What We Did This Week To Prep 3/23/12

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I’ve discussed the importance of walking and having quality hiking boots several times, but I’ve never gone over caring for leather boots. Since joining the USMC at 18 years old, polishing boots has been a part of my life. But I realize most people don’t have this habit; even current military people – those new tan boots don’t even require polish (what do you do in boot camp with your ‘spare time’ if you don’t have to polish boots?!?) To polish my leather boots I use Lincoln Shoe Polish, but any quality brand will work; I’m not a purist. At least once a month I thoroughly clean–using saddle soap if necessary–and polish my boots. Think of leather boots like your skin, when it loses its moisture it becomes dried out and can even crack. While living skin has natural occurring lubricants and protectants, leather doesn’t. So it’s essential to regularly clean and polish your leather boots to ensure they will last for many years. After cleaning, and letting them dry, I use a dauber, or a soft cloth, to work the polish into the leather. Then I use a soft brush to buff them out, effectively sealing the boots with the polish (I used to buff them for appearance and function, now it’s just function). You paid a lot of money for your quality boots, take good care of them.

Also on the topic of walking I came across a great ‘white board’ video this week by Dr. Mike Evans: 23 and 1/2 hours. He discusses the health benefits of spending half hour a day walking – then you can do whatever you’d like with the remaining 23 1/2 hours. He talks about how exercise, mostly just walking, half an hour a day will significantly reduce your risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, dementia, and diabetes. It will reduce anxiety, depression, and fatigue. It will even help you live longer and improve your quality of life. He clearly shows how “low cardio-respiratory fitness” (aka not enough exercise) is the number one preventable cause of early death. He quotes Hippocrates (the Father of Medicine) “Walking is man’s best medicine.” And concludes the presentation with, “Can you limit your sitting and sleeping to just 23 1/2 hours a day?” We’re preppers, we’re doing so much to try to be prepared – take half an hour a day to prepare and care for your body also.

Another month, another trip to Costco. We restocked some canned goods we’ve used (you’re rotating your SWYE foods right?), got some more OTC allergy meds (on sale), more ibuprofen, and more Vitamin C (on sale), extra toothpaste (not crucial in a collapse, but nice to have), toilet paper was on sale, added more charcoal to our preps (on sale), and batteries were on sale (which was nice because we rotated batteries in prep items this month). Plus we got Sarah a new office chair so she has somewhere comfortable to sit while she’s helping me edit my blog.

The other big thing was that we finally did our annual BOB inspection and rotation. We brought all three BOBs (we keep one in each vehicle) into the house. We opened them up, changed out batteries, replaced most food items, replaced the bleach (it’s only good for a year), changed out the water, added dog food (we didn’t have Kate last year), and packed them back up. Not much more to say, but we’re glad it’s all done.

What did you do?

(Monday: Gun Show Review*)

*Gun show this weekend at the fairgrounds in Puyallup, WA (March 24-25), I’ll be going Sunday. It’s put on by the Washington Arms Collectors and open to all. They, of course, have a wide selection of guns, ammo, and related equipment, but also a good variety of prepper items and books.

Momma Bear: An Inexpensive Water Filter System

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“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.”  -Nelson Mandela

When I first became a prepper, I found the idea of water purification, and the expense of the many different purifiers on the market, to be a little overwhelming. When preparing for any disaster or grid-down scenario, it is imperative that each and every one of us know as many ways as possible to purify water. In our BOBs we carry both purification tablets and filters that attach to the end of our Nalgene water bottle straws. But, for mass water purification, it seems like there is no way to get clean water on the cheap except for bleach. In a perfect world we would all be rich enough to afford the best preps available, but this is the real world and I was a little depressed by the expense of water purifiers. But then I accidentally ran across Waves for Water.

Waves for Water is a non-profit organization, spear-headed by professional surfers and supported by the surf company Hurley International, that provides water filters to those in need. Their goal is to bring clean drinking water (filters) to as many people as possible, primarily distributed by surfers bringing the filters to the third world nations in which they are surfing. It is a rather unique grass roots effort and I applaud them for it. The extra cool thing (in my opinion) is that they sell these filters to anyone, hoping that you will take some with you as a donation on your next vacation to a third world county.

