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Thanksgiving Special (November 18, 2012) - Music & The Spoken Word

In 1621 the Pilgrims of Plymouth celebrated America’s first “Thanksgiving.” After months of toil and doubt, the settlers enjoyed their first harvest in a new land, rejoicing in their respite from near starvation and gaining a renewed feeling that God smiled on their efforts. For Latter-day Saints, the 1848 celebration of the first harvest in Salt Lake Valley was a festival of similar significance.

Settlers had crossed the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains before the Mormon pioneers of 1847. But perhaps never before had so many westering colonists headed for unproven and relatively unknown destinations miles from other settlements. Newspapers, books, and pamphlets provided information about the high valleys of the Great Basin. Many reported favorably. But other reports only increased anxiety about one thing: would the growing season prove long enough for crops to mature? No one knew, but those best acquainted with the region had doubts. Jim Bridger, long-time resident of the mountain country, was so sure crops couldn’t be grown that he offered to pay a thousand dollars for an ear of corn ripened in the Salt Lake Valley.

Had President Brigham Young relied on such information alone, he might have wavered in his determination to settle the interior valleys. But he was also guided by the conviction that in moving west the Saints were fulfilling a long-awaited destiny. He held a firm faith that there was in the West a place prepared where, with God’s blessings, they could succeed. When the time came to leave for the mountains, practical considerations were, in President Young’s mind, secondary. After working to exhaustion during the preparations, he was calmly willing to leave the results to God.

The pioneers found the valley to be beautiful and grass-filled, crossed by mountain streams—not a burning desert at all. Still, it was higher than any land they had farmed before, and the soil drier. Nor was it timbered. To those raised in the woodlands of the East, it appeared to be a barren country. Harriet Young, wife of President Young’s brother Lorenzo and one of three women in the first company, wrote of the valley: “Everything looked gloomy and I felt heartsick.” Though she had traveled fifteen hundred miles to get there, she “could willingly travel a thousand farther” to get to more congenial surroundings. Nonetheless, to skilled farmers the soil felt good, and there was abundant water nearby that could be channeled to plowed fields. There was reason to be hopeful.

President Young, ill when the pioneers first arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, recovered enough a few days later to address the camp at length. By then, men had scouted in every direction to see if there might be a better location than where they had first plowed and planted. As President Young anticipated, they found none. “This is the right spot,” he declared. “I know it is the spot, and we have come here according to the suggestion and direction of Joseph Smith. … The word of the Lord was, go to that valley and the best place you can find in it is the spot.” It was, he affirmed when he returned a year later, “the place he had seen [in vision] before he came here & it was the place for the Saints to geather.” 

Once the site was selected, President Young and others hurried east to rejoin their families at Winter Quarters. En route they met hundreds of Saints headed to the Salt Lake Valley with Elders Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor. These settlers arrived in the valley only to discover that the July pioneers had planted too late to produce much of a harvest. In the absence of fences, foraging horses and cattle had trampled some of the fields, further diminishing the fall’s production. Nonetheless, more than fifteen hundred people crowded into the new settlement for winter.

By February 1848, some of the colonists had eaten their last bread. Many who had little shared with those who had none. Then in early spring local Indians taught the Saints to find edible plants such as the sego lily root, tender thistle greens and roots, and, soon, wild berries. Traditional game, along with crow, hawk, and wolf meat, provided additional sustenance.

Warmed by the spring sun, tender shoots pushed up through five thousand acres of plowed fields. By May, pioneers relished the first radishes and lettuce of the season. Peas, wheat, and other crops looked daily more promising. Said one settler of the prospects, “Our crops now looked fine and we looked forward to a day not far distant when we could geather and eat our fill.” 

Within days, however, weather and insects combined to dramatically change the outlook. “There is a great excitement in the camp,” wrote John Steele on June 4. “There has come a frost which took beans, corn and wheat and nearly everything, and to help make the disaster complete, the crickets came by the thousands of tons.” Not until mid-June did summer heat end the frost damage, but then sun-baked fields not yet under irrigation suffered further losses.

