HAPPY CHICKENS ARE PREPARED CHICKENS

There are many of us who have chickens.  You need to take a few extra steps to keep them healthy and happy for the winter.  

Hill Spirit came across this blog (The Happy Chicken Coop) that you may want to check out.   Your chickens will be prepared for the winter if you take care of them in the next few weeks.

GETTING READY FOR THE HOLIDAYS THE EASY WAY

Part of being prepared is planning ahead.  The holiday season is upon us, from Halloween, Thanksgiving and on to Christmas.  It can be such a whirlwind that we are stressed out, overwhelmed and get lost in the preparations.  We are distracted from the joy of family and friends.  Hill Spirit tries to remember the Mary and Martha story in the gospels.  If you aren't familiar with the story, it is well worth your time to look it up and ponder how it applies to your life (Luke, 10:38-42).

Hill Spirit ran across a weekly holiday stress relief plan on Facebook today.  It makes a lot of sense and might help you enjoy the season, be prepared and remember to chose "that good part". 
  CLICK ON LINK

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 29

How prepared are you to face an emergency?
This is the last post about how the little pigs can help us as we learn about being prepared for life's trials.  If you missed the first two posts, go back to start and don't pass go until you read it.  The first three pigs are important too.  
Link: First Pig
Link: More Pigs

"This little piggy had none" 

You CAN go from zero to hero with preparation. One friend shared a method of planning 10 dinners, breakfasts and lunches that her family likes. She multiplied the ingredients by 10, then purchased and stored each meal in a bag with cooking instructions. Voila — three months' worth of complete meals! She knows she has the necessary ingredients, spices and everything to feed her family for 100 days with her food storage and fuel. This is also good if you experience unemployment, have a sick child or get stranded and can't get to the market for some reason. You will need to use and rotate these meals every so often to maintain freshness, but they are things your family likes, so it shouldn't be too hard.

Another way for you to be prepared is making and freezing homemade soups and casseroles. You can double or triple a recipe (or more) and make a lot of food at once for about the same amount of time and only one mess. This is a good idea for singles, small families, empty-nesters and busy people who don't want to cook every day but still want variety.

"And this little piggy cried "wee, wee, wee all the way home." 

Don't cry. There are lots of things you can do to be prepared. Check your local government website (Limestone EMA facebook page link) for other important instructions, including 72-hour kits, survival supplies and collecting important papers and documents. A friend works in a hospital that is telling their employees to have 96-hour survival supplies and a first aid kit at home and in the car. Here is another source for intelligent planning and preparedness. Link: Being Ready

The more you can do for yourself, the less you will have to worry about facing long lines, food and supply shortages, hunger and distress. And you may just be able to be a hero to others who are not so fortunate. Remember, when Noah built the ark it wasn't raining. 
 

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 28

How prepared are you to face an emergency?
This is the second post about how the five little pigs can help us as we learn about being prepared for life's trials.  If you missed the first post, go back to start and don't pass go until you read it.  The first pig is important too.  Link: First Pig

"This little piggy stayed home"

Did you know that you can freeze-dry foods yourself? Also, vacuum pouching foods for long-term storage is a good alternative. Chocolate chips will supposedly last for 11 years. Shipped vacuum-pouched chocolate chip cookies and homemade treats have arrived fresh and delicious for deployed soldiers. During difficult times, it is nice to have some of the comforts you are accustomed to.

And what if fuel supplies are cut off?  We have experienced the aftermath of tornadoes here in Limestone County. Natural gas lines can be severed and other power becomes unavailable. We had ice storms knock out our power.  There are many of us who have been so cold waiting for that power to come back on. We were not as prepared as our neighbors who had emergency generators to run heating systems. Some of us did have lanterns and candles to provide light at night and were able to enjoy hot meals using grills and camp stoves until the power was restored several days later.

"This little piggy had roast beef" 

One of our neighbors is a canning expert. When she finds special prices on meats, she buys them in bulk and cans them in a pressure canner. She says that meats are one of the easiest foods to process and when purchased on sale, not terribly expensive. You don't have to have power to keep canned meat good and you always have an ingredient for soups and casserole-type dishes. She also cans butter in her pressure canner and maintains that after three years, hers is still fresh and tasty. Of course you would need butter for those chocolate chip cookies.

Check back tomorrow for the last little pig post to help you prepare for life's trials.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 27

The wisdom of a nursery rhyme with five little piggies.

If you couldn't get the food and things your family needs from the store because of weather, a natural disaster, an economic or other challenge; what would you do? Are you ready for an emergency?

There are many options for obtaining and storing emergency food rations. You can use some of your tax refund to purchase food to help  avoid pinching the budget. Others give food storage and survival items as gifts or use money from a vacation budget and enjoy a staycation. Another way to make your dollar stretch is to check the clearance aisle at the grocery store and buy day-old bread which freezes well.

Please don't expect to be fed by government or charitable agencies, their resources will be stretched to the limit. Wouldn't your family prefer foods they are accustomed to anyway? If you choose to utilize your resources and invest in preparedness, you do not need to worry or feel like you are taking away from others; actually your self-reliance reduces the burden on other groups. In a time of need, you will be in more of a position to help relieve the suffering of others, starting with those you value most. Remember, "The Lord helps those who help themselves."

Let's consider the wisdom of a centuries-old nursery rhyme as we learn about being prepared.

The First Pig:

"This little piggy went to market"

One expert likes freeze-dried foods for the quality and shelf life. Many of us eat predominantly fresh foods such as produce, which doesn't store well long term. Freeze-dried foods provide a reasonably similar option, are light weight and portable if you need to relocate. Many manufacturers offer selections of hundreds of servings of produce, meats, dairy and basic foods.

Some families choose military-style MREs (meals ready to eat) because they keep for a long time, are convenient, lightweight, nutritious and portable. Others use bulk food purchases to keep costs low. You can discover hacks like easily sprouting seeds for fresh vegetables and using dried fruits on the website below and social media sites. And let's not forget adequate water; at least two gallons per person per day to stay alive and somewhat clean.

Check back tomorrow for two more "pigs" of being ready for the trials of life.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 26

During the month of September you have been provided with tons of information to help you start living a prepared life. Being prepared is much more than food storage and chickens. You will find several ways, from many dedicated people, to help jump start you into a more secure future in uncertain times.

Granted, food storage and chickens are really good things to have if you want to be prepared, but there is more. Being prepared for “whatever” is many things and different people will view preparedness with unique perspectives.
How do you know what is really important? Think about what you are preparing for. Are you preparing for a few days or for a total breakdown of society? This one answer will drive all your other decisions.

If you are interested in reading more, here is your LINK TO COMPLETE ARTICLE

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 25

One of Hill Spirit's goals is that the people of Elkmont be prepared for life's trials, the unexpected.  Those trials can be sickness, loss of job, death of a loved one to tornadoes, natural or man made disasters. Most of the prepper stuff you see on tv is hype or "reality tv" situations.  This is not really 

what being prepared is. There are those of us who have just now reached the point where they think it might be a good idea to be a little more ready for those unexpected trials. For those who are interested, the blog has a being prepared or provident living label to the right side.  These are older posts.

Here is another podcast by Jack Spirko who does a great job explaining how to start being more responsible for yourself and family in hard times without looking to others to fix your problems.

Jack's Description of Podcast: 

Took a question on “economic collapse” and tried to explain that no that isn’t going to  happen, not the way many think about it anyway.  That the collapse is here, it is on going and it will have both chronic and acute symptoms.  In short instead of 

prepping for TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it) many should be prepping for TEOYWAYKI (the end of your world as you know it)As usual when you try to explain this some people feel that means, well, “it isn’t so bad” so do we even need to prep beyond say basic readiness.

Also after doing this for so long it is easy to forget that many of the core concepts of modern survivalism might be foreign to even people who have listed (especially selectively) for say two years or even more.  That the ground work laid in the formative years may never have been heard by many listeners, at all.

