Water water everywhere, and not a drop to drink or is Eau de Toilet drinkable?

Day four of NaBloPoMo finds me searching for water.  It appears that currently six gallon jugs of water sit in my living room corner. This is nowhere near the one gallon per person per day for two weeks recommended in case of an  emergency such as an earthquake.  In a zombie situation I really need a bit more, plus a renewable source.

I have heard that a few drops of bleach in a gallon of water from the back of the toilet is safe to drink, but EEWWW!

I figure the first step is to acquire three times fourteen gallons of water-  Wow 42 gallons?.. I can easily pick  up two or three each time I go to the grocery store. Then store some in my garage and some in the workshop in my back yard.  Separate storage will hopefully ensure that if the house collapses then we will still have a supply.

For my garden and animals, perhaps I can find a way to collect rainwater, however in the meantime I suppose I must make sure I have enough water set aside for them as well.

There is a nasty river not far from me however it is extremely polluted and the Pacific Ocean is near enough however salt water is not gonna work either.  Will need to research those water sanitizing tablets.

Tomorrow I will be talking about health and NaBloPoMo and perhaps a few other things.  In the meantime please check out my facebook page.    So far I have one like. and would love to have a few more.

www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow

Until tomorrow, watch out for Zombies!

Zombie Food or figuring out how much food I will need and how to get it.

Day three of NaBloPoMo.  Today I am exploring Food.  Ways to acquire and preserve it, whether I am growing it, hunting it, fishing for it or gathering it out of my hen house.

Here are a few ideas I have:

• Aquaponics
• Hydroponics
• Gardening
• Animal husbandry
• hunting
• fishing
• preserving the harvest

Aquaponics ~ basically , this is raising fish in a container, ideally with plants at the same time so that the fish poop feeds the plants and the plants feed the fish.  Definitely  something to look into, I could see myself doing this.

Hydroponics ~ Basically this is raising plants indoors with grow lamps, and no soil.  This is widely used to grow marijuana but I want to use it to turn my garage into a place to grow food for my family and animals.  If I can grow food for my chickens I can save money on chicken feed.

Gardening ~ I need to learn how to garden the right way.  I have started a garden a few times but never very successfully; in fact my family rolls their eyes when I say I am starting a new garden, BUT I know I need to learn how to do this now, rather than later.  I do have two orange trees, one grapefruit, lemon and avocado.  I would love to find a way to preserve the fruit somehow.  I know I have seen jarred orange and grapefruit segments.

Animal Husbandry ~ I have chickens, 12 hens, one rooster and seven month old chicks.  I keep them in a shed at night and they free range in my yard all day. I currently get about 8-12 eggs per day, but I must hunt for them.  In order to plant the garden I must first build an enclosure for the chickens which also means I must find a way to increase their food supply, since they will not be able to have the full run of the yard.  I am thinking of compost for worms and hydroponics.

Hunting~ Not going to happen right now or any time soon.  I have no weapons and dont know how to shoot.  I must learn though.  Just in case I had to, then figure out how to preserve it.

Fishing ~  Basically I know how to fish, but there are no wild steams nearby, just a very dirty ocean, and I only know how to fish with worms and hooks.  I can probably find a few worms, but have no poles or hooks.  What I really need to learn is how to fish with nets. Alas I have no nets.  Reminder to self: Look into aquaponics.

Preserving the Harvest~  There are so many ways to preserve food.  Drying, salting, canning, jarring , not to mention pickling or brining.  I would love to see my kitchen pantry full of jars of goodness from the garden.  Would love to see this:

Until tomorrow my friends, when I dig into my water supply.  Dont for get to check out my facebook page:  www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow  Until then Watch out for Zombies!

 

Zombie Ready Assessment or exactly how unprepared am I for the Zombie Apocalypse

Zombie Ready Assessment or exactly how unprepared am I for the Zombie Apocalypse.

Zombie Ready Assessment or exactly how unprepared am I for the Zombie Apocalypse

 

So my first step is to organize myself and figure out exactly what I do have and what i will need.  last night I lay in bed wide awake and thinking. That is the best time to think, right before you go to sleep, that way your subconscious mind will work on your ideas or problems while you sleep and when you wake up you will ideas popping in your head all day.

I came up with a few categories.  Some are obvious, while others are things I think I will need, others are subcategories.

• Food
• shelter
• transportation
• water
• Protection
• Animal husbandry
• preserving the harvest
• communication
• supplies
• health and first aid
• knowledge

Briefly, this is where I stand in each category:

• Food ~ three days worth of canned goods
• shelter ~ rental house costing $1600 per month, in an bad situation coming up with that would be difficult
• transportation~ two cars, one needs brakes and is parked and one is a gas guzzler.  Also have a 17 foot box truck that needs a new transmission and does not run.  But I do have bicycles. Several.
• water~ I have six one gallon jugs of water.  Definately not enough.
• Protection~ I have two dogs.  One a Great Dane, the other an Australian shepherd mix.
• Animal husbandry ~ I have 12 hens, one rooster and seven month old chicks.  Also a male rabbit.
• preserving the harvest ~ I know absolutely nothing about this.
• communication ~one smartphone
• supplies  ~ um. I have a can opener
• health and first aid ~ I know basic first aid, however I am diabetic, my daughter is high functioning autistic with ADHD, and my husband has a blown out knee as well as a bone chip in the elbow.  Hubs and I are both very overweight and have high blood pressure.
• Knowledge~ I know a little bit about a lot of things and I usually have good common sense.

Tomorrow  and on following days I will break down each category and make a plan.  And dont forget to like my facebook page.  This is day two and so far I am the only one to like it.  Thanks!   www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow

 

 

NaBloPoMo and the Zombie Apocalypse

Just finished watching National Geographic’s American Blackout, decided to blog about my family as we start our journey to a self sufficient, self reliant and prepared state of existence. and came across this concept of NaBloPoMo which seems to be that November is National Blog Posting Month or something of that sort with the plan being thirty posts in thirty days.  Here’s hoping I’m up to the Challenge.  Started a facebook page as well.   www.facebook.com/areyoureadyforzombiesnow       So far I ‘m the only one who likes it, since I’m not telling my husband about this until I have at least 100 blog followers and 1k facebook likes.  If not he will tease me about another project I started and never finished.

 

I guess I should start by saying, we are a family of three, and have no preparations at all in case of emergency, however, we have a huge backyard with 12 hens,1 rooster, 7 little chicks, 2 dogs, three cats and a bunny or two.  We also have orange trees as well as grapefruit, lemon and avocado trees.  We have no idea how to preserve this bounty.

Also, we have an extreme limited income since our family business is not doing well. and we are very behind on our bills

 

I have never successfully planted a garden and preserved my harvest, but I want to learn.  I am very excited and know deep inside that this is something that I must do to make sure my family has everything it needs in an emergency, I mean right now, if there was a major earthquake, we would be totally screwed.

Please join me on my journey.