Thread: BASIC LIST / SUGGESTED ITEMS FOR LONG TERM SURVIVAL

SHTF & Prepping Central


71 Survival Items Under $5.00 - Some you may not have thought about

See here >> http://www.shtfpreparedness.com/71-survival-items-5-00/

#prepping #survival #stockpile #barter #shtf

7 Home Fortification Tips For Anyone On A Budget

Written by: Tara Dodrill How-To March 7, 2014 6 Comments

Image source: houston.culturemap.com

Home fortification is likely at the top of the preparedness “to-do” list. If you have very deep pockets, building a fortress is feasible, but for most of us, budget-minded tasks will have to do. Evaluating a home’s strengths and weaknesses is the first and most important step to creating the most secure structure your bank account allows.
While creating a home fortification inventory, both man-made and natural disasters should be taken into consideration. Where you live will play a significant role in what types of improvements need to be made to the home, barn and storage buildings present on the property.
Regardless of the natural disasters prone to your specific region, everyone should strive to secure their home against any civil unrest which could occur after a major disaster. Panicked and desperate individuals seeking food, water, shelter and weapons could likely see your home as a safe haven.
Here are seven areas to examine:
1. Signs. Sure, we all may ignore speed limit signs we pass while running late to work, but we notice them and fully understand the potential result of breaking the rules. Posting “no trespassing” notices, and “armed owner” signs will not deflect the intentions of the most brutal sort individual fleeing a disaster zone. But, they may deter individuals who are unarmed or untrained in self-defense. In other words, many people may not even walk on your property after seeing the sign.
2. Lighting
A well-lit area immediately lets trespassers know they have not stumbled upon a vacant property and allows you to see people as they approach. A light in a sea of darkness could also make you a target, so weigh the risks carefully and perhaps opt for motion-sensor lighting.
3. Doors and Locks. Choose extremely sturdy exterior and interior doors. Select door jams that are firmly secured into the framing with long screws. The hinges around the door should also be secured with long and sturdy screws. It is a waste of time to install steel exterior doors, strong locks and solid wood interior doors without securing them properly.

Everything You Need To Know To Keep Your Home And Family Safe.

Although a bit pricey, using commercial grade doors and locks enhances safety and makes it extremely difficult for the lock to be picked or a bump key used to get inside. A security bar, which can be placed across both exterior and interior doors, might not be attractive on a daily basis, but would be valuable when faced with marauders.
4. Windows. The windows on the home are the most vulnerable areas of the structure. Purchasing tornado or hurricane security windows is a valuable use of funds. Bullet resistant windows are also beneficial, even if they have to be installed one pane at a time when funds become available. Bars on the window are very unattractive, but add another layer of protection. If adding bars to home is simply an unacceptable option, consider having wood or a sheet of metal cut and on hand to install quickly when disaster strikes. To avert a reduction in visibility, have the metal and/or wood cut and installed in a shutter fashion, or with slots. A brace bar, similar to the one used on the doors, will help secure the metal or wood window fortifications. Banks and other businesses often re-glaze teller and clerk window dividers with polycarbonate plastic. This material is readily available in various thicknesses and is reportedly strong enough to deflect flying debris and some small caliber handgun and rifle rounds.
5. The Perimeter. Metal or stone fencing is more expensive than wood, but also provides more protection. A metal gate not only at the entrance of the property, but at several intervals along the drive, can help prevent trespassers on foot from entering the property. A makeshift tire track comprised of nails hammered through a 2X4 and placed along the drive will also help keep vehicles from coming down the drive and near the home.
6. Landscaping. Shrubs and bushes might look pretty in the flowerbeds around your home, but they offer intruders a place to hide and can make the dwelling more vulnerable to fire. Stick to shorter plants when decorating around the house and keep pine trees and hay bales far away from structures to reduce fire risk. Brush fires spawned by a natural disaster or a marauder tying to burn you out of the home are aided by poor fire prevention planning. Use a garden hose to keep foliage around the home damp during dry weather conditions and routinely cut back tree branches and underbrush near structures.
7. Observation. A second-story deck can double as a favorite gathering spot when times are good, and as an observation deck when disaster strikes. Such a platform will also help prevent marauders from gaining access to a fireplace or woodstove chimney. Dropping something flammable into the chimney is one sure way of driving you out of the otherwise fortified home.

