, household, or move to the area you keep each in (shed, basement etc)
Inspect for damage, loose handles, splinters/burs, rust, sharpness, worn cords.
Repair as needed. Tip: we keep a bucket of sand with motor oil in it. We clean each garden tool with water and then plunge into the bucket. The sand gets and remaining debris off the tool, removes some rust and sharpens to tool. The oil will keep the tool from rusting.
Make a list of anything you need to replace.
Sharpen any tools that need it, replace any batteries.
Organize, put away or place at the ready all the tools.

Batteries:
This is the time to change ALL of the batteries in the house, especially the smoke detector and CO2 alarm! Clocks, if they run on batteries will benefit from a change.
Connect the rechargeable battery thing you bought (attach it to the wall if you can) and make note of picking up some more rechargables. We all start out doing this, but get sidetracked by a great battery sale.
Consider getting a battery holder with a battery tester attached. Here’s one to check out, but there are many on the market: http://www.amazon.com/ReSource-40-Battery-Rack-Tester/dp/B000O8UB0W

Flashlights:
Gather your flashlights, even the purse and key chain type.
Make sure they all work like they should, make note if they need a new bulb. Change the batteries!
Now, the hard part…put them where they should be! One near each entry, one near the basement or attic, one near each bed, one in the car, bug out bag and so on…if you don’t have enough, put them on the list in the notebook. There is nothing worse than needing a light and it not being there!

Fire Extinguishers: You know the drill!
Test them
Teach the family how to use them and where they are. (it only takes minutes)
Refill them or replace them!
IF you don’t have them, get them!

Water Needs:
Do you have water storage? You need 1 gallon per day per person stored.
Check your stored water, make sure there are no leaks, recycle/change if needed.
Check your outdoor faucets and hoses. Repair/replace as needed.
Check for alternate water sources, gather buckets for hauling if needed.
Clean gutters/downspouts

Lighting/alternate lighting:
Check outdoor lighting and change bulbs (better now than in the middle of winter)
Check lamps and lanterns.
Clean
Trim wicks
Repair as needed
Fill with fuel
Check the candle stash & replace if needed

Alternate heating/energy:
Do a maintenance check on the generator. Change oil if needed, fill with fuel.
Make a step-by-step instruction sheet to post where the family can follow it!
Do a test run of the generator hook up (practice!)

Maintenance on grills and camp stoves
Clean chimney (chimney cleaning kits available at Lowes or Home Depot for about $30)
Clean up the wood stove
Make sure you have a good woodpile/kindling

Check any heaters for wear and tear. Fill with fuel if needed.

Large Equipment:
Do a maintenance on lawn mower/tractor/snow blower.
Check tires
Change oil
Lube
Sharpen blades
(remove batteries if needed)
Cash:
Check your cash on hand stash and add to it. We all try to eep some cash on hand, but all too often we raid it for the paper boy or the Girl Scout cookies.

Bug Out Bags and Car Kits:
Make sure all contents are in good condition and replace anything you have used.

If you divide up the list with the family, this can be a good family activity. Make sure to list anything you need to purchase.

Computer frustrations...

2011-08-03T08:11:00.005-04:00

I am SO not a technically advanced person. I do the best I can, but I'm constantly running into issues. Right now, it's with the forum I affiliate with and Internet Explorer. This means that it's hard for me to get the script done and posted for the radio show. I mentioned last week and will again, that I have changed the day for the radio show to THURSDAY at 8:00p.m.eastern.
The radio show link is: shtfradio.com OR http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shtfradio
Make sure you connect to the correct show! It should be the one that says "HP".

This week we will be talking about 4 Thieves Vinegar and Oil for our recipe of the week, Sumac for our plant of the wee and Ducument packages for the prep of the week. Our main topic will be on organization and maintanence of preps. While this is not all that much fun, it is VERY important and probably more usable than any type of prepping you could do. Please join us, jump on our chat in the shtfradio page and call in if you have a tip or idea to add to the conversation!

Catching up...

2011-07-28T07:30:00.005-04:00

I had to take a few days (ok, a week) off from blogging. Things in the house and garden just got ahead of me and I had to do some catching up. We also had company for a long weekend, which was great fun, but didn't leave time for blogging!
I've changed the day for the radio show as well, to Thursdays, so you can catch the show Thursday nights at 8.p.m. eastern time. shtfradio.com

I wanted to give a review of Abigail Gehrings book. I took some time to read it and got a few others to read it as well. The interview with Abigail and her husband was great! It's always nice to get another point of view. It's hard to find a book that can get you started and take you through the basics of homesteading!
Abigail is the author of The Homesteading Handbook: a back to basics guide, and it was exceptional! I found the pictures helpful, but the research and detail were fantastic. I could pick up this book and have enough knowledge to start a homestead. So many times we are attracted to a wide variety of books for different things, but this book will bring all aspects of homesteading together for you. The book is well organized into sections for each aspect of homesteading. It includes a great section for what many would consider "future projects" like a smokehouse, landscape structures, crafts and alternate energy. This is one book I vigorously recommend as worth being in your library! Look for Abigails Homesteading Handbook and other titles she offers at Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Homesteading-Handbook-Chickens-Generating-Crafting/dp/1616082658/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_1

Homesteading Basics with Abigail Gehring...

2011-07-20T10:08:00.003-04:00

Tonight's radio show is going to have a great guest! Abigail Gehring and her husband Tim, will be joining me for a discussion on Homesteading Basics and to talk about her books. I'm looking forward to this and hope you will join us and ask Abigail questions. We have a call in number and a chat!

I'll also talk about Elderberry for our Plant of the Week and over the counter medicines for the Prep of the Week.

The show starts at 8p.m. eastern time, tonight (Wed. July 20th)on shtfradio.com

I'll be posting a review of her book the next time I blog - hopefully tomorrow!

A bit more detail on Food Preparedness

2011-07-17T17:09:00.003-04:00

As part of planned discussion on getting you all prepared, let's go into some more detail on Food Preparedness.
I have plenty of family and friends who are on a fixed income and storing up food seems impossible to them at times. Playing the coupon game is a viable way to get free or nearly free food into your home. Even if you only save 20% on your food bill, it's a help! Buying your preparedness food only on sale is another way to save. Remember, most of this is food you eat on a regular basis anyways. I combine coupons and sales whenever possible. For example, when pasta is on sale 10 boxes for $10, I try to find coupons for that brand. You can find coupons generally in the Sunday paper inserts. If you are friendly with your neighbors, ask them for theirs! Check the recycling bins to see if there are any in them...save the newspapers, they make great mulch too! Try and find a grocery store that doubles coupons...use the coupons on the sale items and they are practically free! Coupons and sales generally cycle around at least once every three months, so once you have a 2-3 month stock of food in the pantry, you don't have to buy many things EXCEPT when they are on sale and you have a coupon for them!
I also make it a practice to know my grocery stores. I print out their coupon policy and check it for updates/changes. This helps me not make costly and embarrassing mistakes! I also keep a small spiral bound notebook, where I jot down regular prices of items I want to stock, so I know whether something is a great deal. I am always amazed that people don't buy more when there is a great sale. Stores offer these sales to get people into the store, knowing they won't just buy the sale item in most cases. When our store had a sale on tomato products that was buy one/get two free, I took full advantage of it. In fact, since there was a limit of 24 cans, I went back again that week and my daughter went in to buy it also. Even if I hadn't taken advantage of this sale 3 times during the week, I would have gotten 24 cans of sauce for $13. and change. 24 cans of sauce is 3-6 months worth of sauce for us, using it once a week. Hot dogs were on sale with the same buy one/get two free. So for $2.00 (using a 50 cent coupon I doubled) I was able to get 3 meats. The store was also having a bonus sale, where if you bought 2 packs of hot dogs, you got a pack of hot dog buns FREE.
Don't be afraid of going to "odd" stores to stretch your dollar. I go to discount grocery stores for lots of my shopping, even though I can't use coupons and have to bring my own bags because some prices are reliably cheaper. I also make sure to check Dollar Tree when I go into town. They have a nice sized food section and the food is not old or out of date. I found full sized cans of pie filling of a national brand for $1, at all other stores, the cheapest I could find it was $2. I also, now I have a food storage system in place, will focus on one item a week (or every two weeks)...choosing to find the best price/sale or coupon and fully stock up on an item. This can be fun because it looks like you got a lot, even on a budget!
One of the best ways to save money is with pharmacy "extra bucks". Both Rite Aid and CVS (perhaps Walgreens also) have "members only" instant rebates or "register bucks" types of things. You go through the check out and on your receipt will be dollars off your next purchase. The trick with this is to divide your purchase into two parts, getting the coupons with the first purchase and then using it on the second purchase. I have seen a friend do this and pay absolutely nothing for almost $300 worth of products. You can use manufactures coupons and rebates at the same time to get these savings. Some stores offer cash rebates instantly for listening to advertisers on their site. Most companies and stores have special coupons on their web sites that you can print off too. Take advantage of all of these offers and the savings not only add up, but you food pantry will start to build up as well.
Don't forget to use that two week menu we talked about in the previous post. Take it and break it down into ingredients and keep that list with you all the time so you can take advantage of specials sales you come accross. It's not hard, it doesn't take a huge amount of time and the savings are well worth a little planning. Many established preppers (preparedness people) keep a spread sheet on their computer, so they know how much they spend, how much they have and the best place to buy. Make preparedness a daily effort.
Being prepared comes in handy when a check fails to come through or you are suddenly unemployed. It's saved me when storms hit and I can't get out. It's a common sense approach to life. Please feel free to make comments or ask questions!

