Prepping

[sailorman]

If anyone needs medicines regularly, Stock pile a supply . Bad to run out of death preventing meds .

 

[EddieWalker]

You guys have me wondering about medicines. My girlfriend is a Nurse and we have a drawer full of stuff here, but she's a city girl just learning about the outdoors and might not be thinking of what we should have here. Is there a book that you would recommend?

Eddie

 

[Lloyd_E]

Isn't a thimble how a stovepipe is passed through a wall? A wall that's combustible... Got a better idea? I do plan to set it up and test it, then tear down and store away. I asked too late that a glycol mix be used for my in-floor. The plumber assured me it wasn't needed... like I didn't know what I was talking about. So, abandon the house and have it destroid, or run a well researched stovepipe through a temp opening.

" Isn't a thimble how a stovepipe is passed through a wall? A wall that's combustible..." A proper selkirk "thimble" will cost you around $350. I would hate to see you loose the house... I know it is a cost but why can't you install a stove/safe pipe and be done with it? The glycol mix can be redone anytime. My furnace tech said it should be replaced every fives years... I did mine after 15 years... didn't know. He tested it and there was zero glycol in the system. If was $600 to redo but knowing now how they did it - it could be done for much cheaper. I am surprised the plumber didn't put any in... scary ... really.

Good post...

 

[nwltruck]

On the first aid front, don't forget Tylenol and ibuprofen. Salt and other spices that don't spoil, Powdered milk, powdered egg. I've seen people over think it and miss the small stuff that would be more useful. Yes cheap liquor is better than most things you would think of as a bartering item.

 

[/pine]

Take what nature gives you...

If there are any native wild fruit and or nut trees in your locale (likewise with berries etc...)...learn to take advantage of what you can harvest before the wildlife beats you to whatever...

Wild fruit and berry preserves and jellies etc...freeze very well...
Some nuts keep very well (years) if kept properly...

keep a log or journal of what you harvest and make note of seasons/years of min. and max. produce found... either a hard copy log/journal or something like a spreadsheet etc. will do...and can easily be converted into personal database once enough data is recorded...
...this is also a good way to save stored food expiration dates...with a simple script a PC will generate an email and or a pop up window to alert you when recorded dates are reached or a defined period of time prior...

 

[randy41]

some people i know are preppers. they tried draft horses for a while. you know, what will you do when there's no more fuel? anyway, they had a water ram to supply their water. seems like if you've got the flow to use one it would be pretty useful to have.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

What is your terrain like? I have a 2500 gallon cistern located so the bottom of the cistern is level with the window sills in the house. It give me about 8-10 feet of head at the sinks and toilets. It's great to be able to still flush the toilets when the power goes out. If arsenic is a problem, a small ion exchange filter will provide safe drinking water.

Most people go way too big with generators. I have a 1000 watt camping generator that will run for 4.5 hours on a gallon of gas. It needs to be run every other day to keep the freezer cold. It cost me $149 at a local farm store. Small inverter generators are also very fuel efficient, but more expensive. With my setup, a 5 gallon can of gasoline will last 10 days.

Don't get weird about food. Buy what you eat, except buy more of it until you get a supply built up, then eat the old stuff while replacing it. I have lots of canned chili, fruit, tomato sauce, beans, mushrooms, pickles, hot sauce, jellies and vegetables. Quite a bit of it I canned myself, in glass, which keeps much better than stuff canned in metal.

Dried foods keep well. Pasta, beans, rice, potato flakes, dried skim milk, egg powder, oatmeal, corn meal, flour, semolina (cream of wheat), buckwheat, wheat berries, pearl barley, etc. My family is getting potato flake mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving. Storing dried foods free of insects and rodents is a challenge. Don't trust plastic, a rodent can chew right through it. You can get glass gallon jars from fast food joints really cheap or free. Vacuum seal anything you want to last for a long time.

Don't forget dog food. Fido has to eat too. A couple 35 gallon metal trash cans full will last a while. For more independence, 55 gallon drums are good for both livestock and pet food.

Speaking of 55 gallon drums, check your local ice cream factory. The flavorings and syrups are shipped in food grade, teflon lined steel drums. One of the last batches I got still had 5 lbs. of solid chocolate in the bottom.

