Tag Archives: mental and physical preparation

Nuts & Bolts by Nick: Overlanders

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by Nick Romaniello

Overlanders: One man’s survival is another man’s vacation.

PeterandKayForwoodI’m going to stray away from my home improvement centered writing from time to time; today I want to discuss another passion of mine and it’s overlooked connection to the world of prepping.

While the term “Overlanding” may still be unknown to many, it is in fact a long standing segment of the adventure travel community that traces it’s roots to earliest days of the automobile when brave souls set out to see the world on wheels. Overland Journal, the leading publication on the subject, defines overlanding as:

“Self-reliant adventure travel to remote destinations where the journey is the primary goal. Typically, but not exclusively, accommodated by mechanized off-highway capable transport (from bicycles to trucks) where the principal form of lodging is camping; often lasting for extended lengths of time (months to years) and often spanning international boundaries”.

LandCruiserWith many of these travelers now blogging as they go, it’s easier than ever to follow along as individuals, teams, and families with kids traverse continents and even circumnavigate the globe and to learn from their unique experiences. Dealing with war zones, limited supplies, civil unrest, stranded vehicles and lack of medical care can all be part of daily life for the LandRoveroverlander. The techniques and gear of these hearty world travelers are tested and proven in the harshest environments on a regular basis–rather than just in theoretical end-times scenarios–and should be looked at by preppers as a valuable resource. An overlander may find themselves in the Amazon, the Sahara, or Siberia and have to be ready for anything. People from all countries and cultures are often quick to assist these travelers, in ways we would never expect in the west. But there are also frequent occasions when an overlander will find themselves in a situation where they are completely dependent upon their own skills and equipment to get themselves through tough situations or terrain.

Motorcyclist Tiffany Coates found herself confronted by AK-47 wielding bandits in Kazakhstan. Pablo Rey’s 4WD broke down in the uninhabited desert of Sudan. Simon Thomas had to ride out of the Brazilian rainforest–with a broken neck after–after his motorcycle veered off a wooden bridge. Anything that can happen in a collapse situation has already happened to members of the overlanding community, and it rarely stops them from continuing on their amazing journeys. Even their day to day living activities such as generating electricity, communicating, and replenishing food stores that many Americans would consider unbearable are just part of the adventure when roaming the globe. The enjoyment of interacting with fascinating cultures and seeing awe inspiring natural wonders far offset the hardships of this method of travel, but the need to prepare is absolute.

ovexpo25Like preppers, overlanders love gear and training. Catalogs and websites provide a wealth of options for mobile self-reliance equipment. Skill building is equally important both before departure and learning location specific techniques from indigenous people while traveling. Knowledge of vehicle recovery comes in handy where tow trucks fear to tread, and medical training can mean the difference between life and death when the nearest hospital is 400 miles away on unpaved roads. Events such as the annual Overland Expo in Arizona or the Horizons Unlimited meetings held worldwide offer clinics and lectures on subjects vital to successfully managing a global journey with confidence.

It’s well worth looking into the world of overlanding to see survival and self reliance skills and gear in action by people who are having the time of their lives. Below are some great links to get you started:

http://www.overlandjournal.com/

http://www.overlandexpo.com/

http://bodeswell.org/

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/

http://www.expeditionportal.com/

 

Nuts & Bolts by Nick: Joining in the Annual Reflections

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by Nick Romaniello

Since both Trace and Momma Bear have contributed articles reviewing the past year’s accomplishments and plans for the days ahead, I figured I would follow their lead (or rip off their article idea depending on how you look at it) and take a look at what I have done and what’s still on the list.

Though the practice of prepping isn’t exactly new to me, but the terminology and organization of it is. When I was a teenager in coastal South Carolina we all prepared for hurricanes with stored food, water, batteries and evacuation kits, and my frequent camping and hiking excursions kept me involved in outdoor skills. The current trend toward prepping, homesteading and sustainable living have provided me with plenty of new sources of inspiration to further my ability to be self sufficient in good times and bad. Despite financial and time constraints I have managed to make reasonable progress over the past many months.

gear shelfMy preps have been organized into a central location in my basement into bins and shelves. This not only allows for quick and easy access, but allows me to keep track of inventory.

I’ve extended my three-day food supply into a respectable store of non-perishables and water, including food for the dogs. Not a decade’s worth of #10 cans or anything, but enough to carry us through the blizzards and financial fluctuations of my job that we are most likely to encounter.