The Basics

2011-07-14T07:47:00.004-04:00

The Basics are what you need to have when you start. Water, Food and a way to keep warm and sheltered in an emergency. It all starts with a plan and knowing what your most likely emergency will be.
Do you believe that we are headed for a long term economic crisis, such as a Depression? Do you believe the recent weather pattern is going to create havoc for you locally? Do you believe you are in a location where a terror attack might occur?
In all those scenarios, Food, water and shelter are primary concerns.
Set a goal...3 months of food set back, a way to collect/purify or store water, and a way to secure your shelter and provide heat, light and sanitary needs (also known as "the potty"). Now get your paper and start a list!

Water: if you are on city water, it may not run if services are shut down. You will need access to 1 gallon of water, per day, per person. This can either be stored or procured. We have a well, but it needs electricity to run the pump. We solved this with a generator, but we also have some stored. I use cleaned out 2 liter soda bottles and juice containers for this, plus I have several cases of bottled water stored. I get these ONLY when they are on sale. We have several filter pitchers as well and some special filter straws I got at camping stores. We also installed gutters will a flex downspout so we can gather rain water if needed. Many localities have a local spring, where people can fill their own water containers, so it would pay to know where these are. All water can be treated and/or filters if needed. Remember to have enough water for sanitary needs as well as for drinking and cooking.
Shelter:If you are reading this, you most likely have a home or apartment. You will need to make sure that it is secure and can be lived in during the emergency. For the sake of this article, we will focus on the livability of your shelter and not the security at this time.
In order for your shelter to be livable, you must be able to maintain a level of heat (in some areas of the country, cooling is just as important, but we'll focus on heat right now). In order to have heat when the power is out, you need to find an alternate source other than your home furnace. This can be wood, kerosene heaters,
or other means. This is a big and sometimes expensive issue for many people, so you have to plan in advance. Many alternate heat sources need electricity. Wood pellet stoves for example, while being compact, easy to run and install and the fuel is widely available and simple to stock, need electricity to run the fan. Kerosene heaters need no electric to run, but folks need to understand COMPLETELY, how to run them and the dangers of running them. You will also need to store fuel for your heater (outside). The goal with heating is not to make it as if you have a furnace, merely to provide sufficient warmth for living and to prevent your pipes from freezing. You can block off unheated rooms, put on extra clothing, but plan now for what you will do...I can promise that if a local emergency strikes, you won't be able to run to the store to find what you need at that point. Many folks invest in a generator for running the basics in their home. Generators take money to buy, but before you decide against the expense, consider that a $700 generator is only the cost of a full freezer and fridge worth of spoiled food, it's less than the cost of a 4 day stay at a hotel and eating out during that time. Our generator has paid for itself many times over.
Before you choose a generator, do your research and ask around. Can all of the adults (and near adults) in the house actually run it? We had one generator that no one but my husband could run...the pull was way to hard and filling it with fuel was an issue because of it's location (too high). Properly hooking it up to the house is important, as is adequate ventilation. MANY people get over come by the fumes when running these things improperly. If you plan to hook it to your whole house, it requires and electrician or someone who really knows what they are doing to install that. Many folks just run extension cords to it, but be sure you are managing the load properly. It's a TOOL and you need to take the time to learn how to operate it! A generator, with an adequate amount of fuel storage, will make life much more comfortable in your shelter! Many times, generators can be found on Craigs list of EBay. We chose a propane generator since it's a fuel that can be stored for a long time without worry, and it has a push button start. We can all use it easily and since my husband is an electrician, he has a switch over so the important things run on it when the power goes out. I think we paid about $700 for it. It has already made one outage more comfortable and saved a freezer load of food. We test run it every single month to make sure there are no problems and we have enough propane to run it for about 3 months. Yes, it was an investment, but we've had to leave our home in such emergencies and found the cost associated and the stress-free aspect was very much worth the cost and set up.

Food:For our three month portion of our food storage, we use a plan called "store what you eat and eat what you store". This is so simple it will make you say "duh!". In a nutshell, you keep buying food (with coupons and on sale), until you have 3 months of food that you normally eat stored in your pantry. Make a 2 week menu of what you might normally eat and build on that...you will eat this food daily and replace it each week so that the level remains the same at all times. You put the latest purchase in the back and pull the items forward as used, just like a grocery store. As you progress, you will learn about long term storage, but for now just build a 3 month supply of regular foods. You also should not worry over much about "expiration" dates. The food does not really "expire" on that date. Most canned veg and other products which are properly stored (another post on that in the future) will last years past the "date". However, the best part of a plan like this, is that since you are regularly eating these items and replacing them as you go, they shouldn't ever be "expired".
When choosing your food, try to get products that can be cooked on the stove top, as most ovens won't work in an outage. Try to have plenty of snacks on hand and items like canned fruit to fill the need for sweets. Speaking of stove tops, check out the camping section of stores to find stove top percolators! Your electric coffee maker won't be working. Many folks also put back a jar or two of instant coffee to get them thrugh emergencies, as well as instant creamer. When making your menu, try to be flexible! The family CAN live without a fresh salad or special items.

So, that's the basics of being prepared. There are many considerations and ideas available, but by following the above guidelines, you and your family will be able to make it thrugh in relative comfort for most situations. We'll keep exploring this topic in more detail, but this should get you started; now you just need to DO IT!

Radio Show Tonight!

2011-07-13T16:56:00.003-04:00

This week, our show will look at common Mullein for its medicinal properties, share recipe for a special ice cream topping to can and recommend Rice for the prep of the week. Our main topic will be extending your garden, succession planting and cold weather crops.
Join us in chat or with our call in line! Wednesday 8p.m. eastern on
shtfradio.com.

A new trend...who, what, and why.

2011-07-08T07:22:00.006-04:00

I've never been the "cool kid", but now I have a shot at it! (woohoo?)
It seems that preparedness is becoming a new trend. Prepping is catching on, which makes no sense to me, since I consider it the ultimate in common sense and that means that at some point, common sense was NOT cool. (eyes crossed over this one)
FEMA has made many reccommendations over the years and if you sit and talk with them, they will tell you that the best thing you can do is have water, food and supplies plus a generator and fuel for 3 months. If you have that, they genuinely believe you can handle almost anything that comes your way. They also said that in a crisis, their job would be much simpler and more helpful to everyone, if everyone had supplies like that. We tend to think of FEMA as a national group, and technically, it is, but every state has their own version of FEMA. It is the state group that does the work of coordination in a disaster in your location. In our state, several years ago, we had a huge ice storm. Many folks were out of power for a week to 10 days...we went 14 days. There was a heck of a lot of work for them to do getting everyone up and running, clearing roads and helping people who weren't prepared. Immediately following the ice storm, there was a blizzard that spent most of it's energy in one county of the state, shutting down roads, over whelming road crews and again, downing power lines. Our state FEMA (MEMA) was overwhelmed. They said they were at their absolute limit of what they could do.
When two storms can overwhelm a huge state agency, why wouldn't folks consider being able to help themselves? Three months of food, water and a generator. That's all it takes to make sure your family is safe, comfortable and able to function. ok...that and a plan.
People frequently have a fire escape plan, so why not an emergency plan? You are more likely to loose power for a day or two or be trapped at home by a storm than you are to have a home fire in your lifetime. Fortunetely, due to a large network of preppers and FEMA's own education plan, anyone can learn how to take care of their family during any emergency. Being prepared is now becoming the cool thing to do! Although, I'm sure that fear of unemployment and a possible economic collapse has something to do with that.
It doesn't matter at all, what the reasons are that you prepare, only that you do prepare! Have a plan, make lists, gather your supplies and get the family together and practice that plan! Over the next month or so, I'm going to be posting ideas to help you with this in detail. I know, it's SUMMER! and no one wants to think about a harsh winter or hurricane season, but it happens no matter how you try to ignore it! So, get ready...we'll make a plan, find the supplies you need and find ways to practice that plan.

Sharing common sense...

