Another good video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSrORPXzlhQ

The scoop about poop in a disaster.

     When the power goes down eventually your running water will stop.   You basic bodily functions won't though.    Have you thought about how to safely get rid of your waste?   Well I have and I found a great video to guide you through it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AEqBgd7VZo

     These are important to know before you need to know.   It is easy to get the items together and store them in the bucket in case the worse happens.  Being prepared in a disaster is what helps people survive.   It may only be for a few days or weeks like in a hurricane or earthquake.  

    One thing I do is I buy at least one thing I put in my preparation when I go to the store.  Whether it is extra toothbrushes and toothpaste, a can of meat, Keystone meats are good.  The ground beef works well in casseroles or for tacos.   Some peanut butter, some candles or flashlights, I like the headlamps you wear on your head, a small 2 person tent, you name it, try to pick something up.  Check clearance racks, hit the dollar store.  Don't go in debt doing it and many things you already have.

    Another thing that is really important is having one place where you keep all your supplies.  If forced to evacuate your home grabbing a tote or a backpack is much quicker then running  all the house gathering supplies put here and there.   In the fires in California sometimes they had minutes.  All your important papers should be stored in on place you can easily grab.   If you have ammo it should all be in a carry bag because you don't want them exploding on the very people trying to save your house.   Think about what things you would absolutely have to have.  Deeds, insurance policies, birth certificates.  I have mine in a safety deposit box which may not be the best thing if I can't get to them but I have all my contact information and photos backed up and handy in a grab bag.

   Living where I do tornadoes would be the thing that could take my house down or fire.  But we have had flooding even here up in the hills when we had a hard freeze in the ground and then a massive rainstorm, the rain had no where to go, of course we didn't have flood insurance up here so they were as usually zero help.   

    I also have made hardtack and pemmican and here is a recipe for some really tasty DIY survival bars which I carry in each of my vehicles.  Stored correctly they will last a few years even in your car.

https://prepschooldaily.blogspot.com/2019/02/diy-survival-bars.html 

   One other thing I did was order my seeds.   My compost barrel is doing well.

    It has been 2 weeks tomorrow since my shoulder surgery.  I started back to the gym today which was great.  I am on a 2 pound lifting limit so only walked on the treadmill and did some leg exercises but I think being fit will also help you in a disaster.  The ole guy and I are lucky as we are not on any medications but I do keep basic medical supplies on hand.  Stuff for fevers, burns, cuts and sprains bug repellent.  

    

    Spring is coming.  Enjoy the days.  Hard times are coming, gas is going up daily, food is going up and the future is unsure right now, but one thing is sure, enjoy every single day.  When you're prepared you can enjoy it because some of the uncertainty you have taken care of..

   

5-Gallon Bucket Food Capacity.

5-Gallon Bucket Food Capacity.

You can get them either free or for really cheap from bakeries, I got 3 gallons ones from the bakery for a dollar each.
They are easy to inventory
With a Mylar bag liner and lid with gaskets, they are airtight for long-term storage.
We use 5-gallon buckets with gamma lids to store products like flour and beans that we use everyday.
One 5-gallon bucket with a mylar liner capacity:

35-40 lbs. of dried beans
40 lbs of lentils or green peas
35 lbs. white sugar or salt (you don’t want to use oxygen absorbers with sugar)
26-30 lbs of spaghetti
16-20 lbs of penne pasta
35-37 lbs of wheat berries
33-36 lbs of long grain white rice – very nice- (2) 50 lb bags fill 3 buckets
30 lbs powdered milk
This leaves about 1.5 inches of headroom in the buckets when the Mylar bag is sealed with the oxygen absorbers

 

Spring and planting is on it's way.

 

 

   You know spring is on the way when you see the snow geese flying overhead.    I am waiting for the first robin and I have daffodils coming up, a little too soon so I have been covering them at night. Yesterday I had a Eurasian doves stop by.   I am excited for warm weather.  Most of my yard is now free of snow.

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday I bottled my tincture.  I blew it and labeled them wrong but they are a tincture, not an extract since I used vodka and let this set to let the solvent extract the wild lettuce.  I did make a extract also by cooking down wild lettuce leaves in water until greatly reduced.   Wild lettuce is a natural pain medication.   I am hoping it will help with my aches and pain.  I have been studying on how to id it for sure since it grows wild all over and I think using fresh plants will make a better extract.   

