Self-sufficiency goals

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I can't imagine that I'm the only one these days thinking about what we'd do in a major, long term crisis that disrupted infrastructure and food supplies. I guess I always should have been thinking about it, but I haven't - which is crazy because I used to work for relief agencies in Haiti and Serajevo, and I've seen what life can be like in a disaster. So beyond the conventional answers, of storing a supply of food, what are you doing to prepare for a crisis? What should I be doing that I'm not. So far we're:

Setting up an area to grow grains - even if small amounts, so that we'll have the ability and knowledge to do so. This year, a small 1/2 acre bit of field corn, and I've got winter wheat seed to go in after the corn is harvested. We need to get a hand grinder.

Working on growing more of our own animal feed. Much of the corn will go to the hens, and I'm preparing the bed for a patch of mangels. There isn't much good to having animals to feed you if you can't feed them, I figure.

We want to obtain a couple of cross-cut saws, so that we can cut wood for ourselves from our lot. Right now we buy it, and that's a waste when we've got 16 acres of woods (young wood, and not great for heating, but it'll do).

Grow a garden entirely from open-pollinated seeds, with careful attention to cross-pollination and seed saving. I've found a pickling cuke that won't cross with slicers, so that's one less thing to worry about. I still haven't narrowed down to only the requisite number of squashes, but I'm working on it. And we're trying OP sweet corns this season, hoping to find a couple with different maturation dates that will suit us taste-wise.

Buy extras of things we won't be able to make easily - shoes, nails, fencing, etc... and keep them. It doesn't have to be a big project, just a little bit extra, or a box of misc. bought at auction can make a big difference.

Building an insulated space into our basement that will allow us to keep veggies longer - we have the classic problem with a basement furnace, and while we heat mostly with wood, we still use the oil to keep pipes from freezing when we're away from home.

What else?

-- Sharon in NY (astyk@brandeis.edu), April 23, 2002

Answers

What else? My gosh, will this be a long thread! :^)

Well, some building materials for fastening things together would would make a lot of sense. Long threaded rods, together with bolts, would be useful (cut rod to make various sizes of bolts). Those plastic ties come in really handy. Various hand powered tools / saws / hammers / shovels will be needed. Garage sales and auctions are really good places to check for tools, it doesn't necessarily be brand new.

Heavy duty footwear. You will probably be spending a lot of time on your feet, be sure that your footwear is comfortable and protective, not a good time to step on a nail and need a tetnus shot.

Salt? Need plenty of that. Makes saline solutions for medical use, brush your teeth, used for canning meat, as well as a requirement for your bodies health. It's cheap and easy to store, as long as it doesn't get wet.

Basically, try and store what you will use yourself. Next.

-- j.r. guerra in s. tx. (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), April 23, 2002.


Make sure you have kitchen thingswhich dont require electricity for them to work..I was kind of surprised to read of all those goodies my fellow homesteaders rely on such as electric can openers and toasters and blenders and such...LOL...I still use an old fashioned hand can opener, and potato masher, and juicer and grinder and toaster and mixer..I guess if the electric went out I wouldn't notice! I think if one would be ready for "the worst" one needs to look around the kitchen too..I cannot imagine trying to prepare meals when you are so used to grabbing up an electric mixer for everything, or doing without canned goods because you forgot something simple like a can opener..just a thought!

-- lesley (martchas@bellsouth.net), April 23, 2002.

Water. We don't store water, but we have a large childs swimming pool that could be dragged over to a rain gutter. Meanwhile, the kids are using it, of course. Stocking caps for sleeping really added to our comfort while the power was out. You don't usually think about the top of your head getting cold when you have hair as thick as mine, but it did.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), April 23, 2002.

I try to keep a fully stocked pantry at all times. I guess if disaster struck we would all make do with what we have, but it would be a lot nicer to be able to have some luxuries while you "suffered". It is difficult to imagine what it would be like if we each had to really fend for ourselves. I would hope that those who are more prepared in some ways than others, would still be able to trae or barter, goods and services...

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), April 23, 2002.

