[chersolly]

This thread is for the mommas planing for:

• Earthquakes
• Hurricanes
• Typhoons
• Nuclear Distasters
• Alien Invasions
• Oil Crisis
• Long-term Electrical Grid Malfunction
• Catastrophic Climate Change
• Interruption of the Food Supply via the Collapse of Our Precarious Industrial Agricultural Complex
• Zombie invasion
• Pandemics and Epidemics

You cannot rely on your Government to save you. Look at New Orleans.

 

[bamamom]

i'll sub just out of curiosity!

 

[RiverSky]

We have about 60 gallons of stored drinking water, a pantry full of canned food, manual can openers, a generator, stored extra propane for our BBQ, camping stove, propane lantern, a well-worn copy of Dianetics and another of Battlefield Earth (there some great inspiration in there, ideas on how to survive and thrive when imprisoned by aliens), tents, bleach for emergency disinfection, flashlights and batteries galore, even a hand crank emergency radio and TV.

What's in your emergency survival kit, Cher?

Oh, we have a few blue tarps, too. Handy when the winds from the Motherships blow the tiles off your roof....or hurricanes, we get hurricanes here, too.

 

[Danelle78]

well, we have water, propane stove and BBQ, canned foods, can opener, tent (waterproof tested in torential rains this past weekend), lots of batteries for radios and such. Luckily hurricanes are easy to prep for, but I think it's the clean up that's the bitch, and I hope I never have to go through that.

Alien invasions is DH's side of things. Hopefully he'll figure out how to communicate. So far though, he hasn't found anything working with SETI.

 

[chersolly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danelle78 Alien invasions is DH's side of things. Hopefully he'll figure out how to communicate. So far though, he hasn't found anything working with SETI.

He works for SETI? Damn, that's hot.

I don't have anything in my survival kit yet, so I'm going to steal everyone else's ideas, but it is something I am seriously planning for. I am thinking about stocking up on little jewelery items. Cash will be worthless, but everyone likes bling. There is a chance DH wouldn't be with us at the time (military), so I was thinking about some sort of personal protection device. I'm not a gun person, so maybe pepper spray or a taser.

Does anyone have book recommendations (other than Battlefield Earth and The Stand)?

 

[Danelle78]

Quote:

Originally Posted by chersolly He works for SETI? Damn, that's hot.

You can too! http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

 

[RiverSky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Danelle78 You can too! http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/

Supercalafragilisticexpialidociously cool!!! I'm going to talk to DH about it in the next day or two and perhaps we'll sign up.

 

[AJP]

How about those planning for an oil crisis, long-term electrical grid malfunction, catastrophic climate change, and/or interruption of the food supply via the collapse of our precarious industrial agricultural complex? (All of which are entwined anyway.) We must be a cheerful bunch!

We have fuel stored for our vehicle (we use biodiesel), a generator on its way to us (which can also run on biodiesel), freezers full of food, gradually acquiring bulk quantities of dry goods, our land has a spring which could be used for water in a pinch, and making plans to produce more of our own food.

 

[momof3sweeties]

There was another thread about this recently. There was some awesome links and info. I wish I would of saved it! If anyone knows of the link could you Puhleeeze post it!!

We're in earthquake territory. I always worry about disasters, not just here in Alaska but in the lower 48. If there was a huge disaster it could easily mean supplies cut off for us since we are are not in the contingent US. I'm thankful we have a creek and river close by for water if we lost power and we can heat with wood. I have a pretty stocked pantry so we'd be fine on food. Still things like candles, batteries, plenty of first aid, etc are good to have on hand.

 

[Cullens_Girl]

We don't own our own home so there's only so much we can do in preparedness....

but we have canned goods in the pantry (which I rotate, use and replace) and I'm working on getting bottled water stored (and again rotating, using, replacing) There is plenty of room in our pantry - but this will only carry us so far in the event of a HUGE disaster.

We have plenty of camping equipment... but no xtra propane tanks. I have some homemade fire starters someone gave to me and I'm getting the recipe to make some myself.

This worse case scenario stuff gives me goosebums, but I can't help but want to be prepared in some way.

 

[chersolly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cullens_Girl We don't own our own home so there's only so much we can do in preparedness....

We're in the same situation.

 

[KateSt.]

I never thought I'd be thinking of such things, but then I started researching the 2012 shift and it's definitely got me thinking. I recently heard about homes called Earthships. Anyone heard about these? They're totally self-sustaining -- recycle everything, use rainwater, etc, etc. I think living in one of these would give me tremendous security. I never thought I'd be a doomsday sort of person...and I still don't really know what I think about all this....but I'm thinking...

What are everyone else's theories about 2012? I'd rather look at things with more hope than fear, but I just don't know!

 

[RiverSky]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KateSt. What are everyone else's theories about 2012? I'd rather look at things with more hope than fear, but I just don't know!

Can you please explain the significance of 2012?

