Monthly Archives: June 2012

What We Did This Week To Prep 6/29/12

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We’ve started pasturing our rabbits. We spent the first few weeks we had the rabbits slowly/progressively getting them used to fresh grass and clover. They adapted well as evidenced by their continued solid poops and healthy growth. We’ve now started taking them out of the rabbitry daily and putting them under a movable “rabbit tractor’ in the backyard. We have a good growth of clover and the white clover we planted in the spring is finally starting to come up, so the rabbits should have plenty to eat; hopefully they’ll eat enough to make up over half of their diet. We’re still feeding them rabbit pellets and dried grass hay, but they have been eating progressively less.

Even though the rabbits are still several months away from breeding and producing litters we are already benefiting from their manure. Rabbit manure is the most concentrated fresh animal manure available (NPK), it can be put straight onto the plants, it breaks down relatively quickly, and has no smell. The chart below shows how it compares with other livestock manure (the others all need to be composted before adding to the garden, and many have a strong odor).

Material Nitrogen (N) % Phosphorus (P) % Potassium (K) %
Chicken Manure 1.6 1.5 0.9
Cow Manure 0.3 0.2 0.1
Horse Manure 0.7 0.3 0.6
Pig Manure 0.5 0.3 0.5
Rabbit Manure 2.4 1.4 0.6
Sheep Manure 0.7 0.3 0.9

Since we don’t have enough to manure yet to cover all the plants, we’re maximizing what we have by making rabbit compost tea. We mixed a couple of large scoops of manure into a 5-gallon bucket of rain water (from our rain barrels); it’s been sitting for a couple of days and this weekend I’ll go around and water each one of the plants with it. We’ll especially get some extra on the tomatoes because their leaves are yellowing a little and I understand that means they’re low on nitrogen.

Unlike most of the country, Western Washington had cooler than normal temperatures in June. Our average high temperature for the month was 65.1 degrees, and we’ve only had six days that have reached over 70 degrees. We’ve also had 27 days with partly cloudy or cloudy conditions. Because of our cooler temperatures and lack of sunshine our garden hasn’t done much yet. It hasn’t suffered but it certainly hasn’t “bloomed” either. Most of the plants are about the same size as when we put them in the ground, with the snap peas and potatoes being the exception. This week we put more plants into the ground from the greenhouse, but we still have half of our tomatoes in there and the ones in the greenhouse are doing better. While we know much of the country is suffering from hot temperatures we’re jealous of their garden productions and early harvests. We’re ready for summer to start here, July should be warmer and more sunny; it typically is, with a monthly average high of 75.3 degrees.

What did you do?

Teaching The Kids (& Learning More Myself) – Practicing With Escape Ladders

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Recently we purchased two second story escape ladders. As previously mentioned we have two bedrooms with windows that are about 14 feet off the ground, our master bedroom and Emily’s room. We bought a ladder to keep in each room.

Because buying stuff is easy and it’s a good idea to practice with emergency items before you need them, we pulled the ladder out of the box and actually used it. I had Emily do most of the set-up because it will be in her room. I had to start off by explaining to the younger girls how to remove a window screen (don’t assume). Emily then hung the ladder handles from the window ledge and released the ladder to fall, against the side of the house, to the ground. Once I determined everything looked right and was secure, Emily climbed through the window and down the ladder. The rope ladder moved around a lot as she climbed down it, and she was more than a little nervous, but she did it. She was followed by Alison, also nervous, and Ryan, not nervous (Brynn was away at camp). We discussed that, in an emergency, Ryan would go last after ensuring everyone was out okay.

We then went to Alison and Brynn’s room which opens onto the roof above the garage (Ryan’s is next to theirs and opens to the same area). The screen was removed and the kids climbed out onto the roof. I was on the ground. My original plan was to have them hang from the roof and drop to the ground; having Ryan go first so that he can help the girls. After looking around I realized there was nothing safe to hold onto, the gutter was too weak and there were no other suitable edges. We decided to try the ladder, attached to the girls’ window down the roof and off the side. That worked okay and the kids were all able to climb down. I considered getting more ladders for those rooms but decided they probably weren’t necessary. We came to the conclusion that they could get out the windows, away from any potential danger, and wait on the roof for assistance; if they had to they could hang and drop from the gutters (but we didn’t want to practice this because we believe the gutters would be damaged from the weight).

