Posted on 03/12/2022 5:43:54 AM PST by Pollard
I've been meaning to do a prepper thread for a while now and will do my best to start one the first Saturday of each month from here out.
When you start prepping, it's about stocking up on food, water and supplies and maybe having a BOB(Bug Out Bag) and a retreat to bug out to. That leads to moving to that retreat which is usually away from the cities and your retreat likely is larger than the typical city/suburb home lot. In fact, you probably have room to produce some of your needs. Basic prepping leads to living in a more self sufficient way and producing some of your needs. It's a natural progression and as such, I'm calling these threads, Prepping & Self Sufficiency threads.
In preparation for this, I've reworked my profile page and also included a lot of info that freeper Pete from Shawnee Mission has been collecting from past Weekly Gardening threads. Gardening is a part of prepping and self-sufficiency but I'm far from being an expert so be sure to join in the weekly gardening threads. The best way to find past gardening threads seems to be by doing a keyword or tag search for "gardening:. https://freerepublic.com/tag/gardening/index?tab=articles
Sweet potatoes. Nutritious for all critters. Winter squash. Heirloom Sweet Meat has been very productive for me.
We mylar bagged (w/02 absorbers) and/or placed in 10 # tins, about 100 lbs of flour, and about 25# of organic blue corn masa, last year.
Have several lbs of pasta in half gallon mason jars (w/02 removed).
Several 5 gal buckets of mylar/02abs oats.
I found a mother load of seeds, the other day, after I panicked that our nearby Walmart had run out, completely, in a matter of days....lol. Our local hardware store had an entire, fully stocked rounder, of heirloom seeds, that had not even been touched. This is in addition to my existing supply.
What is your preferred method of saving/keeping seeds?
Stocked up on powdered WHOLE milk, and half and half, last year, as well.
Set up a ‘mini-market’, in one of our spare bedrooms.
Thanks, Diana. my chickens eat really well when my fruits and veggies come in! All the peelings, cores, end pieces, over ripe veggies go to them. I grow a lot of collards and I give them the tougher leaves or anything covered with cabbageworms, lol. Mine love zucchini as well (I always get one that I overlooked that is too big to eat). Plus they are free range and get a lot of bugs and such most of the year.
Last year, I started growing mealworms for them as well because the ones in the store are too expensive.
My main concern for the dairy goats and chickens is over the winter. There is not enough forage for my dairy goats and layers to produce well.
“Naked in the woods prepping.”
I believe that program Naked and Afraid or Something or other allows you a couple tools. My choice would be clothing.
That’s not hijacking the thread.
That kind of information is VERY useful.
I see the US in a slightly different light however.
Most city dwellers will perish rather quickly out in the wild. They have no idea how to even dress appropriately for the weather and either exposure, dehydration, or vermin will get them.
I suspect, but cannot prove, that Ukrainians are not as soft, spoiled, and entitled as Americans are and are more ready for hardship and more likely to survive.
“...but I just can’t yet figure out how we would survive heavy winters, at our age.”
We’re in a similar situation. Nearest big town is 10 miles away, though there is a smaller town in the other other direction - but they’ll just raid Amy & John’s Mom-n-Pop market before they get to us in a few weeks time. ;)
That said, it’s always important to save a bullet for yourself.
For all of my skills and such, I’m not sure I’d WANT to live in a time when it is, ‘apocalyptic out there.’ Especially in winter! I don’t much relish being, ‘Last Woman Standing.’ :(
Where can you find powdered milk that is not Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand?
For your diet, have you considered growing turnips and butternut squash?
The right varieties of butternut can keep a long time.
Same with onions. But you have to search for good long storage varieties.
You posted on another thread about using human fertilizer at least for nitrogen content for plants that need that.
Could you post that again?
I’ve seen Nestle Nido at WM.
One thing we started growing a few years back is spaghetti squash. It is prolific! And we do heirlooms so it sprouts up everywhere on its own too. We now have a whole section just for it. It keeps great over winter - we are still eating it now from last summer. Make it with some fresh tomato marinara and Parmesan - it’s a great meal 🙂
Hoosier Hill.....it’s almost doubled, in the past year :-(
Horizon also makes it, in 30 oz (?) cans....pretty pricey. Sams had it, but is sold out, right now.
How close are you to civilization?
At my other farm, I lived on the edge of a town that had about 2K people. I made friends with the Produce Guy at the grocery store there (Shur-Fine Chain) and he would give me the boxes of damaged produce they had each week for my chickens. Otherwise, it was heading for the dumpster!
Some of that produce was just FINE - an apple with a dent, a bag of mixed greens that had broken open, random strawberries and other fruit that probably was on the floor, etc.
I will admit to taking the best of the best from those boxes to feed US - and the rest went to the chickens or the compost bin. Waste not, want not! :)
If you have a day-old bakery shop, you can sometimes get good deals on bags of expiring bread. Ask if they have any ‘bird bread’ for sale and tell them you like to feed the wild birds. My chickens always loved that, too.
You’ll probably find plenty of decent bread in there for yourself as well. ;)
I thought of that too...for myself!
Yeah those dairy goats are a little higher maintenance than meat. Can you grow Alfalfa? Selenium and copper are issues too. Every time I go to hancockseeds.com or similar I end up shaking my head and closing the tab. Seed prices are insane.
I went with Kiko does and a 7/8 boer - 1/8 kiko buck. Kikos are about the lowest maintenance goats there are. I haven’t dewormed them and don’t plan to. It’s rocky enough here so that I don’t have to mess with hooves either. I want survivalist animals. Met a Jewish lady who was a prepper and lived in the woods. She had chickens and dairy goats and they were pretty much on their own. Seemed harsh but it made me think about what if these things aren’t available?
Someday I may get a dairy goat to breed in with these and see if I can’t get to something I can get a little milk from. I know there are dual purpose breeds but I don’t know if anyone’s used kiko to develop a dual purpose breed.
Doesn’t Nido have a lot of additives?
Mmmmm.....love toasted ‘day old’ bread!
Life expectancy went UP during the Great Depression for that very reason.
People in poor countries starve to death.
People in rich countries eat themselves to death.
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