Hi Everyone,
Being prepared means trying to plan for a variety of contingencies. Having no power is one of those possibilities. I’m sure that most Texans could NEVER have foreseen having no power in the middle of freezing weather. In Texas!!!! Now is a good time to ask, “What if that happened here?” My Indiana peeps are saying, “And your point is….????” California peeps—– could you stay warm? Could you cook dinner? As our hearts reach out to friends and family who are experiencing these extreme difficulties, just keep in mind that you could be next, whatever the disaster may be. THAT’S why we prepare. This woman’s wet hair froze as soon as she stepped outside | Your Morning – YouTube
NOTES:
* Garden Update. I have planted some of my broccoli seedlings and cauliflower seedlings into the ground. My other plants are just hanging out, waiting for March 1. I’ve been leaving them outside at night unless the temps are in the low 40’s, then I bring them in. They are actually okay as long as it doesn’t freeze. But I’m still babying them along.
* Facebook Page: Our Prepared Community also has a ton of information. If you click on the videos button, you will see about 25 videos covering everything from natural remedies to evacuation plans. It’s a great resource! Here is a link to the Water Sanitation Class.
LONG TERM FOCUS: Lentils
Lentils are legumes – cousins to beans. Lentils can be green, red, yellow, black or brown. They are full of nutrients with no fat and lots of fiber and protein. Lentils cook much faster than dry beans and don’t need to be soaked. To cook, just rinse and boil 3 cups of water to 1 cup of lentils. They are tender in 15-20 minutes.
SHORT TERM FOCUS
Think about all the extra ingredients that you would need to make your beans, or lentils, or split peas taste NOT blah. You can dehydrate carrots and celery quite easily. Just wait until they go on sale. You can get 25 pounds of carrots for about $7. And if you watch, you can get celery for 3 or 4 stalks for $1. I almost never use fresh celery. I’m not a fan of fresh celery, so after I put two or three stalks in the dinner, the rest just spoils in the fridge. Instead, I just keep a pint jar of dehydrated celery on my shelf and sprinkle in 1-2 TB. Same with bell peppers. Watch for sales – 4 peppers for $1 then buy a lot and dehydrate!!!
The recipes below call for:
- Carrots: Emergency Essentials® Carrot Dices Large Can – Be Prepared – Emergency Essentials
- Onions: McCormick Culinary Minced Onion, 17 oz
- Celery: Augason Farms Dehydrated Cross Cut Celery 1 lb 2 oz No. 10 Can
- Garlic, tomato paste, thyme, cumin, salt, pepper, parsley, barley, chicken broth: Knorr Bouillon Powder Chicken 2.0 Lb, 32 Oz
Next time you go to the store, just get something on this list. Maybe it will be something you use often. Stick it aside and rotate it in.
You can dehydrate carrots and celery quite easily. Just wait until they go on sale. You can get 25 pounds of carrots for about $7. And if you watch, you can get celery for 3 or 4 stalks for $1. I almost never use fresh celery. I’m not a fan of fresh celery, so after I put two or three stalks in the dinner, the rest just spoils in the fridge. Instead, I just keep a pint jar of dehydrated celery on my shelf and sprinkle in 1-2 TB. Same with bell peppers. Watch for sales – 4 peppers for $1 then buy a lot and dehydrate!!!
72 HOUR KIT FOCUS:
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These are really handy to have in your kit. Seychelle 28oz Flip Top Water Filter Bottle StandardThis bottle treats up to 100 gallons of water. It eliminates viruses and bacteria 99.999%. AND, the filter is replaceable. In terms of your pack, it will allow you to gather water from anyplace, then transport that water and filter it for use. Even if you didn’t get one for each pack, but had one per family, you would be able to give everyone a cup of purified water from any source. |
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES
Perfect Pot of Lentils
From the webpage: Cooking Light. https://www.cookinglight.com/recipes/a-perfect-pot-of-lentils
Heat a medium saucepan.
Add 2 TB oil and swirl to coat. Add
3/4 c. sliced carrots
3/4 c. chopped shallot
4 cloves minced garlic
2 TB tomato paste
Cook 4 minutes, stirring frequently.
Add:
2 c. green or brown lentils
1 TB chopped fresh thyme
4 c. water
Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 – 35 minutes or until lentils are tender. Remove from heat. Let stand 10 minutes. Stir in:
2 TB soy sauce
1 TB Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
Lentil Soup
This soup is really delicious – and hearty. It makes a ton, so I usually freeze the leftovers or share it with someone.
