Lisa Bedford's Blog, page 102

June Skill of the Month: Off-Grid Living

Living off the grid is a dream of millions of people. No interruptions by telephone and away from the intrusions of technology and modern life — living as God intended, in fact. Knowledge of off grid living skills makes this dream a reality for many.

Well, living off the grid works for some people but for most of us, it’s not a practical choice. However, that’s not to say that we shouldn’t learn off-grid living skills. Those come in handy when the power goes out, when we’re camping or hunting, or for a worst case scenario.

June’s Skill of the Month will focus on a variety of off-grid living skills that anyone can learn and put to use. Coming up are articles about off-grid laundry, managing personal hygiene issues when there’s no power, storing charcoal long-term for off-grid cooking, and a lot more.

Be sure to return to this site throughout the month for more helpful articles, and subscribe to my weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing!

Have an off-grid mindset along with off grid living skills

Blogger Tammy Trayer has been living off grid with her husband and son in the wilds of Idaho for the past few years. While building their cabin by hand, the three of them lived in a canvas tent for nearly a year. Tammy has emphasized the importance of having the type of mindset that makes off-grid living possible and her suggestions apply to anyone want to live this lifestyle or just wanting to be ready for a power outage.

Tammy says,

I think everyone today is looking for some form of freedom! That freedom may be something different for each of us, but for my family it was embracing a 100% solar off-grid lifestyle in 2010 in the northern Idaho wilderness where we could make our own lifestyle as we chose and saw fit for our son and our family as a whole.   We lived in an 8′ x 14′ canvas wall tent for 8 1/2 months while we built our home on raw untouched land with no utilities or running water.

Let me clear up some of the misconceptions of off-grid living. When I tell people that we live off-grid the first response I get from most people is “Oh I am so sorry!”. This always makes me chuckle because I am really sorry for them being tied to the grid and having that added expense of their electric bill.

Being off the grid does not mean that we are poor, without power or in anyway less equipped than those on the grid. What it does mean is that we have a freedom that you honestly can not put a price on!

Getting started with off-grid living skills

To begin adding these skills to your own skillset, begin to keep track of all the ways you use electricity throughout the day and ask, “How could I accomplish this if there was no power? Is this something that really needs to be done?”

Truthfully, in a very long term power outage, there are a lot of things we would be forced to give up, such as hours in front of a computer, gaming system, or TV. Once the shock wore off, we would find other ways to occupy our time.

To get started, consider picking up off-grid skills:

Build your own DIY solar oven, buy a Sun Oven or some other solar cooker.
Cooking on a stove top. Hone your skills for cooking on a propane stove or some other type of camp stove. If possible, learn how to cook over a camp fire.
Warm water outdoors in a solar shower and take showers outside!
Research composting toilets. These are pretty amazing inventions and do not require either a city sewer system or a septic tank.
Washing clothes using a bucket/plunger system, an off-grid washing machine, or a washboard. Try different methods for wringing them and than hanging them on a clothesline to dry.
Build an off-grid air conditioner. This is a fun project that really works in all but the hottest temperatures.
Learn how to use just the sun to dehydrate food.
Try building a Zeer pot to keep food and drinks cool.

Resources here on The Survival Mom blog

Over the years, I’ve written a number of articles about off-grid living skills and others have contributed articles as well. Here’s a quick round-up to help you get going!

“12 White-Hot Ways to Use Cast Iron Every Day”

“Assemble an Off-Grid Tool Box”

“Campfire Cooking: A Skill to Practice Now!”

“Get Ready for the Polar Vortex With These Resources”

“Getting Started With Cooking Off the Grid: Solar Ovens”

“Grid Down? Have Coffee Anyway?”

“How Many Off-Grid Cooking Methods Do You Have?”

Make Your Own “Candles and Lanterns”

Don’t miss out on even more!

Coming later this month, I’ve scheduled a free webinar so you can learn more about living off-the-grid. What’s it really like? Why would someone choose that lifestyle? What can you learn from an off-grid family?

Stay tuned and be sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter so you don’t miss  a thing!

The post June Skill of the Month: Off-Grid Living by The Survival Mom appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

Fishing for the Truth: Is Tuna a Viable Addition to Your Food Storage Pantry?

When I first began stocking up on food specifically for food storage, adding cans of tuna to my stash was a budget-friendly move. My family enjoyed occasional tuna sandwiches, and I grew up loving a good, old-fashioned tuna casserole.

However, over the years, tuna began getting one black eye after another. First, reports of mercury contamination in tuna and issues with dolphins caught in the nets of tuna fishermen worried tuna lovers. More recently, concerns about radiation contamination from Fukushima affecting tuna in the Pacific Ocean have made eating tuna feel risky. This has left moms like me wondering: Is tuna safe for my family?

On the other hand, even in the midst of all this tuna drama, there’s been a rise in popularity of sushi restaurants, and they certainly serve tuna. Raw, no less! Upscale restaurants regularly offer seared tuna, ahi tuna, and other tuna dishes. How can a tuna fish sandwich made by Mom have “Death!” written all over it, but a Spicy Tuna Roll is perfectly acceptable?

