This post has been an idea on a sticky at my computer for some time now and may be a little late in coming but it is a topic that has been much on my mind lately. It has been 20 years since I have had a place in the country where I have needed to worry about power outages and while I still know the basics I have decided that just the basics are not good enough anymore.

I will probably write this post in two parts, because I can already tell as I write that it is going to be a long one, I want to start with a basic prep list for those that are new to the country and really it is one that will applicable even to those in the city that want to be ready for a loss of power in the winter. I would also like share our long term goals list for being prepared for a loss of power in the worst conditions.

As I thought about this issue, one of the things that really hit home for me, is how few people are really prepared for the possibility of wide spread outages, or being without power for more than a few hours. Keep in mind that I am not a prepper at least not yet, nor do I claim to have that knowledge, My only goal here was to point out to those that are not prepared how they can better prepare themselves for a storm in the winter.

It really does not matter who you are, or where you live, being prepared is always going to be a smart idea, don’t let yourself rely too much on the conveniences that our recent generations have taken for granted, be ready take care of yourself even if it is for a few days. FEMA Recommends being prepared for 3 days, in my mind that is only a beginning, there are plenty of stories of people being without heat and power for many more days than this.

The Basics

The Four Basic things You will Need if the Power Goes Out

1. 1) Heat
2. 2)Water
3. 3) Food
4. 4) Light

There are other things to be considered as well (which we will cover Later), but these things, especially the first 3 are essential and should be considered first.

HEAT

Our ultimate goal on our homestead is to have two wood stoves( indoor and outdoor) and solar panels to take care of the heat issue, for now, until we can install these we have a generator that can power our oil furnace or space heaters and we have an odorless Propane heater( be careful with these, I still vent them even though they are not supposed to cause fumes.) We have a plan as to where we would sleep, (also where we keep our lanterns) and which room to use for living spaces. Preferably these should be rooms that can be shut off from the rest of the house, it makes heating more efficient.

Generators are expensive, we are fortunate enough to have been given one, however if you do have access to one, be sure to keep fuel on hand when you know there is going to be a storm. You can also put a fuel extender in it to keep it from going bad or put it in your vehicle when the storm has passed if you did not need it.

In conclusion you will want some sort of heat for your homestead, it could be days before your power is restored.

Water

Water is going to be your next priority, for those in the country this means having a way to run your pump or having enough water on hand, not just for you but also for your livestock. Wells can be run off of a generator so if you think your water needs are going to be extensive then you may want to look into getting a generator.

If you live somewhere where your water is supplied to you then you have a different problem, there are going to be times that your water is not going to be safe to drink, such as when it floods. In cases such as these you may be able to boil drinking water, or just keep water on hand for that purpose. You should have a gallon a day for each person in your house, and don’t forget to add any animals you have!

Water storage is an issue as well but one we will talk about in our next blog post. Just know that you can also buy water purifier tablets for your water or find ways for long term storage.

Food

This is probably one of the easiest things to deal with aside from light, but one that a lot of people don’t think about. Unless you have a propane stove you are not going to be able to cook. It is on our list of things to do to put in a propane stove but for now, we work on stocking up foods that are easy to heat or can be eaten cold. 3 days’ worth for each person is minimum, don’t forget that your refrigerator will not be usable so you need to make sure you have things such as shelf stable milk if you plan on cereal for instance and that all of your items are shelf stable. Also make sure you have a hand can opener with no electricity you won’t be able to open your cans without it.

You can use a camp stove to cook on, but you do have to watch for propane fumes, use it somewhere where the ventilation is good like on your back porch.

If you have a generator that can handle the load it can keep the refrigerator and freezer going, otherwise try not to open them, a refrigerator will last about a day without power if you do not open it where as a freeze will go a bit longer about 3 days. Of course it does matter what you have in there, dairy or leftovers will not last as long as fruits or vegetables.