Waves for Water’s primary “family sized” filter is a silver-impregnated ceramic filter, meeting NSF standards (they also have a “community size” filter). I will not go into the specific statistics of its filtration such as microns and gallons and such (please see their website). But I will say that I was satisfied enough that I bought my filter for the low price of $25 (I think the shipping was like $12-15 though)! At this point I only have the one, but will be adding more as I balance out my preps (since we all know that building up our resources takes time and money).

The filter itself is designed for the two bucket stacking method that many people use with the Berkey filters. It comes with the filter, a pre-filter sock, the spigot for the bottom bucket, and directions. There are also extensive directions and a video on the website. Like the other setups of this kind, it only took a couple of drill bits, two food safe buckets with lids, and I was in the water filtering business.

This method is a slow filtering method designed for at home use. It is NOT an emergency style filtering device for use on the go. It was an inexpensive opportunity for my family to be able to have clean drinking water while also contributing to a grass-roots effort to bring water to those in need. I recognize that there are many other water filtration methods available out there, some that might not be generally heard of. If you know of others, I would love to learn more.

What filtration method do you use?

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Leah writes as ‘Momma Bear‘ from the perspective of the woman in the family being the main prepper (her husband is active-duty USMC and frequently gone). She is a regular contributer with her posts appearing the third Wednesday of each month. See her other post: Momma Bear Is The Prepper.

A Walk In The Woods

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How Quickly The Familiar Can Become The Unfamiliar

Not long ago–on an overcast and potentially stormy afternoon–Sarah, Kate (our Border Collie), and I went for a walk in the woods behind our neighborhood. Several years ago (during the housing boom) that area had been cleared and intended for another subdivision, but it never was built. Since then it has overgrown, but a few dirt roads/trails, still used by hikers or four-wheel drive vehicles, remain.

We had walked back there before, always following familiar trails. This day we had plenty of time so we decided to do some exploring. Instead of our normal route, we decided to see where the dirt roads went figuring that they would eventually connect back to our neighborhood. As we followed the overgrown road, it would end into what would have been a cul-de-sac or just a dead-end; we’d backtrack to the main “road” and continue on, and the same would happen on the next branch. After a couple of hours of this–as we were enjoying the day, the exercise, and the time together–what had begun as an overcast day with some drizzle developed into rain showers. No big deal, it was Western Washington in the winter and we were dressed appropriately. After following another promising branch of the road we, again, hit another dead-end surrounded by thick trees (we really thought that one would go through). At this point we thought we were well past our neighborhood; we figured we could cut through the forest to get back–and save significant distance–or, of course, we had the option to go back the way we had come (a distance of about three or four miles).

We had no extra equipment, just rain coats, warm clothes, good boots, and my phone. We pulled up the mapping app on my phone and determined where we were (hoping that our pinpointed location was accurate); we were surprised how far we had gone. We needed to go north, and the phone’s compass app showed us which way that was. Once determined, we started through the forest; the undergrowth was heavy, but fortunately there weren’t any blackberry bushes. I went first, with Sarah a little behind me to avoid getting snapped by branches, and Kate (who was only a few months old) jumping over fallen branches and undergrowth going back and forth to “check” on us (she slept very well when we got home). We had to navigate around several areas either too thick to pass or low spots full of water. I had to depend completely on the compass (even though the phone battery was getting low) because between the rainy day and thick woods, there was no way to see landmarks to keep us on course. The experience was reminiscent of Camp McCall when I was in the Army.

Close to an hour later, we finally made it to the edge of our subdivision – because of the rain, low clouds, and trees we weren’t able to even see the houses until we were almost to them. From there only another half mile and we were home. Soaking wet and tired, but fine.