Fire extinguishers, smoke and carbon monoxide detectors were positioned on each floor and tested monthly. We made a family evacuation plan in the event of a fire including a meeting place should we leave through different exits.

I began training as a member of a local search and rescue organization. This will further develop my outdoor skills from woodland survival to technical rescue and provide in-depth training in emergency first aid as a wilderness first responder. Acting as a subject for search dog training is also handy for honing my skills of hiding in the outdoors. Plus it’s always good to know how to help others in a disaster scenario.

I began taking Krav Maga courses (a non-competitive self-defense martial art) and started practicing my marksmanship at the local range to improve my self-defense skills. I will always choose to walk the path of peace and kindness, but pacifism does not mean being defenseless to someone who means harm to me or my family.

I have increased my backups for alternative heating/cooking in the event of a long-term winter power outage by supplementing my indoor-safe propane heater with a small generator and an electric heater, and several off grid cooking methods.

tomatoesThere is always more to do and the coming spring is already laid heavy with plans to continue adding helpful gear and, more importantly, essential skills to what we already have. Our urban homesteading skills are at the forefront of our plans including more extensive preserving of our annual vegetable garden’s bounty, growing some fruits such as berries, and a more refined system of rainwater harvesting and grey water reclamation. Some of-interest-to-preppers home improvement projects are looming and I will be sure to thoroughly document them and share them here.

Hopefully by publicly reflecting upon our progresses and plans, we can all further the cycle of information, inspiration and motivation from which we can all grow to become more prepared as individuals and as a community.

 

Momma Bear: Year One in Review

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We recently reached our official one year mark for prepping and, like Trace & family, I decided to do our year in review to see where we stand and in which direction we need to focus for the future.

A few months after we first began “prepping” I went back to work, and I have to say that my lack of free time has seriously affected our prepping. Many of my smaller projects took a back seat to the more routine things like food storage. While we did do some amazing stuff, it was only a fraction of what we could have done had I not been working.

accomplishmentsOverall our big successes were:

  • learning to garden
  • canning
  • food storage in general
  • building good BOB’s
  • building emergency evacuation kits (2 boxed kits with tents, camp stoves, etc)
  • some basic skills training for the kids

Of all our successes this past year, gardening has been the most rewarding because my husband got so excited by the results. I simply could not grow enough tomatoes to keep him in salsa and he is anxiously awaiting this year’s crop! The big disappointments for me are that I still have not begun a food storage/surplus for my pet foods, I did not have enough free time to read and pursue prepping topics, the HAM radio course was a disaster (no license for me!), and we have currently postponed stock piling firearms/ammo (an intensely personal family decision).

2013-goals1Looking forward, we have a pretty clear idea of our priorities. The good news is that I am quitting my job because our family size is increasing (we are adopting)! I will be staying home, learning to be a mom to a larger family! Of course increasing our food storage this year continues to be the top priority, adding bulk food purchases (Costco) to our regular food preps. We will begin our pet food storage as well. We will be getting a bigger vehicle (in addition to the full size truck we already own), and possibly a small trailer.  I will also have more time to focus on our garden this year and go back to working with the dogs on backpacking and maybe carting. I also received HAM Radio for Dummies book (thanks mom!) and will attempt to master that. As an alternative to the firearms we are also looking into archery classes for the whole family.

Although there were as many ups as downs last year, the future is looking fine for us! How did your year of prepping turn out?

 

Sarah’s View: Community

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meet the neighborsThe topic of community comes up quite often in the prepper world – what does forming community really mean? How do you develop it? What is too much? Too little?

I recently read a story on NPR, The Key To Disaster Survival? Friends and Neighbors. This got me to thinking more about this topic, and I agree even if it’s somewhat loose, a basic awareness and familiarity with neighbors is a good thing.

extrovert vs introvertBut in our house I’m the introvert. And, to clarify, when I say introvert I mean in the sense that I gain energy from being alone — I recharge in solitude. An extrovert (i.e. Trace), on the other side, would be someone who gains energy from interacting with others. Most days, when I get done with work, all I want is to curl up and not talk to anyone. I want to sit and be quiet and recharge.

For me, the idea of forming community makes sense; I completely agree that it is so important to be a part of a group that helps each other. However, in reality the last thing I feel like doing is taking time to chat with the neighbors when we pass them going to check the mail, or when we’re out doing yard work. I just want to be left alone.

