what are your prepping goals for the next year (or two)?

[Brent S]

I want to take stock of what I've done in the last few years, and see what I still wish to accomplish. It makes it a lot clearer when it's in black and white in front of you.
The biggest thing I've done was relocate from a populated place to rural. I picked a good location, which was a 500mi move, but worth it. I have two creeks for a good water source, but think a well might be a good addition down the road.
I've gotten a good sized greenhouse, outside garden, fruit trees, blueberries and grapes going. Learning to grow and preserve stuff is still a work in progress, but am producing more each year. I even learned to make wines, for both recreation and possible trade one day.
Since here I've built the storm shelter. Big plus for shelter from fire, flood, earthquake, etc. even if the house burned down, that shelter will still be there. Probably for a thousand years or so.
I recently got a propane generator set up, which should be able to run for a few months at least, with some common sense rationing.
I have pretty good gear for security, and emergency fund in place, and at least six months of food preserved. I've even collected a lot of hand tools in case I can't get access to power over time.
I feel good about all these things, but feel an urgency to do more. I see bad things comming with the economy, and wish I had started a few years earlier.
I guess one thing I'd like to accomplish over the next year or two would be to finish all the odd and end projects around here. Everything will be much harder to do after shtf, so having all the things finished on the house and shop would be nice. I literally have like 15 unfinished projects, from tiling the bathroom floor, to finishing the outside trim on the garage and painting it. No more new ones till some are completed! I even have 90% of all the materials, I just need more hours in the day, and some more energy wouldn't hurt either.
I think getting a group of like minded people together will be a higher priority over the next couple years. Teamwork can accomplish so much more than one alone can.
I like setting goals, it keeps me focused on what to put my efforts in. I'll give some thoughts on what's next, and would appreciate others ideas here.

 

[jimLE]

looks like that you're doing a lot good there brent..besides getting the 15 unfinished projects done.i think that you might want to go with at least a 1 year supply of food..on account,a person never knows when they'll have a small crop from the garden.or have a year like im having this year.i never got my garden started.on account of all the rain we we were getting at first...

 

[Gazrok]

I have no doubt that soon, Brent will have a year's worth. He preserves his own stuff.

 

[jimLE]

oh yeah.im sure he will to..

 

[Brent S]

I have no doubt that soon, Brent will have a year's worth. He preserves his own stuff.

I've got 7 quarts of apples going in the pressure cooker right now, 6 1/2 minutes to go! I am allready tired of peeling apples, and still have a lot to go. This is my only batch tonight, but will do probably 6 more over the next few days. I didn't get a huge crop of apples this year, but enough to make desserts, breads and pies for the rest of the year. I am still increasing my pantry, but do rotate everything and mostly only can what I eat regularly. This year I got a lot of tomatoes so have loads of salsa, sauce and stewed tomatoes.

 

[QuietH3art]

I am finally ready to get back into things again. I was not able to put in a garden this spring because of 2 heart attacks and heart surgery the beginning of April. Two years of eating homegrown organic food could not compensate for 50 years of not knowing that the FDA really doesn't care about our health. My grandson and I had started seeds indoors and they were doing really well, but they all died while I was in the hospital. Fortunately, I still had my laying hens and plenty of canned foods from last year to get through my recovery. Unfortunately, I didn't have a year's worth to get me through until next growing season unless I want to live on dried beans, rice and flour tortillas for the next 8 months. I have enough rice, beans and flour to last me about 5 years. I should probably write those into my will so my kids don't fight over them. Yeah, right. (Only in English can 2 positives create a negative.)
After the surgery, I was under strict instructions to not do anything at all for 8 weeks. No lifting, to include lifting myself out of bed or chairs, no pushing or pulling of vacuums or brooms or rakes or shovels. No cooking, dishwashing or laundry. I was even told I couldn't brush my own hair. The healing of my sternum was at more risk than normal because I have osteoporosis. Interesting enough, though, when my daughter asked the surgeon if I could milk a goat, he said yes - that particular motion did not put me at risk at all. So she gave me her milk goat who has not only provided me with fresh milk daily but has become one of my best friends. Knowing I wouldn't have gardening to keep me going, I began dabbling in my other "hobby" - poultry. With my daughter's help, I acquired more chickens, plus turkeys, geese and ducks. I went from 4 laying hens to 7, then acquired 3 turkeys, 5 geese and 5 ducks. And that still wasn't enough. So I purchased turkey eggs to put in my incubator and hatched a few more turkeys. I've had a lot of fun with my incubator this spring. In fact, chicken eggs that I'd put in the incubator prior to the first heart attack hatched at my daughter's house the day of my surgery. I only had one hen in that hatch and her name is Lily. I sold the boys. I've run 4 more batches of eggs through the incubator since then, 2 batches with chicks and ducks and 2 batches with turkeys, the 2nd turkey batch is halfway through incubation right now.
My grandchildren have played a huge part in my poultry decisions this spring and summer. All 3 have become very involved in helping grandma, especially when it comes to the birds. All 3 have spent a lot of time handling the birds and caring for them and they've all expressed interest in raising their own. So I bought 60 rare show chicks from Cackle Hatchery. Each child has picked their own breed and while they can't take them to their own homes, they are responsible for their group of birds when they are here. I am teaching them how to handle the birds to prepare them for being exhibited.
I've also significantly increased my compost pile and fertilizer for next year's garden!
I am thinking about a small fall garden. There are quite a few veggies that would do well here.
But, my major prepping goals for the next year are getting coops built so I won't have to worry about birds getting in the garden next year, building my compost up, building and prepping raised beds for next year's planting and studying square inch gardening. I'm also looking into putting in berry plants along the outside of my fence. I'm sick of weed-eating and it would be an excellent use of all that wasted space providing both food and another line of defense of my property.
I've learned a lot from the urbanhomestead.org website. The Dervaes family produces 6000 lbs of organic produce per year on 1/10 of an acre - exactly the same size as my property. The family of 4 produces enough to provide 90% of the food they consume plus income of $20,000+ per year selling their excess.
That would be my ultimate goal. I have the next 8 months to figure out how to make my place meet all of my needs.