2011-06-29T10:20:00.004-04:00

I talk some about preparedness and part of my goal is to share information that can help you through life's emergencies. I also do this each week with my weekly radio show. All episodes are archived so you don't have to listen at the appointed time. The thing is though, that by joining us at the scheduled time, you can participate in the on line chat and share YOUR ideas and ask questions! Consider joining us each week on Wednesdays, for a conversational discussion about preparedness for the home.
Wednesday on Home, Food and Garden Preparedness with HP we will explore how we will accomplish daily chores without a constant supply of electricity and some tools that might help. Open discussion on what could cause that situation. Join us in chat for a lively discussion! We will also be discussing Cucumbers, share a recipe of the week and talk about diatomaceous earth as a prep.
shtfradio.com 8p.m. eastern time

What makes a friend, a friend?

2011-06-27T17:40:00.003-04:00

When I was in third grade, my family moved to northeastern Vermont to stay with my grandma. We were there for about a year, maybe a year and a half before my Dad found a job and we moved away again. I went to school in a one room school house and there were three other grades in with ours. My brother was in first grade and I'd look over at him from time to time, past the second graders. In the second grade, there was a little girl with big round eyes and long long hair. She would look at me and roll her eyes. I'd never seen anyone do that...where I had lived, we went to a well controlled British school and no one dared to do things like that! LOL
I learned that she was the daughter of a life long friend of my Dad's, one he had grown up with and played with on trips to visit his grandma. We became friends, but not close until we moved back for good when I was a teenager. She became my BEST friend (forever). Except for the fact that there weren't a lot of kids, it being a small town, and that our families had known each other forever, we didn't have much in common. That didn't mean we couldn't be friends! We started smoking together, we picked our boyfriends together (best friends, of course!) and we got in much mischief together. We also fought like cats and dogs at times. When I married and had kids, she was my son's Godmother and when she married, I was here maid of honor. We gave each other wedding and baby showers. I moved away to the big city for a while and wrote booklet type letters on how the grass is NOT greener on the other side and she'd be much smarter than me if she stayed home to live.
We went our separate ways, mostly after each of us divorced the best friend guys and didn't see much of each other. We'd meet once in a while, every few years and have a great time, it was like we'd never gone different ways but had seen each other just a few days before. I loved her. She was the sister-of-my-heart and a really cool person. We clicked, we always did.
Man, the times we had! We were country girls (even though my mother hated that I was) and we enjoyed every single minute of it! We spent summers helping the guys get in hay so that on Saturday nights they could borrow the tractor and hay wagon and put on a hay ride. We would camp out in the field near her house, get up, go haying and cook beans and weenies and fall into our sleeping bags and get up and do it the next day....until our mothers refused to let us in the house because we smelled so bad! They met us at the door and handed us towels and soap and directed us to the river to get the bulk of the dirt and stink off us so we could come home and take a proper bath. Her family was part Native American (we called it "Injun'" back then) and she knew all the cool Injun ways to make sure our hair got cut right and stayed straight and long (not sure I remember, but it had something to do with a frog and a tree stump with water in the full moon - like I said, she was cool! lol). We had our first real drinks together...way before we should have! There are some who say "a real friend helps you hide the bodies"...she was a real friend (and no, we didn't have any bodies to hide!).
About 6 weeks ago, she went to the doctors' because she wasn't feeling well. She'd had a bug all winter. They checked her out and then checked her in. She was riddled with cancer. Today, after a valiant attempt to stave off her death until her youngest son got married, she passed away. Rest in peace my friend, rest in peace...

Tonights Radio Show...

2011-06-22T08:46:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday's radio show with HP we will talk about onions, hydrogen peroxide, learn about making and canning our own homemade juices and talk about some homesteading topics. 8 p.m. easter time.
shtfradio.com
Join us for chat or call in and share your thoughts on homesteading!

Stuff that makes you sure you want to make it yourself!

2011-06-16T19:46:00.003-04:00

Last nights radio show was FANTASTIC! If you want to listen, go to the show site and listen to the archive. The gent who was my guest talked about the benefits of raising goats for your dairy needs. Convinced me! I think to be sure it's something we want to do, we will be visiting a local goat dairy and sampling the cheeses, milk and butter that they make.
Today I hear, from a friends blog, the commercial bread uses dough enhancer...something that I knew. What I didn't know was that commercial dough enhancer contains human hair (from China)...I'll never look at my bread the same. I love my homemade bread, but my space makes it inconvenient to make all the time, so I rely on store bought stuff. I guess it's time to rearrange stuff around in the kitchen area to make it easier to do. I'm sure the amount is fairly small, but the ick factor is very high on this one!
As picky as the government is about wholesome stuff like raw milk, makes you wonder why things like this are ok. Did you know that manufacturers are allowed a certain percentage of ingredients to be fillers that have nothing to do with food? Why am I paying for food that has non food in it? Blah...just extremely disgusting to me.
Good news today was that Congress voted to end corn subsidies for ethanol! Corn is a vital ingredient in many of the foods we eat, not to mention feed for the meat animals. Unfortunately, I'll bet it doesn't bring the price of either gas or food down! lol
A friend of mine preorders her fuel to take advantage of a discount. Last year it cost her $3500...this year the price is $5000! How can folks pay increases like that? I know a number of people who will be cold next winter with prices like that. It will be a choice between heat or eat. Now is the time folks to start a pantry if you haven't already! It's not to late to do a garden either! Plenty of garden centers still have plants. Prepare while you can, looks like things are going to get tough real soon.

Wednesday's show - we're talking goats!

2011-06-14T21:02:00.001-04:00

This week’s radio show with HP will include a look at cabbage, baking soda and making Biltong. We will also be having a guest who will share his experiences and answer questions on raising goats . Join us at 8p.m., eastern time on shtfradio.com! We have an active chat room and will be happy to take questions or comments on our call in line.

That's shtfradio.com

Working with the bees!

2011-06-13T19:08:00.000-04:00

2011-06-12T21:03:00.004-04:00

The garden is coming along very well, though this weekend has brought more rain and it's making the weeds grow way too fast for my comfort! I guess pulling weeds is a better choice than a drought. I found myself short of cabbage seedlings that I had started myself, so I picked up a few flats...going to a greenhouse is hazardous to the wallet around here! We also picked up some gooseberries, some french tarragon and a beautiful wisteria and some chrysanthemums. We have an ugly spot near the drive with a guy wire and a troublesome scrubby patch and I plan to make a tire garden with the wisteria growing up the guy wire. I like using tires to plant things in...my soil isn't as great as I'd like it to be (YET)and the tires give me flexibility, plus it keeps them out of the landfill.
We've discovered a new visitor to our place...a Baltimore Oriel. We discovered it cruising the hummingbird feeder by the kitchen door and repeatedly trying to test the glass. I'm not sure why,since we have panels up to prevent birds from smashing into the glass. It's a lovely little bird though! I love seeing all the new species of birds that have started coming around the last few years. We don't feed them, we encourage them naturally with plants that they can feed from. I discovered a small next of eggs in my ornamental grass the other day! We had a robin nest outside of our bedroom window and watched as the nest was built, eggs laid, hatched and all three survived to fly away. It's peaceful and lovely here this time of the year. Almost makes it worth while when there are blizzards dropping several feet of snow at a time. But, as usual, that's far away and far from memory.
Nothing to really harvest as yet, but each day, the strawberries get bigger and closer to ripening. I've started more beds so I can refresh the old after harvest this year. Amazing how quickly they grow! I'm hoping for enough to have some for drying this year...last year I made a lot of strawberry jam and froze most of the rest for a treat during the winter. Yummy!

kicking my bum...

2011-06-08T09:47:00.002-04:00

I had a simple question that I needed to research for tonights show and it's never as simple as it seems. It's kicking my bum!!!
Join us tonight at 8 eastern as we discuss Oregano, making flavored vinegars, paper goods and other items that will keep your home running smoothly in an emergency. We welcome guests in chat or by calling in for questions and comments!
shtfradio.com

Garden mussings

2011-06-04T21:15:00.002-04:00

I worked in the front cottage garden the other day and planted a lot of herb seedlings I had started. Dang if someone didn't let out the chickens and they thought I'd prepared the dirt for their afternoon dirt bath...dug up most of the seedlings and tossed them away.
We got the tomatoes all in, we normally use wire cages, but I've never been happy with that...this year we are going to use stakes at the end of the bed with wire and tie the tomatoes to it. Hopefully we'll be happier with that. I love to try experiments in the garden! Sometimes it works and some times it doesn't.

So, we still have some planting to do but so far we've got"
tomatoes (about 24)
cabbages (12)
brocolli (24)
turnip
spinach
radishes
red deer tongue lettuce
green beans (about 150')
onions
garlic
sweet peppers

still have cucumbers, hot peppers, squash, pumpkin, more beans and cabbage and a repeat of the radishes and lettuce. Who knows what else I'll find when I try to replace the herbs.
The strawberries are doing well with little green berries waiting to ripen. The aspeagus has gone by and some stalks are 4 feet tall! This is their first year for picking and I've never grown them, so it was interesting to see how fast they grow.
The raspberries even have little buds all over them. I'm pleased with the way the place is growing, wish I was working faster on things myself, but it'll all get done!
Gotta love spring!

