Use these water-saving gardening techniques to survive a "mega-drought"

(NaturalNews) Whether or not you believe in man-made climate change, one thing is indisputable: that the Southwestern United States are experiencing a record-breaking drought that has lasted for around 14 years. This particular drought has the potential of becoming what is termed a "megadrought" -- one which lasts more than two decades.

But even if you don't live in one of the drought-affected areas, water conservation is still important. As the population increases, so does the demand on our water resources, and there is simply no excuse for wasting this precious commodity which is so vital to our very existence.

So in this article I'd like to give you some tips for drought gardening techniques and also some general methods of reducing water waste. Even if you have no water restrictions in your area, you'll save money and help the environment by incorporating these in your landscaping and gardening routine.

You've probably heard the term "xeriscaping," which doesn't necessarily mean replacing your lawn and garden with cacti and rocks. Xeriscaping merely means employing techniques that reduce water waste and overall usage.

Here are a few useful water conservation tips that you can begin using right now, no matter where you live:

Early morning and night watering -- Watering your lawn or garden in the nighttime or early morning hours reduces the amount of water evaporation. Hook up timers in your watering system to make this easier.

Avoid using overhead sprinklers -- Overhead sprinklers lose a lot of water to evaporation. Use drip systems or soaker hoses, or water your lawn and garden manually.

Group plants with similar water needs -- Plant rows or areas with plants that require the same amount of water, so that you can use consistent (and therefore conservative) irrigation techniques.

Use mulch -- A mulch layer of 3" or 4" will reduce evaporation and help keep weeds out of your garden.

Water deeper and less often -- This will encourage roots to grow deeper, making plants more drought-resistant.

Adjust your lawn height -- Mow your grass at a higher setting on your lawnmower to reduce growth rate, encourage deeper roots and shade the soil, all of which reduce watering demands.

Fix leaks -- Fix leaks in your watering system, such as hose fittings. Also fix any leaks inside your house as well (the average home loses more than 10 percent of its water to leaks).

Start conserving waste water -- Begin collecting "grey" water and other wasted water in your household. For instance, the water wasted while waiting for your shower to heat up can be collected in a bucket for outdoor watering. Collect rainwater from gutters and drains.

Don't over-fertilize -- Over-fertilizing leads to excessive growth, which in turn means more watering is needed.

Choose appropriate plants -- Before planting lawns, gardens, trees or ornamentals, take into consideration how much water each requires. Select plants that thrive in your surroundings without much extra watering.

If you live in a drought-prone area, you may be tempted to feel guilty about planting a food garden due to the watering requirements. Of course, you need to obey any local water restrictions, but keep in mind that you are doing the environment a favor by growing your own food.

For one thing, you can grow more efficiently in terms of water usage than a large-scale commercial farm can, and since there are no transport costs (and the resulting environmental impact), you are actually helping to conserve water and other resources.

We live in a world where we can no longer afford to waste natural resources, and by rethinking our relationship to our environment, we can not only become better stewards of the planet but also enjoy a happier and healthier lifestyle.

Sources:

http://www.sfgate.com

http://pss.uvm.edu

http://cagardenweb.ucanr.edu

The ‘Two is one and one is none’ fallacy by Graywolf

Most people have heard, “Two is one and one is none.” Things break, get lost, or get taken and sometimes they aren’t easily fixed or replaced in the field. That’s why you need to have a backup for anything critical. There’s a critical point that people miss here though that needs to be addressed.

Imagine being cut off from your group in the middle of the woods and realizing that you’re now gonna have to spend the night outdoors until the storm blows over and you can get your bearings. You reach into yourbug out bag and find that you didn’t pack any way to start a fire because your partner had that covered. Wouldn’t that suck?

Obviously, you need to have redundancy amongst members of your team on the most basic level but don’t just jump out there and get 5 of everything for your team of 5.

The same goes for the gear that you personally carry. You can’t very well use a knife if you’ve lost it in the high grass somewhere in the past 10 miles. Also, sometimes things just break or run out of fuel. You need to have a spare. But you gotta be smart about what you’re choosing.

