New Member Hi All

Discussion in 'New Member Introduction' started by Kranky, Nov 5, 2018.

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  1. Kranky

    Kranky Expert Member
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    Hello, newbie here. The hubby and I live in central US, just started working on our full-time bug-in place. Needs some work before we can move in. Aiming for homesteading type prepping to hedge against what I see is lots of different collapse scenarios. Collapsing now, if you will.

    We have over 5 acres of land about 8 miles from a smallish city, it's pretty hidden. Actually I have to drive people there to find it. :) As we are one income, and intend to stay that way, we live on the cheap and below our means. As I see economic collapse a definite possibility in our lifetime, we are doing what we can to hedge against this even further.

    Our intentions are to aim as self sustainable as possible, although it will be years before we get there. Starting small and growing as we can. Will take some time. But.. feel like I got to do 'something' to get prepared.

    Lucky enough to inherit the land, so it's ours free and clear. Needs a ton of work, but hey, it's free. Access to a well that hits the biggest aquifer in central America (although I keep reading how farmers are using it up at an alarming rate.. possible rain catchment in the future). Septic there, somewhere, haven't found it yet. Since we wanted to live as cheaply as possible, we managed to find a smaller mobile home for free and got it moved a few months back. That is what we are working on now. So, no mortgage or rent once we move in to it. The home is 840sqft, perfect for the two of us, and easier to keep cool/warm.

    On the land there is quite a bit of deer, quail and turkey. Will want to add chickens and possibly goats later.

    Lots of tree, which is surprising in Oklahoma. Good if we have a need to burn wood for heat. We are enjoying our fire pit burning wood in the mean time.

    We don't have power there yet, still waiting for a $ figure from the power company to hook us up. If it's too much, we will add solar slowly as funds allow, and actually I will prefer that, prepper-wise. Electric grid would just be easier and able to get us out there sooner. Until then, and for future outages and such, we do have a generator for power out there, and a folding solar panel to charge some things.

    I admit to having a black thumb as far as gardening goes, so I am determined to turn that around. Been reading on permaculture and the like to gain some knowledge. As far as I know things grew great on the land years ago, and has been untouched for about 30 years.

    Well anyway, this is me, Pamela (aka Kranky... kranky about how the state of world is becoming). Nice to meet you all!!
     
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  2. Keith H.

    Keith H. Moderator Staff Member
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    Good day Pamela & welcome to this forum. Personally I think you would be better off starting with solar power & staying off grid, short term & long term advantages. Solar panels are not that expensive these days & you could start with a small 12 volt battery until you have more funds to spare.
    Keith.
     
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  3. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    for a quick and cheap jump start on prepping you might want to consider stock piling flour .it will last at least 8 years I know because mine is that old . It will lose the yeast in a year or two but baking powder or yeast can be added , keeping a little left over damp flour yeast mix until your next cooking will serve as yeast starter , how long you could keep making your own yeast I don't know , perhaps forever . Biscuits and pancakes would be great to have even if the rest of the population is starving .
     
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  4. TexDanm

    TexDanm Shadow Dancer
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    Greeting and being Kranky around here is a PLUS. Anybody that does not go with the flock is going to be seen by the sheeple as cranky so you might as well OWN it and be proud of it. You aren't just Kranky be MS, Kranky.

    As you cut down they trees you might want to look into planting some trees in their place that will offer you a long term firewood supply. While poplars are not the best fire wood there is , they can grow from start to usable size in a relatively short time. When you cut them you leave a fairly tall stump and the tree will grow back from that stump.

    Keep your animals small because that way you don't have as much invested in them individually. Goats pot belly pigs, chickens, ducks and guinea fowl don't need a huge amount of acreage. You also might want to think about a nice sized pond. You will need water for you and your livestock anyway and if you will stock it it will offer you fish forever. If you feed them it is amazing how fast they will grow. An Uncle of mine had a small catfish pond right beside the house. He fed them every day just like the chickens. Any time we wanted fish for supper we just went out and put a hook in a piece of bread and harvested them. When he walked up to the shore he would stomp his feet and they would all but crawl out of the water to get fed.
     
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  5. Kranky

    Kranky Expert Member
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    Thanks all for the welcome. :)

    @Keith, I agree about the solar, and it is the way I would prefer. We finally got a call back from the power company earlier and while the figure isn't as bad as I had feared, $2,650, I still want to pursue solar. Just got to talk the hubby in to it. :) As most of our funds went to clearing some land for the house and building a road and then the move and working on the house, we will need to save up for it. I've already suggested.. haha... "while saving up for power" that we get a few deep cycle batteries that the genny can juice up to power some things while we are out there working on it. After that, while still "saving up" adding a solar panel or two. By then, maybe the bug will hit him finally that we don't need to be grid-tied, it's do-able, and preferable. Add from there. Yes, evil plans I tell ya! :)

    @Poltiregist, for sure I plan to stockpile, flour is definitely on that list. :)

    @TexDanm, haha! That should be my signature, Ms. Kranky! Agree about the trees. There aren't any fruit trees yet, those will be the first to go in. As our home is small in size, I didn't feel an indoor woodstove is feasible, but you never know if desperation will be in the future and might need that for heat at some point. Right now it's looking like propane indoors will be our heat source. Agree with you about the small animals. Oh, yeah, hubby has already picked the spot not far from the home where he is going to dig for a pond to do just as you described.

