Category Archives: Momma Bear

Momma Bear: Home-Made Reusable Sanitary Napkins

Posted on by
11

Just because the SHTF, the monthly cycle will still continue. Sooooooo… what are the ladies in your family going to use for their long-term feminine hygiene needs? Sure, you can stockpile a lifetime worth of sanitary napkins, but what are you going to do with the used ones? They do not compost, and because they are both plastic and filled with blood borne pathogens, you cannot burn them. It is a much better idea to have something reusable ready. So what the heck does that mean???

I found two options: First is something called a “menstrual cup” which comes in both a disposable and reusable form. I am sure from the name you have an idea of what it does, but I had never heard of it before. Ladies can research for themselves to see if that is something they would like to try.

The second option is the old school idea of reusable/washable sanitary napkins. What I was amazed to find out is that people are making these already and selling them on ebay, and other crafting websites, for a RIDICULOUS amount of money (around $10 for one washable pad)! I am here to tell you that anyone with a sewing machine or the patience to hand sew can make their own for a fraction of the cost. They can also be made by recycling old towels and flannel sheets, thus reducing your cost to nothing but thread and labor.

I recently sat down my 13 year-old daughter and broke the “reusable pads” idea to her. It was a great teaching opportunity. I started with a simple question and answer; asking her what she thought ladies did back before plastics, mass manufacturing, and easy access to stores. I explained that if there was a true emergency, resulting in a long-term power outage, we had to go with something washable. I was surprised that she was so open to the idea. So we hit the internet and found Tipnut.com, it’s a great site with MANY different kinds of tutorials on making sanitary napkins.

Because we don’t have surplus flannel sheets, we opted to hit up Wally world for some fabrics. We picked out some nice flannel for close to our skin (a yard for each of us) and something thick, fluffy, and cotton for the inner layers (three yards for the two of us). You can see from the photos that we are using the basic “wings” style pad with a snap for the underside. These are a two-part napkin consisting of the outer “liner” and then an inner “pad” for absorption. Although we used a pattern off the internet, you can just as easily trace what you have in the cupboard.

First, we made copies of our pattern and compared them to the store-bought stuff. In this case the top layer of the liner is one solid piece with wings, and then there are two bottom layers which are about 2/3 of the top pattern each with one wing. This is so that those two pieces (on the bottom) will overlap, allowing you to insert your inner absorption pad. These top/bottom layers are stitched together with the flannel (fuzzy sides) facing each other, then they are turned right side out, ironed, then overstitched again all around the edges. I also stitched an extra line around the pad area, to provide a crease point right about where the wings flip down, thus ensuring the pad wont slip around. Last, we added snaps to the wings.

After sewing all the liners we made the pads. These are anywhere from two to four layers of padding just sewn all together to make a firm rectangular pad. These are the interchangeable inner pads (this would be towelling or absorbent fabric) that are made in different thicknesses for the different levels of flow (*in the photo the opening to insert the inner padding is face up, but this would normally be face down toward the inside of the panty). While we opted for removable inner pads, there is no reason why you couldn’t just make them part of the liner and stitch the whole thing together. We just liked the idea that we could add more pads or take them apart for a more thorough washing. Because of the snaps these are foldable into little square packets for easy storage.

I personally do not sew on a regular basis and found curvy type napkins difficult to make, hence ours look kind of rectangular. I will also caution any novice sewers to make sure they wash and iron their fabrics, before beginning this project, because cotton shrinks. I have to admit that I had trouble with that stupid “snap kit” (and I lost my patience); instead opting to hand sew old school snaps on. Also of mention, we made multiple sized pads because 13 year olds and moms don’t necessarily use the same size of anything. I think in total we spent $23 on fabric and snaps and made ten liners for each of us and 30+ inner pads of different thicknesses. This was a pretty simple project over all that anyone can make.  No insanity required.

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Trace’s Note: Be sure to also read our follow up posts by Sierra Kate: Reusables, Self-Reliance & Feminine Hygiene Part  1- Options, and Part 2 – How Do They Perform?