It wasn’t rocket science to figure out how to use the ladder, and yes had there been an emergency we could have figured it out then. But the best time to learn a new skill, or a new piece of equipment, is not when an emergency is happening. There will already be anxiety, stress, and fear; possibly darkness, cold, and rain to deal with. Knowing how to use your emergency equipment will give you, and your family, the confidence needed to get through the disaster. And while a sudden life-threatening fire while we’re in the house–the most likely threat to cause people to escape through a window–is not a likely event, it is possible. We decided it was worth the purchase and practice to allow us to be prepared for that–or another similar–eventuality.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Hand Washing Laundry

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We’ve decided that our next prepper goal is to be able to hand wash laundry. Washing machines require lots of power and lots of water, if you’re without either of those doing laundry gets much harder. Though we now do laundry every week, in a collapse it will not be as high of a priority or done with that frequency. But cleaning clothes and linens will still be important because they will last longer, keep us healthier, and overall improve moral and make life feel more “normal”.

We’ve never hand washed laundry before, so I began doing research on the process and what equipment we would need. There were several variations of the basic idea:

  • Use a washboard to scrub off stains. Apparently, contrary to popular opinion, washboards are smooth and won’t damage the fabric. They’re said to be a relatively easy way to remove stains.
  • Fill a tub full: This could be anything from a bathtub, a kitchen sink, a 5-gallon bucket, or an old fashion washing tub. Fill with cold, warm, or hot water as needed.
  • Add soap: From my reading I’ll probably just use a small amount of dish detergent. If you use laundry detergent use a very small amount; if it’s powder detergent dissolve it first in water before adding. Historically a bar of soap was grated into the water. You need to find the balance of enough soap to clean the clothes while avoiding too much soap that will be difficult to rinse out. Let clothes soak for at least 30 minutes before washing.
  • Agitate the clothes in the water: It looks like the easiest thing to use would be a clean (preferably new) toilet plunger. We found a ‘Tin-Plated Steel Washer’ in the Lehman’s catalog which looks like a metal plunger. Lehman’s states, “Just plunge up and down to force soap and water through clothes and linens — it’s that simple.”
  • Rinse the clothes, probably more than once. Soap left in the clothes will break down the fibers.
  • Wring the water out of the clothes: This can be done by hand, or much more efficiently with a hand wringer. Again in Lehman’s they state their hand wringers “. . . remove up to twice as much water as a spin dry.”
  • Hang the clothes to dry: This can be done either outdoors on a traditional clothes line, if weather and temperatures permit, or inside on drying racks. (Remember to get clothes pins for outdoor drying.)

So that’s the process. Our plan is to buy:

  • A washboard (Lehman’s $16 – $23)
  • Two galvanized wash tubs (about $40 – $50 each), they’re a good size and easily portable, plus they also have many other uses.
  • A Tin-Plated Steel Washer (Lehman’s $18.95).
  • A hand wringer (wide range of prices and quality).
  • A large indoor drying rack. Living here in the Pacific Northwest we’ll probably have to dry inside most of the time.

Once we get everything we’ll give it a few test runs and, of course, I’ll post about how those go.

Momma Bear’s June Preps

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My June preps have kept me busy with my beginner’s garden. My family has been wonderful taking turns watering and weeding! My tomatoes got over their initial aphid romance — no more picking off bugs by hand; now I just go out to talk to them, tie them to the stakes as they continue to grow skyward, and sucker them off as they blossom. The first tomatoes (the two determinant plants) were almost ready to harvest when the squirrels started eating them. I am now covering them, and the blueberry bush, with ‘bird netting’ and hoping that will be sufficient to keep away the squirrels. We also had our first harvest of FIVE blueberries! We did not actually anticipate any fruit from the blueberry or blackberry bushes this first year, but they seem to be doing well since they are putting off a few handfuls of berries. Quite a pleasant surprise to be eating berries this year!

