Taking a week off

 

Labor Day week is here! Ugggggg end of summer. 

I will be back next Tuesday!

Everyone be safe! And HAVE SOME FUN!!

Monday Movie- The End Of The World

 

December 21 2012: The End Of The World

 

 

No Romance in Chemicals only death

this is a live shot from a spill in my area

Build a plastic safe room

A little personal info.

I live near a place that makes bleach. Bleach in it self is not dangerous. However the chemical to make bleach is. We have had some minor contained spills over the years. But the last one scared me. It was the transports crashing into each other.  And not one person in the area around the plant was NOTIFIED of the spill. Despite the fact that the FD said they did.

I took it upon my self to see the heads of the city about the people surrounding this plant. In an email the head of emergency management response to me was if there is a leak to go inside. I expressed my concern that no home is air tight and the gas would easily get into peoples home and burn their lungs. Well he agreed. So what, go in the house so the dead bodies are not in the street? And that is when city hall did step and worked with me. But in the end I AM STILL waiting for the reports on the drills and education I was promised for the community. I also asked for small containment and or masks for the people who lived right there and was denied,  even though my city received moneys from the company in a law suit to protect the area.

By the way this plant is were an ivy league college is and the city gets homeland security money to protect this plant.

 

END OF RANT and on with the post 

So this is the reasoning for this post.
Click here for one map to see if you should be concerned. These are just the worst 100.

EPA map Click Here  this map has more info but harder to navagate. You need to use the tool in the upper right hand corner.

 

So I of course had to take it into my own hands....Depending on the severity.

 -Get it car roll windows up close vents  and evacuate, drive fast! Is the first option.
- Move away from the area is not an option for me I own and I owe.
-  Fast containment till help can arrive.

Here is FAS pdf about this next step being an option Click here for pdf

Choose a small easy room with few windows
I have chosen a small bedroom in the house. Only one window in the room. And contain the bathroom with it.

To prepare the room, buy enough of the following to cover all windows and doors to the safe room area, I bought enough to turn my area into a giant plastic bubble!

• Weatherstripping.
• Clear plastic sheeting at least 1 mil thick, preferably clear, and wide enough to cover windows.
• Scissors or other cutting tool.
• Duct tape.
• Caulk and caulk gun.
• Staple gun
• Wet towels
• A portable HEPA (High Efficiency Particle Arresting) air filtration device. Click Here I got a larger one because I have cats and I am alegic to them but I love them :) 

 

Things you can prep now

•  Now I live in a cold area so I have already done prepping in most of the house because of the cold weather but if you have not try to get a jump on......

•   Install the weather stripping on windows and doors, making sure the seal eliminates the transfer of air from outside into your home.

•  Check around your windows for gaps, and caulk those as necessary. 

•  Check for any other places where air might transfer like holes cut into walls or floors for the television cables and telephone wires and you electical outlets. 

 

Things to have ready for the god forbid 

GRAB THAT CELL PHONE!
Have a container with your staple gun, duct tape and thick rolls of plastic, and caulking. Also have some plastic hazmat suits and plastic glove and the best mask you can afford. I can not afford the expensive ones so what I got is better than nothing as far as I am concerned.

Wet the towels and block the bottoms of doors with them and start by stapling the plastic to the ceiling and floors. Then duck tape all the seams. use the caulk on the gabs you may feel the duct tape did not seal. Cover ALL VENTS and Baseboards they may allow air in.

• Have a bug in box with water and food for a few days just in case.

• Battery powered radio

• Flash lights

• laughing gas and snacks  can always help in your containment area (click here to see how)

Now this in no way is any guarantee but if you seal the room good and fast you will at least have a better chance than anyone else.


 and my end of song has to be one of my most favorite shows I have ever been to! Pearl Jam - Just Breathe 

Monday Movie

 

How to survive a disaster  59mins
BBC Horizon Documentary, "How to Survive a Disaster". Prof Ed Galea from FSEG discusses findings from FSEG research concerning human behavior and evacuation.

.

Sunday Totally Digging!