Some handy items to keep on hand...

2011-06-02T19:26:00.005-04:00

As many of you know, I do a small radio show on BlogTalk radio each week. Most of my shows are based on questions from listeners and various forums I'm on. I research all of the topics in varius ways and I learn so much! I'm the kind of person who really enjoys learning "stuff". I'm not a scholar, not particularly well educated (some college and several certificates), but I like learning; especially if it has a practical use. I usually also love bargains and saving money and of course, because I am a prepper, I like to find things that I can do or make myself.
So, the point to this is that I was researching items that I felt you should have in a home that are practical and useful and will help you have less reliance on the stores. Imagine the excitement I had when I learned that none of these items really has an "expiration date" and are readily available and inexpensive to!
The first item is White Vinegar. I pay about $1.89 for a gallon of this, it comes in a plastic jug and if unopened, it has no expiration. I learned a lot from checking out this site: http://www.versatilevinegar.org/ (also known as The Vinegar Institute) On a side note, almost all items seem to have some kind of a web site dedicated to them! White vinegar is a staple product if you preserve, but it's also an environmentally friendly cleaner for the home. It has mild antiviral or antiseptic properties and also has several medicinal uses as well. Because we use it in many ways, we kept track of how much we used last year and found we used about 7 gallons. That's a bit over $13, and not only did we make batches of pickles and salad dressings, it replaced glass cleaner, fabric softener and that no-spot stuff you put in that little hole in the dish washer. This year, it will also be part of weed control, a hair conditioner and a insect repellant.
The next product I reccommend you keep on hand, in bulk, is baking soda. Baking soda has uses in cooking, but we also know it as being a great deoderizer. I found a wealth of information on the many uses of baking soda at the Arm & Hammer site: http://www.armandhammer.com/PDF/AnH_Solutions.pdf
It's cheap, easy to store and lasts forever. Clean with it, refresh your home with it, cook with it, and soften a bath with it.
While learning the ins and outs of making your own home products, I couldn't ignore the homemade laundry soap. The ingredients were simple, and it turns out that both main ingredients are very practical for many things as well! So, I picked one of the many laundry soap recipes and made a big batch and have been testing it. We are very happy with it and find that the two gallons of laundry soap I made, cost about $4.00 to make. I use 1/4 cup per load and it gives laundry a nice fresh, clean smell. Here is the recipe we used:
2 cups of grated soap (Fels Naptha prefered)
2 cups of Borax
2 cups of Washing Soda
4 cups of water, boiling, to melt the soap in (stir until melted)
In a large clean bucket, add 2 gallons of water, the borax and washing soda (I used hot tap water) and stir until disolved and add the soapy water, mix well. Cover and add 1/4c per load, shaking before using as it gets a bit gloppy. We put it in previously used and saved laundry soap containers.

This week, we are going to make dish washer detergent and we'll be using:
1 part borax
1 part baking soda and
1 part water...plus a drop or two of lemon or orange essential oil per cup of detergent. You use 2 or 3 Tablespoons of this in your dishwasher. Don't forget to use vinegar in your rinse agent cup.

So, just those two recipes showed me that Borax is an ingredient to keep on hand. Again, it's inexpensive and keeps for ever. I found a lot of uses for Borax at this site: http://www.20muleteamlaundry.com/ Lots of uses for this product!
The washing soda, it also from Arm & Hammer and I found out just some of it's uses here: http://www.care2.com/greenliving/the-wonders-of-washing-soda.html

So these are just four products that I suggest you consider keeping on hand and really putting to use in your home! A bit of research on them taught me how they are made or produced and some of the really odd things they can be used for (like cleaning skulls in taxidermy or in making glass for a couple of them) and was lots of fun. Give the recipes a try and save a TON of money, help the environment and start relying less on the stores!

So, you want to be prepared?

2011-05-27T16:54:00.002-04:00

This is a refresher for those who have started the journey in preparedness as well as a primer for those who are just starting or considering it.

So; you want to be prepared?
Many folks are waking up to the fact that things aren’t going well in our country economically. High unemployment, rising prices, a housing bubble crash and the seemingly constant erosion of our freedoms and just some of the reasons that people are wanting to become prepared to surivive whatever life throws our way. Perhaps you believe in Peak Oil or Global Warming, perhaps you believe that the Pacific Rim is waking up and may create more major earthquakes. It doesn’t matter what you believe might happen, all that matters is that the blinders of the “everything is all right syndrome” have fallen off. You needn’t change your religion (or even get one) and you don’t need to change your political affiliation. What you do need is the ability to open your eyes and use common sense.
As you enter the world of becoming prepared, you may think you are being paranoid, that people will call you nuts. You may even be afraid that you will end up in camaflage clothing in a subterranean wilderness shelter living off spam whilst petting your million rounds of ammo in order to survive. Cheer up… you won’t have to choose from dessert or woodland cammo and never a can of spam has to enter your home! What I can promise you though is that you will feel peace of mind, find satisfaction in what you do and gain an independence that you never thought nessesary.
According to the Free Dictionary, preparedness [prɪˈpɛərɪdnɪs]
n
the state of being prepared or ready, esp militarily ready for war
preparedly adv

