My husband, 5 kids (ages: 4, 5, 6, 9, and 12) and I have recently began prepping. We started with an indoor garden, seems it is getting to cool to grow outdoors. We have all of our vegetables in portable pots in case we should need to move them outside during the day (if we lose electric). We currently have 7 vegetables and 6 herbs and we plan to plant more still. We only have one tree in our yard which we plan to chop down and store for fire wood and plant several fruit trees. We have also began to look for food storage buckets to begin storing things like rice, sugar, beans, powdered milk, and other commodities. We also have rabbits and need be guinea pigs for meat. We also plan to begin canning within the next month and have started a journal to keep track of what we have done and still need to do. We have started storing light and cooking sources as well. The biggest thing that I am unsure as to how to prep for is heat. In Texas it gets to be in the 100s during the summer and with 5 small children we have not figured this one out yet. Also with 7 people in this weather how much water do we need? Any suggestions for this and anything else would be useful. We would like to know if some of the more experienced preppers believe we are on the right track and if anyone has any creative suggestions for my family and I and a tight budget.
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- Thread starter lmskingj
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Welcome aboard !
Welcome and thank you for taking time to join Doomsday Prepper Forums.com. Your presence here is much appreciated. We look forward to your posts, and hope you enjoy the community!
Being on a tight budget is a common theme these days.
There are a lot of knowledgeable members who are more than willing to help you out.
Thank you again for taking the time to join Doomsday Prepper Forums.com!
Thank You!
Welcome to the forum.
Welcome !
Do you use plant lights?
We could realy use a topic on this indoor growing. Don't be afraid to share you knowledge with the community.
Loomis,
Yes! However, we have all of our plants in portable pots so that if we should lose power we can tote them outside to get sunlight and bring them back in for the night due to the cold weather. I have found that the plants under an aquarium grow light seem to be growing the fastest! I didn't go to the store and buy a bunch of plant pots either. I have even used packing material that came off electronics because it was like herb planters, and then I sterilized some other plastic containers and totes, and even Lego boxes! I am on a budget so I took a look around the house and used what I knew would work. I have yet to spend more than $25 on my garden. I paid $19 for the seeds and found organic soil at Wal-Mart for .99Cents for 40 pound bags. I don't have any heat blowing on my plants or in the room with my plants. The room I am using does not have a heat/air vent (not that I've turned the heat on even though it’s in the low 30s). I do leave the door to the room open. I have found that things like garlic and spearmint take a little longer to sprout, then is the bell peppers, and carrots. The easiest thing I have found to grow is spinach and lettuce mix, then green onions, tomatoes (roma and beef), green beans, basil, parsley, oregano, and sweet basil. Most herbs are fairly simple to grow indoors because they do not require a deep root system. However, when you grow something like a carrot you must ensure that you have a deep enough container and deep enough soil in an effort to give the carrots room to grow down into the soil, same with garlic, and potatoes. I plan to plant cucumbers, peas, and red cabbage this weekend. I am going to purchase my fruit trees and strawberry seeds if I can find them this weekend as well. I have only had these plants for 11 days and all of them say 7-10 or 10-14 days to sprout! All but my peppers, garlic, and spearment have sprouted. My green beans are huge and my green onions are quite large as well. I have been watering my plants everyother day and it only takes a little sprinkle of water to moisten the soil. I don't have drain holes in the bottom of any of the containers.
My husband and I are going to build a new guinea pig pen very soon as well to house all of our little pigs. I feel like this is a last choice for meat, but it is known to be better for you than chicken. I have recently learned how to prepare them from start to finish. I live in an area where I cannot have livestock so I have to make do. I also have rabbits for meat. I think my husband and I have the fact that we were well trained in the military (before Obama got in the seat) and in survival, as well as hand to hand combat etc. so we have come up with some pretty inventive things.
Make shift root cellar: dig a hole and put a large barrel or clean trash can in the hole and place the lid on top of it with hay or something heavy over the top of the hole.
I will keep you posted on the indoor garden! Open to any questions!
