What to do When You Blow Your Lid

I was moving around some quart size jars that have pressure canned chili in them which were sealed up a few weeks ago when I noticed that the lid on one of the jars was no longer sealed. This reminded me to write about the importance of checking your jars, and cans for that matter. Lids pop up when the seal has been broken, or when bacteria that did not die during processing have filled the space with their gaseous byproducts. Either way, this is bad news.

If a jar does not seal within an hour or so of removing it from the canner, you can sterilize everything again, use a new lid, reheat the food, and completely reprocess the jar. Or, as frequently happens at my house, I put the unsealed jar in the fridge and use it within a week. Since my chili was canned a few weeks ago, and all of the jars sealed at that time, I can only say that the specific jar in question got contaminated at some point during the process, or the lid got knocked pretty hard by something which broke the seal. Regardless, I emptied the jar into the garbage disposal and cleaned the jar with bleach water after inspecting it for cracks and chips. This will happen on occasion, and while it is annoying, it should not stop you from canning.

Jars and home-canned things are not the only things susceptible to this type of spoilage. As a prepper, I usually try the sniff test on cans (store-bought) which may be a little past the expiration date. But take a good look at the can as well. If the can itself is rusty or degraded in any way, or the seal is popped, throw it away!  Botulism is a nasty disease that you can get from eating improperly sealed food. When in doubt, throw it out is a good motto to live by. In a TSHTF scenario, having food poisoning from unsealed and tainted food can kill you.

Light, air, humidity and bugs can ruin dry goods, which I keep in 5 gallon buckets. I am working on a post with pictures about storing dry goods that I hope to have posted within the next few days.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Prepping!

Local Commerce: Trading Like Your Life Depends on it!

     In think of what to post next, I did a mental shake down of everything I have in my condo; it really is a LOT of stuff. The good thing is that it is all useable by someone, and when TSHTF, my excess stuff could make my life easier, if the price is right, thanks to the power of bartering.

     In the event that social civilization did go to hell in a hand-basket, bartering will become a way of life again. Having items laying around which will be in demand is the trick. But having all this stuff is only the first half of the game. Many people have forgotten the art of negotiation. I cannot count the number of times that I have seen people accept a given price at a yard sale or flea market when I know that the merchant would lower the price if asked. I have been that merchant and profited from that mistake!

So how do you get the goods without going broke?

     If you want an item, you offer the seller a nice low price and see if they bite at it, then you raise it up until you both reach an agreement. It sounds really easy, right? It is, but Americans have been stuck for decades in the sticker trap. We have been so conditioned by the big box stores to sheepishly accept the price on the sticker that we rarely ask for a better deal. The art of negotiation is a skill that preppers must master.

     Start small when learning any new skill – yard sales are great! I hate to admit that I cheat: I never fold my bills together when I go yard sailing, and each pocket has a different denomination of bill. When someone thinks that you only have $3 in your pocket, they will usually meet your $3 offer on a $5 item.

     Once you have this simple form of bargaining mastered, then you can try your skills at the big box stores. And yes, it does work. I recently got an item for $30 off the in-store price because they sent an email to me with the sale price and nowhere on the email did it say “online only.” I pressed my point and walked away with the deal simply because I asked for it.

     With bartering, you should be trading things you don’t really need for things that you can use (or trade again later). I have put together a list of things for consideration since most of this is really cheap and easy to find now. This is not exhaustive, but it will hopefully get you thinking. Keep space in mind as you stock, and buy things you may actually need “at some point” since your shelf space is limited.

Canned food – cheap stuff you stocked but would rather not eat: noodles, potted meat, the great deal you found on tomato soup, etc.

Bullets – all sizes. 22’s are cheap and most people have a .22 for popping squirrels.

Hygiene items – especially soap, toothpaste, and feminine items

Diapers and baby wipes – wipes are worth their weight in gold in a situation without water to bathe in!

Baby formula and bottles

Trauma supplies

OTC medications

Vitamins

Salt and Sugar

Livestock - breeding pairs of animals should be maintained at all costs

Sustainable food: eggs, milk, butter, bread, honey

Bread starters like sourdough

Socks, underwear

Hand tools – handsaws and drills will be in demand

Screws and nails in a variety of sizes. Think about the poor sheepole who try to make a chicken coop without this stuff!

Plastic sheeting

Duct tape

Rechargeable batteries – any batteries really, but get a solar recharger for yourself and then you can offer recharging capacity for a fee.