In addition to my personal desire for solitude, I’m also struck by the United States’ emphasis on the other side of the coin – independence. Being independent is viewed and portrayed as a sign of strength; asking for help is viewed as a sign of weakness. We are raised to be suspicious of those who can’t do it on their own; to see those who need aid as a nuisance or even a threat. And, as preppers, there could be a real threat if we have supplies, power, a refuge and those around us do not.

Meet-Neighbors.jpgSo, how do we reconcile all of this? There is the need (and desire) for a community. There is the need for solitude. There is the pride of independence. There is the threat of strangers. I think the key–and it’s something Trace does well–is to form relationships simple at first, and develop them over time. Start with waving at the neighbor as they unload the groceries. Then maybe say hi and ask who they’re rooting for in the game when you see each other the next time. Get to know their names, a little about their family, where they work. Eventually you might even ask them over for a backyard BBQ.

Maybe it only gets as far as a simple “hi” when you see them. That’s okay. The two of you have moved from the unknown (strangers) to the known (passing acquaintances). For humans moving out of the realm of strangers is incredibly powerful on a very basic level. I can barely remember our neighbors’ names, yet I know what house I’d go to if I needed help, or to just borrow a cup of sugar. I don’t know them well, but they are not strangers.

Being prepared isn’t just about stuff or even skills, it’s also about stretching ourselves to reach out and meet new people, thereby forming the community that could be the difference between success and failure.

 

Review of Goals for 2012

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http://www.dreamstime.com/-image24241030Accomplished Goals in 2012

Major Goals

  • We are now debt-free — This goal took over two years of effort, and more patience and austere living than we were use to (but interestingly we seemed to adjust to it and now it’s sort of the norm). But Sarah is great at numbers and budgeting, and we were able to do this relatively painlessly. There are some exceptions, but we achieved what we set out to accomplish.
  • We own two female and one male American Chinchilla Rabbits — Though as we’ve still been unable to successfully breed them, we’re beginning to wonder if our male will need to be replaced.
  • We bought a 2004 F350 Ford Diesel pickup truck 4×4 crew-cab with an extended bed — We saved and bought it with cash, and are now slowly completing the repairs it needs (that’s why we got it at such a good price initially.)
  • I blogged for a full year, three times a week, through September — I’m now posting less regularly now but it’s still an active, and enjoyable, part of my life.

Minor/Ongoing Goals

  • We got a pressure canner, and used it — We successfully canned turkey and broth. We’d highly recommend this to anyone who preserves food, it was easy.
  • We inspected and rotated our BOB, etc. (later than scheduled, but it got done) — This is far more of a hassle than it should have been, but definitely needs to be done on a regular basis — it’s amazing how quickly you forget what you have, and where it is, in your kit.

(I reviewed my goals Halfway Through 2012, in July, and at that point wasn’t doing to bad. But I didn’t end up getting a whole lot done after that.)

stop go back try againGoals I’ll Roll Over To 2013

  • Learn to make yogurt  — This isn’t a hard one, it just needs to get done. Our family likes yogurt and it’s a great source of nutrition and protein.
  • Learn to brew beer — Now that my friend, Tad, is back living in the area I have no excuses. We hope to get together and make beer this month.
  • Grow cabbage, then make sauerkraut — We planted it, and it completely failed (no heads developed, possible pollination problem?). We’ll try again this summer with another variety. I guess we could have bought cabbage to make make into sauerkraut — but we didn’t.
  • Getting extra rice and beans to share with the the neighbors (if/when needed) — This  is still a priority. We’ll budget for it soon.
  • Learning to identify local plants (we got the book, now we need to use it).

Goals That’ll Wait Until We Get Our Homestead

  • Adding solar panels — When everything is said and done, we live in Western Washington and just don’t get a lot of sun to make this a top priority. It’d be nice, and I hope to experiment with it one day, but there are other projects first.
  • Honey Bees — This is something we’d really like to do, but have decided to wait until we’re situated at the new place
  • Planting Ground Nuts — They take a couple of years to mature, and we hope to be moved by then.
  • Get a 1/2 cord of wood — We decided we didn’t really need it at this house. Once we get our place I’ll add “cut and stack wood” to my to do list.

So how did you’re 2012 goals turn out? Are you better off as a prepper now then you were at this point last year?

