Sir:
Just to let everyone know, I am new to the prepper lifestyle, and new to the kind of changes one must make in one’s life to begin saving as opposed to spending, or maybe a better way of saying it is to say “ changing what your spending your money on ” where before it may have been a new dirt bike, man toy, or flat screen television, now my extra cash (after my tithe and savings) is going to preparations. My change in spending habits quickly brought about a realization , that some items that I need are truly big ticket items, and require a significant investment.
I already live in a house on 1.5 acres, in a semi rural area . we have our own well, and we are on a new 2,000 gallon septic system just replaced three years ago. I just recently measured static water depth of my well in late summer, the well is 180 feet deep and I have standing water up to 135 feet. I did this so that I could purchase a deep well hand pump . I purchased it from www.survivalunlimited.com it is 1” PVC pipe with a stainless spigot and stainless foot valve. The foot valve is driven by a fiberglass rod that goes down the center of the pipe. The nice thing about this unit is that it can be installed alongside my existing well , with a stainless cap that is provided by the pump manufacturer. My well water is currently sanitized by an ultraviolet filter, with no power that will not be an option, a Big Berkey filter is next in line. I have no farm animals yet, but a coop is in the plans, and goats maybe before next fall if I can get the pasture fenced in.
Our homestead also has a 12 kilowatt Generac generator that automatically comes on in the event of a power outage, we have a few of these every year because of the large amount of 100 foot plus tall Douglas firs that seem to love to fall over onto our counties power lines, which are overhead, as opposed to buried as in modern towns . It runs off natural gas, and can be switched over to propane with a few simple modifications.
What I don’t have is a source to heat with wood, and if the natural gas goes out, I will not be able to heat our house, which has nine people living in it. So my next purchase will be a wood stove. Both Quadrafire and Lopi make excellent stoves that are EPA certified and can be installed easily. The stove, along with chimney and installation is going to run almost $5,000, although there are state and federal tax credits that will help ease the pain somewhat.
Food storage is another item I have begun. I decided right of that I would begin researching food packaging solutions, and scrounging buckets. Most restaurants will give you there leftover food grade white pails, and if you are lucky lids to go with it. I purchased mylar bags and oxygen absorber s from Jan over at www.healthyharvest.com and pieced together a nitrogen bottle along with an old helium regulator, wand and nozzle to charge the bags. I purchased a Teflon cover for my iron so that I could seal then bags without buying an impulse sealer, I just place the edge of the bag on a 2×4 and iron it shut. I purchased my grains from Bob’s Red Mill. They have a wholesale division, that will sell in bulk if you order over 350 lbs of product from them. Beans, rice, wheat, kamut, spelt, and oat groats. A $1,000 order will give you enough staples to feed a large crew for a year or so. Also from Jan I purchased non-GMO open pollinated seeds stored in #10 cans, so that I may begin growing at the first sign of TEOTWAWKI With food, water, shelter provided for–or at least in process–I am on the road to sufficiency. I will let you know how the journey progresses. Sincerely, – T.C.