Light

Finally you will need some source of light; this is for safety reasons if for no other. We stock up on LED lights simply because they last longer than any other lights, are safer than candles and offer a bright enough light to make sure that you can see your way around and not get injured. Check the lights you buy to make sure that they have plenty of hours of light, and get ones that have replaceable batteries rather than rechargeable. If there is no power there is no way to recharge your battery. Of course you will want to stock up on batteries as well as make sure you have both lanterns and hand held lights.

Once you have covered the essentials, be sure to check your other stores as well, plenty of blankets is a necessity as well as ways to keep little ones entertained; board games are great for this. Warm clothes are a good idea as well and sleeping bags that can hold in body heat.  If you know a storm is coming and that it could cause a loss of power make sure to have all of your stores in one place in the house to keep them easy to access.

A radio is also a good idea there are models that are made for emergencies and they can offer you valuable information you are going to need, hand cranked or battery powered are both available. A first aid kit is also a good thing to add to your emergency preps, in case the emergency is a natural disaster rather than just a power outage.

One thing that people rarely think about when preparing to storms or other emergencies is making sure they have enough pet food, baby supplies and medications on hand until they can get out resupplying.  Also make sure that you have a good supply of rock salt if it is a snow storm, you may need it to make your walk ways and driveways safe.

Keep in mind that this post is directed at winter storms, if you are trying to prepare for disasters there is a more complete list here http://www.ready.gov/basic-disaster-supplies-kit.

Also Amazon has a good supply of emergency supplies that you can keep on hand for any time you are without power or want to make what is called a bug out kit.

I have had a lot of people ask me for updates on my homestead, to which my reply has been that things are a bit slow right now because of winter. This really is not much of an excuse because it has been a mild winter but much of our plans right now do center on spring arriving.

This DOES not mean however that we have not been doing at least a bit of planning. I have a lot of projects in mind for the spring, but before I say anything about that I wanted to share that after all of our hard work building a workable and almost free chicken coop and taking care of them all winter long they gifted us with our first egg.

Now I have to say this is not the first time I have had chickens so I was not as excited as my husband and daughter are, but still there is a thrill that never fails to come from knowing you are eating any food that you have raised yourself whether it is the garden or from the animals.

I have been telling my husband for a couple of weeks that our girls were getting ready to lay, and it was gratifying to know I was right. It should also be the incentive he needs to finish the last bit of work on nesting boxes this week I hope.

On To Spring and Homesteading Projects

As I said before, we really have not done much this winter, the last real projects we completed were making the chicken coop winterable and getting the leaks stopped in the front part of the house. Since then we have had more leaks that we have had to fix to get us by till spring when the roof will be done, and we have not done much else but work in the house.

I am getting ready to order seeds in the next week or two, I am actually late but, not too late just yet, but we were not sure whether health problems were going to put a roadblock up as far as getting a garden in so we held off as long as we could. This week it will be time to get the seeds ordered. Be on the lookout for more information about ordering seeds and how to order them as well as some tips about growing your own seeds.

We plan to put in a greenhouse this year, but we are honestly not expecting to get it up in time to use with the seeds, same goes for cold frames. I am hoping we will be able to get at least some of that up before fall so I can see how far I can push the growing season here.

Are There More Critters On the Way?

We have been talking about getting more animals but have not really decided which ones we want to get first. We are trying to choose between turkeys and goats, with turkey being for meat and the goats being for both milk and meat eventually.

I have just one more outbuilding to work with, and since it is the perfect size for a couple of goats I am thinking that is what I want to do, but there has been some debate in our home about which will come first. My husband has yet to help me slaughter a chicken so I told him we would wait and see how he does with that, since there is no way I could do a turkey by myself. (yes I have a very softhearted husband, it is one of the things I do love about him )

The outbuildings will need a lot of work before we used them, I will try to get some pictures when the snow goes away so you can see what we are dealing with. The one side has no wall or door, so that will have to be all walled in. We are also talking about making a door to the room from the chicken coop to make it easier to feed and water in the winter, but we will see how that goes.