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http://www.offthegridnews.com/2014/0...e-on-a-budget/

Growing Vegetables Plants from Kitchen Scraps!

celery scraps growing roots and new stalksSource: Brian Dooling

When people start thinking about growing some of their own vegetables at home, the task can seem simple at first, I mean how hard can it be to put a plant in the ground, water it and then enjoy the bountiful harvest of a fully operational farm? Yeah, not so much, although a wonderful dream, to get the bountiful harvest of your dreams takes a lot of space, work and time! With that said there are millions of small tricks that can make growing vegetables a little easier. One way is to use kitchen scraps to grow plants! Yes a lot of foods you disregard as not edible and/or trash can in fact grow into a plant and give you more fruits and vegetables! It is an alternative way of growing a vegetable garden then growing from seed or buying a bunch of plants.



Celery Growth

Click thumbnail to view full-size

place the celery in a cup of water and wait for roots to grow, I refresh the water every few days.Source: Brian Dooling

Start Your own Victory Garden

• Victory Gardens, We Need Them!

A brief discussion of the importance of victory gardens, especially in present day and how social media can help.


What about Seeds!

You can gather seeds too!!
You can gather seeds of fresh vegetables like tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and peppers that will grow plants. Heirloom varieties are the best because they will reproduce the fruit just as tasty as the original!


Compost for your Kitchen Scraps!

Although many of your kitchen scraps are being saved from the compost pile, don't forget to add some compost to your new plants to give them a little boost! Learn how to compost or Revive Your Compost Pile!


My Experience...

I’ve had my own vegetable garden for a few years now and I’m always looking for new ways to improve the harvest and balance the ecosystem of the garden. I believe that EVERYONE should grow some of their own food, even if it’s just one herb plant or one tomato plant! So with the unusually warm weather at the end of winter and beginning of spring my ambitions, and free time, were thrust into thinking/researching my vegetable garden. In the process I came across a blog that talked about growing celery plants from the discarded bottom of a celery stalk. At first I was skeptical but also intrigued. I had never thought of growing celery before but after doing some more reading and watching a few videos on YouTube to authenticate the idea, I decided to try it myself. It really was very simple. About a week later after using a stalk of celery for some soup and appetizers (here’s a recipe using celery!) I decided to try it! If it didn’t work it was no loss of time or money to me! I cut the stalk down to the bottom and simply placed it in a small plastic bowl with a little bit of water. I placed it on the windowsill and basically forgot about it. Every few days I would check on it and change the water but within a week I noticed the top center of the celery, where the stalks use to be was rising! A few more days and they were definitely rising. Then one day when changing the water I noticed small white roots growing out of the bottom! It was working; growing from scraps was actually working! I waited a few more weeks before transplanting the celery outside due to cooler weather and in the mean time I started a second celery plant in a different bowl, this one also began to grow! Finally on the last week of April when temps had warm enough and the threat of frost seemed about gone I planted both stalks in a pot on my back deck. They are growing bigger each day and in a few months will have fresh celery stalks from my backyard!!

Celery isn’t the only vegetable I’ve been able to use kitchen scraps to grow! Last year I stumbled across growing potatoes. We had a bag of potatoes that got lost in the pantry, when we found them they had begun to spud, so without thinking I throw them into my compost bin. For the next two months I was pulling foot long sprouts out of my compost bin, each one anchored by a chunk of potatoes! I decided to plant them in mounds and in pots as an experiment and to my surprise I actually got some potatoes, granted they weren’t that big but then again I didn’t really give them the room they needed either.

Another fun kitchen scrap to recycle is the top of pineapple! Yes pineapple! This one I have yet to successfully do and from what I have learned can be very time consuming, taking at least eight months of bright sunshine to grow fruit. Like the celery you take the top of the pineapple, where the leaves are, and pull it off, and then you pull some of the bottom leaves off and place in water till it takes root. Once the roots appear you can plant it in a pot. Growing pineapple may be more difficult because it is a tropical plant that needs warm sunshine for a long time, which isn’t available naturally in the northern latitudes. Never the less it can be accomplished and in fact can be very fun!

Finally I have to mention sweet potatoes because as I was growing the celery and researching what other kitchen scraps I could use to grow food, my favorite showNBC’s Community had a Law and Order inspired episode where the infamous study group had to investigate who killed their science project. The project, growing a sweet potato plant from a sweet potato!