 

Its another Sunday! And who am I digging this week.
Totally digging is my way of saying thanks for linking back to my page. Check them out!

So today's totally digging goes out to.....

Facebook repost
Prepper Chicks

Pinterest re-pin
Always.Be Prepared 

Prepper List
Cool Survival Sites

and as always the Prepper Website is the bomb!



and the end song for this post is  The Calling - Thank You 

 

Smoking allowed

Alternatives for tobacco, for Preppers, Survivalists, and Bushcrafters.

 

I am a smoker and if you are..... you totally at least have thought about.....what would I smoke.

I know some lady's that are stockpiling nicotine gum and mint things. Which is a smart thing to do because nicotine has other benefits.

•  Asthma Rheumatism
• Chills Fevers
• Headaches ,Earaches
• Toothaches, Childbirth pains
• Stomachaches ,Open wounds

 
 But me...I am looking for stuff to smoke! And this would be a great trade product.

First here is some info on old pipes  - Pipes and Smoking Customs of the American Aborigines, Based on Material in the U.S. National Click Here for pdf

If your are not into smoking you can always turn that pipe into a bubble blower Click Here

Of course you can grow your own tobacco. I am in the Northeast and we have tobacco farms, so I am thinking it can grow most anywhere. So at the least getting some seeds to save would be a first thing. But then you may have to wait a whole planting season before that can happen.

So tobacco substitutes are a good thing to know.

Kinnikinnick
Red willow known as red osier dogwood in my part of the country.
HOW TO:
Take a stick from the tree.  Then remove the top layer of bark and expose the inner layer with a knife. You would cut some grooves around the sticks and roast them thoroughly. Roast NOT BURN! Then scrap this roasted part off and ground it. And you have a smoke-able product that has the same effect as nicotine! 

Now American Indians use to take this and many other same kind products and mix them for different flavors. They called it Kinnikinnick
For example : Suffield oak-leaf,bearberry, silky cornel, bunchberry, evergreen sumac, littleleaf sumac, red sumac, arrowroot, laurel, ironwood, wahoo, squaw huckleberry, Jamestown weed, black birch, cherry bark, corn and mullein. These are all  products that can be mixed into a Kinnikinnick.
**All the barks are processes the same way as the Dogwood.

 

Herbs you can grow in your garden to smoke or for tea

I had to do a separate page for the list of herbs that you can grow in your yard that can be smoked Click here for it

 And last but not at all least Weed


We have our most well known one.... Weed, now yes this is a narcotic. Yes, it has a lot of medical uses so if you still have that friend, get a few of those seeds to stockpile to. But also remember hemp can be smoked and has no narcotic effects. But strangely those seeds are harder to find..or are they? You can find them online raw and in the shell. Not only is it a tobacco sub (and non narcotic)  Click Here for 60 ways to use Hemp



And I am sorry but I really LOVE this song Cigarettes and Chocolate Milk - Rufus Wainwright
PS these are 2 things I love...stockpiled powder milk and Quick Chocolate! And I the seeds stockpiled!

 

How to dry and grind corn

 

This is a simple post. Because anyone can farm corn.  And because corn meal can be a much needed tasty carb in times of trouble.

First always remember to save seed for the next years crop.
Choose the earliest and the best developed corncobs you can find.
Cover them with a large enough paper bag (not a plastic bag)
 Allow the cob to develop and dry out on the stalk as long possible
break off husk and keep in cool place till ready to plant. 



Now you are basically dehydrating.  Some suggest to let them grow on the stalk till the first frost. This does not really make them yummy for corn on the cob, but it makes the kernel larger for grinding more meal.

Now husk them or just pull the husks back. If you just pull the husks back this makes an easy way to hang them to dry.  Ya know like the pretty ones we hang on our doors. And remember to let them dry good. An other tip is corn can stay much longer on the cob. So you can shuck and grind as you need it.

Now comes the hard part, get the corn off the cob. Now mother earth news  had this simple idea. Guess it is like wack- a -mole but with corn!  NO, acutually you stick the ear of corn in twisting it so all the corn comes off in a bucket or a bowl. It would work like this Click Here.