Miscellaneous Plans and Thoughts

We have the usual long homestead list of things we want to do, we have also been talking about plans for doing some simple prepping and stockpiling, something that is a good idea for a lot of reasons and something I encourage all of you to explore. Even if all you are facing is a winter storm it pays to be prepared.

I am going to try to spend a lot more time posting on here with pictures of what we are doing as well as hints tips and ideas to help you with your homestead, I have been pretty quiet the last few weeks, it was a pretty busy winter for us, I think it will be a lot easier for me to share as I am thinking about this stuff all spring and summer long.

Share your spring plans with us here, and while you are at it tell us what animals you think we should get next, I might try to put together a way to do a poll on the website just for fun.

Getting Ready

Day One

If you have just come home from the feed store with a box full of baby chicks you may not know how to take care of them and while most hatcheries may give you lots of information about your chicks if you need more information then I hope this helps.

Getting ready for your chicks before they arrive is very important, your chicks will likely be stressed regardless of where you got them from and bringing them into a warm place that is already set up for them can really help to ease the stress. You will need to provide a few things for them, such as bedding, food, water, heat and a way to keep drafts off of them.

Bedding : should be something like wood shavings, rice hulls or ground cobs, you should never use cedar which is toxic and sawdust is far too small and you may find the chicks eating it. Good clean pine shaving are a good choice, in a pinch you can also use straw.

Food and Water: while this may seem like a no brainer it is important to make sure you get the right feed and water containers for chicks and you need to make sure that it is available to them at all times. Chick starter should be used, and for the first day or two make sure you spread some on paper towels or newspaper to make sure they are finding it, when you see them eating out of the feeder then you can stop doing this. Most authorities recommend 2 feet of space for each 25 chicks when buying feeders.

Make sure to buy feeders that the baby chicks can reach; many of them have a lip that is higher than your tiny chicks can get to. Special chick feeders are the best choice for new chicks. Many people put a water booster in for their chicks for the first couple of days, while it is not necessary it can be a good way to help them get past the stress of their move.

Heat: Heat is one of the most important parts of your chick set up, baby chicks needs 90 – 95 degrees for the first week. You can slowly move the heat source up each week until they have all of their feathers and no longer need it many more. Most people use a 250 watt red infrared bulb for this purpose. Chicks seem to be most comfortable with the red light rather than a white one.

Many new chick owners worry themselves to death that they cannot get the temperature exactly at 95 degrees, but chicks are very good at regulating themselves, if it is a bit warmer under the bulb than 95 they will find the spot they are most comfortable with. If your chicks are huddled together they are too cold and if they are spread out way away from the light then it is likely too warm. If you keep the bulb at a distance of 18 inches when you first start then you will find that this works best.

Chickens need light even when they are not using a heat bulb, you will want to install a small night light for at night and a regular 75 watt bulb for the day if it is dark in their enclosure.

Avoiding a Draft: It is very important that your chicks are not subject to a draft, this can occur when a door is open or if they place they are being house is drafty. The easy way to fix this is to put them in some sort of smaller enclosure, not only will this prevent them from getting a draft, but it will also keep their area warmer. Be sure however to give them enough room to all move away from the heat source too as well so they do not get too hot. You can use a kiddie swimming pool for this purpose or you can use cardboard to make them a circle. You want to give them about 1/2 square foot per bird when you choose the size of their enclosure.

When Your Chicks Arrive

Once you are ready for your birds, then you will have a few things you need to do when they arrive. It is important to make sure they are all in good condition and that they know where the water and food are. The best way to do this is to dip their beaks in the water and sprinkle their food on the paper under their heat source. Put your food and water containers around the light far enough away to give them room under the light but close enough that they can find it.

Day One

Watch your chicks carefully at this point to make sure they are eating and drinking, keep dipping their beaks if you think it is necessary and sprinkle their food for a couple of days to make sure they are getting the hang of it. This is especially important if your chicks were shipped to you and had a bit of a hard trip. Be sure to check them every hour or two for the first day to make sure they are getting food and water.

