• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 672 0

cement to attach the pipe cap. Be sure to use sturdy nylon rope. Recovering a bucket if the rope breaks would be problematic, to say the least. In the bottom cap, drill a centered hole and install a foot valve. This will be open when floating and allow water into the bucket. The valve will automatically close when the bucket is pulled up. Foot valves (also called “check valves”) are available in PVC construction as well as brass and cast iron. Depending on the type of valve you buy, you will probably have to screw a threaded pipe adapter (male-to-male short coupling) into the top of the valve and then glue it into the appropriate-size hole that you have drilled into the end cap. Needless to say, you need to be sure that the valve’s flapper is oriented in the right direction before you attach it to the bottom cap. You need the bucket valve to hold rather than release water when the bucket is raised!

For anyone who would rather buy a commercially made well bucket, they are available from ReadyMadeResources.com (search for “well bucket”) and from Lehmans.com (search for “galvanized well bucket”).

Transporting Water

You need to plan ahead for transporting your water, even if fuel for vehicles is not available. Think in terms of a two-wheel garden cart or a bicycle cargo trailer with “Slimed” tires—or better yet, foam-filled “airless” tires (available from PerformanceBike .com or Nashbar.com). A cart or trailer can be loaded with five-or six-gallon plastic buckets or water cans. Each five-gallon water can will weigh about forty-two pounds, so you’ll want a cart or trailer with at least two-hundred-pound capacity. Oh yes, and if times get really bad, then you’ll need to plan for a security detail to protect the water detail. This is starting to get complicated, isn’t it? All the more reason to get started right now!

5

THE DEEP LARDER Your Family’s Food Storage

Getting Started

TEOTWAWKI will certainly mean a disruption in food production and distribution. As you prepare, plan to have enough food stored for your family to last a year, and much longer if you can afford it. It may seem excessive, but you won’t regret it when you are able to live with a full stomach WTSHTF. Keeping a deep larder has numerous advantages. By buying in bulk, you will be eating less expensively, and you will be able to provide for your family during a crisis. Just imagine how much extra food you will need to dispense as charity to your head-in-the-sand relatives, neighbors, friends, fellow church members, and refugees, so store lots of extra food, especially wheat, rice, beans, and honey. These items are cheap now, but may be very expensive later.

When storing foods, moderation and variety are the keys. Your staples will be dried goods such as corn, wheat, rice, and beans, but you will also need to stock up on canned fruits and vegetables, powdered milk, and lots and lots of salt. Include plenty of different foods to keep your bowels moving properly. This is a serious issue. Constipation that progresses to fecal impaction can be lethal, particularly in situations in which strong physical exertion is required.

As you plan for your larder, it will be important for you to calculate precisely how much food you will need for each member of your family for one year. In the following list, I provide recommended quantities, but you may want to do more specific calculations based on your family’s situation. While I do not share the religious beliefs of the LDS (Mormon) church, I commend them for their food-storage philosophy, practice, and infrastructure. Your local LDS ward probably has a dry-pack cannery, and they will let non-LDS members use it on a space-available basis. Members are usually on hand to train newbies on how to operate the equipment.

The real key to self-sufficiency is having both storage foods and the ability to grow your own grains and vegetables. If you are worried about nutritional value, then nothing beats freshly grown. You should consider storing non-hybrid seed of equal or perhaps greater importance than