Category Archives: General / Administrative

And We’re Back…

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we're backAfter not writing, at all, for 15 months and only writing five times since we moved into our new house/property/homestead/”The Farm” over two years ago — I’ve decided it’s time to start writing again.

I stopped writing, in a large sense, because we were now “doing.” When we lived in suburbia, it was easy to wax eloquently about the virtues of prepping, while imagining what we’d do if we had a homestead and acreage. In suburbia, we were some of the most prepared people around.

Then we moved to “The Farm,” and quickly realized, 1) there was a lot to be done, and we were no where near our preparation goals, and 2) we really don’t know shit about any of this.

I hardly felt qualified to tell people about prepping when everything I needed to do I had to Google first and/or watch, sometimes numerous, YouTube videos to figure out how to do it. Nothing in our past, other than a desire to do so, qualified us to be able to live this life. Both Sarah and I had grown up in middle-class suburbia, and since we don’t have any (physical) community or relatives to teach us, everything we learned had to be self-taught.

Fast forward two years: We’ve sorta figured some things out. Trial and error have become our constant companions. Our mantra has become, the best way to learn about something is to just do it. At this point I feel qualified to discuss our experiences and what we have learned.

In addition to writing new posts, I’m also going to revisit some of my old posts, adding commentary and updates now that we have “real life” experience.

As a side note, my web address is now tracemypreps.xyz (no longer .com). Our domain registration expired, and by time we went to renew it it had been bought by some overseas company (who were willing to sell it back to us at an outrageous cost).

P.S. Switching web addresses caused a lot of things not to work, especially pictures and some links. Also there are things that are just outdated and need to be redone. We appreciate your patience while we get everything back up to speed.

 

15-8 kids by barn

the kids, in front of the barn, with a sampling of the animals we now have

One Year Blog Anniversary!

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A year ago I started writing TraceMyPreps. My goal was to write, three times a week, for a year. I’ve now completed that year and my goal. Counting today’s, I’ve published 147 posts; 119 written by me and 28 written by my regular and guest contributors.

So what now? I set out to write for a year “then reevaluate.” I’ve learned a ton from writing my blog, it’s kept me focused on my prepping, constantly learning more, and helped direct where I wanted to go. I’ve written about things I knew about, things I’d recently learned about, things that have gone on in our life, and reviewed items and books.

I do want to continue my blogging, but not on such a regimented schedule. So now–instead of every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday–it’ll be when I choose to write; when I feel I have something worth writing.

That being said, Wednesdays will continue to written by one of my regular contributors:

  • 1st: Rural Relations with Josh. Josh recently started with us and will write about the lessons he’s learned, and what he’ll do differently next time, living on his own 5-acre homestead.
  • 2nd: Sarah’s View. Written by my wife Sarah, she tells of our prepping experiences from her perspective.
  • 3rd: Momma Bear. Leah writes as the “tip of the spear” prepper in her family. Though her husband is involved and supportive of their prepping, since he is an active duty Marine officer it’s possible–if a disaster strikes–he might not be around.

I’ll continue to write What We Did This Week To Prep and Teaching The Kids (& Learning More Myself) as things come along. Plus I’d like to do more book and product reviews, they always seem to be well received.

Essentially I’m giving myself “permission” not to stress about writing on a regularly basis. Since I’ll be posting more irregularly, I’d encourage people to “Subscribe To Blog Via Email”, there’s a box on the right side of my home page where you can do that. Then the entire post (not just a link) will be sent directly to your email; I never send anything else or distribute the list in any way. Another option is to “Like” TraceMyPreps on Facebook; there’s also a link to do that on the home page (right above “Subscribe to Blog”). Every time I post I put a link on FB, both on the TraceMyPreps FB page and on my personal page. Or just check back from time to time, most weeks there’ll be a couple of new posts.

Part of writing less is to reduce the time and stress in my life, but part of it is also that I’ve said a lot of what I wanted to say and I’m running out of ideas. If anyone has topics they’d like to see covered, feel free to pass them along either in the comments section, emailed directly to me, or on FB.

Finally, as we end our first year, I’d like to thank my wife, Sarah. She’s the one who suggested the idea of a blog, even though originally she wasn’t quite sure about this whole prepping thing (she still shakes her head from time to time), or the effort it would require from her. Over this last year we’ve learned a lot, but the biggest thing we’ve learned is where we want to end up together, both literally and figuratively.

(Wednesday: Sarah’s View)

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.

Do You Have Paper In Your Preps?

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“Let Me Find Something To Write On”

“Let me find something to write on.” How many times have we said that? We need to jot down a phone number, write directions, or make a list. These days thought, ‘paperless’ is the new buzz word. Paper, and the related pens and pencils, are almost becoming obsolete. Almost everything is done on the computer; we don’t even print out as much anymore now that digital storage is secure and almost unlimited. Think about how much you actually write each day. Because of that, how much paper do you even have in your home?

In our digital-age, paper is something we use less and less. If that’s the case, why would we think about adding paper to our preps? Because we’re preparing for a time where we might have to do without many modern conveniences. What would you do in a collapse without paper? All of the sudden everything would have to be written out by hand (or old typewriters): letters, instructions, directions, school work, financial records, business records, agricultural records, medical records. Nothing would be digital anymore; it’d have to be written and filed (remember the old days? Like the ‘80s?). What are you going to write on then?

The Chinese began making paper in the 2nd Century AD, from there it spread to the Arab world and to medieval Europe. It is recognized as one of the greatest communication tools ever invented. It’s development allowed education, record keeping, and correspondence to thrive like it never could before. Its said that the printing press ushered in the Industrial Revolution and the Renaissance, but they had to have paper to print on first.