Another important thing to watch for when you get your chicks home is that their rear ends are not pasting up, where the feces sticks to their hind ends, blocking the vent hole. It is very important to make sure you clean this off, I have found that a warm wash cloth works best, try to avoid picking it off, because their skin is very delicate and this can cause them more trouble.

When your chicks hit 4 weeks of age there is more you will need to do to get their new home ready for them. But we will cover this in another post later. We are getting ready to deal with this stage soon and will let you know how it goes and give you some tips on taking care of your new birds.

The New Chicks are Here!!!

New chicks here

Well this post comes rather later, since as I write this the chicks have now been here for about 3 weeks, but as disappointed as I am that I did not get this posted sooner, I am going to go back and finish this post up before I post an update on how our chicks are doing.

The Chicks arrived on a Thursday morning at the beginning of October, they came in what seemed like an impossibly small box, but we were completely ready for them so we opened the box the moment we go home. In the box where 28 very healthy if somewhat stressed chicks that were more than ready to get out of their box.

I followed all the information carefully that I received when I bought the chicks, to make sure they knew where their water was and set them loose. We put them in a small shed and put up cardboard to make sure they would not be subject to the draft when we opened the door. Everything I read led me to believe they would seek the heat source so I was not worried about how big the enclosure size was for them, but it turned out to be perfect, allowing those that were too hot to get away from the heat while allowing those that needed to stay warm. I am posting a get ready for your new chicks post, that you can refer to if you want to know how to be ready for your chicks.

We of course checked on them several times a day for the first couple of days, but other than a bit of problem with them pasting up they all survived and are doing very well. My daughter eleven is of course in love with them and always wants to be in the shed with them whenever I will let her. What I did not expect is that my husband has grown quite fond of them as well and has taken part in their care with me. It has been a lot of fun watching them grow and watching the two of them interact with them.

Look for more updates about our chickens over the next couple of weeks, we are getting ready to remodel their permanent enclosure and I plan to take pictures of that process as we go along. I also want to post a new update about how they are doing now, before we move them.

I wanted to start an new category to chronicle the unfolding of our new little homestead. Many years ago I had a small 5 acre hobby farm, I lost this farm to bad health and other problems at the time. I have always wished that I would have had another choice or found a way to keep it.

I never thought I would see the day that I would have another chance, but here we sit, the property is a lot smaller and it is not ours yet, but soon, it will be. I hope to pay for my homestead with cash if at all possible, it may seem like a really big dream but I truly believe that with enough work it will be possible.

Our homestead is truly a fixer up, it is on just 2/3s of an acre, but since you can be sustainable on less than a half of an acre I don’t find that to be too much a deterrence.

Our chickens are already ordered, and will be here any day ( I will post an update and more pics when they arrive.)

I want this category to be a journal of all of our steps in becoming more self sustainable, we are starting from ground zero here literally other than somewhat a of pantry from the garden I left behind at our last home.

I hope that my step by step progress to turning our fixer upper into a homestead to be proud of will inspire others to do the same.

Our home is an old 1940’s vintage farm house, perhaps older but we are not sure. The cabinetry is all homemade, and there is an old hardwood floor in my office space.

We have several outbuildings including a 3 car garage (My husband is in heaven.) and we have what used to be an old smokehouse, as well as a good sized shed that will be our chicken house and another shed that is just for getting things out of the rain.

We have not done much to the place yet, we just moved in about 3 weeks ago, but we have a very long list of projects already.

My husband will be reroofing the front of the house, the garage and the smoke house before winter, and we will be renovating the chicken shed and fencing it in in the next month.

Also on our list is a fireplace to keep us warm this winter. My in-laws gave us a generator, and a snow blower so we are already miles ahead on that.