  

If you have power this is a much better way!!  Bike power generator is perfect for this.

. 

.

So now we have our dried corn and it is off the cob!  POPCORN TIME!!! :) once you are done eating popcorn the next step is grinding it. Now the more I researched the more I see the need for at the least a simple hand mill. But shtf situation do not always allow it. So one of the grinding methods in my previous post Click Here The last note is there are different textures to grind it into...course to fine depending on what you are using it for. A finer flour grind gives you a fluffy er end result - A course on would be for chicken feed. A medium to fine floury one would be for bread tortillas, flat breads, pancakes and fritters. Fry some chicken coated with it or even polenta (yuck).      .     .     .     .             .     .     .     .             .     .     .     .                                                                                                                                                                     Some other uses for cornmeal are: 

• Ant killer- sprinkle were ant trails are, they can not digest it.

•  In the garden sprinkle it on plants and around the bottom of them and it protects against aphids and control some fungus and prevents weeds. DO NOT use on baby plants wait till they are established.  
• Put some in shoes and it help prevent fungus and athletes foot.  
• Facial washes with cornmeal helps with acne.        .     .     .     .                                                        

•  Did I mention Corn whiskey? Click Here for info on that. Now with the last suggestion I will end this post with this song Corn Liquor 

All work, no play in a shtf situation makes prepper a dul1 boy!

 

How to keep morale up! In times of trouble.

Ok so times are hard, you have your stockpile, you are foraging and farming. You are guarding and protecting. But you are still going to need to have a little fun. The people around you are going to need to have a little fun.

I am the person in my area that helps organize community events so this is something I have to do for a large groups of people with next to no cash. Now for this it is more than a day so I would say this is a definite challenge.

TV
First think of what you do everyday. Me the one thing I would miss is vegging in front of the TV .
Look at the goodwill for .50 - $1.00 DVD's you will be able to watch those on a charged lap top or mini DVD player ...I am scouting for a cheap projector for the laptop, the cheapest they are right now are $70 Click Here   The other thought was to figure out a way to make a mirror projector box so everyone can enjoy a show. If you know of a way please comment!!!

Music
Music would be my next missed thing. Burning your music to CD's could be worth it. Just to have that hard copy. MP3 players can be hooked up to speakers and hold alot of music. But I am old school I need the music in my hand.

 

Then we have good old fashion do it yourself music.

Beginner guitar pdf Click Here
Beginner harmonica pdf Click Here
Bangos, drums, buckets
How to make a Corn stalk fiddle and pumpkin vine flute  PDF on page 162 Click Here
How to make a Bamboo flute pdf Click Here

Kids basics to stock pile and some with what you have ideas
Crayons, paper, markers glue, chalk and lots of books! for little kids.

Older kids
Bat and ball, kick ball, volley ball, some rackets and a birdy, board games never grow old. You can teach them to fish and carve toys for the younger kids or knit and crochet. And again more books. Simple crafting with what is around is also a great thing to spark creativity. Scavenger hunts are fun for everyone. Darts and archery contest.

Make wooden hula hoops Click here 

Make walking stilts pdf (wooden ones Click Here) ( more hi-tech ones Click Here) 
These are fun but also useful in fruit harvesting and building in place of a ladder.Also good for fishing and net casting.

Make clay dolls and figures, checker pieces, bowls ect! Click Here for my last post about making clay.



OTHER STUFF TO GIVE A HAPPY FEELING:

• a simple deck of cards and puzzles (you can get these at the dollar store).

• Horse shoes, bocce balls or crochet

• Dessert mixes are a must. These will not things you will be able to get for a while till trade picks up.

• Things like Brownies and Coco and candy.

• A simple journal is just a good thing for all to have.

***COOL PDF***

Last but not least I found this pdf Fun with ropes and spears (OLD BOOK!!) Kind of funny. But in it, it has fun stuff for scouts to do...but many of the stuff in it is really great survival stuff...
Click Here to check it out!

 

And the song for this post is going to be one that totally makes me think of playing....yes I AM A CHEEZE BALL!!! 