Summer drought they had anticipated; by extending their system of ditches and gaining experience with irrigation, they expected to meet that challenge. But the killing frosts reinforced fears that perhaps Jim Bridger had been right about the valley’s unfitness for crops. And the crickets … ! They came so unexpectedly, and in such hordes, that nothing, it seemed, could prevent total destruction of the crops.

The pioneers believed that if a man did all in his power to solve a problem, God would step in and do the rest. With this philosophy, they prayed for rain even as they irrigated. They covered vegetable gardens against frost even as they prayed that God would prolong the growing season. For three exhausting weeks they fought the crickets with every possible means. Then flocks of seagulls from the Great Salt Lake combined with the passing season to end the cricket devastation. For some, it was a dramatic confirmation of God’s interest in the success of their New Zion.

Still, the setbacks were severe enough that this was, in the words of one valley resident, “a time to try mens faith.” A few families refused to face another year in the harsh valley and returned to the States or left for California. 

With the end of crop damage due to frost and crickets, farmers quickly replanted. By midsummer, spirits had revived and, once again, there was prospect of a good harvest. Some of the Saints had probably participated previously in a harvest feast of thanksgiving, a New England custom echoing the Plymouth Colony celebration of 1621. As thoughts turned thankfully to God for the coming harvest, it was natural to set aside a day for thanksgiving.

Thursday, August 10, was the day selected. By that date the wheat harvest would be complete, other grains available, and vegetables plentiful. “Every family in the city is invited,” noted one woman in anticipation of the feast. To superintend the preparations, captains of hundreds and of fifties were appointed pioneer-camp fashion, with each ten families and their captain “to furnish a table with the produce of the valley.” For the celebration, workmen constructed a bowery of poles shaded by willows.

At 9:00 A.M. that thanksgiving day, several hundred Saints gathered for the celebration. There had been near-starvation times, and there might be more, but the Lord had blessed them with harvest. It would be a time of joyful celebration, of feasting “on what the Lord had blessed them with in this desert land.” 

Festivities opened with the raising of a traditional American symbol of freedom—a Liberty Pole sporting a white flag. Sheaves of grain decorated the pole beneath the flag: wheat and barley and oats—and a single ear of green corn. While the flag was raised, the cannon was fired, the band played, and the people cheered then shouted to the mountains: “Hosannah to God and the Lamb, for ever and ever, Amen.”

Young and old then seated themselves on log benches under the bowery, which was decorated with bundles of grain and other harvested produce, for “singing and prayer and appropriate speeches.” With instrumental accompaniment they sang Parley P. Pratt’s “Harvest Song” composed especially for the occasion. (See p. 50.) After a few speeches by prominent leaders, including Elders Parley P. Pratt and John Taylor, Elder Taylor offered the prayer of praise and thanksgiving.

The feast itself was the centerpiece of the celebration. As noon approached, a bugle sounded and the hungry crowd rearranged the benches and put dishes and utensils on the tables. “Everyone brought something of such as they had to make the dinner which was accomplished in good stile,” recorded one. “A Splendid Dinner was Spread under the Bowery prepared for the occasion and Several hundred sat down to a rich repast to which all contributed,” noted another. Elder Pratt summarized: “We partook freely of a rich variety of bread, beef, butter, cheese, cakes, pastry, green corn, melons, and almost every variety of vegetables.” Lettuce, radishes, beets, onions, peas, carrots, cucumbers, parsnips, squash, and beans were available by then; later in the season there would also be pumpkins and a few potatoes.

About 2:00 P.M. the bugle again sounded, ending the feast and beginning the music and dancing. With the tables cleared and benches removed, the bowery accommodated fifty couples at a time in cotillions, quadrilles, Virginia reels, and other dances. This continued throughout the afternoon, the “gray headed, the middle aged and the youth all in one Common Caus[e] of rejoicing and pleasure.”

Participants agreed it was a memorable and refreshing experience. It was a day of “prayer and thanksgiving, congratulations, songs, speeches, music, dancing, smiling faces and merry hearts,” wrote Elder Pratt. “In short, it was a great day with the people … and long to be remembered by those who had suffered and waited anxiously for the results of a first effort to redeem the interior deserts of America.” 

