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June Prepping |
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Penham
Chief Moderator Moderator Joined: February 09 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 14913 |
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Posted: June 01 2013 at 5:04am |
June is here! So what is everyone working on this month in their prepping plans? Anyone new to prepping and just starting out? Anyone trying to finish up with their prepping and make last minute purchases? What stage are you in? Gardens, how are they doing?
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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This is a holiday weekend in New Zealand and we are going to cat proof our orchard where our chickens live. Something is taking a chicken every few days - a cat - so we are putting metal sheets on the top 2ft of each of the 6ft fence posts so it can't climb up. Only 44 to do!! We rely heavily on the eggs and I can't afford to lose any more chickens. While our orchard trees are small we also have a problem with the giant hawks that live here, but our dogs chase them and scare them off. I've recently bought 7 new layers that are 12 weeks old and they are too valuable to go as animal food!
This afternoon, once that's done I'll be ordering and buying next years seeds. I would normally wait until July to do this when the new catalogues are out, but feel a sense of urgency about it now. It's a glorious day here and I'm going to put 2 hours into filling the new beds in my polytunnel. I find 2 hours a day of hard graft quite easy, 3 hours and I get a stiff back. I'm particularly focusing on growing more winter salad. If our access to the shops is going to be cut off then we need more food. I aim to fill a bit at a time and then mulch it and then plant it out straight away. I've still got about 20m of beds to fill, so it'll take a few weeks yet to finish it. Already I've planted out swiss chard, parsley, spinach, lemon balm, marigold and a passion fruit. Last week I purchased more cat and dog food than we need. As soon as some more money comes in, I'll go to the city and get some giant storage bins. I'd like to fill 4 with wheat and one each with cat and dog food. I will need to check the feeders in my hives every week. With the big bee die off I can't afford to lose any to negligence. We are also expecting a calf this month which will put us back in fresh milk. At the moment we are on frozen. It'll be great to be on fresh again.
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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Penham - everything okay with you and your family after the recent storms?
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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Fulfilling my last minute preps lists that are long term storage. Checking my OTC meds purchasing Fish meds. Going over all my stores to see what I have missed.
By the end of summer I hope to have all the plywood planks to cover my windows and the screws for attachment. I am going to get a lifter for sheet rock so I have a way to put the plywood up myself. Don't want to depend on anyone to help me. |
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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FluMom, what are the plywood planks for? Why do you want to cover your windows?
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Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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debbiencusa
Adviser Group Joined: April 25 2013 Location: nc Status: Offline Points: 2100 |
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For those who get caught unaware if you have the tools you can also cover your windows with doors removed from other rooms in the house. if you can not secure them which is best you can also put them up and use heavy pieces of furniture against them. if you have back up protection, this will be enough a deterrent it may make someone move on (a non professional intruder who is foraging will move on easier this is not their thing, they do it out of need) a professional will not be stopped by a interior door propped by furniture if they really want to get in but the noise will at least alert you.
kiwi, when others run out of food, they start to look to rob others to get what they need. i had a old long time survivor tell me this, to put a sprinkler on your roof, in case someone tries to burn you out. We have a fence and could run out back and turn on water the sprinkler is designed to span the roof and put out fire. That presumes that you still have water. A fenced back yard like we have helps to get out and back in safer. I read again about how much safer it is to be rural rather then urban. i wish we could. Don't still be fooled, as time goes on the thief's will get around to the country, keep your eyes out.
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God Bless
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Penham
Chief Moderator Moderator Joined: February 09 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 14913 |
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Jacksdad, thanks for asking, yes and no, physically we are all ok, property wise no. We had golf ball size hail and 70mph winds. So 3 vehicles with hail damage, our 4th one was not parked at home, only one has full coverage that got hit by hail, taking my Explorer into the shop for an estimate tomorrow at 11:30, it's beat up pretty bad so we will see, at least the windows were not busted out. The house lost a lot of shingles from the hail, some areas are down to the bare wood, the wood areas on the front of the house got a lot of paint knocked off by the hail beating on it at least we did not lose any windows, a lot of other people did, but fortunately our overhangs protected them a bit. Insurance adjuster will be coming this week to estimate the damage. A lot of broken tree limbs. I have never seen hail so big in my life, or that lasted so long, it must have hailed for at least 30 minutes, I thought it was never going to end. I will keep you all updated once he estimates start coming in.
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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Wow - I'm glad you're unhurt but I'm so sorry to hear about the damage. Hopefully things turn out well with the cars and the house. That must have been terrifying. I saw it unfold on TV before I left work on Friday and it was heartbreaking to watch. Thanks for letting us know you're okay.
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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Penham, glad you are ok. Have had hail in Denver with damage so I know what a bad scene that is...good luck.