Rinse 1 lb. lentils. Put lentils in a pot and cover with boiling water. Let sit for 15 minutes. Drain and remove from the pan.
Using the same pan, sauté:
3 large onions diced
4 c. leeks
1 TB chopped garlic
1 TB fresh thyme
1 tsp cumin
1 TB salt
1 1/2 tsp pepper
When onions are tender, add:
4 diced carrots
3 stalks celery diced
Saute with the onions for a few minutes to let them absorb some of the flavors.
Then add:
2 quarts chicken stock
1/4 c. tomato paste
drained lentils
2 Kielbasa sausage sliced
splash red wine (optional)
Simmer 1 hour.
To serve, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
Lentil Barley Stew
1 medium carrot sliced
1 medium onion diced
1 medium parsnip peeled and sliced
3/4 c. lentils, rinsed
1/2 c. barley, rinsed
28 oz. vegetable (or chicken) broth
2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp pepper
Bring to boil and reduce to simmer for 25 minutes until done.
That’s all for this week.
Marti
Our faces are being scanned daily and recorded and saved on databases without our consent. In theory, if you are not a wanted person, as they say, you shouldn’t be concerned, right? Wrong. The fact is that the applications that are currently scanning faces are numerous. The places where your face is being scanned are numerous. The laws that protect your privacy are few and ineffective. If a law is passed that states, for instance, that facial scanning cannot be done in real-time, the programmers just delay the live stream feed for a few seconds and proceed normally with their surveillance. There is no entity to report these activities to, so Russian app designers have even developed seemingly benign facial morphing apps that amusingly distort one’s appearance– aging a person, making them younger, showing them as another gender, and so forth. In the terms and conditions, the users agree to sign over the rights to any images they submit. So, users are signing over to a Russian company the image of their own face.
The first part of facial recognition is facial detection. Here, the electronic image or data stream is scrutinized to determine if a face exists. The second part is actual facial recognition. A facial recognition system is a technology capable of matching a human face from a digital image or a video frame against a database of faces. Facial recognition systems have been deployed in advanced human-computer interaction, video surveillance, and automatic indexing of images. The systems are easy to build and easy to deploy. They are not, typically, actively monitored in real-time but set off a trigger or an alert to a human operative who then acts upon the information the system provides. It doesn’t have to be a human interaction, though. Other software can be designed to initiate actions based upon the triggered face. 
Pattern recognition is another method by which facial recognition software detects faces. The human face has dark spots and light spots. Those all match a similar pattern. When those are reversed, a person can sometimes elude detection. This isn’t as practical of a method, however, because you would stand out if you had makeup on that made your chin, cheeks, and forehead exceedingly dark while your eye areas were extra bright.
Though there are many ways to try and trick cameras and facial detection and recognition software, you can adopt a casual combination of a few of them to become invisible to most passively observing systems. If facial recognition systems are specifically targeting you, naturally, the methods you adopt will need to be more extreme. You very likely don’t want to go about your everyday life wearing a prosthetic nose to extend your nose’s tip, so I do not suggest that extreme for everyday living. I suggest that you adopt just a few methods to casually practice daily to help you fly under the radar of detection systems. As they become more advanced, you will be able to stay out of their databases.
When the lights go out, the finger-pointing starts. Suddenly every politician and captain of industry wants to point the finger at the other side of the spectrum and avoid blame or kick the genuine problems further down the road. Every pundit shouts out their opinion on the networks without offering any facts or even demonstrating any real knowledge of the problems. Every ratepayer vehemently backs one of the arguments. Nobody solves the problem by the time night falls, and the heat is off. 
The United States has three major power grids– the Western, Eastern, and Texas Interconnect. Each of these three power grids has its own set of unique problems along with their shared problems of aging systems and a reluctance to adopt new means of power generation. 
Old equipment and faulty or misconfigured sensors and sensing equipment can quickly bring down an entire system. So, while each grid system and power plant generation configuration has its own unique problems, they also share some common issues. Your takeaway from that shouldn’t be to lay blame on any particular entity. Believe me, the politicians, power companies, ratepayers, and pundits will be plenty busy playing a musical chairs blame game. Your takeaway should be that it isn’t a question of “if” the power will go down. It is a question of “when” the power will go down. And when the power goes down, the effect of other disasters is increased exponentially. When the power goes down, even small problems can be amplified. When the power goes down, a cascading effect could lead to even more significant problems and unravel other systems and even social order. This was amply demonstrated as many cities in Texas had no water for drinking or sanitation due to their water systems being without electricity. Current weather predictions show that over the next several decades, we will continue seeing changes to our climate as the temperatures are predicted to rise annually. The scientific community is still researching the potential side effects that will impact the polar vortex which could lead to colder winters. You need to prepare for this very real eventuality that our power grid may continue to falter with these new challenges.