Soap. Lots of soap. Hand soap, dish soap, body soap, laundry detergent, degreasers, floor cleaner, window cleaner and ammonia.

Unfortunately, bleach has a very short shelf life, so you can't stock up. Instead, stock up on alcohol. Rubbing alcohol is cheap but poisonous. Ethyl Alcohol (ethanol) is just as good, plus you can use it to disinfect drinking water. Everclear (190 proof) is cheap. Iodine tablets have a reasonable shelf life, but still need to be rotated every year or two.

Yes, a major first aid kit. Don't buy one off the shelf, build your own, with a supply of 4x4s, 2x4s, adhesive tape, eye cup, tweezers, reading glasses (for finding tiny splinters), scissors, superglue (as good a sutures most times), antihistamines, NSAIDs and pain killers. Your doc will probably write a scrip for a supply of vicodin if you ask. In Canada you can buy codeine over the counter, but a surprising number of people can't metabolize the stuff.

Do yourself a favor and install a permanent wood stove in the basement, preferably with a fire clay lined masonry chimney. In that location, it will heat the whole house. You can cook on it. You can heat bath water on it. Build a wood shed to keep the wood dry and only burn dry wood, or you will waste a huge amount of heat boiling water up the chimney.

Yes, a .22 rifle should be your first gun. It's the world's finest survival gun. It will take small game without blowing it to bits. Anyone who has ever shot a grouse with a large bore rifle knows exactly what I mean. Learn how to kill with it. It's not humane to wound an animal, and you just end up hungrier.

Water, shelter, food, sanitation, in that order.

 

[nwltruck]

A 22lr with practice is good for more than small game. A well placed shot at a deer or hog will bring them down. You have to remember that people kill large animals with arrows. Patience and practice go along way. 22lr is also very easy to stock pile.

A book on local native wild edibles is a good idea, I myself have been looking for one for my area. From what I've seen in some books you would be surprised at what is growing in the ditch in front of your house. Some books even give recipes.

It is also reasonable to keep things on hand to make structural repairs on your house. If your stranded in a storm a broke window or roof could be a major problem.

 

[Egon]

Just do what many rural folks of only 70/80 years ago did. Lived off grid, supplied almost all their own food and winter would see them isolated or using horse power for leaving the farm.

 

[AlanB]

Hi Folks, Have not posted much in a bit.
I recommend Survival Podcast Jack Spirko, rational, knowledgeable, easy to understand and practical. poke around there, a tremendous amount of information on getting started.

Added on edit, and you will get it from the Survival podcast, look at "Permaculture" and ""food forest"

Eddie, Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy
Survival Medicine with Dr Bones & Nurse Amy | Doom and Bloom (TM)

Patriot Nurse Medical Preparedness Education

Ditch medicine Ditch Medicine: Advanced Field Procedures For Emergencies: Hugh Coffee: 9781581603903: Amazon.com: Books
(Watch your mailbox)

A visit over and we can line up a day / half day with some folks that do this for a living in a special kind of way.

Ps. should start digging the big pond next weekend.

 

[NS Gearhead]

Wow lots of good info, let me try to respond to all of it;

I have seen that Bison pump before, and seems like the ideal solution to getting water from my well, but it's got a $1,000 price tag... so that's out.

I'm not a heavy drinker... but beer doesn't last in my house. LOL We started making wine so we could lower our liquor bill, but we just ended up drinking more. LOL My good neighbor makes beer and we trade whenever a batch is up. Yeah, keeping a couple bottles of cheap wiskey & rum wouldn't hurt.

I was going to go to the gun shop with an open mind, but the Ruger 10/22 is what I kind of had my heart set on. At first I thought a 12 pump (Mossberg 500, or Remington 870) would be my first... but the 22 makes more sence.

As far as the woodstove; Yeah, idealy I'd set it up permanent and certifyed... but their is no suitable place in the house for it. Option #2 would be to replace the propane stove with a wood insert but that's many thousands of bucks... so no. Either would have been great to think of in the design phase of my house, but here we are. If that thimble is $350, well so be it. I may not get it tomorrow, but I'll save a couple bucks here and there and eventually get it.

 

[AlanB]

And in the Permaculture vein

rocket stove mass heater

Also look up a pocket rocket for temporary heat.