KiwiMom, I live in the Burbs of Denver. If TSHTF people will come out to the Burbs looking for food, water and anything they can steal. I will board up my house and make it look like I had a fire so people will hopefully skip my house. The other reason is if I have damage to my windows and need to board them up if I don't get the boards up in time. People in the States have guns and they will use them to get what they want...so do I and I will defend my home. That may make some holes in my windows. Several reasons for plywood boards. Hope that explains. |
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Penham
Chief Moderator Moderator Joined: February 09 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 14913 |
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Holy cow, took my vehicle in this morning to get the estimate done on the hail damage and there was $6854 worth of damage to my Explorer.
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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Penham, sorry to hear about your hail damage, it sounds extreme. One of my sisters lives in Australia and they get that size hail quite often. What she and thousands of others there do is to grab duvets and blankets off their beds and put them over the roof of the car. She says that it's easy to get dents out of the bonnet but not the roof, that's what really costs. I was staying with her once when she did this and it worked. I guess a bit of carpet might work too. If you can muster enough soft things you could cover your whole car.
Flumom, good thinking with the plywood. We live in a barn so we have giant roll down steel doors on the front of our "house" that we can pull down to cover all the windows. It makes our house look just like a farm building. I do need to organise window cover for the back windows because although they look out over farmland for as far as the eye can see with no houses whatsoever, in the event of a long term power outage I don't want anyone noticing that we have lights on. I want complete black out for every window and door. Something you may want to consider is buying some agthane (horticultural grade poly tunnel skin - it UV resistant). We have some so that in the event of another giant earthquake smashing our windows we can staple up the agthane to weathproof the house but still allowing light in. We intend to fix it with thin battens and big staples. We have wooden window frames so it should be easy enough to patch up. On previous earthquakes we've heard the glass in our bedroom window flexing but thankfully it didn't explode.
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Jonesie
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I'm considering a Sanitizing Footbath and Virkon. Does anyone think this is necessary for the home?
I don't have farm animals.
I found a few sources: https://www.google.com/search?q=Sanitizing+Footbath+Mat+VIRKON&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=mS2tUfyIJorPrgGi04DgBg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1092&bih=508 - https://www.google.com/search?q=Sanitizing+Footbath+Mat+VIRKON&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=mS2tUfyIJorPrgGi04DgBg&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAQ&biw=1092&bih=508 |
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KiwiMum, I am having 3M Ultra 600 film put on all my windows in my home. It will keep my windows together until I can get my guns and start shooting. I also live in the burbs and there have been break-ins so I feel better when I leave that my alarm is on and it will take at least 5-10 minutes to get into my windows so the cops will be there by then.
Plywood is for really bad times. I think I am going to get some Virkon saw it on Amazon too. |
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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I can't see how a foot bath helps. I can see how it works in a foot and mouth outbreak, because the disease is in dung and that gets on your shoes and tires. I can't think that our shoes will be a cause for concern.
Something that we will have to watch out for is putting shopping bags or handbags on our surfaces. Afterall, if someone sneezes on the checkout and then your shopping bag is put there, then you bring it home and put it on the kitchen table...... It always amazes me that women put their handbag on a bathroom floor when out and about, then they put it on the passenger seat of their car and then on their kitchen table when they get in. Yuck.
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Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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KiwiMum, I am with you I put my shopping bags on the floor and my handbag too. I just don't understand how people don't realize how many germs there are on carts and floors. I put my handbag in my trunk or on the floor of my passenger side. Safety and germs are my considerations.
Foot bath will help your shoes. I will have a foot bath that I will use for my shoes as soon as I get out of my car and leave the shoes in the garage by my door. Just keeps the germs out of your home. Just another layer of keeping germs out. |
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mustangsally2
Adviser Group Joined: April 17 2013 Status: Offline Points: 225 |
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I have a question about ordering seeds this year for next year What is the best way to store them for the growing season next year? |
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Cool and dry is the way you want to go with your stored seeds.
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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I've just completed a propagation course and we were told that if the foil package that contains the seeds is unopened then it fine to store them in a cool, dry place. I keep mine in a wooden box under our bed as we keep our bedroom unheated.
Once you've opened a package then the best place for them is that strange little shelf on the inside of your fridge door, the one right at the top that no one knows what to put in it. Make sure you tightly roll up the foil seed packet as you are trying to keep out air, light and moisture. Do not freeze. Seeds that are frozen in various specialist seed storage places have been specially dehydrated to reduce the moisture content. I always try to buy a year in advance. I actually have enough seeds already for next year but not the year after. Most seeds have a two year use by date although some have a far longer one. I also collect alot of my own seeds. I am slightly addicted to seed catalogues. In fact, a perfect evening for me is a new seed catalogue, a warm toasty fire in mid winter, a funny film on the TV and a glass of wine. I ALWAYS buy too many seeds. I waste alot of them but I can't help it, I love seed catalogues. Anyway I did place my order the other day and I'm hoping they will arrive this morning.