Later I reflected how quickly a “normal”, “routine”, or “ordinary” outing can turn into something more than planned. Fortunately we were dressed appropriately, physically fit enough, and disaster didn’t strike. But, it would have only taken an injury–fall, stick in the eye, twisted ankle–a dead phone, or a worse storm and suddenly “just a walk” would have been something much more serious.

We can’t choose our disaster, when it will happen, or where we’ll be. It’s been said to avoid danger, “… don’t go to stupid places, with stupid people, and do stupid things.” That’s good advice, but frequently things don’t start off that way. On a daily basis it’s worth remembering we’re not just planning for “the big one”, but that common things happen commonly and we need to be prepared for the likely things that happen.

Now, when I go for a walk in the woods, I carry a pack. It’s mostly full of rocks (really) because carrying the heavy pack on my walks with Kate is part of my workout. BUT it also contains: a first-aid kit, warm gloves and hat, a small tarp, water, food, a compass, a flashlight, a fire starting kit, and other items; I also plant to get an external phone backup battery. Do I need all that? No. Am I recommending all that? No. I’ve just decided if I’m carrying a pack for a workout I might as well carry useful things. I also looked at that area on Google Maps and now I know where the trails go and where they don’t. So I’ve thought about what happened, planned how to avoid duplicating it, am more prepared if something does go wrong, and learned from the experience.

For any activity you’re involved in: Think. Plan. Prepare. Learn.

(Wednesday: Momma Bear)

What We Did This Week To Prep 3/16/12

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Ryan, Chanse and I started building the greenhouse this week. This is the biggest construction project I’ve undertaken; I’ve never built anything that had to be framed before. I’m sort of a self-taught handyman, if something needs done I do it; if I haven’t done it before, I figure out how and then I do it (with varying degrees of success). I’ve acquired most of the needed tools, and that makes all the difference. Ryan is a great projects partner, he loves his woodshop class at school and they have taught him well. I found a good DIY greenhouse plan online, printed it out, and we’re following it step-by-step. So far we’ve got the base, side wall frames, and the top trusses built; they are all stacked neatly in the garage waiting for a (relatively) dry day to take them to the backyard and finish the assembly on-site. Once the structure is finished, we’ll cover it with some type of plastic; not sure exactly what yet, but we’ll probably use polycarb roofing panels (thanks for the suggestion Dave S.).

After my EDC post I realized it’d be nice if the kids could have some useful EDC items. Of course they can’t carry a knife, pepper spray, or a lighter – but they can carry a small flashlight and a whistle. I picked up a set for each of the kids, and asked them to carry it with them, along with their laminated phone contact card (also updated this week). I attached the girls’ set to a small carabiner so they could clip it onto their school backpacks; Ryan attached his to his set of keys. They won’t cover every conceivable disaster situation, but they could help: a flashlight in a dark room or a whistle when you can’t yell loud enough, are a start. Hopefully it’ll also begin to get them into a mind-frame of carrying items that will help them be prepared (to use in conjunction with the skills I’m trying to teach them). Ryan also carries a small roll of duct tape (we made them together one night watching TV) with his keys, band-aids and emergency cash in his wallet, and a pocket knife when he’s not at school.

One more, and hopefully the last, follow-up on Gerber EAB post. Finally, as everyone told me it would, the clip broke off. I had only carried it clipped to my pocket, every day, for about three months when it did. Fortunately, you say, I had extras on hand right? Sort of, they don’t go on well and two broke trying to get them on – before I gave up. Ironically, as I keep mine in the watch/change pocket of my jeans, it works just fine and actually now has a slimmer profile. If I ever buy a replacement one, I’ll just remove the clip. Final clip recommendation: Don’t plan on keeping it clipped to a pocket – the clip will break. The clip would work fine as a money clip (maybe that’s all the designers had in mind). But clip or not, it’s a handy, small, folding EDC utility knife that still has all of the benefits previously discussed. I love mine, carry it everyday, and would encourage anyone else to do the same.

What did you do? (Feel free to answer in the comments section.)