This month we have been doing some research and are thinking about buying a used boat. Although we live close to the interstate, and not too far from Washington D.C.–imagine the gridlock in an emergency–we are also only a walk from the Potomac River (and exactly 10 miles from our marina located on a secure military installation). We have been boating with various friends, learning, and considering the many different types of boats available. A boat would serve as both a recreational and bug out vehicle. There are many great deals out there on used boats due to the poor economy, but we are taking our time before we find just the right one. Has anyone else opted for a boat as a bug out vehicle/home?

Lastly this month, I have hit a turning point on the food storage program. While I have a big storage room in my basement, my food storage has reached a size that requires me to start reducing my other “stuff” to keep meeting my food storage goals. This is both a happy and sad occasion since it means I will be downsizing in some ways, while still building my food security. At the same time, I do not want to become a hoarder that can’t stop keeping/saving things (food included). The other difficulty with food storage, for us, is that we try to eat fresh rather than canned/packaged foods; so every item I store is not necessarily part of my household food rotation. How do YOU decide exactly what foods to store? Has anyone else had to make space compromises to continue storing food? At what point do we ever have enough food stored? When is one area of “prepping” ever complete or enough? I am sure these are all issues we share in common. I would love to hear some feedback about it.

What did you do?

 

Sarah’s View: Raising Children in a Collapse World

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Momma Bear’s post about birth control got me thinking: “What would it be like to be raising young children in a collapsed world? What would that look like? How would it be different from what we do today?”

I should start by saying that I don’t have any children of my own. However, that doesn’t mean that I won’t someday or that my friends or step-kids won’t. It’s important to consider the ramifications of having a child, both in our society as it is now, and how it would be in a potential disaster or complete collapse.

The challenges of having an infant or toddler in a post-collapse world would be huge for today’s ‘modern’ parents. It becomes incredibly difficult – if not impossible – to easily bug-out, especially if you’re going any distance on foot. An infant (child under 12 months old) can be carried, but if you are carrying that child you are then limited in what else you can take with you, i.e. BOBs, additional water, food, etc. Now, what if that child is a toddler? Anyone who’s spent any time with a child this age knows that they don’t always (ever) want to be carried. You now have a toddler fighting being carried and/or walking (toddling) beside you. Neither of these scenarios allow you to walk with any speed and could potentially draw unwanted attention.

If you can instead bug-in this removes some of the mobility issues that accompany infants and toddlers. However, now there’s the surviving day-to-day. Are you hunting and/or scavenging for food? A crying child doesn’t do much to lure game to you, or help you remain unseen. What is your child willing or able to eat? If your child isn’t used to eating anything but jarred baby food, suddenly switching to a hunter/gatherer diet, or even an MRE diet, will not go smoothly.

The things to think about with young children don’t differ greatly from the things we need for ourselves.

Food – The best thing you can do for an infant is breastfeed. I know this is not possible for some, but it is the easiest and cheapest way to feed a baby. If you can’t breastfeed, make sure you have in your preps enough formula or other supplemental milk to last your baby through six months of age. For toddlers, start encouraging them to try the food you eat (and store). If you need to, overcook it a bit and squish it up.

Water – Young children are especially susceptible to dehydration caused by overheating or diarrhea from dysentery, therefore sanitary water is key. Unlike adults a child will appear just fine, until they’re not, and then deteriorates very quickly.

Security (Safety), Shelter – Infants and toddlers love to explore so keeping them safe, even today, can be a challenge. In a collapse, when every able adult will need to be working, minding the babies is not something that a mom or dad can be spared to do. For infants I recommend checking out the various slings available for carrying babies – they are simple, come in many shapes and sizes, and are tremendously versatile. This option allows the child to be carried while leaving both hands free for working. What is your group’s plan for caring for toddlers? It’s great if there are older children around, or maybe a “grandma”, who can play with and watch over them. Keeping young children safe truly is the ‘village’ raising the child.