I know, I promised you wouldn’t have to wear cammo! In this case, the war that you are preparing for is the war for your dollar, the war for your life style and the war for your safety. We are being bombarded at every turn by people and things that want to take our money, change our lifestyle and that threaten our safety. Regardless of your political leanings, one must admit that government spending is out of control and it looks like they have “kicked the can” about as far as they can and now it’s time to start paying for all that spending. In our homes, when our debt becomes to high, we have to control our spending, government must do this as well. After all, where does the government get it’s money from? It gets it from you! I’m sure you think they get plenty of taxes from you already, but in order to pay the bills and commitments they have, they either have to tax you more or change their spending habits. If they continue to go on as they are, we could find ourselves taxed up to 90% of our incomes. Perhaps parts and pieces of our country will be sold to foreign interests to make a few bucks. When a country isn’t stable, world banks react by lowering their credit rating which raises the interest on the money they have borrowed and that, in turn, raises the payments they must make to their creditors. Severe cut backs will affect every American with a loss of services and cities, counties and states raising taxes and fees.
Eventually, wthout care, there could be an economic collapse, resulting in another Great Depression or worse. Luckily, learning preparedness, making a plan and implementing that plan can help ease you and your family through such a crisis.
Perhaps your favored crisis theory is a major natural disaster. Changes are definitely happening around the world! Who would have thought we would have not one, not two, not even three but more of the worlds worst earth quakes happen in the last 3 years? Who would have thought that there would be tsunami’s taking out thousands and thousands of people in the last several years? Who would have thought that entire towns would disappear into piles of tooth picks week after week in just one storm season? To top off all this pleasant news, while watching the damage on the news, they helpfully inform you that “the New Madrid Fault” or “Yellowstone Cauldera” is “due to go at any time! Flip the channel and find that the world is running out of oil, coal is dirty and nuclear energy is dangerous. Flip again and you will find that terrorists hate us and have us in their cross hairs and could cause enough damage to shut down our “grid”. Name your poison on what you need to prepare for! Practically speaking, many prepared people have a saying: Prepare for the worst and hope for the best!
Regardless of the crisis, all emergencies require that you need several things: Water, Food and Shelter. Oh yes, there is more you need, but with these three things, you can survive almost anything! Many other wise intelligent people firmly believe that our government will save us. May I suggest that you ask the folks who thought that while heading to the Super Dome in New Orleans when Katrina was coming how that worked out for them. In a large scale crisis, our emergency sytems will quickly be over whelmed. I read an article from a medic in the LA area who stated that if “the big one” hit, it could be easily 10 days before they could even get any type of supplies into the area. FEMA has only so many people it can take care of in most situations, so what makes you think you would be on the top of the list? I have heard people say that they know that the stores near them have plenty of food and if one runs out there is another just down the road. Many folks are now aware that most stores, pharmacies and gas stations have what is called “just in time delivery” systems. They only keep about 3 days f stock in their stores. If something happened to the transportation system, these deliveries would be interrupted. What could interrupt them”? A major storm, the grid going down (no pumps for the gas), a terror event an earthquake and last, but not least, civil unrest (yes, rioters block roads and dodging fire bombs is a tricky thing for a fuel carrier truck).
What does this mean to you? It means that you can at the very least, save your family some discomfort by preparing for many events. Why did we just cover all this when you may have known most of it? Remember way back at the beginning when I said you may be feeling a bit paranoid and people may call you nuts? Wel, by reviewing these things in depth, you can feel confident that you are not paranoid nor are you nuts. Your gut is telling you to “do something!!!”. Knowing why is just one step to doing something and sticking to it. Its all part of the planning process to make your conviction on preparedness work.
So, now you are clear on what can happen and that you need to prepare. How do you start? Jim, the guy on line, told you that you need to get a Berkey. Mike, your boss told you that you have to order the “ready to go one year for a family of four” freeze dried food kit. The lady down the road who gardens says you need to dig up your lawn and stock up on chinese herbs. Who do you listen to and what do you do first? Remember at the beginning I told you that you need three things to survive? Water, Food and Shelter. You can read, research, learn and talk things out about the rest while you are taking care of those three.
Here are some suggestions and things to think about:
WATER - if, for whatever reason, the grid goes down, chances are you will loose your water source. If you are on a city/town water system, loss of power (ie:grid down) will stop the pumps that bring it into the house as well as bring waste water out of the house. We won’t mention possible ways water can be contaminated (yet), worry about one thing at a time. Experts say that a person needs about a gallon of water a day, plus you will need water for washing/cleaning and for “flushing” (if possible). FEMA suggests that you have at least 2 weeks worth of potable (drinkable) water at all times in storage and three months is better. Water is fairly cheap right now, so put some cases of bottled water in storage as well as several food safe barrels of water. Consider getting a good water filter system that is a table top unit, not a whole house unit (remember that electric issue). There are many good filters out on the market that can help make sure the water is fit to drink, but you do have to have the water first. Look around, is there a fast running brook? Do you have a way to haul water from it to your home? Does it rain regularly in your area so that you can gather water from your roof? If not, then you will need to store it. Remember; one gallon per day per person plus water for cooking and washing.
FOOD - There are all kinds of prepackaged foods on the market for those who want to be prepared. However, for my 3 month supply, I store what I normally eat and rotate that like a grocery store would (put the new stuff at the back of the shelf). It is easy to take advantage of sales (buy 10/$10) to get this supply built up. Remember to get foods that do not require refrigeration and that can be easily cooked on a stove top, bbq or camp stove (remember that power is likely to be off) and don’t forget snacks, treats and drinks! Comfort foods during a crisis can help the entire family be more relaxed and adapt quicker. Yes, I’m sure you have heard the term “long term food storage” and Joe from online told you that you need wheat, beans and rice, but we are trying to get you started, not give you an advanced course in long term survival!
SHELTER – You and your family will need to be able to stay dry,warm/cool and safe for the duration of whatever crisis has occurred. If your home is standing (not reduced to rubble by a natural disaster), than assess it’s safety. Can you heat/cool it? Can you keep the family safe from looters? Can you preform the tasks nessesary for living (cooking,sleeping,potty) in relative comfort and safety? Remember, with the electricity off, most folks have an issue with one or more of these things. Heat can be solved by getting a heater and fuel for said heater and learning how to use it properly. Cooking can be taken care of by having some camping equipment on hand. Potty might be a tough one, but there are special bags and sanitizers you can get for temporary potty problems (camping stores are great for this). Many folks have a generator to help them remain in their home if the crisis lasts for more than a day or two. You can get generators at most large hardware stores for well under $1000 and many times you can pick one up for under $500. Don’t forget to get and store the fuel needed for the generator. If you think that between $500 - $1000 is a lot of money to invest, consider that one complete loss of your freezer and refrigerator contents can easily cost that much. A one week stay at a hotel (which will be hard to find in a crisis) with your family will cost that much.
Of course, there are other things you will want, such as candles/light source, portable radio, even protection, but the above is the primary focus when you are getting started. Make a list, involve the family and create a plan. Pretty soon, you will be prepared for most emergencies!

Radio Show tonight!

2011-05-25T08:41:00.001-04:00

Join me tonight (Wednesday) for a fun and interesting show! We’ll be talking about all kinds of things that are important to preparedness for the home and garden. We’ll touch on herbs, homemade products, gardening and the weather!
8p.m. eastern time. We have a great chat and a call in number so you can contribute comments and questions!
http://www.shtfmradio.com/

Reminder for tonights Radio Show

2011-05-18T09:31:00.000-04:00

Radio show tonight! 8 p.m. eastern. http://www.shtfmradio.com/
Tonight we will be answering some viewer questions about vinegar, saving seeds, what to do until the garden starts producing and then we’ll have a segment on how to deal with non preppers, finding the money to prep and storage for your preps., If you go to the shtfm radio site: http://www.shtfmradio.com/ you can join us in chat, or feel free to call in with your questions, comments are tips!. You can also listen through BlogTalk Radio: but we don’t use their chat as it has so many ads that many can’t get it to work reliably.
Hope to see you there!
HP/Emily

Big Doing's at our house...

2011-05-16T09:40:00.002-04:00

First, our son is visiting us! Woohoo! Because of his job (state police in another state) he has a hard time fitting enough days together for a nice visit, not to mention that he just got married and had to take a few days off for that! When he came, he brought us up a load of long term food for our storage pantry, which is so nice to see! I love the feeling of comfort and security that a full pantry gives me. I hope you all are working on stocking up your pantry! Time is running out what with food prices rising about 20% so far this year and the flooding in the south is bound to hit agriculture pretty hard.
A young robin came by about a month ago and started building a nest on top of my window air conditioner. I thought it was pretty stupid, since the a/c is out in the open and on the second floor! Well, it was interesting to watch how it was built. So, before long, she would put in a new piece, then get in and wiggle her but and scratch things around to make it the perfect fit. Then about two weeks ago, she laid three eggs. Saturday night, during a rain storm, I noticed that she had her wings spread a bit different and sure enough, I notice the eggs had hatched! So, now we are watching to see how they make it...that first flight is going to be a doozy! They doubled in size in the full day since they were born! I'll post pictures as soon as I can.
Today, at 6:30, I got a frantic call from the Post Office! The bee's are in and they gently suggested that sooner would be betterthan later in picking them up! lol
So, we will have that to document today. The guys put up the electric fence to keep the bear out of the bee's, and the hives are ready...they are mixing up the sugar water and getting all their gear ready now. I'll post pics of that proccess too.
We had a big rain the last two days and it's supposed to be raining off and on until next Monday, so not much gardening will get done, but the seedlings are happy and growing well. Busy week ahead.
The radio show will be a great listeners question one, PLUS, we'll talk a bit about the reasoning behind stocking up and some tips. Wednesday, 8 eastern on http://www.shtfmradio.com/ Join us in the chat and ask your own questions or call in if you have something to share!

Make it Yourself Radio Show tonight!

2011-05-11T09:31:00.000-04:00

Shtfm Preparedness
Please Join us for another Shtfm Radio show at 8pm tonight, we will talk about how to make things, do it yourself, making laundry soap, making household cleaners with things you you at home. Please join us tonight, and visit our chat at http://www.shtfmradio.com/chat where you will be able to ask questions. !! see you there. 8pm EST tonight!! http://www.shtfmradio.com/how-to-make-mayo-ketchup-mustard-laundry-soap-c
How To Make - Mayo, Ketchup, Mustard, laundry soap
Location: http://www.shtfmradio.com/how-to-make-mayo-ketchup-mustard-laundry-soap-cleaning/2011/05/11/
Time: ‎8:00PM Wednesday, May 11th..

Home made bug killer juice...

2011-05-07T10:20:00.002-04:00

By Request, here is the Bug Killing Juice:

You can leave out most any ingredient you want, they are all complimentary, some add nutrients as well as bug killing, some add disease resistance.
Reapply after a rain. The "juice" will last a year or more. You store the concentrated juice and mix it half and half in a spray bottle, adding a half teaspoon of dish soap (which makes the juice stick better to the plants)
Warning: cook this outside if possible as it can stink!
Large pot
layer the following in the pot in no particular order -

hot pappers (flakes and dehydrated are fine) - do not omit
garlic (powder or dehydrated are fine)- do not omit
mint leaves (ants and aphids hate it)
oregano leaves
tansy (ants hate it)
wormwod (or artemeusia of any type)
horsetail grass
one cigerette (omit if you are growing heirloom tomatoes)
marigold (seeds can be used in a pinch)

Fill pot with water and Boil all ingredients for 30 minutes or more. Strain liquid and store in old milk jugs or soda bottles. Spray at first sign of insect problems.
You can also add a bit of colloidal silver to the mix.
This has reliably worked for me for years!

Spring has sprung...finally!

