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

[Mountain trapper]

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

Here is a link to a portable well drilling rig that I've been looking at. This unit will drill a 4" well down to 300' deep. It's pricy, but if several people need wells drilled the cost could be spread around. The last well I had drilled cost $22 per foot for a 450' well.
http://www.deeprock.com/news/Article.aspx?AI=10

 

[Gazrok]

Should see how much rain we've gotten just in the past month or two, lol. We'd be set with water for the year.

Some areas are STILL flooded over a week later.

 

[QuietH3art]

Should see how much rain we've gotten just in the past month or two, lol. We'd be set with water for the year.

Some areas are STILL flooded over a week later.

We're having the same problem here. All of the drainage ditches are full of stagnant water. The ground is saturated. And it just keeps raining. My ducks are loving it. If anything, I should probably be experimenting with sterilizing the stagnant water. I do have Lifestraws and the like but it would be interesting to try doing the charcoal/sand thing and then put the cleaned water in storage bins. I don't have any water stored anymore and with the number of animals I have here, I should probably get on that right away.
Does anyone know the easiest way to clean that water with stuff I'd have around here? I do have charcoal but don't have sand. I have iodine tablets but not sure that would be good for the animals, same with bleach. Any ideas?

 

[Gazrok]

I don't have any water stored anymore and with the number of animals I have here, I should probably get on that right away.

Yep, that's one of the primary reasons we store it. Any outage, and we can't access the well (well, unless we unscrew cap and use the emergency bullet bucket, but that's a pain in the ass). We currently have a 50 gallon barrel for backup in the house, but I actually want to use this one more as a rain catchment, and get more barrels for this. My eventual plan is: one in the house, two in the garage, two in the stable, with a raised rain barrel by the herb garden, and another raised rain barrel by the veggie garden.

My wife thought I was nuts when I first suggested and got the water barrel. Then, months later, we had a pipe leak, and it took us a few weeks to save up to get it fixed. During that time, that water barrel saved our bacon.

Does anyone know the easiest way to clean that water with stuff I'd have around here? I do have charcoal but don't have sand.

You can get sand at any home store though.

I have iodine tablets but not sure that would be good for the animals, same with bleach. Any ideas?

Boiling, filtration, bleach. Bleach is safe for the animals, but all about concentration level. Just don't put too much in is all. I had a horse that used to LOVE water with a tiny bit of bleach in it (we'd put a few cap fulls in the large watering reservoir in the pasture).

 

[Mountain trapper]

Part of the plans for our new house include burying a 2500 gallon tank to collect rainwater and snow melt from the roof of our house and the barn. The tank will be buried between the house and the garden/orchard area and will gravity flow to water the plants and trees. We have a large spring fed pond for watering livestock and raising fish. An added benefit of the pond is, all the deer and elk in the area use it too.

 

[Gazrok]

How will it gravity feed if buried? (not being a smartass, I'm genuinely curious)...

 

[Maverick]

We're having the same problem here. All of the drainage ditches are full of stagnant water. The ground is saturated. And it just keeps raining. My ducks are loving it. If anything, I should probably be experimenting with sterilizing the stagnant water. I do have Lifestraws and the like but it would be interesting to try doing the charcoal/sand thing and then put the cleaned water in storage bins. I don't have any water stored anymore and with the number of animals I have here, I should probably get on that right away.
Does anyone know the easiest way to clean that water with stuff I'd have around here? I do have charcoal but don't have sand. I have iodine tablets but not sure that would be good for the animals, same with bleach. Any ideas?

Use coffee filters and pore through charcoal then boil it, coffee filter> charcoal> coffee filter in a food grade large funnel then boil the filtered water, I have used this method successfully for years. Keep in mind, I wouldn't use this method from a mud puddle at a truck stop or water with dead animals though fairly safe method for ponds etc... but not fool proof, it's a judgment call!

EDITED: use fine charcoal on top of nickel size charcoal

 

[Mountain trapper]

How will it gravity feed if buried? (not being a smartass, I'm genuinely curious)...

Guess I left out the part about the house and barn being on a slope above the garden and orchard area, probably about 40' - 60' higher. Even with burying the tank 5' deep, for frost protection, its still high enough above the garden to free flow to a spicket. It wont have much pressure though, so I may need to add a booster pump.

 

[Brent S]

Guess I left out the part about the house and barn being on a slope above the garden and orchard area, probably about 40' - 60' higher. Even with burying the tank 5' deep, for frost protection, its still high enough above the garden to free flow to a spicket. It wont have much pressure though, so I may need to add a booster pump.