As the pundits, politicians, big business, traditionalists, Capitalists, activists, Liberalists, and every other person shout over each other and prepare their arguments for and against existing systems, you should be preparing to live successfully through an extended or perhaps even semi-permanent grid down situation. 
71% of Earth’s surface. There are 326 million trillion gallons of it on and in the planet. 96.5% of the water is ocean water, and just 3.5% is fresh water. Of that 3%, 69% of that water is locked up in glaciers. Another 30% of that freshwater is underground and usually requires costly extraction. That leaves 114 million billion gallons of readily accessible freshwater, not necessarily drinkable water, but water nonetheless. That sounds like enough, but it represents just 1% of the Earth’s water for every man, woman, child, and animal on the planet. That 1% of the water has to also serve every agricultural and industrial need on the planet. In most cases, it also needs to be filtered and treated before it is safely consumable. So, though there is plenty of water on the planet, not very much of it is drinkable. Not very much of it is accessible, and the distribution methods are easily manipulated, legislated, and monetized. That’s never good for the common man. Nestle Water, for instance, extracted 36 million gallons of water from a national forest in California in 2015 to sell as bottled water, even as Californians were ordered to cut their water use because of a historic drought in the state.
If you have the means and area to set up a rainwater collection system or rooftop precipitation collection system, now would be a good time to start making moves in that direction. 
Alaska earns a prominent spot on the list for several reasons. If you are looking for untapped resources, Alaska has them in abundance. With 663,000 square miles of inhabitable land, it is also far from the contiguous states. If North Korea or some other foreign enemy ever tries to eradicate the U.S., they would probably strike the lower 48. Water, wood for fuel, wildlife, plant life, and more, this state is a prepper’s dream. The big problem, though, after SHTF, is staying warm. November to March, temperatures can range from 0 to negative 35 Fahrenheit. The other major problem if you aren’t there already is getting there. It’s over a 3,000-mile trek from Washington through British Columbia and the Yukon.
From the Rocky Mountains to the Pawnee Grasslands to the arid desert to the Ancestral Puebloans’ cliff dwelling sites, Colorado has a diversity of climates, each with its own unique survival practices. Any place where indigenous people thrived ten-thousand years ago by hunting and growing small beans and squash crops is a good bet that you can do the same after a non-recoverable grid down situation. Like Alaska, you have many wooded areas and flowing rivers and streams fed by glaciers and mountain snow. There is also plenty of wildlife and edible plants. Though the population is greater than Alaska and denser in metropolitan areas, there are numerous places to escape to and a thriving culture of people affluent in being outdoors. Particularly of note for Colorado is the fact that there are over 23,000 abandoned mines in the state. Depending upon what type of SHTF situation you are in, one of those mines might be a safe shelter for a while.
I know the Oregonians and the Washingtonians won’t like it, but I have put both Oregon and Washington together for their similarities. I could include here the northern part of California, as well. The Pacific Northwest region of the United States is rich with coniferous forests, rivers, lakes and creeks, wildlife, and so many edible plants that it’s a forager’s dream. Even on well-trodden trails, hikers can still eat wild blackberries right off the vine, right along their paths. Here too, like Colorado, there are populous areas, but those are countered by thousands and thousands of miles of land where you can disappear. The weather is never too severe, and the land is relatively affordable the further out you go from population-dense areas. It’s important to note that mountains help filter out fallout, so large areas of these regions could be inhabitable when the rest of the United States is not. 
Here I go again, lumping states together. Though each is unique in its own way, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire are three states that comprise the Northeastern tip of the United States. On average, 84% of these states are covered with forest, resulting in an abundance of wildlife, plant life, and untouched, untapped living spaces. With state mottos like “Live Free or Die” and “Freedom & Unity,” it is easy to see that the people of these states are fiercely independent. There is a large culture of people living off the grid already, so both knowledge of how-to and supplies to do so are commonplace. Even absent an SHTF situation, Maine’s zoning laws and land affordability make it a good choice. Both Vermont and New Hampshire are similar. While each of these three states has populous areas, you are never more than a few steps from the woods. And, as Robert Frost wrote in his poem written in Vermont, “The woods are lovely, dark, and deep.”
