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January Prepping

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KiwiMum View Drop Down
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    Posted: January 05 2022 at 12:51am

Happy New Year. Let's hope 2022 is an improvement on 2021.

This month I'm preparing for winter. It's mid summer here with the hottest months still to come but yesterday I started stacking the woodshed for winter. I'm using pine that we felled almost a year ago and split about 6 or 7 months ago. I have 9 bays to fill and each one will take between 2 and 3 trailer loads so we drive a tractor and trailer up to one of the piles of logs and then down to the woodshed by the house. My boys can do the tractor work and I'm happy to unload and stack tightly right up to the ceiling on my own with an audio book for company. I know it's a lot of work but I've got 2 months to get it done in and I find a full and well stacked woodshed to be just like a full and well stock larder. It makes me very happy. We run two wood stoves during the winter and by stacking the shed myself, I'll be sure that we have enough under cover and dry. 

We need more matches and a few more candles, just in case. And I want to top up our supply of old newspapers for firelighting from the municiple dump.

When the wheat is harvested later this month, I'll full up our duck food bins, they need 600kg to get through the year. I'm also aiming to increase our stocks of household cleaning products, we carry a few spare of everything but I'd like to increase that in case of supply issues. We got pretty much down to nothing on a few things last year due to Covid and I don't want that to happen again.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiminNM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 05 2022 at 5:52am

Our power went out Sunday night. No storm, completely unexpected, just went out about 5:30pm.  Freezing outside, dark, etc.  

And despite having lots of lighting options, I had to search to find them. I'd moved things around a few months ago but never finished organizing them. Turns out trying to find things with a headlamp or flashlight is MUCH harder then getting your sh*t together while the power is on.

Other 'failures':
- candle holders up high to keep them away from the cats. Good, but... couldn't quickly light them.
- many candle holders had almost burned out candles in them. ALL the easy-to-access holders were empty. No problem, I have plenty of candles. But wait, they're outside. Where it's 20 degrees and dark. Didn't think that one through!
- a couple of hours later, realized that all the candles burning - even though unscented - was causing an asthma attack. New problem, asthma has been worse the last couple of years and didn't foresee this at all.

Power came back on after about 5 hours. Then went right back off on Monday night. It was a little easier that time, but really highlighted how poorly prepared I am for a long term power outage.

So my January plans:
- Organize all my power failure stuff! Spreadsheet on what is where, what needs charging, which ones take what type of batteries, etc. Figure out how many batteries of what type I need to replace batteries in everything and make sure I have enough of the right types. Focus on rechargeable and battery powered. (I have a couple of solar power banks, but thinking I could use more solar stuff.
- Use some of the canned goods that are expiring/have expired and re-stock.
- finish organizing - and labeling! - all the other prep supplies
- master list of where everything is

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 05 2022 at 11:44am

Kim, what a nightmare that sounds. About a year ago I bought a plug in nightlight that has a removable torch part. It can work as a nightlight or it can sit there with no light coming from it, but when the power goes out, the torch immediately comes on and you can pick it off it's plug base and walk around with it. I bought it on a whim after we'd been caught out by a power cut the night before during a family movie night, and we were plunged into darkness and couldn't find a thing. 

It was only $20 and now I have five of them and they're great. It's emergency lighting effectively and when our power goes out we have immediate light to find our bearings and get candles lit etc. I've put one in our bedroom, and we sleep in the total dark but it's proven very useful as it's come on twice in the night and woken us up so we know the powers out. And we'd rather know than straight away in case we've got an incubator running. 

As a child we used to have power cuts all the time and my mother bought 3 old fashioned brass oil lamps with lovely glass shades. She kept them primed and trimmed and filled with oil at all times and tucked behind each one was a box of matches. When the power went out after dark, she'd just go to the nearest one and light it. They were lovely decorative lamps and so people thought they were just there to look nice, but they were really useful as well.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (1) Thanks(1)   Quote WitchMisspelled Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 05 2022 at 5:01pm

KiminNM.... I think I can help you out with your power outage issues.  It won't come cheap though. Knowing you live in an apartment rather than a house, the prepping is completely different.  Since there has been discussion about starting up some prepping discussion, I'll go to that section of the forum and lay out some tips.


In terms of January prepping.  I'm pretty well as prepped as I can be.  Taking Monotreme's advice to heart and be ready for two months, I did a huge grocery shopping from two delivery services.  Some came today, the rest will come tomorrow.  I don't remember any impression that Monotreme was an alarmist so for him to give that advice, I can tell he's worried.  I understand that.  I am too.  I began  noticing longer lead times between ordering and deliveries. Not to mention both services being out of stock of a few items I use.  Since authorities here are saying that it will get worse before it gets better over the next six to eight weeks, I've taken Monotreme's advice to heart.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 05 2022 at 8:31pm

Well I just went round our house taking down the Christmas decorations and I found 11 candlesticks with small stumps of candle left in them. I've rounded them up and will clean them up and put a new candle in each and a box of matches in the base tray ready for the next outtage. 