Do have your Potassium Iodate tablets in case of a attack on Nuclear power plants? Do you have a safe air tight room? Are you well stocked on Medical supplies? Perscriptions? Are you ready for the starveing people looking for food from the citys, If the transportation of food totally broke down, I understand the grocery stores would be cleaned out with in three days. Do you have your animal food, nothing worse that your pet stareing at you hungary. Do you have a generator, preferably propane. Do you have neighbors that you can trust? or would they steal your food at night. Sounds pretty glum, I have my potassium Iodide, and the generator. and working on perscriptions by fudgeing some. I have dry dog food for 6 months. And my husband loads his own ammunition. And lets all pray the terriost never use small pocs, or something else.

-- Irene texas (tkorsborn@cs.com), April 23, 2002.


I'm glad Irene mentioned neighbours. I definitely would make sure I know who the neighbours are, because if there is a disaster, we will all be affected. If we have established friendships with the folks living closest to us, we will be better able to pitch in to help each other. I hate the thought of going through such a thing alone-- having friends around would help so much.

Also, what about water purification tablets? Even if you do store good water now, it won't last forever, and you will need some way to purify water, especially if it doesn't rain.

-- Cathy N. (eastern Ontario) (homekeeper86@sympatico.ca), April 23, 2002.


definitely water. That's one thing you can't last long without. It usually goes alot quicker than most people think too. If you don't have a spring, stream, etc then you should have some kind of preparations. If you're on a well and can't install a hand pump, you can rig up a hand bailer but that takes forever to pull up water if you have a deep well. A generator to run your pump and other things would be a good investment. Lots of good deals on used or never used(bought for y2k).

Stored water is ok but you have to keep it maintained. The best way is new containers, the blue plastic drums are common. Waterbed bladders are another cheap solution if you have the space. Add chlorine to it and change it at least once a year. Be careful when you fill it, it doesn't take much contamination to ruin a supply in time.

Fuel is important too. The best way is just get a tank, buy bulk, use that to rotate it and never go to gas stations again.

A good supply of basics like salt, baking soda, yeast, ect, the little things that are often overlooked and can't be made on the homestead.

A good first aid stock, antibiotics, scapels, suture kits.

A good Coleman or other brand multifuel lantern. Candles and oillamps are ok but not enough if you need strong light.

Some long term food storage. Beans and rice go a long way.

At least one gun. The cheapest route to go is a .22 rifle, and a brick of 500 rounds. That'd bring in small game and even deer if you really needed to do that.

Knowing your neigbors is good but it's not always best to speak of your preparations. You make yourself a target for the ones who didn't prepare if things got crazy.

-- Dave (multiplierx9@hotmail.com), April 23, 2002.


chocolate.

-- Gayle in KY (gayleannesmith@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.

Just thought of another thing- fabric. I keep lots of cotton, flannel, canvas, etc. You never know what you might have to make. I have been keeping a folder on how to do things- all sorts of things. Whenever I run across something I might need someday, I copy, print, write, or tear it out and into the book it goes. My most recent article is how to make moccasins. I probably have 2 or 3 thousand items, broken down into categories.

One more thing you might need is how-to books on all sorts of topics. I have them on gardening,first aid, animal health, butchering, sewing, too many to name.

-- Gayle in KY (gayleannesmith@yahoo.com), April 23, 2002.


We're working towards self sufficenty a bit at a time-its too overwhelming to do every thing at once.--Here are some of our small goals this year:

We were given a woodstove(we still have to go get it but its ours) This summer, we will install it in our basement-when we built the house we included a pad to put it on and built in flue-we KNEW we would get it someday! We will be able to heat the house and do some cooking on it-I feel so much better about having that!

Most of my seeds this year were open pollenated/non hybrid. I have been doing some seed saving-I'm really concentrating on it this year.

We got a solar-powered battery charger-this will help out with flashlights and smaller appliences.

I bought a solar oven cookbook and have collected the materials- though not yet made the oven-its one of my summer projects.

Im planting a HUGE garden this year.

Water is pretty much under control-we have three sources of water- plus house run-off-long term projects are-a solar powered water pump, and a better runoff/gray water collection. We do have several water filters.