Tuna is a healthy addition to your food storage pantry

Since my original plan to have a few dozen cans of tuna in my pantry for long-term storage was at stake, I’ve done some research to find out more about tuna. Ultimately, that led me to learn that at least one company is making a significant effort to deliver fresh-tasting tuna, with mercury levels near zero — Safe Catch.

But first, here are a few reasons why I’ve stubbornly insisted that tuna is a  healthy addition to everyday meals as well as your food storage pantry:

Tuna contains high levels of omega-3 fatty acids. These have been shown to reduce inflammation, reduce the risk of heart disease, and improve both depression and cognitive decline. One group of researchers discovered that it only takes 9 servings of canned albacore tuna a month to provide an average daily dose of 500 mg of essential omega-3 acids.
Tuna contains a form of selenium, selenoneine, that protects the red blood cells of tuna from free radical damage. In the body of the fish, selenoneine also binds with mercury compounds and protects the fish from mercury-related problems! That’s amazing!

In the human body, it’s very possible that we, too, receive similar protection from antioxidants when we eat tuna.
Tuna is an excellent source of vitamin B3, B6, and B12. It also contains a good amount of vitamin B1, vitamin B2, and choline, along with various minerals and a very healthy dose of protein.
Canned tuna is a super-easy and convenient food to have on the shelf for quick meals and snacks. The pop-top feature on most cans makes it an excellent addition to any emergency kit.
Tuna is typically budget-friendly and is a versatile form of protein to add to a wide variety of recipes.

Still, there are a few concerns and some surprising answers

Although canned tuna, usually albacore and skipjack, is recommended because of its high levels of omega-3s, attention still needs to be paid to the level of mercury that may be consumed. Safe Catch tuna is the only brand that tests every single fish for mercury levels. They’ve developed the very first technology capable of screening each fish for purity and the levels that Safe Catch has set for safety are stricter than those set by the Environmental Working Group and Consumer Report’s “Low Mercury” limits.

Even as I was sampling some cans of Safe Catch, thoughtfully provided for me by the company, I knew that radiation was going to be a concern, so I asked about it. Here is what I learned, first hand:

Safe Catch just received their radiation testing. Their Safe Catch Wild Elite Tuna tested for zero levels of radiation. The Safe Catch Wild Albacore Tuna tested for 0.46 Bq/kg which is 232 times less radiation than what the average banana contains. The testing was done by a third party lab.

As I was researching everything-I-ever-wanted-to-know about tuna, I learned that most tuna is pre-cooked before being canned. This allows the very best nutrients, including omega-3s, to drain away during the processing. Then, the tuna is rehydrated with phosphates, GMO vegetable broth, soy, water or other fillers. Safe Catch has none of those added, so it’s no wonder that it tasted and smelled fresher than any canned tuna I’ve ever tried. Instead, Safe Catch tuna is raw packed and then cooked. It’s free of additives, is non-GMO, BPA-free and isn’t packed in either oil or water.

So how does Safe Catch taste?

The Safe Catch tuna that I sampled was fresh tasting, without a fishy smell. In fact, I had some leftover tuna mixture, stored it in the fridge, and promptly forgot about it. Typical. About a week later I saw a blue and white container in the back of the fridge and braced myself.  Whatever was inside couldn’t possibly still be good.

I was amazed to find out that the container held what was left of my tuna fish salad, and it smelled as fresh as the day I opened the can. Pretty impressive.

Safe Catch tuna comes in 3 different varieties: Wild Skipjack, Wild Albacore, and Wild Albacore with no salt added. It retails for about $3-5 per can. It’s found in stores nationwide (store locator) and can be purchased online.

If you’ve held off buying canned tuna because of the well-publicized issues the tuna industry has had, Safe Catch might be the best way to re-introduce tuna into your everyday meals and food storage pantry.

Resources:

Is Tuna Safe to Eat Post Fukushima?

from The World’s Healthiest Foods

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The post Fishing for the Truth: Is Tuna a Viable Addition to Your Food Storage Pantry? by The Survival Mom appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

52 Weeks Savings: June brings sunshine and summer deals

In June, we celebrate summer, Father’s, graduations, weddings and Flag Day. It marks the halfway point of the year and on the 25th, it will only be six months until Christmas! Maybe this is the month to start making a holiday gift list and begin looking for bargain-priced gifts, well before the shopping rush begins.

There are loads of great June sales and bargains. Here’s what we’ve tracked down for you.

Food sales

June is National Dairy Month, which means there will be sales on ice cream, cheese, butter, milk, cream cheese, yogurt and popsicles. Most of these freeze very well, so it is an easy thing to stock up on. June is Turkey Lovers Month, so there should be sales on turkey deli meat (whole turkeys are cheapest to buy around Thanksgiving).

Cookout supplies are also on sale, such as hot dogs, hamburgers, buns and charcoal. If a charcoal grill is one of your alternate cooking options, it would be a good time to stock up on it. Soda, iced tea and bottled water also go on sale. Bottled water is a great thing to have on hand for almost every emergency. I keep a case in our vehicle during the summer months for when we are out and about.