(Next week: Goals For 2013)

Green highlighted words are links to posts that cover those topics.

The Importance of Community

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“You Can’t Do It Alone”

I consider myself, and our family, to be pretty well prepared for most eventualities. I’ve evaluated our needs and tried to plan our preps accordingly, including building in redundancies. I’ve also considered the emergencies/disasters, big and small, that we may have to deal with and tried to plan for them. Not only have we acquired much of the proper equipment we’d need, but we’ve also developed many of the required skill-sets, and mental attitudes.

But on Thanksgiving day The Universe took the time to clearly teach me:

1. YOU CAN NOT BE PREPARED FOR EVERYTHING
2. YOU CAN NOT THINK OF EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO BE PREPARED FOR
(and most importantly)
3. YOU WILL NEED HELP FROM OTHERS

In an accidental incident–that even though I know how I did it, I’m still not sure how I did it–I got my car stuck between a rock and a hard place. Literally.

Ryan and I were in my Hyundai Accent, driving to meet with family in West Seattle (Sarah had gone up earlier). The house is in an older neighborhood and difficult to find, so we were following the iPhone mapping directions. We were almost there and the map showed that the road we were on went through, when in fact it didn’t. We turned where we thought we were supposed to, driving up a very steep, narrow road (that ended up being a paved driveway). When we got to the top we realized our error, and I began backing down.

It was kind of slippery from the recent rain and wet leaves. There was an angled turn-off and decided to use it to turn around and drive down correctly. The angle of the turnout was more than I expected, and it was also steeper; as I backed up the tires began to spin on the wet pavement and leaves. I decided I had gone far enough, put it in 1st gear and tried to turn down the hill. Not enough yet, so reverse again, tires slipping, not much progress. I cranked the wheel hard to the left, back into 1st gear and, inadvertently, drove over the side of the turnout — there was the associated grinding and scraping as I went over the large rocks that bordered the driveway. The car was now almost perpendicular across the driveway with the front of the car against the fence (fortunately a 6×6 fence post). Back into reverse, to straighten the car out out, and…nothing? Tires spinning. What? We got out and discovered that the rear of the car was hanging by the bumper on the large rocks and the back tires were about four inches off the ground.

Ryan and I stood back to survey the scene. The front of the car was wedged against the fence post, and the back of the car was stuck on top of, and against, these large rocks. I was sort of stunned, I felt incredibly stupid, wished there was some way I could blame Ryan, and really wasn’t sure how I was going to get out of this.

We opened the back, which contains our car bug out bag (BOB), a large crowbar, a wool blanket, and a scissor jack — those are the tools we had to work with. I pulled out the crowbar and looked around, there was no way to pry or lift or anything, I put it back. I got out the jack to see if there was anyway I could lift the car up off the rocks — but I couldn’t see anyway to do it safely that wouldn’t cause more damage to the car (and likely us).

Ryan and I tried to see if we could lift up the rear end (it’s a sub-compact), but all we did was raise up the shocks. I really had no idea what to do, I knew I should call Sarah and let her know what had happened but I really wanted a to come up with a solution before I did. I considered a tow truck, but knew since it was a holiday it would take forever, and I wasn’t sure what even a tow truck could do.

I called Sarah and she send down her brother (David) and cousin’s husband (Chason). They got there soon after, evaluated the situation, and we debated. We decided, with the additional help, to again try and lift up the back of the car off the rocks and swing it around to the correct angle. The four of us lifted, and still no luck, but it looked like the idea had potential. Chason went back to get more help and David (helpfully) suggested it as a topic for the blog.

Soon afterward all the able bodied men from the Thanksgiving gathering were there to help. We positioned ourselves around the back end of the car, being as safe and careful as possible, and were able to lift the car off the rocks and move it into the needed position. Fortunately there was almost no damage to the car, and the fence would only need very minor repairs (we left a note on the residence explaining what happened).

Once successful, and with everyone chuckling about what had happened, we all went up to enjoy a Thanksgiving day with family. My place in the family Thanksgiving lore had been ensured.

Take Away Lesson
I could not have handled this alone. I had never considered this situation happening, and had no preparations in place to deal with it. Had this been during a disaster when emergency services wouldn’t be available the only way this could have been done is with the help from others. Without that help the only option would have been to abandon the car and walk, which in bad weather or with people unable to walk far, could be dangerous or even life-threatening.