So today podcast will combine a bit of the fundamental modern survival thinking with current modern threats and considerations.  Goal is to try to explain the balance between Doomsday Prepper nonsense and all that is needed is a flash light and some candles thinking. 

 Humans by and large are binary creatures with an internal binary code of ones and zeros, this is why the political dichotomy is so effective.  We literally think in two dimensions.  Safety and danger, democrat or republican, Pepsi or Coke, rich or poor, sick or healthy, alive or dead, etc.  The absolutes are indeed black and white but life is a million shades of gray, today my goal is to bring you out into the spectrum and let you see some of those shades.
Join Jack Today as He Discusses…

• The disaster probability factor
• The disaster impact scale
• The inverse relationship of impact scale and probability
• How the circles of influence and concern fit into this
• The six primary needs and a new way to think about them
  • Food
  • Water
  • Shelter
  • Energy
  • Health and Sanitation
  • Security
• What exactly is a
  • Recession
  • Depression
  • Economic Collapse
  • Currency Default
• What I consider BASIC common sense preparedness
  • Food for 30-60 days with out complete boredom
  • Ability to deal with initial power loss in 5-10 minutes
  • Power for 14 days with basic needs and comfort
  • Ability to deal with wastes for 30 days if you have to
  • Ability to treat basic injuries and illnesses
  • Ability to keep your home sound in any damage that isn’t catastrophic
  • Water for at least 30 days for all needs, drinking, cooking, bathing, etc.
  • Money to pay all expenses for 90 days with no income. (without raiding retirement accounts)
  • Security for your home and person’s (ETPP)
    • Equipment
    • Training
    • Procedures
    • Protocols
  • The ability to help neighbors
  • The ability to communicate and get information
  • The ability to move out, survive away from home and get back home
  • A full info and documentation kit
  • Situational Awareness and a Positive Mental Conditioning
  • Basic phyical fitness and reasonable activity
  • A network of friends and contacts you can count on
• Do that and you are ahead of most of the Doomsday People
• Don’t think everything is swell just because everything isn’t burning

LINK TO PODCAST: HOW TO PREPARE

*skip to about 10:06 to get to main topic

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 23

“There are many very good people who keep most of the Lord’s commandments with respect to the virtuous side of life, but who overlook His commandments in temporal things. 

They do not heed His warning to prepare for a possible future emergency, apparently feeling that in the midst of all this trouble ‘it won’t happen to us.’ It is not always the other fellow’s problem. It can be our problem too. 

    “To prepare for the future is part of God’s eternal plan, both spiritually and temporally. To protect ourselves against reversals and hardships is only good sense.
    “…[God] teaches us to be self-reliant and industrious, to plan ahead, to provide for possible hard times, to avoid obligations unless we are sure we can handle them, and then to serve him with such devotion that He will be pleased to augment all of our own earnest efforts.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 22

The power has gone out and you don't have a clue how to cook if you don't have your grill.  Learning to cook with a dutch oven gives you a lot of options that you may not realize. 

---

Have you ever cooked a meal by using a dutch oven? This is a cooking vessel that is made to be used on a stove top or placed in a standard oven. If you are looking for a fun way to cook food at home or out on a fun camping trip, then dutch oven cooking might be ideal.

Dutch oven cooking is similar to cooking food wrapped in tin foil on a campfire. Food is placed inside the dutch oven that is then heated by placing it on hot coals. This means you can use a simple campfire or the charcoal grill found in a lot of state parks.

The most important thing to remember about dutch oven cooking is safety. Gloves will be essential for cooking with a dutch oven as the vessel will get extremely hot. The only other thing to keep in mind is the recipes you have to use for the meals you want to cook.

15 SECRETS TO DUTCH OVEN COOKING LINK

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 21

For those of us starting out preparing our families for whatever emergency comes our way, it can seem quite overwhelming. There is so much information on what needs to be done, and the tendency is to just give up before we’ve really started because it is too daunting of a task. My focus is always how I can prepare my family for our own ‘end of the world’ scenario. I can’t get wrapped up in world ending crisis because just losing one of our jobs would be crisis enough for us  – so that’s where I focus. The rest will come.