Watermelon goes on sale during June, and there will be good deals on lots of seasonal produce. Consider going to farmer’s markets or researching what u-pick farms are near you to stock up on fresh fruits and vegetables. It can be preserved by canning, freezing or dehydrating.

TIP: Think about what desserts you might want to have in the winter months and get the fruit for it now.

Here is what is usually in season in June:

Corn
Lettuce
Apricots
Watermelon
Peas
Strawberries
Onions
Cantaloupe
Blueberries
Peaches
Honey dew melons
Berries
Tomatoes

June Household Sales and Bargains

Tools, tools and more tools: with Father’s Day, the typical gifts for dad are on sale. Cologne and menswear will also be on sale for this occasion. Dishes and kitchen appliances should be on sale to coincide with wedding season. Graduations start winding down in June, so the party supplies will be on sale, which can be used for future parties or for food storage supplies.

TIP: Paper plates are a very handy items in an emergency. They don’t need to washed, so you avoid wasting valuable time and water, and you can either shred and compost them or burn them in a campfire. The best thing is that paper plates from any past holiday or birthday party work just fine for this purpose!

For household items, some small electronics like camcorders and computers should be on sale. Both are good items to have on hand for keeping track of inventory for personal and insurance purposes. Carpeting and indoor furniture are usually on sale in June.

Women’s underwear, bras and lingerie are a hot item in June, since Victoria’s Secret holds its semi-annual sale in June.

And, as always, be on the lookout for gifts! Sooner or later, a birthday, bridal/baby shower, wedding, or some other holiday will surprise you, and when that happens, most of us usually go into the panic-shopping mode! That’s the mode where we don’t care how much something costs — we just need to get that gift today! Don’t be that crazy-eyed lady at the mall! Shop ahead and look for the bargains posted here in this article as well as the entire, monthly 52 Weeks Savings series on this blog.

Outside the home

Gardening items start going on sale in June. It is never too early to start planning next year’s garden. Stock up on seeds and gardening tools. Seed planters are handy along with organic fertilizer. June is Rose Month, since most are in bloom. This can mean lower prices for roses and rose bushes in June.

Sports and Fitness

Summer sports gear and swim gear go on sale in June. Many people tend to focus their exercise outside in June, so indoor exercise equipment goes on sale and some gyms may offer discounted memberships. June is hosts National Fishing & Boating Week and National Get Outdoors Day, so local parks and recreation departments may offer special and possibly free activities for those days.

Events                  

Taking a staycation this year? Check out this link for a list of blogs for fun things to do in different states: .

June is also National Aquarium Month, so if you have a local aquarium, they may offer deals.

Some stores and restaurants like to participate in specific special days, so keep an eye out for deals on the following days:

June 5 – National Doughnut Day

June 7 – National Chocolate Ice Cream Day

June 10 – Iced Tea Day

June 18 – Go Fishing Day

June 20 – Ice Cream Soda Day

June 27 – Sunglasses Day

Flea markets and yard sales gear up this month and are a great way to find deals on almost any item. Here’s a list of 21 things to always be on the lookout for.

Activities for Children

Summer reading programs are in full gear in June as schools let out for the summer. Check your local library and local bookstores to see what they offer. For a list of stores, theaters and online programs, visit http://savingdollarsandsense.com/free-summer-reading-programs/.

Several stores also offer children freebies as a reward for a good report card. Ask your local stores if they do anything for report cards or, for a list, visit http://savingdollarsandsense.com/good-report-card-freebies/.

Check local hardware and craft stores for children’s make-and-take events.

Register at www.kidsbowlfree.com to get children up to 2 free games of bowling a day at your local bowling alley.

Some movie theaters offer discount movies during the summer. Check your local theater for prices and movie listings.

Money saving tips

In the summer, close blinds and curtains to keep sun out on hot days to reduce cooling costs. If possible, dry clothes outside on a clothesline to avoid running the dryer. Take a different approach to summer meal planning and incorporate meals that are light, such as salads that incorporate fresh ingredients, or that involve cooking outside on the grill or over a fire pit.

If you have a solar oven, Sun Oven, or want to make a DIY solar cooker, this is prime season and a great time to learn this skill before a power outage or some other disaster happens. Using a solar oven will help keep your kitchen cooler and you won’t be using any electricity at all.

By the end of June, you should have $325 saved if you’re following the weekly savings plan (25 weeks). If you have extra right now, perhaps going to a higher week in the chart and putting that money away would be a smart thing to do. Take things one day at a time and focus on what you can do and what you can enjoy.

If you’re on Facebook, it’s not too late to join our very active 52 Weeks Savings Club for tips and encouragement.

Saving money is a daily lifestyle and the key is having a good attitude. Take pride in what you have already saved up and learn from any mistakes.

Take advantage of June’s deals and start looking forward to a fun summer. Come back next month to see what deals July offers to help you save AND prepare!

 

 

 

 

 

 

The post 52 Weeks Savings: June brings sunshine and summer deals by Sarah Anne Carter appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

Volunteer Work: A Super-Smart Prepper Strategy

When we think of preparing for emergencies, conventional wisdom tells us to stockpile food and water, know how to shut off our home utilities, and have a family plan. I can watch videos on the Internet and read books to learn preparedness skills. I have a plan and supplies to take my pets with me if I have to evacuate. So is that it? Am I done?