Used cast iron pots and pans – the plastic handled, thin wall pans we now use will not withstand the abuse of daily open fires. Old cast iron is easy to find and not too difficult to restore and season. And having the knowledge to do so will also be a skill you can market in the future.

Toilet paper – I’d have to be desperate to trade my TP, but I’ve got a bunch just in case.

Pencils and paper

Files and wet stones – dull knives are useless

Jar rings and lids for canning – the lids are single use only so the more the merrier.

Charcoal and small propane bottles – for those sheep that cannot make fire

Lighters / matches – I am the only non-smoker I know who carries a lighter. Easy fire is WAY better than having to use a mag. fire starter.

Magnesium fire starters – I have several, and I have used them on occasion just to see if I can. Yes, they work, but it is more complicated than I want to fool with if I’m cold or hungry.

Books - fiction and non-fiction

When should you barter?

     The best answer is: when you need something in return. 90 days after TSHIF events, once society has had a chance to toughen up, and everyone is on the same level of mercenary mind-set, is a good time to consider starting on a small level. Barter with people you know and expect to have to defend you self and your stuff if you start bartering bowls on a blanket. Although unfortunate, this is the way society will most likely head.

     Please feel free to add to my list, I’m sure I’ve forgotten or simply not thought about a lot. Thanks for reading, and Happy Prepping!

Oh, Honey: From Kitchen to Medicine Cabinet

Using honey to treat open wounds on the skin has been done for centuries, but read this before you dismiss this simple treatment as myth. This post is informational only, and I do not advise you to do anything one way or the other. I maintain that infected wounds need the care of a doctor, but knowledge in a TSHTF scenario is always a welcome thing.

Natural honey contains and enzyme that is converted to hydrogen peroxide, and both are great topical antibiotics. Because honey has hygroscopic properties, it actually attracts moisture, which could lead to a reduction in scaring and faster regeneration of skin cells at the wound site if covered with an appropriate bandage.  With the emergence of bacteria that are resistant to current antibiotics, studies are being conducted in ancient medical methods to determine the effectiveness. Thankfully, honey is included in those studies.

In a study posted on biomedcentral.com, honey was proven to inhibit the growth of bacteria such as: Staphylococcus aureus (Staph infection), Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Escherichia coli (E. coli). The healthcare community has been battling with MRSA or Methicillin-resistant S. aureus for a number of years, and honey has showing some very promising results especially in the cases of burn victims (Hern T Tan).  A number of protozoa, viruses, and fungi also cannot withstand the application of honey. People suffering from diabetic and other types of ulcers have also shown great improvement in killing off the microbes that are perpetuating their infection.

            Accelerated healing with the use of honey could also be do to the noted increase of B and T-cell Lymphocytes in the area when honey is applied versus when it is not. Since I do not intend this to be an anatomy and physiology posting, I’ll leave it to you to read about those lymphocytes if you are just that curious. If you chose to skip that, just know that those cells are the body’s way of fighting infection, the more the merrier.

            If you chose to use honey in your med-kit, there are directionson the web for applying honey to a wound (Molan). I am not including these directions here since I am not a doctor. There are concerns that the honey could cause problems in those people who are sensitive for pollen since all honey contains pollen due to the nature of the substance. The sources I located also mention a difference in local food honey versus medicinal honey, so I encourage you to do some additional research. My medicine cabinet will have Neosporin, but my kitchen always has honey!

            If you buy your honey at a major grocery store, make sure that you are buying REAL honey made in the USA. Other countries do not have the standards the USA does, and some have tried to sneak in a mix of corn syrup and water under the guise of honey.

Thanks for reading, and Happy Prepping!!!

 

Hern T Tan, Rosliza A Rahman, Siew H Gan, Ahmad S Halim, Siti A Hassan, Siti A Sulaiman, Kirnpal-Kaur. "The antibacterial properties of Malaysian tualang honey against wound and enteric microorganisms in comparison to manuka honey." 15 September 2009. biomedcentral.com. 24 November 2012 <http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/9/34>.

Molan, Peter Charles. "Honey as a topical antibacterial agent for treatment of infected wounds." 1 December 2001. World Wide Wounds. 24 November 2012 <http://www.worldwidewounds.com/2001/november/Molan/honey-as-topical-agent.html>.