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Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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mustangsally2
Adviser Group Joined: April 17 2013 Status: Offline Points: 225 |
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what are some of your favorite non hybrid online seeds sites to order from. I have ordered from heiloom seeds.com a few years ago.
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Littleraven
V.I.P. Member Joined: May 10 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 438 |
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Put up a ton of strawberry preserves and working on sweet peas--picking shelling and canning.
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There's a Bad Moon on the Rise
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coyote
Admin Group Joined: April 25 2007 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 8395 |
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Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds
America's Top Source for Pure Heirloom Seeds |
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Long time lurker since day one to Member.
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Satori
Valued Member Joined: June 03 2013 Status: Offline Points: 28655 |
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not a glamor topic but in a grid down situation the lack of sanitation ,clean water etc could be a MAJOR cause of death and illness great article from SurvivalBlog http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/06/medical-notes-from-nicaraguan-villages-by-coemt.html |
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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Just finished clearing out the garage and making some shelves specifically for buckets. I have a lot of stuff stored in 5 gallons buckets - preps and other things that need to be kept dry - and these shelves hold 28 of them. Now I'm going to do the same with the other end of the garage to make all the things I have stored in there more easily accessible. I also have a few large Sterilite containers, so the next shelves will be sized to fit them. Off to Home Depot in the morning for more wood
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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sherrie walker
V.I.P. Member Joined: December 26 2006 Location: ms Status: Offline Points: 162 |
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jacksdad did you know that most grocery stores will give you their empty icing buckets for free, all you have to do is wash them out. that is how I got all mine. I like the picture you showed us, there use to be a lot of pics. on here that showed the shelving ideas and things but I haven't seen any lately. the best one was a store rack that you could put can goods in sideways.
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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Sherrie - I like that idea for cans. I'll have to look into that. Rotating your preps would be a piece of cake with something like that - new ones to the back.
I went with the new buckets as they were only $5 (Walmart), but I know a lot of people that get them free at the bakery section of some stores as you mentioned. I did find someone that was selling buckets that had held pickles - didn't give that one a second thought. I don't need all my preps smelling and tasting like pickles |
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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Jacksdad, you need to check that your Walmart buckets are food grade. I get mine from the bakery counter at my local supermarket for free.
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Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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Satori
Valued Member Joined: June 03 2013 Status: Offline Points: 28655 |
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just a heads up The Survival Medicine Handbook Second Edition Is Out! http://www.doomandbloom.net/ great medical info to have when help ISN'T on the way ! |
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quietprepr
V.I.P. Member Joined: May 21 2006 Location: United States Status: Offline Points: 2495 |
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As part of my job I attended some after action briefings with first responders to Katrina and Sandy. It fired me up again and this month I am dragging out all my preps and going through them. Time to reset my baseline and get back to the hard work!
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"Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival." - W. Edwards Deming
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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Hi KiwiMum. It's okay - none of my food comes into contact with the plastic. Everything's sealed in mylar with O2 absorbers. BTW - "Lost Country Life" just arrived today. Thanks for the recommendation |
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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KiwiMum
Moderator Joined: May 29 2013 Status: Offline Points: 29640 |
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Let me know what you think of it. I hope you enjoy it.
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Those who got it wrong, for whatever reason, may feel defensive and retrench into a position that doesn’t accord with the facts.
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arirish
Admin Group Joined: June 19 2013 Location: Arkansas Status: Offline Points: 39215 |
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we're building a smoke house with a root celler and canning green beans.
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LOPPER
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Animal snares for rabbit, squirrels, ect are a good item to supplement your food preps with. They are a inexpensive and passive way to get additional food and don't require a lot of time or energy to set up and they hunt 24/7. They will make your food preps last longer.
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arirish
Admin Group Joined: June 19 2013 Location: Arkansas Status: Offline Points: 39215 |
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55lb Chlorine buckets are the best. Chlorine evaporates so they have twist on locking airtight lids. I get mine from several hotels in town for free. They say "do not reuse" on them but all I do is fill them with water and set them in the sun for a few days.
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jacksdad
Executive Admin Joined: September 08 2007 Location: San Diego Status: Offline Points: 47251 |
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I will - my son's Boy Scout troop is heading out to summer camp in a few weeks, and myself and the other parents are going to be stuck at camp all day while the kids are out with the leaders and counselors. I'll have plenty of time to check it out. Thanks again for the recommendation. |
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"Buy it cheap. Stack it deep"
"Any community that fails to prepare, with the expectation that the federal government will come to the rescue, will be tragically wrong." Michael Leavitt, HHS Secretary. |
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