I would argue that there is a way to take your preparedness to the next level by becoming a volunteer. You can learn prepper skills through volunteer work.

My advice on volunteering is mostly selfish as someone who has worked in the emergency response field for many years. I���m suggesting a fair exchange of your valuable personal time for knowledge, skills, and abilities that will increase your level of emergency preparedness and provide much needed help for the multitude of emergency agencies that exist. You would be surprised how much you can learn, how many like-minded people you can meet, and how your confidence can swell with focused, goal-oriented volunteer service.

In many ways, volunteers are in a better position to define their experience with their organization than if they were an employee. In many cases, the employer-employee relationship is coercive, with the money exchanged held over the employee���s head. The special status of the volunteer, sacrificing their time for no reimbursement, can open opportunities that are generally only available to paid staff.

I���ll make the case for learning prepper skills through volunteer work

I first volunteered in high school, through my school���s Key Club. I represented our school in a wheelchair-a-thon for a local charity; people pledged an amount for each lap I could complete around the �� mile school track. I surprised myself and others when I was able to push my wheelchair a full 5 miles that day���and I gained the perspective of the limitations of being confined to a wheelchair.

Over the years, other volunteer stints included:

Time as a police Explorer Scout, where I learned law enforcement culture, leading to a future job as a city cop
Volunteer firefighter, where I learned fire suppression and rescue skills, and gained lifelong friends
Disaster Medical Assistance Team member, leading to disaster deployments across the country and a chance to develop leadership skills
Currently a member of Team Rubicon��where I just spent a weekend learning chainsaw skills and hanging out with patriots.

My investment in these opportunities was the effort spent looking for a good volunteer opportunity, my time, and attention.

Step 1: Road map to success

A first step is making an honest assessment of what you need to learn, as a prepper. Let���s say your weakness is in communications. You never even had a CB radio. Most communities have an Amateur Radio group associated with a police or fire department to provide communications support in emergencies. These groups are known by different acronyms like RACES or ARES, but all provide valuable opportunities to learn about radio communications and an inside view of their hosting agency, in exchange for a few hours of your time here and there.

If you’re going to learn prepper skills through volunteer work, you must first identify what it is you need to learn.

Want to increase your cooking skills on a shoestring budget? Volunteer for a soup kitchen. Don���t know the difference between a ball peen hammer and a cat���s paw? Habitat for Humanity will get you squared away. Building a house piece by piece will give you an extraordinary range of skills. And no outfit will teach you flexibility and give you more front-line experience with victims better than the American Red Cross. Their Disaster Action Teams help people every day in communities across the country. In addition, most communities have a ���Volunteer Center��� that helps steer prospective volunteers to appropriate volunteer groups that need help.

Step 2: Focus and Commit

You won���t achieve your goals and meet your needs if you approach volunteering in a half-assed manner. Volunteer-based groups go through hundreds of prospects before finding a person that can follow directions, take whatever entry-level training they require, and show up to meetings and events as expected. Believe me, once you are assessed to be a reliable volunteer that can follow rules and directions, opportunities will open up. Every group has an ���old guard��� that carries the institutional knowledge of the group, and if approached respectfully they love to pass on their knowledge no matter what the subject.

The training or opportunity that is your primary interest may not be immediately available. While you wait, make it a point to show up for as many events or work details as you can. Remember that volunteer organizations know that 80% of the needed work is done by 20% of their people. So be one of the 20% and they will invest in you.

Step 3: Assess your contribution vs. your gain

Volunteer as long as it meets your needs. There may come a time when you feel that it is no longer a good match for you���that���s OK! End your service to the group gracefully and move on, the need for good volunteers always exceeds the number available. On the other hand, if you have organizational or leadership skills, work your way up within a group; your opportunities to learn skills and access training will naturally increase.

Complete the Circle: Pass on your experience

This is both a suggestion and a challenge: as a volunteer, there are always new volunteers joining your group who need basic information and mentoring. If you are motivated to share information and skills with them, your skill level will increase as well. On the other hand, if that���s not your cup of tea you still need to pass the knowledge you gain as a volunteer to family and friends, increasing their knowledge, skills, and abilities. You invested the time and effort; make sure you can take advantage of what you learned in return.

The post Volunteer Work: A Super-Smart Prepper Strategy by Jim Acosta appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

What is Honey Powder & How Do I Use It?

Honey powder is a food item that has become popular in food storage circles. It’s grown in popularity because of its versatility (use it as you would any other powdered sweetener), its very long shelf life (up to 30 years when stored properly), and the fact that a little goes a long way.

Honey powder is simply dehydrated honey. Depending on the brand you buy, some sort of stabilizer will have been added in order to keep the powder from clumping. You may see that fructose or even starch has been added in order to create a shelf stable product.