Worst Part of Condo Living: Fire

    It happens more often than anyone cares to admit, and each year it causes hundreds of deaths and millions of dollars in damage: fire. That single word is enough to strike fear in the toughest among us, and living in a single family home is a disaster; in a condo it means many families can lose everything within a very short amount of time. Winter is the time for fires since most people are turning on their heat, or leaving their dried out Christmas trees up far too long.

     How do we prepare for this?

• Have a plan! Review that plan with everyone in your home, and suggest that plan to your neighbors. Know where to get out of the house based on how the fire starts / enters. Teach your kids how to react, and enlist the help of your local firemen if you aren't positive yourself. (Believe me, they are ok with people stopping by with fire safety questions.)

• Have a fire extinguisher and know how to use it. Any fire department would be happy to show you this easy (and easy to forget) skill. 

• Having the skill is as important as having the correct tool. You have taken the time to get a fire extinguisher and your skills are excellent, but what about your neighbors? How do you know if they have one, do they know how to use it? What about grease fires, or electrical fires? Christmas is a month away, perhaps you should consider getting small fire extinguishers for your neighbors. Sure they may give you a strange look, but as a prepper, they probably do that already.

• Practice!!  Nothing, and I do mean NOTHING can take the place of training no matter what you are trying to learn. A rapid evacuation of your home is a must if your house is connected to someone else's as it is in a condo. Kids get frightened in intense situations like this, and in their panic they may hide. Training and practicing this drill will help them if a fire ever takes place.

• Finally, have a 5-minute-evacuation box ready to go. You do not want to have to think about this during an actual emergency. Having a box ready offers you the piece of mind that you only have one item to grab on your way out, or only one thing to ask a fireman to retrieve for you. Do Not Put Your Own Safety At Risk For This Box! This is simply stuff that would be helpful if you had after an emergency, but you still have a bug out bag in your car. When it comes to a rapid evacuation this is a luxury you can grab only if it is safe to do so. 

       I have an empty plastic trunk at my condo that is shoved against one wall. My task for tomorrow is to vacuum several changes of clothes for my son and I and pack them into that trunk along with some of my hygiene preps, and some cash. I have also decided to start a cash stash in the trunk as well, $5 or $10 a week adds up quickly and is certainly needed during a crisis like a fire. A flash drive with pictures and digital copies of important stuff will go into the box, as well as a hard copy of important phone numbers (both are backups for my bug out bag).

     Be smart in an emergency, be prepared before one strikes. DO NOT put yourself in unnecessary danger just to save stuff; stuff is replaceable. Thanks for reading, and Happy Prepping!!

Pressure Canning: Soup With Meat

      It's the day before Thanksgiving and you are looking forward to cutting up the bird, your mouth waters over the idea of leftover rolls stuffed with turkey on your way out to shop on Black Friday, but by Sunday you know that you will not care if you never see another ounce of poultry. Ever wonder if you can save yourself this misery? Well, you can. No, literally, if you can then you can save your poor overloaded tastebuds.

     Making soup, chili, even spaghetti sauce is something I love to do, and I usually make a huge pot full. Dinner is served and the rest goes immediately into newly sterilized jars bound for the pressure canner and ultimately onto a shelf. Nothing about canning is hard as long as you follow the directions. Every pressure canner is different so YOU MUST READ THE DIRECTIONS FOR YOUR PARTICULAR CANNER!! 

    I use an All-American canner and these directions are step-by-step for that specific style of canner. Some of the instructions are generic; for example, any canning project starts with sterilizing your jars and lids, and prepping the food you wish to can. Boiling bath canners and pressure canners alike need to have a jar rack in the bottom to keep the boiling water from slamming the jars onto the bottom of the pot and causing those jars to break.

     Boiling bath or pressure canner, which method to use?

     If your food has plenty of acid (and sugar is an acid), it can be processed in a boiling bath canner: jams, jellies, and pickles can be done this way. Any low acid food including meat have to be processed by pressure canning. There are many websites that go into these processes in much more depth then I will use here; my favorite is: pickyourown.org

    So here we go:

• Sterilize your jars and lids. Put the rack into the bottom of the pot, place your jars in, and fill with hot water until all jars are filled, and the pot is filled one inch above the tops of all of the jars. Bring the pot to a rolling boil and maintain this for a minimum of 10 minutes. If you choose to boil them for longer, add more water as needed to maintain the water level (I usually boil my jars for 20 minutes or so.)

