What did you do to prep this week?

Still prepping, just not enough every week to post about it all the time. Since the last time I thought about my weekly preps I’ve started learning about winter gardening and ordered some heirloom seeds. I’ve been spending time reading and thinking about being self sufficient instead of just buying a bunch of crap. I did get a couple new books and a surplus ALICE pack. Also spent a lot of time on our new rental…

Looking back on last year…

I had a good 2017. Spent more time with family. Figured out who and who isn’t family. Made some new friends. Learned about “kith and kin.” Got rid of a lot of junk. Completed CERT training. Started learning about permaculture. Went back to school. Picked up a rental property. That’s the good stuff. On the down side, I still waste time worrying about crap I can’t control.

Looking forward to next year…

For next year I want to mainly focus on building kith and kin relationships. Become more self sufficient. Learn to garden and trap. Spend time in the outdoors with my family.  Lose 20 lbs. of fat. Gain 10 lbs. of muscle. Get in good enough shape to ruck a 60 lb. pack anywhere I need to go. Catch fish. Grow pumpkins. Get a good heirloom seed collection going. Live a live that honors the memory of my parents, grandparents, and ancestors…

I read something interesting that I agree with. I can’t quote it exactly because my memory sucks. To paraphrase though…

“Prepping isn’t about surviving no matter what. We’re all going to die no matter how well we prep. Instead, prepping is about having the ability to pass on your values.”

I’m sure I left something out, but that sums it up pretty good IMO. That’s what I’ll be working on in the coming year and what I’ll be prepping for. How about you? What will you be doing to prep in the coming weeks and years?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

CERT

This week I went to my second CERT meeting. This is a different group then the one I went to last week. Younger crowd, more people, and closer to work. I know which group I’ll be joining.

Gardening

I got my fig trees and blackberry bushes planted. Also got an aloe vera plant for inside the house. I did notice a problem with the garlic I planted a couple weeks ago – one bed is already sprouting. Not supposed to happen until spring. Hopefully the garlic crop will still turn out OK.

I also pulled down the bean towers. My wife planted some goji in the former bean bed. I got some 2 foot rebar to replace the 3 foot sections I bought last week, so hopefully I’ll be able to finish the hoops in the coming week. Our Agribon got here yesterday so I need to get on it. Oh, and I ordered some North Pole lettuce seed.

Stanley FatMax demolition tool

I’ll have more to say on this later, but for now I’ll just say don’t waste your money. I bought the expensive version only because of the “gas shutoff wrench” that is really just the slot on the prying end. Guess what? It doesn’t fit my gas valve. What a load of crap. Otherwise it’s well built but $100 extra for a wider slot on one end is a total rip-off, especially since it doesn’t even fit a g*dd**n gas valve. If you want this tool, save $100 and get the 55-120, not the grossly over priced 55-122.

Reading

I got two new books, More Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency by Caleb Warnock and The Pantry Primer: A Prepper’s Guide to Whole Food on a Half-Price Budget by Daisy Luther. I haven’t had time to read them yet but they look OK. Hope to do reviews on both really soon.

What did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

My family has spent most of the last 2 weeks with nasty colds (thankfully not all at the same time). I was second, so the week before last I didn’t get much done. I did manage to go to CERT orientation and rethink meds for a prep kit. The past week was better so at least I didn’t have to waste 2 entire weeks…

CERT

On the 4th I went to CERT orientation, which is different than the CERT Academy. Basically went over paperwork and SOP’s regarding operations, chin of command, etc. In my area, CERT is under the authority of the Sheriff’s dept. That was the boring part. The good part was getting to meet some of the local CERT team leaders. We have 6 CERT teams within an hour drive of my home, and it was interesting to hear about each of them.

Last Wednesday I went to the monthly training of one of the groups that meets close to my home. Training was good (wildland fire evacuation and helicopter safety) but I probably won’t be joining that group. This coming Thursday I’m going to the group meeting that meets close to my work which is probably the group I’ll join. The other 4 groups are just too long a drive…

Prepper Meetup

I went to my Prepper Meetup this past week. Topic was open forum/general prepping questions. Mostly we talked about earthquake safety and when/why to bug out. It was a good discussion, except it resulted in me spending money. More on that in a bit…

We’re down to only 5 core members which kind of worries me, because the one other topic the group organizer sent out in his email was “the future plans for the group.” That kind of bummed me out because I thought he was going to disband since only the same 5 or 6 people seem to be showing up. No worries though, he just wants to change the focus of the group from “beginning prepping” to “intermediate prepping.” Oh, and go on social media to help promote the group.