May not work for you, but knowledge is priceless.

 

[LJH]

What AlanB says.

The Survival Podcast & Forum is a PhD in prepping and survival for urban, rural and everyone in between.

At first I was put off by the "Survival" bit, having associated the word with the stereotypical, camo-clad whackjobs one reads about but nothing could be further from the case. Jack can be a bit strident when he gets on a rant, but his mind is razor-sharp with a gift for sifting through the BS we're fed by the main stream media. Also, TSP forum has a ZERO TOLERANCE policy for race or religion bashing. It is welcoming to all and the odd White Supremacist who wanders in gets banned before they know what's hit them.

PERMACULTURE

At risk of sounding like a whackjob myself, I believe it can save the World, no chit. Hit up YouTube for anything Geoff Lawton and take a look.

 

[ttriff]

You guys have me wondering about medicines. My girlfriend is a Nurse and we have a drawer full of stuff here, but she's a city girl just learning about the outdoors and might not be thinking of what we should have here. Is there a book that you would recommend?

Eddie

Start with these

"American Medical Association Handbook of First Aid and Emergency Care"
"Where There Is No Doctor" by David Werner
"The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for When Help is Not on the Way" by Joseph Alton ($pendy but better than the "Dr Bones" book Alton wrote)

 

[dmccarty]

I had the opportunity, in my younger days, to spend a winter in Salt Lake City. Most of the people I met and/or worked with were LDS (Mormon). I soon learned that the 3 month food supply regimen was a common thing amongst them. Don't know if it was a prerequisite or not, but they all practiced it. I would suggest if you're really interested in a 3 month survival thing, that you find a LDS member in your area, and politely ask him to explain what he does. I think you'll be quite pleased with the results. (I am not LDS, or pushing any religion, just an interesting experience).

TBN has these planning for worst case situations discussions a few times a year. After one TBN discussion, I started researching how to store food for long periods of time. One item that would be cheap and stores well in 5 gallon buckets is whole grain. Whole grain is also kinda cheap. BUT, with whole grain you need a grinder. Well, as always seems to be the case, there are cheap grinders and what you really want. A powered grinder is not useful in the situation we are discussing so one needs a manual grinder. Some of the grinders I found could be connected to motors via belts if you wanted to do so but the grinders were not cheap.

During the cool season I make whole GRAIN bread. It is amazing to us how filling whole GRAIN bread is compared to that white bread stuff. We will eat a bowl of soup, usually a bean soup, and have a slice or two of whole GRAIN bread and be completely full. No wonder people used to live off of this real bread.

Anyway, when I was looking at grinders and suppliers of grain, I found a company in NC bulk ordered grain and would drive it basically along I40 dropping off the load here and there. They might have been Mormons but I can't remember at this point. I do remember reading that the Mormons have stores selling products for long term storage and it seemed like there was one in the Greensboro or maybe Winston-Salem area of NC. I thought the Mormons are supposed to keep supplies for one or two years which is why they have the stores.

After one of the TBN conversations a few years ago, I started looking at supplies and was shocked to see that Amazon is selling food and containers to store food for long periods of time. Sportsmans Guide/Cheaper than Dirt has been selling more expensive freeze dried/MRE type of supplies in 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12 month quantities for years. There is a big enough demand out there for these materials for these retail outlets to serve and it has been going on for quite a few years at this point.

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

Start with these

"American Medical Association Handbook of First Aid and Emergency Care"
"Where There Is No Doctor" by David Werner
"The Survival Medicine Handbook: A Guide for When Help is Not on the Way" by Joseph Alton ($pendy but better than the "Dr Bones" book Alton wrote)

I also have some Outdoor survival books I have read over the years as well as first aid books. Books/documents on canning and food saving are important too. Most of the Foxfire books, especially the early books that talk about preserving meat and making soap are super important. Many pre industrial life skills that were in my great grandparent generation are all but lost. Foxfire Complete Collection Books 1 Through 12: George P. Reynolds, Eliot Wigginton, Foxfire Fund: Amazon.com: Books

I was at the wife's family farm yesterday and noticed some "old" books on the book shelves so I pulled one down and started reading. I want those books even though they were from the 1950s. One was on animal diseases and treatment which was really interesting. The other were on plants, crops, seeds and pest management. Old books but if you don't have access to the latest and greatest treatments.... Some of these books might be in the public domain and real cheap to buy. The animal book was published by the US government.

