The Shortage, Are You Preparing?

I don't consider myself a prepper, but I am a survivalist. I grow at least 70% of the produce I consume, and I add to that yearly. I can, freeze, ferment or dehydrate enough that it lasts through winter until my next crop comes in. I buy meat in bulk (think buying half of a half a cow, a whole hog and so on) and can or freeze it. I can ready-to-eat meals. I can make yogurt, cheese, sour cream and butter from fresh cow's milk (I don't have my own cow yet but working on that) and I have chickens. I am working on turning the lawn in my back yard into an orchard, with fruit and nut trees, lining my garden with berry and fruit bushes. On top of this, I know which "weeds" are edible and which are poisonous. I can hunt for my own meat, and while it's not really my thing, I know I can survive if I ever have to. Now I have about 3 acres of land, but I grew more of our produce when we lived in Indiana and I only lived on 1/2 acre then. I think grass lawns, while pretty, are useless, and lawns can be turned into food if desired.

I do all of this, not because I fear the future shortages or anything like that. I do it because I want to be self sufficient. God provides for me through giving me the knowledge and strength to do all of this. I know exactly what I eat, no chemical preservatives I can't pronounce, I monitor and regulate the salt and sugar I consume, and I get a lot of exercise growing it. God provided me with everything I need to do this.

I donate bumper crops to a local church food bank, and I give a lot away to neighbors, friends and my kids. I have a goal of one day starting food tables at churches, that are covered for anonymity and weather protection. I want to offer seeds and directions on growing and producing food, as well as, how to harvest and store the seeds for future growing. Imagine the stress relief a single parent can have knowing they can grow a couple nutritious foods for their families, and never have to buy that food again. But right now, that is a dream.

Well I wish you were my neighbor, I'd gladly pay you to teach this knowledge. So sad that our grandparents knew all of this and we thought we were so smart and never learned it, many of us. My grandmothers both died in my teens so I never got to bake and cook with them and gain the knowledge they had.

I recall being on a news site and a "millennial" grossing about how the last generation had caused climate change. One lady got on there and just let her have it. She said her generation grew, made and preserved their own food, they didn't use washers and dryers. They used cloth diapers. They quilted old clothes that had already been handed down. Most didn't own a car. She went on and on until the millennial had nothing left to say. I see a lot of people are heading back to those old ways.

You should write a book sister! People would do good to learn these things again. I sure am looking into it because I'd like to learn. Either way, we know God is in control. But He gave us so many good things, I sure would love to stop buying some things from the store and grow it myself.

I learned the basics of canning from my mom, but I really learned a LOT from youtube. I also joined a facebook group called rebel canners, that has given me a LOT of recipes and "experiments" to try. I use my washing machine, but no dryer. I line dry everything. I am off grid solar powered (but getting close to connecting to the grid for convenience), I used cloth diapers on my girls, and they rarely had rashes. I watched a neighbors little one, who used disposables, and that poor baby has rashes all the time. I showed her how to use cloth, and the rashes cleared.

Buy the Ball Blue Book of Canning, or go to www.freshpreserving.com and they will offer you step-by-step instructions, including the tools and equipment you will have to have and what's extra, including recipes. I've considered writing a book though.

Why would you back track by connecting to the grid? And how old is your solar power system and what type of batteries do you use for storage?

Why would you back track by connecting to the grid? And how old is your solar power system and what type of batteries do you use for storage?

I will still be using my solar panels, I will just have the grid as backup instead of gasoline generators. My panels are about 7 or 8 years old, and I have 30 some (I think 36) I have more to add to it. I use deep cycle marine batteries. I have 17 batteries. Connecting to the grid will give me a chance to resurface my panels, replace my batteries, and add the rest of the panels I have built now, without losing my power or causing me issues. It will also allow me to blow my hair dry, and use my coffee maker instead of using a french press, and things like that without having to add the generator for power.

The reason I am doing this is because when we began this, my husband was alive to help me with maintenance, installation and even building the panels, along with cutting the grass (3 acres) running the machine shop, building the house and so on, and now it's just me doing it all, and there aren't enough hours in the day to get it all done. I can do it all, just not as fast nor as efficiently as before.
If I connect to the grid, that allows me to work on things a bit more slowly without losing my power every time I turn around.
Things change, and I have to be able to change with them

Gasoline generators are usually fairly troublesome with breakdowns....from fuel control/pressure valves to carburetor varnish and more.

Diesel generators are usually much more reliable but require batteries to start. (Glow plugs) they are also much noisier than Gasoline or natural gas/propane.

Now Diesel generators are much more expensive than the others...and the fuel is more expensive...but they are reliable and capable of running longer-term than Gasoline ever dreamed about.

I watched this video about a person who build a generator that works off water instead of gasoline, propane of diesel. I would love see one of those in action

The RPMs in most modern generators is crucial. It's the only way to achieve proper voltage at the proper frequency. Water wheels have been providing torque for thousands of years. Even Egyptians had them when enslaving Hebrews.

Louisville Slugger baseball bats still use a central turning shaft in their factory to provide power to equipment instead of electricity.

To get the proper RPMs you have to use math, pulleys, and belts.
Ratios are now your friend.

The RPMs in most modern generators is crucial. It's the only way to achieve proper voltage at the proper frequency. Water wheels have been providing torque for thousands of years. Even Egyptians had them when enslaving Hebrews.

Louisville Slugger baseball bats still use a central turning shaft in their factory to provide power to equipment instead of electricity.

To get the proper RPMs you have to use math, pulleys, and belts.
Ratios are now your friend.

If you want to extract 120/240 volts a/c and can rely on a constant speed & volume of water it's much easier to get things dialed in. If consistent water flow is an issue then a dc generator can be used along with an mppt to regulate dc output or add and inverter or an mppt/inverter combo unit similar to whats used in solar setups to produce a/c and charge batteries. With an mppt controller the generator speed fluctuations is not as much of an issue.

While you can adapt an engine to run from hydrogen and you can also extract hydrogen from water using electricity, it's not possible extract enough hydrogen to run a generator off the hydrogen produced by the generator while the generator is running off the hydrogen it's producing.

Lol Maybe but this one seems to work lol