Homesteading Questions and Tips

[trumpeting_angel]

Great thread idea!

I freeze and dehydrate a lot, mostly because I don't have time to can and don't have a lot of storage space. Vacuum sealers and oxygen absorbers come in handy.

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We store water, but I'm looking to expand that.

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My biggest concerns are a power outage, job loss, or prices going so high that many things are simply unaffordable.


For animal food, I keep enough on hand at all times to feed my chickens for 2 months. If in 2 months time the electricity hasn't been restored we have bigger problems and the chickens will be eaten and we'll leave with the dogs. Dogs have a 3 months supply of food.

You are prepped! So many things I haven’t thought of. I’m just starting to dehydrate, now that I have a garden that’s producing well. I’m drying zucchini and broccoli so far, as well as herbs.

I worry about a power outage, too. I know it’s important to keep the freezer full, even if it’s full of empty milk cartons refilled with water, just to help keep things frozen. But a long term power outage - everything in the freezer would be lost. I’ve talked to DH about using the generator to power the dehydrator and oven to preserve the frozen food if there’s a major,
long term failure of the grid, but he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Well, maybe I have! That would be a LOT of dehydrating. I suppose I could figure out how to use the woodstove for dehydrating.

Using the list I linked to a page back, I’m ordering some water storage and purification stuff, a crank-operated radio, a first aid kit, fire starter, and I’m looking into storing basic goods (food). I haven’t bought any of that food yet, but to get the things I think we should have will be a couple hundred dollars. Also starting to collect books on foraging and survival skills. Without the internet we will have to learn the old-fashioned way.

 

[igorsMistress]

You are prepped! So many things I haven’t thought of. I’m just starting to dehydrate, now that I have a garden that’s producing well. I’m drying zucchini and broccoli so far, as well as herbs.

I worry about a power outage, too. I know it’s important to keep the freezer full, even if it’s full of empty milk cartons refilled with water, just to help keep things frozen. But a long term power outage - everything in the freezer would be lost. I’ve talked to DH about using the generator to power the dehydrator and oven to preserve the frozen food if there’s a major,
long term failure of the grid, but he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Well, maybe I have! That would be a LOT of dehydrating. I suppose I could figure out how to use the woodstove for dehydrating.

Using the list I linked to a page back, I’m ordering some water storage and purification stuff, a crank-operated radio, a first aid kit, fire starter, and I’m looking into storing basic goods (food). I haven’t bought any of that food yet, but to get the things I think we should have will be a couple hundred dollars. Also starting to collect books on foraging and survival skills. Without the internet we will have to learn the old-fashioned way.

Thanks. I don't really feel prepared at all, we just have basics. We can take care of ourselves in place for a short while which is probably better than many. Thankful for that!

I love tomato chips. Roma tomatoes are best, just slice and dehydrate. I usually put them on a piece of parchment because it's easier to peel them off when done. So good!

 

[hispoptart]

You are prepped! So many things I haven’t thought of. I’m just starting to dehydrate, now that I have a garden that’s producing well. I’m drying zucchini and broccoli so far, as well as herbs.

I worry about a power outage, too. I know it’s important to keep the freezer full, even if it’s full of empty milk cartons refilled with water, just to help keep things frozen. But a long term power outage - everything in the freezer would be lost. I’ve talked to DH about using the generator to power the dehydrator and oven to preserve the frozen food if there’s a major,
long term failure of the grid, but he looked at me like I had lost my mind. Well, maybe I have! That would be a LOT of dehydrating. I suppose I could figure out how to use the woodstove for dehydrating.

Using the list I linked to a page back, I’m ordering some water storage and purification stuff, a crank-operated radio, a first aid kit, fire starter, and I’m looking into storing basic goods (food). I haven’t bought any of that food yet, but to get the things I think we should have will be a couple hundred dollars. Also starting to collect books on foraging and survival skills. Without the internet we will have to learn the old-fashioned way.

You are very correct that if things get really bad knowing how to do things will be your best friend. You are on a good start but don't get over panicked. Don't go buying things like pre-made first aid kits, you can do that on your own. Get a nice size make-up bag and fill it with things from the dollar store. You don't need to go out and spend hundreds of dollars on food and supplies all at once. Just pick up things here and there when you have a few extra dollars. Make sure you get food that you think your family would eat in a time of crisis. Watch for sales on things you normally eat and buy a few extra.

I've been there, spending 100's of dollars on meat to can, just to learn and we haven't ate 1/4 of it. I have 75 or more home canned goods that we won't even use. So the basic rule is stock what you'll use and use what you stock. In other words, keep stocking what you use, but use it and replenish it as you use it. That way you always have a rotating supply of what you use.

