Home on the Range

The homestead.  A handful of key essentials and you have a homestead instead of an emergency.  Having enough of yourself invested in those key resources liberates the rest of you for other interests.  How much does it take to cross the line into a place of comfort during a crisis?

For a short-term duration, a generator might be useful for running small items.  In the long-term a generator might not be as useful. If you will run out of fuel eventually, you should plan for not using it.  Gas can be stabilized for up to 2 years.  Diesel lasts longer.  If you want to insist on a generator, a long term commitment might warrant converting to alcohol.  It will last indefinitely.  New products are coming out that automate the process for making ethanol for engine use.  You can make your own in the US if you go through the proper procedures.  Here’s a PDF file you fill out if you want to be a “producer”.  Small is 10,000 gallons or less per year.  Medium is up to 500,000 gallons, and large is more than 500,000 gallons per year.  And a PDF of an IRS form for the Alternative Fuel Credit.  This is federal only.  You will need to check on your state and local laws.  Some newer flex-fuel cars handle mixed fuels stock. Need more info?

For longer periods, renewable electricity (solar panels, wind turbines, bike generators, rechargeable batteries) and inverters will handle smaller items and keep you in electric.

Location can be very important.  It doesn’t have to be big, but placement can make a difference.  Do you have septic, or are you on city sewage that will be backed up?  Do you have a well, or are you on city water that will not be there?  Can you heat and cook without electric?  Can you live without a refrigerator?  Do you know how to dehydrate or store meats at room temperature in salt or a salt brine without killing yourself?  Do you have firewood for two years?  Do you have a masonry heater?  In building code permitting, or not prohibiting, areas a  rocket mass heater would be a good idea.  It’s like a masonry heater and is becoming very common in “third world” areas.  The typical wood burner lets enough heat to cook with go up the flu.  Many don’t use outside air coming through a pedestal base.  All that fire is drawing out warm air and drawing in cold air to replace it.  A fireplace without glass doors and an outside air source would do the same.  Some masonry stoves have an area for cooking, which would be very cast iron compatible.  They can come in kits or be made to suit by a certified stove builder.  At about 90% efficient, they waste almost nothing.  There’s more on the heating page.

Long term food considerations.   You will pretty certainly be dealing with dehydrated foods and foods stored in oxygen free cans that eliminate oxidation and degradation of the food.  Some things would be more difficult to grow in the states, like rice.  You will have what you stored and never have it again.  Enough canned meat for say, a year, will let you get weaned onto coming up with meat yourself.  Square foot gardening could be done indoors if needed.  So could growing potatoes in vertical columns.  Chickens might be a great idea.  Do you know how to raise chickens?  Can you dehydrate eggs?  Food has to be there year round.  Food storage would be a common theme.  What you grow during the summer has to, without exception, last all year.  You might get one or two growth cycles, weather permitting, or more if you can grow indoors.  Being able to control your micro-climate will improve your success.  Usage of long term food storage would be important.  Do you know how to make bread out of beans?  There are systems explained online on how to use and live with food storage.  Check out the food page.  If you do it all the time, you are always ready.  It is healthy and less expensive.

Nationwide, LDS canneries have bulk items available at good prices.  They have bulk wheat grain, rice, etc. in bags and #10 cans to prevent oxidation.  Mylar bags in plastic pails are an alternative to #10 cans in some cases.  The pails will still need to be used to keep the mice out.  Square pails stack nicely.

Are you set for clothes for 10 years, or will you be using deer hides to make buckskin?  How much will you weigh in 6 months or a year?  Got kids?

Long distance voice/data communications gear (2m/30m RF, wifi amps/dishes) should be near the top of the list.  You can reach 100 miles off a battery-backed repeater using AA batteries in a cheap handi-talkie 2 meter FM transceiver.

What will a basic list look like?

The list probably doesn’t look any different than what your grandparents considered normal, except for the strong technological advancements in quality.  Plastic gas cans?  Diamond knife sharpeners?  Solar anything?