What are your preparations for any potential crisis situation?

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by genevieve (here)
--baking soda

Instead of baking soda (sodium bicarbonate), I'd suggest potassium bicarbonate. Most of us are more in need of potassium than sodium, and potassium contributes more to keeping the body alkaline than does sodium.

The following article discusses potassium bicarbonate: Diet, evolution and aging -- The pathophysiologic effects of the post-agricultural inversion of the potassium-to-sodium and base-to-chloride ratios in the human diet, by Frassetto L, Morris RC Jr, Sellmeyer DE, Todd K, Sebastian A. (pdf). It's a valuable article; once you've read it, you will likely never recommend sodium bicarbonate over potassium bicarbonate again.

You can get food grade potassium bicarbonate from wine making supply shops, or from nuts.com. It is used (as is acidic calcium chloride) to control the pH of wine.

I add Himalayan pink salt, potassium bicarbonate, Willard water (especially for the sulfates) and fulvic ionic minerals to my drinking water (after using reverse osmosis, various carbon filters and distillation to remove all the crap from it.) When I pour that water into my glass, it fizzes from all the oxygen dissolved into the water, almost as it were carbonated. "Regular" commercial carbonation uses CO2, which is rather acidic and not recommended. But oxygen fizz is a sign of healthy water.

Whenever I tinker with my drinking water "recipe", I use pH strips and a dissolved solids meter, such as the TDS-3, to verify that the result is alkaline and has roughly two or three hundred parts per million dissolved solids (the minerals I added, not the original crap in my municipal water.)

The essential reason we want to keep our bodies slightly alkaline is that our bodies are electric ... they depend on complex electromagnetic fields and currents for the very essence of life. Acids are (positive) proton donors, which means (negative) electron thieves, reducing the conductivity of our body's tissues. Alkalines (bases) are proton thieves, which means electron donors, increasing the conductivity of our body's tissues. As can be read in the above linked pdf, there has been a major shift in our civilized diet from alkaline foods to acidic foods, which contributes to the de-energizing, dumbing down, of humanity.

I recently added 25 pounds of potassium bicarbonate to my supplies, obtained in bulk from an online supplier to wine makers. I repackaged it into several small bags, evacuating the air using a "Food Saver", so that it will keep a long time. Air degrades it. Every year or two, I can open another bag.

[T Smith]

Posted by Dennis Leahy (here)
Ideas for a solar-powered battery charger?

Something that can charge AA rechargeable batteries at least (for flashlights.) Most of what I see on the market is for charging cell phones, etc.

Dennis

Hi Dennis,

This is the solar charger I have. Just purchased it recently. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but it does have favorable reveiws:

http://www.ccrane.com/more-categorie...y-charger.aspx

[Meesh]

I have about 2 weeks worth of bottled water and I have bought solar powered lanterns and good surge protecters for our computers. Also, some food items. That's about all I can do, but it's something.

The spiritual preparation is a given. Been doing that for over 30 years.

[Dennis Leahy]

Posted by genevieve (here)
...
And don't forget this wondrous food/health enhancer

--coconut oil

I purchased most of these items from Swanson's Vitamins online ...

Peace Love Joy & Harmony,
Genevieve

Hi Genevieve,

Thanks for the Swanson's Vitamin's lead. Here's a link for others: Swanson's Vitamins

(and a link straight to coconut oil): http://www.swansonvitamins.com/q?kw=cocout+oil&x=35&y=9

The price is less than half the price of my buying club price for virgin organic coconut oil. That is, if the measurements are reasonably close) I think the Swanson's is sold by weight in ounces and most oil is sold by the volume of liquid ounces that the container would hold.

Dennis

{edit to add}

Posted by Paul (here)
I'd suggest potassium bicarbonate. Most of us are more in need of potassium than sodium, and potassium contributes more to keeping the body alkaline than does sodium.

...

Nuts.com did have a good price, and especially, thanks for the info about alkalizing water! You may need to do a long post in another thread on "Water" (I started creating a thread a couple of weeks ago, crashed my browser, and had so many tabs open that I forgot to go back and "Lazarus" it back to life.) The long post could describe your entire process, in detail. I'm interested and intrigued.

Dennis

[Bill Ryan]

Posted by Meesh (here)
I have about 2 weeks worth of bottled water and I have bought solar powered lanterns and good surge protecters for our computers. Also, some food items. That's about all I can do, but it's something.