Develop community around you. Develop strong relationships with your family and friends. Get to know you neighbors around you so you can ask for, and provide, help for them.

No one can do it alone — that plan will fail.

 

Sierra Kate: Reusables, Self-Reliance & Feminine Hygiene, Part 2 – How Do They Perform?

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Last week I wrote Part 1: Options, about alternative reusable menstrual products from a prepper perspective. However, potential users of a new alternative feminine hygiene product will also want to know how well it performs/functions. That is what I am here to discuss this week.

FIRST – OUR CHOICES:

Disposables

  • Pads & Tampons – semi-synthetic rayon
  • Pads & Tampons – cotton
  • Menstrual Cups – elastomer

Reusables

  • Pads – cotton
  • Tampons – natural sea sponges or cotton
  • Menstrual Cups (bell-shaped cup used internally) – natural latex rubber or medical-grade silicone

Let’s compare our options, shall we?

Reusable Menstrual Pads

Reusable Tampons – Sea Sponges

Reusable Menstrual Cup

 

SECOND – REVIEWING PERFORMANCE:

1. Comfort

  • Interior winner – Menstrual Cups. No internal options are felt, but cups win because they are non-drying and do not interfere with one’s healthy and natural lubrication or secretions.
  • Exterior winner – Unclear. It’s a trade-off; next to sensitive skin the winner is probably the more bulky cotton pad that is soft and breathable. But some prefer the thinner, less breathable rayon,  but it does have potential irritants.

2. Convenience

a) Capacity

Winner – Menstrual Cups. The 1-ounce cups have double the capacity of a max-absorbency tampon. That means half the bathroom trips!

b) Portability and Active Living

Winner – Menstrual Cups. You only need one cup at any time, they are easy to clean and there is no trash to hide. Cups are popular with outdoor enthusiasts, including wilderness backpackers. Also, the non-drying cup can be put in the day before you expect your period.

3. Cost

Winner – Menstrual Cups. Both reusable cups and pads last at least 5 to 10 years. A cup costs about $30 to $40; a commercial set of reusable pads about 2 to 3 times that. A set of two sponges costs $13 and last 3 to 12 months.

4. Health

a) Hygiene 

Winner – ALL. No menstrual products are sterile; however they are all sanitary with proper care.

b) Harmful Substances

Winners – Reusables. Processing rayon requires a lot of chemicals that are potential toxins or irritants that may leave traces in the final product.

c) TSS and Microbes

Internal Winner – Menstrual Cup. The cups smooth surface does not lend itself as easily to microbial growth; tampons, especially high-absorbency, seem to be associated with TSS, along with causing micro-abrasions.

d) Odor

  • Internal winner – Menstrual Cup. The menstrual fluid is not exposed to any air, which eliminates odor.
  • External winner – Cotton pads. Cotton allows moisture to evaporate, which reduces odor.

5. Environmentally friendly

Winners – Reusables

6. Anatomical Fit Concerns

For cups a good rule-of-thumb is if the person (this includes virgins) has no problems using tampons then they should be able to use cups. If you can’t use disposable tampons, but dislike pads, consider trying sea sponge tampons. At the bottom I’ve included a link to a positive review of them by a women affected by pelvic organ prolapse.

7. Learning Curve

Cups are more hands on, and require you to be comfortable, or willing to become so, with your body and intimate anatomy. Most users say it takes 2-3 cycles to get the hang of easily inserting and removing them.

8. Customer Service

Winner – Reusables. Companies of reusables are knowledgeable and helpful. They have to be, they mostly advertise by word of mouth.

9. Care, Cleaning, and Storage

Reusable winner – Menstrual Cup. The cup’s smooth surface is simple to clean. It is also easier to care for away from home than the reusable absorbent options. In a pinch, after emptying, if both the cup and your clean hands do not come into contact with anything else then it isn’t necessary to wash the cup before reinserting.

10. OKAY, but are they pretty?

Really…? Sigh. Yes! They have cute pouches. Many pads do come in awesome colours and patterns. A few cups come in bright pretty colours. Sponges, I think, already look decorative. And then you can make your own pads, tampons or carry pouches as beautiful as you like. What I find beautiful is how well reusables work. The disposable synthetic products, to me, are a disappointment, not just environmentally but from a health and performance point of view.

 

Disclaimer: I claim no special medical knowledge. I wrote from my personal experience with rayon products and menstrual cups; most of the rest was obtained from Internet research.