Honey powder, available from Augason Farms, comes in large #10 cans or plastic bags. As long as the honey is stored in a cool, dry location, it will have a very long shelf life. Honey powder purchased in a plastic bag should be repackaged in order to avoid the damage done by humidity, light, and oxygen. One way to repackage honey powder is by using a Food Saver machine, canning jars, and a jar sealer attachment as explained in this video:

Put honey powder to use in seasoning rubs, sprinkled over oatmeal or other hot or cold cereal, mixed in with iced tea or lemonade, or added to recipes that call for honey. It can be rehydrated for a sweet, honey drizzle over French toast, pancakes, or muffins. Yumm!

These two recipes from Augason Farms incorporate honey powder as either an ingredient in the recipe itself or rehydrate to create a honey syrup.

Honey Scones

6 cups Augason Farms Honey White Bread & Roll Mix

2 �� cups warm water

2 tablespoons yeast

1/3 cup oil

Instructions

Combine bread mix, yeast, water, and oil. Knead until smooth and elastic, or mix 10-12 minutes using dough hook on 2nd speed (3 speed mixer).

Cover and let rest for 20 minutes, roll out and cut.

Fry at 375��F. Turn when golden brown on the underneath side, fry until golden brown.

Serve with Augason Farms Honey Powder, rehydrated according to package directions.

Yield: 24 scones

 

Whole Wheat Nut Muffins

1 egg

3 tablespoons Augason Farms Country Fresh 100% Instant Nonfat Dry Milk

1 cup water

1/2 cup chopped nuts

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup Augason Farms Honey Powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Sugar or sugar-cinnamon mixture ��� optional

Grease bottoms only of muffin pan.

Beat egg and stir in next six ingredients. Mix well.

Add flour and baking powder and stir just until flour is moistened. Do not over mix.

Fill cups 3/4 full. Sprinkle with sugar or sugar-cinnamon mixture if desired.

Bake at 400��F for 10 minutes.

The post What is Honey Powder & How Do I Use It? by The Survival Mom appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

Make the Most of Family Fun Time With a Customized Emergency Kit

Over the past six months, my family and I have fully embraced bicycling. We’re fortunate to live in an area with 100+ miles of bike paths and have started exploring them, venturing out farther and farther each time.

Before we leave the house, I make sure either my husband or myself has a wallet and a cell phone, and we carry with us water bottles and cables/locks to secure our bikes. We always air up our tires and spray our arms and legs with bug repellent now that mosquitoes and ticks are out and about, but last week a minor incident convinced me of the need to create a custom family emergency kit specifically for our biking trips.

On��Friday,��we ventured farther than ever before and I ended up with a flat tire. The tubes in both tires were at least 3 years old and my bike had been stored in the Phoenix heat for more than a year, so this wasn’t a complete shock. There was no obvious puncture — just a tube that decided��it couldn’t hang in there for even one more mile, and it wasn’t the end of the world, just an inconvenience. However, it made me realize that if bicycling was going to be a part of our lifestyle, we needed to carry with us a few back-up supplies, just in case — supplies specific to biking.

I don’t want a flat tire, or something more serious, to derail our family fun.

The family emergency kit for a favorite activity

So,��I’ve thrown together a few items in a lightweight nylon bag and this kit is something we’ll make sure leaves the house with us every time we go somewhere on our bikes. I’ve thought about the types of emergencies specific to bicycling and then threw in a couple of items that are always handy.

A mini tire pump
Mini tire inflator that uses small CO2 cartridges to fill tires (2 cartridges to fill one tire)
A patch kit
Zip loc bag with a few larger bandaids — A spill from a bike is likely to result in more than just a tiny scratch. My mini first-aid kit would be another good addition.
Water pouches����— I put a couple of these in, in addition to the water bottles on each bike.
Extra bike tube
Tire lever — tool for changing tires
Small multi-tool

It makes sense to have all these supplies in a single, small pack. What will be trickier is training everyone in the family to remember to grab that Bicycle Emergency Kit before they leave the house, whether the trip will be a short, quick one or one��that lasts all day, over many miles.

Your favorite activity requires specialized supplies

Nearly every activity that I can think of requires some sort of specialized gear, tool, or equipment. Even knitting and crochet! When I’m in the middle of a knitting project, you can bet I have my handy knitting emergency supplies at hand!

Of course the type of kit I have in mind is one for true emergencies, such as the type of injury most likely when skateboarding (abrasions on hands, elbows, and knees),��hiking (extra socks and moleskin), and even playing in the snow (hand and foot warmers, extra gloves and socks).

When my kids were taking ice skating lessons and we were at the rink a couple of times each week, I always kept an extra pair of warm gloves, extra socks, and shoelaces with me. Our swim team years required extra goggles, swim caps, and sunscreen.

What activities do you participate in, either on your own or with others, that might require a customized emergency kit? Here are a few things to keep in mind and you put your kits together:

1. What are the typical temperatures and weather conditions that we encounter in this activity?

2. What types of injuries are most likely?

3. How far might we be from medical assistance?

If you’re in town, an ambulance is only a phone call away — just be sure you have your cell phone with you. Activities that take you miles into the wilderness might require packing a few more first aid/medical supplies.

4. If you should become stranded, what supplies would you need most?

It might be just a cell phone or some cash to buy a meal until help arrives.��You don’t have to pack for an overnight trip just for a quick bike ride around the neighborhood, but��please be prepared to do just that on a day hike or bicycle trek that takes you many miles from civilization. Even something as simple as a rain poncho is better than nothing.