My 1050gal tank is almost ready to connect to gutters. It's only about two feet higher than the greenhouse at the base of the tank, but it's five feet high, so gravity should do the trick. I won't be able to run a sprinkler with it, but a hose will work ok. My main goal is to have an option for no electricity. Even with a propane generator, I want to be able to conserve it for necessary tasks only.

 

[Michael HM Murdock]

It's taken my uncle and I two years to finish our bug out vehicles and fleet in all essence. Our flagship is the fastest street legal mini in gauteng running at 206 km/h with over 220 nm of torque. Modified for 4x4 the ground clearance is nine inches the tires are kevlar reinforced and the car is pasted with 3mm before a coating of aluminium was added and the windows replaced with bulletproof glass. In all essence it's the world's fastest tank.

The remainder of the fleet consists mostly of Toyotas and mobile homes. A rendezvous point was set up and the star fort swartberg was set up. An armoury there consists of five browning M2's a single MG42 with seven extra barrels. A collection of 16 M16's I think there is also about six knee mortars twelve shovel mortars each with about three hundred rounds. Finally we have fifty Henry rifle replicas. We have over six tons of ammo in total.

The star fort, modelled after star castle in England, consists of stone walls and about thirty eight bedrooms. it is reinforced against earthquakes and is mostly made of stone with steel lining the rooms are insulated and every roof tile is a solar panel. In American dollars, Over six hundred thousand were put into the three year build.

Over the next two years it is planned to put in five artillery pieces and three AA guns as well as storing an extra three tons of ammo.

As far as water goes there is a natural spring and waterfall within twenty meters with a syphon system connecting it to the castle. We have three years worth of food as well.

 

[Maverick]

It's taken my uncle and I two years to finish our bug out vehicles and fleet in all essence. Our flagship is the fastest street legal mini in gauteng running at 206 km/h with over 220 nm of torque. Modified for 4x4 the ground clearance is nine inches the tires are kevlar reinforced and the car is pasted with 3mm before a coating of aluminium was added and the windows replaced with bulletproof glass. In all essence it's the world's fastest tank.

The remainder of the fleet consists mostly of Toyotas and mobile homes. A rendezvous point was set up and the star fort swartberg was set up. An armoury there consists of five browning M2's a single MG42 with seven extra barrels. A collection of 16 M16's I think there is also about six knee mortars twelve shovel mortars each with about three hundred rounds. Finally we have fifty Henry rifle replicas. We have over six tons of ammo in total.

The star fort, modelled after star castle in England, consists of stone walls and about thirty eight bedrooms. it is reinforced against earthquakes and is mostly made of stone with steel lining the rooms are insulated and every roof tile is a solar panel. In American dollars, Over six hundred thousand were put into the three year build.

Over the next two years it is planned to put in five artillery pieces and three AA guns as well as storing an extra three tons of ammo.

As far as water goes there is a natural spring and waterfall within twenty meters with a syphon system connecting it to the castle. We have three years worth of food as well.

Hopefully you have an army to hold down that fort though water appears to be your weak area given that you don't have a well within the compound. The romans were experts at sieges, hopefully you have a plan against the students of history Study sieges like the roman 3 year siege of carthage or the siege of constantinople by the turks or even the siege of candia again by the turks not even touching on the 7 year or even 20 year sieges unfortunately it sounds like your water is outside your walls.

 

[bill harrell]

I was go

It's taken my uncle and I two years to finish our bug out vehicles and fleet in all essence. Our flagship is the fastest street legal mini in gauteng running at 206 km/h with over 220 nm of torque. Modified for 4x4 the ground clearance is nine inches the tires are kevlar reinforced and the car is pasted with 3mm before a coating of aluminium was added and the windows replaced with bulletproof glass. In all essence it's the world's fastest tank.

The remainder of the fleet consists mostly of Toyotas and mobile homes. A rendezvous point was set up and the star fort swartberg was set up. An armoury there consists of five browning M2's a single MG42 with seven extra barrels. A collection of 16 M16's I think there is also about six knee mortars twelve shovel mortars each with about three hundred rounds. Finally we have fifty Henry rifle replicas. We have over six tons of ammo in total.

The star fort, modelled after star castle in England, consists of stone walls and about thirty eight bedrooms. it is reinforced against earthquakes and is mostly made of stone with steel lining the rooms are insulated and every roof tile is a solar panel. In American dollars, Over six hundred thousand were put into the three year build.