(Monday: A Walk In The Woods)

Sarah’s View: Traveling For Work

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This week I am travelling to Minneapolis for work. I’ve traveled for work a couple of times before, but never for a full week and not since Trace and I began prepping. Traveling offers a whole new set of “what ifs”, and not even of the SHTF* variety. Simply, what if the plane is delayed? What if they lose my luggage? What if…? And then there are the disaster what ifs.

Luckily I was able to mitigate many of the life ‘what ifs’ by taking a nonstop flight (if it’s delayed, it’s not a big deal as there are no connections I need to make) and I decided not to check any luggage. The luggage question, however, was one Trace and I discussed; not checking makes sense for many reasons – cost, time, risk (of loss) – however, from a prepping point of view it would make more sense to check a bag. By checking a bag I would be able to bring my pepper spray and my Gerber EAB knife both part of my EDC. We looked at the pros and cons of checking a bag, as well as at the likelihood that I would need those items, and decided not to.

There were a couple of reasons we came to this conclusion. First, my hotel is less than two blocks from where I’m working. Not only that, but Minneapolis has a wonderful system of skyways, which, for me, mitigated the need for either item. The skyways were also the reason I chose to leave my winter coat at home. What?!? Minneapolis in March and no winter coat? The weather report was uncharacteristically good – upper 40s to low 70s– and I did bring a number of layers that would keep me warm should the weather turn.

I did, however, decide to bring my good boots. If anything were to happen while I was here, it was important I be able to walk, through wet ground or snow if necessary. My sister works in the other Twin City, St. Paul, so, if the SHTF while I was here, my plan would be to get to her and/or her place of work. Obviously this is a fairly loose plan, but at least it’s something. I’ve planned for the likeliest scenarios (snow/bad weather, flight delays, lost luggage) and thought about how I would respond to something bigger.

All in all, for better or worse, I didn’t really bring any extra “get home” stuff. I have my work backpack which also serves as my GHB when commuting to and from work normally. Ironically, not only did I not add to it, but as I said, I took out my pepper spray and EAB knife (both of which usually “live” in my backpack). I also took out my mini-leatherman and any other non-TSA approved items. I did bring my towel, my headlamp with extra batteries, a few protein bars, and water bottle. Unfortunately I don’t have much that can be used as a weapon, however, I am prepared to be somewhat self-reliant and mobile, if necessary.

As the wife of a good prepper, I don’t have to think too much about our preps on a day-to-day basis (thank you Trace); he takes care of most (all) of the worry and the coordination. I help on an as-needed basis with logistics, planning, and allocation of finances. However, as the one travelling, alone, I was forced to think about what was important to me and what I needed with me in order to feel prepared and as safe as possible.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

My wife Sarah writes, from a prepper’s wife’s point of view, ‘Sarah’s View’ the second Wednesday of each month. See her other posts: Time To Order Seeds, and “What Do You Think of All This?”.

*For my list of abbreviations and other information, open the above ‘Check Here…’ page tab.

Teaching The Kids (& Learning More Myself) – Fire Building

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Fire Building 101: An Introduction
– –
Fire building is an essential survival/prepper skill. Of our five basic needs, fire is energy. In the wilderness fire may be the ONLY type of energy available. I decided this would be the first prepper skill I formally teach the kids (after chainsaws of course…).

Last summer, when we were talking about building fires, I realized that Emily and Alison had never used a lighter or even lit a match. Somehow I had taken for granted that they had. But since we don’t have a fireplace or go camping very much (though this summer we hope to do more), and simply because they are the younger ones and have had fewer “outdoor” opportunities, they had never been taught. So I got out matches and lighters and demonstrated the safe way to use them. I had them both do it, then sent them outside to practice with the lighters and light as many matches as they wanted. In the interim months we’ve continued practicing with both, and now they feel pretty confident.