 

 

Another thing I have been doing is planting Basil.   I started out with 3 plants in my click and grow and when they were mature I cut some cuttings off and set them in water,  when rooted I planted in dirt.  I now have 8 plants from the 3 and will separate them again when they get bigger and have side shoots.  You can keep them going indefinitely.  I make hot pesto sauce and already have people asking if I have anymore made so I am getting a head start.  Looking at my window I am glad winter is almost over because I need to do some spring planting.

I also ordered some seeds today for planting.  I am going to start them inside first and then transfer out when it is time.  This year I am planting potatoes in buckets.  I plan to do a lot of container gardening due to our deer problem.   I ordered all heirloom plants so I can save the seeds.   

 

     I ran across a great prepping site I am going to share a link to.   So much information on this site and printable lists which is always great.   This entire site is full of information.  https://myhomesteadlife.com/preppers-checklist/

 

  Well that is all for today.  I am getting hold of a man who sells honey so I can start a batch of coffee mead.  Finally found a recipe I think I will like. 

 

Some great prepping advice

      I will share video's when I find them informative.  Prepping doesn't have to bust the bank, you should be practical.  I wouldn't prep for a hurricane living in Iowa but I would for a blizzard or ice storm.  Of course you should always prep for a power outage, that can happen anywhere and for water interruption which can also happen everywhere.   It just makes sense and I am a sensible ole lady.  I also am a pet owner so when you prep remember you pets.   You don't have to be a doomsday prepper.  I know preppers that have been prepping for doomsday's scenarios for 30 years.   I just want to be prepared for a few months.  I don't plan on grabbing my bugout bag and making for my bunker in the cover of darkness anytime soon.  First of all I can't afford a bunker, but I do think it would be cool to have one and 2nd of all I just plan on staying put.  This can bite you in the butt if things really go bad like in the movies and zombies start to crawl out of the woodwork but works great if our government taxes you so much you struggle to put food on the table.  

  Anyway.   Here is a good little video.   Start slow, just buy one extra thing at a time.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHWH2iZ8zqY   I love the fact that she buys what she likes to eat.  Important.   Do it for you and you family. 

Day to day prepping

      When people think of preppers they tend to think of underground bunkers and crazy people dressed in camouflage with guns.   Wrong, yes there are those kinds but the truth is we should all prep.  Each family should have at least 3 months worth of food and water at home, some way of keeping warm in a power failure, some plan in place.  Recent events in Texas should give you a clue why being prepared would have saved lives.  I know preppers who are living through the Texas nightmare without any problems because they took steps in advance to be prepared in case this type of thing happened.

     You wouldn't think of driving your car without insurance, well I know some idiots will but people should think as prepping as being insurance you  will survive some type of disaster, you family will survive and hopefully if well prepared your friends.  FEMA used to recommend at  least 2 weeks,  I have heard they are now saying 3 months.   Here is a nice basic list to follow to get started.   https://www.ready.gov/food

     I have relatives who lived though the depression.   My mother in law was a prepper because that is how she was raised.  She wouldn't have called herself a prepper but her pantry was always full of stable shelf life foods,  she canned, she saved and washed baggies, she knew how to cook from scraps anything and make it taste good.  When things were on sale she bought several of them.  Her mother raised chickens, had a cow and a large garden.  The depression didn't affect them because they always had grown what they needed or made it.  So many of people now a days don't know how to do cooking from scratch or the joy of growing things in a garden.  People in large cities will suffer in a new depression.  Unless they are prepared.

    I retired almost 1 1/2 years ago.  Since I have retired I have seen food prices double.   Covid happened,  what used to cost me 50 dollars at the grocery store was now almost 150.   Gas prices will soon be up to 4 dollars a gallon.  A new depression in on the way helped in large part by our new socialist government.  The signs are all there is you are paying attention.  And I am.

    People think during some type of crisis the government will swoop in and save them.   How did that work during Katrina?  How did that work during our flooding.   Who swoops in and saves you is yourself and hopefully your neighbors.   The government will take longer to get there, can you live that long?  And why should you wait for them to help when you could have easily helped yourself.  It's not that hard.  You are responsible for your own well being, no one else.  You are responsible for your families safety, no one else.  Be responsible, be prepared.