Here’s where a lot of people go wrong. Sometimes something will work perfectly at home (or on the internet) but not in the field, even though there’s nothing actually wrong with it. What good does it do to have two of them then? Your spare shouldn’t be a duplicate if at all possible.

Carry redundant capability, not redundant gear

I’m a big believer that one of the best survival items you can carry is a simple lighter. They’re cheap, easy to carry, and work in most cases to get a fire started, provided you’ve built it to stay lit.

The problem with these lighters is they don’t like to work right away if they’re wet, they sometimes don’t light in extreme cold or after they’ve been lit for a while, they don’t work well in windy conditions, they won’t catch things on fire that are wet, very easily, and they can run out of fuel – especially if they’re cracked. If you chose to have a second simple lighter as your only backup, you’re S.O.L. for starting a fire.

Instead of getting the same, identical item, think about what could possibly cause your first one to fail – and get something different that will cover the same critical need but not have the same problems.

In this case, you’d be better off choosing a different fire starter that would work in harsher conditions, such as a windproof lighter, or something that won’t run out of fuel such as the awesome Doan Magnesium fire starter. You’d then not only have a backup in case your primary doesn’t work, you’ve expanded the scenarios that you could start a fire.

By having different solutions to the same problems, you’ve not only helped protect yourself against the risks presented by losing or breaking something necessary, you’ve increased your capability to solve those problems under more varied circumstances.

Wargame different scenarios

This is just one example of a system I’ve come up with to power my flashlights and small electronics. I’m just listing it here so you have an idea of how you should run through different scenarios to make sure you can do what you need. Same thing goes for being able to have safe water or be able to build a shelter, etc. I’m using electronics to make the point because it’s more complicated than the others, so it’s a better teaching example. This is a really simple concept once you get it but it helps to break it down.

Having light available is a very useful thing in a survival situation and VERY nice thing for everyday living at night. I wanted to make sure that I had light available whenever I needed it and do it in such a way that it doesn’t cost me a ton of money or weight/space. I also wanted to make sure I had power available for my cell phone and/or ham radio since those are the best ways of rescue and/or survival reference if you have them available, whether it’s because you’re lost in the woods or trying to survive a natural disaster.

I’ve converted all my lights to AA battery lights now (except for the awesome Luci solar lanterns I have). Even the cheap little 7w super-bright torches I carry are AA. AA might not be the best battery in and of itself, but it’s the best battery overall.

Why? Because I want to make sure I have light in pretty much any scenario, and I can do that with AA, and not have to carry a lot for that ability. I sat down and war-gamed several different scenarios where I had and didn’t have things available to me.

What if you found an abandoned car with a good battery? Could you use the connections and gear you currently have to charge your AA batteries or charge something like a USB battery to charge them later? What if you had access to a 12v accessory plug from a vehicle? What if you didn’t have anything to plug anything into and were far away from civilization?

AA batteries are everywhere in urban environments so if I’m caught in some kind of natural disaster in town, I can easily find batteries inside TV remotes, clocks, or many other places. This is just one type of scenario though, so I have to consider if I don’t have access to those places, such as being in the wilderness. I can have pretty much unlimited lighting from A/C, DC, directly from a car battery, from solar, or from a portable battery that I can also charge different ways.

I now have rechargeable AA batteries to power my flashlights. As long as I can charge them, I have power. They key is to be able to do that under almost any circumstances. The centerpiece of this arrangement is myGoal Zero Guide 10 battery pack.

That pack will charge rechargeable AA batteries with power it gets from a USB cable. As long as I can get access to USB, I now have unlimited power for my flashlights (and cell phone, etc). This is also something that I make sure I have redundancy. Don’t forget if you’re traveling that motel room TVs almost always have a USB port in the back nowadays in case you lose your charger.

Just like the fire starter thing above, you shouldn’t have identical backups if you can help it. Obviously I need a USB cable to power the battery charger so having an identical spare wouldn’t be an issue but to save some space, I got something like one of these for my iPhone instead of carrying another normal one (I can’t find the exact one I have to show you because I got it from a booth somewhere). Having two cables would be better than one because cables break but you have to go further. How are you gonna put power to those USB cables if your primary method doesn’t work or isn’t available?

