Preppers

Atlanta is currently suffering from a major water main break that has put half the city under a boil-water advisory. The city government is reportedly bringing in pallets of bottled water, so there hopefully will not be any real crisis here. But I expect this will be a wake-up call for a lot of people who have not given much thought to prepping.

There are also major droughts in Mexico City and Bogota, threatening to dry out their taps.

Do you all have any tips for folk with how to prep for loss of water service, especially for folk in cities where they may not have a ton of storage space or land for collecting water?

I'll start off by referring to the US FEMA guidelines: One gallon of water per person per day. In my experience the best format is those upright 1-gallon bottles with the opening in the top middle (not the milk-jug style with the handle).

A nice overview if drought areas in Europe.

Just for the sake of communication and keeping this sub relevant: how are you situated (rural/city/flat/house) and what are your skills and preps to e.g. deal with harsh weather, a short-term cut off of energy and heating or cold and ugly weather on the trail with your BOB.

I've seen several good recommendations for what equipment I need, but I don't know who to trust for reliable products. For example, flashlights and multi-tools. I see a lot of flashlights on Amazon, but I don't know if one is "better" than another.

I'm wondering if there's a "you can't go wrong with these brands/models" that's available.

With black week and some headlessness I bought my second Sawyer Mini on eBay. I hoped for a sellout, but when I received shipping information from China and was not able to cancel the order, I already knew whats going down 😂.

Anyhow, I received a cheeky counterfeit and am now talking to Sawyer and eBay. I'm not worried about the money, it is more like these filters can be life threatening and should be pulled from market.

In an emergency I simply will not be able to function without coffee. But I was surprised to learn that many people don't know how quickly coffee loses its flavor.

Ground coffee starts to flatten out almost immediately upon being exposed to oxygen. Typically you can expect it to hold its flavor for a few days, maybe two or three weeks at the most. After that it will still resemble "coffee" but the flavor will be significantly weakened. Storing it in mylar with an O2 absorber may help somewhat, but the flavor breakdown is already underway by the time you seal the bag.

Roasted coffee beans will last roughly a year stored at room temperature, away from direct sunlight. Storing them in mylar (with that O2 absorber) should stretch this out somewhat. I'm going to fill and seal two small bags out of my next purchase, and test them at the 3 and 5 year marks.

I see people recommending green (unroasted) beans for long-term storage, but there are two problems there. Roasting isn't an exact science; you'll want to make sure you're a seasoned roaster before you ruin your stash. And when you do roast, that wonderful smell will be travel far and wide. In a SHTF situation, that's a powerful motivator for someone to come pay you a visit.

I'm saying this as a coffee snob who hates instant coffee: instant coffee is the best way to go for long-term storage. There are special "prepper" brands of instant coffee out there but the truth is as long as the container is sealed, it's going to hold its flavor for many years. Go to your local supermarket and buy a few jars of whatever floats your boat, write the purchase date on them, and tuck them away in the back of your pantry. At the minimum they'll be good for many years, probably at least a decade.

So how do you maintain and plant a no-till garden in the spring? And what do you do if you have cover crops growing in the garden, but have early seed crops or vegetable transplants that need to go into the ground?

All of those questions and more have been rolling into our website over the last few weeks. And as spring hits full stride, we thought it was the perfect time to cover the various tasks, chores and topics that make up working in a spring no-till garden.

Especially when it comes to what to do with cover crops growing in the garden, early seed sowing, and planting transplant crops as well.

Seen at https://lemmy.one/post/2005274

Collection of recipes and advice from the 18th century. Pre-electricity and modern conveniences.

With all these fires going around and the potential of house fires a quick question about gas masks.

Is the RD40 40mm thread EN-148-1 the same as the STANAG 4155 Nato thread?

Would a draeger rd 40 filter fit a MP5 Gas mask ? Or a military nbc filter fit a draeger x-plore-6300?

Edit: Just want to know if the civilian and mil spec threading is identical.

Hi,

sitting in a bigger City in the center of Europe I realised, that I have the short term problem covered, but no real plan for long term inconveniences.

To be clear, in my opinion this is tailored to the EU as the USA has a vaster landscape, and a different infrastructure in regards to power and food delivery. The point is, that almost all European countries can be traversed in one day, so in case of regional events help and relief could be there faster.

Bug in

I have in accordance with the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance goods to stay self sufficient for about a week, maybe more. Because of a hiking and camping hobby, I have everything to deal with colder weather. So, I have some gear and skills which can be put to use.

Bug out

Hopefully seeing the signs early enough, I plan to leave town when everyone goes mad. I plan to head towards family and friends, which have houses and are situated more rural. I have one bag packed which would help me to make the way by bike or by foot. But actually I hope to have a car until then, or that the trains are still going. Anyhow: I would make my way out with a dedicated place to go and would stay there until I can come back.