Plastic needs to go on all the old windows here soon as well and I am hoping to have enough time for window quilts as well, although I did buy some insulating curtains like these Solid Thermal Insulated Blackout Curtain 84″L- 1 Set- These are great to keep the cold and drafts out and even keep some of the highway noise muffled.

Stay tuned for more, I will be posting in this category with everything we do, from planting to canning, to collecting eggs, building dog kennels and terraced gardens as well as decorating our farmhouse with furniture from the period it was built in.

Watch us as our homestead grows!!

Preparing for the Upcoming Canning Season

If you love to do jams and jellies then most likely you have already started on your canning for the year. I honestly intended to do jams this year but with the arrival of a new grandchild, and a father in Law having  a triple bypass time just got away from me. Still it is time to start taking stock and getting ready for the new Canning season. If you have never canned before you might want to pick up a book as your first expense, not only will it show you all the right equipment that you should get for your canning but it will also give you a nice list of starter recipes to get going with. Alternatively you can visit a few of the more reliable sites online to get the facts you need. I have been canning for a lot of years, but I still love browsing recipes and getting new ideas, I have a few websites I really like to follow and will visit them year after year.

• http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html
• http://www.freshpreserving.com/
• http://www.lesleycooks.com/canning/canning.htm

Make a List of Canning Supplies

As I am thinking about canning this year, I am making a mental list of all of the things that I will need to make sure I have, any extra canning jars I need, canning lids, pectin and the spices that I use in pickling. All these things add up fast, so making a list will make sure I don’t have to go out and buy it all at once. Fortunately I have plenty of jars, but will need to pick up a lot of lids; I find that the earlier in the year I do it the easier they are to find and the cheaper I can get them. If I wait too long the discount stores run out and I have to go to the more expensive grocery stores to buy them. If you go shopping early enough in the year you can get canning jars from yard sales, thrift stores and even ask around with neighbors, this will save you a lot of money and allow you to get really stocked up on canning jars.

Make Another List of Things you Plan to Can

You might even want to plan this list before you do your supply list, or at least do both at the same time. This way you can make sure you have everything on hand, and you won’t have to go running out to the store for sugar, salt or spices at the last minute. Canning is hard enough work when the season is in full swing without having to worry about running back and forth to the store. What I usually do is make a list of things I know I am going to or have to can from the garden. Things like tomato sauce, green beans, salsa, and relish are always at the top of my list. I try to add a few new things to make the list a bit more robust, this year I think I am going to do what I have been thinking about for the past couple of years and try some new picked vegetables. With a hubby that grew up in England anything pickled is always a popular choice. I make a final list of things I would like to can if I can get the stuff together for it. These items would include stuff like canned peaches, apple sauce, canned corn, things I don’t grow but will be on the lookout for all year at prices I can’t turn down. If I have a list then when the deals show up I know what to do with them.

Getting all my Equipment in Order

Finally I make sure I have everything I need and it is all cleaned up and ready to go, nothing is worse than pulling out the tomato mill only to find out a piece walked off in the middle of the winter and you have to find it or order another one with 50lbs of tomatoes sitting on your counter. Make sure that your pressure canner is all tuned up and checked out, that you have all the utensils you need, and your jars have all been inspected for nicks or other problems. I keep mine in the boxes they came in but invariably there are always jars that got damaged along the way. Dig up your recipes and get them ready to go as well, I have a problem with losing recipes from one year to the next, a common problem when you only use them once a year, this year I am going to solve that problem by getting a notebook that is just for canning recipes. Once you have all of your supplies in order and your lists made, know where everything is, you will find that your canning adventures will go much more smoothly

If you need help with learning how to can there are several great books on Amazon that can help you get started.

Canning

• Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving (See all Canning & Preserving Books)
• Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry
• The Everything Canning and Preserving Book: All you need to know to enjoy natural, healthy foods year round (Everything (Cooking))

Enjoy your Season of canning make sure to let us know what you canned this year by leaving a comment below!