If you’re in town and have access to A/C power, the easiest way is to have an A/C-USB wall charger (a USB block that plugs into the wall). I carry the one that came with my iPhone because it’s not only very compact, it’s essentially free since I already have it. I also have an A/C AA charger that I carry because otherwise my USB AA charger becomes a SPOF (Single Point Of Failure). You can’t rely on always having A/C power though.

When I got my setup, they didn’t have this particular charger available. I’ll be swapping my current A/C charger for one of these now because it’ll run off both A/C and USB. Much better solution.

I carry a small solar panel that allows me to charge that AA battery charger. As long as I have light, the thing will charge my batteries. Goal Zero actually has a set that includes that guide 10 and solar panel, called theGoal Zero Guide 10 Plus Solar Recharging Kit but there are several solutions you can use. The problem is that you might not always be able to set out your solar panel when you swap out AA batteries or need to charge your cell phone.

To ensure I can power the battery charger even at night, I carry a battery that has a USB output. You can use something like this Anker 2nd Gen 13000mAh battery with this kind of setup like I used to. It allows you to charge your batteries or other devices even if you don’t have full sunlight because the battery will take a trickle charge from the solar panel and then you can use that power whenever you want.

I do have the gear I listed above, and still use it for certain situations, but I’ve now switched to a Dynamo Plus solar pack for everything other than the AA battery charger itself and a few 12v adapter cables. This kit not only allows me to have AA battery-charging capability under all those situations, I can also charge it by plugging it into my motorcycle power plug, or any other vehicle power – or directly connect it to a car battery connection I can find. The solar panel it has is much more powerful than others that I’ve tried and so far seems to be much more able to handle rough conditions. I’ll have a full review of it in the near future.

Multiple-use equipment

Having effective redundancy is more than just having a backup. It’s having a backup that will increase your capability under various scenarios where your primary doesn’t work. Wargame different situations and actually try them out and then find a way to have a backup. One of the smartest ways to do that is to usegear that serves more than one purpose.

You can sometimes get almost free backup capability if you’re smart about things. This is another reason I chose to use the AA battery/USB charger as an example here. This little gizmo will not only charge your AA batteries, you can use it as a backup USB battery because it has a USB output that you could use to charge your cell phone or other small electronics.

Because you’re already carrying it to charge your AA batteries, you don’t have to buy or carry anything extra to make sure you have a backup for your USB battery. ALSO – the charger has an LED flashlight built-in. If you lose your primary lighting, you STILL have a backup as long as you can get either AA batteries or charge AA rechargeables – and it doesn’t take up any extra weight or space (effectively) because you’re already carrying it. This is a MUCH better solution than carrying your typical AA battery charger that uses A/C.

So I guess I got a little long-winded with a simple idea, but essentially, just remember that ‘Two is one and one is none’ doesn’t just mean get two things. It means have at least two ways to perform a certain function, which when combined, will expand your capabilities beyond what having one will do.