Another new tool

One of the things that came up at the Meetup was “what if the building you’re in collapses in an earthquake”? Someone mentioned the Stanley FatMax demolition bar. So when I got home I looked into it. Turns out they make 2 styles in 2 sizes: the “peon” model and the “tacticool” model, both are offered in your choice of 18″ or 30″.

The difference between the 2 styles is the “tacticool” version has a gas shutoff tool, 2 types of fire hydrant wrenches (square and 5 sided), and a spanner wrench built in. The “peon” version doesn’t have these, except from the pics it looks like the 30″ “peon” version has (at least) the 5 sided fire hydrant wrench. Oh, and the “tacticool” version is hard to find and wildly over priced IMO ($36 vs $91 for the 18″, $62 vs $160 for the 30″).

I couldn’t care less about the hydrant or spanner wrenches, but the gas shutoff could be really handy if I had a gas leak in my house, so I sucked it up and splurged on the 30″ “tacticool” model. It left a bitter taste as I ordered it. Why don’t they put the gas shutoff on the “peon” model? Not like it would be harder to make that way. OK so off my soap box…

Gardening

I ordered 2 fig trees and 2 blackberry bushes. They got here yesterday but I probably won’t have time to plant them until Mon or Tue after work. I also bought some of the things I need to put hoop houses over our planting beds. I messed up on the rebar. I thought I needed 3 foot sections. After pounding 2 of them into the ground, I’ve decided that 2 foot sections would be better. So another trip to Home Depot tomorrow 🙂

For next week, I hope to finish the hoop houses over our raised beds. Already talked to the wife and she’s on board. In fact, it was her idea to get some Agribon. Still need to order the clear plastic that goes over the hoops, but one thing at a time. Hopefully next week we’ll all be healthy and I can get back on my regular schedule. What did YOU do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

I got three of our raised beds ready for garlic. They all have good organic soil and are tamped down and ready to plant. I’m pre-soaking the garlic buds tonight, and tomorrow I’ll have the kids help me plant. I also picked up and crushed a bunch of leaves and put them in a fourth bed. Hopefully it will turn into compost… Besides that, I finally got around to clearing out the dead bean and tomato plants.

Permaculture Meetup

On Saturday I went to a work bee hosted by the local Permaculture Meetup group and learned how to make low tunnel hoop houses. They’re basically mini greenhouses that let you grow some things over the winter. The key idea is “some” things, not “every” thing. Where I live, “some” means plants that can live through almost freezing temperatures. In my case, that means spinach and broccoli.

More Tools

The last thing I did to prep this week was buy a compressor. Home Depot had a 30 gallon model on sale for $279 so my wife agreed to let me get it. When we went to buy it, I changed my mind and (amazingly) talked her into letting me get a Dewalt 15 gallon for $100 more than the Husky. What? $100 more for a tank that’s only half the size? I can explain…

First, I don’t have a problem with Husky tools, but Dewalt tools have never failed me. Also, the Dewalt is light enough that I can load it into my truck by myself. The Husky is too heavy. I’m not painting cars or running an air driven belt sander, so 15 gallon air capacity should be fine for my needs.

That’s it for me this time. What did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

I finished my CERT training and got my certificate. Also filled out the request to join the county CERT organization. Assuming I pass my background check, I’ll get fingerprinted and get my “official” CERT card from the sheriff’s office. Once I have the card I’ll join one of the local CRT teams. Other than that, not too much. We’re finishing up a rental property (new tenants moving in in a week) and starting renovations on another rental my wife bought in August. I guess that counts as prepping since I “get” to be the handyman. Never thought I’d learn things like basic plumbing and carpentry, but here I am… We also bought a compressor this week, maybe that counts as a prep too? Oh, and I got my wife to go to church with the rest of the family today.

I have a few things planned for the coming week. Finishing my garlic beds is the most important thing. Next Saturday I’m going to a work bee on winter gardening techniques. Finally, since Friday is a holiday I hope to make homemade bread with my mom.

