Preppers' Twelve Days of Christmas

12/21/12 | Kartographer

[greeneyes]

I prefer the ability to use multiple fuels, especially wood and maybe coal in addition to canned fuel.

[Old Sarge]

Please add a strong male servant in that song.

Here ya go, hon, stuff your stockings...

[Carriage Hill]

Good point. From some of the article’s comments, those fuel-paks produce a lot of smoke and fumes. Kart’s stove sounds so much better. I’m going to build one of his Rocket Stoves over Christmas/New year.

What are you using?

[Titan Magroyne]

Yummy! Apparently you have been VERY good this year, Marcella!

Merry Christmas! :o)

[greeneyes]

Well right now we have several choices. We have the coleman camping 2 burner, the sterno stove(my favorite), 2 fireplaces, the charcoal grill, and the outdoor tribal council pit.

The sterno stove cost less than 10 bucks. It folds up about the size of a napkin. It can be set up and cooking in less than a minute. I use it the most for our electrical outages due to the simplicity.

We had a bunch of huge rocks unearthed when we built our house, so we placed them in a ring and poured exposed aggate around and between them. Lawn chairs can be placed solidly between them, when needed.

We have a bunch of rocks in the middle along with a really really strong free standing grill that we could set a huge canner or pot on for making apple butter etc. if we needed to.

We like to get the tribe and the neighbors together in the fall for an oldfashioned weenie roast/picnic too. So it’s a dual purpose.

I’m still liking the rocket stove though. Couldn’t hurt to have another one especially if we build it ourselves.

Here’s another interesting stove I ran across:

http://www.ecozoomstove.com/rem-products.php

I’m just such a cheap skate, I wouldn’t buy it, but with Christmas, Mothers Day, Birthday etc. there are plenty of ways I might become an unwitting owner, and of course it would be soooo rude not to accept it!LOL

[Marcella]

I’ll hire him if he can lift heavy groceries and heavy boxes.

[Carriage Hill]

Thanks!

Wishing You & Yours A Very Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year!

[Old Sarge]

So, we go to a Preppers Xmas Party on Wednesday evening, and we all did a Dirty Santa game. SO guess what The Bride and I get for our secret Santa?

CHICKENS!!

Yes, you heard me, chickens. We got five week-old chicks in a cardboard starter kit, a heating pad on loan, and feed for a good while.

So, for the upcoming prepper plans, we can include five hens-a-laying in the ongoing effort. We brought them home, and The Tribe just went "Awwwwwwwwww."

Brainiac was immediately asking about the logistics of keeping them, always thinking ahead. You could see the gears turning behind Maniac's eyes at the thought of "Mmmmm, eggses, precious..." Jailbait just said "Really?" and stomped away with her MP3 player and texting. Mocha, who is petrified of birds, picked up one chick and DID not put her down the rest of the night. She was actually CUDDLING it! She announced that she named it Ollie: Olivia if it was a hen, Oliver if it was a rooster...

So now we are on a fast steep learning curve on how to raise chickens. Between pouring over web pages on the subject, and badgering clerks at feeders supply stores, we'll have it figured out shortly...

[The Duke]

I'm just finishing the "Survival Farming" chapter on my preparedness book, which has a lot of info on raising chickens (as well as rabbits, goats,etc). When I finish that chapter I'll produce it for you to use as reference. It covers every aspect of chickens, from hatching to butchering and serving up for dinner.

The farming chapter alone was such a big project it felt like its own book.

[GeronL]

“dirty Santa game” ?

[Sarajevo]

5? Just 5? You’ll want more than that, and if you’re in the boonies get ready for a high loss rate unless you keep them in a fenced and covered pen. That’s just the way it is.

[Old Sarge]

I am amazed at how much data is out there on the subject. And there are several good feed stores at which people are more than willing to talk about what they know.

I’m going on the assumption that all five chicks are female, so we’ll have five layers. And we’ll go from there...

[Old Sarge]

It’s Secret Santa with a twist. You pick out a random gift, open it, and everyone sees what it is. The next person can either pick their own, or swipe yours. After three steals, the last one with that gift keeps it.

The chicks got swiped, swiped again, then The Bride swooped in and they became ours.

[Old Sarge]

Well, Noah started out with only two, so we got a jump on him...

We’re also looking at coops and enclosures for later. The feeder supply stores had a few we could either buy, or plagiarize.

Until the cold snap is over, they’re under a new heat lamp indoors. They’re already growing...

[GeronL]

OK. lol

[greeneyes]

You are welcome. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and yours too.