NBC Community Growing Sweet Potatoes

Joel McHale holding up the sweet potatoe plant as evidence in NBC's Community paradoy episode of Law and Order! Growing plants from sweet potatoes!Source: rrstar.com

Benefits!

Benefits:
-less garbage/waste in your trash
-real cost of the food you bought goes down because you are getting not only another plant out of it but also more vegetables
-alternative to starting a garden
-Fun experiment, especially for Kids!!


Other Food Scraps to Grow!!

Some of the vegetables and fruit that can be grown from scraps include:
Carrots
Beets
Turnips
Rutabagas
Garlic
Ginger


So take a moment and look at the kitchen scraps you throw into your compost bin…do they have any seeds? Do you ever find plants growing out of your compost pile? Has the scrap ever grown any shoots off of it? If you say yes to any of those questions then you may have a vegetable scrap that can be used in your back garden!


Commenters growing Scraps!

Im thrilled by all the comments i've gotten about this hub and the plethora of knowledge people are willing to share! It is truly amazing! So here is a list of some of the other kitchen scraps readers are planting and growing!!!!

• sweet white onions
• green onions
• scallions
• red onions
• chives
• red cabbage
• romaine lettuce
• avocado
• lemon Tree
• potatoes
• pineapple
• Jerusalem artichokes
• mangoes
• apples

Check out my new Garden blog

• Growing a Good Complexion: a Gardener's Guide to Hea...
  Eating fruits and vegetables is very healthy for you , but growing them in your own backyard gives them even more value, especially when you are looking to grow fruits and vegetables to cure skin problems. Here is a list of fruits and vegetables to g
• #GrowYourOwn My Vegetable Garden!
  A blog following the fruits of my labor (pun intended!) of my backyard garden, aka modern day victory garden. #GrowYourOwn is a hashtag used in social media to represent a rising food movement to diversify the global food network.

http://bwd316.hubpages.com/hub/Growing-Vegetables-from-Kitchen-Scraps

We transformed an antique 15 light French door to a timeless picture frame.

Check our more DIY inspired projects and home ideas by visiting our pages: Requesting Your Presence /Mass Dream Home

Craft, Home and Garden Ideas

How to Attract Hummingbirds to Your Garden
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Craft, Home and Garden Ideas

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41 Camping Hacks That Are Borderline Genius

These tips and tricks will guarantee you’ll be a totally happy camper this summer.

posted on June 5, 2013 at 1:20pm EDT

Peggy Wang
BuzzFeed Staff



1. Use foam floor tiles for a softer, more comfortable tent floor.



alittlecampy.com

2. Point a head lamp into a jug of water for an instant lantern.



Flickr: listorama

3. Also: Mountain Dew + baking soda + peroxide = lantern.



pinterest.com

4. Make tin-can sandwich bread as a portable food option.



thereadystore.com
Get the recipe here.

5. Familiarize yourself with what the poisonous plants look like.



sheknows.com

6. Bring a tick deterrent.




7. Glue sandpaper to the top of your match holder.



craftaholicsanonymous.net
Be sure to buy strike-anywhere matches.

8. Repurpose a coffee can to hold and protect TP.



fieldandstream.com

9. Make crescent rolls over the campfire.



For maximum yumminess, fill ‘em with stuff like marshmallows and Nutella. Or wrap hot dogs with them.



Get the directions here.

10. Use Tic-Tac boxes to store spices.



skruben.blogspot.ca

11. Invest in a two-person sleeping bag.



cabelas.com
This one is $84.99 from Cabelas.

12. Get these seat hammocks for car camping.



hammocks.com
Buy ‘em here.

13. Cut up a straw and fill the pieces up with antibiotic ointment or toothpaste for single-use packets.



briangreen.net
Use a lighter to seal up the ends.

14. Make travel coffee bags out of coffee filters and dental floss.



scjohnson.com
Place a scoop of coffee grounds into a coffee filter and tie it up with dental floss. When you’re ready to brew, just make it like you would make tea in a teabag!

15. Need your coffee? Bring a few of these.



pinterest.com
They’ll keep you from going into caffeine withdrawal.

16. Make candle stakes for romantic nighttime lighting.



asubtlerevelry.com
Get the directions here.

17. Make single-use soap leaves from a bar of soap and a vegetable peeler.



asubtlerevelry.com
You can also rub soap on mosquito bites to relieve the itchiness.