 

[Brent S]

I am finally ready to get back into things again. I was not able to put in a garden this spring because of 2 heart attacks and heart surgery the beginning of April. Two years of eating homegrown organic food could not compensate for 50 years of not knowing that the FDA really doesn't care about our health. My grandson and I had started seeds indoors and they were doing really well, but they all died while I was in the hospital. Fortunately, I still had my laying hens and plenty of canned foods from last year to get through my recovery. Unfortunately, I didn't have a year's worth to get me through until next growing season unless I want to live on dried beans, rice and flour tortillas for the next 8 months. I have enough rice, beans and flour to last me about 5 years. I should probably write those into my will so my kids don't fight over them. Yeah, right. (Only in English can 2 positives create a negative.)
After the surgery, I was under strict instructions to not do anything at all for 8 weeks. No lifting, to include lifting myself out of bed or chairs, no pushing or pulling of vacuums or brooms or rakes or shovels. No cooking, dishwashing or laundry. I was even told I couldn't brush my own hair. The healing of my sternum was at more risk than normal because I have osteoporosis. Interesting enough, though, when my daughter asked the surgeon if I could milk a goat, he said yes - that particular motion did not put me at risk at all. So she gave me her milk goat who has not only provided me with fresh milk daily but has become one of my best friends. Knowing I wouldn't have gardening to keep me going, I began dabbling in my other "hobby" - poultry. With my daughter's help, I acquired more chickens, plus turkeys, geese and ducks. I went from 4 laying hens to 7, then acquired 3 turkeys, 5 geese and 5 ducks. And that still wasn't enough. So I purchased turkey eggs to put in my incubator and hatched a few more turkeys. I've had a lot of fun with my incubator this spring. In fact, chicken eggs that I'd put in the incubator prior to the first heart attack hatched at my daughter's house the day of my surgery. I only had one hen in that hatch and her name is Lily. I sold the boys. I've run 4 more batches of eggs through the incubator since then, 2 batches with chicks and ducks and 2 batches with turkeys, the 2nd turkey batch is halfway through incubation right now.
My grandchildren have played a huge part in my poultry decisions this spring and summer. All 3 have become very involved in helping grandma, especially when it comes to the birds. All 3 have spent a lot of time handling the birds and caring for them and they've all expressed interest in raising their own. So I bought 60 rare show chicks from Cackle Hatchery. Each child has picked their own breed and while they can't take them to their own homes, they are responsible for their group of birds when they are here. I am teaching them how to handle the birds to prepare them for being exhibited.
I've also significantly increased my compost pile and fertilizer for next year's garden!
I am thinking about a small fall garden. There are quite a few veggies that would do well here.
But, my major prepping goals for the next year are getting coops built so I won't have to worry about birds getting in the garden next year, building my compost up, building and prepping raised beds for next year's planting and studying square inch gardening. I'm also looking into putting in berry plants along the outside of my fence. I'm sick of weed-eating and it would be an excellent use of all that wasted space providing both food and another line of defense of my property.
I've learned a lot from the urbanhomestead.org website. The Dervaes family produces 6000 lbs of organic produce per year on 1/10 of an acre - exactly the same size as my property. The family of 4 produces enough to provide 90% of the food they consume plus income of $20,000+ per year selling their excess.
That would be my ultimate goal. I have the next 8 months to figure yout how to make my place meet all of my needs.