The harvest did not end all doubts and discouragements about the valley, nor did it mark the end of hard times. The season’s crop losses had been significant, and with hundreds of new settlers to feed during the coming year, there would again be a “starving time” before harvest. But the harvest did prove that foodstuffs could be produced in the valley—and abundantly.

This first thanksgiving did not establish an annual tradition of harvest celebrations Church-wide. In the Salt Lake Valley, mushrooming population made it impractical to have a city-wide feast. But in the fall of 1851, just over three years after this first celebration, President Brigham Young as governor of the newly formed Territory of Utah proclaimed Thursday, 1 January 1852, a “Day of Praise and Thanksgiving.” Filled with gratitude to God for the thousands of Saints now gathered into the Salt Lake Valley and “in response to the time-honoured custom of our fathers at Plymouth Rock,” Governor Young enjoined the Saints to spend the day as families joyfully, thankfully, prayerfully, sharing their hearts with one another and with God, and sharing their substance with the poor.

It is a pattern that we might well seek to follow in our own family celebrations.

Harvest Song

By Parley P. Pratt
The Gentiles oppressed us, the heathens with rage
Combined all their forces our hosts to engage.
They plundered and drove us full many a day;
They killed the chief shepherd, the sheep went away.
Afar in the desert and mountains to roam,
Without any harvest, without any home.
There hungry and thirsty and weary and worn,
They seemed quite forsaken, and left for to mourn.
But lo! in the mountains new sheepfolds appear!
And a harvest of plenty, our spirits to cheer.
This beautiful vale is a refuge from wo,
A retreat for the Saints, while the scourges o’erflow.
Chorus
Let us join in the dance, let us join in the song.
To thee, O Jehovah, the praises belong.
All honor, all glory, we render to thee;
Thy cause is triumphant, thy people are free.

This has been taken from the more folksy version found in the Elnathan Eldredge Journal, Church Archives, with several corrections as found in the more formal, published version in Parley P. Pratt to Orson Pratt, 5 September 1848, Millennial Star, 15 Jan. 1849, p. 23. For readability, spelling and capitalization have been corrected and punctuation supplied.

Ronald K. Esplin, father of seven, is a historian at Brigham Young University and a counselor in the bishopric of his Sandy, Utah, ward.

Nutrition and Healthy Lifestyle Guidance

I practice a holistic approach to health and wellness, which means that I look at how all areas of your life are connected. Does stress at your job or in your relationship cause you to overeat? Does lack of sleep or low energy prevent you from exercising? As we work together, we will look at how all parts of your life affect your health as a whole.

My approach is not to dwell on calories, carbs, fats, and proteins. It is not to create lists of restrictions or good and bad foods. Instead, I work with my clients to create a happy, healthy life in a way that is flexible, fun and rewarding.

Together we’ll work to reach your health goals in areas such as achieving optimal weight, reducing food cravings, increasing sleep, and maximizing energy. As we work together, you’ll develop a deeper understanding of the food and lifestyle choices that work best for you and implement lasting changes that will improve your energy, balance and health.

Here are some concepts that we will explore during our work together:

Bio-individuality™: The concept of bio-individuality is that each person has unique food and lifestyle needs. One person’s food is another person’s poison, and that’s why fad diets tend to fail in the long run. Working on the principle of bio-individuality, I’ll support you to make positive changes that are based on your unique needs, lifestyle, preferences, and ancestral background. I use a personalized, holistic approach to ensure that you will have great success!

Primary Food™: It’s easy to overlook all of the things that contribute to our sense of nourishment and fulfillment. It’s not just the food we eat, but all of the other factors present in our daily lives. Healthy relationships, a fulfilling career, regular physical activity and a spiritual awareness are essential forms of nourishment. When these “primary foods” are balanced, what you eat becomes secondary. I will support you in achieving all of your goals, from eating the right foods for your body to living an inspired, fulfilling life.