EMP (Faraday) Bags. Cheap for the vital insurance they offer: they'll safeguard all your electronics in the event of an EMP/CME. Available here:

http://disasterstuff.com/store/pc/EM...-Bags-c128.htm

[RunningDeer]

Last week, I collected a couple of large garbage bags of kindling from the State Forest for my new BioLite camp stove. And purchased additional fire starters, too.

BioLite Camp Stove for $129. No batteries and it also powers up gadgets like phone and iPad. The guy does a nice job demonstrating how it works.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=W8pxT7jTGSs

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=W8pxT7jTGSs

[RunningDeer]

Water Bottle

These are a couple of items with portability in mind. (i.e., living out of a car if disaster hits) This is a place to begin your research for price comparison and models.

Water Bottle

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkeysport.htm

“Berkey portable water filters are easy to use and very effective. Berkey portable water filters remove virtually all contaminants and bad flavors from water. Even pond water can be made drinkable with Berkey portable water filters.”

Refill Capacity:
Water from any source -160
Municipal Water - 640

“At 22 ounces and weighing less than 1 pound, the sport Berkey bottle is lightweight and easy to use. No pumps, or breakdowns to worry about either.  When encountering a lake, pond, or stream, just fill up and start drinking.”
"The exclusive filter also incorporates proprietary absorbing media that are impregnated into the micro-porous filter for the IONIC absorption of pollutants into the filter such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, and other dangerous heavy metals."

Eliminator - 1500 watts
http://mysolarbackup.com/eliminator.html
What I liked about this is portability and you can plug it into your car. The downside like all back up equipment, you can’t expect to run a lot of things for long periods of time without recharging. You have to factor in the recharge time. There’s a vid demo at the link above.

“The Eliminator is a backup power system that can supply up to 1500 W of household electricity and is an excellent alternative to a generator. It’s quiet and has no fumes, fuel or moving parts, making it safe for indoor use. This mobile workhorse can also be used outdoors, and operates a wide variety of electronics including communication devices, power tools, full-size appliances and more.”
Applications
Emergency power: operates essential appliances such as a fridge, cordless and cell phone, radio, fan, lamp, home security system, microwave, sump pump and more.
Work productivity: operates power tools such as a drill, belt sander, circular saw and more; powers communication devices such as a laptop, desktop and monitor, printer, fax machine and more.
Indoor and outdoor recreation: operates a TV, blender, video game console, portable cooler, coffee maker and more.

[RunningDeer]

I saved rmauersr's post on water bottles. rmauersr found my Berkey Filters cheaper at Amazon.com

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkeysport.htm

“Berkey portable water filters are easy to use and very effective. Berkey portable water filters remove virtually all contaminants and bad flavors from water. Even pond water can be made drinkable with Berkey portable water filters.”

Refill Capacity:
Water from any source -160
Municipal Water - 640

“At 22 ounces and weighing less than 1 pound, the sport Berkey bottle is lightweight and easy to use. No pumps, or breakdowns to worry about either.  When encountering a lake, pond, or stream, just fill up and start drinking.”

"The exclusive filter also incorporates proprietary absorbing media that are impregnated into the micro-porous filter for the IONIC absorption of pollutants into the filter such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, and other dangerous heavy metals."[/QUOTE]

At only $22.34 on Amazon.com, everyone should have one of these filters.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=kdjByIaAx8Q

The Katadyn Mybottle is another good choce.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=SVJcNNsWz_Q

There are many models from Berkey and Katadyn. For those who want the best, the expensive Katadyn Pocket water filter has an amazing capacity of 13,000 gallons depending on the water. Lifetime guaranty if that means anything anymore.

Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=C0hGPPKUzCc

[/QUOTE]

[RunningDeer]

Last fall after loosing power for 6 days, I purchased a 2'X4' solar panel that's on wheels. It also has a battery back up and wall socket power source. For now, I use it to run my little techno gadgets and fan. It's also portable, so it fits into my car.

I've stocked up on food, water, medical supplies, batteries, dog food, paper products, toiletries, etc. My goal now to is to stock up before the prices sky rocket.

[Christine]

Good information here.