18. Use an empty laundry detergent dispenser as a hand-washing station.


greatwildoutdoors.com









Just fill it up with water.


19. Use a belt and hooks to hang up pots and pans.



pinterest.com

20. Make campfire cones!



kidactivitiesblog.com

21. Pack a mini first-aid kit into an old prescription bottle or Altoids tin.



chasinggreen.org

22. Make pancakes with pre-made pancake mix using shortening and dry milk, which don’t need to be refrigerated.



onegoodthingbyjillee.com
Get the full recipe here. You can also find powdered eggs at most grocery stores (if you don’t shudder at the thought).

23. Put a battery-powered votive candle into an empty peanut butter container to make portable lanterns.




24. Make a portable washing machine with a plunger and a bucket.














Get the directions here.


25. Make an easy-to-carry fire starter with a cardboard-only egg carton and match light charcoal.



sewmanyways.blogspot.com
You just have to light the carton and the fire will catch on to the charcoal.

26.


macbrosplace.com

27. Make pocket-sized oil lamps out of travel-size or hotel toiletry shampoo bottles.



instructables.com
Get the directions here.

28. Forgo the meat marinade and put the rosemary right on the coals.



marthastewart.com
Once the coals are uniformly gray and ashy, cover them with fresh rosemary branches. Your meat and vegetables will be flavored with the taste of savory herbs.

29. Bring cheeses in waxed packaging as well as hard cheeses.



cutefoodforkids.com / Via bonappetit.com
Aged cheddar, Parmigiano, and/or Gruyère will keep for at least a week unrefrigerated.

30. Add bundles of sage to a campfire to keep mosquitoes away.



google.com

31. Try roasting Starburst.


clarkandsuz.blogspot.com



clarkandsuz.blogspot.com






Sounds crazy, but it’s actually delicious. Crunchy on the outside, warm and gooey on the inside. Roast it until it’s bubbling.


32. Forgo pasta for a quick-cooking alternatives like polenta, quinoa, or couscous.



bonappetit.com
Polenta is especially versatile because it can be shaped into patties and pan-fried for a sweet or savory meal. Get a recipe for grilled polenta cakes.

33. Cook cinnabuns (the canned kind) in a hollowed-out orange over a campfire.



trulysimple.com
Get the full details here.

34. If you’re going to be hiking, use this biodegradable trail-marking tape.



gofastandlight.com
Buy it here.

35. Keep the kids busy with a scavenger hunt.


thetaylor-house.com



pinterest.com






Write the items down on a paper bag so they have a receptacle for the items.


36. Use a bucket and a milk crate as an emergency toilet.



rootsimple.com
Get the directions here.

37. Cotton pads dipped in wax are a crazy easy way to make portable fire starters.



pinterest.com

38. Bring microfiber towels — they’re super absorbent and lightweight.



amazon.com

39. Freeze gallon jugs of water and place them in your cooler.



campingblogger.net
They’ll keep your food cold, and you’ll have plenty of water to drink for later.
Other things you can freeze to use for later: pasta sauces, chili, and pesto.

40. Make emergency light sources out of an Altoids tin, cardboard, and wax.



instructables.com
Get the instructions here.

41. Make sandwiches with this campfire panini press.



campsaver.com

No matter how far you have to carry this thing, YOU NEED IT. Get it here for $25.95.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/peggy/campin...derline-genius

SHTF & Prepping Central

Did you miss today's most popular article? Check below

How To Grow Multiple Different Fruits On One Tree

See here >> http://www.shtfpreparedness.com/grow-multiple-different-fruits-one-tree/

#gardening #howto #diy #food #survival#homesteading

Gymnema Leaf Tincture

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=2uZ3tgXlhQs


Published on Mar 11, 2014

A potential herb to explore for those requiring a back up plan for Type 1 and 2 Diabetes after a collapse and diabetes medications/supplies would be in short supply, if not non-existant.

It's always very important to buy herbs from a reputable company. If you are interested in making Gymnema tincture, please consider using the affiliate link below. Thanks!

Buy Gymnema leaf from Mountain Rose Herbs here: http://edge.affiliateshop.com/public/...

Category

People & Blogs

License

Standard YouTube License

DIY Home Decorating


30 Second Bottle Cut?!

instructions ==> http://diycozyhome.com/wine-bottle-c...in-30-seconds/

You gotta check this out. This technique works like magic every time and you'll have a truly perfect edge in just seconds!