What did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

garlic for my back yardThe past week was pretty busy for me. I have a final exam this Wed and my garlic order showed up. We started work on a new rental. I started my Citizen Emergency Response Team (CERT) class. More on that coming soon. I started working towards a 2 week food supply for a family of 5. Besides all that, my wife decided she wanted to be in “high maintenance mode”, so I had to deal with that as well. So to flesh it out a little, here goes…

Garlic

Since my garlic order showed up, I figured I’d better (finally) get the planting beds ready. I pulled all the dead squash plants from 3 beds and dug out all the dirt. Went to the local nursery and bought 15 bags of Kick garden soil. Mixed it with the dirt from the beds, shoveled it back in, leveled and tamped with a rake. I’d say the mix in each bed is 20% dirt and 80% Kick. I’ll get the garlic planted in the next 2 weeks and hope for an awesome harvest next summer. I have too much garlic so I’ll give the extra to some people in my prepping group if they want to plant it. If not, I’ll just eat it. It is after all organic…

CERT

I took my first week of CERT classes. So far they’ve talked about emergency preparedness, CERT organization (BORing….), basic triage of disaster victims, and basic fire suppression and prevention. I’m really glad I took this class. I love the emphasis on community (the ‘C’ after all stands for Community) and the skills they teach are really useful IMO. Besides that the networking opportunities are great, and I even found a little intel opportunity.

Permaculture

I didn’t mention it in the intro, but I also went to my second Permaculture meetup. Got to meet a few new people which was awesome. One of the new people was hosting a work-bee on butchering rabbits this Saturday. I had to miss it because of my CERT class but he said I could call him any time and he’d help me get set up for raising rabbits and let my come over next time he’s processing some.

Misc…

My Prepper meetup was also last week, but I missed it because of the CERT class. The topic was situational awareness so I kind of wish I could have made it, but I really wanted needed to take the CERT class. That’s it for me this time. What did you do to prep this week?
Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

I spent most of the week laid up with a bad knee. Naturally that meant more time surfing the web so I bought some stuff for my survival kit I’m putting together from The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive. Yes, I too am shocked at how long it’s taking to recover this time. Even today (Sunday) I’m not back to 100% in the knee, and both ankles are sore. At least I can walk and drive now. Anyway…

Shemagh. Cody’s book calls for a bandanna. The shemagh is a little bigger so I figure it will work better as a head wrap and sun protection so I decided to substitute it for the bandanna. Depending on how much room I have in my pack, I might throw in a bandanna along with it, or maybe a second shemagh.

Grabber All Weather Space Blanket. This is heavier duty than the cheap little space blankets you can get so it can be used for a ground tarp or to make an emergency shelter. Cody’s book recommends the one that’s blaze orange on one side (for signaling) but I cheaped out and got the blue one.

Grabber Outdoors Original Space Blanket Gold/Silver. The cheap little space blanket mentioned above. I followed the recommendation in the book and got the silver/gold combo. These things reflect heat really well. They can help retain body heat when it’s cold and protect you from the sun when it’s hot. Also good for signalling. The price was right so I got 2.

SOL Howler Rescue Whistle. Plastic, pea-less so they won’t freeze up, and supposedly loud. Haven’t had a chance to test them yet.

Coghlan 2×3 Survival Signal Mirror. This was another case of me being cheap. The book recommends a 3×5 mirror, but that size costs almost $30(!!!). Even at that price, it’s lexan and not real glass. The Coghlan gets the best reviews I could find (and I read a lot – who knew something as simple as a mirror could be so complicated?) and only cost $10. Just be aware that if you order from Amazon it won’t come in retail packaging. It is the genuine Coghlan though.

3-Pack Credit Card Fresnel Lenses. I haven’t had a chance to start a fire with them yet, but they do focus the sun. Maybe next week…

Two 32 oz. Nalgene water bottles. A few weeks ago I bought some stainless steel water bottles. They’re nice, sturdy, insulated, and heavy. The Nalgene bottles are light weight and probably sturdy enough. I’m trying to keep my kit somewhat light, so Nalgene it is. The SS bottles will go in my Get Home Bag.

Well, that’s about it for this week. If my knee continues to heal I hope to test out some of my fire starters soon. What did you do to prep this week?

 

What did you do to prep this week?

This week I got to spend a lot of time thinking about the consequences of not taking care of myself. On Tuesday I sprained my right ankle really bad. Instead of taking care of it, I just pressed on. Since my left leg was now doing all the work of keeping me mobile, the extra stress caused my left knee to blow out on Thursday. Since I’m “getting older” it takes awhile to recover from stuff like this, and I’m still pretty much immobile as of this Sunday afternoon. Not complaining, just saying. Plus the budget was tight this week…

In spite of that, I did manage to get a few more preps taken care of:

Estwing Sportsman’s Axe. Not sure if this would be considered a prep item or a homesteading item. I got it for processing fire wood. I have a few bushcraft style knives, but the thought of abusing them by batoning wood always bothered me. I mean “right tool for the right job,” right? So I got an Estwing 14″ axe. It will save my knives from abuse and I’ve always been a sucker for a nice leather handle.