WOW
! That is FANTASTIC !!! and you get the SUPER PREPPER SHOPPER AWARD !! for .99 cents for 40lbs bag organic soil.Looks like the Military really taught us how to fight and how to survive. Looks like it's coming in handy.
What can I say Loomis? I try! LOLWOW
Looks like the Military really taught us how to fight and how to survive. Looks like it's coming in handy.
Like I said. You really have to start a thread on indoor Prepper growing. Your on the cutting edge on this.
I can't grow anything. Not in this GA red clay.
Loomis
Texas is well known for red clay too... hence one of the main reason for not even considering growing outside! As long as I can tote them outside if I need to, I'm good to go.... Just checked the green beens a min. ago... less than 2 weeks over 8 inches tall! There is a female who posted "growing indoors" to ask questions in the prepping food etc section. I posted there too. I will start my own though... just for you... lol
Welcome to DPF. Glad to have you!
As far as the heat.... I really think acclimation is going to be a necessity for my family in FL if the SHTF. I figure it will be tough but humans are adaptable. It will be hardest on me because of my size (I'm not going to say I'm fat but I will say I am what we used to say in the Army... "an easy target").
Welcome!
Lol, you can grow stuff in the clay, heres what you do:
You take the clay and form a pot......... lmao
Lol, you can grow stuff in the clay, heres what you do:
You take the clay and form a pot......... lmao
Bravery,
My husband said the same thing when we started thinking about it. We should be able to adapt... My concern is heat casualties. .... no comment on the other statement... LOL... I was in the Army. In fact I was a chemical soldier. All these comments about nerve agents being prepared in the last two days has me very concerned. I've spent 4 hrs. in a nerve agent chamber (with protective gear of course) so I know what happens first hand when someone is contaminated with the stuff. Sucked when we had a person in our group whos suit didn't work!
It is amazing how much we can adapt. I know as we get older it becomes harder but we still can. Yes, we have to be careful of Heat Exhaustion and Heat Stroke. Know the signs and watch each other. When I used to coach Soccer at the last school I was at... I had a group of boys playing that were Muslim... well it was during the month of Ramadan where Muslims don't eat or drink until after sunset. So my boys wouldn't even drink water during the brutal heat of Florida. So I knew they wouldn't ever self-report that they were too hot... so I assigned each guy a partner (I got all of the players and put them in a circle facing me...I explained to them about the signs of Heat Exhaustion and Stroke. I then told them to put their right hand on the shoulder of the guy next to them... that was their partner to watch... they were now responsible for that person's well-being).
I say this knowing that I get hot and sweaty changing the channel on my TV (and I have a remote)...LOL.
I say this knowing that I get hot and sweaty changing the channel on my TV (and I have a remote)...LOL.
Clay is the best beginning of an incredible garden, it can be augmented to anything you desire, while keeping its water retention ability.
1/2 of my place is 12' of sand ( in the nc sandhills) fertilize and it rains gone, the only thing I can grow on some of it is more sand LMAO.
We are slowly selling it off, load by load, down to the clay thats underneath. then I will be starting new.
Hell send me some, thatd mean your on or close to a river bed right?
From what ive seen online, theres gold in that ****
From what ive seen online, theres gold in that ****
EXCELLENT! Welcome! I think keeping a journal is HIGHLY underrated. It helps us not have to remember everything.
I really like your indoor garden idea, too. Is it hydropooonics or what? I apologize if I missed that part, I'm trying to surf while working today!
Disregard.... I just read that part. That is SO cool. I like the aquarium light idea. I have some from the snakes I used to own.... I have seen some of these things that hang upside down to grow tomatoes and such. I can't eat 'maters though. I would liek to learn more about this indoor growing. ANy chance you could post some pics?
Welcome to the DDPF Army! :america:
I really like your indoor garden idea, too. Is it hydropooonics or what? I apologize if I missed that part, I'm trying to surf while working today!
Disregard.... I just read that part. That is SO cool. I like the aquarium light idea. I have some from the snakes I used to own.... I have seen some of these things that hang upside down to grow tomatoes and such. I can't eat 'maters though. I would liek to learn more about this indoor growing. ANy chance you could post some pics?
Welcome to the DDPF Army! :america:
