Are You Prepared?

One of my best friends, Colt, is my sharer of economic doom and gloom. He explains to me what is going on in the economy. He answers my questions when I read the stuff in the news and I don't understand it. Mentally, I have a hard time understanding economics and I can't tell you much about what is going on, because I just don't really know, but I do know it is bad. I know our economy is crumbling. I think everyone has known this for awhile, but how many of us are prepared for it? I know that most of my blog readers, including myself, would not be ready in a crisis. No one wants to think about this...not even me. No one wants to think about long term power outages, which would be the worse case scenario, in this situation. Even I know that America is going to fall. We don't know when, but it could be soon.

We all live in this country and feel it is the strongest and wealthiest, but it's not. We are billions of dollars in debt. Most of our soldiers are overseas, when most of them should be here on our grounds. They can't keep us as safe, if they are not here. The media covers a lot of it up, so we don't realize how bad it is. We can't continue to live with this false security. We have to stop being so naive. At the same time, those of us who are Christians, must have faith in God for our provision AND meet Him halfway, at the same time. I am not saying to go all out crazy like during the Y2K scare. Even Backwoods Home Magazine said Y2K probably would not happen. I am not saying something terrible is going to happen, tomorrow. At least with Y2K, people had a time-line to get ready for the possible power outages. With this, we have no time-line. Eventually, I think our country will fall, just like Rome and countless other countries.

I occasionally read www.survivalblog.com It has some good stuff on it. The thing they are talking about right now is threats of Bank Runs. This is where people run to the bank to get their money out ....their fake money, that is, but they can't because it was never real in the first place. So, the first thing you should all do is go to the bank and get a lot of your savings out, go home and hide it in your house. Leave some in your account, depending on how much you have in there in the first place. This week, I am going to get half of our money out. Please don't hide it under the mattress, you guys! :) The first place I would look if I was a thief would be there or in your dresser. Think of somewhere creative and put it there. Even Dave Ramsey (the financial peace/debt-free guy... www.daveramsey.com) says to keep your emergency fund ($1000.00) in your home, not your bank.

Some places in the southeast, are running out of gasoline, and those who have it are selling it for $5.00 a gallon, or more. Right now, there is a Global Lemon Shortage! I rely on Lemons for medicinal purposes, and I just like them, a lot! Did I know the shortage would happen? No! Would I have stocked up on them, and dried them, or froze the juice? Probably! My point? You do not know what tomorrow will bring! I know the Bible says not to worry about tomorrow, but at the same time, people stocked up for times of famine, in biblical times.

The second thing to have is at least one gun and plenty of Ammo. Unfortunately, for those of you who live in the city you cannot hunt for your food. But, you will have to protect your homes from raids. This will be hungry, in-sane people, who have been to relief organizations only to find that no one can help them. For the kids and I, we have 2 guns and not much ammo. We would need a lot more ammo to hunt, as we don't have any food stored up, unfortunately. We would need to protect our home, as well, but not to the degree that you people would need to.

I hate the thought of losing power, in a worst case scenario, where the economy falls, and eventually there is no power. Fortunately, we would probably have somewhat of a warning that power would soon be out. It's not like during a storm, where you suddenly lose power, or a tree falls on power lines and you have no knowledge of it and boom, your power is out. You don't want to be the ones driving around looking for food and water at Wal-marts or other grocery stores, just to find that it is all sold-out. I know when there is a storm, I always fill pitchers and the bathtub with water, in case the power goes out. Did you know, I read on survival blog that a woman didn't know that she could flush her toilet without electricity? All you need is water to flush the toilet! If your tub is full you could flush your toilet for awhile!

In Idaho, we have a lot of power outages during the year. I have some things I need to stock up on before winter. Affording it all is the problem. I have all my wood and hay in (for this winter, anyway). No problem, there. I have a wood stove for our main heating. We have a wood cook stove to cook on if we lose power this winter. The kids and I have to collect branches and kindling, before the snow comes, to burn in the cook stove, though. Other than that, the thing I worry about the most is refrigeration and water. No one wants to have pitchers of water setting on their counter all the time in case the power goes out. I have a nice water tank that was in our horse trailer, that I have on my to-do list to clean and fill and put down in the basement, for an emergency. We can't drink from it but we could use it for washing dishes, cleaning, etc. In the winter we can melt snow, but we have nothing for summer time. We are on a plateau, with water downhill from us, and it would be terrible to have to haul it up, but we would do it, to survive, obviously. I have nothing for emergency refrigeration. I wish I did.