Here too, I put both these bordering states together, but they cover a wide range of landscapes. The state has, for years, encouraged off-grid living with lucrative grants. With a $100,000 exemption for homesteaders, the state boasts over 60,000 homesteads. That’s a lot of independently living people. Montana is not as off-grid friendly with its regulations, but I lump it here because of the large swaths of inhabitable land. There is an abundance of wildlife ranging from BigHorn sheep, antelope, deer, and elk to bears, buffalo, and fish. While much of that land is protected, after an SHTF situation, many laws and rules may no longer apply. A person can easily pick up an acre of semi-wooded land with a 25 gallon or more per minute well for a mere ten thousand dollars or less in either state. Note that there’s more tall grass than trees, probably in Montana. According to a recent report by the United States Department of Agriculture, the big plus for Montana is that an acre of farmland will still only cost you around $1,000. In these two states, you will find many people accustomed to living close to the land and with a good understanding of rural living. As it is a colder region, the growing season is not as long.
While I specifically list Kentucky and Tennessee here, I could really include most of the Appalachian region from Eastern Mississippi through Pennsylvania and lower New York. You’ll find cheap land with lots of wooded areas and an abundance of groundwater, rivers, lakes, and streams. The land is very inexpensive, and the cost of living is low if you are planning on putting your post-SHTF bug out location somewhere here. Famous still for moon-shining, there are many secluded, overgrown areas where people can remain hidden, unseen, and self-sufficient. About 50% of these states are forest-covered, so there’s lots of wood and wildlife to work with here. The climate is very moderate, and much of the area remains insulated from the rest of the United States.
If you know how to fish and hunt, Michigan or Wisconsin could be a safe bet after SHTF. With these two states, if the land becomes largely uninhabitable, you could always live on a massive barge in the Great Lakes like Kevin Costner in Waterworld. But seriously, the northern regions of these states have an abundance of natural resources. Suppose you are on the fingers of the mitten that is Michigan or live on the eastern side of Wisconsin between Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. In that case, you have an abundance of natural resources to carry you through any disaster. I could put in Northeastern Minnesota and other Great Lakes states as well in this category. The major downside is cold and snow. Parts of northern Michigan receive a seasonal normal of over 100 inches of snow per year. When the snow comes, your range and access to food stop. That’s not a problem if you are used to it, but anyone looking to bugout to these cold states will have a hard time if they don’t know how to make it through winter by canning, preserving, smoking, or dehydrating food. Also, your solar or hydroelectric systems won’t work with that level of snow. You are almost entirely dependent upon wood fuel sources.
Of all the states to choose from that make up the midwest region, I think Missouri stands the best odds of providing a survivable area after SHTF. While I think most of the midwest provides favorable conditions like a decent growing season and mild-enough climates, and though it can get extremely stormy and cold, Missouri has a good mix of wooded areas, about 35% of the state, flat farming lands, and hill regions. There are many natural resources if you know what you are looking for. Missouri gets high marks, too, because of the tenacity of the people. There’s an adequate level of knowledge of outdoor and rural living and lots of rural areas, and there’s a kind of attitude like there’s the rest of the United States, and then there is Missouri too. Add to these that the mighty Missouri river runs on both sides of and straight through the state, and there is a vibrant water and fishing source, though I wouldn’t drink the water straight out of the river as you might in Colorado. It’s not that clean. There are also many lakes and streams, and the Katy trail traverses a 237-mile line across the state’s center. This makes travel from one side of the state to the other possible, even without cars, in about five days.
I know lumping Texas and California together will draw both Texans and Californians’ ire but hear me out. I put these two states together because they both offer land, natural resources, and vast coastal regions. Texas is going to be more friendly to homesteading and affordable land. Though we tend to only think of the metropolitan coastal areas, California is actually sparsely populated along much of its central coast, and the ocean provides ample food for people. The central coast of northern California, the great valleys that run the state’s length, and the Sierra Nevadas’ wooded areas all provide a vast living area. The Pacific Coast trail offers a rigorous but doable post-disaster, on foot transit route of the state. Obviously, if you live in either state’s populous cities, you will have a much harder time when a significant, prolonged disaster strikes. Texas has more rural areas, and the eastern portions offer many places to live safely and in isolation. So, it is for mainly the same reasons of land and resources that I lump these two states together. I ask that the Californians and Texans forgive me on this one.
