Pride goeth before the fall

Proverbs 16:18 King James Version (KJV) ¹⁸ Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

But what does it mean?  

In my humble opinion it's important for us to teach and learn, but when folks get self righteous, and over confident it is my humble opinion you're asking for trouble.  It's all too easy to become over confident in THINGS, the groovy gear know what I mean?  I get asked what I think about terms like survivalist, prepper etc...  putting labels on yourself (or others) is a very slippery slope because at the end of the day we are more than a label  We are flesh, blood, and spirit.  We have responsibilities to our families, especially our children.  It doesn't matter if there is a storm, one of us gets sick or laid off or whatever, our children will still look to us to feed them, love them, and provide for them. Children will expect us to keep them dry, warm and safe....  The next time someone asks you what you are, stop and consider your response carefully.  Is the label you seek really that important? I'm many things including a wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, mentor. I'm a woman God put on this Earth and I'm doing the best I can with the skills and abilities I have. I also am, a prepper's wife.

Prepper Fatigue

Many Preppers go through "Prepper Fatigue" at some point.   What is it? Well similar to battle fatigue it is  characterized by anxiety, depression, and loss of motivation, caused by the ongoing stress of active prepping. 

We all go through cycles in our prepping. Once you've been a prepper long enough, you will experience it.  At first you may feel guilty for wanting to back off from prepping in order to catch your breath, however it is actually wise to step back and assess where you are with your preps and take a deep breath. Take an inventory.  What new skills have you learned?  What do your durable preps look like? How many days/weeks/months of food storage do you have? is it lopsided (lots of a single item?)  Just slow down - take a deep breath, relish what you've learned and stored and take a moment for a really deep EXHALE.   Breathe in deep and exhale again. Look at how far along you are everything you've learned, how much more prepared you are now than you were before you started.

Wanna know a secret? Even I have had a 'bout of Prepper Fatigue.  (BTW So has my husband and I consider him the super duper prepper.)  It's normal.  Sometimes we just need to be reminded to live and enjoy today.  Be here, now. Yes something is on the horizon, but when whatever it is happens, we're in it together and we have a leg up on the sheeple...

If you feel like you've hit the wall emotionally, remember to live and laugh and have some fun.  Some of us are wound a little too tight on getting it all together and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Here's the real secret, it's okay to be happy and enjoy today.  You can be a happy prepper because in reality prepping isn't something we do, it's a way of living. 

Take a deep breath, EXHALE
Enjoy a beautiful day
Go for a walk
Smile at your kids
Laugh

oh yeah and rotate your food storage!  

Prep your own notebook:

Are you "all set" well good for you!  Light a cigar sit on the porch and speculate about the rest of us working hard to build our family inventories up :)  These are some things you need to be working on/reviewing:

We have a Survival 101 Handbook DO you have one? You do? Great! Oh you don't?  Well I could share my table of contents with you... Oh ok since you don't have one you can peek at our personal table of contents:

1.  Water List ~ How much, Where its stored, Where to find it if we need to search out more

2.  Food Storage List ~ Shelf life list, On hand inventory, list of what we'd still like to get

3.  Food Preparation List What can we make with what we have?

4.  Family members personal lists for each with current physical, current prescriptions, latests test results, and what each member's special needs are.We have a quick reference with everyone's daily schedules but then we have a "Book of Life" that has Birth Certificates, Vaccinations, Social Security cards etc for each person.

5.  Chem~Nuke Defenses what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

6.  Biological Warfare~Pandemic Defenses  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

7.  Gardening List seeds and tools on hand, germination tests, garden maps, how to save seeds from our own grown veggies and fruits, details on each fruit and veggie in our garden as well as future plants we'll grow.

8.  Hygiene~Sanitation List  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

9.  Hunting~Fishing~Trapping Lists what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

10. Power~Lighting~Alt Power~ Battery lists  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

11. Fuels  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

12. Firefighting  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

13. Tactical Living  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

14. Security ~ General  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

15. Security~ Firearms  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

16. Communications & Monitoring  How will we reach each other if need be and what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

17. Tools  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

18  Sundries  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

19. Survival Bookshelf  What books do we have in our library that cover this subject?

20. Barter & Charity Inventory  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need

21. First Aid Complement  what preps do we have that cover this, where are the kits and extra supplies kept along with a list ofwhat we still need

22. Little Livestock List  what preps do we have that cover this what we still need (We currently have chickens)

23. Maps ~ of your house, yard, neighborhood, area of town, entire town.  Maps to "Bug Out" location with more than one route marked.  I would mark areas that could help find supplies in the event of a total collapse.  Know your area, mark friends and potential foes, assets etc.

All this should be in one binder.  Don't have this all in one place yet?  Might I suggest you get it all together before you forget where you've put it :)

Prepping for free? Really?

Yes, REALLY!  In fact, our favorite thing to do is to prep for free.
Yes, I said FREE. We have 10 folks we count in our preps and whenever I can prep for free I get excited. I know many of you don't believe this, but right now there are things you can get for free at Walmart.  HUH?  Well it takes some effort but this is what I do... First I look at: Walmart Deals on WeUseCoupons
and see the coupon match ups.. and here's 4 things you could get for free right now:

1. Lance XtraFul Toaschee Crackers shelf price: $2.58 (yep there's a coupon for $2.58 for these!)
2. Tena Pads $4.97/pk  (there's currently a coupon for $5/1 pack makes them FREE and a money maker)
3. Reynolds baking cups (paper liners) Shelf price .92 (there's a coupon for $1/1 makes this a moneymaker!)
4. Neutrogena Acne Soap .97/each (current coupon $3.50/2 Neutrogena Acne makes this a serious moneymaker!)