Later,
Dan

 

[houstonscott]

10-80-10, KTF.

HS

 

[dmccarty]

Wow lots of good info, let me try to respond to all of it;

I have seen that Bison pump before, and seems like the ideal solution to getting water from my well, but it's got a $1,000 price tag... so that's out.

I'm not a heavy drinker... but beer doesn't last in my house. LOL We started making wine so we could lower our liquor bill, but we just ended up drinking more. LOL My good neighbor makes beer and we trade whenever a batch is up. Yeah, keeping a couple bottles of cheap wiskey & rum wouldn't hurt.

I was going to go to the gun shop with an open mind, but the Ruger 10/22 is what I kind of had my heart set on. At first I thought a 12 pump (Mossberg 500, or Remington 870) would be my first... but the 22 makes more sence.

As far as the woodstove; Yeah, idealy I'd set it up permanent and certifyed... but their is no suitable place in the house for it. Option #2 would be to replace the propane stove with a wood insert but that's many thousands of bucks... so no. Either would have been great to think of in the design phase of my house, but here we are. If that thimble is $350, well so be it. I may not get it tomorrow, but I'll save a couple bucks here and there and eventually get it.

Yeah, that Bison sure is expensive. I want it bad but $1,000 is a bit much. Like the grinder I want, the price is high now, but the pump and grinder would be worth their weight in gold, if the SHTF. Yet, I still do not have them.

Being able to make beer or wine is a great skill. If one knows how to make beer, it is only a short step to distillation, and people will barter for hard stuff. :laughing:

I would recommend either one of the 12 gauge shotguns. A shotgun is really the best, single, all around useful firearm. You can take small game or large game, two or four legged, with a shotgun. And shotguns are cheap and simple. There is a long running TBN discussion about the increased price and shortages of 22LR ammo in the US. If you have similar increased prices in The Great White Nawth you might want to reconsider the 22LR. For a SHTF situation, a really good quality .22 or .17 pellet rifle is more useful. I have a .22 RWS rifle that is a tack driver and it surely cost a pretty penny but I can easily shoot dime size groups at 25-30 yards. The RWS is more than powerful enough to take tree rats, rabbits and other similar sized critters. It is not quiet as I would like but it surely is much quieter than a 22LR. A tin of pellets is pretty cheap, especially compared to current 22LR prices. I can always melt lead to make pellets. No way can I make 22LR rounds.

When I designed the house, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about heating. We heat the house with wood because we have hardwood trees and mother nature seems to keep killing them. Now, we do need the trees to heat the house but dang, Momma, quit killing the trees off. :shocked: Having heat, when the power is out is a wonderful luxury. :thumbsup: We have lost power and I have gone outside to do things. It is wonderful to walk into a hot house when one has body parts that are numb from the cold. Course it takes alot of work to make firewood and if you have to buy the trees it is not cheap. If you can someone fit a wood stove into the house, it would be a good thing.

Later,
Dan

 

[buickanddeere]

Trick is that nobody sees or hears that you have food, fuel or anything else. When desperate their lives will be worth more than yours.
So no visible lights, no generator sounds and no aroma of cooking food.

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I was going to go to the gun shop with an open mind, but the Ruger 10/22 is what I kind of had my heart set on. At first I thought a 12 pump (Mossberg 500, or Remington 870) would be my first... but the 22 makes more sence.

The 10/22 is cheap and a great toy. You can customize it to death. However, it's not very reliable. Like all .22 autoloaders, it has a tendency to stovepipe ejected cases, and eventually it will rattle itself to death. It is also an ammo waster, and noisier than other actions. Fortunately, the world is full of 10/22s, so it will always be possible to find another broken 10/22 for parts. If you really want a survival rifle, it's not a good choice. A closed breech rifle will be more reliable, quieter and will handle a variety of .22 loads, like .22 shorts and subsonic loads.

BTW, never dry fire a .22 rimfire gun. The firing pin hits the edge of the chamber and will chip and become damaged. Always used snap caps or a spent cartridge if you have to pull the trigger.