{"id":118,"date":"2016-09-25T11:43:56","date_gmt":"2016-09-25T18:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/?p=118"},"modified":"2016-09-29T10:30:36","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T17:30:36","slug":"organizing-my-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/?p=118","title":{"rendered":"Organizing my Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every family is different.\u00c2\u00a0 You can go online and find all kinds of articles on what to do to prepare for XYZ, or how to be a prepper and get some step by step plan, with specific lists of foods and supplies.\u00c2\u00a0 But we are not cookie cutters.\u00c2\u00a0 Our geographic locations are different.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m in planting zone 8B; what I could do with a garden is a lot different from someone in zone 5.\u00c2\u00a0 Our families needs are different – I’ve got kids with special needs.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t think starvation would even be enough deterrent to get them both to eat oatmeal or wheat berries. I live in a heavily populated area in general, but specifically, my suburban neighborhood is heavily wooded, surrounded by both state wilderness preserve and privately owned undeveloped lands.\u00c2\u00a0 My neighborhood was carved out of a hill in the mid to late 80’s.\u00c2\u00a0 We have very little flat land for gardening, surrounded by mature trees, with very steep roads.\u00c2\u00a0 I have a moderately sized pantry, but no place to centrally store preps in a single space.\u00c2\u00a0 I’d LOVE a space like the ones pictured below.\u00c2\u00a0 Nope.\u00c2\u00a0 Not in my world.<\/p>\n

\"storagebins\"<\/p>\n

\"11\"<\/p>\n

Our knowledge levels\u00c2\u00a0are radically different.\u00c2\u00a0 I wasn’t raised knowing how to can food, raise livestock, or even garden.\u00c2\u00a0 I don’t have any “handy” skills for tinkering with an engine or fixing plumbing or installing my own rain catchment system.\u00c2\u00a0 We didn’t camp much; I don’t know how to set up a propane lantern with those little mantle things\u00c2\u00a0or cook on a camp stove.\u00c2\u00a0 I’ve got a lot to learn.<\/p>\n

I do know how to cook.\u00c2\u00a0 And cook well I think.\u00c2\u00a0 I have lots of basic recipes in my head.\u00c2\u00a0 You could toss me in a preppers pantry full of rice and beans and spices and canned goods and as long as I had a stove (I need to learn to cook other ways!), I could turn out a relatively tasty, nutritious meal.\u00c2\u00a0 So at least I have that going for me!<\/p>\n

First, I had to think about who I plan to support with my supplies if ever an emergency strikes and the SHTF.\u00c2\u00a0 Besides my husband and myself, we have a 12yo boy\u00c2\u00a0and a 7yo girl.\u00c2\u00a0 Both my kids have different special needs, sensory issues, and a lot of food accommodations for texture and tastes.\u00c2\u00a0 My mom lives with us about half time.\u00c2\u00a0 So at a minimum, I should be planning on supporting 5 persons.<\/p>\n

Then I came up with a list of major categories of preparedness.\u00c2\u00a0 Some of these things are critical for very\u00c2\u00a0short term (i.e. 3 days of supplies ala the FEMA recommendations), some are more relevant to a longer term, but still something we will recover from, others are more geared to truly long term preps – what would we do in the even of the end of the world as we know it (TEOTWOWKI)?\u00c2\u00a0 I consider those homesteading skills more than emergency preparedness, but still added them to my list.<\/p>\n

This is a major undertaking.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0And every list item breaks down more and there is so much information.\u00c2\u00a0 It can be overwhelming.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Emergency Contacts & Plans<\/li>\n
  2. Self<\/li>\n
  3. Water<\/li>\n
  4. Food Supplies<\/li>\n
  5. Food Preparation off the grid<\/li>\n
  6. Medical Supplies<\/li>\n
  7. Medical Knowledge<\/li>\n
  8. Sanitation & Hygiene<\/li>\n
  9. Backup Power<\/li>\n
  10. Keeping Warm<\/li>\n
  11. Lighting<\/li>\n
  12. Self-Defense & Security<\/li>\n
  13. Financial Security<\/li>\n
  14. Emergency Communications<\/li>\n
  15. Create Survival Library<\/li>\n
  16. Homeschooling & Education<\/li>\n
  17. Skill Acquisition\n
      \n
    1. Gardening<\/li>\n
    2. Composting<\/li>\n
    3. Fishing<\/li>\n
    4. Foraging<\/li>\n
    5. Hunting<\/li>\n
    6. Livestock<\/li>\n
    7. Cheesemaking<\/li>\n
    8. Food Preserving<\/li>\n
    9. Homebrewing<\/li>\n
    10. Soapmaking<\/li>\n
    11. Candlemaking<\/li>\n
    12. Herbal Healing & First Aid<\/li>\n
    13. Sewing, Quilting<\/li>\n
    14. Knitting, Crocheting<\/li>\n
    15. Woodworking & Carpentry<\/li>\n
    16. Handyman & DIY<\/li>\n
    17. Outdoors Survival Skills – knots, shelters, walking sticks, etc<\/li>\n
    18. Homemade Self & Home Care Products<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n
    19. Prepper Projects<\/li>\n
    20. Bugging Out<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Every family is different.\u00c2\u00a0 You can go online and find all kinds of articles on what to do to prepare for XYZ, or how to be a prepper and get some step by step plan, with specific lists of foods and supplies.\u00c2\u00a0 But we are not cookie cutters.\u00c2\u00a0 Our geographic locations are different.\u00c2\u00a0 I’m in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[13,10],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general","tag-organization","tag-planning"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":126,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pcgirl.net\/journal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}