If you aren't prepping with coupons, you're wasting money on things that you could be adding to your strategic supplies for FREE!  We put in bulk orders, used all coupons, and walked out owing just tax, or nothing at all.  If you aren't coupon savvy you can be very quickly.  Just visit:  WeUseCoupons.com and you'll be prepping for free too!  

 

Let's talk veggies

We can all grow good simple food. It is considerably cheaper than the grocery store, not to mention better for you and YUMMY! While it may sound like it takes a big yard, there are many veggies you can happily grow on your porch in containers. When the robins start pecking, time to start planting! When the rain is coming, time to plant seeds and set out your transplants. Start the tomatoes indoors in pots, in a bright window or in the greenhouse. Tomato seeds are best sown 5 to 6 weeks prior to the last frost date, and can be worked up in successively larger pots until transplanting. Space plants at least 2 feet apart in every direction. Caging them will help support the vine and keep the fruit off the ground. To produce the best-tasting fruit, choose a very sunny location and water deeply and infrequently.

Peas are best planted directly into the garden a few weeks before the other common spring vegetables such as beets and carrots. For peas, choose a sunny, moist location where there is mellow garden soil (make sure its been at least 6 months since the last application of compost). Peas must not be planted too deeply--do not be fooled by their large size--they're pansies about germination and don't like to push through too much dirt. Each pea seedling is precious--do not thin them! Instead provide a trellis (chicken wire is really the best) stretched between a couple of 4-foot wooden stakes or fenceposts, located directly above the seedlings and along the row. Don't dally about the trellis--if peas don't start climbing early they tend to stunt! Keep the rows at least 3 feet apart, and weed very carefully so as not to injure the fine roots of the peas. If you catch the season correctly, peas can provide a great deal of food in season.

Once your peas are up, start thinking about planting beets, carrots, cooking greens, salad greens, and onions directly in the garden. Make shallow furrows about 2 feet apart on the soil surface, sprinkle in the seeds and barely cover with soil, then tamp securely and keep the new planting evenly moist until germination. Cultivate between the rows to remove any weeds before they get big enough to compete. When the seedlings develop their second set of true leaves, thin them out to give sufficient room for the development of the mature plant.

In the late spring, after the soil has truly warmed up and all danger of frost is passed, sow the beans, corn, cucumbers, and squashes directly in the garden. You may also wish to plant more of the cooking and salad greens at this time in order to assure ongoing harvest into the summer.

Corn is best planted in a block of at least 3 rows, with rows 2 feet apart. Planting in this manner assists in pollination and development of full ears. Make the furrows about 4 inches deep, sprinkle composted chicken manure in the bottom of the furrow, drop the corn seeds (1 every 4 inches or so) in the furrow, then cover with soil and tamp securely. Water thoroughly after planting, but then hold off on the water until the corn shows above the ground-hot, sunny, dry days provide the best conditions for germination, and a hard crust on the surface makes it difficult for crows to pull up the seedlings. After the seedlings reach 3 inches or so, thin them to a foot apart, and cultivate frequently and shallowly, pushing soil up around the plants as they mature (in order to give them more wind resistance).

Beans are best planted in rows near the corn, as they benefit the corn with their nitrogen-fixing roots. Beans must be kept carefully weeded in order to assure uninterrupted growth and ease of picking the green pods.

Squashes and cucumbers are best planted in hills. Mound the soil generously (about 3 feet across and 6 inches tall) and plant 7 to 10 seeds in each hill. After germination, thin the seedlings to 3 per hill, and cultivate frequently to deter weeds. These plants must not be over-watered, as too much water can rot the fruit. Keep the summer squashes and cucumbers picked at early maturity, as they taste better that way, and the plant will be stimulated to produce more flowers and fruits.

In these days of higher food prices and questionable "big ag" practices there is really nothing better you can do to feed yourself and bolster your self sufficiency than to grow your own food. This is a life skill easy to learn now, before grocery stores are bare. You can do this, I believe in you.

DIY Natural Mouse Deterrent

We wanted a natural way to deter micky from coming in before encountering our cats so
we made several peppermint repellents. We also grow 2 kinds of mint by our front door in a
planter that helps keep pesky insects away from the door with the bonus of using leaves in teas and adding a nice welcoming scent.

You don't have to grow mint to enjoy the benefits. Peppermint Oil is readily available retail.

1. items I used: cotton balls, peppermint oil (I added peppermint leaves too), empty
prescription bottles, drill and small bit

2. 2 drps oil per cottonball, 2 cottonballs per container (plus 2 leaves)

3. drill 3 holes in lid, 1 in bottom

4. label container with sharpie or a label so when you come across it in your shelf you know
what youre looking at.

I placed them under sinks, under dishwasher, behind washing machine, around supplies, in she'd. Mice are put off by the smell of peppermint and will stay away.  Refresh every 6 months our second line of defense if a mouse does gets in, our cat will eat it.