The commandment for food storage was for a seven years food supply. It was never changed to one year. Check the Journal of Discourses. Those who were disobedient in Brigham Young's time were told by the prophet that the prepared were not obligated to share with the unprepared when famine struck. Several years ago, a friend of mine went to a family history conference. When Gordon B. Hinckly spoke, one of the things he said was, "One of these days, your horses will be more important to you than your cars." I don't know if that's an exact quote, but it's very close. I have some suggestions for your horses' food supply: Beet pulp is the cheapest thing a feed store sells, and it swells up to many times it's dry volume when it's soaked. It is good for improving the efficiency of a horse's digestion, and keeping weight on them. Wheat bran is about the second cheapest thing a feed store sells, and complements beet pulp well... maybe 25% or so wheat bran, and 75% beet pulp. The mountain men fed their horses bark from 'sweet cottonwood.' I haven't matched that with it's modern name, yet. willows can be gathered and used as hay. This year, I will put a years supply of hay in my barn, and put several pallets of beet pulp and wheat bran in a steel shipping container for our horses.
Jerusalem Artichoke will produce as much as 15 tons to an acre, compared to about 3 tons for potatoes. In a field it looks like that tall weed with the big yellow flowers that birds sometimes pick on... people won't know it's a garden. It's in the sunflower family.
Hydrogen peroxide is good stuff, but it steadily loses it's potency when stored. Better: chlorine dioxide (stabilized oxygen). It stores a very long time. (When you find a distributor, don't say it's for purifying water... say it's for treating sewage... otherwise they won't want to sell it to you.) I can't overemphasize how sold I am on chlorine dioxide.
Coloidal silver can be made by simply putting direct current into water through two pure silver electrodes. I'd use two car batteries hooked negative to positive for 24 volts, and use distilled water... it takes longer with distilled, but you want pure coloidal silver, not silver compounds.
Store diatomaceous earth. It's a natural product used for bug and parasite control. You and your horse can eat it. Wormwood, Tansy, and Stinging Nettle leaves can be used to worm your horses. There are essential oils that will worm them, too. Forget about keeping warm in winter with just wood and coal. Use a sunroom/ greenhouse attached to your south side. You can bend chainlink fence pipe with a tubing bender from "Lostcreek" and cover it with green house plastic (Northern Greenhouse Sales in North Dakota sells it, and it seems to last forever) or nail together a stud wall (even with 2X2's) and wrap "stretch wrap" (used on palleted loads hauled by truck) around the stud frame. Lean it up against the house and you have a double wall sunroom. A roll of stretch wrap is cheap and will form a lot of greenhouse area.
Herbs are good. If you can find "Joseph Smith and Herbal Medicine", get it. A double handful of Comfrey held under the hot water faucet of your bathtub will make comfrey tea to soak in. It quickly heals compound fractures, severe lacerations and serious burns without any scarring. Get a 5 gallon bucket of "Bug-Off Garlic" from "Springtime" (a company selling supplements for animals and humans). You'll have a seven years supply of medicinal garlic for a lot cheaper than the health food store.
Remember to put away lots of vinegar, baking soda.
If you want to have barter items, I suggest things that will make people more independent; fish hooks, snares, wool blankets, duct tape, toilet paper, .22 ammo, aspirin, matches, soap, sewing kits, bailing twine, tarps, tooth brushes and tooth paste, salt, garbage bags. If people see that you have MRE's and canned goods, some of them will 'covet' and mug you.
Some say sewage should be the number one consideration in survival. A sawdust toilet is a five gallon bucket with a toilet seat on it. After each use, put a layer of sawdust on top. Take it out to the compost pile once in a while.
One of the best ways to survive financially is to eat healthy (whole grains, fruits, vegetables, use herbs for alternative medicine, etc.), exercise regularly and try to avoid hospitals. When there’s no choice and you absolutely must go to the hospital, you can still study articles on the Web, like this one below, before you enter a hospital. Finding out how hospitals operate and how they bill patients before you fall ill will spare you from the stress of dealing with these issues when you don’t feel like reading because you are too ill, injured or too busy handling the health crisis itself.
10 Ways To Avoid Outrageous Hospital Overcharges
by Peter Davidson
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/Insurance/Insureyourhealth/P74840.asp or go to
http://www.bankrate.com/ThirdAge/news/insurance/20040206a1.asp?print=on
Wow! I read that article. They charged a man for having a baby. If it wasn't so outrageous it would be funny. I remember the years without health insurance and three kids. I'm so thankful to have insurance now. I never even see a bill. My son had surgery twice and I only paid a hundred dollors. I think health insurance is as important as food and shelter.
Speaking of survival, I found this really cool website where they sell survival crackers, I bought some and I was impressed, Their like M-80's except perfectly legal, And alot louder, I recommed these to anyone who likes to carry signals for backpacking or hiking. Check them out! you'd be impressed.
www.survivalops.com
Thanks Laura, I went to survivalops.com and bout some of those, KICK ASS.
They rockola like old fashioned cola!
Residents Survive With Stone Age Skills
The 21st century was swept away here [in New Orleans]. The winds and the floods and the disasters that followed took it.
Some strange, more primitive time took its place, amid the useless computers and cars of the modern world. Those stranded were left behind to forage for food and water, share what little they have with neighbors, and find somewhere safe before night falls.
"Say goodbye to the Jetsons," Aaron Broussard, president of next-door Jefferson Parish, told residents on the all-night radio station and news lifeline. "We're back to the Flintstones."…
Full article at http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/09/06/D8CEJL2O0.html