My newest purchase is a Hurricane hand cranked wheat grass juicer. http://www.harvestessentials.com/hur...ike-mj445.html

You can juice grass, greens, carrots, any sprouts. If you had to you could live off your front lawn.

[Ron Mauer Sr]

Posted by WhiteCrowBlackDeer (here)
Water Bottle

These are a couple of items with portability in mind. (i.e., living out of a car if disaster hits) This is a place to begin your research for price comparison and models.

Water Bottle

http://www.berkeyfilters.com/berkeysport.htm

“Berkey portable water filters are easy to use and very effective. Berkey portable water filters remove virtually all contaminants and bad flavors from water. Even pond water can be made drinkable with Berkey portable water filters.”

Refill Capacity:
Water from any source -160
Municipal Water - 640

“At 22 ounces and weighing less than 1 pound, the sport Berkey bottle is lightweight and easy to use. No pumps, or breakdowns to worry about either. When encountering a lake, pond, or stream, just fill up and start drinking.”
"The exclusive filter also incorporates proprietary absorbing media that are impregnated into the micro-porous filter for the IONIC absorption of pollutants into the filter such as aluminum, cadmium, chromium, copper, lead, mercury, and other dangerous heavy metals."

Eliminator - 1500 watts
http://mysolarbackup.com/eliminator.html
What I liked about this is portability and you can plug it into your car. The downside like all back up equipment, you can’t expect to run a lot of things for long periods of time without recharging. You have to factor in the recharge time. There’s a vid demo at the link above.

“The Eliminator is a backup power system that can supply up to 1500 W of household electricity and is an excellent alternative to a generator. It’s quiet and has no fumes, fuel or moving parts, making it safe for indoor use. This mobile workhorse can also be used outdoors, and operates a wide variety of electronics including communication devices, power tools, full-size appliances and more.”
Applications
Emergency power: operates essential appliances such as a fridge, cordless and cell phone, radio, fan, lamp, home security system, microwave, sump pump and more.
Work productivity: operates power tools such as a drill, belt sander, circular saw and more; powers communication devices such as a laptop, desktop and monitor, printer, fax machine and more.
Indoor and outdoor recreation: operates a TV, blender, video game console, portable cooler, coffee maker and more.

The Berkey filters are great. Inexpensive also.

The eliminator has a 12 volt 60 amp hour battery that may output 1500 watts, but not for long. Let's say the battery is good for a 50% draw down of energy, or 30 amp hours @ 12VDC. That is an energy draw down of 360 watt hours. If the system were 100% efficient (it is not), the battery would be discharged 50% in about 14 minutes if the output was 1500 watts. However if the energy output was significantly less, it could be a useful device. Especially if solar panels were added to recharge the battery.

[Kimberley]

Interesting thread that started in January of 2011 a thread that I have not seen or participated in until now....

I have been prepared since 2008. My last item a year ago was a Burkey water filter http://www.berkeywaterfilters.com/

I do not have an underground bunker or a gun :-) I do have plenty of caned goods and rice and beans on hand. I also have the luxury of being an 11 year member of a CSA (community service agriculture) harvest entity that is a mile and a half from my home. So I have an abundance or fresh organic produce in my life for 22 weeks a year, June through November.

I am so grateful for the abundance in my life in so many ways! And I know that I created this!

Much love to us all!!!

[Dawn]

I have done just about everything that is recommended. The nicest thing about completing this task a year ago is that I stopped thinking and worrying about it. I no longer worry about not being prepared or whether I will survive a disaster because I know I've done everything I could.

I'm very grateful for this thread though because there are some good ideas here.

Preparation Costs: One thing I will say is that I get most of my treasures second hand or on sale and therefore preparation has cost me very little. Some of my favorite disaster preparation treasures include
* deep cycle batteries being retired from use in a nearby cell phone tower (for our solar system)
* a lovely 1945 small generator in almost perfect condition
* some used solar panels and 2 used inverters that are part of our solar system plans
* 2 used electric bicycles that can be easily recharged and have carrying baskets attached to them. We recenly acquired a little aluminum folding trailer that attaches to these to carry additional gear.
*2 well loved pre 1970 vehicles in excellent running condition that are not subject to EMP issues because they do not use electronic systems
*used food-grade 55 gallon water drums that we've placed around our neighborhood along with a little hand pump to access the water
* a used backpacking water filter
*2 old microwave ovens that I use as faraday cages to store my small electronic items in

Critical Clothes: I just got a wonderful $39.00 polypropelene jacked from Wallmart (of all places) that does as much as my old $600.00 backpacking jacket. I have seen people nearly die for lack of this one important piece of clothing in unexpected weather changes.... a breathable waterproof jacket that I can easily move in is an absolute must.

