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OK, This is your opportunity to help me out with something. I am having no success finding any good preparedness sites. Some are just super expensive stuff and some are just very scary (what I hope is) propaganda, and some are just transparent attempts to cash in on people’s fears.
Have you come across any sites that have good, common sense, helpful advice or even useful products, reasonably priced, of course.
And how about some ideas? What kind of preparedness do you and yours see as neccessary and prudent? I know that some things will vary by location, for instance, I don’t think I’ll be investing in a wood-stove since it hardly ever freezes here.
I’m sure that lots of folks think everything is gonna be hunky-dory, better and better with our new president. Yeah, more power to ‘em.
I think it’s time we stop ignoring the elephant in the room and have some helpful discussions and maybe we can learn some things from each other.
I just think it might pay to be prepared, to have some supplies in the house, to have a plan.
I have already shown y’all my solar ovens and told you of my plans to raise meat rabbits in our back yard. I’ll give you one more. I want to buy a pellet rifle and learn to shoot birds and squirrels and such. Mother Hen don’t intend that Sally Mae and the Cowboys go hungry, no matter what!
Let’s hear it. I wanna know all you are planning, what your thoughts are on the subject.
But keep it friendly, comment moderation is always on and I have an itchy delete button finger.
***A couple of readers have had difficulty leaving a comment. If this happens to you, please email your comment to (ship full of pirates (at) gmail (dot) com), just remove the spaces and use @ and . where appropriate. I think I’ll make a page of all your helpful links and ideas once everyone has had a chance to comment. Thanks! ***
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Of course, Momma of Many! =) I need an email address though, so feel free to write to me at ldssahm at yahoo dot com and I’ll send an invite along. =) Thanks so much for asking.
And I love the “Don’t tread on me” flag on your website. Woo hoo!
I’ve just read Cyndi’s comment, and it occurs to me that I just bought something like that over the weekend at a garage sale. I bought one of those child carrier thingies that you pull behind your bike…that’ll be useful as a small cart or wagon. Cool. =)
Gotta get me some of those squirrel pics! Love them.
Here is a link to a lot of info: http://www.doomers.us./forum2/index.php/topic,40637.0.html
Also a read of Christian author, Terri Blackstock’s “Restoration” series will put a lot of good ideas in your head.
Have bicycles on hand, a cart or wagon that can be pulled by a bike. Know where your nearest fresh water source is, plan how to get there and how to get water back. Have at least a shot gun and ammo on hand and know how to use it. (This is for hunting as well as protecting.) Get to know the people around you. They may have a useful skill set and/or items you can barter. I live at the very edge of suburbia… I drive the nearby country backroads and I note who raises chickens, cows, pigs, corn, berries etc. I purchase from these people now so that I can establish a bartering relationship with them in the future if need be. Learn a skill or be able to make a product that will be needed in a crashed society: nurse, midwife, soap or candle maker, solar oven producer etc.
Cyndi Lewis’s last blog post..Garden Club Friday
Keeley, any chance I can get an invite to your blog?
Mommaofmany’s last blog post..Hot Pocket!
I was going to suggest Mrs. Survival. It’s very good.
One of the best things you can do is browse around http://www.americanpreppersnetwork.blogspot.com/
There is a prep network for every state of the union and also for Canada and Australia, linked in the sidebar. You will find SO much information! Read the states that aren’t anything like yours, too, since they will have good info, too, even if it’s not for your climate.
Watch for the links on the sidebars and click on commentators names to get to their sites, too, and you will have all the prep sites you can use.
Mommaofmany’s last blog post..Hot Pocket!
Look on Amazon for a book called Back Yard Homestead. It will tell you what you can reasonably do in a yard. I have found it very informative and I have 5 acres.
More! Gimme more! I’m bookmarking all of it and next week (or so) I’ll write a page for Preparedness links and info! Thanks!
My good gravy, this is my pet subject! =) Feel free to write to me if you want me to go on until you want to scream. =D
The basic idea of preparedness is to make sure you are …um…prepared….spiritually as well as physically and financially.
- Get out of debt
- Save money
- Make sure you have some cash on hand in small bills
- read your scriptures, pray, and go to church
- buy or gather materials for a 72-hour kit. You can buy from a site like Emergency Essentials. A list for making one is here: http://lds.about.com/od/preparednessfoodstorage/a/72hour_kit.htm
- Plant a garden
- Your idea for hunting squirrels, birds etc is wonderful.
- Make a 3-month menu, figure out what you need to stock that menu, and by buying a little a week, slowly build that 3-month supply up. Don’t forget things like toilet paper, band aids etc.
- Once you’re done with your 3-month supply, start on your 1-year supply. You can find a food storage calculator here: http://lds.about.com/library/bl/faq/blcalculator.htm
You’re already doing so much good preparedness stuff; making things yourself, simple living, making your own, use it up, wear it out etc. =)
You can buy a 55-gallon water drum from Amazon to store water – those are kind of expensive though.
Hi Anita,
Glad to meet ya! Thanks for the kind words and the handy link. That is a very common-sensical looking blog.
Although she is in Australia, I am finding this blog quite helpful and gentle (if you know what I mean).
http://down—to—earth.blogspot.com/
I am really interested in her water storage. Seems you could use that and then have a water filter like the British Berkfield, which we purchased pre Y2K.
I am enjoying your blog. We have 7 children and two grands. Would love to visit with you.
Anita Chamblee’s last blog post..History Products Are On Sale at Vision Forum!
Here is a great Forum. Lots of great information and great people to answer questions.
http://www.mrssurvival.com/forums/
Yart’s last blog post..Another way to earn some money
Remember that the hot water heater holds 50 gallons of water that can be accessed from a drain at the bottom, so you have that much water on hand from the getgo.
Thanks, Shelly, this looks really helpful. Nice that it’s cute there. Some of these sites just make my shoulders tense just by the looks.
Oops…hit send before I was done…
We have one 7 gallon blue camping-type container for each of us (8 right now) stored. It’s a week’s supply for our family. (One gallon per person per day.) I’m not sure we’ll ever store more. But we live where it rains plenty. In the dry parts of the country people should store more.
FYI: The gals at FSME are LDS. (I’m not!) Just thought I’d mention it.
The gals at Food Storage Made Easy (http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/) have a list of “baby steps” to get you prepared, including water. I think storing water is harder for big families for obvious reasons…more people=more water!
Oh, and feel free to leave more than one comment!
OK Theresa, I changed the settings to accept up to 3 links per comment. Please try again.
Wow, lots of info there. I’ll have to take small bites.
Well I tried to send something but it flagged me a spam- sigh!!
I have a list of sites I will try to send again later.
Water is the biggie. My mind is all over the other parts of the puzzle, but the water has me stumped so far.
you’ll find some excellent information here
http://2012forum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6274
Not sure if this is what you are looking for, but the book “The Encyclopedia of Country Living” is very informative. I don’t remember if it has lists of how many cans of what to keep on hand, but it does give instructions for how to do just about anything by yourself.
Personally, I have no choice but to hope for the best until we can get our own place. Water is the most basic necessity so I wonder about having a hand-powered well. It’s easy enough to keep a few extra cans in the pantry, but long-term survival? We wouldn’t make it for long in our current state.