Integrative Nutrition™ Plate: The Integrative Nutrition Plate emphasizes the importance of local and organic produce, whole grains, high-quality proteins, plant-based fats, and water. It shows you how a plate should appear at mealtime and emphasizes the importance of proportions and portion size. To complete the picture, the plate is surrounded with lifestyle factors that create optimal health: relationship, career, physical activity and spirituality. I’ll introduce you to some of the healthiest foods on the planet and teach you how to find what’s healthiest for your unique body!

You can learn more about my training at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition. 

- See more at: http://www.sallycookehealthcoach.com/my-approach-sally-cooke-health-coach#sthash.qzIOXOT3.dpuf

Solar Beast

How to Build A Solar Generator - DIY Survival Prepper Solar

Get Home Bags For Everyday People. Why You Need One.

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What a “Get Home Bag” is and why everyone should have one.

Written by Stephanie Dayle.

A Get Home Bag could be a life saver if we are ever faced with a true disaster. Everyone who travels away from home on a regular bases should have one assembled and ready as part of their personal preparedness plans. Anyone can put together a quick Get Home Bag from items they already own and maybe a quick trip to the grocery store.

In this article I am bringing together my outdoor survival training from Search and Rescue with my experience hiking and backpacking to address the emergency preparedness needs of a “get home bag” for people who may be on a budget or not familiar with military style tactical gear.  It’s very important to always be flexible in your emergency preparedness. Start with what you already have and what you can afford, then make improvements if desired as you go.

What is a Get Home Bag?

The common definition of a “Get Home Bag or GHB” is a simply a bag of supplies meant to help you make it back home if you become stranded somewhere. The way to use this bag is to take it with you where ever you go, usually in your vehicle. This is different from a ‘Bug Out Bag’ which contains the basic tools for living away from your home for an extended time.

The key to using the bag is to get back home as quickly as possible. Historically the longer an emergency lasts the more erratic and unpredictable people behave, therefore, the longer it takes you to get home the more danger you will be in. Most of us have loved ones, kids, and/or animals at home.  Your unannounced absence in the event of an emergency may put your home and family at risk.

There is no “right way” to assemble a ‘Get Home Bag’ as bags will differ from person to person to suit their individually unique situations, so don’t worry about “emergency levels” or  doing it wrong. Instead evaluate your situation by answering these questions, your answers will help you discover what should go in your GHB.

What type of emergency would cause me to walk home?Carefully examine what natural disasters are a possibility in your area like earthquakes, volcanos, or forest fires. Also take into account weather related emergencies such as winter storms, flooding, tornados and hurricanes. Other emergencies include terrorist attacks, civil unrest or losing the electrical grid and maybe the use of your car. Make sure the items in your bag are customized to address those specific concerns but also recognize that the unexpected may happen as well.

Actual photo I took of people walking who couldn’t drive from the 2008 storm.

Real Life Examples: In the winter of 2008 the Spokane area in Eastern Washington experienced a period of extreme snow fall where in some areas 22 inches of snow was recorded falling in 24 hours and an additional 10 inches fell the following day. Half way through the first eight hours of snow fall streets were hopeless clogged with snow bound vehicles not equipped to handle the roads and  300+ accidents. People ran out of gas waiting in traffic, got their car stuck, while others abandoned their vehicles to go grab a bite to eat or to walk home further clogging the roads. Those still in their offices in town could chose to either wait in traffic, spend the night at the office or walk home. My GHB includes items to help me stay warm and travel in the winter.

On September 11th 2001, after the attack had occurred,  public transportation was there but because of the attacks was shut down, blocked or otherwise unavailable in the immediate area, stranding thousands of people. Walking home or walking to access another mode of transportation were the only options. Everyone was also covering their mouths because of the dust and debris that was in the air. I have several lightweight N-95 masks in my GHB.

On average, how far do I usually travel away from home? If you commute to work on a daily bases or drive to school – THAT should be your target average distance. Of course there are times when that distance is exceeded, but using the average is the general rule of thumb. If you are caught in a disaster further away from home than that, having any supplies at all will still give you a great advantage.

Real Life Example: I drive over 30 miles to work every day – so I have designed my GHB to get me back from that distance.