Food:
*We've been dehydrating all the extra garden produce we grow for a few years now. Dehydrated food still has vitamins, enzymes, and micro-nutrients intact compared to canned food and can be snacked on just as it is as long as you have water to drink... or it can be re-hydrated.
*We've also stored chia seeds, quinoa, and teff.... high energy seeds that are gluten free.
*For oils we have coconut oil which has a very long shelf life
*Lots of powdered green drinks and powdered raw whole milk is in our larder as well

Clothes and shelter:
We have layered backpacking type clothes, sleeping bags, a tent, space blankets, and backpacks ready to go.

Altoid can Survival Kits: And for a serious instant emergency we made these kits for ourselves. If you google 'altoid can survival kits' you can see lots of examples. If something sudden happens we can always grab these. Here's a sample photo of one that someone created:

Preparing to Run: We've timed a couple of practice runs to determine the route we would take in an emergency. Since we currently live on the central coast of California, these routes have involved how to get to higher ground FAST in case of a tsunami.

Barter: I've been saving my healthiest and most productive vegetables as seed producers for some time now. I have them carefully preserved in sealed bags with labels. I believe this will make for great barter material. It is amazing how many seeds one vegetable will make... and quite a few vegetable seeds will keep for many years if kept in sealed containers.

Downsizing: Currently we live in a very minimalistic way. My partner has taken apart the appliances we use and re-wired them to function on less electricity. This way we don't overload our little old trailer. For example, we cook on an electric hot plate that uses only 600 watts. This would be easy on our solar system if we needed to switch over.

[Dennis Leahy]

Posted by Dawn (here)
Barter: I've been saving my healthiest and most productive vegetables as seed producers for some time now. I have them carefully preserved in sealed bags with labels. I believe this will make for great barter material. It is amazing how many seeds one vegetable will make... and quite a few vegetable seeds will keep for many years if kept in sealed containers.

For anyone interested, here is a handbook for saving seeds. I suspect most of us could learn something from this - I have it "open" to Seed Storage.

There are a few (a couple dozen?) organic seed companies left in the US that have not been bought-out by Monsanto. (I don't know about the rest of the world.) A package of organic seeds is approximately $3 now. I think this is probably one of the smartest items to stock up on - both for your family and for barter. (Maybe some of the seed suppliers will give deals on 2012 seeds too. Well stored seeds last many years. In fact, one seed company, Horizon Herbs, actually sells a type of corn ("Anasazi Sweet") that was found sealed in a pot in an Anasazi cave! )

What's your best guess as to how much a pack of organic seeds will be after the economic collapse? $20? $30?

Dennis

p.s. Here's the Anasazi Sweet:

[Arrowwind]

Posted by Dennis Leahy (here)
p.s. Here's the Anasazi Sweet:

I got to grow some Anasazi white beans once upon a time. They were first grown by a Univeristy after they were found, mine was second generation. I was too stupid at the time to assure that I kept some.. oh well.

I have about $100 worth of seed. It will make good trade item, and it can store, most of it, for a very long time... as the Anasazi seed proves. Keep it dry and cool. I store mine in a frige drawer in air proof zip locks or mason jars with tight lids.

Im also learning how to collect seed... getting pushed into that as I belong to a seed lending program in a public library. This year I have to return what I borrowed.

dont know how I turn on these italic lettering nor do I know how I manage to turn it off... it means nothing special

[John Hilton]

I was searching for an appropriate place to put this excellent video and picked this old thread because it mentions "prepping" and I'm on a Greek island:

The Secret Homestead of Survival with the Survivalist Gardener
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcGj157LGhA

On our island we are fairly isolated from the world but the island is large, has a decent infrastructure and (most of the time) a regular plane and ferry service from the mainland. Crete island is largely self-sufficient in food so we're unlikely to starve unless the sky is overcast for a long period. We have an established barter system and good neighbours who share whatever they have.