I believe that much of our “preps” for living with young children can be taken from human history and can be applied now and not just in a collapse situation. For thousands of years infants and toddlers were raised in tribes where they are no daycares, formula, or Purell. Instead there were grandmas, slings, and water. Prepping with and for infants and toddlers doesn’t need to be difficult; but thinking and planning for it now is key.

(Friday: Momma Bear’s June Preps)

What We Did This Week To Prep 6/15/12

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Ryan and I spent more time working on the rabbit hutch, or I guess I should correctly call it our ‘rabbitry’. It’s covered now, the top row of cages are hung, and our does have moved from the garage and are now in their new home. As planned I put it where we can see it through the kitchen window, kind of the “in sight, in mind” concept. This is their second week on fresh grass and clover, we’ve doubled the amount and they seem to be handling it well (poops still solid). Next week we’ll start pasturing them. We told the kids they could name these rabbits (since they’ll be the parents); then Ryan, in his wood shop class, made some nice signs with their names on them for the rabbitry (we’ll get them stained and up this week).

I mentioned, during our last ‘lights out drill’, that we couldn’t get the garage door to open manually when the power was off. We pulled the red handled cord and nothing happened, we shined the flashlight around and tried to figure it out and couldn’t see anything wrong, we pulled harder and still nothing. At that point we gave up and continued with the drill. Yesterday I went out to figure out why it wouldn’t open (as I mentioned, the garage door opener was recently replaced), eventually–it took longer than it should have–I figured out the manual disconnect handle had been tied off to the wrong spot. I moved it over to where it should be and now it works just fine. Look around your own homes and double-check the little things, make sure you not only know how to open/close/shut-off or whatever but you actually do it to make sure it works (except don’t shut off your natural gas, that’s a hassle to relight). If this had been a true emergency there would have been the associated increased stress level already, and the door not opening would not have helped; a stressful blackout emergency is not conducive to calmly trouble-shooting something that is not working properly.

A couple of months ago I went to a friends semi-official/developing prepper group. Mike is doing a good job getting people together on a regular basis and slowly exposing them to prepper ideas and concepts (this month, our second get together, I taught first aid to the group). The first get together, he did a short presentation on home safety items: backup/emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, smoke and CO2 detectors, escape ladders, etc. We had everything thoroughly covered at our home, except the escape ladders. We have two bedrooms with windows that are about 14 feet off the ground, not impossible to hang and drop from but we figured it’d be better to have the escape ladders. We bought two ladders (about $30 each) and will practice with them soon, and then store them under the beds near the windows.

What did you do?

(Monday: NO POST – we’ll be in Las Vegas on vacation with friends)

Momma Bear: Birth Control

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We have grown up in a world where birth control is readily available. Now that I am in my 40’s, my tubes are tied so you might think I wouldn’t consider it a high priority. But birth control should be a knowledge priority for every prepper. While I personally no longer need to remember how to practice natural family planning, I am the mother of children who will likely marry and have their own children. It is our job as preppers to be teachers and impart as much knowledge and as many skills as possible to the next generations in a post-SHTF world, birth control knowledge included.

For those of you who currently use birth control but are done having children, I encourage you to look at a surgical procedure NOW to prevent unexpected conception. This is the same prepper approach of making sure we are all up to date on our medical and dental needs in case the SHTF (don’t put off the elective stuff!). For men, a vasectomy is a simple outpatient procedure with low risk of complications. For women, the tubal ligation is more involved and carries a higher risk of complications, but it is still considered a safe outpatient procedure. And both are considered routine elective surgeries covered by almost every health insurance plan. Should you choose not to go with the sterilization route, you can look at non-medication birth control like diaphragms/cervical caps. Although these will not last forever, they may be a more practical option than storing a case of condoms. One thing I would suggest to anyone who uses an “internal” form of birth control (such as an IUD or implant of meds), consider the potential risk of not being able to have them removed post-SHTF.

