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Nascent Drama

43. Patch kit

In the survival sense, think warm clothing, think fleece.

Those fleece throws (the single blankets) are great gifts, roll up nice and compact and are very useful as blankets, capes, padding for sleeping on the ground, tablecloths or even hung up on a leanto to break the wind.

By the time everyone adds their ideas to your list we will all need a U-haul on the back of that 4 wheel drive vehicle. Hey not a bad idea to learn how to build your own trailer, all you need is a spare axle, couple of wheels, a hitch and some wood. Peace - Marguerite
 
45. .22 ammunition - amount stored should be 5000 rounds, not 500. It is small, inexpensive, and can be used as barter material if need be.
 
46. .30-30/.30-06 - other calibers to seriously consider are the .308, .270, .243, .223, and 7.62x39. Many people, myself included can't handle the recoil of a .30-06 (and I don't like .30-30). There are more rifles chambered in the calibers I mentioned than I can list, and all are good. It all depends on what you can afford. The amount of ammo one should store should be a minimum 1000 rounds, not 200.
 
47. A sturdy, fixed blade hunting knife should always be include. You can find these from Buck, Gerber, SOG, Camillus, Uncle Henry, and many others. I prefer the Camillus Pilot/Survival or Marine Combat knives. These have been made under contract for the US military for about four decades and have stood the test of time. They are also inexpensive ($25 and $35 respectively) so if one is lost or happens to break, you don't get as upset as you would should your Gerber BMF ($240) bite the dust.
 
48. Many people, myself included, have not been able to master the use of a sharpening stone. But with the use of a sharpening kit, such as those by Lansky, we can bring up a very sharp edge on our knives. Great for use on kitchen cutlery as well.
 
49. A pocket tool, such as those by Leatherman, Gerber, SOG, et al, are much more versatile than the Swiss Army Knife and their prices are comparable to the more expensive Swiss Army Knives. In the meantime, I will hang on to my SAK until I can afford a Leatherman Super Tool. (I still have a house to run.)
 
50. 200' to 500' of 550# test Paracord is a great addition to your supplies, especially when the 1/4" nylon cord/rope is too thick or not the right tool for the job.
 
51. Boiling water may be effective, but it is not the best way to purify water. Boiling removes the oxygen content and causes it to be flat. For EMERGENCY purposes only one can use un-scented household bleach to purify water, but you should use only 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallons of water (1 tsp should the water be cloudy). The best method is to use HTH dry chlorine (65%), which can be purchased in bulk at stores like WalMart, Target, KMart, etc. (Also a great barter item.) The amount to use is 1/4 teaspoon (0.03 ounce) per 300 gallons for a 0.5 ppm of chlorine.
 
52. One can also get a complete cookset...cookpots, frying pan, coffee pot, plates, and cups...of good or better quality in the outdoor department of WalMart, Kmart, Target, etc., or a good outdoor supply store that sells camping equipment.
 
53. One should have two or three pairs of good hiking boots (U.S. issue combat boots are still the best and only cost $60-$80 mail order) in their closet and one dozen pair bootlaces per pair of boots (laces also come in handy for short term temporary uses, too). Should the long-term effect be much longer than anticipated, then the extra boots will be needed. Also a couple pair of good cross-trainers or running shoes would be advisable.
 
54.You should always have a handful of disposable lighters in addition to matches. They come in quite handy and you don't have to be a smoker to keep them on hand. They are inexpensive and take up very little room.
 
55. When we packed our food we used food-grade diatomaceous earth for the grains. All grain already has the eggs of insects in it - it's just the natural way. When they hatch out the diatomaceous earth either smothers them because the particles are so tiny or if the larvae is bigger or soft-skinned it dries them up.

I bake my own bread and grind my own flour. In some of the jars where we didn't use diatomaceous there is an occasional weevil and I grind it up - if folks eat animals then a bug or two shouldn't be a problem.

Diatomaceous earth is full of minerals and is a safe, non-toxic way to treat your food. You don't want to breathe it because the particles are so tiny but then, you don't want to inhale flour, either. It's real cheap, too.