Yesterday I sat all the kids down in the family room (including Chanse), and discussed how to build a fire (classroom portion). We started off by reviewing that fire needs three things: 1) fuel, 2) oxygen, and 3) an ignition source. We briefly discussed hypothermia and how fire can literally be life-saving. I talked to them about the dangers of fire and how it’s important to keep your fire contained. Then, while still inside, I used some kindling to show them how to set up a small teepee-style stack (with pieces not much bigger than toothpicks), and how I’d leave an opening toward the wind. I laid out additional kindling, of gradually larger pieces, I’d have on hand to use to build the size of the fire. After all had practiced making their kindling teepee, we went outside for the ‘lab portion’ of the class.

It was a gray, chilly, and wet outside. They took their kindling and set it up on the grass. Since I wanted to maximize success, and teach them to use what we have in our kits, I had them use vaseline soaked cotton balls to start the fire (they had previously helped make them for our fire starting kits). They each built their kindling teepee, with the opening facing the wind, over top of their cotton ball (first pulling it apart to separate the fibers). They could use either lighters or matches; we discussed using your body to block the wind and cupping your other hand around the fire to protect it more. They got their fires going, then added larger kindling to make it just a little bigger. All were successful, though it took some longer than others (it’s hard with an age range of 10 to 17 in the same ‘classroom’).

Next time I’ll have them find their own kindling, including making a pile of shavings to get the fire started. Eventually I plan to get them, and Sarah and I, to the point of confidently making a fire with flint and steel.

Teach your kids–and spouse–the skills you know; you may not be around when they are necessary. And remember, “To teach is to learn twice.” -Joseph Joubert

(Wednesday: Sarah’s View)

What We Did This Week To Prep 3/9/12

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This was one of those weeks I didn’t get as much done prepping wise. I was sick for a few days, with that upper respiratory crap that was going around, and consequently didn’t sleep well, which lowered my energy and motivation levels. Also, I had to drive an hour and a half each way, to pick up a replacement transmission for our Hyundai–on my day off–which took a big chunk out of my available time (and more money than we’d like). Excuses, excuses, we all have them – but hopefully we all also realize prepping isn’t our whole lives, just an important part of them.

I bought three new pairs of Carhartt jeans this week. Which made me think: we store all this stuff, “just in case”, but how much extra do we have of day-to-day type clothes (especially work clothes)? Most of us have our primary clothes that we wear regularly, but what about backups? Jeans? Work boots? Boots that will keep your feet warm and dry? Socks? Coats? Gloves (both work and warmth)? Stocking caps? Even things like sunglasses? Look around at the items you wear on a regular/semi-regular basis–that you would like to continue wearing if the SHTF*–and consider getting extras. Also think about possibly storing some in another location, in case of a home fire or another situation where you have to rapidly bug-out. I hadn’t thought about it much before, it just all kind of hit me when I was buying the jeans.

Rick of Rick’s DIY HVAC & Electrical Guide

I got together with my prepper friend, Rick, this week for a cup of coffee. Rick and I met though TSP forum community. While the internet allows us to make contacts and develop ‘friendships’ with people all over the world, there’s nothing quite like meeting with another like-minded person, shaking their hand, and talking face-to-face. As I’ve mentioned before, I live in Puyallup, WA (east of Tacoma) and work in Seattle. So open invitation**: If anyone lives nearby, or visits, let’s get together and have a cup of coffee or a beer (or beverage of your choice) and take that additional step to develop our prepper community locally. If things ever do go bad, no one can do it alone; friendships, family (real or adopted), especially ones that have taken steps to be prepared, will make the difference whether we survive or not.

What did you do?

(Monday: Teaching The Kids (& Learning More Myself))

**For my list of abbreviations and other information, open the above ‘Check Here…’ page tab.

**My contact information can be found on the About Trace page

Bug Out Short List

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Quick, Grab Everything Important!

You’ve got less than an hour to get your family out of the house, possibly forever. The “why” really doesn’t matter; it could be a hurricane, violent civil unrest, a forest fire, flooding… But you have to get your family (including pets), some basic necessities, as many preps as possible, and GO!