• Turn the burner off and remove the jars from the water using the jar tongs in your canning toolkit. Empty the water from the jars and set the hot jars on a towel in preparation for filling the jars. You want to be ready to fill the jars at this point. The longer the jars spend out in the open air, the more likely they may become contaminated. I usually set my lids into a pan at this point and bring them to a boil for a few minutes. You need them sterile, and the gummy rubber needs to be pliable, but boiling them too hard will damage the seal. Again, do not put too much stress into this, boil, then back off the heat to a simmer and leave it there until you need the lids.

• Using the funnel from your canning toolkit, fill the jars. Stop filling when the level is about even with where the screw threads begin on the jar (see picture). There is a lot of debate on how high to fill your jars on many canning forums, I usually stop at the threads as I described above when I am pressure canning, with boiling canning, I go a bit higher. The seal will not form if you go too high though, so be careful with the level.

• Wipe the edge of the jars!!! This very simple step is so easy to forget and so annoying when you do. Nothing will seal if you forget to wipe the edges of your jars! Wet the corner of a paper towel with hot water and go around the edge a few times to remove any food that may have splatter there during filling.

• Use the magnetic lid grabber from your canning toolkit to grab a lid, one at a time, and place it on the jar. I use a system of: wipe the edge, get a lid, place the lid, screw on the ring, place into canner.  

• ***To this point, boiling bath and pressure canning is identical. After this point is the variation for pressure canning, specifically with an All-American canner.***

• With the jars filled, lids and rings on, and all placed into the canner, add water until the level is halfway up the side of the jars: more for quart size, less for pints. If you and lucky enough to have a canner that will hold another level of jars, just fill to halfway up on the first row, but don't forget to add a canning rack on top of the first stack of jars before starting the second stack.

• Move the canner to the stove, and oil the bevel of the pot with olive oil. This bevel is where the lid of the pot meets the body of the pot. The oil allows for the formation of a seal within the pot to keep the pressure. Once the bevel is oiled, place the lid on the pot following the arrow and screw it into place.

• The knobs should be brought up onto the lid and screwed into place in sets of opposites, like tightening lug nuts on a car tire. If you do the 12 o'clock knob, do the 6 o'clock knob at the same time. This opposite tightening allows the lid to be tightened evenly and prevents the possibility of the lid warping.

• Turn the heat on again and you will notice that your pot will begin to hiss through the spout on the top of the lid. Once this hissing is constant without and breaks, start your timer for 7 minutes. Vent the pot for that 7 minutes before adding the weight or closing the vent.

• When 7 minutes is up, add your jiggler weight or close the vent. I use the jiggler weight on the 10 psi setting. This weight comes with the possibility for 5, 10, and 15 psi. To determine which one you need to use, you should read the directions for your pot. The benefits of using the jiggler over just closing the vent are great. I ended up buying 2 jiggler / vent kits since "two is one, and one is none." The weight keeps the pressure inside the canner right around 10 psi with no help from me. This frees up my time to do other things, like that post to the blog last night. If all you have is the vent which you close then have to watch the pressure gauge, I started canning that way and I can completely sympathize. Consider getting the weight, it is worth the money!

• Process your jars in the canner for 90 minutes since my soup has meat. The time varies depending on what you are canning, but for meat, it's 90 minutes.

• An hour and a half after beginning, turn off the heat and remove the canner from the burner. Allow the pressure to drop to 0 before removing the weight.

• Once the pressure on the gauge is at 0, remove the jiggler and wait for the hissing to stop. Then unscrew the knobs by opposites again, unscrew the lid, and remove the jars from the pot onto a waiting towel using the jar tongs. The contents of the jars will still be boiling and making all sorts of noise, this is fine. As the jars begin to cool, you will hear the satisfying "pop" noise of the lids sealing. 

Left: Sealed, Right: Not Sealed

• Once cool, any lids that do not seal should be removed from the jar, the edge wiped again, and a new lid used before processing again. I usually put the jar into the fridge and eat it within a few days, or put it into the freezer. The jars that did seal should be washed and dried since they will be greasy. Rings are optional at this point, and the jars do fine without them if you care to leave them off.

   But that's it, you can label your jars with contents and canning date and stack them into your inventory. It is time intensive, but well worth it. Having jars of homemade soup, chili, or spaghetti sauce in the pantry makes dinner preparation on busy nights a breeze! 

magnetic lid grabber

jar tongs

This amazing chicken, corn and lime soup recipe can be found here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Chicken-Corn-and-Lime-Soup-103102

Please add your comments, recipes, and pictures, I'd love to know what you have in the jars! Thanks for reading, and Happy Prepping!!