 

RESOURCES

Disposable 100% cotton pads and tampons:

Disposable menstrual cup: http://www.softcup.com/faqs

Reusable cloth pad brands:

Pads4Girls: http://lunapads.com/about-us/donate-pads

To make your own cloth pads:

Reusable sea sponge tampons

Reusable menstrual cups

Lastly, the following is a link to a story with a very rare concern with tampons that is not about rayon, dioxins, chemical irritants or even TSS bacteria. Open at your own risk of being utterly and horrifyingly grossed out: http://www.wfaa.com/news/consumer/Test-Results-Confirm-Mold-on-Tampon-147404735.html

 

Sarah’s View: What Are You Waiting For?

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Please accept my apologies for this rant as I know, if you’re reading this, I’m likely preaching to the choir.

There are many articles out there about what the government officials, government entities, and utility companies could/should have done differently to prepare for Hurricane Sandy. I can’t name the number of times I’ve heard some member of the public exclaim how they keep waiting for help and are so frustrated that it hasn’t yet arrived. Now, I don’t mean to lessen the true needs of many, but I’m tired of the helplessness, the lack of personal responsibility and, yes, lack of preparation.

What made the government responsible for your well-being? Especially in a disaster like Sandy where there was warning days in advance. Yes, the government is responsible for those items that you pay for with your taxes – highways, bridges, schools, basic communications. However, they are NOT responsible for you having food, water, clothes, even a house. That is your responsibility.

A friend of mine, who’s been through hurricanes before, posted these recommendations on an online forum I belong to:

  • Make sure you have cash. ATM machines don’t work without power and when stores begin to open they will only be able to accept cash since power and phone lines might still be down.
  • Fill your freezer full of anything you can fill with water.  I was able to turn my freezer into an old school “ice box” and kept my frozen foods frozen for 5 days without power. Probably not as tough given the temperatures in the area, but it was huge when we were dealing with 90+ temps after our hurricane. When I would get ready to defrost something frozen to eat, I would move it into the refrigerator and it would help to keep the refrigerator cool.
  • Make sure your vehicle is full of gas. Gas station pumps do not work without power.
  • Make sure you can charge your cell phone with your car. It was only during the hurricane that I realized we no longer own a phone that doesn’t need electricity to run.

This is incredibly reasonable and sound advice. It makes complete sense to stock up on water, food, cash, gas, and warm clothes when you know a disaster is approaching. But – why is this only sound advice when a known disaster is approaching, but in “normal” life doing these things is odd, weird or extreme?

Our family was fortunate, since we live in the Pacific Northwest and were not directly affected by Sandy; nor were any of our extended family or friends on the East Coast greatly impacted. In fact, we are won’t ever experience a hurricane. We are likely, however, to experience an earthquake. I’ve lived through two big-ish ones and countless smaller ones in the 25 years I’ve lived in Washington. There is no warning with an earthquake; no advanced radar or news reports letting us know what time it will “make landfall”. If we were caught in the “big one” it would almost be reasonable for us to expect the government to swoop in and help, after all we would have had no idea an earthquake was going to strike – how could we possibly have known to prepare?

Yet, we won’t be waiting for the government. We will be prepared. What are you waiting for?

 

Sierra Kate: Reusables, Self-Reliance & Feminine Hygiene, Part 1 – Options

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Contributed by Guest Blogger: Sierra Kate

Question: What can make you self-reliant for longer that uses up less space and money? Answer: Using reusable items instead of one-use disposables. I am here to discuss a much-neglected category under disposables: Menstrual Products. <Crickets>. Humour me for a moment and contemplate this, I read about one family that had an estimated seven years of tampons stocked. You want an idea better than that right? Consider reusables menstrual products. Believe it or not reusables are better in many ways, but that is literally a whole other post.

Pads, tampons, and menstrual cups all come in reusable forms. Reusable cloth pads are typically made of cotton, a breathable absorbent fabric. Commercial cloth pads are about $10 per pad. Many people make their own pads to reduce costs; there are plenty of how-to instructions on-line (see Momma Bear’s post: Home-Made, Reusable Sanitary Napkins). Cloth pads last 5 to 10 years. Commercial cloth tampons, or patterns to make them, are much harder to find, but they are out there. One non-cloth option is reusable tampons made from natural sea sponges, a 2-pack is $13, and they can last 3 to 12 months.

