The problem that stress causes are multiple and never ending. Be it family, work, economic issues, or just high anxiety… sometimes the best way to prep while stressed is to not prep at all. If you know the reason(s) of why you are stressed, take comfort you are also part of a large number of people around the world who are in the same stress boat.
When prepping and let’s say having a bad day before TSHTF, the first thing to do is breath. Get your mind off of what is stressing you out be it with a long walk, a favorite hobby, watching the TV or even taking a nap. These things can help add to your health as well as your state of mind.
When stressing about Family: Sometimes you can’t get around them and they be as mad or as frustrated as you are. Take a breather. Go for a walk. Drink some nice warm tea. Take a bath. Whatever it is that you can distress and do it fast, as you want your blood pressure to lower as it can lead to tension headaches when the BP stays high.
When stressing about Work: Lets face it, it is a worrisome thing anymore. There really has never been job security but now is just as bad concerning the job market or if you are just a small business owner trying to survive. If you are stressed out due to a situation with a co-worker, the best way to de-stress is to do some easy and painless stretching. This get the blood flowing to the muscles, letting them relax and hopefully making you feel better. If you can’t do this in your work area, I would recommend the bathroom stall. Just to be alone for a few minutes and stretching could be the good or a bad day. Business owners should take this to heart as well.
When stressing about economic issues: Oh man, who isn’t in this boat at the moment? Here is the deal, you have bills to pay and can’t make the normal payment… call them and tell them. Either they agree to smaller payments without extra charges, late fees and tacking on more interest, or they may not get paid until you have all the money. Make a deal, get a CONTRACT with them to prove they said it… it is to help you in the long run. But before you call and I know you are stressed. Makesure to breath, stretch a little bit on the phone but always be pleasant with who ever you talk to. It is easier to get bees with honey then … well you know the old saying.
Everyone is stressing. We are all having to deal with more burden, less money, less time and mean and nasty people. But that doesn’t mean you should have to have a higher blood pressure then need be, a stroke, or even a heart attack due to a fight, nasty co-workers or a over due bill. Your families need you and you need them. Just make the best of the situation at hand as it always could be…….
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Monday, July 26, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
What Skill(s) are you willing to learn?
Skills. We all have some sort of skill. Be it gardening, hunting, sewing, baking and cooking, organizing, making knives or foraging, etc. I think you get the idea. I believe skills are important as a bartering act in the future. What you lack skill wise, you can barter for the skills you do have. But what skills are lacking at the moment are the ones who will be sought after later.
Skills lacking list for preppers to possibly learn:
Iron Forging; as in using raw ore (or known metals) and heating it up for making objects such as knives and instruments.
Black Smith; you don’t see many real black smiths anymore.
Raw Wool Spinning; but is coming back in full force due to knitters and the fact that everyone will need yarn and thread.
Glass Blowing; as glass bottles will come back and these people made windows as well.
Silver Smith; a skill seriously going by the way side and works with the Iron Forger.
Hand sewing; people do not like doing this, but it will make a re-appearance.
Fur Sewing; this is just a crucial as sewing for those who live in snow areas.
Making Paper; this is a hard skill to learn as it is like making bread and if not watched can lead to weak paper and holes.
Wood Carving or whittling: Someone has to carve handles, but this also goes for making spoons and other highly used items such as bowls.
Learning to trap; this skill is making a come back but 85% is recreational.
Skin stretching and using the hide; not enough people know or remember how to use the hides of animals for many items.
Building a Cabin; there are books out there, but only a handful of people who know how without power tools.
Weaving: this skill can bring in the money just as well as other, via making baskets and such or even clothing.
Pottery; yes is it still around and you can buy some good pottery at markets, but this skill can make life easier and not having to eat off wood slats.
Alchemy; you still need gun powder for that bullet.. right?
Soap; there are many types, ways to make it, and what to put in it for certain items.. like laundry. You learn this skill you will have to remember not to make the soap so hard.
Candle making: this will be a necessity
Wine making; it is making a seriously large climb, but even wine makers won’t have certain ingredients (citric acid) and we will have to learn the old fashioned way.
This is just a small list. Something I was thinking about this week on what if.
The what if was we will have to start over from scratch. A handful of preppers who know this won’t have everything besides food and the basics. But it will be a good idea to start learning, now instead of later.