We use 1/4 cup for a 5-gallon bucket of grain. We half-fill the bucket, sprinkle 1/2 the dust on, put the lid on, roll the bucket all around, take the lid off, fill the bucket with more grain to the top, add the rest of the dust, roll it around and you're done. You can do it in smaller batches, too. In gallon jars and then pour it into the bucket.

An added step would be to re-open and add a small piece of dry ice to the top. (I like to put it on a piece of broken pottery to keep it from "burning" the grain.) Let the lid rest on top while the dry ice sublimates into gaseous carbon dioxide and displaces bug-breathable air. Then seal tightly.

ALSO: ..I suggest sealing your bags, boxes etc. to keep from getting damp, then freezing them for 3 days..it kills the eggs. I have done this with everything I buy..it works. I have used rice, flour, etc. that is months old (re-stocking as I use). I'm sure it will work for animal feed as well.

You can also drop a couple of Bay leaves in since most bugs hate. Bay leaves are good to use in almost any food storage situation

Another good storage trick for grains and legumes is to use oxygen absorber packs that can be purchased wherever food storage supplies are sold. No oxygen = no living things, and no oxidation of the contents or the container.

To avoid 6 legged critters, vacuum seal your food (see Tilia Foodsaver) and store in 5 gallon plastic buckets with the snap on lids. Or, store food directly in the 5 gallon buckets and pay to have the buckets nitrogen injected. Costs a couple of bucks a bucket. Either of these methods will kill existing critters and prevent future contamination.

Second to vacuum sealing, you can use zip-lock bags. Fill the bag, lower it into a sink full of water until the water is just to the zip- lock. Seal the bag. Remove and dry the bag off. The water pressure pushes a lot of the extraneous gases (air) out of the bag.

Rats can, but won't gnaw into the 5 gallon buckets unless they have a reason to, like the odor of of something yummy on the other side. Properly sealed, a 5 gallon buckets should be odorless.

Rats require 3 things to survive, food, water and shelter. Remove any one of these three things and the rat population disappears.

I have used boric acid effectively for years to keep away roaches, along with Roach Prufe. The last place I was in had ants before I brought in food. One place I had and didn't prepare very many meals, had neither roaches nor ants, but I brought in weevils from the store, and they ate everything resembling a carbohydrate.
 
56. MAKING DO: . Stock up on kids clothing from the 2nd hand stores, jeans, sweats, warm winter clothing, and if you can't get to a store for any reason, you should have plain white/beige muslin cloth to make longs skirts & shirts once your regular clothing is gone.....but then we will also need to learn how to make clothing out of sheep's wool and grasses. You can make strong sandals out of tires so keep a few around and learning to work leather is a good idea too. There are great leather catalogs you can send for and check them out. Get a couple of old bikes too. Also get extra tubes & stuff to fix them with. Also pick up a few "fake" furs at the used clothing stores to use for covering. Or get real fur, but probably will cost more. You can get wool blankets at the Am Vets & Goodwill stores.
 
57. RAISING YOUR OWN CHICKENS:
Here's a great idea for your meat chickens. You might want to consider feeding your chickens nothing but sprouted wheat if you don't free-range your birds. However, free-ranged chickens and their eggs are healthier to eat. Buy wheat and soak it in a bucket of water overnight. Drain off the water (give it to the chickens) and let the bucket sit for 3 or 4 days. Rinse the wheat twice a day. Once the little root pokes out it can be fed to the chickens and will have so much more vibrational energy (or spark of life) and nutrition than the unsprouted wheat kernel had.


Chickens fed only on unsprouted wheat will dress out to about 8 to 9 pounds each--this sounds incredible but it's really true. If you are going to raise chickens for meat it would be interesting to try this method. Chickens fed the regular way average 5 to 6 pounds on average.

The sad truth is that store-bought chicken is mushy and tasteless and of course, you get all the hormones and chemicals the chicken ate. When you taste your first home-raised chicken meat you will be in awe. Chickens raised on the sprouted wheat taste even better.

These days, anything you can get that is organic is healthier than anything you buy in a grocery store. Buying at local farm markets is preferable. Always ask if the food is organic before buying.

Even if you don't eat your chickens this idea can be considered for the "after time" when perhaps you might be scrambling for something nutritious to feed your birds.
 
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