 

Start Small

Just start with something small, knowing each day you can accomplish a little more.

Just starting? Make a small goal for today – gather up your important papers and put them in a folder in a safe spot. This way, you can grab them in case you need to evacuate quickly. 

 

Make a Plan

If you have a plan, it’s easier to see where you are accomplishing great things to keep you motivated. Just a small plan at first of things to accomplish this week or this month to get you started. Having it down on paper is less daunting than all those crazy plans running around in your head. It gives you a box to tick when you’ve done something, and gives you a feeling of confidence that this is something that you can do!

Just starting? Make a meal plan for the next month, then buy what you would need to make it 3x. You can store the extras for your emergency stash to build your food storage. Or create your emergency contact list – info on who to contact in state and out of state in an emergency (or to check in), your doctors, utiility companies, family work numbers, etc.

 

Involve Your Family

Having everyone involved in some way makes it less stressful on you to accomplish it all. Your husband probably has great ideas of his own on how to plan for small emergencies or large. Your kids will be helpful in gathering items, organizing, and having information that they’ve learned in school about Fire Awareness (stop, drop & roll), etc.

Just starting? Give your kids the task of keeping the pet’s emergency bag ready, have them help plan, have them drill each other on emergency evacuation routes out of the house. Enroll them in a first-aid class for kids. Or if they are older, have them create the Family Contact Sheets for you.

 

Don’t Stress Out

It’s so easy to begin reading information on emergency preparedness and becoming completely stressed out about all of the potential dangers in the world, all that you have to buy to feel prepared, and all of what everyone else says has to happen for their standard of ‘preparedness’. Remember, you are preparing YOUR family for YOUR needs. Don’t try to prepare for a global thermonuclear war (remember War Games?). Try to prepare your family for the most immediate concerns you have now. Someone getting hurt, someone being locked out of the house, your car dying on the side of the road in winter. Prepare for those emergencies and you’ll find you’re already on the way to preparing for the bigger ones.

 

Task to Accomplish Today!

Today – I want  you to be sure you do these two things. they are easy to do, take no time, and can get you started on basic emergency preparedness.

• Water for your Car – enough drinking water for each member of your family in case you get stuck.
• A list of Emergency Numbers – make sure your kids know how to dial 9-1-1, know how to get you and your husband on cell phones/work phones, and to contact a neighbor for help. Keep these numbers posted clearly.

Helpful sites:

Food Storage Made Easy
Ready.gov
Survival Mom

Prepared LDS Family

Final Note

You can do this!!! It’s important for us to make sure our families are prepared for the little emergencies and the big ones. Each step you accomplish to the small one is another step  you’ve already accomplished towards the big one – every step counts!

Source: Mom with a Prep Blog

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 13

HOW BEING PREPARED BRINGS YOU PEACE WHEN EVERYONE ELSE IS GOING CRAZY
The media has packaged the "prepper community" as being crazy people and have featured those that have taken it to the extreme.  However, being able to take care of yourself when life's trials come is just something that your grandparents or great-grandparents did.  

Being prepared isn't being crazy, it's being smart.  It isn't any different than having savings (emergency fund according to Dave Ramsey) or buying insurance.  As always Hill Spirit wants you to be wise, able to take care yourself and be able to reach out to help your neighbor.  If you have an hour, consider listening to the podcast below.  You may find one or two ideas that you can add to your life.

Link: Episode-1359- Why Practical Preparedness Wins the Race

"When I first began doing TSP I told the story of The Ant and the Grasshopper many times.  Today I want to remind you of another story, the story of the Tortoise and the Hare.  Like the story of the Ant and the Grasshopper, this story is a well known fable of Aesop. The basics are the tortoise and hare race, eh hare is obviously favored to win.  He gets cocky, he takes a nap, the tortoise plods along and wins.  Don’t worry I will tell the full story on the air, but that is the basics.
 