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Skills lacking list for preppers to possibly learn:
Iron Forging; as in using raw ore (or known metals) and heating it up for making objects such as knives and instruments.
Black Smith; you don’t see many real black smiths anymore.
Raw Wool Spinning; but is coming back in full force due to knitters and the fact that everyone will need yarn and thread.
Glass Blowing; as glass bottles will come back and these people made windows as well.
Silver Smith; a skill seriously going by the way side and works with the Iron Forger.
Hand sewing; people do not like doing this, but it will make a re-appearance.
Fur Sewing; this is just a crucial as sewing for those who live in snow areas.
Making Paper; this is a hard skill to learn as it is like making bread and if not watched can lead to weak paper and holes.
Wood Carving or whittling: Someone has to carve handles, but this also goes for making spoons and other highly used items such as bowls.
Learning to trap; this skill is making a come back but 85% is recreational.
Skin stretching and using the hide; not enough people know or remember how to use the hides of animals for many items.
Building a Cabin; there are books out there, but only a handful of people who know how without power tools.
Weaving: this skill can bring in the money just as well as other, via making baskets and such or even clothing.
Pottery; yes is it still around and you can buy some good pottery at markets, but this skill can make life easier and not having to eat off wood slats.
Alchemy; you still need gun powder for that bullet.. right?
Soap; there are many types, ways to make it, and what to put in it for certain items.. like laundry. You learn this skill you will have to remember not to make the soap so hard.
Candle making: this will be a necessity
Wine making; it is making a seriously large climb, but even wine makers won’t have certain ingredients (citric acid) and we will have to learn the old fashioned way.
This is just a small list. Something I was thinking about this week on what if.
The what if was we will have to start over from scratch. A handful of preppers who know this won’t have everything besides food and the basics. But it will be a good idea to start learning, now instead of later.
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Sunday, July 4, 2010
Happy 234th Birthday everyone!
It is the start of another year for our Nation! We as Americans should be proud of our privledge to have the freedoms we ALL take for granted!
I wanted to add this video as a reminder, of how and why we as Americans should remember... Freedom is fleeting and we all need to work to keep our Freedoms. For it is easier to take Freedom away from those who assume it will always be there, then for those who knows it takes many to create what little Freedoms we all have. Happy Independence Day everyone and may God Bless you all!
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I wanted to add this video as a reminder, of how and why we as Americans should remember... Freedom is fleeting and we all need to work to keep our Freedoms. For it is easier to take Freedom away from those who assume it will always be there, then for those who knows it takes many to create what little Freedoms we all have. Happy Independence Day everyone and may God Bless you all!
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Saturday, July 3, 2010
Late Blight and I am freaking bummed.
When I went into my hot house after inspecting the cabbage (no heads yet), broccoli (little heads) and the cauliflower (little heads), and I noticed something odd. Some of my Tom’s leaves were turning brown and had weird fuzz on the leaves. I didn’t think anything of it, and clipped the leaves back and making sure the weird looking mold wouldn’t spread. Then I noticed it on the herbs, the same weird mold. So I clipped what was bad herb wise. I then went to my peppers and saw it on some of their leaves and clipped those leaves off. What in the hell is going on?
I put down my scissors and went outside of the hot house to inspect my radishes, taters and a few other items I had planted. The last thing I inspected was the taters. They were as green as they were last year, until I noticed that weird brown fuzzy mold stuff on some of the taters leaves. I stop in my tracks. I knew anything that was on the taters was a BAD sign. I went inside and got online, first asking over at our APN forum if anyone knew about mold and then looking up garden mold. The first thing that popped up was blight. OH NO! I looked at as many pictures as I could and came to the conclusion I have late blight. Yeah, you can say I was pissed.
I think I know how I got it. A Tom I had not started from seed myself was brought into the hothouse and it must have been carrying the blight. We added a new irrigation system this year as Hubby and I are busy people and we both forgot to check what setting our automatic timer was set too. And it got chilly. That was all that was needed to spread the blight around.
But here is what I don’t get. How can it spread to the peppers? And the herbs? Yeah I know it is a mold ….. but blight doesn’t usually hit peppers or certain herbs due to their composition. I am still waiting on a reply from the extension services as to if they want a sample or not as I still have not touched the garden. The water for the irrigation has been shut off for a couple weeks and I was hoping for some warmer weather. Well it looks like that isn’t going to happen as it is raining again.