Moving to fair weather and an abundance of ocean resources, Hawaii is often overlooked but shouldn’t be. An archipelago of eight major islands, it is still pretty easy to live off the grid here. You wouldn’t be able to get there after SHTF, so you probably don’t want to invest in a bug out location there if you are stateside; however, if you are 
5-gallons. They are perfect for me because I can move them around (they have handles). Amazon.com : 
It is recommended that you soak beans before cooking them. They need rehydrating.
Every disaster has clear signals that proceed its arrival. A tsunami is preceded by the water receding far from shore. A tornado is preceded by a sudden barometric pressure drop and storm activity. Sometimes animals alert to the low-frequency waves before an earthquake. Even terrorist and lone-wolf attacks are often preceded by chatter, social media postings, threats, or other warning signs. When we look at historical events, we are often left wondering how our ancestors didn’t see this event or that tragedy coming. Do you think the citizens of Pompeii didn’t suspect Mount Vesuvius might one day blow?
When you recognize something out of the norm, you should immediately go to the action and assessment phase. I will address what to do when at home in a moment, but let’s assume you are away from home when you notice the warning signs of a disaster or the disaster occurs. First, grab your Everyday Carry Bag or Get Home Bag depending on what you have packed. Your EDC bag should be near you at all times. You may have left it in your vehicle or your office, so you need to make sure that either you can grab it and go or you must abandon it and go. 
After your assessment, it is essential not to be a stunned observer. You have to launch into action. Here are the most common disasters and what your best course of action is. There are too many disasters to go into all of them, but this quick list should give you a general guideline to follow in most situations.
In the minutes after disaster strikes, you should either be moving away from the disaster with the eventual intent of getting to safety, or you should be starting your lockdown and communication procedures. Lockdown is just as it sounds; you make sure all entries into your premises are secure. Draw shades and pull curtains. Your house or apartment should give the appearance of being occupied but not the certainty of it. 
When a significant disaster strikes, getting through the first few hours may be exhausting and seem to draw on for days. Time slows down because our bodies and minds are hyper-alert, and the decisions we need to make often require us to think fast and move faster. This time compression is expected. In the hours after a major disaster has occurred, hours can seem like days. While greater disasters may still unfold in the future and our safety may be far from guaranteed, the hours after a major disaster strike are usually the aftermath.
You don’t need a testing kit. You just need vinegar and baking soda. The short version is to mix two small samples of soil with distilled water. Add 1 TB of vinegar to one and 1 TB of baking soda to the other.
Your place in proximity to the occurrence is a determinant of your initial rate of survival. With nearly 80% of individuals living in either a suburban or urban environment, many are dependent on the grid for survival. Those who live in the country like to say that those in the city are certainly going to perish. Bugging out of the city may indeed be your best response; however, living in a city is not a death sentence. Urban dwelling simply carries with it more competition for resources and a greater possibility of crowd chaos. 
If the location doesn’t immediately account for the death toll, people who lack the basics they need to survive will succumb to their fate within the first week. According to one recent study, in the last 12 months, roughly 20% of Americans — or about 52 million people — say they spent money preparing or spent money on survival materials. Many new people are beginning to prep, which is also great, but the odds of survival don’t go up by merely spending a few dollars on survival products or extra food. Most Americans still believe that an emergency plan means setting aside money for an emergency. That might work in some situations, but if the dollar becomes worthless, so does their plan. 
Like a herd has its weakest at the back, most likely to succumb to predators, people are similar. The medically dependent, those in need of elder care, and neonatal individuals are at an extremely high risk of succumbing within the first days, weeks, and months. If you require insulin, for instance, when the supply dries up, and you are limited to just what you have on hand or can store up, the shelf life of that supply ranges from 14 to about 56 days. What then? Those in critical condition in hospitals or assisted living facilities will not get their needs met as supplies dwindle, and staff are forced to look after their own first.
In the days, weeks, and months after a disaster, even more will die from a lack of community. Many fantasize about being a warlord in a dystopic, post-catastrophe world where might makes right. While these are entertaining thoughts, perhaps, they aren’t very realistic. Lone wolf survivalists who live by the sword will die by the sword, as they say. It’s a community that keeps you alive. A network of family members or a network of neighbors and friends is essential for sharing resources, protection, and companionship.