http://graywolfsurvival.com/208978/the-two-is-one-and-one-is-none-fallacy/

NEWZ 6/7/15

• Dave Hodges Interviews Steve Quayle On The Common Sense Show- Tonight 6pm (MOUNTAIN) 
• ISIS Troops Are Penetrating the U.S. Border and Are Engaging Any Who Oppose Them 
• Convoy Of Howitzers Roll Down Mississippi Hwy Towards Texas - 100-Year Marathon To Enthrone China At Helm While Chinese Troops Enforce Obama's Martial Law To Save The World 
• Violent Backlash Against Sweden’s Policy Of Flooding The Country With Dangerous Muslim Invaders 
• In quake-struck Nepal, traffickers offer to buy children for $500 each 
• US Border Patrol helicopter forced to make emergency landing after being hit with gunfire near Mexico 
• 'Literally, Your ATM Won’t Work''Cash Only' the sign will say. Because the machinery of the credit economy will be breaking down. The gas station… its suppliers… and its financiers do not want to get stuck with a 'credit' from your bankrupt lender! 
• Israel hits Gaza with airstrikes, closes crossings after more rockets fired 
• Russia Reviving Elusive ‘Nuke Trains' With 30 Yars ICBMs :The new 'nuke train' is similar to a nuclear-capable submarine in its function. The cars are so hard that they can resist an explosion of a nuclear warhead just several hundred meters away. 
• Our National Parks Now Belong to United Nations: SOME BELONG DIRECTLY TO THE CHINESE AS IS THE CASE WITH YELLOWSTONE AND OTHER PARKS 
• Russia Gets Very Serious on De-dollarizing: Its Finance Ministry just revealed it is considering issuing Russian state debt in Chinese Yuan. That would be an elegant way to decouple from the dependence and blackmail pressures from the US Treasury! 
• UN Secretary-General weighs lumping Israel in with ISIS and Al Qaeda 
• 'Between the hammer and the anvil' - how Isil has spelt doom for Iraq's Sunnis One year on since Isil first swept across Iraq and Syria: Stuck between Isil on one side and Shia militias on the other, Iraq's Sunni minority has nowhere to go 
• Colosseum killing machine reconstructed after more than 1,500 years: For the first time, experts recreate one of the 28 timber machines that hoisted wild animals into the Colosseum, where they were pitted against gladiators and each other 
• Continuing Talk of War in Europe and Asia 
• The Nazi Spirit in the Arab World. 
• 2015-06-06
• Nathan Leal's -'For Such a Time as This' Sermons to Strengthen You, Encourage You and Give You Hope :’Jesus - The Bread of Life - a sermon' 
• How an undergraduate discovered tubes of plasma in the sky 
• Is The Price Of Gold Really Headed Above $19,000? :Russia and China are already trading in yuan and rubles and China is collecting all this gold. There is so little doubt in my mind that you are going to have some form of gold currency or gold backing. 
• Jade Helm: 'It's Getting Real - Our Final Warning' America Under Massive Cyber Attacks As Bilderberg Prepares To Ban Cash And Entire Financial System Threatened 
• 40% of Europe's sharks and rays face extinction, says IUCN 
• Bees suffer dementia due to metal pollution: Aluminium contamination may be behind insect decline;ELEVATED LEVELS OF ALUMINUM ARE DUE TO GEO-ENGINEERING THROUGH CHEMTRAILS 
• Is Jade Helm, Raider Focus About Pre-Positioning Foreign Troops On U.S. Soil? Raider Focus Convoy Troops Missing Unit Patches, Veteran Warns This Is 'VERY Big' Issue And 'War Has Already Begun' 
• The Reason Agenda 21 Is About To Change Your Life Forever 
• The Chinese Are Coming to Collect On the American Deb :tChinese Troops to Enforce the Coming Declaration of Martial Law In America -'To save itself, to save the world, China must prepare to become the [world's] helmsman,'Col. Liu 

www.stevequayle.com

Are you getting prepared people ? Martial Law on its way... In weeks... Something big is upon us...!!!

From: Carol McCullom

Date: 2015/06/05 

 

Are you getting prepared people ? Martial Law on its way... In weeks... Something big is upon us...!!!

 

Last night, met a trucker on divine apt. In my little area. They had pictures of the convoy that came through my area about 120 vehicles... They gassed up in n. C., s. C. Border... One talked to a driver, and he said we have another big one comeing through in 15 days, and

 

Something big is coming down.

 

They had the text that I read... Off their phone and the pictures. This is the 2nd divine apointment I have had in 3 days. Obama is not leaving office, and the big something they are talking about people, is the situation Washington creates, to keep him in office, and put our whole nation under MARTIAL LAW. Yep... THE WHOLE NATION. WE HAVE WEEKS.

 

THE UN IS IN THEIR POSITIONS PRETTY MUCH NOW, OUTSIDE OF EVERY MAJOR CITY IN AMERICA. THOSE WANTING TO GET OUT OF THE CITIES, HAS TO GO IMMEDIATELY WITH PETS, FOOD FOR PETS, KIDS, HAVE GAS TANK FILLED, AND BE OUT OF THE HOUSE IN 5 MINS. IF YOU CANNOT GET TO A ROAD GOING TO RURAL AREAS, you will be caught... And the tanks will be on the highway... And many will be killed by them. Your cell phones will tell them where their is traffic.