I favour the reusable menstrual cups. They are bell-shaped and are typically made from natural latex rubber, or silicone. About the size of a shot glass, they sit internally and collect menstrual fluid instead of absorbing it. They cost about $30 to $40 and last 5 to 10 years. You can easily increase your self-reliance by stocking up. Doing the math, 4 to 8 individual menstrual cups (or sets of cloth pads) could last a woman until menopause.

What about being able to make them yourself and be truly self-sustainable? Most people wouldn’t consider it on this matter, because it requires a lot of research and hard work, and the above options for self-reliance don’t take up a lot of space. But, out of curiosity, “what if”?

If you are interested in self-sufficiency when it comes to menstrual products you have a few options. Start with growing a natural fiber. Cotton (a sub-tropical bush), soft and absorbent, is the best option. The second best would be low-THC hemp (wide geographic range), however daft legal issues currently abound on this topic. Natural sponges have been harvested for millennia as luxury items; however this is dependent on a viable sponge population living nearby (such as Florida). Lastly, ones made from rubber. Natural latex rubber has many uses, and is created by curing latex, a milky plant sap. A tropical tree is used commercially; other sources of latex are guayule and common dandelions. Silicone rubber is made from silica (a sand used in glass-making) and other compounds and has been produced for about 60 years. You can find rubber mold-making-kits if you want to tinker, as rubber has all sorts of uses. The Native Americans made latex rubber for millennia but theirs may not have had the quality or consistency of modern rubber production.

Ironically, there are many other good uses for disposable tampons after TEOTWAWKI. There are a total of ten(!) survival uses in this article: The Swiss Army Survival Tampon – 10 Survival Uses.

So from a  self-reliance prepper perspective, stocking reusables is great. But perhaps you, or a fellow prepper, are not convinced. If you are wondering if this will work well from a user perspective, I use menstrual cups and I’ll tell why it is better in next week’s Part 2 post.

Sierra Kate’s Bio
Kate currently lives in small-city Canada and has just come across the world of prepping. What initially grabbed her interest in prepping is how well it fits in with her own intellectual inclinations and desires for a healthy lifestyle that has sustainability, self-reliability, utility and minimalism in mind. She enjoys solitude and her hobbies include reading and biking.

 

When I Was Sick, An Introspection

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We’re (I’m) Not Superman
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I want to preface this by saying, I don’t get sick. Because of genetics, lifestyle choices, and dumb luck I’ve lived a healthy and active life. But last week I was sick. I had gastroenteritis, an unspecific medical diagnosis, commonly known as stomach flu. Maybe it was food poisoning (though both Sarah and I ate pretty much the same things), who knows. What matters is that it sucked. Really sucked.

Gastroenteritis is defined as “a medical condition characterized by inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract that involves both the stomach and the small intestine, resulting in some combination of diarrhea, vomiting, and abdominal pain and cramping.” And I had it all. For over 24 hours I was miserable. Most of the time–when I wasn’t in the bathroom–all I could do was sit quietly on the couch; for a time I laid on the floor with my knees pulled up. It passed. Of course I lived. But I also learned.

I mention this because it made me realize that no matter how much we (including me, or as my wife would say “especially” me) view ourselves as superman, sometimes we’re not — we can’t be. Sometimes no matter how much desire there is to get up and do the job or even defend the home; physically there’s no way it’s going to happen. That afternoon, lying in an almost fetal position wishing the pain would stop, the most I might have been able to do would have been to crawl a short distance to get out of the way. I wanted to write about this soon after the incident because already my brain is starting to revise history, to minimize how bad I felt, and trying to justify that if I would have had to, I could have. But I can still remember how I felt laying there sweating, my gut spasming in intense pain, just trying to breathe.

I learned that we need to have redundancies built into our preparations, and not with stuff this time but with skills. If you can’t do it, who can? You don’t even have to be sick or hurt, maybe you’re just not there. Have you taught your spouse, partner, or children the skills that need to be done? Is there a family member, friend, or neighbor that has the knowledge and ability, and would be willing to help? Hopefully this person is nearby because maybe someone driving to your home isn’t an option (time or opportunity).

To be truly prepared for a disaster, or especially a collapse, we must have strong social support systems. We can’t survive on our own. Humans are social creatures. We’re meant to live in supporting communities to learn from, teach to, share with, barter with, care for, and protect each other.