 

[newcastlemama]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AJP How about those planning for an oil crisis, long-term electrical grid malfunction, catastrophic climate change, and/or interruption of the food supply via the collapse of our precarious industrial agricultural complex? (All of which are entwined anyway.)

These are the things that I think are more likely and want to prepare for.....I don't want to be paranoid, but I also know that I cannot depend on the government to be my everything....

BTW--who has a good book on the subject for a reference or a website with a checklist for preparing for an oil crisis ect.

Jennifer

 

[chersolly]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RiverSky Can you please explain the significance of 2012?

You never watched X-Files?

Simple answer: The Mayan calendar ends on Dec. 21, 2012. Does it mark a shift in consciousness or were the artisans tired of carving?

 

[Earth Angel]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KateSt. I never thought I'd be thinking of such things, but then I started researching the 2012 shift and it's definitely got me thinking. I recently heard about homes called Earthships. Anyone heard about these? They're totally self-sustaining -- recycle everything, use rainwater, etc, etc. I think living in one of these would give me tremendous security. I never thought I'd be a doomsday sort of person...and I still don't really know what I think about all this....but I'm thinking... What are everyone else's theories about 2012? I'd rather look at things with more hope than fear, but I just don't know!

Hi!

I used to live in Taos NM, where earthships were started. The creator of Earthships, Mike Renyolds, lived/lives there and has several communities throughout the area. His first was the Greater World Community. They are amazing homes, but for me, I'd worry about the offgassing of so many tires in the ground. It is a great way to reuse them though. Everything else is amazing. I'd find a way to make my walls out of something else though (like adobes or rammed earth???). You can find out more at (I think) earthship.org.(somthing like that anyway) There are plans, general info, pics etc. If you just search earthships you'll find a ton of info.

I'm also game for more discussion on 2012. Check out your other thread KateSt......I just came here this AM (after much thought about doing so last night) to post about it!!!

ETA: Mike and his crew are now taking this technology around the world!! They went over to some of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami and helped rebuild using this technology

!!!

Edited again for a link to the earthship site!!
http://www.earthship.org/

 

[Earth Angel]

With regards to our preparedness.....we are renting right now too. We just moved from NM to Maine. We will hopefully be building this spring (Dh is a builder) and will go with solar and wind power.....huge gardens, root cellars/ basement.....and be producing whatever we can for ourselves. Hopefully we will also have water on the land.

My oldest is very interested right now (he's 6) about how folks used to live without money and technology. He tells me often that he feels we should be living this way!!! I agree!!!

We will store what we can.....but I am hopeful to also find local suppliers of whatever we can't grow ourselves too. Barter and community will/do become much more important in times of disaster.

I'm also not a gun person.....but do think about what we can do as far as hunting (if necessary) and protection. We may purchase a bow and arrow, and Dh will begin remembering how to hunt this way from when he was a boy.....how to preserve meat etc. As far as protection......I dunno.....I want to believe that if you are kind and work with love instead of fear and anger that you won't need "protection" you will already be protected.....but that feels a bit naive, especially given how desperate folks can get. Definately would like to hear more on this.

 

[bamamom]

Ahhhh...now it makes sense!

I was the BIGGEST X-phile ever!

Sorry...just had a lightbulb moment with the 2012 thing...

:

 

[chersolly]

I would love to live in an Earth Ship. DH and I have been flirting around with that idea for when he retires from the Navy. We are both handy people so I'm pretty confident that we could build one without little assistance.

 

[RidentMama]

Woohoo! A tribe for "paranoid" people like me!!!

We are somewhat prepared for a big crisis:
-generator: make sure to have plenty of fuel stored up!
-an alternative fuel-run vehicle: it's great not paying $50+ per tank of fuel!
-cloth dipes: yes, I consider them as part of the list.
-some canned goods: I'm not a big fan of store-bought canned goods, but was not able to grow a garden this spring (we were out of town), so my grand plans to do my own canning are by the wayside for now.
-tents/sleeping bags
-cast iron cookware: in case of open-flame cooking...which I'm pretty good at!
-a fabulous husband who spent the first 8 years of his life living in an off-the-grid cabin in the mountains of Oregon, which "programmed" him for the rest of his life to do as much to get away from dependence upon others.

Things I'd like to do:
-learn how to can and build a super-stockpile
-get a small water-purifier that I can pack with me (like this one: Water Purifier). Since the largest natural looming disaster here is a tornado, and since there are four of us, there's no way that we could haul around much water (yes, we have some smaller bottles stored that are easily toted).
-start working on our off-the-grid wind-powered home!!!!

If you're looking for more ideas, Countryside magazine is fantastic! Mother Earth News is okay, but I've found that most of their ideas are geared toward people of greater financial means than myself. Also, there's HomesteadingToday's forum...lots of people with self-sustaining ideas.

I'd like to suggest that people buy the wind-up flashlights and radios. They're about as expensive as the regular versions (once you include the cost of two sets of batteries), but aren't dependent on those batteries.