New project to better store my food

I have an idea to help me better organize my food items. Currently I have them thrown on shelves in my other storage room. I have a very basic system of organization but nothing like I plan to have. I will most likely have to hold off on this project until after I recoup from an upcoming surgery, but be warned my dedicated readers, you will soon see a very organized and prepared food storage system. I will post my drawing of what I plan to do with in the next couple days, until then, I suggest you prepare for that thing that might never happen but could happen tomorrow! 

General store items are taken care of

As projected I worked on my general items in my basement that were scattered here there and everywhere. While they were all in one general location there was not at all organized. Here is a picture of a mound of goods once I pulled them from places and piled them all together. 

Big pile of toilet paper, paper towels, and napkins.
But there are boxes behind it all holding it up!

Seeing this I am sure most would say NO WAY IN HECK!

The thing is I needed to organize it so that I could see what items I need to be prepared for that event that might happen. So I looked at the space I had.

Behold the new panorama option on the iPhone!

I also have an area which is behind me which is about 8 foot by 5 foot where my heater and water heater are. 

So I started at it. My goal going into this was to get everything organized so I can move my food items from one storage room to this one. In order to do that I needed to clear off the wooden shelves that is by the pile of paper items. 

After about 2 hours and a lot of help from my son I was able to get my room completely organized and almost ready to go for the food items!

You see a window there, if the SHTF that window will immediately be painted black and boarded up. 

The final product

You can see that I organized the items into sections, this will help me keep an inventory of items (which I still need to do).

Used this shelf and my podiums under the
appliances to store my fabric softeners and detergents.

So much more organized!

So when you look at this stuff you might think that my wife and I are insane for having these items but we have bought those using coupons and catching deals. But regardless we are now prepared in these areas! This is one more item to remove from my list! 

Now I need to inventory and create a list of items that are still needed!

Preparing the gardens

It was one year ago in August that I moved to this location with my family. I had only a little ambition to do a garden once I moved here and took on many other projects which pushed the garden to the side. Once I took on this project (GreenSurvivalist) I knew that a key component into surviving a long period of time without the luxury of a grocery store I would need to plant a garden. 

Here I am on my lawn mower discing the gardens to get out any big
chunks and to level off the ground a little better than it was.

If the crap hits the fan I know that I will not only have to support my 5 kids and wife but also I will support others in my family that needs help. Knowing this I have decided to plan two large gardens on my property. I started this project about 2 weeks ago by establishing the garden locations and by turning the soil with a tiller and then disc it with my lawn mower and 3 ft food plot disc. 

To do this I got some help from one of the people that will most likely come to my home if the crap hits the fan. Together we measured it, mowed it and tilled it.

My first garden is located closer to my home and is about 40 feet from a well that I will tap into by next spring. This garden is where most of my fruits and vegetables will be located. The garden is measured at 45ftx20ft. 

First I mowed the grass to give an outline
 of where the garden would be.

We then tilled the outline and then worked the rest of it. 

Also on the backside of my property I planned another garden that measures 30ftx15ft. In this garden I will plan my squash and corn as well as other miscellaneous items. 

This location is the very back corner of my property
which is located next to my chicken coop. 

For this plot we removed a small tree, there is my helper who is a master tiller!

The back garden is located next to my first rain barrel set up. I will use the rain barrels as the water sources for this garden. 

I plan on using these gardens to feed my family; however, I know that there is a chance that gardens will be no good. There is the chance of nuclear fallout which can leave the soil useless, then there is also the chance that marauder's will over run my land causing my inhabitants to bug out. I still pan to have the gardens just in case I can make a stand on my property. 

Reorganizing to be better prepared

Before I had any plans to be better fit to survive a long term event that will cause grocery and general stores to only be good for shelter my wife and I began stock piling things that some would consider to be overwhelming. These things consist of mainly personal hygiene products. We have a room full of items but the organization is completely out of control. My project over the next couple days is to prepare our room for the event that might never come.

Currently we have no organization of the items and most of the stuff is just piled on top of each other. 

My plan is to better organize the stuff, inventory the items and then prepare a list of items that we would still need. Some people might ask why I would care about personal hygiene items like shampoo, conditioner, soap, paper towels, toilet paper etc. So I have established a good answer. We will have these items for a few reasons 

#1 even during an event that renders most of the world dead or in search of sustainable life, personal hygiene will still need to be a very important concern! This will be especially true in the event that there was a pandemic. All of the viruses and diseases that are present prior to the global catastrophe will still be a concern following the event.

#2 Once the event takes place it will be nice to have those things that still keep you in touch with reality. It will be ever soothing to still be able to use toilet paper or to wash your hair and body.

#3 These types of items can be good trade items in the post-apocalyptic world. When the trades start it will be surprising to some to see that they still have access to those items that remind them of what the world used to be. 

I will organize the room and then share with the reader my organizing tips, important items, needed items and how to inventory the items..

This might take a minute, wish me luck!

Rain Barrels so close to being done!

Thanks to the help of a good family friend I have almost completed my rain barrels. I have bought some new supplies and decided to take my design in a different direction than what I originally planned to do, but that is part of being ready, to just go with the flow! Here is a picture of what I have now.

I am hoping to get it done this weekend; however, due to some health problems I have to have help when I am working or nothing gets done, but no worries a surgery in the very near future will have me able to do things alone again in NO TIME!

As you can see there is not a lot left to do. I need to cut the drainage pipe and run it into the top, connect the two barrels at the top and the bottom and run my over flow pipe. I plan to be done this weekend. 

The worse part about not getting it cone this past weekend is that my county has been under a flood warning since yesterday due to the massive rain storms we have been getting. Lots of missed water! 

 I will give a full run down of all the steps and precautions once the system is fully complete. I also have many step by step pictures that I will share with you at that time. 

September Owl Creek Gazette

Check out the September Owl Creek Gazette and you will find this blog featured in it. You will also find a nice blueprint for a "Simple Pine Bookshelf". I plan on making one of these for my outdoor shed to hold my heavier gardening supplies in the Spring. 

Owl Creek Gazette

I have tried forever and I finally got one!

I do not know how many times I have sat at my front door during a lightning storm with my camera facing the open field just snapping pictures to catch a bolt. I have wasted tons of memory trying to catch it and was never able to, until last night that is!

This has nothing to do with my survival but it is just so dang cool I HAD to share it with you all!