Last winter I bought a rechargeable torch, thinking it was overpriced but I really wanted a rechargeable one that charges through a USB port, and it was so great that I went back and bought the larger version of the same model as well. What I'd really like is a proper size large torch that sits on a charging base, so it's always fully charged but I've yet to find such a thing.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiminNM Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2022 at 8:19am

Originally posted by KiwiMum KiwiMum wrote:

Kim, what a nightmare that sounds. About a year ago I bought a plug in nightlight that has a removable torch part. It can work as a nightlight or it can sit there with no light coming from it, but when the power goes out, the torch immediately comes on and you can pick it off it's plug base and walk around with it. I bought it on a whim after we'd been caught out by a power cut the night before during a family movie night, and we were plunged into darkness and couldn't find a thing. 

It was only $20 and now I have five of them and they're great. It's emergency lighting effectively and when our power goes out we have immediate light to find our bearings and get candles lit etc. I've put one in our bedroom, and we sleep in the total dark but it's proven very useful as it's come on twice in the night and woken us up so we know the powers out. And we'd rather know than straight away in case we've got an incubator running. 

As a child we used to have power cuts all the time and my mother bought 3 old fashioned brass oil lamps with lovely glass shades. She kept them primed and trimmed and filled with oil at all times and tucked behind each one was a box of matches. When the power went out after dark, she'd just go to the nearest one and light it. They were lovely decorative lamps and so people thought they were just there to look nice, but they were really useful as well.


Your first sentence made me laugh! I HAVE one of those, turned out it had come slightly loose from the outlet so wasn't charged and didn't come on. I moved it to a different outlet, and on night 2 it came on as expected.

Had I not moved everything a few months ago in an attempt to organize it better - and not finished the project - it would have been so much easier. LOL

I will probably get another light that comes on automatically - I do have a second one but it's outside in the tool room.  

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ME163 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2022 at 9:53am

January Prepping


200 rounds of 7.63 mm ammo for my second mauser broomhandle  pistol. 

15 pounds of rice 

36 cans of pork , 1.5 pounds each 

48 cans of chicken 2 pounds each 

48 cans of beef , 2 pounds each 

72 cans of tomatoes diced/ stewed/ italian 

72 cans of grean beans /peas 

50 pounds of flour and yeast. 

spices and sauces 27 pounds.  

1000 rounds of 8 mm mauser 196 grain rounds. 

25 model kits and a new shortwave radio 

Prep as if your life depends on it...  

ME163


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2022 at 11:16am

I envy you Americans for the range of stuff you can buy. ME has listed those great big cans of beef and chicken at 2 pounds each. That's close on to a kilo. I can buy canned chicken in tiny little tins, 100g each and they are really expensive. The same with beef. You can can normal sized 300 g tins of stewed beef here but it's more gravy than beef, or you can buy small tins of corned beef. It's so frustrating. If I tried to feed my family from those chicken tins we'd need at least one each, if not one and a half. Too expensive. 

I heard you can buy tinned butter in the US and that some of it comes from NZ. I looked into this and yes there are NZ dairy companies that make tinned butter but only for the export market! They don't sell it here.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ME163 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2022 at 9:44pm

Don't envy us, Kiwi.  I envy you.  I envy the peace that you have in your life.  I have been thru hell most of my life.  Yes, we do have a wide range of choices, we also have  300 million and the crime to match it.  I would trade spaces with you in a heartbeat.  But I can't, last nght  one of my  friends from florida passed from covid.  I lost so much from Covid.  It seems that it has taken too much from some of us.  We will survive.  We have endured so much death and pain in the past 2 years.   it's not worth death and life and everything else.  We hope that this world is better and we hope for a decent future for our families and our friends.   I envy being able to go to Wellington and buying a decent model kit at a decent price.  I envy fresh air and a ocean less than an hour away from you.  


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ViQueen24 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 06 2022 at 10:22pm

Something that nobody ever talks about with regards to preps -- antibiotic eye drops/eye ointment.  If SHTF, and you can't get to ER/ophthalmologist, and you get an eye infection, you are gonna be so SOL.  you could even conceivably lose your sight.  Have any of you ever had a corneal abrasion?  I have, and antibiotic ointment was wonderful for the pain, and sped healing of the abrasion.  

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2022 at 1:02am

Originally posted by ME163 ME163 wrote:

Don't envy us, Kiwi.  I envy you.  I envy the peace that you have in your life.  I have been thru hell most of my life.  Yes, we do have a wide range of choices, we also have  300 million and the crime to match it.  I would trade spaces with you in a heartbeat.  But I can't, last nght  one of my  friends from florida passed from covid.  I lost so much from Covid.  It seems that it has taken too much from some of us.  We will survive.  We have endured so much death and pain in the past 2 years.   it's not worth death and life and everything else.  We hope that this world is better and we hope for a decent future for our families and our friends.   I envy being able to go to Wellington and buying a decent model kit at a decent price.  I envy fresh air and a ocean less than an hour away from you.  

I'm sorry to hear about your friend. I recently lost a cousin (in November). Very sad. 

