Category: Events

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2014 Utah Prepare Conference and Expo

September is here and that means it’s time for the Utah Prepare Conference. Located at the Sandy Expo Center, this conference is a nice stop as it is hosted by the USU Extension, and Be Ready Utah. Speakers, workshops and vendors will be ready to help discuss all aspects of preparedness.

Utah Prepare Expo 2014

  • When: Saturday, September 27, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
  • Where: Sandy Expo Center
  • Cost: $8 ($7 if you use promo code blog1) – registration page

ALSO: We have a pair of tickets to giveaway, which we will pick from people who share this on facebook or twitter! (Selection on September 16th).

The Utah Prepare Conference and Expo started in 2011, and has gone out of their way to be an easy-access resource for Utah families to learn more about preparedness, and resources that are locally available. It’s a great stop for those completely new, to experienced preppers.

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Wild Edibles in Utah Training

Utah is abundant with wild edible plants, often referred to as weeds in our yard or garden and also more nutritional than what we have in the grocery store. Many of the wild edibles available to us are not native but were brought here by pioneers from Europe and the mediterranean. Of course many of the wild edibles are native to the area as well. The Sego Lily was used by natives for centuries as a staple food and helped save the lives of the pioneers when they came to this state starving in 1848 and 1849. The bulbs they harvested were plentiful and generally larger than we see today. This is likely because the native peoples harvested the plants often and that action helped the plants continue to produce just are caring for our gardens helps our vegetables grow. Now that we leave the native plants alone and don’t know how to use them they often show very little fruit.

Proper foraging is something that we must understand in order to continue to use these plants wisely and for us and the plants to benefit. Learning about these wild edibles and how and when to harvest them will make us better stewards of the land around us and will also prepare us for tough times or simply allow us to live more healthy now. You would be surprised how many things are readily available to us in the wilderness of Utah, even in the desert. Some of the great spring edibles include, Mariposa lily, Yellow bells, Wild onion, Storksbill, Dune Evening primrose, Indian potato, Curly dock, Blue mustard and Wild spinach often known as Lamb’s quarter.

Come learn with Mike Wood from WildUtahEdibles.com and supplement your diet. Learn how to use the plants that grow easily around you and learn what weeds you can throw in your salad. You will be amazed and thrilled by the many edible and indeed delicious plants there are around you.

Our next wild edibles tour is April 26th at 12:00 noon. Exact location and details will be made available through our facebook page closer to the actual date but this tour will be in the Utah desert either in Saratoga Springs or in Eagle Mountain. Bring your friends and bring the family. This is an event you don’t want to miss.

Mike Wood
www.WildUtahEdibles.com
https://www.facebook.com/wildutahedibles

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Blacksmithing as a prepping skill

AvilI’ve always been interested in Blacksmithing, both as a link to past skills and as a possibly useful prepping skill. Early in 2012 I began looking into how I might be able to start learning this craft.

I quickly found ABANA, the Artist Blacksmith Association of North America. As the organization’s name might imply, most people doing blacksmithing today are doing it as an art or for ornamentation purposes. Through ABANA, I was pointed to our local Utah ABANA chapter, the Bonnevile Forge Council.

This local chapter has meetings on odd numbered months for its members and those interested in learning about the club and blacksmithing. These meetings are often centered around demonstrations of hands on projects. The club members try to make it less intimidating for newcomers who have never heated metal to 2000 degrees before.

I was able to attend the March 2012 meeting and meet many of the club members. I haven’t missed a meeting since. The next meeting for the club will be this coming Saturday in Provo and focuses on teaching forge welding. I hope any of you who are interested will be able to make it out. Please see the meetings link above for details.

If you are not able to make it to the meeting this weekend, the club president is hosting a short class on making flint strikers which will teach several basic blacksmithing skills. This three hour class will take place the evening of Wednesday, May 15, 2013. More information is here.

We recently posted about an all day introductory blacksmithing class taught by the club President and Mark Henderson, both accomplished blacksmiths. I was informed that the class filled up quickly, mainly due to interest from those who heard about the class through this site. I’d like to hear any feedback any attendees have on the class as well as gauge interest in additional introductory classes and other courses of instruction.

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Utah Prepare Conference

Utah Prepare Conference Logo
Utah Prepare Conference Logo

It’s that time of year again. And just saying ‘Conference Time’ in Utah doesn’t count, because there is more that one event matching that description next month. The one in question for this post is this years “Utah Prepare Conference & Expo“.

Last year this event was a great success, an informative chance to meet with many of the best preparedness resources in Utah in one place, with a wide selection of classes to attend.  This year the event will be held at the South Towne Expo center making it a bit easier for everybody from the southern area to attend.

This event is put on by the USU Extension office and will be on Saturday, April 13, 2013 from 8:30 AM to 5:00 PM. Hope to see folks there (look for the people wearing Utah Preppers shirts!)

As an added bonus, use the promo code “prepper” when registering for $2 off each ticket!

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Recap: Multi-City Cert Mock Disaster

Saturday I had the fun opportunity to join with other people at a multi-city mock disaster for CERT members.