How long would it take me to walk home?Common advice says the average person can walk about 3 miles/hour on flat, easy ground. Therefore if you can keep that pace up for 12 hours, you could potentially walk 36 miles. However any experienced hiker and/or backpacker would doubt that estimate.  An average person who is not used to a carrying pack, who does not exercise on a regular bases, traveling over varied terrain can expect to cover 10-18 miles a day at the most.Using that traveling distance take an educated guess at how long it would take you to walk home.

Real Life Example: I exercise regularly and hike regularly, yet I fully expect it to take me two days get home if I were walking home from work. Along with being realistic with my travel times, I take into account I will be climbing nearly 2,000 feet in elevation on my way. It would be a long walk indeed. 2+ days is what my GHB is designed for.

Image by Stephanie Dayle 2013

What type of a bag makes a good Get Home Bag?

Again there is no right or wrong answer, but there are some guidelines that will help you create a life saving pack when combined with the above information.

- Choose a ‘normal’ looking backpack: Backpacks are commonly recommended because they are easier to travel with than one strap bags, and they free up the use of both hands. In a emergency you will want to look like everyone else, and avoid looking like a terrorist fleeing the scene, or a looter. Law enforcement may be on the alert for those who look “suspicious” so in an effort to avoid the wrong kind of attention, I stay away from black or camo style tactical packs. Personally, I also avoid neon colored brand name bags that shout “I have money, rob me!” Find middle ground by selecting something that looks boring and plain.

- Keep it small and lightweight: Even if it’s going to take you a couple of days to get home, keep your bag ‘under’ 15- 20 lbs. Keeping the bag lightweight will allow you cover more ground quickly. Backpacks are commonly measured for gear capacity in liters. Look for a bag that is 35 liters preferably smaller. Consider a bigger bag if you think your walk home will be longer than a couple of days.

- A GHB does not need to be expensive: But it should work without the zipper hanging up or the bag failing in some other way. It needs to function properly until you make it home, not until you die of old age. Backpacks commonly go on sale in the fall when kids are going back to school, that is a good time to look for one if you are on a budget. If you have older kids, one of their used backpacks may work if it is still in good working condition.

What do I Need in my Get Home Bag?

Click Here—> For a Printable Detailed Get Home Bag Check List! PDF

Image (c) Stephanie Dayle 2013

Keeping in mind your situation and location, address these baseline items. This does not have to be expensive backpacking or tactical gear, you are not going on a camping trip nor are you getting ready for military deployment, this advice builds a bag for the average everyday person who finds themselves stranded in an emergency. Click on the blue text to find this equipment! 

SOL Escape Bivy

Shelter: Consider emergency ponchos, tarps, clear plastic sheets, or even a bivy as an emergency shelter in your get home bag. These items are small and light – while not luxurious they can be combined in different ways to make a quick improvised shelter that will be better than nothing. If you are more than a two day walk from home, you may want to consider a lightweight one man tent and a lightweight sleeping bag.

An emergency bivy should not be considered a sleeping bag, it is at best an emergency shelter.  They are best used this way in conjunction with emergency blankets or tarps.

Rope/Binding: Include at least 50ft of rope in your GHB. 550 cord is small, lightweight and it will support 550lbs of weight. While not suitable for climbing it has many other survival uses, it is the preferred cordage in many survival kits, but having some rope regardless of type is better than no rope. 50ft will be sufficient for most people (unless you have cliffs to scale or crevasses to cross on your way home, in which case, your needs are beyond this article).

Food: Look for energy dense easy to prepare food. Energy bars and meals barsare great for this purpose and they are light weight. MREs are nice but they tend to be heavy and in all honesty you can live on meal bars for a few days if you had to. Other inexpensive food ideas include; instant oatmeal, packets of tuna, and jerky.

Water: Recent studies show women need around 2 liters of water a day and men need around 3 liters of water a day. The need for water will increase with physical activity so pad your numbers on water and include a way to collect and purify more water. The average water bladder holds 2-3 liters of water, the average water bottle holds a quart.  Once you get past 3 or 4 liters of water it becomes difficult to carry all of your water needs for extended periods of time, for this reason in addition to actual water that is ready to drink,  pack a way to collect and purify more water. Most backpacks come with water bladders these days, if yours doesn’t you can purchase one and add a bladder to it.