I just hope my cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower and a few others make it through.
*the pic is from another Gardeners sites, but that is exactly what I have.*
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Tuesday, June 15, 2010
When reality meets House Hunting.
But with that said, I wanted to mention something as my Soon to Be and my Parental Unit were with me looking at houses around the area for the three of us and I came upon something very sad.
It was Sunday, very nice, pretty warm and little wind and we were going to the first house of the day via an appointment I had called in about the week before. When we arrived, we could see someone was trying to cheaply fix the place up. New roof, new siding... but in desperate need of some serious TLC and cash to make it the house it was.
Eventually the realtor showed up to let us into the house. I first noticed an odd scent, of old wet wood smoke but something else I knew but couldn't put my finger on. We quietly walked through the house and looked around as it was large for the year it was built. I walked into the master and something struck me funny as I noticed that there was new rug laid down but not very well. I went downstairs but over heard the realtor mention to my Parental Unit that the original owner had died and the executor of the house and will was selling this off for a steal. I now knew why the house was very affordable for the area, even in the condition that it was in. The original owner had died in the house and had been there for a while, as I glanced up from the bottom bedroom under the master and noticed a profoundly dark wet spot in the old tile on the ceiling. As I looked to the right of me by a closet, there was a huge amount of dehydrated food that was actually the original company before it became Mountain House.
As we left all I could think of how sad that no one noticed that the man had passed away, had probably been there for a while and no one noticed or said a word. As well as all the food that now could not be touch, used or eaten as the possible decomposition from him body may be on those cans. It was a pretty sad, reality based day of hunting for houses.
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Saturday, June 12, 2010
I promised Pics, didn't I!
Here are some pics of what is going on in the garden.
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My Broccoli, with some red lettuce and celery mixed in.
Some of our garden. Two culverts on the left are squash in the front, and cauliflower with celery and red lettuce mixed in. Two culvert on the right are cabbage with celery and lettuce mixed in and the culvert in the back are strawberries!
Cabbage looking good!
Cauliflower is getting big.
STRAWBERRIES!!!!! Going to have a bunch.
The left side of the hot house is peppers of all kinds that we started from seed and a few we bought, some tom's, parsley.
Rights side are Tom's (sweeties, nenana, early girls and some of the micro patio types) all sorts of herbs and little seedlings in the back.
MORE Toms, with a few little green toms on the vine. I also have cukes in the back of this and some 3 ft tall corn in the back. I thought the corn would actually die but was shocked when they kept growing.
My Aphid eating pets. :)
Red and White Onions.
Golden potatoes and a few red ones as well.
One of our Himalayan Blue Poppies.
So if you are wondering I have more but those pics turned out pretty bad. The culvert is working out well and won't fall apart.. good idea on by S.O. for sure! The hot house is working great and I am glad S.O. decided to get that for now and we will eventually build our greenhouse. S.O. also found this really cool heater for Hot Houses and Greenhouses. You can't find them in the U.S. and they are only available in England. Now we haven't used it yet, but I will let you know probably around fall when it starts to chill, how it works.
Have a great weekend. :)
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Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Whats going on in the garden
When I first started our compost this year, I just wanted good fertilizer. Now I just want it to help with my crappy swamp top soil. The potatoes love the high acidic soil, but other plants aren’t so happy with it.
So how did I start my compost? Well I grabbed 2 bags of grass from my in town house that the landscaping guys were going to toss. We have been throwing coffee grounds, old or bad vegetables and fruit in it. I also put in some soaked moose nuggets, lime and oh course our swamp dirt.
What is swamp dirt? Well, when we ordered topsoil for our new garden we put in last year, we didn’t realize it was coming out of a swamp area north of Willow, Alaska. I now have these weeds (not sure what they are) coming up and they are deeply rooted, and you only see them in swampy loess soil around the State. They remind me of little trees.
At the start of the thawing season I limed the heck out of my raised galvanized beds. All 9 of them have at least 7 cups of lime each in them and tilled the soil with my own hands and little plant shovel. It took a couple hours but it was worth it.