    Well thank you all for the warm welcome. :)
    Ms. Kranky
     
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  6. Bishop

    Bishop Master Survivalist
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    If you can get your hands on a metal detector you should be able to find the septic tank with it most have concrete with rebar in them.
     
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  7. Kranky

    Kranky Expert Member
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    @Bishop-Have tried already. Rented a high powered metal detector, went all over the place, got hits in many places. Took the prod, dug some holes, no dice. Will likely try again in the near future. But if we go compost toilet and dig a small half barrel grey water system, it won't hurt my feelings, either. :)

    May call the power company again and find out if they can do the pole to their allotted free 300ft and we do the rest. My sister believes they still have tons of electrical line they had previously dug for power to their shop, but had to rip up and hire it done because of city zoning laws (we will be in the country without those laws). If she can find it, we have the power line. Trench it to the house and have an electrician hook us up. It's a thought.

    Went last night to the parents house, dad made his awesome gumbo. While there family asked what it is we need before we can move, like a list. So I laid some out and have people now out hunting for things for us, yay! Have them looking for a propane/gas stove and rugs for the floor. Now if I can just get them excited enough to help me paint, haha, we'll be in business!!

    Wasted a whole weekend off without anything done to the homestead, just too freaking cold. Until we get the propane tank and wall heater installed, it may be like that for a bit. My little Mr. Buddy heater works fairly good, but those small 1lb tanks don't go far, and are expensive when used solely for heat. The hubby has a line on someone that may be able to move our 400lb free propane tank, waiting to hear on that.

    That's it for now. Have a great day all!
    Ms Kranky
     
  8. Travis.s

    Travis.s Expert Member
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    Hello and welcome kranky

    Are you going to build a fence line or use the surrounding forest to set up a perimeter?

    I would also suggest a secondary power source to bolster your power supply. Depending on your area you could use a small wind turbine or even have a pedal generator made from a bike.

    If the failure of electrical systems is one of your concerns your prepping for look into a faraday cage.
     
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  9. Kranky

    Kranky Expert Member
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    @Travis.s- Thank you for the welcome. We are looking to be grid tied for now and already have a generator for backup. Will have some things run on propane like stove and a wall mounted non-electric heater. The generator can also run on propane. Will have a 400gal tank once we get it moved, so there will be plenty of time to figure out alternate wood burning options if the grid goes completely down. I wouldn't mind adding some solar, if I can talk the hubby in to it, haha. Do have a small folding solar panel for some small things like cell phones and battery packs in the mean time. Have considered wind turbines, but they seem cost prohibitive. A pedal generator sounds interesting, haven't look in to them yet.

    A faraday cage is something I will look in to. So many things to research. :) What I would really like is to be not so dependent on electrical devices, keeping the needs low.

    As to the perimeter, there is fencing and tons of trees. Honestly, the place is so hard to find I have to drive people to it. Hard to see the our road even when you have an idea of where to go, and even harder to see where our place is. If looters were out and about, you wouldn't find our place easily, and only a hand full of people know where it is. It's bad to say, but I imagine looters would hit first the places you'd find before you get to our place, there is the hubby's aunt right by the road, plain as day, and then further down the road the grandma's and another aunt, and an easily spotted neighbor near their places.. our place is even further behind those way in the back and hidden. We should be okay.

    On a funny note, we had a scare the past few days with power outages after some snow dropped. So here I am, still stuck in our current place, hoping I don't lose power. Why? Cause all of my prep stuff is at our new place. Completely electric dependent at this place, so I'd be SOL if it went down. Luckily I didn't, but many in nearby town were without power for hours, and panicking. Course, I knew if I lost power I could always run out to the new place and have power from the genny and heat from my portable propane heater plus be able to cook on my camp stove, if nothing else.
     
  10. poltiregist

    poltiregist Legendary Survivalist
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    propane is a wise choice , propane lights would be an nice addition . I have two propane lights hooked to my propane tank . around here power outages are common , having propane lights as a back up is a big plus . Also in an apocalyptic situation would be a good advantage for months.
     
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  11. Kranky

    Kranky Expert Member
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    @poltiregist - now that's a thought! :) Hadn't even considered propane light or two. Thank you!
     
  12. kilo4okc

    kilo4okc Expert Member
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    Welcome Ms Kranky, I am in Oklahoma also, a little East of OKC. this is a good forum with several very smart folks. I think you will enjoy it.
     
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