It took a few more months than I hoped, but at least I made it before the coldest part of the winter. As you will recall in my previous posts on home heating, I have been saving and planning for a wood burning stove. As promised, here are photos to document the installation and thoughts on additional things I have learned. Continue reading “Wood stove installation”
Creating your own Bug Out Location
You have a perfectly set up 72 hour kit/bug out bag for each member of your family. They are located in vehicles or in a grab and dash spot so you can be on the road and on your way within seconds. Now what? Where are you going? Generally speaking, an evacuation plan should include a few set locations that you and those you are bugging out with are familiar with. One common solution is to head to a family member’s house some distance away. This solution might work in some scenarios, but in many circumstances you might find that you’ve placed a burden on your family by bringing more mouths to feed in an extended crisis. In other situations you might find it difficult to get to your family member’s home due to distance, lack of fuel or inaccessible roads depending on the nature of the disaster that has caused you to leave your home.
When starting your journey down the rabbit hole of preparedness you’ll often see terms referenced such as GOOD (Get out of Dodge), BOL, BOB (Bug out Location, Bug out Bag) and other acronyms that hint at evacuating an area should there be a disaster, civil unrest or many of the other events that we prepare for. One question that can’t be answered by a simple acronym however is WHERE?
My nearest family is about 10 hours away and in either highly populated areas or in areas with limited access in a disaster, so my family needs to consider something more local for our evacuation plan. We decided that as part of our general preparedness efforts we would like to work towards obtaining a property to eventually build a bug out location as well as provide a place for our family to camp and enjoy nature on a frequent basis. I’d like to share some of the things I learned in this process on creating your own bug out location.
Continue reading “Creating your own Bug Out Location”
Fixing it up: Refinishing a Table
Preparing for this past holiday season gave cause to some concern in my family. Recently moved into a new home that is larger than our old one, my wife has the itch to furnish. Add to that the fact that her extended family was coming to visit to celebrate Christmas at our house this desire became much stronger. There was one issue, however. The fact that we had just moved into a new house, meant that our discretionary funds are and we are unable to purchase anything new.
The largest of concerns for my wife was our dining room table. Inherited from her grandmother, it hadn’t handled the years of abuse our kids have given. Pitted, scratched, and discolored the table had truly seen better days. My wife was really looking into what could be done to replace this thing. Dreams of counter-height, new colors, and more seating area were frequently discussed, but the reality of the budget didn’t leave her room to get what she wanted.
This then left me in the position of being able to work a little with my hands in order to make my wife a whole lot happier. Continue reading “Fixing it up: Refinishing a Table”
What Would You Do? Car Edition!
When disasters, emergencies, or accidents occur to others, they can serve to us as a learning opportunity. When the Herriman fire broke out last fall, we posted information regarding how to prepare for such an emergency. When a couple earthquakes struck just west of Lehi this past January, we posted how to prepare for that event, and what to do in its aftermath.
A family in my congregation just went through a grueling experience of their own. Their story can be read here.
Review: Daily Bread Beef Stroganoff With Noodles
The way to a man’s heart is his stomach. When that man is a prepper, and a blogger, nothing could be more true. With that said, I was overjoyed recently when I was contacted by one of our local freeze-dried companies. They were wondering if I would be interested in sampling a couple of their entrees, and writing my opinion on them. Not exactly a difficult decision there.
What made this choice even better was the timing. I just happened to be heading up that weekend with the guys for a little man-camp time. What a better way to test things out. Continue reading “Review: Daily Bread Beef Stroganoff With Noodles”
Saved by Preps – Flat Tire
Yesterday I was driving in my truck to pick up my son from school. I heard a strange noise outside the truck and rolled down the window to investigate. I could hear a hissing that rhythmically got quiet as I drove – then I realized, my left rear tire was punctured and deflating FAST! I pulled over to the shoulder as far as I could and got out to investigate. Sure enough, there was what looked like a nail hole right through my nice new tire.
That’s when my car Preps came to the rescue!
Variety in Your Food Storage is a Good Thing
Way back in 1998 sweet husband and I were just getting serious about our food storage. That’s shortly before we had any kids. We had the opportunity to do some canning at the LDS dry pack cannery and so we sat down to figure out what to can.
Well, we didn’t have a wheat grinder and didn’t really know what to do with wheat, so that was out. I’m not sure why we ruled out oatmeal or sugar or whatever else, but we did decide we both liked white rice so we meticulously counted up how much white rice we’d need if we ate it for every meal for an entire year. True story. And that is what we canned. A whole lot of white rice. Now I know you’re all giggling at the fact that you really can’t live on white rice alone for a year without suffering some serious nutritional issues, but we were young and didn’t think through this very well.
So let me tell you what happens when you buy that much white rice. Continue reading “Variety in Your Food Storage is a Good Thing”
Food Production Systems DVD Review and Giveaway
Can a two hour DVD turn you into a self sufficient farmer, providing all the food for your family on your postage stamp sized yard? Of course not. (If you think this is possible, let me know. I have a unique business opportunity to discuss with you :D ) However, the Food Production Systems For a Backyard or Small Farm DVD Is a wealth of information on how one family managed to do just that (on a bit of acreage) through trial and error over a decade. A full review of the DVD after the jump.
Continue reading “Food Production Systems DVD Review and Giveaway”
Post Japan Earthquake Notes
One of the most important skills as a prepper is the ability to learn from our experiences and mistakes. Additionally, examples of others doing the same can help us learn the same lessons without having to go through the experience. To that end, I’m posting in an email that was forwarded to me, second-hand from the source. The email is from a lady whose family is currently stationed in Japan, and relates their experiences with the earthquake. What I like best in this is her own analysis on her preparedness level, and what she wishes she could do better.
Email edited for screen readability only (spacing), and redacting names.
Feeling the Shakes? Here’s a Brief Earthquake Review
In the past few days, there have been a few earthquakes just west of Lehi. As this page shows, we’ve had three small earthquakes (2.5-2.8) in the past three days. Events such as these provide us a great reminder of the need to be prepared. If the earthquake were much larger, would you know what to do? What immediate action should you take?
The following is some information which may prove useful for your review, in preparing for a future earthquake that affects us at a substantial level.
First, as a summary of the situation here in Utah living along the Wasatch Fault, this 10 minute video by the Utah Geological Survey is a great starting point.
One question you might have is whether this succession of small earthquakes is indicative of a larger one in the near future. Here’s one answer on that:
Continue reading “Feeling the Shakes? Here’s a Brief Earthquake Review”
The night of the Herriman (Machine Gun) Fire
A lot of people have written up their thoughts and their experiences about going through the Herriman “Machine Gun” fire 19 September 2010. I’ve had some friends ask me to do the same. One friend asked me to specifically to highlight the preparedness aspect of our experience.
We’ve lived in the Herriman area for about seven years. During that time, we’ve seen a handful of fires on the hills south of us, usually ignited by lightning. These have usually been small fires and quickly contained by firefighters. So when we heard there was a fire burning in the hills Sunday afternoon, it wasn’t terribly shocking news.
When we came out of church after 4:00 p.m., the sky was considerably smoky to the point that the light from the sun had taken on an orange-ish hue. That was remarkable, but it still didn’t really concern any of us. We carried on with our plans just as most everyone did.
Continue reading “The night of the Herriman (Machine Gun) Fire”
What we are doing this Spring
If my allergies are any indication, Spring has sprung. This means it is time for Daylight Saving Time, spring cleaning, starting gardens and other activities.
What are the UtahPreppers up to?
Continue reading “What we are doing this Spring”