I'm so glad you're doing better. I had noticed your absence, but am so sorry to hear about what you went thru. I thing gardening and animals are the best kind of therapy there is. I may try raising some turkeys before long. They taste better than chicken to me . Well, I'm wishing you a speedy recovery. Brent.

 

[jimLE]

sorry for what you went through quiet.and im glad to hear that your doing better..bet it brings a smile on your face when watching the 3 grandkids working with the poultry..

 

[Gazrok]

Glad to hear you're on the mend!

I've learned a lot from the urbanhomestead.org website. The Dervaes family produces 6000 lbs of organic produce per year on 1/10 of an acre - exactly the same size as my property. The family of 4 produces enough to provide 90% of the food they consume plus income of $20,000+ per year selling their excess.

That is impressive.

 

[Brent S]

I've got 7 quarts of apples going in the pressure cooker right now, 6 1/2 minutes to go! I am allready tired of peeling apples, and still have a lot to go. This is my only batch tonight, but will do probably 6 more over the next few days. I didn't get a huge crop of apples this year, but enough to make desserts, breads and pies for the rest of the year. I am still increasing my pantry, but do rotate everything and mostly only can what I eat regularly. This year I got a lot of tomatoes so have loads of salsa, sauce and stewed tomatoes.

My first batch of apples this year!

 

[Mountain trapper]

Just made a big batch of jerky in the smoker today, sweet and spicy but not too hot. Its great for traveling and camping, if it lasts that long. Also put up several jars of hot pickles. I add jalapenos, habaneros, ghost pepper and some Thai chilies to the pickling brine. Sometimes it seems there's more peppers than pickles.

 

[Brent S]

Just made a big batch of jerky in the smoker today, sweet and spicy but not too hot. Its great for traveling and camping, if it lasts that long. Also put up several jars of hot pickles. I add jalapenos, habaneros, ghost pepper and some Thai chilies to the pickling brine. Sometimes it seems there's more peppers than pickles.

Jerky dosent seem to last around my house either. I can snack on it about all day long! Kind of sounds like you're smoking pickles too . On the upside, I just read an article about spicey foods helping you become more cancer resistant! You're probably going to live forever now.

 

[Maverick]

Given that I had to curtail one of my gardens this year due to weather (no snow pack and record hot days) and given that the three lakes west of me are at record lows in effect heating the water to the point of killing fish (no fishing) the pond I put in and stocked with trout is extremely low leaving me with a decision to let nature take its course as preserving my well water for us and the animals. We here are in what is classified by the USGS 'Sever Hydrologic Drought' and the way things look we may be heading towards an Indian Summer, things ain't looking good at the moment.

We decided to increase our long term freeze dried food and above ground water storage adding additional 6 month.

 

[Brent S]

Given that I had to curtail one of my gardens this year due to weather (no snow pack and record hot days) and given that the three lakes west of me are at record lows in effect heating the water to the point of killing fish (no fishing) the pond I put in and stocked with trout is extremely low leaving me with a decision to let nature take its course as preserving my well water for us and the animals. We here are in what is classified by the USGS 'Sever Hydrologic Drought' and the way things look we may be heading towards an Indian Summer, things ain't looking good at the moment.

We decided to increase our long term freeze dried food and above ground water storage adding additional 6 month.

I've read about condensation machines that pull moisture out of the air. It may come down to something like that out west if things don't get better.

 

[Maverick]

I've read about condensation machines that pull moisture out of the air. It may come down to something like that out west if things don't get better.

I've read about atmospheric water generator though a little spending at $2000 these things will produce 2-5gal a day..... I value my marriage and choose not to get my throat cut given I am retired now though that may be the only option some of us have.

 

[Brent S]

I've read about atmospheric water generator though a little spending at $2000 these things will produce 2-5gal a day..... I value my marriage and choose not to get my throat cut given I am retired now though that may be the only option some of us have.

Yeah, I understand. I hadn't heard a price, but figure it wouldn't be cheap. I am a little disappointed on the output though. The article I read was for it to go into an area after a hurricane, when public utilities are down, producing drinking water. In that situation there would be loads of moisture in the air, so hopefully better output. I guess out west right now you might have higher amounts early in the morning, but not much to pull during the heat of the day.

