Top Ten Preparedness Myths

Here's the Powerpoint Presentation that I gave in my talk on Sunday regarding the top Ten Preparedness Myths. It was taken from info I gathered as well as info from Wendy Dewitt and Kellene Bishop blogs.

Top Ten Preparedness Myths

View more presentations from holyhabanero.

Also, I planned to show this video but ran out of time. If you are interested, you can view it below:

Free Giveaway over at Adventures in Self Reliance

Hey, just a heads up that our friends over at Adventures in Self Reliance are having a giveaway that is pretty neat. Stop over and take a look: http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/

Lessons learned from the recent Tornado

I found this interesting letter to the editor on Survivalblog.com that gives a good perspective of what to expect in the aftermath of a major disaster.

Dear Editor:
I have been reading your blog for a while but until Saturday, I never saw how a disaster could unhinge some people so quickly and what lack of preparedness can do to some people.

I went to deliver a chainsaw, some gas and water to a relative in Yazoo City and what is usually a 45 minute drive took over 2 hours. Land lines and cell towers were down, and if you had a phone with a certain carrier, the service was very spotty. The traffic was bad and the roads into the town were blocked and we were turned away twice by a motley group of authorities but mostly State police. One local deputy was sympathetic and told us a way to get in the town that was 35 miles out of our way and we eventually got close to the north side of town and we had to drive over live power lines and swerve around transformers. We got to the entrance of town and there were two State troopers blocking the exit but we told them we were delivering some supplies and they let us through. Eventually, we reached the home and there were trees and power lines everywhere. No power, no gas lines, homes and cars crushed, etc. One generator was being shared by neighbors and gas was being siphoned out of boats and cars to power it. There was one electric chainsaw that was plugged into the generator.

Things to note were that the authorities were very stressed out and not experienced with this kind of devastation and there were many people who tried to get to loved ones or family that couldn't get past the road blocks. Some people just left their cars on the sides of the road and were allowed to walk into town. One lady drove around the roadblock and was chased by a cop car. There were people panicking and the Red Cross got there and all they were doing was handing out water bottles. The power company was only responsible for getting the trees off the power lines. You could see people just staring at their crushed homes and houses wondering what to do. There were cops on four wheeler ATVs just riding around and eventually the National Guard showed up but they were just driving around.

Some lessons learned:

No one is getting into town right after a disaster

Have a big chainsaw and make sure there are no trees in your yard

Have a four-wheeler and a 15 foot trailer to haul out pieces of debris from your home/yard

Have a siphon and a generator

Know how to turn off your gas in your home because live wires and natural gas don't mix

Know beforehand that the authorities are not there to help you but to maintain order and the power company is not going to cut down that tree that is now in your dining room.

Brick homes fare better than stick ones

Anticipate that neighbors are going to freak out and run around like chickens with their heads cut off and try to do silly things like get in their cars and drive over debris in the road and get stuck and pop their tires.

Have gloves and chains in your truck and keep a full tank of gas at all times. Some people ran out of gas in the traffic.

Realize that tensions are going to be high and seeing weird things like one group of people having a barbecue and getting drunk and across the street one family was sitting on the lawn waiting for help is a recipe for a bad situation. I saw a kid in the road trying to flag us down and there were some guys leaning up against a house a bit out of sight. We just drove around him. I couldn't believe that it was already getting strange and the tornado was only a few hours earlier.

So in a nutshell, that was my experience and one more thing, the tornado hit so fast that the siren didn't give enough warning. And what was worse, people are conditioned to think the siren means thunderstorm or it could be a test or something else. So no one was prepared until they heard the freight train sound and with no one having basements in Mississippi, there isn't really a safe place to be.

Sincerely, - James H.

Raised Bed Gardening Class Handout

For those who attended the raised bed gardening class, thanks for coming. It was very informative and I learned that I'm doing everything wrong. If you weren't able to make it, here's the handout from the class.

Stretch your grocery money - Bountiful Baskets Food Co-Op

This is the food we got last week!!

Finding ways to make your grocery dollars stretch is not easy. But what if I told you that you could buy over $35 worth of fruits and vegetables for only $15?

The idea behind Bountiful Baskets, is a food co-op, where average citizens leverage the power of group buying to purchase fruits and vegetables at wholesale prices.

Basically you pay up front (by Wednesday at 10:00 pm) and they pool all the money, then spend it all where the grocery stores shop. Then volunteers show up an hour before pickup (just show up if you want to help!) to divide up the produce, then all the participants show up and take home their baskets and bread!

In addition to getting produce at a screaming deal, you can order items like bread, or granola or larger boxes of various produce. What you get depends on what is on special or in season that week. Just remember to sign up early each week, as there are only a limited number of spaces open.

In today's economy, we need to do all we can to live frugally. Bountiful Baskets is a great way to make sure your family eats healthy, but still  keeps within your budget. Stop by http://www.BountifulBaskets.org and give it a try.

Free is a very good price.

You probably know I'm all about getting prepared for the least amount of cost. Well, one way that I've found to store things like wheat and beans or whatever is to put them in plastic buckets. But those buckets can get spendy if you need more than a few. But what if I told you could get all the buckets you could ever want for FREE!

You probably don't know it, but bakeries all across the city get most of their frostings, and fillings and other items shipped to them in plastic buckets. When they empty the buckets, they just throw them away.

So one or twice a month, I'll call the bakeries in Smith's, or Albertsons or whomever and see if they have any buckets. Or if I happen to be in the store shopping, I just stop by and ask. They are usually more than happy to hand them over. Just make sure you get the lids with them and that they have no cracks. You won't always get large 5 gallon buckets, but that's ok, as I like to store my items in smaller containers anyway.

Then when you get home, wash and disinfect them, and they are ready to be filled up with whatever you'd like. You can also purchase the oxygen absorbers from Emergency Essentials or Macy's to increase the shelf life of whatever you put in it.

Here are just a few ideas of some things you can use your buckets for:

Store All varieties of food especially Grains and Beans
Keep Flashlights and Batteries
Keep a 72 hour kit
Separate your food into meals and put one days worth of food in a bucket
Shelter in Place kit
Emergency toilet
Carrying water