For knowledge and teaching purposes, we should all familiarize ourselves with the concept of natural family planning.  And by this I do NOT mean the old school rhythm method or anything like that. I know we have all had the classes in school about reproduction, but how many of us know the intricate details well enough to teach them? I feel that the best resources for learning to avoid pregnancies are the same ones that you study for trying to get pregnant: books about infertility. There are many more resources for infertility than there are for natural family planning. Infertility books focus, in minute detail, on the signs and symptoms of the fertility cycle. Basically, by studying how to get pregnant you can also learn how to avoid pregnancy–you are studying with a “WHAT NOT TO DO” approach; essentially learning when to avoid sexual activity. This is not 100% fail safe because women do not all have the same biology. But it is the best possibility we have of avoiding pregnancy without modern medicine.

There may be natural birth control products that you want to study and read up about. There are even a number of semi-useful ideas that evolved into modern-day birth control (bolstered by medications and chemicals). For instance, for centuries women made their own contraceptive sponges that they soaked in some liquid with sperm killing properties. This is an early predecessor to the Today brand contraceptive sponges. There are useful ideas out there, but you will need to weed out the old wives tales from the practical knowledge.

Why do I feel birth control is so important? Why do I think we all need to intimately understand natural family planning? Quite simply, pregnancy without medical care (i.e. a post-SHTF society) will mean an increased death-rate for women and newborns. My first child was over ten pounds and I had to have a complicated and risky C-Section (excessively large babies and twins run in our family.) In a post-SHTF world, that is a risk we would all want to avoid for our children. Remember that this topic is important and make sure you’re prepared with the knowledge to get it right when it is your turn to teach.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Be Sure You Have Alternate Routes

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Work Evacuation Plan Revisited
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Several months ago I wrote a post entitled, But I’m Working Now – Creating Your Work Evacuation Plan. As mentioned, both Sarah and I commute to Seattle for work (separately, our work schedules only overlap in the afternoons), and we only work about a mile apart. We had made a plan for how we would meet up with each other in the event of a disaster.

So if we’re both there [in Seattle], she would come up the hill to where I work. My workplace is more secure, further from the water, and away from the downtown congested high-rise area. In case I have to leave work also, we’ve discussed what street she would walk up and what side of the street she would be on.

Recently we had to revisit, and revise, that plan.

So the ‘great work-evacuation plan’ that Sarah and I had come up with failed to take into account that minor detail. And just to clarify, it would be incredibly difficult–if not impossible–to cross the freeway without the overpass bridges; it’s too far down and up vertical cement surfaces. Back to the drawing board…

There are several roads that travel across the freeway going from downtown to Capitol Hill; our primary choice was Pike St. and our alternate was Pine St. (parallel streets). So recently I walked both roads with our plan in mind. Pike St. appears to be a very secure overpass–the convention center is literally built over the freeway there–it is a short bridge, and it is supported as well as possible; Pike St. will still be our primary route. When I looked at Pine St., I found that it is the longest overpass in the area with another street that intersects it right above the freeway; we felt that would be a poor route with a much higher probability of failing. We looked further and determined Seneca St., a few blocks south, is well supported and another short overpass bridge and chose to make that our secondary route. Our third choice is 8th Ave., a tunnel that runs underneath the convention center, then over the freeway. Once across the freeway, we’d attempt to make it back to Pike St. to continue to one of the predetermined meeting points.

I realize this is a lot of detail for anyone not in our situation and makes little sense to anyone not familiar with Seattle. But the point is: Determine your routes of evacuation and make a solid plan, then double and triple check your plan for flaws. Start by mapping it out, then make sure you drive (or walk) your evacuation routes both to familiarize yourself with them and to look for potential problem areas. When you develop your evacuation plan choose three routes, and have three potential meeting points. If you ever need to put your evacuation plan into action, especially if that plan is required to allow you to meet up with your family members, it needs to work.

(Wednesday: Momma Bear)

What We Did This Week To Prep 6/8/12

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Rabbits have been our prepping focus this week. As mentioned, we got two American Chinchilla does. We’re glad we have them and really feel like they will be a positive addition to our family and our preps. The kids enjoy holding them, and while they understand they’re not just pets, we feel it’s okay for them to bond with the mothers of our future litters. We’re starting to slowly introduce fresh grass, clover, and dandelions to them to get their guts use to it. Our goal is to pasture them in the backyard (under a “rabbit tractor” to keep them safe and contained) as much as possible, especially during the summer; then during the winter grow greens for them. We’ll continue to feed them pellets daily to supplement, and round out, their natural diet.