 

[Maverick]

Ya, I was hoping for better output but only 2-5gal a day makes it hard to justify the 2k price tag, from 3:30- 6:30am is best for pulling moisture here

 

[Brent S]

Ya, I was hoping for better output but only 2-5gal a day makes it hard to justify the 2k price tag, from 3:30- 6:30am is best for pulling moisture here

My whole life has been really easy as when I turned on a faucet, clean drinking water flowed, and when I flipped a switch, the lights came on. It's really easy to take these two things for granted, when so much of the world doesn't have these conviences. I have backups in place, but they are mostly for short term disruptions, like storms or other natural disasters. Long term would be a hard adjustment.

 

[Brent S]

Ya, I was hoping for better output but only 2-5gal a day makes it hard to justify the 2k price tag, from 3:30- 6:30am is best for pulling moisture here

My geography sucks, as in school I was mostly thinking about girls, but I thought that Washington was kept moist and warm by the impact of the Peugeot Sound. It just occurred to me that the Rockies probably separate the climate. Are you east of the mountains?

 

[Mountain trapper]

Yeah, I understand. I hadn't heard a price, but figure it wouldn't be cheap. I am a little disappointed on the output though. The article I read was for it to go into an area after a hurricane, when public utilities are down, producing drinking water. In that situation there would be loads of moisture in the air, so hopefully better output. I guess out west right now you might have higher amounts early in the morning, but not much to pull during the heat of the day.

I've looked in to these machines too. They may not be too difficult to make if a person is handy. You can probably find plans and a material list on the internet. Even with the drought my 2 springs are still producing steadily. My pond is down about 6' but there is still plenty of water for the fish. My well is 650' deep and produces 25 gal/min. Not likely that it will go dry, I hope. If this drought continues for a few more years then a lot of people will be in real trouble.

 

[Silent Earth]

Sir if you live in a warm / hot and coastal area you can very often harvest water from the air using very fine netting which when strung out vertically on a frame causes the morning sea dew / hoar / fret / fog to condense onto the netting which then runs down the netting to be collected in guttering and directed into a barrel.

No Energy or expensive outlay needed

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-32515558

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...arvest-moisture-huge-nets-Chilean-desert.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8297276.stm

I've read about condensation machines that pull moisture out of the air. It may come down to something like that out west if things don't get better.

 

[Maverick]

My geography sucks, as in school I was mostly thinking about girls, but I thought that Washington was kept moist and warm by the impact of the Peugeot Sound. It just occurred to me that the Rockies probably separate the climate. Are you east of the mountains?

I am west of the Rockies in the cascade mountain range, Puget sound is an inlet to the pacific ocean the sound has little if any impact on the weather here in Washington, generally Washington and Oregon west of the Cascades get plenty of rain kind of why they call us the Evergreen State and Oregon the Beaver State though this year been bad. Olympic rain forest (Olympic national forest) averages 220+ inches a year of rain and now it's burning consuming 2400 acres with 30% contained as of yesterday

 

[Mountain trapper]

Here's a link for do-it-yourself water generator.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Atmospheric-Water-Generator/

 

[Mountain trapper]

I am west of the Rockies in the cascade mountain range, Puget sound is an inlet to the pacific ocean the sound has little if any impact on the weather here in Washington, generally Washington and Oregon west of the Cascades get plenty of rain kind of why they call us the Evergreen State and Oregon the Beaver State though this year been bad. Olympic rain forest (Olympic national forest) averages 220+ inches a year of rain and now it's burning consuming 2400 acres with 30% contained as of yesterday

True. But east of the Cascades its pretty arid.

 

[Maverick]

True. But east of the Cascades its pretty arid.

Very true!

 

[Brent S]

Here's a link for do-it-yourself water generator.

http://www.instructables.com/id/DIY-Atmospheric-Water-Generator/

I love the Internet! Great link, and amazingly simple to construct. I imagine the electricity used is cost prohibitive for the amount of water produced, but it's a really good thing to know.

 

[Mountain trapper]

.

 

[Mountain trapper]

I love the Internet! Great link, and amazingly simple to construct. I imagine the electricity used is cost prohibitive for the amount of water produced, but it's a really good thing to know.

They claim .09 cents per hour to run and produces 4 gal water per 12 hours at 82% humidity. I think it could easily be run off a small solar panel/battery setup. This could be something worthwhile to have put away for a real water emergency.

 

[Brent S]

They claim .09 cents per hour to run and produces 4 gal water per 12 hours at 82% humidity. I think it could easily be run off a small solar panel/battery setup. This could be something worthwhile to have put away for a real water emergency.

If your figures are correct, then it could be worthwhile. I'll look to see what the amp/wattage is on one at the store before I believe it though. I always thought a dehumidifier worked along the same principal as an air conditioner, which are big power hungry monsters. I'll let you know. Also, 4 gals is pretty darned good.

 

[bill harrell]

We really need to start athread on long term water solutions in various climates. Maybe with some homemade well drilling setups and various pumps.