There is a lesson in not trying to do too much too fast in this story for us.  You hear about the extreme ways people prepare for events that have a low chance of happening but the practical preps we teach, seem to pay off for our audience members on a daily basis. While many people want to always focus on civilization ending things, the simple preparedness ethic we once had as Americans in general seems to be what we are most lacking and most in need of."

Join Jack Today As He Discusses…

• Some stories by listeners about practical prepping
• The Aesop fables of the Ant and Grasshopper and The Tortoise and Hare
• My view of the 16 most overlooked (boring) preps
  • Documentation Kits
  • Insurance
  • Basic Savings
  • Basic Food Storage (very basic)
  • Reading and learning about anything valuable
  • Spending Time Talking to Neighbors and Local Leadership
  • Simply making time for “family time” (turn off the electronics)
  • Learning to be a great cook
  • Basic first aid (conventional and herbal)
  • Planting basic perennials (herbs, berries, a few trees) —-
  • Learning to preserve food (canning, smoking, jerking, dehydrating, etc.)
  • Teaching hard skills to our children
  • The basic black out kit
  • Basic car care, maintenance and repair knowledge
  • Building a small business or being a great investor
  • Networking and staying marketable
• Thoughts on why this always wins the race

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 12

During a Catastrophic Emergency,
You'll Need to Know How to Communicate with Others 

With the power out, you'll start to feel isolated pretty quickly. But during an emergency, it will be more important than ever to stay in touch with those around you. Fortunately you can still communicate if you make sure you have the right tools.  We here in Limestone County has first hand experience with this.  Remember the 2011 tornadoes; those with cell phones had no service for several days.  Cell phones service can and do crash in emergencies – particularly when everyone is trying to make calls.  

Link: Steps to Make Sure This Doesn't Happen To You

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 11

In the event of an emergency, one that requires you to evacuate your home, you will most likely need to have access to your important documents. Things like insurance policies, birth certificates, vehicle registration, and a copy of your driver’s license may be required to prove your identity or that you own the property in question. Is it physically possible to carry all the information that may be needed? 

Probably not…you could collect it all in your emergency binder and be ready to grab it and go, but is that the most secure way to save important documents?

#3 Online Storage.What is the cloud anyway?

Imagine a situation where, rather than running intensive applications like Photoshop or CAD programs on your personal computer, you upload your data to a computer in the cloud and it does all the heavy lifting and returns to you a finished product. We are already seeing this with sites that will process your photos like Photoshop.com or provide you with an office suite that handles documents, spreadsheets, such as Google Docs.  In the end, “The Cloud” is simply The Internet, and we use it every day.

Saving your documents to the cloud may seem to be the answer

Maybe and if my laptop died today I would be cooked.
“Cloud computing offers other benefits as well. Not too long ago, many of us worried about losing our documents, photos and files if something bad happened to our computers, like a virus or a hardware malfunction. Today, our data is migrating beyond the boundaries of our personal computers. Instead, we’re moving our data online into “the cloud”. 

Is it Safe to Store Data in the Cloud?

You have to wonder if your files are really safe if you store them in the cloud. It is safe to store your data but you have to do your research and understand the limitations before doing any uploading. 


The online options, which allow a limited amount of space for free – Dropbox, iCloud Drive, OneDrive and Google Drive. These are easily accessible from your computer and you probably already have documents stored on them now. Some other reliable for fee providers include Master Vault Lock, Secure Safe, and MyVault. Each of these has built in encryption for your data.

But what if your files are hacked or lost? It is  completely avoidable, if you are willing to regularly and intelligently back up your photos and documents.

