Emergency Preparedness

[Icu4dzs]

Here's one link on how to store water:
http://theepicenter.com/tow02236.html

I took a free online herbalism course and have printed off a couple of pages of info I have gleaned for basic things, like homemade cough syrups, home remedies, etc. If anyone in your family is on prescription medications, you might want to do some research on home remedies for that.

I suggest printing off stuff and keeping it in a binder. If you don't have power, you won't be able to access information from the computer.

hey you hear about the barrels filled with sand can also purify water, its kind of like how they make a septic system with a sand filter, but instead you run the water down through a sand barrel that helps purify water, i think there using it in 3rd world countries, but obviously it can be used anywhere.

Sand will work fairly well but if you add a few layers of real charcoal (not the briquets you buy at the store) but the old fashoned "cowboy charcoal" you can improve that filtration purifyer by magnitudes of order. If you flush the barrel of sand with a bleach solution first, you will kill all the bacteria and probably any viruses in the sand. Then when you collect the water it will be a lot more safe. You may have to do this once in a while if you are using it for your only source of drinking water. No need to do it for the toilet, etc.

If you set the barrel up high enough and get a good water purification filter from Sears or wherever, you can make really good water out of really awful water. "Since water is life" whatever you can do to purify water as good as possible, will improve your health and well being.

For that matter you could fill some panty hose with charcoal and make a good water eluting column. Four inch pipe will do a great job of eluting water if you fill one with sand, one with charcoal and then a third with sand. There are a number of really easy ways to do this and the benefits outweigh the risk (and the only risk is cost)
The barrel will make it a lot faster once the flow rate reaches its maximum.
//BT//
Trim sends

ETA clarity

 

[Wifezilla]

One of my science class modules back in the 80's was on water purification. I still remember that class. My lab partner had a dad who worked for the water department so we kicked butt on that project! Took murky, nasty lake water and turned it in to crystal clear water that the teacher even drank We did the sand and charcoal filtration.

Between that valuable class, having swimming pools and hot tubs, and my experience will pond filtration, I am pretty confident in my water cleaning abilities.

 

[Kala]

I took a free online herbalism course and have printed off a couple of pages of info I have gleaned for basic things, like homemade cough syrups, home remedies, etc.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but do you still have the URL for the online course you took, Marianne...?

I second that!

 

[Boogity]

All during the 80s and 90s my hunting buddies and I had a hunting shack in the outback hills in Appalachia near West Union, WV. We used to go there at least 4 times a year for a week or so. Our only water source was rain water from the roof and a creek. We made one 55 gal. sand and one 55 gal. coke filters. The pre-filter was the sand drum and the final filter was the charcoal drum. There was a coke plant about 20 miles from our shack and we would stockpile it under a tarp. Our filter was great. The water was very pure. Every year we took samples to a lab in Charleston and every year we received "excellent" ratings. I don't remember the chemical analysis numbers but every year the lab technician told us that our water was as clean as any he had ever tested.

One thing that needs to be brought out here . . . these water filters are doing their job when they remove impurities from the water. These impurities collect in the filter media (sand and coke) and, hopefully, stay there. Eventually these impurities must be removed by thorough and lengthy flushing. Or all the media must be replaced. Sometimes this is a big job and without special testing equipment you cannot know how effective the "cleaning operation" was. Clorox or the generic chlorine is a dangerous chemical to put in your potable water.

Remember, bad water is bad medicine.

 

[BarredBuff]

.

 

[Wifezilla]

Duckweed is kind of hard NOT to grow it needs water with a bit of nutrient in it, and sunlight. People spend tons of money trying to eradicate duckweed from their ponds. That is so silly since all you need is a few hungry ducks and WHAM...it's gone

I bet you could get a cupful for free from someone near you. I get my cultures from the local park. You can grow it in any large container if you don't want it in your pond. You should toss a few rosy minnows in any water container to eat Mosquito larvae. You might need an aquarium bubbled if the container is kind of small or doesn't have a flow of some sort. I have a natural filter system and that adds enough oxygen so I don't need an aerator.

The rosy minnows will also reproduce giving you two food sources from the same container. I put some baby rosy minnows in a pie pan and gave it to the new ducklings. What a riot!!!! No reason the chickens can't eat minnows too.

One thing I am thinking of adding is comfrey. It is another high protein plant source. I just need to order some cuttings. Purslane is another great food source and it grows here as a weed. Ducks love it and I put it in salads.

 

[BarredBuff]

Im gonna try and grow more animal foods next year. I'll put those on my list. Do you produce enough to feed them year round on it?

 

[Marianne]

Here's a link from that online herbalism course on making honeysuckle honey -

http://www.learningherbs.com/news_issue_66.html

Obviously, it's http://www.learningherbs.com where I did the course. It hits the basics, uses a pretty simple format and I get regular emails with more info.

Sorry for the hijack...back to topic now.

 

[i_am2bz]

Thanks Marianne!

 

[BarredBuff]

Here's a link from that online herbalism course on making honeysuckle honey -

http://www.learningherbs.com/news_issue_66.html

Obviously, it's http://www.learningherbs.com where I did the course. It hits the basics, uses a pretty simple format and I get regular emails with more info.

Sorry for the hijack...back to topic now.

No hijack at all! I appreciate because Im headed there right now! Thanks!