2011-05-03T08:30:00.002-04:00

We got an amazing amount of "stuff" done this past weekend! Spring has really hit and we got garden beds weeded, herb beds tended, trash to the dump and a good look around at what "made it" through the winter. Though there is still a chance that some of the looser plants might take off, those are slim chances. We have active budding on only half of the grapes we planted, but those are more than we had before we planted them...so it's all in how you look at things I guess.
My herbs are doing well and I think I can live with most of them without having to divide yet. I have a front cottage type garden and I left plenty of space in it for blooming annuals, but this year, I am going to use the space for the new medicinal herbs I am starting. I will be interested to see how they fill out and grow, as many are new to me. I did start some calendula, which I can use medicinally, for household products and to give me some extra punch of color in the garden.
So much to do this week and next and so little time to do it! Then, at the end of the month, the warmer weather crops/tender plants can go out. The seedlings are doing well, though I almost killed a bunch the other day. I went to spray them with some water and was merrily into it when I noticed a distinct odor of windex...grabbed the wrong bottle! I rinsed them all off and think they will be ok. Note to self: Label better AND READ the label!
Due to weather, all I had planned got changed to another time, so this week: planting elderberries, strawberries, onions, garlic, spinach and lettuce. YUM!

I've learned so much...

2011-04-27T11:47:00.002-04:00

As many of you know, I do a radio show each week, but I don't consider myself an "expert" on many of the topics. Instead I do research the entire week before the show. I have learned so much about so many things! Tonight I am talking about making your own bread, how to figure out how many fruits and veggies you need and how to grow that many.
I've made bread since I was 16 years old and I still found a ton of information I didn't know, some I knew, but didn't know "why" it was done. Please, consider joining me tonight as we discuss these important and interesting things! I welcome audience participation through the online chat or by call ins. Each week the listener base grows and every time I think I've run out of things to talk about, someone in the audience asks me to talk about this or that and that leads to another round of learning on my part. It's keeping me growing and I hope, my audience is learning and growing as well.

http://www.shtfmradio.com

Good things...

2011-04-22T20:11:00.003-04:00

I've been seeing so many signs of spring...geese returning, the "peepers" in the pond peeping their little heads off, buds starting to swell on some of my bushes, the mud slowly but surely going out of the road in and the first black lfy (ok, that wasn't so nice, but the rest are!) I even got to see a moose!
My seedlings are on the kitchen waiting for me to move most of them up to bigger pots, which is scheduled for Sunday, along with planting the elderberries and new strawberry plants...and the onions and spinach and lettuce...ok, maybe the carrots too. But it's all good.
I found a nice store to by some bulk foods from and stopped on my way back at a discount grocery I'd wanted to check out. The man was trying to downsize for the business he had been doing (heavy contractor work) and was learning the ropes of discount foods. He and his wife have seen the prices going up and want to help people by offering food at lower prices. They are also planting a garden for the first time in years. I'm seeing a lot of that this year....people know they are going to need help. This guy had also done what a lot of people had...put off planting fruit.
People think fruit is a huge thing to undertake, but it's like anything, the longer you put it off, the longer it will take to grow and give you all the yummy bounty. A couple of semi dwarf apples, a couple of pears or cherries, some blue berries and raspberries and you'll be able to supply your family with treat AND vitamins!
I hope you all are enjoying spring!

Gardening time!!!

2011-04-18T17:50:00.002-04:00

It's just about garden time! Woohoo!!! All the garden snow is gone now I can work in the soil now. For me, this means clean up because by the end of the season, the weather gets crappy and I'm sick of the garden (though that only lasts a month or so). I recieved the last of my seed and plant order - 4 new elderberry bushes, which will keep us in syrup to prevent or head off colds and give us valuable vitamins. 25 new strawberry plants to refresh the beds I have, some garlic and onion sets. I'm looking for a rhubarb, since one didn't make it, but that should finish up what I'm getting this year....unless hubby goes to a greenhouse and finds frit trees to add to what we have. The seeds I started are growing well, for the most part.
Today I went to check out a bulk food store I heard about. It was a great find! I had to hop over the border into Vermont, but there was a nice little Mennonite store. I bought some oats and a nice looking loaf of parmesan herb bread and placed an order for some salt, wheat and corn. Now that they are there, I have a relatively close source of good grain and cooking products.
We went over our goals for the year ahead (spring,summer, fall really) and decided to wait on getting the meat rabbits for a while...maybe next year, maybe later this year. We have too much to do with starting the bees and keeping the garden going as well as various home projects that have a time line on them. Some times you have to slow down to be able to do a better job on what you have rather than starting a new project.
Every time I go to the store, I notice that prices are up again! I hope you all are putting a little bit back and planning a nice big garden! Ketchup is my price increase of the week...last year, I got enough ketchup to last for over a year, at $1 for nice big bottles. That was a great sale, but this week, the regular price went up 50 cents a bottle! Tonight I heard a reporter telling that food has increased just under 9% in the last 30 days! We are looking at hard times I think. Be Prepared!

Ranting, reviewing and rethinking...

2011-04-12T10:39:00.004-04:00

So, the rant; I'm on a lot of forums and read a lot of blogs. People all over the country are waking up and noticing the price of gas (up 33%) and the rising price of food (up 30-50%). Then I get to hear from a lot of out-of-country people who think this is actually funny! I have never laughed at their sad gas prices, never laughed at their poor food availability. I'm just very disturbed by the smug "it's about time you had to pay what we do" type of posts. Do these people not even think before they post crap like that? America has been there to help just about every single country in the world. America gives charity and food to just about every country in the world and when crisises happen, Americans are the most giving people in the world. Many coutries depend on the huge influx of American tourists to keep their small businesses running, but that won't be happening so much with these price increases. 10 years ago, we were able to go to Scotland and enjoy a trip around the country, learning history and seeing where my ancestors come from. The entire country has a huge tourism industry...not going to happen again in the near future. We can't afford it. But some English "bloke" thought it was funny that we have high prices??? Hope that chuckle you get will feed you, cause my tourism dollars won't.

Reviewing; I decided to review what I had in the pantry and fill some holes in my supply chain. I had to prioritize my list according to what is going up in price, what is imported and how long it will last. I am relying less and less on imported items; mostly sugar, coffee and cocoa products. I also thought of the corn shortage there will be this year, resulting in higher meat prices as well as packaged food costs. Corn by products are found in about 4400 food items in the average store. It's a good thing to take another look at what you REALLY need from time to time.

Rethinking; along with "reviewing", it was time to make further adjustments in our thinking about food. Can I grow that? If so, I don't buy it. Can I substitute an ingredient in that recipe that I can get locally or grow myself? I reviewed my basic menu (2 weeks of normal eating) and found I could substitute quite a lot of things. I guess we all get into a rut with what we do, buy and use. I figured out that we could have two vegetarian meals a week, or meals that were mostly vegetarian, without batting an eye....pasta salad with garden veggies is a big favorite. Hard boiled eggs are a good meat substitute too. You just need to think outside the box!

Seeds and stuff...

2011-04-10T18:47:00.002-04:00

My seeds are doing well, in fact some already need transplanting! The borage is a great big bumbling plant net to some of the other more delecate looking ones. Borgae is an herb, that also has medicinal qualities. It is a great companion plant for tomatoes. I think it's a lovely plant for the garden and it attracts bees.
Our bee hives arrived on Friday, without all the gear we ordered (box 3 or 3 is lagging a bit). The bees themselves will arrive around mid May. This is going to be a great adventure! Homesteading is the cycle of life...
I'm working hard to build my preparations and supplies. With the news about inflation hitting big in the next few weeks, I thought I'd hit the stores and top of my supplies. I figure prices aren't going down anytime soon, so a bit of extra will be a good thing no matter what.
I found the garden!!! The snow has finally gone enough to see pretty much the entire thing. Unfortunetely, we found that it looks like the yard has been attacked by voles. I have tunnels everywhere! I'm reasearching ways to get rid of them, but so far it looks like the recommendation is for poisoning them...I hope it doesn't come to that, as it would harm animals that eat the voles. Some of my bushes took it hard with all the snow we had...I lost a rose bush and at least one apple tree. These are young new plants, so they haven't developed enough size and toughness to handle it. Nature isn't always kind. We'll get by and hopefully grow this year.

down time...

2011-04-07T19:16:00.003-04:00

Well, the talking heads are talking too much about nobody doing anything to stop the government shut down. While I don't think a government shut down is a horrible thing, I do feel for all those people who are suddenly faced with no paycheck when they have kids to feed and bills to pay. I hope at least some of them have put back food!
Speaking of putting back some food, now would be a good time to do this...RIGHT NOW! WalMart's CEO announced there was going to be a price hike, and apparently it's going to be a doozy; word is being leaked that we can expect 10-20% on most things and up to 50% on others. This is supposed to take place in May, but I've heard two weeks.
It's not been a good day here...the dogs went out to do their dog thing and when they came back, the chickens, who think the porch is theirs, crowded them and they got one. She's got a big chunk of skin off her underside. I'm hoping she makes it...with chickens there isn't much that you can do. We'll keep a close eye on things. This moring they escaped from the run because the wire over the top had collapsed under the weight of the snow and until today, it was still stuck in the snow...so daughter and I fixed that...getting scratched and twisting a knee in the process. Homesteading isn't always easy or pretty.
The snow is starting to pull back more and more, so tomorrow I might be able to go out and get the raspberries thinned out. I'm looking forward to being able to play in the dirt again.