Over the next two years it is planned to put in five artillery pieces and three AA guns as well as storing an extra three tons of ammo.

As far as water goes there is a natural spring and waterfall within twenty meters with a syphon system connecting it to the castle. We have three years worth of food as well.

I was going to get a new knife....just joking....nice work though.

 

[Brent S]

It's taken my uncle and I two years to finish our bug out vehicles and fleet in all essence. Our flagship is the fastest street legal mini in gauteng running at 206 km/h with over 220 nm of torque. Modified for 4x4 the ground clearance is nine inches the tires are kevlar reinforced and the car is pasted with 3mm before a coating of aluminium was added and the windows replaced with bulletproof glass. In all essence it's the world's fastest tank.

The remainder of the fleet consists mostly of Toyotas and mobile homes. A rendezvous point was set up and the star fort swartberg was set up. An armoury there consists of five browning M2's a single MG42 with seven extra barrels. A collection of 16 M16's I think there is also about six knee mortars twelve shovel mortars each with about three hundred rounds. Finally we have fifty Henry rifle replicas. We have over six tons of ammo in total.

The star fort, modelled after star castle in England, consists of stone walls and about thirty eight bedrooms. it is reinforced against earthquakes and is mostly made of stone with steel lining the rooms are insulated and every roof tile is a solar panel. In American dollars, Over six hundred thousand were put into the three year build.

Over the next two years it is planned to put in five artillery pieces and three AA guns as well as storing an extra three tons of ammo.

As far as water goes there is a natural spring and waterfall within twenty meters with a syphon system connecting it to the castle. We have three years worth of food as well.

I'd like to see pictures.

 

[Gazrok]

I mentioned this on another thread, but I see Maverick sees it as well.
Same questions as the other thread, so no need to repeat here. I too suggested a well within the walls, but if going the route of using piped in water, it is a real weakness that could be exploited. Stored water would help mitigate that risk.

I went further to question whether or not this syphoned water is used for things such as toilets, sinks, showers, etc. within the fort. For 100 people, that's a lot of demand, and to keep sanitary, will need multiple septic tanks, drainfields, etc. (and the means to maintain them).

 

[Brent S]

I mentioned this on another thread, but I see Maverick sees it as well.
Same questions as the other thread, so no need to repeat here. I too suggested a well within the walls, but if going the route of using piped in water, it is a real weakness that could be exploited. Stored water would help mitigate that risk.

I went further to question whether or not this syphoned water is used for things such as toilets, sinks, showers, etc. within the fort. For 100 people, that's a lot of demand, and to keep sanitary, will need multiple septic tanks, drainfields, etc. (and the means to maintain them).

I hadn't thought about sanitation. With two people you can simply dig a hole for your waste, but 100, not so easy. So many of the conviences we take for granted would be time consuming chores after shtf.

 

[jimLE]

i've thought about the well water issues.there's a old well 200-300 feet from the house..what i've thought about doing.is to do away with the old pump and pump house.then dig down 2 to 4 feet around the well pipe.and dig a trence from it,to the house.then cut the well pipe at a certain hight.then connect a elbow.and then run a pipe from there,to the house..this way no one will know its there.and have it connected to the city water line.where there'll be a shut off vaule connected to both.and all i have to do when there's no more city water,is to go out.shut the one for the city water.and open the one for the well water.and as for the feild line coming out from the septic goes.im thinking of running it on out to a hill side.with a cap or a vaule on the end of it.this way.all i have to do.is open it up

 

[Brent S]

Good idea Jim. What kind of pump does it have? Is the motor above ground or down below the water line? I was even thinking about camouflaging it. What about an old dead car or van parked over it?

 

[bill harrell]

Jim will probably have to clear that with his homeowners association.

 

[jimLE]

the pump is very old.so it'll get trashed.the well line comes up to the top of the pump house floor.and the pump n tank sits on top of it.and forget the homeowners association.on acount it'll be for when the shtf happens.if i get that dont.id probaly go with a hand pump at each sink.

 

[bill harrell]

If I parked an old car on top of mine , it would create a property price increase that would affect our taxes. An improvement like this would cause all the neighbors to do the same.

 

[Brent S]

If I parked an old car on top of mine , it would create a property price increase that would affect our taxes. An improvement like this would cause all the neighbors to do the same.

Yeah, one good thing about living in the country is nobody cares what you do!

 

[Brent S]

the pump is very old.so it'll get trashed.the well line comes up to the top of the pump house floor.and the pump n tank sits on top of it.and forget the homeowners association.on acount it'll be for when the shtf happens.if i get that dont.id probaly go with a hand pump at each sink.