 

If your leaving you don't have time to talk to anyone, go. About 20-25 mins, and the main road is locked down. If you have whiny,  un-ruley kids, then they may cost you big time. What you have in your houses, will be what you have to eat on, and meds, etc. So.. If your not stocked up, and have things to eat out of a can... Just in case, then your diet will be intensified...

 

Its a good possiblity we will be attacked. All over the USA troops are moving... And those supporting all these people running for president, its a waste of money and time. For who you have is who you will keep. Read the post below from Steve quayles Q ...

 

Carol mccollum

---------------------------------------

 

From Q Alerts www.Stevequayle.com

 

THEY ARE GEARING UP FOR SOMETHING BIG--His exact words were, 'They are shipping some serious s*** over there' I just spoke with a close associate who has been working for the last three years at Barksdale AFB, on various construction projects. Likely, you will not remember that I wrote you about 6 weeks ago to ask for prayers for people in that area. This man is just a guy... A construction worker... Been there all his life... Salt of the earth kind of guy. In his words..."I am just a working man... Doing the best I can do."

 

To let you know, I have cautioned him, and literally begged him to leave that area... But he wants to hang on for as long as he can, so that he can tell people what he is seeing, and hearing... But it may be that he is finally rattled enough to pick up stakes and get out of there now. I am praying that he gets out soon.

 

Tonight, he called to let me know that the security and activity at Barksdale has been stepped up in his words, "by 300%".

 

I asked as many questions as I felt that I could and took notes so that I could simply use his quotes to accurately report what he has stated.

 

"We were working on a scheduled job in the munitions dump area... Building new blast walls, when AF personnel came in and told us we had to leave right now. We asked if were being given a "work stoppage order." They replied "Get out now." and escorted us out. "More like they rushed us out."

 

On April 1, AF Chief of Staff and a bunch of other DoD dignitaries flew in to Barksdale. Those coming on the base usually have a sidearm and maybe a rifle, but since the 1st, "dignitaries are also wearing flak jackets."

 

"They are gearing up for something big."

 

"They are bringing in serious junk."

 

"Moving in warheads... I was working in an area where cruise missles are brought in, put together, armed, and shipped out."

 

His exact words were, "They are shipping some serious s*** over there."

 

(Here I tried to ascertain whether these were going on ships or planes.)

 

He replied that "they are going everywhere." He also stated that "they dropped a bunch dummy bombs on some islands off the coast of North Korea"..(I just read a confirmation of that from an intelligence newsletter, and confirmed by WND an hour ago.)

 

I asked him if Chinese officers were still on base. He replied that he had not been working in the area in which he first saw them, for the last three weeks, but he did say this..."The Chinese and the Russians are here... let me put it this way... everybody in the UN plus a few more are in here. (US)"

 

He heard and directly quoted one officer referring to the testing of anti-ballistic missle defense system, "We are going to see a real test, now." He then said that he heard "Intelligence says there will be an attack on American soil."

 

He then stated that these defense missile systems were " being shipped to several bases."

 

Now he is a construction worker, and has been on the base which has contracted the company he works for, with over 40 different jobs. He said that in those three years, he has never seen it this way. His overwhelming impression is that our forces are mostly scattered, a huge number of foreign military personnel are in the US, many foreign officers have been at Barksdale for about 6 weeks that he knows of, and that "anything can happen," and "it looks like it will happen real quick."

 

I'll translate that last statement in case you don't speak "Southern"...

 

What he meant by that is that whatever is actually going on, North Korea notwithstanding, something is about to happen, it is about to happen soon, and there is no way we will ever be able to know the truth about it, who did what, when, where and why, but that whatever it is, we are sitting ducks for anything."

 

He said, "You know, when I was in school, there was always somebody pushing for a fight, trying to start a fight, or get a fight stirred up. That is what this reminds me of... when I was in school... and somebody always wanted to see a fight."

 

He then asked for prayers. So I am asking you to join in prayers for him... for all of them... Apr 5, 2013

There’s Something in the Water in Utah: E Coli

For the second time in as many months, Utah is facing a municipal water crisis. Back in April, the community of Nibley was unable to use the water from the taps due to a chemical spill. This time, the city of Syracuse, Utah has issued a boil order due to E. Coli and Coliform contamination in the water supply.