Preserving meat without refridgeration...

2011-04-06T09:02:00.002-04:00

I was thinking about Depression Era cooking the other day and was reminded of my parents and in laws telling stories about the "pork barrel" that everyone had in the basement. I figured it would be a good thing to learn how to preserve meat that way in case of a grid down situation in the future. After all, if nothing happens to actually destroy the grid, I figure it won't be too long before many of us can't AFFORD to use the grid as much as we are used to.
Tonight I'm going to talk on the radio about the research I have done and will share some of it here tomorrow. I hope you'll join me!
8:00 eastern time. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shtfm/2011/04/07/preserving-meat-at-home--emergency-preparedness-food-home-with-hp

Garden Plans

2011-04-03T09:11:00.003-04:00

I hesitate to reccommend what people grow, since we all have different tastes. What I am doing now though, is suggesting that people take a good hard look at their space and what they are growing.
This year, we decided to get rid of some of our big space users: melons. We can only eat them fresh, they take up a lot of space for the returns we (don't always) get. This year we are focusing on producing things that will give us the most bang for our buck (or space as the case may be). I am also trying to stagger produce, so that I am not having any empty space at any time...spinach followed by an under planting of turnips and then pull the spinach after it starts to bolt and the turnips will have started, but now have room to grow. Lettuce is a very small planting, because it's a filler food, and I may even plant that in a pot instead of in the garden space. Beans followed by spinach for a late crop.
The goal is also to grow MORE than we use in a year. We do not grow grains here, as I don't have a "field" type garden, we grow in raised beds, but we will be planting some type of grain to see how it stores for animal feed...but I'll be planting this in different spots other than my raised beds, which is prime real estate for main crop growing.
I believe by careful attention to a "plan" and a bit more work, we can do 100% of our vegetable and fruit needs this year. I like having a garden, but I often fall into the gardeners "trap" of having more fun with it' growing the wrong things and not focusing on the prime goal of self reliance.
What are YOU all doing to change things up a bit this year in your gardens?

I'm hearing this more...

2011-03-31T20:31:00.004-04:00

I'm hearing more and more, just this week, that food prices are going up. The CEO of Wal Mart has said they are concerned with inflation and how it will affect their prices. Jim Sinclair, a noted economics guy, is advising people to get hobby farms and food. There is no doubt in my mind that we are in for a rocky future for a good long while. Commodity reports are saying that crops have had a "bad weather" year and won't be able to fill a lot of the needs.
Does this mean that we here, in America, are going to starve? Probably not, but that doesn't mean that we won't feel it and have some hardships. Our president has mentioned that under his energy policy, our energy costs will nessesarily sky rocket. This week, he mentioned that as part of his energy plan, he wants to cut our energy use by one third in 10 years. On that note, there are rumors about that revenues aredown in DC and we have a pesky debt to pay (not to mention budget deficits) and someone has come up with a brilliant plan to raise fuel costs to between $7 and $10 a gallon. This would nessesarily cut our fuel consumption AND raise revenues. Brilliant plan!!! At least for anyone but the average consumer. I don't know whether any plan like that would actually get anywhere in DC, but it's one of the plans that are being mentioned.
What does this mean? Obviously, higher prices...high enough to make it impossible for most anyone to have to wonder how they are going to feed their family and get to work. (I know you all knew this, cause I don't think a one of my readers is stupid, but I had to say it). Last month, food prices rose 3.9%. Multiply that out by 12 months and that makes an increase of 46.8% for the year. So, how can we manage to cope?
GROW A GARDEN. Get a couple of chickens and some rabbits and learn to take care of yourself. I'm probably preaching to the choir on this, but I can't say it enough. If you already do this, encourage a friend, family member or neighbor to start a garden. I figure encouraging others has a couple of benifits: it will help them (charity), it will create a common interest (friendship/bonding) and it will keep them from knocking on your door when they are hungry (self preservation). If you don't think they will do that, you are sadly mistaken. People who are loosing everything will do anything to lash out at those who still have everything. It's a combination of fear and jealousy. I heard the other day, a lady had been accused of being a "tax dodger" because she grew her own food by a guy who was having a hard time making ends meet! The government now has a snitch program (my word, not theirs) encouraging people to report people they feel are suspicious. If you are well fed and your neighbor is not, I'll bet they think that is suspicious.
I guess I'm feeling a bit disturbed at the news and disturbed by the fact that I know regular hard working people are going to be hurt by the changes coming and there's nothing I do to to help them. I think of those poor folks in Japan and the hardships that they are going to have over the next couple of years on top of loosing family members and their way of life. They are muddling along, doing the best they can, but many are homeless and I'm sure, hungry.
I just write a blog trying to encourage folks and get them to be prepared and garden...I wonder if anyone is helped by that. OK-I guess I've groused enough for today. I'll write a nice cheerful blog next time...after the 14" of snow hits us tonight. lol

How big should your garden be?

2011-03-25T20:10:00.003-04:00

This is something that most people are confused by and I'm sorry to say that there is no easy answer! It depends on what your family likes, your experience as a gardener, how much time you have and what method of gardening you prefer.
If you like corn, pumpkins and potatoes, then you might want a bigger garden than my family...we don't grow corn, only one or two pumpkins and garden in raised beds. If you have a long growing season, you can also plant crops one after another and keep some plants going longer (for a bigger harvest) than I do.

The case for raised beds:
We grow in raised beds...each bed is 16' long by 4' wide and is 12" deep. e were able to get wood at 16 lengths and make them for slightly less than it would have cost to make them 8'. Don't be afraid to price this out in your area! You can also can make your beds out of different materials such as brick, cinder blocks,plastic and make them almost any size...you make them the size that works for you and your yard, the only real firm "rule" is that you don't make them any wider than you can reach across.
Your raised beds are never walked on! This keeps the soil from compacting, which keeps the roots from being crushed or stressed and allows them to go down into the soil easier. You can customize the soil in the beds, so if you are growing a vegetable that needs a more acid soil, you can adjust for that. You can build a
mini greenhouse over a bed simply. There is less weeding with raised beds and pest and fertilizer needs are easier to meet as well.
We have friends who had a problem with voles and chipmunks and they were able to put chicken wire under the bed to keep these pests from digging in, we put a weed block cloth under the bed. It's just so easy to customize raised beds for your own need.
There is a famous book out on how to make the most use of your raised bed with a nice grid with a square foot allotment and special soil, but I plant my beds in an "intensive" way. There aren't any real rows in my beds because rows are meant to be walked on, so when you look at your packet of beans and it says "plant seeds " apart in rows 18" apart" you can skip the 18" rows and plant your seeds every 6" in every direction. I plant my beans this way and in one 16 foot bed, I get the equivalent of over 120' of a traditional row method. (This will yield about 70 pints/meals of green beans for our family a year)
I ran across a link that will give you a general rule of thumb for how much a family needs to grow, but beware that different methods will give you slightly different yields, but it's still a great chart! http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DnyLywo1Fts/SZRimqm048I/AAAAAAAAG1U/605g0AXs10w/s1600-h/garden+planner+image.jpg
You do not need to plant an acre of garden to grow the food you need, but you do have to make sure the soil is healthy and think outside of the traditional box!

a backyard food production system...

2011-03-23T10:53:00.003-04:00

Tonight, we'll be talking about backyard food production systems. How you can make them, what they are, how they work and all the nice benefits you get from them.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shtfm

8 eastern time. Chat will be open for questions and comments!

We should never think we are safe here in our country.

2011-03-20T12:27:00.004-04:00

I came accross a couple of articles that point out the food price shocks were are about to get into. This one is an excellent and complete article on the how's and why's: http://www.offthegridnews.com/otgNCurrent/Food_Shock.pdf
This one is a graph of prices and availability: http://www.offthegridnews.com/otgNCurrent/Food_Shock.pdf

We should never think we are "safe" here in our country. The grocery stores (as well as many other places) have tightened inventories and now operate on a "just in time" system. While this is certainly more efficient cost wiase and space wise for most stores, it means that any disruption in shipping or the supply chain will affect what is on our shelves as well as the prices.

The USDA estimates that a family of 4 will spend $600 on groceries each year. This month alone, we have had an inflation rate of 3.9% in food prices. Over a year, that is roughly a 50% increase in how much that same $600 worth of food will cost you. Rounding down to a 20% increase, that food will cost you an additional $120 per MONTH! Now add to this the fact that last year in March, the 10 gallons of gas per week it might cost you to get that food would have cost you $27.80 (Consumer Reports figure) and this year, that 10 gallons will cost you $38.39 (CNN figures).
This brings your increase in the cost to get that same $600 up to $162.36. How many of us can take an increase like that each month, just to eat???
Remember, I only added 20% for inflation, because I figure about now many are not buying what they did a year ago, using coupons, shopping sales only and eating differently.