    There is so much information out there.  Start doing your research.  Start small, get extra cans of food on hand with a long shelf life.  Get extra water on hand.  Learn how to properly store it.  Learn how to grow you own food.   For city dwellers learn container gardening.  Every payday buy one more thing.  Buy in bulk and make sure to store safely and label everything and date everything. Learn how to rotate your storage products.   Learn how to cook from scratch,  basic things like bread and meals with high nutritional value and inexpensive.  Store foods you like to eat.  Learn how to dehydrate food for making soup jars or dry camping bag meals.  You can buy them but it is just as easy to make them and much cheaper.  Learn to sew.  Learn to do without all the silly things you think are necessary but really aren't.  Prep for the area you live in and the disasters you are likely to face.   Tornado alley, prep for power being out for days.  Hurricane, same thing, power outages, water shortages, shelter.   Fire areas, bug out bags in your vehicles ready to go at all times.   Depression and economic collapse.  Seeds,  gardening skills,  bartering skills.  

    Prepping should be something every single person in your family does but make it fun.  There is a ton of good information out there and the same amount of bad information out there.  We all can't live off grid in a sustainable farm,  most can't afford it and we have to live near where we work.  I have room for a garden and my house is paid for, sure I would love a cow and chickens, but  I don't have the pens and would have to pay to get them built because the ole guy just isn't handy that way and I am on a fixed income so money is tight.  So I do what I can.  I plan on just adding stuff I think of as I go.   

   So see, prepping isn't just for survivalists, but prepping will help you survive, so yes, you will become a prepper survivalist, but isn't that better then dead, of course it is.  Check back as I add information.  Start your prepping, become a responsible adult.

Mustards and vinegars

 

   I have been having fun making vinegars and mustards.   Above is a citrus vinegar I have making for cleaning with.   It takes about 20 days to turn into vinegar and then I remove the fruit and give it another 10 days to finish.   It makes everything smell so good when you clean with it.  To make it all you have to do is cut up some oranges and a lemon or two, add 1/4th cup sugar and fill with spring water.   Cover it with a cloth or a coffee filter and stir everyday.   When you Ph reaches 3.5 or higher it is done.   I also made a raisin vinegar for cooking my stir fry's in, it has a lovely mellow flavor.   I made blueberry and strawberry for making vinaigrette this summer for my salads.   I love that it is all organic and so much cheaper then store bought.

 

  Another thing I have gotten into is mustard making.  I love a good coarse brown mustard so the first one I made was a lacto fermented one.  I use yellow and brown mustard seeds, a habarnero  pepper I grew, some garlic and ginger and then I fermented it for about a month.   I loved the flavor and shared a lot with friends.   I then made a maple syrup mustard but didn't ferment that one.  I had some organic maple syrup I picked up from a family in Wisconsin and used that and then for a little kick added just a pinch of cayenne pepper I grew, dried and powered this summer.   It has a sweet taste with a heat kick at the end.   Last week I made a 24 hour mustard using mostly yellow mustard because I didn't want it as strong and added herbs I grew like dill, ginger, cumin, garlic and chives.   It is yummy.

     I love messing around with these and sharing them with some friends who are also mustard lovers.  We trade our products so I get there hot sauces or home made beer.  This summer I had a lot of curly parsley I grew so I made pesto hot sauce out of some and pesto sauce out of the rest.  I froze a lot of the pesto but used the last up last week on some chicken.   Bummer.  I am going to plant a lot more parsley this year.   The flat leaf doesn't taste as good making it into pesto and they don't sell any curly leaf in the stores so I guess I will have to wait until next year to get more.

    Next I am going to make some Blueberry water kefir.   I drink a lot of water and it gets boring so a nice sparkling flavored water will be great.

   I hate to waste anything from the garden so the strawberries I pick and clean to dehydrate I use the cutting from them to make vinegar.  I cut off the top that isn't quite as sweet and stick them in a jar.  If I don't have enough I freeze them until I do then I stick them in filtered water, add a little sugar and make vinegar out of them, green tops and all.  I do the same with apples.  I save all my cores and skins and make apple cider vinegar.   It tastes so much better then store bought and is so much cheaper.

    So that is what I have been doing.  Lots of dehydrating and making soup mixes for storage.  Ready for lean times.