But what If there is nothing to come back, too? I mean, if something is fundamentally changing the world or my country as it is? Would it be okay to stay with said friends and family and to build up a community that watches after each other?

I have certainly no clue but with this densely populated European countries the many times dreamed up living in the backcountry is no real option -- simply because there is not enough backcountry to provide for all the people.

What is your take?

I am about to print and laminate DIN A6 cheat sheets that go into my BOB.

What would you add to the essentials (in Germany/Europe)?

E.g.

• Maps of ROIs
• Basics for landnav
• Fire setups (warmth vs cooking, which wood)
• Radio frequencies (and their usage)

Water glassing eggs involves submerging clean, unwashed, eggs in a pickling lime and water solution to seal off the shell and preserve them for 12-18 months. The result is perfectly fresh, unspoiled eggs, just like they were the day the hen laid them. Sometimes properly water glassed eggs are still fresh even after two years. Homestead folks have been using this preservation method since the 1800s to capitalize on the springtime egg abundance year round.

The decomposed and partially mummified bodies of three people who were recently found at a remote western Colorado campsite were two adult sisters and one woman's 14-year-old son, Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes said.

The deceased are Christine Vance, 41; Rebecca Vance, 42, and Rebecca's son, all from Colorado Springs. Two were found in a tent down the road from a campsite in the Gunnison National Forest about nine miles (14.5 kilometers) from Ohio City, Colorado, Gunnison County Coroner Michael Barnes said in an interview Tuesday. Officials have not named the son because he is a minor.

Their bodies showed signs of malnourishment, with two in the tent and one outside. Though a cause of death has yet to be determined while authorities wait for toxicology reports to be processed, the group may have succumbed to starvation, freezing temperatures or carbon monoxide poisoning from trying to make fire to stay warm, Barnes said.

Due to current affairs

• NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System FIRMS
• European Forest Fire Information System

The ultimate prepper power supply! Runs 2-7 MWe for three years.

Anybody have an idea of the cost? I can't find anything.

An article from PennState Extension. Click the link for more.

Roof-catchment cisterns may also be used to supply water to farms. Watering troughs and rain barrels can be filled by water collected from barn and other out-building roofs. A storage cistern built alongside a barn or other building could serve as an emergency source of water for firefighting in the event that a pond were not nearby. However, the use of rainwater for supplying domestic water needs is not without its problems.

Water quality is of concern especially when the rainwater is to be used for drinking purposes in addition to other domestic uses. Rainwater and atmospheric dust that are collected by roof catchments contain certain contaminants which may pose a health threat to those consuming the water. Lead and other pollutants may accumulate in cistern bottom sediments; and untreated rainwater is quite corrosive to plumbing systems. Measures must be taken to minimize these and other water-quality problems in cistern systems. Recommendations for doing this will be presented, as well as guidelines for designing and building roof-catchment cistern systems.

Rainwater cisterns can provide water of adequate quantity and quality if proper steps are taken in the planning and construction stages, and periodic maintenance is performed throughout the life of the cistern.

A quick reminder to check your sources of information, and a big disclaimer for an incoming rant

A friend of mine just came along with a youtube video talking 2023 power management in Germany and the video was far beyond conspiracy and resonated too heavily.

A key competency should be to check sources for relevance by questioning the presentation style:

• Wording preset to inflict fear and insecurity
• Wording preset to stimulate a conflict (we against the others)
• Author profits, e.g. by promoting his store/hardware
• Author evades naming further sources
• Author use portions of statistic / single sources to "proof" his point

If all that checks, oh boy. Maybe the source is not as independent, philanthropic or enlightened as you thought it would be. Especially the point with the sources is something I come along in many discussions lately...

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1077374

According to the statistics from the Donner party, it's better to be a woman between 20-39.

https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Donner-Party-Members-Sex-and-Survivorship-by-Seventh-Census-Age-Class_tbl3_268376085

Now, what about fat vs skinny?

Within one or two days of your last meal, your body will have exhausted all the glycogen stored in the liver and muscles. Most of your energy requirements will be met by breaking down stored fat into ketones, but brain cells and red blood cells can't metabolise ketones, so their glucose requirements must be met by breaking down muscle.

Even if you have lots of body fat left to burn, you can still starve to death if you don't have enough muscle because vital muscles like the heart will have been weakened to the point where they stop working. For this reason, doctors normally consider 40 to 50 per cent weight loss as life-threatening, regardless of your initial body weight.

Total starvation is normally fatal in eight to 12 weeks. In less extreme cases, however, where you are still receiving some calories - particularly if these calories include a high proportion of protein - being fat will help you survive much longer, because your body will be able to meet the majority of your calorie requirements from stored fat.

https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/who-would-die-first-of-starvation-a-fat-or-a-thin-person/

So, if you know help will eventually get to you, being a larger woman is to your benefit. If you know help is probably not on the way, being a fit man or woman is most likely your better bet, as you'll need to be active in hunting down prey or searching for other food sources.