The number one way to help with the food budget is to rethink how you eat, what you eat and where you get that food. In other words: grow a garden!
A 20'x20' garden, carefully managed, in most cases can grow a lot of your vegetables..maybe even half, certainly all you need for the summer plus a bit left over. That's only 400 square feet. Most places can handle a bit bigger garden, and if you garden in raised beds, you can do a bit better. If you live in a subburb (that allows gardening), you could build 3' wide beds that go around the perimeter of your yard and grow more than that, easily! In my yard, we have 16 4x16' raised beds, which is a little more than 1000 square feet of garden space. We don't grow corn, which takes up a lot of space for little return, but we grow all that we need for the year in that space...it also includes 4 beds that are given to perennials like asperagus, raspberry and strawberry. Not everyone likes the same vegetables, but by carefully choosing what you grow and how you grow, you can significantly help your food budget in a very small space.

I was amzed at the figures for the increases, and am afraid it isn't going to go down much for the foreseeable future. Join the revolution and grow your own garden!

Building your own "circle of life"

2011-03-17T09:16:00.004-04:00

I was thinking about this last night as the "Lion King" song played over and over in my head (hate it when that happens). I have no clue as to why it was playing until I was talking to some folks about medicinal herbs. As a prepper, it's my goal to be able to take care of myself at all times. As a homesteader, it is my goal to be able to take care of my homestead and family by myself at all times.
The plan for today was for me to go into town to get supplies. We are having lots of company this weekend, and so we went down to the pantry and looked around...we didn't "need" a thing! To me, this is success; now to make it full time and perminent. This will require a few life changes, and unless we all quit working and go offline and off grid, we will still be reliant on some things. But, it's a good start. 'm proud of that but wish more people could do that, so I sat about and thought of how more folks could do that for themselves.
I believe it requires a comitment to give up "stuff". I have friends who are addicted to shopping...could you give up shoppping? Even if it was for a week or two at a time? You could if you had other things to do (like garden and home projects)and a full pantry. You give up even more dependence on the shopping world when you start raising small animals.
Animals poo, which you put on your garden (giving up fertilizers), you grow your garden (giving up the need for weekly shopping) and save seeds (giving up dependence on garden centers and seed houses), you preserve your food (giving up the need to buy them at the store) and you feed the extra to the animals (giving up the need for ging tothe feed store) and then the animals poo and the circle starts all over. The "circle of life".
I think it works the same way for most anything in your life...if you work at it and set your mind to it. We talked on the radio show last night about herbal medicines. You plant and grow your own herbs for simple basic medicines and seasonings, you learn how they work, you make them into usable forms. You stay home more (reducing your exposure to germs), you eat better because you are home more (reducing the chemicals in your food and body) and become healthier (reducing the need for medicines)..the circle of life. Of course, this doesn't apply if you have a serious medical condition, but in most cases it would work.
I guess I'm rambling a bit trying to think this through. All I can see is I've grasped a truth somewhere in that! lol
In rural areas and folks with at least 5 acres, it wouldn't be hard to do, but that doesn't mean that those in the burbs and even in the city can't improve things for themselves with a garden, maybe a few laying hens and some rabbits. A bit of planning and intensive planting CAN net you a years worth of produce to live on. It takes planning and determination, but WHY wouldn't anyone want to be able to take care of themselves?
The baby plants are up and running! I'm starting round two of them at the begining of the week. I can hope that the snow goes quickly (we have about 18" still on the ground) so that I can start working in the dirt, cleaning up and doing some pruning.
How are your garden plans coming?

FYI: tonight on the radio we'll be talking about the nuclear situation with some experts! If this concerns you, please join us at 8 eastern to hear factual info.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shtfm/2011/03/18/nuclear-discussion-with-ed--japan-nuclear-reactor-crisis

good and interesting

2011-03-16T09:20:00.002-04:00

Tonight on my radio show, I'll be talking about some common herbs you can easily grow that you can use in your home medicine chest! I will have Nurse Amy on as a guest so she can reenforce the true medical benefits of these plants.
Tomorrow night, on the same "station" there will be a talk from a n=guy with his nuclear certificate about the truth on nuclear energy and the real dangers in Japan as well as dispelling myths.
Please consider joiniing us for there two important shows! Both are on at 8 eastern time and a chat room and call in number are available for questions.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/shtfm/2011/03/17/emergency-preparedness-food-home-with-hp

Prepping for something big...

2011-03-14T10:21:00.003-04:00

In light of what has happened over in Japan, I thought I'd talk a bit about how one would prepare for something like this big a disaster. Well, the simple truth is that you can't really...a building falls on your food or the sea rushes in to take it away or make it worthless. However, I see that not EVERY area has been hit that badly. In a Tokyo for example, the damage was not that great and people still have homes and some transportation. However, because of the damage to the "grid" they are going to have to endure blackouts and fuel and food shortages. Preparedness would come in handy in that situation. The more you prepare, the less you have to rely on a broken system and the more that system can focus on those who really need it, such as the folks that lost everything!
I expect, though industrious and willing to under go hardship to get their country back in shape, Japan will be undergoing hardships for many years to come. Power plants don't build themselves over night and if 30% plus of their power is GONE, that means pressure on the remaining grid. That means rolling blackouts all over the country and a different way of living for many. Think about not having a freezer any more because it takes too much power. Think of being limited to 50 gallons of gas a week (or even 25 gallons)...can you live with that? I realize that this is in Japan, not here, but we are undergoing an economic crisis here and the result may be in cut backs to fuel availability. Eventually, shortages could happen.
Thinking in advance about what you could do in such a case, IS preparedness. Filling a pantry is part of it, but also making long term "what if" plans. For us, it would involve slowly removing the freezer from our food prep plans and again doubling the size of the garden. We'd be changing our life style as well (though we've been gradually doing that up to now anyways) to make the absolute most of car pooling and travel. No more random trips to see what's out there in the shops for a deal. No more forgetting something we need and being able to go get it. Every mile would be planned and accounted for. Sever fuel shortage or high price might even involve quitting a job for some folks or working from home more often.
I believe that what happened in Japan will have a ripple affect through the world. We can expect economic changes here, as Japan was one of the major buyers of our debt. I see a lot of sentiment on the air waves about dismantling our own nuke power plants. I think the earth-wise ripples could be felt by an increase in earth quakes around the Pacific rim, not to mention a possible cloud of radioactivity to travel around the world (though I have been assured by experts that it wasn't going to be as bad as most fear mongers predict). We are not in an earthquake prone area here, nor would the great "radiation cloud" likely reach us way out here, but those things have a habit of rippling down to all. Japan will need food...that food has to come from somewhere. While personally, I certainly don't begrudge helping Japan, that might leave shortages rippling through not only our country but many others as well. I stocked up and prepared against such an eventuality - I suggest that you do also. I have plans in place to help us through rolling blackouts and fuel shortages - again, I suggest you take an hour and try to come up with a plan for your family. It certainly can't hurt!
Good luck to the folks over there, they need our prayers and good wishes, and if you are so inclined, a donation to the Red Cross couldn't hurt either. For ourselves, I'd like to remind readers that emergency managment foks have repeatedly said that you should have no less than two weeks of food and water as well as a source of heat (generator). Most reccommend a 3 month supply of that. The reasoning given: 1)in a crisis of great magnitude, it would be 10-14 days before rescue could get into some locations and rescue. 2)Rescue would have to be based on greatest need. 3)There is only so many people emergency managment can take care of at any one time. Makes sense and makes me want to be able to take care of myself instead of waiting on a roadside for FEMA to come and help.
Take care folks!

Welcome...feel free to ask questions and make comments.

2011-03-11T08:44:00.003-05:00

Welcome to my new followers! The other night, I was doing the radio show and due to unusual circumstances, the guest couldn't make it at the last minute. Instead, wwe opened up the show to questions and tried to answer the best we could. I think folks had a great time asking some pretty darned good questions (which kept me on my toes, for sure!). It dawned on me that perhaps folks here have questions...so I just wanted to take a minute and encourage you to ask!

Seed starting has begun around here, so here's a list of what we've started so far:

Tomato - Rutgers
Tomato - cherry type
Tomatillo - new item for us
Beaver Dam Hot Peppers - new variety, couldn't resist the name
Ace Bell Pepper
Ground Cherry - new item for us
Brocolli
Borage
Basil
Skull Cap
Valerian
Fever Few
Vervain
Spilanthes - tooth ache plant
Popp
St John's Wort
Elacampane

Next week I'll plant some cabbage, more herbs, and I'm going to try some spinach. While it's not nessesary to start spinach inside, we still have 2-3 feet of snow in the yard and I want to try growing something inside that I'll be able to eat right away.
So - what have you all started?