 

How to make clay from soil!

 

Remember this is what your clay should look like...different colors are ok but this texture

 Clay is everywhere. You just have to look for it. But the easier place to find it is along rivers and at the edge of  any water. Even puddling areas.  Walk along your local water source and take note. Ever shovel an area and the dirt area looks shine and dense and the soil stays all together? That soil has a high clay level! This can even be in your own yard. Take a hand full of it, see if it will feel kind of like clay and shape when you play with it.

When I was a kid we had a spot near a stream, a little inlet that the water did not flow so much at,  the soil was just like the clay you by in stores! (:( that area has since been developed).  You will have to go through a trial and error with different samples to find some really good stuff. But some of the fun is in the hunt for it.

Before for settle on one big batch you may want to do a bunch of little batches with soil from different places to see which is the best. 

Now remember some river clay may just need a simple rolling and picking out the impurity's with the ease of firing right away. But if it is more grittier or sandy,  or if you are looking to get clay from less clay like soil this is the possess.



Old Fashioned way of getting clay from soil 

Cleaning the soil of non usable junk. 

You will need a screened container to shack and get all the big junk out, window screen would be best. Have a bucket or drop cloth to catch the good stuff the comes through.
What you are trying to do is remove all the stones and pebbles. Dig off a top layer of soil and use the next layer to screen for you clay ( it will have less impurity's) .




Let the soil settle and separate
Fill a bucket halfway with the cleaned soil, and fill two thirds of it with water and add a 1/8 a cup of liquid dish soap (in hard times you would use you soap that you made with lye) . Mix this up good and let it sit for 24 hours. All the soap really does is help speed up the settling process,  you can do this without it.

Water it
Ok now we get a little tricky.  
After around 24 hours the soil will have separated. The finest clay is going to be on the very top. Next layer is fine sand. 

Now a siphoning possess is suggested :
Fill the hose with water, capping each end with your fingers. One end goes below the water surface in the upper bucket, the other end in the lower. You have now created a siphon. With the end in the upper bucket, begin vacuuming off the topmost layer of particles. This is the finest clay. Below this is fine sand. Be careful not to get into this fine sand, rather, siphoning off only the clay.
 OR
You can just skim the top off put it in a second bucket...put 2/3 water in that and a dash of soap stir and let is sit another 24 hours and repeat  the skimming of the top part. You will know by its feel.
Keep adding. To make a continuous process, simply add more sifted soil to the upper bucket each day after siphoning the clay.
Pour. The clay may now be poured into another container, such as a bread pan, and allowed to air dry to the consistency needed for your project.

EXTRA NOTE:
You may have to temper the clay  This consists of adding other non-clay material to the pure clay so it can stand the fire. Some materials that are used is a fine sand, or ground sea shells. Even dried grass, moss, dung, have been crushed up and mixed with the clay. 

Make a few small little bowl shapes out of your clay or what ever shapes you want. Let is dry completely some take a few day some a few weeks...a warm window helps the dry possess.But dry completely is key to this.


 

TESTING ITS QUALITY FOR POT MAKING 

yep these babys are going right in the campfire! 

get a good fire going and place your creations nest to it. The key to them not cracking is to slowly introduce them to the fire.  So move them closer and closer and then right into it with the tongs. You can do it on a rack on a charcoal grill if you prefer and cover it . you will lose some. This is a craft and there is a learning curve. And again you are testing to find the best clay in your area to work with.

 

Have fun experimenting with this one! I am!  I am trying to make beads and pendents :) ya not survival stuff but still learning the whole skill!

A fun song for this post ..........now sing along!

 

Totally digging

 

Its another Sunday! And who am I digging this week.
Totally digging is my way of saying thanks for linking back to my page. Check them out!

So today's totally digging goes out to.....

a Pinterest re-poster
Zombie Apocalypse Prepping

and
a Blog
Knowledge is asking the Right Questions?
Energy, Environment, and Economy

and
a Prepper list
Jefferson County prepper list. 

and
a twitter repost
 PreparedGirl at Twitter





If I missed you email me. I try to find the reposts on google it does not really  show it.