Momma Bear’s April Preps

Posted on by
Reply

April has been an unusual prepping month for us. The unseasonably warm spring in Virginia has been joined by some dry weather (sad face as I drag the hoses around the yard). The gardening is a huge, HUGE learning curve. This month I did manage to buy four 55-gallon pickle barrels and twenty 5-gallon buckets for ridiculously great prices (though the smell was terrible!). Two of the barrels are already composting on a new rack in my back yard; next I’ll focus on a rain barrel. I woke up one morning and discovered long white cat hair in place of all the leaves on our tomato and pansy seedlings. So rather than starting over, we sucked it up and bought heirloom tomatoes from the nursery, not hybrids, so that we can harvest seeds when we are finished. We also discovered that something has been eating our beautiful little blueberry bush so we had to make a cage around that. Currently we have lettuce, radishes, cilantro, sunflowers, onions and chives all making their first appearance in the various garden spots and planters. We are very happy so far!

Food storage is always on my mind when I prep. We stored another two weeks of food supplies in mylar, after adding sprouting beans to our stores. Having lived in Asia, mung beans (long bean sprouts) are our favored sprout. I buy mine at the international food store where they are super cheap and there is a big selection. I cannot tell you how great sprouts are as a secondary fresh food source in a SHTF scenario, especially since they are grown indoors in just a jar. I also recently got a second vacuum sealer attachment for my food sealer (now I have both sizes). I learned two things this month about vacuum sealing jars, 1) The jar of my husband’s favorite pickles can be resealed with the attachment (an additional source of jars/lids for things that don’t have to be “canned”), and 2) You can vacuum seal lids by using the Ziplock brand handpump over the Foodsaver jar attachment (see photo). Although with non-canning type jars, because the lids are harder to release once sealed, it is best to poke a pinhole in the lid and seal it with electric tape, then simply pull up the tape when you want to release the seal. In this case I am using the jars for seed vaults since the jars still smell like pickles (I think it’s the lids). I also managed to pick up almost three cases of mason jars in assorted sizes for $10 at a yard sale. I treated the family to a “beans night” which they survived. I am trying to incorporate more beans into our diet and try more recipes since it is the ultimate survival food. Half of us like beans, half don’t and this night was no different food (we love rice though!). In this instance I made northern beans in the crock-pot, with leftover ham/bone from Easter, and then threw in spinach at the end so it was like a soup (but a completely balanced meal since I used so much spinach). Here is the recipe link.

Our last area of preparedness for April was our taxes and a house refinancing (we also amended a couple of years of returns as well which were caught by our new tax professional). Because it was our first year in the house we were able to claim a lot of expenses and will get a nice tax return, which in turn will go toward credit debt. Because finances are a tough area for us, we pay to use a tax service that comes with one of those “previous year audits” and insurance to reimburse us for any of their mistakes that result in us making payments to the IRS. We balance the expense of using a preparation service against the peace of mind that it was done properly. We also were able to refinance the house (after only one year), reducing both our interest rate and our monthly payment. This was a tough decision for us since we are not the most financially minded people on the planet, but we’re trying to learn.

How did your preps go this month?

(Monday: DIY Indoor Grow Box)

Momma Bear: Getting Out of Dodge B.Y.O.B.O.B.

Posted on by
2

Bring Your Own Bug Out Bag – How Our Family Did It
– –
For most preppers, the first baby step we take is to create a bug out bag (BOB). For our family, living outside of Washington DC and very close to the interstate (which is sure to be packed instantly); with the potential bug-out being done without my active-duty husband, we took this step very seriously. Although my husband likes to travel light in the field (with the military), the BOB has to encompass a plethora of unknowns; with a 72-hour usage as the goal for packing. How much water should we take and how much water purification? How much gear should we plan for sleeping rough? How much food do we want to carry? What if it’s cold? What might we need along the route? The list pretty much goes on and on. And with everything, as we practice our drills, we tweak and adjust the items in the BOBs.

But once you accumulate all that STUFF, how do you divide it up between your family members? How do you ensure that each pack is sufficient should you become separated from the rest of the family? With my husband included, we have two men in the family. But us girls… we are kind of wimpy backpackers. Our daughter may be 5’7” tall, but she only weighs 100 pounds on a good day. So we have had to keep the girls’ gear lighter, packs smaller, but still able to meet our needs. We opted not to carry sleeping bags, but instead have military poncho liners and also the foil emergency bevy sack. The heavier items, that were not quite as essential, were distributed between my husband and my son. For instance, do we need a tent on the go? Not really, but life is a heck of a lot nicer in a rainstorm when you have more than a poncho for cover. And my husband can certainly shoulder that extra weight a lot easier than one of us girls can.