Chlorine dioxide water tablets or drops (if you can find them) and iodine tablets are a lightweight inexpensive option for purifying water. Water filters, even the smaller ones, are usually bulky and expensive, howevera water bottle with a built-in filter may be an affordable option for you.

Clothing: If your average commute is the daily trip to the office you need to pack a change of clothes, including footwear, in your bag. A suit and heels will not get you home quickly. Make sure this change of clothes is suitable to the time of year and weather in your area.

First Aid: Make or purchase a small lightweight first-aid kit, not something that you could perform field surgery with but something that you could take care of minor to mild cuts and blisters with. Some OTC (over the counter) drugs like ibuprofen for sore muscles and headaches would also be handy.Adventure Medical manufactures great little light weight, water proof, inexpensive medical kits if you don’t want to make your own.

Protection: On contrary to popular belief, this is does not have to be a be a gun. Personally, I don’t count my concealed carry as GHB ‘protection’, and I would certainly never put it zipped up inside of the bag – what good would it do me in there? This could be pepper spray (which is also highly effective on animals), a knife, a taser or one of the many other alternative protection devices on the market. An additional thing you might want to consider in this department is a little extra ammo for your concealed weapon, if you do carry.

Light: You never know at what time a day you could become stranded having a source of light is a must. I prefer headlamps over flashlights as they keep your hands free, but if all you have is a mini-flashlight, throw that in your pack along with some extra batteries.

Fire: Again, while the purpose of a GHB is not to go camping, having a means to start a fire will make you that much more prepared if your situation goes from bad to worse. No emergency kit is complete without at least two ways to start a fire. I prefer matches in a water proof container and fire steel.

Navigation: While GPS is cool and easy to use it may not always be available if something like a solar flare has taken out your car, it will have most likely rendered your GPS useless. Maps andcompasses are still king of the non-electric navigation world. Have one of each in your bag and know how to use them.

Knife: Last, but certainly not the least a good quality knife should be included in every GHB. This does not have to be a$200+ survival knife extraordinaire. For a get home bag find at least one good quality pocket knife, you can of course pack something better or in addition if you want this is merely a baseline. A gas station pocket knife may break on you when you really need it so spring for a well known good quality pocket knife if you can and save the big bad expensive survival knife for your Bug Out Bag.

Don’t stress about packing enough gear to make it through any conceivable disaster. If  you have the above base items covered in your get home bag you will have a great advantage over the average Joe on making it home. Of course there is always more you can add to your bag if you want or need to increase it’s effectiveness! Click Here For a Printable Detailed Get Home Bag Check List!

Each person in your family should have their own GHB, avoid sharing items or carrying items for other family members if at all possible, this way if one person becomes separated from the group they would still have everything they need to stay alive in their bag.

Keep them in your vehicle where ever you go, don’t worry about repacking it for each trip to town you make so that it is just perfect for the distance that particular day. This is what matters: that you have a bag full of supplies that will help you make it back home whether you are a few miles from home or a couple of days from home.

Urban Survival Tools

Pry bar for urban survival

Surviving in an urban or suburban environment requires some tools that are not required or are less critical in the rural regions or wilderness . There are a lot more blind corners, dark enclosed spaces, and solid obstacles in towns than in the open forests. We will not be discussing universal survival needs such as first aid kits, food, water, effective camouflage or other field kit items. I also will not cover weapons in detail. Obviously high capacity handguns, carbines and short-barreled shotguns are better suited to urban situations than long-barreled weapons. A good quality “survival knife” is essential in all environments. The following items are of special value when moving through a built-up area.

List of 9 Urban Survival Tools

Stainless-steel mirror: As you move through or around buildings you will need to peek around corners, over walls and through windows and doorways. A small stainless steel camping mirror on a short handle could truly save your life.