No Food, No Problem, I'll Shoot a Deer...

   As I am canning the leftover soup  I made for dinner, and taking pictures so I can post directions for pressure canning tomorrow, I had to spare a moment to laugh at the number of times I've heard people say that "not having food stored is no problem since [they] know how to hunt." I think its worth the bandwidth to say a few things about this myth.
 
   Hunting is a great prepper skill to have! I recommend that everyone, men AND women, learn how to procure their own food. Learning now that you can look at a beautiful wild animal and pull a trigger will alleviate any fears you may have when the trucks stop bringing food to the stores. Knowing that dinner can be bought on the way home if necessary takes the pressure off and lets you concentrate on your task. Being able to properly clean that animal without tainting the meat is a huge bonus! Sadly, hunting is not yet a skill I have. But I can (and have) cleaned and cooked both chickens and rabbits, so squirrels and doves should be easy enough since those basic skills will translate over from one small mammal (bird) to another.

   So why do we prep for when TSHTF (The Stuff Hits The Fan)? 

   We have plenty of wild game in the woods all around my condo, but we also have trucks bringing food to the grocery stores on a very predictable schedule. When those trucks stop rolling in on a reliable basis, or just stop forever, you can be assured that everyone with a gun will head to the woods to "shoot me a deer." Hunger will cause acts of desperation, and you hopefully can see where any normal civility to other hunters would be abandoned rather quickly. A very dangerous position to be in.

    The unshakable optimism of hunters is refreshing however. Having the ability to put food on the table is really great. But ask yourself or your hunter how many deer he or she brought home last season. Be realistic about this. Most hunters will bring down a scarce few all season, and some will not even be that lucky. The majority of those deer go out for processing, and the conveniently packaged meat goes into the freezer next to the TV dinners. Now complicate this happy little vision with the knowledge that there may not be electricity anymore; and you may as well forget the convenience of processing.
 
    IF, big if, you are able to bring down a deer, and get it home without being mugged for your kill, what are you going to do with the meat after everyone in your family has eaten their fill? The unfortunate thing is that most sheepole (sheep-people) will eat what they can and the rest will rot where it lays. Preppers will preserve every scrap they can using methods like salt or sugar curing, dehydration, and canning.

    So why am I a prepper? I choose to stock my many shelves before TSHTF, so I will not have to risk my life going out in search of food immediately after a disaster. All forms of meat, fish, shrimp, vegetables, and fruit can be canned or dehydrated and will last for a few years in jars in a low-light environment. Salt, which is extremely cheap now, will once again become worth its weight in gold just like sugar. In essence, it is easier to give up space in my small condo now than it will be to find food after a major disaster. My family will eat.

    Please send in any comments, I'd love to hear from you! I hope to have a pressure canning post with directions and a link to tonights soup posted up and live tomorrow. Thanks for reading, and happy prepping!!

Anatomy of a Bug Out Bag (BOB)

     Bug Out Bag, survival bag, gear bag, emergency supply bag, call it what you will, but we ALL should have one in our vehicles! Let me start with a few questions. Have you ever pumped gas into your car only to realize that you left your money or cards at home? Have you ever had a minor cut and could not find a bandaid? What about broken down, or stuck in a major traffic jam for hours on end? Some preppers fear an EMP blast will knock out all electricity including vehicles making a long walk your only way home. Those are but a few very good reasons to have a bug-out-bag packed and ready in your car at all times.

   A bug out bag is a very customized item of gear. While I like the idea of several places selling different pre-stocked options, it is simple to make your own and much more practical since you pack what you will actually use. The pictures of are my own bag and some of its contents, and this is simply a place to start.

   The bag itself should be a sturdy style that is easy and comfortable for you to carry. Mine is by Maxpedition, a backpack style with the option of having a waist belt. There are any number of combinations of smaller add-on bags you can clip to the Max bags due to all of the molle's (webbing straps sewn to the outside of the bag). This adaptability is a huge plus in my opinion. Max bags are incredibly durable and are built to take some abuse. Any backpack or shoulder bag will work as a bug out bag: an old gym bag, a huge purse, or a briefcase. The idea is to get a bag you can carry comfortably when it is filled, and which has the available capacity to hold the things you think you need. Once the pack is loaded, try carrying it around to be certain that it is not too heavy for you. The last thing you want to do in an emergency situation is fight with your bug out bag or cut off all feeling to your arms.