It seems that across the country, more and more water crises are occurring, underlining the need for all households to possess an emergency water supply.

The contamination was discovered after residents complained that the color of the water coming from their taps was “off.” Testing was performed and the following advisory was issued:

This afternoon (Friday, June 5, 2015), Syracuse City received a confirmed contamination sample from the culinary water system. The sample was obtained from the area of 700 South and 2500 West and tested positive for E-coli and Coliform. The City’s Public Works department has discovered and isolated the source of contamination, which was due to a cross connection of culinary and secondary water lines. The City has isolated the cross connected lines which has eliminated the contamination source, and is currently flushing the water mains. Due to the possibility of residual contamination throughout the system, the City is issuing a water advisory or “Boil Notice” for the entire City until further notice.

E. Coli is one type of Coliform bacteria. These are found in animal and human feces. Consumption of water that contains this bacteria can cause severe gastrointestinal distress that lasts for about a week. In some cases, severe complications can occur, including intestinal bleeding, long term nerve dysfunction, renal failure, and clotting disorders. It’s imperative that a person suffering from an infection with a coliform bacteria not be treated with antidiarrheal medication:

Milder cases of E. coli can be treated at home with oral rehydration therapy. It is vital that the patient not be treated with antidiarrheals, salicylates (aspirin, ibuprofen, or Pepto-Bismol), or antibiotics. Salicylates can increase the risk of intestinal bleeding. If the secondary symptoms listed above occur, this connotes a medical emergency and assistance should be sought if at all possible.
~ from The Prepper’s Water Survival Guide

Once the city of Syracuse has determined the water to be safe, residents will be advised to flush their home systems in order to remove any traces of lingering E. Coli or other Coliform bacteria.

If you don’t yet have a stored water supply, now is the time to start. These types of emergencies occur with no warning whatsoever, and by the time you “run to the store” to pick up water, everyone else in the area will have the same idea. If you never buy a single canned good or bag of pasta for long term food storage, please store water. You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to see the good sense in being prepared for an event that could happen any place, at any time.

- See more at: http://www.thedailysheeple.com/theres-something-in-the-water-in-utah-e-coli_062015#sthash.Pcgf2pqg.dpuf 