And, it’s not just��stuff that you should pack, but also some training and knowledge. Take a first aid and CPR class. Know how to identify poisonous plants, snakes, and insects if you’ll be tramping about in the wilderness. Ask yourself, “What would I need to know if we were stuck here for 24 hours?” That will help you identify the skills you should know, or learn if a small emergency goes from bad to worse.

Love bicycling? Learn how to change a tire, know some basic bicycle maintenance and have the right tools with you. A lot of bike shops and REI provide this for free.

Is your family into��camping? Know how to repair a rip in a tent and how to stabilize your tent in windy or stormy conditions. have the supplies on hand for taking care of those emergencies.

What activities do you enjoy and what supplies should you put together in a pack, just in case?

The post Make the Most of Family Fun Time With a Customized Emergency Kit by The Survival Mom appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

Conserving Resources in a Survival Situation

Whether we’re talking about being lost in the woods or recovering from a tornado that hit your neighborhood, you’ll most likely be dealing with very limited resources in those scenarios and, as a result, you need to be smart about how you use them. Conserving survival resources takes some planning and learning multiple, alternative skills.

Gear, supplies, tools, food, water, and even physical energy should all be conserved.

Let’s take a look at a wilderness survival situation as an example. Being a prepper, you (hopefully) have a small kit with you any time you hit the trail. The kit, of course, contains a variety of different ready-to-light tinders, such as WetFire Cubes or tinder tabs. The smart move, though, when you go to make your fire is to use natural sources of tinder if they can be easily found. Cattail fluff, seed pods, and dry grass should be used first, before tapping into your store-bought tinders. Using these types of tinder conserves your commercial tinder for when you might really need it. While hopefully it will only be a single night out in the field, one never knows what the future might hold.

Another resource to conserve are your tools. You’ll probably have to process firewood, but rather than use your knife to chop through long pieces, wedge the wood between two trees and break it using a levering action. Or, don’t worry about breaking it all and just feed it into the fire a little at a time as it burns down. Every time you use your knife, axe, or hatchet, you are going to dull the edge, even if just a little bit. Limit your uses of the blade to when you truly need to cut something.

Your survival kit, or Bug Out Bag, probably contains items useful for constructing an emergency shelter, but before you haul those out, look for naturally occurring options for emergency shelter, such as a downed tree that forms a natural lean-to. The less work you need to do and the fewer supplies you use, the better off you’ll be. Obviously, common sense plays a role in survival. Don’t bed down in a cave unless you’re certain you’re the only thing in it.

Energy is resource, too, of course. When it comes to food gathering, you should never expend more energy than you will receive from the food you obtain. For example, it makes very little sense to burn calories by going on a lengthy track, stalk, and hunt if you aren’t certain to harvest the animal. A far better option is to concentrate on acquiring food through more passive means, such as fishing and trapping, as well as harvesting wild edibles.

If you’re truly lost, staying put is a much better option than rambling around for hours on end. Searchers will have more luck if you’re not a moving target, plus you won’t get tired and make stupid mistakes.

Get into the habit of conserving your resources on a regular basis. Doing so now will make it second nature to you when it truly counts.

The post Conserving Resources in a Survival Situation by Jim Cobb appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

���Conserving Resources in a Survival Situation

Whether we���re talking about being lost in the woods or recovering from a tornado that hit your��neighborhood, you���ll most likely be dealing with very limited resources��in those scenarios and, as a��result, you need to be smart about how you use them. Conserving survival resources takes some planning and learning multiple, alternative skills.

Gear, supplies, tools, food, water, and even physical energy should all be conserved.

Let���s take a look at a wilderness survival situation as an example. Being a prepper, you (hopefully) have a��small kit with you any time you hit the trail. The kit, of course, contains a variety of different ready-to-light��tinders, such as WetFire Cubes��or tinder tabs.��The smart move, though, when��you go to make your fire is to use natural sources of tinder if they can be easily found. Cattail fluff, seed��pods, and dry grass should be used first, before tapping into your store-bought tinders. Using these types of tinder conserves your commercial tinder for when��you might really need it. While hopefully it will only be a single night out in the field, one never knows what��the future might hold.

Another resource to conserve are your tools. You���ll probably have to process firewood, but rather than use your knife to chop through long pieces,��wedge the wood between two trees and break it using a levering action. Or, don���t worry about breaking it��all and just feed it into the fire a little at a time as it burns down. Every time you use your knife, axe, or hatchet, you are��going to dull the edge, even if just a little bit. Limit your uses of the blade to when you truly need to cut��something.

Your survival kit, or Bug Out Bag, probably contains items useful for constructing an emergency shelter, but before you haul those out, look for naturally occurring options for emergency shelter, such as a downed tree that forms a natural��lean-to. The less work you need to do and the fewer supplies you use, the better off you���ll be. Obviously, common sense plays a role in��survival. Don���t bed down in a cave unless you���re certain you���re the only thing in it.