1)      Back up your photos and documents online, or “in the cloud,”
AND
2)      Buy an external hard drive
It can be a bit of a chore, but it's like having insurance.  Back up your photos right now, both online and to a hard drive. Go on. Back them up. Before your computer bursts into flame, your phone falls into the ocean, and your iPad snaps in half. Back up your pictures, documents and all the information you need to function in an emergency so that you do not lose them forever, in case you are hacked or your device is stolen or is run over by a semi.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the event of an emergency, one that requires you to evacuate your home, you will most likely need to have access to your important documents. Things like insurance policies, birth certificates, vehicle registration, and a copy of your driver’s license may be required to prove your identity or that you own the property in question.

 Is it physically possible to carry all the information that may be needed? 
Probably not…you could collect it all in your emergency binder and be ready to grab it and go, but is that the most secure way to save important documents?


#2 Flash drives. Keep it around your neck? 

 

The second option is your next logical move. You’ve taken the time to gather all the documents and place them in a binder. It’s easy to scan and save those same documents to a flash drive.  

Choosing this storage plan will allow you to access a copy of the documents at any computer.  These USB drives are inexpensive and can be found at any office supply store. Storage space of 8 gigs should be plenty for the kind of items you’ll want to save.
 
You might want to start with all the documents that are naturally emailed in the course of doing business; things like insurance policies and bank statements, and then backup all the documents that are on your computer. Jim Cobb in his book Preparedness Survival Hacks suggests creating a series of folders on your flash drive so you have an easier time of finding things.

Then you’ll want to scan, or take a photograph, of the most important documents that you might need. There is a long list of items that you will want to haves access to and undertaking this can be overwhelming. Tackle it a bit every day until it’s finished.

Download the Master List of Important Documents

Now you’ll have access to all your documents – but so will anyone else that get ahold of your flash drive. You have two options to fix this:

You can password protect all or part of your USB drive. Check out this article at UberGizmo for ideas to do your own password protecting.

 

Choose encryption software to protect the data. Encrypting your USB drive with a password is the best way to go when you need a protection that is extremely hard to break. This article from Self Reliant School – Create a Secure Hiding Place for Electronic Documents – will take you through the whole process.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 9

In the event of an emergency, one that requires you to evacuate your home, you will most likely need to have access to your important documents. Things like insurance policies, birth certificates, vehicle registration, and a copy of your driver’s license may be required to prove your identity or that you own the property in question. Is it physically possible to carry all the information that may be needed? 
Probably not…you could collect it all in your emergency binder and be ready to grab it and go, but is that the most secure way to save important documents? 

#1 Paper. Keep it in a Grab-N-Go Binder.

For years, I operated under the assumption that paper documents and books are the best way to collect my data and that I will have all my resources available in my binder if I should need them. There is a problem with this though, if we have a fire or flood, or if a disaster happens when I’m not home – my grab and go binder, my personal identifying documents, and all my preparedness resources could be lost.
 
What do I do then? I would lose years of information – gone – in an instant. The only way to prevent it is to carry the binder with me at all times, which is not very efficient, or secure. There is still room for a grab-and-go emergency binder in your preparedness plans. You may want to store original documents that are the hardest, or most time consuming, to replace. Things like birth certificates, car titles, passports, military service records, discharge papers, and marriage certificates. These documents can be copied and stored in your binder but also stored digitally.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 8

Marked as National Preparedness Month, September brings the reminder of how pivotal it is to be prepared for extreme weather in order to minimize the impact on families, communities and essential infrastructures..

September's headlining phrase for creating a strong, equipped country is "Be Disaster Aware, Take Action to Prepare." The simple message can be taken in great stride to protect yourself, your family and your entire community.The entire effort is based upon four pillars: be informed, make a plan, build a kit and get involved.

The Weather-Ready Nation Ambassador Lead for the NWS Douglas Hilderbrand stressed the instrumental importance of treating preparedness as a "365-days-of-the-year state of mind. We have national preparedness month to shine the spotlight on preparedness, but really it's every single day that people need to know as they're making their plans and what risks are out there," he said.

LINKS

As the weather is ever-evolving and rapidly changing, it is strongly encouraged that people remain prepared even when away from the shelter of home. While having a kit is essential, there should be plans in place if danger strikes at a school, an office or even in transit.