Other things that we customized in our bags were the first aid kits, the food items (curse those picky eaters who refuse to eat tuna!), and the quanity of fire making materials for each family member. For instance, our daughter suffers terrible migraines so her kit has special meds in it, plus sunglasses. Our son is allergic to insect bites so he has insect repellent, Benadryl, and cortisone cream. With the meds, I broke them down into tiny little baggies and wrote the directions on the outside with sharpie marker, including how often they should take the meds. And because our kids have only recently begun practicing fire making, they both carry lots of matches, lighters, a magnesium starter, as well as a ton of lint and other light-weight combustibles.

Having a Marine for a husband has assuredly made the BOBs an easier task. Some things I had never considered, or would not have considered as a huge necessity, such as laminating our maps. In case the SHTF, we are looking to move south, away from D.C. We have maps of both Virginia and North Carolina, that we got for free at the visitor centers on the main interstate, and each of us has one in their BOB (kids included). The other thing that the military training helped with was packing the packs. The military utilizes packs with lots of pockets and my husband was positively insistent that certain things go in those easy access pockets: first aid, water, food, weapons/tools. Other things, especially stuff you have multiples of, is removed from the BOB and carried on your person: identification, weapon, fire making items, any item that you could not do without (like migraine meds). Our family utilizes three different types of packs, so when we loaded them up everyone was responsible for their own; that way everyone knows where there things are. And, of course, we regularly break them down and repack them to keep familiar with the gear.

Our household also has pets, which we have not been taking into consideration for bugging out. Unless we are driving out, the cats will pretty much be left to their own devices, but the dogs will go. It is pretty unrealistic to think that we can carry enough food and water for them too, so we are looking to put them to work for us. All of our dogs are pretty good walkers (we have Jack Russells and Weimaraners), and we are looking to train the big dogs in both pack carrying and carting. But I will post about that another time.

Like all our prepping, creating your BOB. requires good planning. Again, a good BOB is designed for 72 hours of mobile usage – getting you away from a SHTF scenario. Focus on who, what and why. Who is the bag for? What do they need? And why do they need that particular item? Last of all, practice walking with your pack and readjust your items/bag as necessary. You want to be well prepared to survive, but you don’t want to break your back because you brought the kitchen sink with you. Happy prepping!

(Friday: What We Did This Week To Prep)

Momma Bear’s March Preps

Posted on by
4

Aside from the usual slow and steady food, water and medical supply preps, here is what we did this month:

  • Our primary focus has been on preparing our garden areas and planting seeds. This is our first year planting, so it’s been quite an adventure!
  • Cleaned up our old tents and practiced setting up/tearing down. And created two camping gear “go boxes” to include tents, camp stoves, camp showers, etc.
  • Studied up about dog “carting” which is the idea of having one or both of our large dogs pull a good-sized garden cart with supplies in it (I am looking at the canvas garden cart at Costco). This has become a future project that we might try this summer.
  • Created a secondary food storage location at my mom’s house, one state/six hours away. This is our primary bug-out location until we can purchase property.
  • Laminated four state maps for the go bags. I got these free at the state visitor’s center on the interstate. I folded them in half before laminating to cut down on their size.
  • Read, or skimmed, 13 library books about gardening and homesteading. Ordered Guide to Virginia Vegetable Gardening as an addition to our prepping library.

Overall it has been a pretty steady month for prepping and we have had a lot of fun gardening in the unseasonably warm weather here in Virginia.

What did you do?

(Monday: “I’ll Figure It Out If/When I Need To”)

Momma Bear: An Inexpensive Water Filter System

Posted on by
4

“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.

Momma Bear Is The Prepper

Posted on by
3

Contributed by Leah (aka Momma Bear)
– –
I’m the prepper of the family. Me, the mom, the wife, the taxi driver, the jack-of-all-trades.  Military life frequently keeps my husband away from home (especially since 9/11/01). My husband is a Logistics Officer in the United States Marine Corps and we have lived/traveled all over the globe. Military spouses have to be both Momma and Poppa Bear most of the time. Even when my husband IS home and on a desk job he’s working at least 60 hours a week as the “norm”. We spouses become the planners, organizers, fixers, do-ers, and sometimes even the movers! He has to be able to do his job, knowing that “I’ve got the watch” at home, no matter what.