Newz

• 2015-06-05
• The Public’s Illusions Are About To Be Crushed As The Biggest Ponzi Scheme In World History Implodes 
• 2016 Obama plans to take America down:IMPORTANT VIDEO 
• Andrew Maguire Warns Western Central Banks And Insider Bullion Banks Now Positioning For The Great Financial Reset 
• America’s New Pearl Harbor - A Prophetic Warning;IMPORTANT FLASH BACK IN LIEU OF CHINESE SPY SHIPS OFF HAWAII Nathan Leal - August 16, 2011 
• Report: China Dispatching Surveillance Vessels Off Hawaii;NATHAN LEAL AND I DID HAGMANNN SHOW A COUPLE YEARS AGO ON THIS SUBJECT-SEE FLASHBACK POST 
• TABLE 9 :Sorry to be a buzzkill, but today’s jobs numbers are not great. The job market sucks. Wages suck. The BLS will lie and obfuscate until morale improves. The MSM will regurgitate the lies. So it goes. 
• ISIS, the CIA and Guillotines: A Must Read! STEVE QUAYLE. STEVE WILL BE WITH US ON COMMON SENSE RADIO SHOW FOR THE FIRST TWO HOURS FROM 6PM TO 8PM (MOUNTAIN); 8PM TO 10 PM (EASTERN)!SUNDAY EVENING 
• Lawmaker: Moscow can answer possible deployment of US nuclear missiles in Europe :Colonel General Viktor Zavarzin said’the US administration needs to weigh everything carefully before making such ill-considered steps' 
• Meet The NSAC - The US Government's Shadow Spy Agency:300 analysts 'for the purpose of monitoring the electronic footprints of terrorists and their supporters, identifying their behaviors, and providing actionable intelligence.' 
• Veterans Sound Jade Helm Alarm - X22Report With Dahboo7 - Military Convoys In 3 States - Baltimore With 15+ Fuel Trucks, Fuel Trucks Seen In Texas Convoy And Mysterious Van Leads Colorado Convoy, Too! 
• Paleontologist Plans to Create Dinosaur Within 10 Years: 
• ISIS show off their US-made spoils of war: Fighters behind the wheel of millions of dollars in American hardware, a month after Iraqi army fled Ramadi 
• 'This is an attack against the nation': Chinese hackers steal sensitive details of four million federal employees that could be used to blackmail or impersonate them as FBI launches investigation:THE MONSTER HAS TURNED AGAINST ITSELF 
• Paleontologist Plans to Create Dinosaur Within 10 Years: 
• Russia To Take It’s Gold Reserves Up To $500 Billion From $360 Billion 
• New Snowden Documents Reveal Secret Memos Expanding Spying The Obama administration has stepped up the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program on U.S. soil to search for signs of hacking. 
• Pentagon Exhibits United States Of America’s Latest Killer Robots 
• Land of the Unfree – Police and Prosecutors Fight Aggressively to Retain Barbaric Right of 'Civil Asset Forfeiture' 
• The 'Better Than Cash Alliance' Has An Orwellian Plan:They are a cabal of powerful people who are pushing a dangerous agenda that would harm average Americans while increasing the elite group’s power over them. 
• Greece Pauses while Electronic Tyranny Moves On :Every week sees us closer and closer to a catastrophe of truly Biblical proportions. Those who know and trust the Bible, will see it. Those who don’t, won’t 
• IRS sends Congress unsigned form letter to brush off demands for Clinton Foundation investigation:THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS HAS BEEN REVEALED ALONG WITH THOSE UNDER HIM! 
• Iran deploys 15,000 troops to support Assad in Syria 
• Neither Freedom nor Safety: they have dispatched and re-dispatched 60,000 federal agents to intercept the telephone calls, text messages and emails of all Americans all the time. 
• Russian Orthodox Church Ends Ties With Protestants Over Gay Marriage 
• Scientists reveal details of unprecedented mass mortality on West Coast that began summer 2011: 'Many millions' of deaths before sea star wasting syndrome: Multiple species wiped out in day. Mortality rate of 99.99% over large region! 

www.stevequayle.com

Sanitation Post SHTF – Keep Clean When It Counts

Hurricane season is quickly approaching here on the East Coast.  Unfortunately, for many East Coasters, these storms are common weather phenomenons that impact the lives of millions each year. Depending on where you live, some of the destruction caused by them may result in local flooding.  The impacts of such an event can be widespread, and one of the major consequences of flooding can be poor sanitation.

Natural Disaster Preparedness

Let’s spend a few minutes talking about natural disaster preparedness before we get neck deep in SHTF sanitation.

Ideally, in a situation like a hurricane, you have the basics on hand.  That would be water, foodand communication.  Water and food are obvious for survival situations.  Communication can be a tricky one.  The idea is to know what’s going on around you.  It may mean having something as simple as a pocket radio to something more complex like a HAM radio.

Cleanliness Is Key

Beyond the food, clean drinking water and communication, you should also be ready to keep yourself clean and sanitary.

It’s important, especially if you have children or elderly people, to make sure that you don’t create or spread disease around your living area.

There are three key items you’ll want to clean regularly and consider:

1. Yourself and other people in your group.
2. Your eating utensils and dishes.
3. Your living quarters and sewage.

Keeping these three categories clean and sanitary will be key to long-term survival and well-being.

Post SHTF Sanitation Supplies

You should already have soap and basic cleaning supplies in the stockpile of supplies you have, but do you have enough?

I could make a claim about how much soapto store, but the best way to track that is through tracking your own usage. For me and my family, a single bar of soap per person should last a month or more when you consider using the soap with conservation in mind. Check on how much soap you use on a normal basis, and then assume that you can use a considerable amount less if you have to.

A good all-around soap can work wonders in a variety of applications, and there’s no reason you can’t use one type of soap to wash all the essentials. Just be careful about the scent since your probably don’t want to clean your dishes with soap that has a musty scent.

