Biweekly-ish Prepping Thread

I was going to do a monthly prepping thread but after looking through my external hard drive and thinking about how things are going in the nation and world, I figured time's a wastin' so I'm going to try and do them a little more often, maybe biweekly. I'm going to make some downloads available that come from that external hard drive as we go. I think a good place to start is with nw_arizona_granny's content that I copied from another forum where I knew her as AZ Granny. It has to be the same person because the chances of two different Grannies in AZ, both having a huge wealth of prepper knowledge and being prolific forum posters with that similar of a forum name is pretty slim.

AZ Granny's thread on that other forum was a thread with a series of posts and somewhere in the middle, comments from other people started rolling in. I went through dozens and dozens of pages and extracted only her info. I then organized it by subject a little better and created 75 html files with the first one being an index and the other 74 having a link back to the index at the top of each. That makes it very quick to go through and find what you need and then jump back to the index. All the html files are in a single folder and must stay that way for the links to work properly. A link to the index and a link to the zipped folder with all html files are below.

Simply download the zip file and unzip it wherever you want on your computer. That will leave you with a folder called AZ_Granny that has all 75 html files in it. The index is stor01.html just like the link above. Open that in a web browser and you'll be able to navigate through all 75 of them. stor02.html through stor75.html all have a link at the top of the page named HOME that takes you back to stor01.html

If you're into prepping and want to have the above and other resources available when there's no electricity, I recommend getting a monochrome laser jet printer. For around $100 you can get one and it will come with enough starter toner to print 1-2,000 pages. The cost after that for toner will be 2-3 cents per page compared to 30-40 cents for ink jet. Even if you refill your inkjet cartridges, it won't be as cheap as 2-3 cents per page. If you already have an inkjet with a black cartridge that you already refill, it might be cheaper than buying another printer, depending on how many pages you want to print. Get a three hole punch and some three hole binders or three ring folder binders. Print punch and assemble.

This is what I use and it's possible that the front and back covers used to be attached with expandable folds but I needed more thickness than that allowed for our cookbook. I like these because pages are less apt to get ripped out then a regular three ring binder and they also take up less room and are even thickness and no thicker than needed.

Onto prepping.

Water, Food & Shelter are needed to sustain life(and air of course) so let's start with water.

First we need to obtain water. Where I live, I can walk to a spring that puts out many thousands of gallons of potable water a day but most people don't have that. You may have a river, creek or lake nearby but that will probably need to be treated.

Here's a link to a zip file with many pdf and other files all about water collection; https://permasteader.com/Water_Collection.zip. Included are two Rainwater Harvesting Manuals, one put out by Texas and one by Hawaii. They know a thing or two about rainwater harvesting in Hawaii as one cannot drill a water well on an island.

How to purify water in an emergency

By Countryside Staff

Water is the most crucial element for staying alive. It's more important than food.

Everyone must have enough safe drinking water, which generally means one gallon per person per day. Needs will differ according to age, physical condition, lifestyle and climate.

This doesn't include water for cooking, bathing, washing dishes and clothes, and pets or other animals. Large dogs may need as much as a gallon a day, while cats can do well with just a pint a day. If you have other livestock your water needs obviously soar. But in that case, water taken directly from a river or stream, without purification, will probably be okay.

Untreated water straight from the tap should keep for six months when stored in clean, durable containers. However, it must be changed periodically. Bacteria-free water, which means treatment with bleach or other compounds, will keep up to several years. Heat, light, deterioration of the container and other factors can cut this figure substantially.

Water should be stored as far as possible from paint and petroleum-based products, acids or anything with strong odors such as fertilizer or common household cleaning solutions. Lower-grade containers are permeable to certain gases and should be avoided whenever possible.

You'll need to locate at least one other water source, since even several hundred gallons of stored water won't last long. Assume any water not stored or purchased is contaminated, especially in perilous or unstable times. A mountain stream could look pristine, but still be polluted.

If you can find only marginal water, first strain the debris through a paper towel, clean cloth or coffee filter, then use one of the following methods.

Boiling

Short of using a very high-quality water filter, this is the most reliable method for killing microbes and parasites. Bring water to a rolling boil and keep it simmering for at least several minutes. Add one minute of boiling to the initial 10 minutes for every 1,000 feet above sea level. Cover the pot to shorten boiling time and conserve fuel.

Liquid chlorine bleach

Use 5.25 percent sodium hypochlorite that is free of soap or phosphates. To treat one gallon of water, add eight drops (1/8 teaspoon) of bleach to clear water and 16 drops (1/4 teaspoon) to cloudy water. When purifying five gallons, add 32 drops (1/2 teaspoon) to clear water or 64 drops (one teaspoon) to cloudy water. By purifying a larger quantity of water, you will cut bleach usage 20 percent over the one gallon at a time method. After treating with chlorine, mix well and allow the water to stand for 30 minutes before using. An eye dropper can be used to measure the dosage.

Bleach that is more than a year old loses approximately half its potency. Adjust the dosage accordingly.

Dry chlorine

Also known as calcium hypochlorite, it is used primarily in swimming pools. Since it is a powder, it has the significant benefit of extended shelf life. Dry chlorine may be stored for up to 10 years with minimal degradation if it is kept dry, cool and in an airtight container.

This is a far better choice for quantity storage than liquid bleach. Dry chlorine is commonly available at swimming pool supply stores as well as many hardware and grocery stores.

For chlorinating water in rain tanks, the recommended dosage is seven grams dry (1/4 ounce by weight) r 40 milliliters (1.35 ounce) per 1000 liters (264 gallons). Let the water stand for 24 hours before drinking. To maintain chlorination, add one gram (.035 ounce) of dry chlorine or 4 ml (.135 ounce) weekly per 1,000 liters.

Iodine

If no instructions are provided on the bottle, use 12 drops per gallon of water. Increase the dosage if the water is of dubious quality. Mix well and allow the water to stand for 30 minutes before using. Iodine does have an unpleasant aftertaste.

See stor03.html for AZ Granny's water page. https://permasteader.com/AZ_Granny/stor03.html

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Biweekly Prepper Thread #1