Some basic things I need to stock up on are LOTS of: candles, matches, ammo, batteries, certain tools and food. The list goes on and on! I have two wonderful first aid kits, from the army worth hundreds of dollars, so I am good there. Are you? I need to stock up on basic herbs and things I know work for infection. Garlic Oil, Vinegar, Honey, Cayenne Red Pepper,Lemon, Cinnamon and antibiotic cream. Other than that, I need basic Chamomile, St Johns Wart, Echinachea, Dandelion, Mullein, Yarrow, and others that I regularly use. Unfortunately I didn't dry it this year. I should have but I got lazy. I can easily buy the first 8 things I listed, though.

WORST CASE SCENARIO:

I encourage everyone to learn about, identify in the wild, experiment for yourselves, and USE herbs. Read about them. Have a good basic book for identification with good pictures in it, of wild, edible and medicinal herbs and plants. Dandelion is the most abundant herb available to everyone! It cures, heals and it is highly nutritious. I would not go a winter without it in dried form. In a worst case scenario, what would you do if you did not know what herbs are poisonous, or even how to identify them? What berries? What mushrooms? Learn it and have books that you can have on hand to read in case there is a long-term power outage! Would you want to die because you were starving and ate the wrong thing? Of course not! Some good books are: Practical Herbalism by Philip Fritchey, The ABC Herbal by Stephen Horne (this is an herbal book all about children and I highly recommend it) and Edible and Medicinal Plants of the Rockies by Linda Kershaw. She might have others for whatever region you live in. If not, find something else for your region. You need a good first aid book and medical book. Could you become pregnant after a long term power outage? I would have a good mid-wifery and natural child-birth book handy. Also, baby products....diapers, wipes, and things like that...use your head... Your best asset is your brain and resourcefulness! :) Have you ever thought about what women used for feminine hygiene a long time ago? What would you use after your supplies ran out? Have lots of old flannel sheets put away. Stock up on cotton material, and don't throw it away. Keep old towels for rags. I took a big stack of jean material (hot pink, red, black and blue) to the thrift shop and now I regret it...what would I use to make clothing once my kids ran out? Jean material is so durable! What was I thinking??? :[ Who cares if it's hot pink! Do you have enough thread and needles? I don't! What about when you have a cold and need to blow your nose? What happens after there is no Kleenex or toilet paper? Do you have washable handkerchiefs sewn up? I have about twenty of them made from old, soft, flannel pajama pants, flannel pillow cases, and old, soft shirts that I liked. They are a whiz to sew up and they last ages. We love them for when we are sick. We put dabs of peppermint, spearmint, eucalyptus, or clove essential oils on them, and keep them in bed with us to breathe better and blow our noses on. We never buy Kleenex. Do you have a favorite shirt that you don't want to throw away? Cut it up in squares, sew wrong side out leaving a hole, turn it right-side out and machine or hand sew the opening. I have about 10 or more ready to be sewn up, in the near future! Don't even ask what I would use for toilet paper....the indians used Mullein leaves and God knows what else....

I do not know how to make soap, which is something I would need to know. I do not have a wash board. A good initial stock of cleaning supplies, and hygiene products would be good, but what about after it's gone...would you know how to make soap? Shampoo? Laundry Detergent? I need a good soap making book...would you have the ingredients that you needed to make soap?

As far as food goes...I don't even want to think about it, because we have no reserve. I don't even care to think about the cost... same with gasoline. We could never afford what I know we would need but at least I know about wild edibles and can hunt. I know how to fire a gun! If you live in the country, two good animals to have are chickens and rabbits. In an economic crisis, these would be easiest to feed through the winter! No gas, no hay...larger livestock would probably die during the winter.

I know I am missing tons of things, that I could write in this post, but you guys get the idea, I hope.

I don't mean to scare anyone and I don't think you should go overboard unless you and your husband feel you need a 1-5-10 year supply of things you would need. I recommend this and wish we could afford to do it, but we can't. We have subscribed to Backwoods Home for a long time, and I know we should have been stocking up all this time, but we haven't. We need to start, though. The economic future looks very bleak and I am not one to freak out, but I want to stock up, and probably will finally start. It never hurts to learn things, either...like soap making, first aid, animal husbandry, etc.