This scenario can be chaotic, scary, and very stressful; you’re practically guaranteed to pack inefficiently and forget important things in the rush. And what if you’re not there to do the packing? If you’re away from the house, and your spouse and/or kids have to get things packed up and you’ll meet them somewhere?

Having your family’s own Bug Out Short List would be invaluable. Sure that scenario will still be scary and stressful, but having a prioritized, check-list in your (or their) hand will make things go much smoother and provide much needed direction and focus.

Our list is based on having a well-stocked BOB** in each vehicle already (people define and keep their BOBs in different places – we keep one in each vehicle, at all times). We own three vehicles and have three drivers; our plan (best case scenario, if all vehicles and drivers are home) is to take two of the vehicles putting half of the supplies, divided relatively evenly, in each vehicle (Repetitive & Redundant).

Our Short List

  • Locked Document Box, containing: Important Papers Notebook (including an extra copy of the Evacuation Plan), extra cash, passports, and back-up hard drive (place in primary vehicle, under driver’s seat)
  • Red Buckets (2)*
  • open Large Blue Bin and remove the MURS radios and chargers (2) (place on passenger seats). Verify the Bin contains: Volcano Stove (with propane attachments), Buddy Propane Heater, small propane bottles (4).
  • open Black Box #1: inside are several large duffle bags for packing. It also contains the soft-sided cat carrier, load Oscar (the cat) as soon as he’s found, and load cat food.
  • Blue Duffle Bag containing sleeping bags (if two vehicles: place half in another duffle bag, add extra blankets and pillows to both)
  • Bin containing tents and sleeping mats (if two vehicles: half in each)
  • Berkey Water Filter
  • Large Red First-Aid Kit
  • MRE boxes (2)
  • Tools: axe, shovels, saws, gloves, extension cords, 550 cord, drills, bolt cutters, bucket
  • OD Military Duffle #1: fill with clothes from bedroom dressers
  • OD Military Duffle #2: fill with shoes and coats
  • Car Camping Bin
  • Backpacking Bin
  • (consider Cold Weather Bin depending on time of year)
  • Black Military Boxes (2) fill with non-perishable foods from pantry, SWYE, and extra hygiene items
  • Dutch Oven and cast iron pan
  • Black Plastic Tubs (2) fill with food for travel: include sandwich stuff, snacks, fruit, yogurt, cheese, boiled eggs
  • Coolers (2) fill with meat from freezers, top with ice in zip-lock bags
  • Extra Water: 5-gallon jugs (2), extra 2-liter as space permits
  • Extra Fuel: 5-gallon jerry cans (4) and super syphons (top off vehicles with red 5-gallon cans)
  • 5-pound propane tanks (4)
  • Charcoal and lighter fluid
  • Folding chairs (6)

Is it ambitious? Yes. Does it include everything needed? We hope so. Is it too much? Not if it all fits. Does it all fit? Hard to say–no we haven’t fully tested it (yes, I know we need to – but what a pain in the butt…). If we get a truck in the coming year that’ll help a lot, but we don’t have one yet; we’ve also talked about getting a trailer, but again don’t have one.

Make a Short List for your family. It doesn’t cost anything, just some time. Take that time now so you’ll be more prepared for that situation where you don’t have much time. It won’t be perfect, but at least you’ll have a place to start.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

* In my post Out With The Old… – Our Annual Rotation I mentioned our Red Buckets, they are two 5-gallon red buckets with orange gamma lids (I wanted something that would stand out). They are each stocked with non-perishable foods, eating utensils, a mess kit, and some hygiene supplies. Our goal is to use them in conjunction with the BOBs to add additional survival time (in terms of more food equals more days).

**For my list of abbreviations and other information, open the above ‘Check Here…’ page tab.

The Annual Rotation

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Out With The Old…

The beginning of March is our family’s Annual Rotation (okay, this is the first annual rotation – but it will be this time each year, probably). This is when we go through all our preps and rotate, replace, and update as needed. We decided on March because it’s a relatively slow time of year, there aren’t any holidays (or birthdays) that require extra money, gardens haven’t gone in yet, and maybe there’s even a tax return to help add a couple of new prep items that we’ve wanted.