We also love models and have a number of model kits up high on a shelf in the shed waiting for the right moment to save the day. My husband is ex military so we have lots of military model kits, but our whole family sails so we have lots of sailing ship ones too. I live in the mountains but am only 30 minutes to the ocean, the South Pacific, and there are lots of whales and dolphins in it here, so it's very beautiful.  We are very lucky to live here.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2022 at 1:05am

Originally posted by ViQueen24 ViQueen24 wrote:

Something that nobody ever talks about with regards to preps -- antibiotic eye drops/eye ointment.  If SHTF, and you can't get to ER/ophthalmologist, and you get an eye infection, you are gonna be so SOL.  you could even conceivably lose your sight.  Have any of you ever had a corneal abrasion?  I have, and antibiotic ointment was wonderful for the pain, and sped healing of the abrasion.  

I'm lucky in that I have a dog who gets regular eye infections so I always have a few tubes of prescription only eye cream for him. I know it's fine to use on humans as the vet has told me that eye medicine is the same for dogs, cats and humans. In fact he told me to buy human eye drops for her as they'd be cheaper than the dog ones. So at a pinch, we'll use her eye cream. 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ME163 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2022 at 9:47am

I am drug central due to the fact that we have lots of different things wrong with us. Jill and Becky know their meds.  So, we have a pharmacy in our house.    I would say that we have between 400 and 500 different kinds of meds.  



Jill , Becky, ME and Vicki 




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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2022 at 11:32am

I hoard all old medications and keep them in a dark cupboard in my larder, which is the coldest place in the house. I'd still use the medicines that are in date first, but I've heard that even old medications can have some efficacy left in them, so I don't throw them away, just in case.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ME163 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 07 2022 at 8:56pm

just got a new gun, it is a colt 1911 Pistol made in 1944.  Shoots 45 acp. 

didn't cost a dime.  friend who is going into a nursing home gave it to me.  It was his dad's gun. Used in the italian Alps during late 1944 into 1945.  I am so happy.  Can't wait to shoot it.  


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 17 2022 at 11:32am

This year I've grown 60 chickens for meat. We started killing them last night. I picked the four largest roosters. It's hard to tell how much is feather and how much is meat, so I'll process those today and see what I get. Normally I do chickens in batches of 6, which take me about an hour and a half. So if these ones are good, I'll go again this weekend with 6 more. It was certainly a lot quieter at dawn this morning! We took the 4 most dominant roosters, so there was a whole lot less crowing which was nice. It'll take 2 months to work through them all as they were hatched in batches, 21 days apart, but by early winter they'll all be in the freezer.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ME163 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 17 2022 at 4:38pm

Kiwi, 

Coming from rural Kansas, I can understand what you are doing. My grandma did the same thing.  She and my uncle would kill the birds early in the morning.  By supper time we had fried chicken.  She however wouldn't touch Wilbur. Wilbur was a family pet that I raised from a chick.  His foot was deformed and I had a special heat lamp and bed for him every night.  He lived for a long time after his family went to chicken heaven.  I even took him to school once.  Eventually, he was killed by the local coyotes what prowled the area.  But, your chicken story reminded me of those days on the farm. 

ME163  

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 18 2022 at 11:50am

ME, we have had our favourite chickens over the years. I once had a huge Plymouth Bar Rock rooster called Charlie. He was simply enormous and the best chicken ever. He was very protective of his flock and we didn't lose a single bird to a hawk whilst we had him. We did have a few hawk attacks but we think he went at them because although we had injured hens, none were killed so we think he scared them off. He was very friendly to us. We kept him until he was about 9 but then he was suddenly ailing and we decided to put him down and we buried him properly. Normally any sick or ailing bird we compost but not Charlie. 

Right now I have a new White Rock rooster that I'm also calling Charlie. He's as vicious as they come but he's a pure bred and magnificent. He lives in a section of the orchard with 6 pure bred, and absolutely beautiful, Rhode Island Red hens. They are my breeding set and all my meat birds come from them. 

I processed those roosters yesterday and they look good, weighing 1.9 kilos each when oven ready. That's 4.1 lbs each. They're not huge but it's a fine line between huge and tough and younger and juicy. I'm hoping we've got it right. This group were hatched in late September. I'll do another 4 tomorrow. Our dawn chorus was much quieter this morning which was lovely.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote KiwiMum Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 20 2022 at 12:28pm

In light of the huge price hike in lettuces here (see my last post in the Food shortages thread), today I'll be sowing some lettuces. Normally I wait until March to grow my winter lettuce supply but I'm going to try to rig up a shade house today and start growing now. We love salad and just can't afford to pay $5 for a scrawny lettuce.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote ME163 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: January 21 2022 at 5:25am

5 dollars for salad ?. That is insane.   I haven't looked lately at salad stuff since I eat frozen and canned stuff since we canned 48 cans of veggies.  We have high prices on Bananas and oranges.   I guess it's a shipping issue.  We are in flyover country so we don't get much media reporting here.   We do have a food dryer that is remarkable in its use.  We eat dried fruit and beef jerky as well.  Unless things change now, we are currently going to buy some more land and start planting in the spring.  Looking at buying 20 acres from our local farmer friend. 


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