 Variable intensity flashlight: The new “tactical” flashlights that can be set to give the minimum light when you don’t want to be noticed and a very bright light and/or strobe to blind potential attackers as you move at night or through darkened buildings is essential. These are expensive, costing from $50.00 to $200.00, but well worth the cost for all kinds of emergencies.

 Axe/Hatchet: You will probably need to cut through locked buildings to avoid danger or find shelter. This will necessitate breaking windows, gates, fences and doors. You may also be forced to escape through a wall or locked door.

 Pry bar: You may need to pry open a door, move debris or break a lock. This is useful in escape, rescue and even self-defense

 Wire cutters: While you probably are not going to carry a pair of heavy bolt cutters around, you should have something capable of cutting fence wire and barbed wire that you encounter.

 Smoke bombs: Smoke can be used to distract potential attackers or to cover your movement across an open street. It can also be used to smoke out hidden trouble. Remember that most smoke bombs will set fire to buildings and furniture so use them with discretion. The larger smoke bombs made for paintball games work well.

 Heavy gloves: Heave leather faced work-gloves will protect you from broken glass, jagged metal and nails. You cannot afford hand injuries and possible infections under these conditions

Commando Rope

Rope: Rope can be used to climb or descend walls and obstacles. You may need it to pull open doors or drag away obstructions. Consider making up a “commando rope” like the ones used by the British in World War Two. They use a 6-foot long heavy rope with a large loop tied on one end and a wooden handle on the other. These could be linked together to make a ladder or used in many other ways.

Manhole Cover Lifter

Manhole cover lifter: street manholes access underground electrical valets, sewers and storm drains. These can serve as emergency blast shelters or escape routs. While these covers are very heavy they can be pulled open using a device made from two bolts tied together with a two-foot length of strong cable or wire.

Most of these devices can be used fore escape, defense and rescue activities depending on the circumstances.

If We Forget Ourselves

BUDGET PREP: AQUAPONICS SYSTEM

You can make your own aquaponics sytem.

PROBLEM:

Raising a source of valuable protein and vegetables in a small space that is hidden from view, and requires little input to maximize edible protein.

SOLUTION:

You can create a simple aquaponics system to raise fish (for protein) in a small bucket and plants (for vegetables) floating on water in another bucket, all using the same water.

WHAT IS AQUAPONICS?

Explaining aquaponics is a lot like trying to explain a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The jelly and peanut butter can both stand alone on bread but when you put the two together, you have the best of both worlds.

The same principle holds true with aquaponics, which is the combination of aquaculture; the raising small aquatic life in water tanks, and hydroponics; the growing of plants in water. In aquaponics, the water from aquatic animals (fish, etc.) is used to feed the plant roots. Then the plant water (cleaned up by the plants) is given back to the fish.

Aquaponics systems can be as big and elaborate or a small and compact as you wish to make.

Our focus for showing you how to create your own aquaponics system will be in a doomsday scenario where space, time, and food could all be scarce. We will show you how you can have freshwater fish, snails, crayfish, prawns, tilapia, perch, catfish, cod, and a vast array of your choice of garden veggies like lettuce, basil, tomatoes, okra, bell peppers, beans, peas, radishes, strawberries, onions, parsnips and herbs, to eat from a small amount of space with little to no energy exerted to maintain. And this type of system can fit into practically any living situation whether a high-rise apartment, a house in the suburbs or a rural farm.

The concept of the aquaponic system is pretty simple. You have two containers: one for fish on the bottom (acquaculture) and one for plants that sits above the fish container (hydroponics). A small aquatic pump is placed in the bottom container, which pushes up the fish effluent (the fish poop water and ammonia) into the plant container, where the ammonia (the toxic part for the fish) is broken down by nitrogen-fixing bacteria (what is known as biofilm), and turned into nitrates and nitrites, which are nutrients that are absorbed through the plant roots submerged in the water. Then the water goes back down into the fish container through a spout and the cycle begins again.

THINGS TO CONSIDER:

Depending on the fish you raise, you may or may not have to maintain a certain water temperature. Tilapia, for example, are a tropical fish, and need more warmth. On the other hand, catfish are not as susceptible to temperature.