Paper making today is a large-scale, completely automated process (as described in the Paper University). Sure it can still be done by hand, or on a small-scale, if people have the knowledge. Probably the best way to do it in a collapse world is to make paper by recycling old paper (there will be plenty around). HubPages shows how to make recycled paper at home. Again it’s doable, but look at the steps and the time involved and realize that’s what it takes to make ONE piece of paper.

Today paper is cheap and available. I recently spent $40 on two boxes of 5000 sheets each; yes, Sarah shook her head when I came home with that much paper. But it’ll be good to include in our long-term storage; and, of course, we should have paper in our BOB*, car, and maybe even EDC. It’s easy to store, doesn’t take much space and, unless it gets wet, it’ll last for a long time.

(Friday: What I Did This Week To Prep)

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

 

 

 

Adding A New Page: My Reading List

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At the top of my site, under the TraceMyPreps banner, it reads ‘Home’ (which is the page you are currently on), ‘About Trace’, and ‘Check Here…”. Hopefully you’ve looked at those pages. Today I’m adding a new page: ‘My Reading List’.

While I know there are many, many good books out there, including many more we need to get; my list is the books we currently have in our library. Feel free to suggest additional books in either the comments section or on the TraceMyPreps FB Page.

So, without further ado:

What I’m Reading Now
The Eagle Has Crashed by Ted Lacksonen

What I Read Last
Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank

Prepper / Survivalist Novels

  • Lights Out by David Crawford
  • The Eagle Has Crashed by Ted Lacksonen
  • One Second After by William R. Forstchen
  • Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank (my review)
  • Patriots by James Wesley Rawles
  • The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  • The Change series by S.M. Stirling

Medical References

  • Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook
  • Delmar Nurse’s Drug Handbook
  • Herbal Medicine-Maker’s Handbook by James Green
  • Culpeper’s Complete Herbal, natural remedies for ancient ills

Gardening References

  • Gardening For Dummies
  • Practical Herb Garden by Jessica Houdret
  • Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

Cookbooks

  • Joy of Cooking Erma Rombaur and Marion Rombaur Becker
  • The Woman’s Day Cookbook by Kathy Farrell-Kingsley
  • Fix-It and Forget It Cookbook Feasting with your Slow Cooker by Dawn J. Ranck
  • Dutch It! by Archie and Linda Dixon

Home Repair

  • Straight Poop, A Plumber’s Tattler by Peter Hemp
  • Home Improvement For Dummies
  • Photovoltaic Systems published by American Technical
  • Solar Water Heating by Bob Ramlow
  • Basic Electricity by Milton Gussow

General Prepper Resource Books

  • Hoyle’s Rules of Games
  • Encyclopedia of Country Living by Carla Emery
  • Ultimate Suburban Survivalist Guide by Sean Brodrick
  • Tom Brown’s Field Guide to City and Suburban Survival by Tom Brown, Jr.
  • Complete Joy of Home Brewing by Charlie Papazian

(Wednesday 1/17/12: no post, site blacked-out in support of the SOPA protest)

An Introduction to Straight Razors

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Never Buy A Replacement Blade

I concede that in a collapse situation, personal grooming won’t be a top priority. But just because it’s TEOTWAWKI doesn’t mean you won’t want to be able to shave. Maybe you will choose to grow a beard. But wouldn’t it be nice if that was your decision, not one made because you ran out of disposable razor blades? Also you ladies–you need to decide–how important is having shaved underarms and/or legs to you?

Alexander the Great’s shaven image on the Alexander Mosaic, 2nd Century BC

People have been shaving for a long time. Razor blades, made of copper, were first used around 3000 BC. Alexander the Great was a strong advocate of his soldiers shaving (in the 4th century BC) to avoid “dangerous beard-grabbing in combat”, and because he believed it looked tidier.

The ‘modern-day’ folding straight razor has been around since 1680. It was used from that time until the early 1900s; then, in 1901, Mr. Gillette invented the disposable safety razor. By the end of World War I (after millions had been issued to the troops) most men were shaving with a disposable razor. In the 1920s, women too began using the disposable razor; shaving their legs when dress hemlines began to rise and show more skin.

I had thought about trying a straight razor for a some time. Last year I read a post on TSP form, How to get out of a consumer marketing trap with a straight razor, and finally decided to go ahead and do it. Sarah thought I was crazy, but she was supportive; she watched me the first night, phone in hand, ready to call 911 in case of severe bleeding. There were several nicks in the beginning weeks, until I got the hang of it, but nothing serious. The honing and stropping were a hassle for me to figure out; I finally realized that I had to hold the razor at a flatter angle than I do when sharpening a standard knife. Now, almost a year later–though I still have to concentrate more–it takes no longer than a disposable razor, and is routine and smooth (pun intended). I strop the edge each time before I shave, and hone it each month.

Why use a straight razor?

  • It’s the ultimate self-sufficient shaving tool
  • The nostalgia of using a traditional method
  • The larger blade covers more surface with greater control
  • You don’t have to rinse as much and clean up is easier
  • It prevents skin razor bumps that are caused by multi-edged razors
  • Once you master it, you’ll feel very cool

To get started you’d need (as shown clockwise in the photo): the straight razor, a leather strop, a boar bristle shave brush, a bowl (or mug) for the soap, and the shaving soap. (The above links are to the items I own; they were suggested on TSP forum post as a good basic starter set).

Many resources are available to help you learn how to use your new razor; it does take effort to become proficient. I like this YouTube video, he narrates it well and uses the right hand/right side, left hand/left side technique that I think works best. The Art of the Straight Razor is a good written resource.

Anciently, before copper razors were available, hair was sometimes removed using two shells to pull the hair out. So if you still want that clean look if the SHTF, either invest now in a straight razor or stock up on those shells.

(Friday: What I Did This Week To Prep / What I’m Thankful For)