I’m looking forward to watching Sarah’s gardening journal grow and expand. While a journal isn’t a new concept and it’s a very simple idea, I’m not sure I’d have thought about it in reference to a garden. I think it will be very valuable, and interesting, to track our progress over the years. Sarah will also be keeping a rabbit journal, recording: breeding, litter size, butchering, diet, any health problems, and other pertinent information.

Even though we have our rabbits we don’t have our full rabbit hutch completed yet (so they’re still in the garage). Ryan and I are building it in the backyard on the north side of the house. We figured the north side would work best because it gets less sunlight, so we don’t grow anything there, and it’ll be cooler; rabbits deal better with cool temperatures than hot. Plus it will allow us to see the rabbits through the kitchen window so it’ll be easy to watch them and ensure their comfort and safety.

Even though we won’t be able to breed and butcher our rabbits anytime soon, one advantage of rabbits that we’ll be able to take advantage of almost immediately is their manure. Rabbit manure is some of the best stuff you can get to fertilize your garden. It can be put straight onto the garden, without having to be composted first (it’s not “hot”), even around plants you will be harvesting soon. Rise and Shine Rabbitry, has a great post on the uses of rabbit manure. Between the front and back yards we have a lot of garden space to cover. I’ll start by putting it around individual plants, then as we get more spread it all through the garden. When we get a good layer everywhere it’ll either be time to start over or share it with some of our neighbors who also garden. Maybe we’ll arrange a trade with them, their old garden and vegetable scraps for rabbit manure.

What did you do?

(Monday: Be Sure You Have Alternate Routes)

 

Sarah’s View: Gardening Journal

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“No occupation is so delightful to me as the culture of the earth, and no culture comparable to that of the garden…But though an old man, I am but a young gardener.” ~ Thomas Jefferson

There’s a podcast I listen to on a regular basis that I highly recommend – The Thomas Jefferson Hour – and it was the inspiration for this month’s post. As you may or may not know, Thomas Jefferson was quite the gardener. Not only did he spend a significant amount of time gardening, but he also kept an exquisitely detailed gardening journal.

I was talking to Trace about the concept of a gardening journal and he asked if I would like to do one for our garden. I had thought about it keeping one, but hadn’t worked up the motivation to actually get started. With Trace’s encouragement I found a blank sketch book (it doesn’t really matter what you use) and started making notes. Since I just started it this weekend I’ve had to look back over the last couple of months’ blog posts to make sure I got my dates right for what we planted and when. I included the date we planted the seeds and placed them in the indoor grow box, the date we moved them out to the greenhouse, the date I transplanted and separated the seedlings and, finally, the date I transplanted the seedlings into the ground.

Besides simply recording the important dates, I’ve tried to make a few simple observations as to how certain plants are doing or why I chose to transplant some on one day and others at a later time. I also put the receipts from our seed orders in there, as well as the sketch I did of the layout for the garden.

I would encourage anyone with a garden (large or small) to keep some sort of record. At the very least, keep track of what you planted and when and what was successful. If nothing else, this may help you decide what to plant (or not plant) next year. It doesn’t need to be complicated, while there are “official” garden journals available, it can be as simple as a piece of paper.

I hope to make notes and observations in my gardening journal as the season continues. While it would be beneficial to make notes daily, both on the plants themselves as well as on the weather, and animal or pest activity, I’m not sure I have the discipline. My goal, therefore, will be to observe and write weekly. Then, next winter as Trace and I sit down to plan the 2013 garden, hopefully the 2012 gardening journal will provide us with hints as to what we might do to improve our garden, or at least, what we should avoid doing.

“A garden is half-made when it is well planned. The best gardener is the one who does the most gardening by the winter fire.” ~ Liberty Hyde Bailey, Cofounder of the American Society For Horticultural Science

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)