Living overseas, I have been closer to terrorism, epidemics, natural disasters and civil unrest than I ever would have imagined. Living and traveling in Europe brings a constant threat of terrorism. Americans tend to, mistakenly, believe that they are safe in Europe. The European Union has extremely open borders and many terrorist groups funnel through countries we have close ties with; such as Germany, where we lived (and where some of the 9/11 attackers lived). There were numerous incidents that occurred in areas where we routinely traveled. In the U.S., we are greatly distanced (both physically and in media coverage) from the activities and potential threats in Europe. Here are two articles: Germany Increasingly a Center for Terrorism in Europe and Kosovo Muslim Shoots U.S. Airmen in Germany (this occurred at the airport that we used while living in Germany).

Moving to Asia brought us other hazards. We were perilously close to the H1N1 flu virus while living on the island of Okinawa, Japan. During this time, airports throughout Asia, with so many people traveling internationally, had huge H1N1 screening areas for incoming travelers. The U.S. Navy ship my husband deployed on also experienced a series of quarantines after service members contracted the virus and it transmitted quickly throughout the ship.

In 2010, our family vacationed in Bangkok, Thailand. A week after our return to Okinawa, Thailand fell into civil unrest with riots and fire bombings. Several of the places we had just visited were completely burned down. From the flu to the riots, it was a history lesson in action for all of us.

While living on Okinawa, we were also subject to earthquakes and the resulting tsunami alerts (Japan has an excellent public broadcasting alert system). In March 2011, when the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear reactor leak devastated the mainland, my husband was one of many who were sent to assist. Horrific does not begin to describe it. The tsunami warning system DID go off, and yet so many were still caught by the disaster. While these are all valuable life lessons, especially for our children, some have been a little too close for comfort. I have developed a greater appreciation for the tenuousness of our place on this earth. These lessons lend themselves greatly to the value of being prepared.

It is only natural that, since our recent return to the U.S. (we now reside outside of Washington D.C.), I am the tip of the spear in preparing for any eventualities at home. My husband fully supports my “prepping” and makes plenty of suggestions. After all, he has some serious survival skills himself! But the weight of the prepping falls to me based on his military duties and intermittent availability. Our planning often revolves around what, and how, we can do without him. Our kids are 13 and 16 and not exactly thrilled by the potential contingencies we are planning for. Nor are they excited by the subsequent “new lifestyles” they might have to endure should the SHTF. A typical “prepper” conversation at our house sounds ominously like, “You expect me to poop in a bucket?!” After life overseas they are grudgingly on board, but not always thrilled.

Like most preppers, the list of things we need (and need to learn) is much longer than I like to admit. We are “city folk” in this family and have never done many of the things we imagine we need to learn before the SHTF. I am a smart, crafty, handy woman who takes things seriously, especially prepping. While we are military (and I know most of you have some pre-conceived ideas about military type people and their hobbies), moving often makes it very difficult to own weapons (*add to list). The kids have never shot guns, and I haven’t since I was a kid (gun training, *add to list). While I do have experience with many classic skills, we have never grown our own food (*add to list). We haven’t even done much fishing or camping (*list!), let alone hunting (*LIST!). We are a modern, urban family who is preparing for the challenge of surviving, whatever the future throws at us.

In the meantime–like Trace and his family–I am making my plans, building up my supplies, looking for a “recreation property”, and learning as much as I can.

Momma Bear’s Bio
I am the mother of three (two teens and an adult), keeper of seven pets, a Marine Corps wife, Navy veteran, go-to family logisticator, international traveler, foodie, amateur artist, Germanophile, heavy-duty crafter, consummate volunteer, handy girl and part-time intellectual (if only there were more hours in my day). Currently we reside outside our nation’s capitol, in northern Virginia; after returning from six years of living abroad. With 22 years military service (his/mine combined), we have moved over 20 times; including multiple coast to coast and two international moves. We are city raised with little rural life experience.