[Tyler Macmillan]

I just found a concept sketch of an EMP-resistant hard drive setup that I saved back in 2013. Could possibly help preserve data during a Carrington-level solar flare. I think I intended to post it on Avalon, but forgot about it. Looks like I was using earth shielding, and wanted something that was isolated, but still allowed it to be used daily. Not sure what it would cost to build with the fiber optic networking gear. Maybe this has been done already, or someone could improve upon it.

PDF attached below. Maybe there's a better forum location?

EMP-Resistant_RAID_Array.pdf

[ThePythonicCow]

Posted by luking (here)
Looks like I was using earth shielding, and wanted something that was isolated, but still allowed it to be used daily. Not sure what it would cost to build with the fiber optic networking gear.

Fiber optic has become more affordable.

I have a pair of Multi-Mode Fiber Ethernet Media Converter's on my list of "future project" supplies, for $63.11, and some fiber cabling, with the matching connectors (there are several connector styles, pay attention to getting a compatible connections) for $19.36.

My plan is multi-fold:

1. isolate my main active system behind a run of fiber, for the data, and a single power line, carefully avoiding ground loops,
2. rotated backup spinning rust disk drives, as I have been doing already for a long time, so that I have close enough to current backup drives disconnected, located elsewhere, inside EMF protection bags, at all times, and
3. a backup small laptop that I know works, that is kept inside an EMF bag, with an external disk box that can be used with any of my backup drives.

My main system is behind a UPS and (once I replace one ten feet of the copper internet coax with fiber) sufficiently well insulated from two-way, coming and going, opportunities for electrical current flow that it will likely survive a smaller event. I see no serious need to run the fiber all the way outside ... just a ten foot fiber patch cable, with ordinary house power going to the media converter, back to my internet service providers copper, on the end of the patch cable furthest from my main computer. I just want to isolate my main computer where I can (the network line), so that only one run of copper (for power) remains connecting the world to my main computer. Adding dual battery UPS with switching capable of isolating a massive voltage spike would be more money than I am likely to spend.

My backup drives and laptop will take over for larger events.

Then when things really go south (literally ... I expect Texas to move from about 30 degrees north latitude to 60 degrees south latitude), if I'm still alive, I'll likely not be spending time on my computer anymore, but the EMF protected, offline laptop and backup drive might still work, powered by the currently disconnected and offline solar, controller, batteries and converters that I have.

[Tyler Macmillan]

ThePythonicCow- Cool, thx for the fiber gear pricing, that sounds similar to the plan I've been thinking about, especially with all this CME activity. We had a lightning strike years ago, and man was that a lesson. It found a ground through our copper network wiring, and cooked network ports of many devices in the house. Not sure how these CME-induced currents would act, but if people got shocked a couple feet from their telegraph gear back in 1859, it stands to reason that it could be similar.

I might DM you about the fiber adapter later after the first of the year, if needed and if you're cool with that.

And for my personal stuff, manual drive swapping is sufficient isolation. I like the idea of keeping most of my computing and amateur radio gear mobile and generator/solar/battery-ish. We moved this year to an agriculture property, and stayed in our camper for 5 months while renovating the house. It was a good longer-term experiment in power and computing, while I telecommuted for my medical informatics job.

If I make a VHF amateur radio data node that does store and forward messaging and employs solar/battery, I was thinking I might isolate/bury the drive, in case I had messages that still required hand delivery or delivery via HF.

Seems like my higher priority right now is getting soil/crops/water planned and started for this spring when the irrigation water turns on, and start marketing/trading in our valley. So much to learn. I'll stay on topic here and take that to other threads, but maybe that's another reason I was drawn back.

[Anchor]

Posted by luking (here)
I just found a concept sketch of an EMP-resistant hard drive setup that I saved back in 2013. Could possibly help preserve data during a Carrington-level solar flare. I think I intended to post it on Avalon, but forgot about it. Looks like I was using earth shielding, and wanted something that was isolated, but still allowed it to be used daily. Not sure what it would cost to build with the fiber optic networking gear. Maybe this has been done already, or someone could improve upon it.

PDF attached below. Maybe there's a better forum location?

Attachment 54180

Nice work. Burying it all vastly simplifies some issues and makes the EMP protection very good, at the same time it rather complicates other things.

One criticism would be the charging cable itself which could function as an antenna and could act to bring the emp where it wasn't wanted.