All I can say for sure Jim is if you want to do things like this, now is going to be a lot easier than post shtf. I think we will see inflation run rampant, and buying parts will be even harder. Something like drinkable water is at the top of my prepping list.

 

[Michael HM Murdock]

Up until three weeks ago I didn't know about the plan to super size the original plasma reactor into a 3.8 meter tall monster. It'll be ready in two weeks and will have the power capability to provide 60 volts per second non stop for sixteen years.

The original one malfunctioned and fried the blocks power grid. The mark two detonated after a faulty seal and the mark three worked properly and is still going. So this is the mark four... Mark six if you count the weaponised versions. A 48 oz grenade and a thirteen kilo shell... We have three shells but no kerosene fuel to launch them through the Davy Crocket style launcher.

 

[jimLE]

All I can say for sure Jim is if you want to do things like this, now is going to be a lot easier than post shtf. I think we will see inflation run rampant, and buying parts will be even harder. Something like drinkable water is at the top of my prepping list.

yeah i do need to.but my finances had me limited to what i can do at any given time..and then the car wreck,has got me limited even more to i can do right now.so i gotta wait till the settlements are in hand before i go with what i do next..

 

[jimLE]

i've been working on new year resolution prep list for this year.in which they be prep needs and need to learn situations..i've add to the list,and removed items as well.i've rearanged furniture,by moving some to different rooms n all,to make space for what preparations i do/make..in which i suceded in clearing most of one wall in my bedroom,where i'll be keeping preps..

 

[Gazrok]

Finances certainly changed my plans. Luckily, the wife just got hired (and near me for a change), so that will help. At least I did get a few things done....(like the bunny habitat, and prep work for garden, pond, got my diesel truck up and running again, etc.)

THIS YEAR:

FEB - Plant the garden (finally)! (includes rain catchment and gravity feed soaker hoses), and fenced in garden area.

MAR - Plant the herb garden (and do koi pond)

APR - Start planting fruit trees (as I find them)

Fencing to split main pasture

Add some water barrels

Start home canning

Convert empty stall to emergency guest room (infirmary post SHTF) - basically add floor, seal up walls and make it all look pretty, have a window AC unit, and made door, window (plexiglass), lots of medical supplies and gadgets, etc.

Pool is in the plan, but likely moving to next year (want to put in an above ground, that is about 2' in the ground, and build deck around it.)

Would like to get a nice rifle to add to firearms

Start getting used bullet-proof vests (eventually one per person) and helmets, but will have to do these all over time due to cost. You'd be surprised, can usually get them for under $100 a piece if you really look.

Planter/Bunkers - concrete block planters, that can easily convert to sentry station pillboxes post SHTF.

Continually build up canned goods and dry goods stockpiles

NEXT YEAR:

Solar powered well pump.

Solar charging station in garage for charging power tools.

Full camera system (8 cameras)

Outhouse by stable (constructed one, with modern toilet, etc.)

HAM radio (and license), but also home CB unit (to talk with truck)


EVENTUALLY:

Propane tank (large) and backup generator for full house power (though we'd still ration).

Root cellar (concrete block)

Vehicle stoppers (in front of front fence) and cattle grate over entry drive (locking)

 

[Brent S]

I don't even want to think about any new projects, but would like to finish up several of the ones allready in progress! I am turning the chicken enclosure into an area to grow corn this year. I'm hoping that a year off will have the nitrogen broke down enough to plant now. It's about 20x20', and gets lots of sun. I guess my main goal is to grow more in the garden and greenhouse. I may try some new veggies. Last season the red potatoes were really successful. It was the first time I had tried growing them. They even produced a second time in the fall from the tiny ones I missed earlier. I'm not a good enough gardener to grow exotic stuff, so am always looking for hardy plants that grow easily in my area. I do get better each year, but still don't call myself a 'real farmer' .

 

[Maverick]

We continuing the path we are on and that's maintaining what we already have though I am still in the process of refining our I.N.C.H. bags and I'm sure this refinement will never end and that's a good thing... least I'm not actually having to use it for it's intended purpose

 

[Gazrok]

Getting push back on the stall/room idea. She wants me to make it into an art studio room instead....bah...

 

[Maverick]

Getting push back on the stall/room idea. She wants me to make it into an art studio room instead....bah...

Sorry Gaz, I had to chuckle... I can see were an art studio can be useful in a post-SHTF such as creating camouflage face paint etc.... besides, your married you lose