I have good hand kitchen tools. I have great hand sewing crochet, knitting tools. I bought, but it needs repair, a treadle sewing machine-another in the future project.

Our first goal was to make our country move and we have done that, we have good supply of timber for firewood, we could pasture animals if it came to that, we have good water supply. I feel we have our basics, now we are making those better. I want to mention though, that we have been consciencly been working on this for some fifteen years.......

-- Kelly (homearts2002@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.



Something that isn't absolutely necessary but would be great to have is entertainment. You'll probably be super busy working on the homestead but having a deck of cards, jigsaw puzzles, books, board games are great. Something for all ages too.

-- Charleen in WNY (harperhillfarm@yahoo.com), April 24, 2002.

Good duct tape, plastic sheeting, pvc or black polypipe and connectors, clean, nontoxic 55 gal drums and lids, rebar, assorted hardware and lumber are all right useful for many kinds of emergencies and plain tinkering.

A jug of pool bleach and instructions on how to dilute for a stock solution for water purification.

A "Wood-Whiz" for splitting wood ( wedge and donut weight mounted on a piece of conduit so you can split wood easily, safely and without petroleum or a sledge.)

hand cranked radio receiver for fm/am and shortwave

storable vet supplies

Make sure some of your seed corn is open pollinated type for your area, ie Reeds yellow dent for OH-IN-IL.

Find a scythe and practice with it to keep weeds down

Find a reel push mower for the yard, and either stockpile diazanon or get guineas to take care of ticks and bugs ( disease vector )

Stockpile some soap and detergent so you don't have to figure out how to make soap in a crisis.

Keep a supply of seasonings ahead that will make monotonous food palatable -- sugar, cinnamon, onion flakes, garlic salt, hot sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, vanilla, chili powder, etc. Know how to make a decent sauce or gravy to go over boiled grain or boiled beans. Onions are your friend in the kitchen.

Keep a spare supply of wool socks and cotton underwear. Wool socks will insulate your feet year round and don't get clammy if they get damp.

Buy gloves off season and keep some spares around in various sizes and types.

-- Sara in IN (urthmomma@ol.com), April 24, 2002.


WOOL SOCKS!

I KNEW there was something that I really missed when the power was off for 3 days, and I couldn't think of what! I DID have big fluffy knee socks, but they were not as warm as they looked and I found myself longing for wool. You will want to have soft socks on the inside, though. Your feet always perspire a little, and I ended up airing the socks out every couple of hour so they would get dry and be warm again: you don't have to do that with wool. I had long underwear somewhere but it got pushed to the back of the cupboard where I kept my warm cloths and I couldn't find it until the lights came on: the window wasn't bright enough for me to see it so I might as well have not had it.

-- Terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), April 24, 2002.


Wow - some good suggestions. We don't have a generator, and don't intend to get one. If everything works until we can go solar, great, but if not, people lived without power for a long time before and we can do it again. I don't think a generator is any kind of long-term solution - you'll run out of gas, get sick of the noise, and still have to use candles sooner or later. It is a great shorter term stopgap, though.

We have a hand-pump and rain barrels, and water purification stuff, so I think we're good there. Pet food, definitely, but in the longer term they'd have to live on something more like BARF. I guess I'm thinking less about how to live for a few days and more about what happens if a disruption goes on for weeks, months, years, as it often does in time of war, disease or other crisis.

While a gun is an important thing, I suspect that raiders from cities are less of an issue - we're a ways out, you'd have to know we were here, and without easy access to gasoline or other materials, they aren't going to make it to us before they starve. A bigger issue is how to get family here in an emergency, and that's something to think about.

Transportation. Eric and I both have bicycles in good condition, and a bike trailer, so we could do some transport that way. I'd like a cart horse, though, and cart as well.

No airtight room. If it gets that desperate we'll probably die.

Chocolate and socks and toys are great. Also, cloth diapers, clothes and shoes in the next sizes up, and lots and lots of books, to educate my babies.

Thanks for all the great suggestions!

-- Sharon in NY (astyk@brandeis.edu), April 25, 2002.


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