Do you remember the late-January 2014 winter storm that slammed Atlanta and left highways clogged with stranded motorists? The massive number of people stuck on icy, impassable highways could have been avoided by businesses having adequate plans to keep employees home and off dangerous roads, he said. Prepare now so you don't have to worry about winter weather

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 7

Disaster Kit Ideas For Cats/Dogs

-1 gallon of water
-1 plastic gallon jug filled with dry food
-1 12 pack box of wet food packets
-1 small bag of treats
-Small litterbox (for cats)
-Litter scoop (for cats) or pooper scooper shovel (for dogs)
-Plastic gallon jug filled with kitty litter (for cats)
-Small plastic trash bags for scooped waste disposal
-Towel
-Mini pet first aid kit
-Vaccination/vet records
-Color photo of cat/dog
-Extra collar w/contact info
-Leash and harness
-Carrying container (optional)

Free Handouts

From Ready.gov Preparing Your Pets for Emergencies Makes Sense. Get Ready Now.  
Trifold Brochure or 2-sided handout
From American Veterany Medical Association Saving the Whole Family – Disaster Preparation (14 page brochure, includes info on regular housepets, livestock, and other non-traditional pets)

Helpful Links

American Humane Society – Preparation for Pets and Livestock
FEMA – Disaster Information for Pet Owners
Reader Submission – Peanut Butter Dog Treats
 
*Don't use Pepto Bismol - formula has been changed and xylitol which is toxic to dogs has been added.  It has never been safe for cats.

NATIONAL PREPARENESS MONTH - DAY 6

If you read the paper, watch TV or get your news from electronic gadgets, there is a lot to give you pause.  In the last few years you have floods, wildfires out West, hurricanes, terrorists, riots, and epidemics .

However, we have stuff that impacts us in a real fashion here in Elkmont. There have been deaths, loss of jobs, health problems, being in debt up to your eyeballs and a host of other concerns.  What do you do about it?  You can start to get your life together by starting to prepare.  The trials will still happen but the impact can be softened by what you do today.  

Hill Spirit has found a podcast to help you. This is very basic on how to prepare and where to start. This is easy stuff we can all do.  Hill Spirit knows what is like not to have any income for a month. While other families were extremely stressed out about the situation, Hill Spirit's family didn't worry because we had done some things to be ready before it happened.  You can too. It starts with a notebook.

Episode-1654- The Basics of Prepping for the Real World

MP3 Link to Podcast
Link to Podcast 

*skip to 10:05 to skip the extra stuff you probably aren't interested in.  You can download the podcast to your cell phone and play it when you are driving to work.

Jack's Podcast summary:
We are going to do a back to basics show. Simple stuff that we all need reminding about day to day in order to stay sharp. This is also the exact type of information to give to people new to prepping, especially the totally unprepared that “don’t get it”. We all have friends like that right? This show is also great for the totally freaked out that are in panic mode.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 4

One great way to be prepared, less stressed and more healthy is to raise you own produce.  You still have time for one more planting of beans. The cool season crops can be planted as well such as lettuce, greens of all types, radishes and onions (if you can find sets).  Garlic goes in now as well.
Here is a gardener "To Do List" for Elkmont in September.

Zone 7

• Early this month, sow seeds of mixed greens for fall and winter salads.
• Harvest young lettuce planted in August.
• Snip off long stems of parsley and freeze them in a bag or jar for winter use.
• Trim evergreen hedges (such as holly and privet) on the first cool day.
• Set out pansies in a spot that will receive full sun all winter.
• Harvest peanuts as soon as shells become hard.

NATIONAL PREPAREDNESS MONTH - DAY 3

Many of you are involved with clipping coupons and stocking up on canned items when they go on sale.  This is such a great way to save money but now you have all this stuff and the expiration date is here.  What do you do?  Just throw it out? Here is as great article about just what that expiration date means.  Don't be too quick to get rid of your stockpile.

FRESH FOOD EXPIRATION DATE LINK 

CANNED FOOD EXPIRATION DATE LINK