Click Here for a list of past totally digging's there is a link on my right side bar.

And the song for this post has to be

Bamboo?? This is the US? Uses for it?

THIS POST HAS A BUNCH OF FREE PDF"S ON HOW TO USE Bamboo!


Yep you read right! Bamboo! It is illegal to plant in many states now. BUT if you Google it you will find a city or area near you that has issues with it..I have 4 places near me and I am in a big city. One is almost a forest. .LEARN WERE IT IS! Or plant it (as long as you build an underground containment or above ground garden for it so it does not spread).

• Click here for info on how to grow and contain it. I live in the northeast and it thrives here!

•  CLICK HERE for a pdf on how to propagate bamboo .

I can hear you asking...WHY!

Well let me tell you, It is a massive WEED! Grows like a son of a bitch and grows FAST ( some grows as fast as 47 inches in a 24-hour period in some climates.)!!     Really fast in one seasons time. In a SHTF situation bamboo will be a blessing. We have so many people that trees will be chopped down fast. And trees grow slow and are far to valuable of a resource to chop down if we do not have to.

Now you can start with making a flute with it Click Here for pdf how to(come on you did not have one of these when you were a kid?)

Keep in mind bamboo is light weight and easy to cut and process. So that can save on valuable power resources as well. 




USES for bamboo

Building shelter

Right now over a billion people live in bamboo houses in all climates. It is an amazing and strong building material. Easy to use for scaffolding to rebuild. It can be cut for roof repairs, flooring and siding.

• Bamboo as a building material pdf  Click here 

• How to build a house with bamboo pdf  Click Here

• How to make bamboo joints pdf  Click Here (this will also be useful in furniture and transportation)

-------------------------------------------------

Food

It is a food source. In Japan, the antioxidant properties of the bamboo skin prevent bacterial growth, and are used as natural food preservatives.

•  Click here for some info on that.

• This is a great pdf CLICK HERE on how to harvest and store bamboo shoot for food.

-------------------------------------------------

Clothing can be made from it. Click here on how to make it into fabric


It is a great source to make paper!  Click Here for how to pdf

-------------------------------------------------

Roads and bridges can be made with it. Strong stuff and easy to work with. The longest bamboo bridge was 850 feet long, 9 feet wide!

-------------------------------------------------

 

Fire Wood!  Yes!  when used as fire wood it produces more btu per weight than hardwood and makes less ash. Bamboo charcoal will maintain a constant heat longer than hardwood charcoal.

-------------------------------------------------

Medicinal Use 

Chinese medicine has long used bamboo to treat infections. Other Eastern medicinal systems, like Indian traditional medicine, use bamboo to concoct a tonic that helps alleviate symptoms of respiratory diseases. Bamboo is also used to treat fevers, resolve phlegm, and relieve lung inflammation, among other things. As for its nutritional value, bamboo is a good low-calorie source of potassium.  

•  Click here  and Click Here for a few more uses.

-------------------------------------------------

Beer? Bamboo beer is made from the seeds of flowering bamboo. Same process as regular beer.

and a Tiki bar for the Beer??

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

And lets not forget Uses for Bamboo Charcoal  

First Click here for a pdf on how to make Bamboo Charcoal! 

• -Place in a room it works as a deodorize the air, regulate humidity.

• - It can remove bateris, pesticides and heavy metals from fruit and vegetable. Add 1 or 2 tsp of chopped up charcoal to a bowl and soak for 15 min. 

• -Keep your fruits and vegetables fresh longer by placing them in a bag with a few stalks of  Bamboo Charcoal.

• - Bamboo Charcoal stalks in the basement can help to mitigate radon gas concentration levels. Not eliminate but def. help if it is the only option.

• - You can filter water with is. By putting a few stalks of Bamboo Charcoal in 1 gallon of water.  Wait 15 min.  and water will be filtered to remove harmful, distasteful substances, its PH level will be balanced, and it adds minerals like those found in fancy water.

ok :) great song for this post!!! The big bamboo....that what he gave her!

 

 .

.

 .