By adding some extra water, along with plenty of soap and vinegar to your stock of supplies, you will be able to have a safe and sanitary area.

Washing Yourself

While the accepted rule of thumb is to keep one gallon of water per person per day in storage, this does not include enough water for real sanitation.

It is plenty for cooking, eating, and drinking, but not for washing.

keeping yourself clean is of the utmost importance if you are in a hotter climate or are engaged in a lot of physical activities. Depending on your living conditions and level of activity, you may want to wash yourself every day.  However, it is possible only to wash every other day.  That is a call you can make yourself.

Despite the necessity of keeping clean, this is one of the areas when you can save some water.  By wetting a washrag and then lathering it up instead of taking a shower or bath you can cut down on the water needed drastically.

Washing the three essential areas is not only a key to sanitation, but also to a healthy existence.  The three essentials are the genitals, rear end and face.  This probably goes without saying, but make sure you have separate washrags for your face.

Washing is even more important if you have a group with you. Be sure to have children keep themselves clean and check the elderly regularly as well.  If anyone is incapacitated, move them when possible to prevent bed sores and ensure that they get the washing and attention needed to keep them as healthy and clean as possible.

Utensils and Dishes

While it may make a lot of sense to use disposable or burnable dishes and utensils, some things you are just going to have to wash. Chances are you’ll have a few pots and pans and other such things around if you’re hunkered down and able to stay put for a while.

A good way to cut down on the amount of dishes you need to wash is to cook in cast iron.  Cast iron pans will last virtually forever and require almost no water to wash and sanitize.

However, if your pot and pan selections do require cleaning, there are a couple of ways to keep them clean without using too much water.  Add dish soap to a spray bottle of water and you can limit the amount of soap and water needed.  The spray action of the bottle will provide the suds and water needed to wash the pans.

You can make you supplies of soap and water last a lot longer by only spritzing the pans a few times to get them moist and allow the soap to do its thing.

Another great, inexpensive option is to keep a jug of bleach around. You can keep a spray bottle of diluted bleach around for sanitizing surfaces. Be sure to mix to the right strength since the concentration of the bleach can vary by brand.

Living Quarters

There’s more to being sanitary than just washing your dishes and keeping yourself clean.  You can’t live in filth and still consider yourself clean, no matter how much you wash.

Besides the normal dirtiness of living in a post SHTF world, you are responsible for cleaning your filth as well.  Keeping your living quarters clean is a necessary step for any long-term survival. Try to keep your food crumbs picked up so they don’t attract pests. Many illnesses can be traced back to rodents and other pests getting into the food or living area.

Another thing to consider is dealing with sewage…

No innovation in the past 200 years has done more to save lives and improve health than the sanitation revolution triggered by invention of the toilet.
– Sylvia Mathews Burwell

One of the best ways to keep sanitary is to use existing plumbing (i.e. the toilet) or an outhouse.  Don’t forget that you can use nonpotable water for manually flushing the toilet.

If the grid is down or you have limited access to sanitary facilities, then your best option may be an outhouse.

If you end up using an outhouse, there are a few considerations to keep in mind.

1. Location: An outhouse needs to be at least one hundred and fifty feet away from any source of drinking water.
2. Hole Depth: Studies have found that users of outhouses are more likely to get tapeworms.  This is because most outhouses are not dug deep enough.  A tapeworm can move through the soil almost five feet, so a shallow outhouse will allow the worms and possibly other pests to reach the surface and will raise the chances of exposure.
3. Toilet Paper: Depending on the scenarios that you are planning for makes a pretty big difference in the amount of toilet paper that you will need to keep in stock. We usually keep a healthy amount of toilet paper around anyway since we buy in bulk from Costco.

Summary of SHTF Sanitation

Keeping yourself and your group clean and healthy must be one your top priorities.  What’s the point of surviving a disaster only to be struck down by a preventable disease?  By adding plenty of soap and some extra water to your stockpile you can be clean and healthy.

If you think about the following, then you and your family will be in good shape:

1. Store a little extra water, soap, and some wash rags.
2. Have a plan for cleaning your plates, utensils, or other kitchen implements.
3. Store some toilet paper.