Reading glasses. No matter how well prepped you are, sometimes you’re going to need to read. Without reading glasses that’s dang near impossible if you can’t see up close without them. Costco had 3-packs on sale for $14.99 so now I have a pair for survival kit, my get home bag, and my bugout bag. I’ll probably pick up another pack before the sale is over.

Gorilla Tape. Duct tape has lots of uses around the homestead, around the house, and in the… well, wherever you might be. It’s also recommended by lots of people for survival kits. Since I’m building a survival kit, I decided to pick up a roll. I chose Gorilla Tape because it has a stronger grip than the other tapes I tried.

That’s it for me, what did you do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

 

What did you do to prep this week?

Unfortunately I didn’t do much. We’re still working on getting our rental house fixed and my job is still crazy. It was such a messed up week that I decided to postpone taking my FCC General class license test. Didn’t want to, but part of being a prepper is the ability to adapt and shift priorities, right? At least I managed to get a couple things done…

I spent some more time (actually all my free time) reading Cody Lundin’s 98.6 – The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive. I love this book and this isn’t a sales pitch (notice the lack of an affiliate link to buy it). If you’re interested in keeping your ass alive you should read this book. Well worth the time to read and his ideas on survival kits seem very solid. I ordered some stuff for my survival kit: an emergency whistle, signal mirror, light and heavy space blankets, and a shemagh. I’m still looking for strike anywhere matches and adjustable butane lighters.

I went to my first Permaculture Meetup which was interesting. I like the idea of permaculture, but the people I met who are really into it treat it as almost a religion. Kind of creepy, but they were nice. I did learn something about raising worms. Also went to monthly Preppers Meetup. Lots of good info and discussion, and I can relate to the regulars. Not sure I’ll ever fit in with the permaculture group.

Preppers gotta eat too, so I experimented with a few alt food sources. First thing to try was a pigeon trap. I didn’t trap any pigeons, but I learned a lot about what kind of birds you might attract. Sparrows, quail, blue jays, dove, and yes the occasional pigeon. The only birds I successfully trapped were dove, and I let them go. Hoping I can get more done next week,

So… what did YOU do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine

What did you do to prep this week?

I had a busy week. First, work was really going crazy. Second, one of our tenants drove her car through the front of our rental house. In other words I didn’t have time to do much prepping and no time to write about anything here. I did get some things done though…

Our Berkey water purification system showed up, so I got that assembled and working. Took longer than I thought, mainly because I spent a lot of time flushing the chloride filters. One mistake we made was not ordering the stand. Without that, the spigot is about 1/2 inch from the counter top. Solution is to put the Berkey right at the edge of the counter OR order the stand. My wife wanted the stand, so that’s what we’re getting.

I also realized that, you know what? I’m a gear junky – I have a problem with buying stuff I think is cool but with no plan to use it. So I have some packs with nothing in them… I spent a lot of time reading through my copy of 98.6 – The Art of Keeping Your Ass Alive and started working on my survival kit. Got the Ziplock freezer bags, 2 (actually 3) really heavy contractor grade 55 gallon bags, and 3 ways to start fire. Mag bar, water proof match container/matches, and a 3-pack of road flares. The flares aren’t recommended in the book, but they burn hot and bright for 15 minutes and I have room in the pack, so why not. I also wasted a lot of time looking for strike anywhere matches. I’m going to have to look some more.

Our garden is going good. Still lots of squash and finally some ripe tomatoes. My wife found a guy about 30 miles away giving away free red worms so we might get some today. I also found a local Meetup group that discusses Permaculture so I signed up for that. They’re having a meeting this Wed, so I’m looking forward for that. The prepper Meetup group is Thur and it is almost always good so I’m looking forward to that too.

Last but not least, I’m testing for my general class amateur radio license next Saturday, so I spent more time studying. This week I’ll be spending most of my free time cramming for that and getting our rental house repaired. If I have any extra time I’ll research tents and knives. We’ll also order worms online if the free ones don’t work out.

What did YOU do to prep this week?

Peace out,
porcupine