Energy is resource, too, of course. When it comes to food gathering, you should never expend more��energy than you will receive from the food you obtain. For example, it makes very little sense to burn��calories by going on a lengthy track, stalk, and hunt if you aren���t certain to harvest the animal. A far better��option is to concentrate on acquiring food through more passive means, such as fishing and trapping, as��well as harvesting wild edibles.

If you���re truly lost, staying put is a much better option than rambling around for hours on end. Searchers��will have more luck if you���re not a moving target, plus you won���t get tired and make stupid mistakes.

Get into the habit of conserving your resources on a regular basis. Doing so now will make it second��nature to you when it truly counts.

The post ���Conserving Resources in a Survival Situation by Jim Cobb appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

My DIY Pantry Storage Solution for Small Spaces

For a while now I have needed more space to store my extra preps, especially��my homemade canned goods and Thrive Life freeze dried foods. As cans and jars began piling up, I had a small��basement��room dubbed the “future pantry” with stacks of boxes and Mason jars. Whenever I needed something, it took forever to locate the right box, unstack everything, then restack again when I had what I needed. I even labeled the outside of the boxes, and it was still a challenge to find things!

Add��some Christmas decorations that got shoved in that small space, my husband’s work boots, and a filing cabinet, and what I had on my hands was a junk room.

Something had to change. We needed pantry ideas for small spaces!

Getting Started

After we got our tax return this year, we decided it was high time to get this project done. I had looked online��at various ideas and decided that I wanted a rustic look this newly organized space. Basically, I wanted planks of wood set on cement blocks, and then repeated for more shelving space.��I knew that��I��needed something heavy duty for the weight of the many Mason Jars I would be putting on it, and large cans of freeze dried food and other staples can be quite heavy.

I also wanted the 4″ block instead of an 8″ width. They are the same length (or depth, looking at shelves) but because they are narrower, I could squeeze one more Mason Jar in that space for every 4″ block.

We went with the following supply list:

2″x8′ treated lumber
2″x10′ treated lumber
4″x8″x16″ cement blocks
Drywall screws & Mollies
Step runners (small, thinnish pieces of carpet) to protect the linoleum
6 sets of adjustable shelving brackets

One challenge we faced was that for me to walk into the room comfortably, I had to have��the shelves on the left��side be shorter than��the right��wall.��If they were both the same, when I opened the door, the shelf would jut out into the doorway. Our shelves would be 74″ on the left wall, 90″ on the right wall, and the shortest wall going across the back��was 31″.

The 31″ wall has adjustable metal shelving to support the boards. We found one stud to anchor the first side. On the other side, we couldn’t find another stud so we had to use Molly bolts. Because these don’t support as much weight, I placed lighter freeze dried #10 cans on that shelf.

Building the Shelves

On the 90″ wall, we added an extra cement block in the middle of the shelf to prevent sagging. We set several step runners down where the first cement block would be placed to prevent damage to our our linoleum. Then a block was set down on each runner.��For��our walls, we��set a 2×10 and a 2×8 down��to get the width of the shelving we wanted. From there, it was just repeating the pattern.

We started the first boards 15″ up from the bottom of the floor. This left space for boxes of Mason jars, my large stock pots and other cooking pots on the floor under the first shelf. The next set of boards needed to be high enough for an 8″ Mason Jar to slide under, so we��laid the next set of boards 8 1/2″ above that. That gave me a little wiggle room to fit my hand in and grab a jar.

Once we started, it went very quickly. Something we found out that we didn’t account for was that we had to anchor the 74″ wall into the drywall because when we leaned on it, it would collapse! The 4″ blocks weren’t sturdy enough to keep the shelves from moving. If we had wider blocks, that wouldn’t have been a problem, but we wanted��the space to accommodate extra Mason Jars.��On the 90″ wall, it was snug, and didn’t need the anchoring.

We left a space of 24″ from the ceiling, so I have space for my large pressure canners, food grinders, sausage making equipment, blenders, etc. I can’t believe how much I put on these shelves. I was worried that that there��still wouldn’t be enough room for everything, but it exceeded my expectations. The cost was around $400.00 and was worth every penny.

The room that looked like it belonged to hoarders is now a thing of beauty and efficiency — proof that you don’t need a huge amount of space to store a huge amount of food and supplies!

The post My DIY Pantry Storage Solution for Small Spaces by Mary Blandford appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!

21 Homeschool Resources For All Ages

When my parents first pulled my brother and I out of private school to educate us at home in 1994, we were on the very fringe of an often misunderstood movement. We knew only two other families who homeschooled their kids. We heard rumors that there were others, but had no way to get in touch with them. It was nearly impossible to find resources, so my mother used a lot of the same curriculum that had been used by our last school. My mother often said that she wished she had pulled us out to homeschool earlier, but she had no way of knowing where to purchase materials or curricula. Obviously this was before the internet became widely used.

The homeschooling landscape has changed a lot in the last twenty years. Negative stereotypes that hounded us in 1994 have largely been proven ridiculous. When I started homeschooling my kindergartener last year, I was up to my eyeballs in resources, many of them free. My parents spent $1000 on curricula the first year they taught us at home. In 2014 I spent less than $100.

