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Preparations To Do Now

posted by katlupe on February 8, 2012
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Peaceful Forest Homestead

On a discussion on my favorite homesteading forum yesterday, a member was asking how to prepare in case of bad times. Not just low income, but IF something DID happen, and nobody could buy anything in the stores, gas stations or any kind of businesses, including online, what could you do to prepare for that BEFORE it happened? Like NOW! What should you and everyone else be doing now to prepare? One person in the discussion thought if you are off-the-grid, you’d have no problems. Not true at all, unfortunately. Our system depends on components and batteries. Something could go wrong with any one of these items. In this post, I will touch on some of my thoughts on the subject of being prepared and what to do now.

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Bean plant coming up!

The number one very first thing I would suggest to every family is to learn how to garden. Your family will need and want food. If you start gardening now, it will take you some time to get the experience to have a garden producing the food your family will need. I wrote today on my other blog, Homesteading On The Internet, a post about First Time Gardeners. It takes awhile to learn how to start seeds, how to plant, how to work with your soil and whatever else you need for gardening in your climate. Do not depend on a rototiller or tractor for plowing your garden. Find manual tools for all jobs needed.

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Our water system!

Have a way to get your water without needing electricity. If you are off-the-grid like us, there could be a time when your batteries die and you cannot replace them. Then what? Or something in your energy system gets ruined in some way, and there goes your system. Our water is on a pitcher pump, and even when we have put in the electric water pump and piped the water in, we will still have a pitcher pump. We have recently stocked up various parts for that pump and have another one stored. You could also put in a gravity fed water system, having the water tank in your attic. That would not use any power at all.

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Our Wood Stove

A very important need, especially in cold climates, is heat and cooking sources.  A wood stove,  is the only source I can see, that would be dependable. A post I wrote covers a lot about heating with wood, Being Prepared For Wood Heating. A book I just finished reading, Farm Girlspacer , was about a family who lived in the depression, and her father grew corn and burned it in their wood stove. You can also burn dried pine cones, leaves, kindling and small branches, as well as regular size logs. No matter how I look at it, I would always want a wood stove that has absolutely no electric parts on it!

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Knowledge Of How To Fix Tools!

Along the same idea of having non electric wood stoves and cooking sources, have something besides a chainsaw to cut wood with. If you are able, and can use one, a crosscut saw is idea. Stock up on the sharpening files so you would never run out. For tools like this make sure you have back ups or parts available in case there is no way to get them in the future. Don’t forget an axe and a wood maul for splitting the wood. A wheel barrow comes in handy for hauling the wood to the house too.

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The Forest Is Full Of Food!

Learn to forage for foods in your area. There are many wild edible and medicinal plants growing through out our country. My area of  New York state is rich with such plants. They are everywhere. I could easily go out into the woods around me and come back with a basket full. Many times I do. Buy a good guide book so you will be able to identify each plant before picking it. That is very important. This is the book I use,  A Field Guide to Edible Wild Plants: Eastern and central North America (Peterson Field Guide)spacer for edible plants. For the medicinal plants, I use A Field Guide to Medicinal Plants and Herbs: Of Eastern and Central North America (Peterson Field Guide)spacer . Make sure you keep it with your emergency supplies. This is a way to find food for your family.

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Pressure Canners Preserving Our Food!

I will always can food, dehydrate some, store fresh in my root cellar and this year will be learning how to ferment foods. I want those methods to be my main sources for preserving foods. Even after we can add a refrigerator and freezer to our house, we will not put all our food into that. In fact, the Sundanzer units are quite small, and we will only be using them for ice cream, steaks, berries, broccoli and cauliflower. As long as our panels are working, even if our batteries were gone, our system would work with the sun. Our wind turbine would work with the wind. So we might have some power depending on the weather. As long as our components hold up.

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Another Way To Cook!

This post is not meant to scare anyone. Just to make you put your thinking cap on and imagine how you would survive and care for your family if the need did arrive. Remember the Lord gave you brains to use and in those times, you may just have to just that.

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Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole
All Photographs Copyright © 2012 Kathleen G. Lupole

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 2:12 pm and is filed under off-the-grid. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Tags: Alternative Energy | off-the-grid | Preparations | sundanzer

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