Each gallon of water can support between one half to one pound of fish stock depending on how grandiose a system you make. And each gallon of fish water, can support 1 square foot of plants life. Another consideration is lighting. If your system does not have natural sunlight, you will need some sort of artificial lighting.

GET BUILDING:

Begin by procuring two containers. We chose the typical storage container you see pick up in any big box store. You will need one container for the aquaculture (fish) portion and one for the hydroponic (plant) portion.

You will also need a foot or so of PVC pipe that is 1 ½ inches in diameter, as well as a 1 ½ inch locknut fitting, a 1 ½” male adapter and a 1 ½ inch elbow.

You need to begin by determining where the containers are going to be placed and how much distance there will be from the plant container to the fish container. (The plant overflow tube will need to be able to reach back into the fish container.) Once this is determined, you can start your build.



Parts and materials.

MATERIALS YOU WILL NEED:

Tools: Electric or hand saw, tape measurer, pencil, screw driver, pliers
Tape measure
Marker pen
2 ½” hole saw
Hand drill
Pipe wrench
Reciprocating saw
Small submersible aquarium/pond pump - $11.99
2 sturdy plastic storage bins - $12.99 ea
Locknut pool fitting (inside screw threads for 1 ½” threaded pipe- you can get this online or from a pool supply store.) - $9.50
1 ½” elbow - $1.56
1 ½” threaded male adapter (to screw into locknut fitting) $1.26
Stryofaom sheet large enough to float inside the plant container - $5.99 (1” x 12” x 36”)
Vacuum Seal Bags - Quick Tip: Each object or group of objects should be sealed individually
Kitchen electric vacuum sealer
Monofilament fishing line 250’ of 30 lb. test -$2.86
Bobbers -$1.26 for 6
Camouflage paint -$3.67/can

THE STEPS:



Trace around the threads of the locknut fitting (take the washers and the nut off first).



Cut a hole with the 2-hole saw.



Place the paper flange and rubber washer on the locknut fitting and push fitting through the hole.



Place the other rubber washer on the backside of the hole over the locknut fitting and then screw down the fitting with the nut provided. Tighten the nut with a pipe wrench.



Screw the threaded male adapter into the front of the finished locknut fitting.



Mark the pipe so that the elbow will protrude enough so that the water will drain from the plant tank into the fish tank.



Cut the pipe.



Insert pipe into the male adapter. (There is no need to glue these pipes and fittings at this time).



Press the elbow on the pipe end and face the elbow down. Then place another small piece of pipe on the down facing end of the elbow (facing into what will be the fish tank).



Level the space that the tanks will be resting on. (Make sure it is level in all directions.)



Place the tanks in their respective positions (fish tank on bottom, plant tank above).



Prepare your submersible pump by connecting fittings and a tube to push water from the fish tank into the plant tank.



You can get specific fish tank plastic tubing or you can use an old laundry hose, by cutting off one of the ends.



Push the fitting on to the hose.



Connect the hose and fitting to the pump.



Fill the bottom and top tanks with a few inches of water to start with. (Do not run the submersible pump unless it is under water.)



Place the submersible pump in the bottom tank of water so that it completely submerged.



Test the pump by plugging it in to see if your pipe and pump work to push the water into the top tank.



Get a piece of Styrofoam and measure the inside of the top tank. Draw a line so that you can cut off excess Styrofoam so that the piece will float inside the tank.



Cut the Styrofoam with sharp scissors.



Make small holes in the Styrofoam to hold the stems of your plants.



You can transplant existing plants and push the roots through the Styrofoam, or you can grow your plants from seed and seedlings as discussed in the article.



Fill the top tank to the bottom of the outlet (locknut fitting) and place your plants and Styrofoam raft into the top tank.



You can plant multiple different types of plants into each Styrofoam raft.



Fill your bottom tank to an adequate level and turn on the pump. (You can adjust the flow of the pump using the switch on the side of the pump- so you can speed up the water circulation, or slow it down.)



Now you are ready to insert the fish. (Make sure that the fish and the water in the tanks are at about the same temperature before placing the fish into the water. You can shock them with a big temperature change.)



You now have an aquaponics system.