Here’s a selection of my favorite articles and homeschool resources for all ages, and they’re all free.

Homeschool Philosophy/ Homeschool Tips

1) Avoiding Homeschool Burnout

Burnout is the #1 problem homeschoolers face, which is why I listed it as the very first link. How many of us start the year with glorious expectations of our children’s academic success, only to find, six weeks in, that we are living an unsustainable model? Read Avoiding Homeschool Burnout for tips from experienced homeschooling parents.

2) Using Netflix in Homeschool Curriculum

I confess I do not have a Netflix account, but I use YouTube in a similar fashion in my own home school. Read Homeschooling with Netflix Documentaries and Using Netflix in Our Homeschooling.

3)�� “The Baby IS the Lesson”

Many families homeschool for moral or religious reasons. Moral instruction is an important part of a child’s upbringing but sometimes gets lost in the busy-ness that is homeschooling. Read The Baby IS The Lesson for inspiration.

Resources for Teaching Art

4) Harrington Harmonies

The author of this blog regularly posts fun and useful art projects around a theme, perfect for younger children who love to explore.

5) Drawspace

Simple, step-by-step instruction on the more technical side of drawing. Topics include line, value, shape, perspective, and color. Some lessons are free, others require a paid subscription. Browse here for all kinds of lessons in art.

6) Metropolitan Museum of Art – books with full text

You know those giant coffee-table books with all the pictures that they sell at museums? The Metropolitain Museum of Art has published a couple hundred of these over the years, and many of them are now available as free pdf downloads. Not only a good resource for art, but history as well.

7) Google Cultural Institute

Will the wonders of Google never cease? The cultural institute is a searchable image database of museum collections from all over the world, along with item descriptions.

Resources for Teaching Literacy

8) This Reading Mama

Lots and lots of free printable worksheets and emergent readers to inspire literacy in young children. The author of This Reading Mama blog also has products for sale.

9) The Amazing-Incredible Handwriting Worksheet Maker

My kindergartner is not inspired by his handwriting workbook, which encourages him to write, “Grey Goose,” and “The band can play,” dozens of times. He is very interested, however, in writing about things that interest him, so I regularly print up worksheets for things that say, “Space Shuttle,” and “Jupiter,” and “Kuiper Belt.” This site lets you choose from print manuscript, D’nealian, and cursive handwriting fonts.

Resources for Teaching Math and Science

10) Khan Academy

What started with a guy sharing simple videos on how to do a variety of math problems has evolved into a sophisticated online system of courses on a variety of subjects. Khan Academy math classes range from elementary-level mathematics to differential equations and linear algebra. Also offered are video lectures on history, art history, science, economics, and preparation for college entrance exams. The math section is Common Core Aligned.

11) Physics Animations

Sometimes you have to see a scientific principle in action before you understand it. These short animations of physics concepts are clear and concise.

Resources for Teaching History

12) BBC’s Primary History

This BBC website includes information on a wide cross-section of time periods – colorful illustrations and clear, easy-to-read text.

For Advanced Students: Open Courseware

Open courseware is a term that describes recordings and materials from actual university courses now available for free. Subjects vary from technical fields to history and social science.

13) Yale

14) Massachusetts Institute of Technology

For Special Needs Students

15) Homeschooling with Dyslexia

Dyslexia is often misunderstood, and can really throw a wrench in one’s educational plans. Some homeschool philosophies proclaim, “reading is easy, don’t sweat it.” Ha. (As a dyslexic, myself, I ought to know!) This site, Homeschooling with Dyslexia, probably would have been nice to have when I was growing up.

16) Homeschooling Autism.

This Homeschooling Autism blog has a lot of valuable information, though it hasn’t been updated in a few months.

Free! Homeschooling Resources for All Ages

17) Homeschool Giveaways

If you are looking for a site that does all the work for you in compiling lists of free worksheets and print-out activities on nearly every subject you can think of, here it is. This site primarily provides outside links to other sites, some of which require that you sign up for their email newsletter before you can access the material.

18) Homeschool Share.

This site has hundreds of free lapbooks, for a variety of age levels. Each download includes both the activities and the research required to complete it. If you have children in the younger elementary grades, they will love these cut-and-past activities.

Still lost?

If you need to begin homeschooling immediately either by desire or necessity but still don’t know quite where to start, there are several sites that include entire online curricula from kindergarten to high school.

19) Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool

A complete curriculum for all subjects that can be done by a student entirely on the computer.

20) Ambleside Online

Comes with the Survival Mom Stamp of Approval.

21) Discovery K12

Another complete online curriculum.

 

There are as many different approaches to homeschooling as there are children to be homeschooled. When I first began our homeschool year with my kindergartner, I had a very clear, structured idea of what we would be doing. Our reality became quite different as I decided to pull from a variety of different approaches instead of following one set curriculum, choosing to follow my child’s interests in lieu of a predetermined syllabus. Having the ability to access free homeschool resources for all ages has been a definite help.

Whether you are already homeschooling, or just thinking about it, I hope this short list (because this could have been much, much longer) will be of use.

The post 21 Homeschool Resources For All Ages by Beth Buck appeared first on The Survival Mom. Be sure to check it out!