 

[trumpeting_angel]

Don't worry, @hispoptart! No panic here. My purchases will all be from the list I linked to (on p. 2, I think). I love it when a trusted source tests everything, chooses the best and most cost-effective.

I'm going to used book stores looking for relevant books. It will be a slow accumulation, but worth it. Better not to be on the internet all the time anyway,even when we find important things to know.

And of course, I'm learning from my garden. A garden is always willing to teach, if we will listen.

 

[BYC910]

Sound like weevils. And they don't get IN your grains, the eggs are already in there, they just hatch over time and if conditions are right. That's my understanding anyway. So I keep my rice, dried beans and whole-grain flour in ziploc bags in the freezer so the little buggers don't hatch out! Have never had a problem with them since I started that process.

Good thinking freezing them . Not weevils ,cereal moths is what he is talking about. Nasty little boogers that infest most packaged grains and beans. Picked up in storage bins .

as opposed to a floor weevil

Most weevils are food specific . Boll weevils go after cotton bolls .However there are many different species of weevils . Eggs in flour or in your pantry I do know that they are drawn to their food source .You should see them in your feed room before you see them in your house . Flour weevils are drawn to wheat. Lots of feeds have wheat in them. in one form or another . And our Wonderful government ,imported the thistle weevil some years back and they too took a liking to cotton bolls. Cotton farmers wanted them gone

I wonder if they have any nutritional value?

I would assume the larva would be very high in protein. Every thing go better wif a cold beer You do remember the limerick about the fly ? Well to this day nobody know why she swallowed that fly

 

[Hobbits Mommie]

Don't worry, @hispoptart! No panic here. My purchases will all be from the list I linked to (on p. 2, I think). I love it when a trusted source tests everything, chooses the best and most cost-effective.

I'm going to used book stores looking for relevant books. It will be a slow accumulation, but worth it. Better not to be on the internet all the time anyway,even when we find important things to know.

And of course, I'm learning from my garden. A garden is always willing to teach, if we will listen.

You NEED to read this book. It's fiction, but based on what would happen in reality. Very well thought out. I'm not an avid reader but I could not put this book down. It will make you rethink your property and neighbors. Gives you food for thought as far as people with chronic illnesses that require medication. Who's going to parish first if a long period of electrical outage. How people create local governments & laws to try to create order.

https://books.google.com/books/abou...ver&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

 

[DellaMyDarling]

I worry about that Hobbit, my partner requires rescue inhaler several times a day and another inhaler to keep that rescue inhaler to no more than what he's already at. Even inconveniences like contact lenses...
Yes, I have glasses, but see terribly out of them in comparison. Glasses are also fairly fragile and could easily be broken beyond use. True apocalypse scenario, I might be a quick goner with an eyesight weakness lol.

 

[igorsMistress]

You NEED to read this book. It's fiction, but based on what would happen in reality. Very well thought out. I'm not an avid reader but I could not put this book down. It will make you rethink your property and neighbors. Gives you food for thought as far as people with chronic illnesses that require medication. Who's going to parish first if a long period of electrical outage. How people create local governments & laws to try to create order.

https://books.google.com/books/abou...ver&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q&f=false

Great book, terrifying actually. It definitely gave me food for thought. I go back and read it once in a while to refresh my memory.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

OG&E turned the power off in CA the other day to prevent foest fires. On the face of it, and remembering those poor people in Paradise last year, this sounds like a good plan. But ....Thirteen minutes later a man in the area on oxygen died. Three people died, apparently as a result of the blackout.

People in the area fired up their gasoline-fired generators for electricity in this tinder-dry area to provide electricity to power their houses and keep their lights on, refrigerators and A/Cs running. Generators? Gasoline? Really? This is safer than the power lines? A generator at every house?

I'm stunned. Not speechless, you'll notice. Just ... stunned.

 

[igorsMistress]

OG&E turned the power off in CA the other day to prevent foest fires. On the face of it, and remembering those poor people in Paradise last year, this sounds like a good plan. But ....Thirteen minutes later a man in the area on oxygen died. Three people died, apparently as a result of the blackout.

People in the area fired up their gasoline-fired generators for electricity in this tinder-dry area to provide electricity to power their houses and keep their lights on, refrigerators and A/Cs running. Generators? Gasoline? Really? This is safer than the power lines? A generator at every house?

I'm stunned. Not speechless, you'll notice. Just ... stunned.

Likely safer actually. The infrastructure in this country is crumbling. Governors, Mayors, members of Congress and the Senate can't do without their mansions. Come to think of it, company execs fit in that category too.