Dividing up for disaster management

This event was sponsored by the Lehi CERT team, and they put a lot of work in getting this running.  Members from all over northern Utah County and Southern Salt Lake Counties got together and quickly had their hands full with a variety of disasters.  We had a UTA bus with smoke billowing out, and very hurt people, to a school with a massive disaster in the gym, as well as very small, dark hallways that made for difficult rescues.  Attendees had the opportunity to practice a wide variety of skills, often in far less than ideal situations. Continue reading “Recap: Multi-City Cert Mock Disaster”

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2012 Summer ERC Face to Face meeting and picnic

Many of our authors have their HAM radio licenses and participate in disaster planning and during real life emergencies such as the recent fires in Utah. Below is an invitation we received for an annual event coming up next month.

To the members of the Utah South Area, Emergency Response Communications (ERC) Lindon Facility VHF NET …

You are invited to the 2012 Summer ERC Face to Face meeting and picnic. This is a great opportunity to meet those you hear on the ERC Net and talk Face-to-Face. We will have a presentation on Jump Kits by Cory Reilly KE7NRV followed by “Fun with Radio”– please bring a radio and its manual.

So that we can plan appropriately we ask that you RSVP (if you are coming) via the form that will be sent to you. This will help us all coordinate the dishes. This year we will have grills fired up so bring your own meat or main course item and a side dish to share (salad, veg. tray, chips, drinks or dessert — somewhat organized pot-luck). Plan on enough for 2 to 4 times the number coming in your party.
Date: 18 September 2012
Location: Orem Windsor Stake, West Pavilion, 60 East 1600 North, Orem, Utah
Time: 6:30 PM (1830 hours) until 8:30 PM (2030 hours)

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June Gun Show Meetup

It’s been a while since we’ve had any public meetups, and I know I have a few supplies I need to top off on. So what a better chance to meet some other preppers than to get together at a gun show.

On Saturday the 16th a few of us will be attending the Rocky Mountain Gun Show. It’s always fun to browse the various shops, negotiate a few deals on supplies, and take some time to mingle with other folks. Let us know if you’ll be there so we can meet each other, and let’s plan on a 12:00 lunchtime at the crown burger across the street.

Following their link, you can pre-purchase tickets to avoid a line, and you can also get coupons for $1 off entrance.

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Powerless Cooking Event

Join us for an evening of free information on different options for cooking when the power goes out.  Representatives from great companies such as Sun Oven, Volcano Grills, Humless, and InstaFire will be combining with Jodi and Julie from Food Storage Made Easy to help you learn about these products as well as several free or inexpensive tools you can make yourself.  Come and enjoy free handouts, event discounts, giveaways and more!

Cost: FREE! Bring a friend!

Date:  Thursday May 10, 2012

Time:  7-9 pm (7-8 will be instructional, 8-9 will be Q&A at individual booths)

Location: 

American Preparatory Academy
12892 S. Pony Express Rd. (Just off of I15 and Bangeter)
Draper, Utah 84020

Click here for more details and to RSVP

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Utah Prepare Conference and Expo – Ticket Giveaway

Interested in a day of workshops focused on preparedness? Who wouldn’t?  Utah State University, BYU, and BeReady Utah have combined to host a day of classes and booths called the Utah Prepare Conference and Expo. Now, the title is rather similar to our name, but hey, it involves many groups that we rely on for well-researched information.

I’m really excited about this conference, in that it is *not* a sales machine. BeReady is the state organization charged with getting citizens ready for known disasters in the state, and it has teamed up with some of the best resources for preparedness around. Anybody who has done real research into local agriculture, animal husbandry, or food preservation has come upon materials published by the USU extension. They are the standard for food preservation testing in the country, and we love having them locally.

Of course, there are vendors there as well, so don’t fret about missing out on the “toys” and fun there as well, but the conference itself is not “consumer-first”, and that should mean a lot to real preppers.

Continue reading “Utah Prepare Conference and Expo – Ticket Giveaway”

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The Great Utah Emergency Preparedness Expo: April 6-7, 2012

Following up on last year’s very successful Emergency Preparedness Expo, a new preparedness based company Free Food 2 Go is sponsoring a preparedness event the first weekend this April. The expo will play host to a wide range of well know presenters in a variety of preparedness subjects as well as an expo hall for vendors, all at the UVU campus. This is the second year for this particular event which saw 1,500 attendees in 2011. This year the expectation is 2,500 to 3,500 attendees.

Free Food 2 Go, the expo’s overall sponsor appear to be a vaguely MLM/Co-op plan for food storage. As the sponsor, they will obviously have plenty of information prominently featured. However, if MLM sales pitches turn you off remember that while featured, they are just one of many vendors at the event. With the number of vendors and experts on hand this should prove to be a great chance to get hands-on with many of the suppliers and products discussed here on UtahPreppers.com and in other preparedness circles.

Continue reading “The Great Utah Emergency Preparedness Expo: April 6-7, 2012”

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Utah County Amateur Radio Emergency Service New HAM night tonight!

HAM Radio
HAM Radio

I received this email announcement from a HAM Radio friend.

For any of you who

  • have recently received your amateur radio call sign
  • are thinking about getting it and want to know more
  • you’ve had your call sign for awhile but never really been introduced to the UCARES organization

This is a good event. You can meet some of the organizers and people who’ve been in it awhile, and talk to them about what the organization is all about. Runs from 7 – 8:30PM.

More info here
put your mouse over the New Ham Night on the right.

Directions