I made sure to put egg shells in the areas I know my tomatoes were going to be put in for the calcium and nitrates they needed and then fertilized with normal fertilizer, the rest of the garden. The end of this season I plan on putting a bag perilite each, in each raised bed as I have noticed the soil takes on a sandy/muddy consistency and the perilite will help with the drainage.
As of right now, I know the garden is doing better this year then last year. The one bed I didn’t do much with was the potato bed… as I said, they like acidic dirt. I will hopefully be going up on Friday to check on my little guys and seeing how much they have grown. I haven’t checked on them since Memorial day weekend and actually had tomatoes on the vine, little peppers on the vice and so much more growing fast and furious.
The only issues I have been having were my squashes. Everything I started from seed died for some reason. BUT as a precaution as I think subconsciously they would die, I planted a bunch of squash and zuke seeds and they were huge seedlings when I left to go subsistence fishing.
As of right now I have:
1 bed of potatoes, Alaska golden
1 bed of red and white onions that were about 6 inches tall when we left.
1 bed of arctic variety strawberries that HAD green strawberries on them when I left.
6 broccoli
6 cabbage
6 cauliflower
A nice couple of rows of carrots and radishes
2 rows of kohlrabi
2 rows of brussel sprouts
Lots of red lettuce but wishing I had grown romaine
Celery all over
Over 7 different varieties of tomatoes, 3/4th of them I start from seed.
Over 9 different varieties of peppers that are hot to sweet and over ½ of them I started from seed.
All sorts of herbs
Not sure how many tomatillo’s I have now.
I know I have more, but I can’t remember.
How are you guys doing? Pictures.. soon, I promise.
Oh did I mention I am growing wild cucumbers for the berries. AKA Watermelon Berries that you can foriage for.
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So how did I start my compost? Well I grabbed 2 bags of grass from my in town house that the landscaping guys were going to toss. We have been throwing coffee grounds, old or bad vegetables and fruit in it. I also put in some soaked moose nuggets, lime and oh course our swamp dirt.
What is swamp dirt? Well, when we ordered topsoil for our new garden we put in last year, we didn’t realize it was coming out of a swamp area north of Willow, Alaska. I now have these weeds (not sure what they are) coming up and they are deeply rooted, and you only see them in swampy loess soil around the State. They remind me of little trees.
At the start of the thawing season I limed the heck out of my raised galvanized beds. All 9 of them have at least 7 cups of lime each in them and tilled the soil with my own hands and little plant shovel. It took a couple hours but it was worth it.
I made sure to put egg shells in the areas I know my tomatoes were going to be put in for the calcium and nitrates they needed and then fertilized with normal fertilizer, the rest of the garden. The end of this season I plan on putting a bag perilite each, in each raised bed as I have noticed the soil takes on a sandy/muddy consistency and the perilite will help with the drainage.
As of right now, I know the garden is doing better this year then last year. The one bed I didn’t do much with was the potato bed… as I said, they like acidic dirt. I will hopefully be going up on Friday to check on my little guys and seeing how much they have grown. I haven’t checked on them since Memorial day weekend and actually had tomatoes on the vine, little peppers on the vice and so much more growing fast and furious.
The only issues I have been having were my squashes. Everything I started from seed died for some reason. BUT as a precaution as I think subconsciously they would die, I planted a bunch of squash and zuke seeds and they were huge seedlings when I left to go subsistence fishing.
As of right now I have:
1 bed of potatoes, Alaska golden
1 bed of red and white onions that were about 6 inches tall when we left.
1 bed of arctic variety strawberries that HAD green strawberries on them when I left.
6 broccoli
6 cabbage
6 cauliflower
A nice couple of rows of carrots and radishes
2 rows of kohlrabi
2 rows of brussel sprouts
Lots of red lettuce but wishing I had grown romaine
Celery all over
Over 7 different varieties of tomatoes, 3/4th of them I start from seed.
Over 9 different varieties of peppers that are hot to sweet and over ½ of them I started from seed.
All sorts of herbs
Not sure how many tomatillo’s I have now.
I know I have more, but I can’t remember.
How are you guys doing? Pictures.. soon, I promise.
Oh did I mention I am growing wild cucumbers for the berries. AKA Watermelon Berries that you can foriage for.
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