    As I mentioned earlier, the contents of the bag are personal. What works for one person will not work for another. My bug out bag has a spare magazine for my 9mm, my son's bag has a deck of playing cards. Each member should consider the bare necessities they would have to keep with them if this single bag was all they could take. The contents of my bag are as follows:

• folding multi-tool
• fishing hooks, weights, line
• a tiny camping stove with a small can of fuel
• a sierra cup
• lighter
• water proof matches
• strike anywhere matches in a waterproof container
• cotton balls coated with petroleum jelly*
• several knives, folding, hunting, and small pocket knife
• binoculars
• small saw blade
• zip ties in various sizes
• paracord
• water purification tablets
• dish soap
• shampoo and conditioner
• a small "camp" towel
• toothbrush and tooth paste
• bags of dehydrated food
• bag of oatmeal
• instant coffee
• bottle sized packet of drink mix
• tea bags
• splenda and sugar packets
• toilet paper
• hand wipes and sanitizer
• spare loaded magazine 
• map and compass
• small pouch style survival kit
• $120 in cash - mostly small bills
• several silver ingots and coins
• small trauma kit
• sunscreen
• extra change of clothes individually sealed in vacuum bags**
• rain gear
• heavy spork from the hiking store
• bandanna
• pouches of water
• camel back - bladder bag for water
• whistle
• mirror
• magnifying glass
• pencil and paper
• heavy duty trash bags
• extra zip lock bags 
• medications: allergy and pain relief
• mole skin for blisters
• several flashlights with extra batteries

As I read my list I thought of a few more things I will add this week:

• a few family pictures in watertight container
• a zip drive with my personal records and all family pictures
• names, addresses, and phone numbers of family members

    Sturdy walking shoes that have been broken in already actually stay in my car anyway, so I do not add them to the bug out bag list. If you are traveling with someone else, add your walking shoes to their car when you load your bug out bag.

     This list is very fluid in nature. If I find something I think is "good gear," I add it to the bag. I also check the batteries in my flashlights when I check my home smoke alarms and change my clocks with the seasons. Remember to change out your spare set of clothes based on the season as well; shorts in the snow is bad planning. The ** I put beside the sealed clothes is to point out that cotton is not your friend! Cotton kills! If your socks are cotton and they become wet on a cold day you will be horribly uncomfortable until they dry; if they dry. Wool will keep your feet warm even if they are wet, but synthetic is the best option. They hold heat, and dry fast; just keep them away from fire since they will melt.

   You may also notice that there is a lot of redundancy on my list. I assure you that this is done on purpose! "Two is one, and one is none!" Please remember that statement if nothing else. I have several ways to start fire for just that reason. The cotton balls with petroleum jelly has a * and are worth noting. These are insanely easy to make at home, and they burn for over 5 minutes, long enough to start a small fire in a bad situation. It is hard to think that such a small easy thing could save your life, but it is true. With 2 being used, it may be enough to boil water. Not long enough to kill bacteria, but enough time to heat up dinner. Make a few and try them out for yourself.

     With so many people hitting the road this week for the holiday, please consider adding your personal bug out bag to your packing list. Also, remember to change out the stuff in your bag as the seasons change.

Take a Look Around, What do You See?

While I was between classes today, I watched as one of my peers primped herself in a mirror and could not help but to think of the number of times we, men and women alike, look at ourselves in a mirror. We spend hours each week fretting over what shirt goes with which shoes, whether we are getting wrinkles or spots, and assuring ourselves that every strand of hair in in perfect compliance to the image we are attempting to portray to the world that day. Yet, how much time do you spend each week verifying that you have enough supplies to get you through a winter storm? Do you check and recheck your guns to make sure they are clean, lubed, and loaded?  Could you spend less time primping and more time learning self-defense, or teaching your kids how to use a blow dart gun accurately?

As we head into this week of Thanksgiving, I challenge everyone to think about your family. Think of what it may take for each one of them to survive a massive disaster. Talk with them about preparing their own supplies, even if they think you are crazy. Spend some quality time with your own thoughts on just how you would handle a disastrous event when food and water are scarce, and looting is rampant. Use the holiday as a brief interlude for reflection as well as thanksgiving.

Also, gather up your canning supplies, and dust off your pressure canner (borrow your grandmother’s if you need to). Thanksgiving is known for leftovers, and turkey soup canned in the pantry is great for a quick meal. I’m going to be canning meat and pumpkin next week, and will be posting directions with pictures!