Here’s our Annual Rotation list to rotate, replace, update, and/or review:

  • BOB** food: We don’t rotate MREs or freeze-dried stuff every year, but peanut butter, power bars, tuna, snacks, etc. all get replaced with new. The old goes to (the front of) our pantry.
  • Batteries: in BOB, car and house flashlights, and smoke alarms and CO2 detectors
  • Evacuation/Bug-Out Documentation: Check phone numbers, maps, and routes. Review plan with family. New photos of kids. Ensure ALL copies of evacuation documentation get updated.
  • EDC wallet contact card
  • Short List (a check-list of items we’d quickly grab if we had to bug-out with little notice – more about Short Lists on Wednesday*)
  • Red Buckets (non-perishable food in red 5-gallon buckets, with orange gamma lids, pre-stocked to be quickly grabbed to supplement BOBs, also part of our Short List)
  • Flash drives in BOBs with home video inventory and PDF resources
  • SWYE: ensure inventory is accurate

In addition we do our quarterly review of stuff at this time:

  • Generator: run briefly to test
  • Extra car keys: check to make sure key in hidden magnetic box is still there
  • Furnace filter: replace (not a prepper thing, but needs to be done regularly)

Think of any other things you keep in your preps, but don’t use very regularly, such as:

  • Chainsaw (or other small gasoline powered tools): clean, inspect, and run briefly to test
  • Firearms: ensure cleaned and oiled
  • Firearm’s magazines: it’s a good idea to keep about half of your primary magazines loaded (to about 80% capacity); then each year change over and use the other half (this will help maximize the follower spring’s life)

One thing that isn’t listed above, is our backup gasoline. Gasoline, with stabilizers, can last one to two years. We stagger ours so it doesn’t all have to be rotated at the same time (keep accurate records).

If you’re like us, you’re busy and life is hectic. We tend to forget about our faithful preps that just sit, waiting, in case we need them. And yes, it’s a hassle to replace and update things – but you’re doing this because you believe it’s important and necessary, remember? So make your own list(s), track the age of the perishable items, and rotate to keep your preps fresh and ready. (Minor confession: we’re not done with all of this yet, but we’re working on it…)

(Wednesday: *Quick, Grab Everything Important!)

**For my list of abbreviations and other information, open the above ‘Check Here…’ page tab.

What We Did This Week To Prep 3/2/12

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This week Ryan and Chanse built a T-bar trellis for the raspberries. Last year was the raspberries first year so, of course, there was a lot of growth–with shoots coming up all over–but very little fruit. This year we plan to trellis them, over wires connected to the T-bars, to keep them more organized and maximize the space. We’re going to allow them to spread out some more, but at their perimeters I had the boys bury pieces of plywood (vertically 15 inches deep) to keep them from getting out of their allotted space. Hopefully, this the raspberries second year, we’ll get a good harvest.

I borrowed a truck from a friend (can’t wait to get our own, it’ll make these jobs much easier) and returned to the Landfill Compost Factory. The first day Ryan and I got two cubic yards of fine compost (I describe it as ‘fluffy dirt’). The following day I went back, by myself (Ryan started track practice), and got another two cubic yards, this time of the coarse compost (it’s more like slightly composted mulch). Between the two days we added about five inches of new compost to the garden areas, both front and back; it’ll have about three months to ‘settle in’ before we plant into it in June. The soil in this area was initially just clay and rock with about an inch of topsoil, so hopefully the soil improvements we’ve made the last couple of years will pay off.

Sarah and I finally made time to get together and finalize our seed order. Sarah had mapped the garden area, labeling what would go where, to make efficient use of the space available. As mentioned, last year was our first real garden and we had deliberately kept it smaller (and only had limited success); this year we’ll be planting about twice as much space. After looking at her garden map and making a few additions to the list, we got our seeds ordered. Ryan and I will build the greenhouse in the next couple of weeks.

What did you do?

(Monday: What Bridges?)