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Nuggets

Couple of nuggets of information I’ve gathered that I’m passing on. Might be interesting, may not, depending on your interest.

Been pottering about today sorting out the house a bit more because it is raining and I can’t get outside to do what I need to do. So the inside is being sorted and my sheets are being sorted and filed so it isn’t a waste.

I’m planning to treat the wood on the chicken coop to protect it when things get a bit wetter. Makes me wonder how we will treat wood after an event. Now it’s £7 for a big tin but must make a note to find out how to treat wood properly. I have read somewhere that ranchers in the US treat wood so it last centuries.

My chickens are obviously slackers, they are now down to an egg a day from the two a day I got previously. Apparently that is what I should expect. I’ve shown them the pot but they seem unrepentant.

I’m always impressed with human innovation. Some of the US based sites have taken scrap items and turned them into useful prepper items, can ring pulls become hooks, a bike wheel becomes a bow, etc. Making something out of scrap is a skill that many people will pick up after and event but doing it now shows imagination.

For those that don’t know I bought 240 of the PressItIn tins for storage. They work really well. So far I’m storing fire making, water purification and medical kits in them. Next up I want to try boiled sweets and see what they are like in a few months. Boiled sweets usually go all sticky by then. I see the cans as a suppliment to ordinary air tight plastic buckets. The cans for handy items and items for the the back pack. The buckets for main storage.

I’m going to be buying nitrogen to purge out the oxygen in the containers which will make storage easier. I’ll then put tea, coffee, sugar and other like items in them as well. For my larger stores I’ll use the nitrogen to purge all my plastic containers.

At the moment I’m looking at several things to store in the cans. Perhaps some items for barter. As someone pointed out giving a can with a complete wash up kit in including a toothbrush, toothpast, soap, etc. is going to be a great item.

One thing I want to store long term are seeds. Currently I have a collection of seeds that are wrapped in foil containers. I understand that, as usual, moisture, temprature and light are key players. So drying them and storing in air tight containers may be a good solution. Keep them cool and dark and they could last for 20 years. My policy now is to buy seeds every year and store them in their packets in air tight containers. I think I can increase storage life, making some barter items by using nitrogen.

12 comments to Nuggets

  • stewart

    i use carbon dioxide(pub gas).you can buy it from all pub suppliers.for the tap and pipe go to a welding shop and ask for a co2 kit for a mig welder.about £7 for gas and about a tenner for the kit.

  • stewart

    i keep most of my seeds in a gassed plastic box in the back of my fridge

  • Great update, thanks
    Have you had any ideas with storing flour?

  • Kenneth Eames

    SD, Wood Preservatives contain chemicals, some of which are poisonous. I would use Linseed oil, preferably not boiled. The Pressittins are excellent and so far I’ve filled two with unmedicated pills. I will check them in two years time. I will fill several more when I can afford to buy a couple of thousand Acupuncture needles. As always, your article is excellent and contains many ideas to think about. Storing seeds are another item that I need to do and later this year I will be buying seed from Canada and the US. Herbals of course. Kenneth Eames.

  • Kenneth Eames

    Prepperleigh, Flour will not store well, you will do better to store wheat and grind it when needed. If you don’t have a grinder, you can bind three short lengths of metal tube together and place your wheat in a metal pot, not aluminium. Using the bound tubes, smash the wheat seeds into a powder,which has broken down into flour. Kenneth Eames.

  • jimmy

    regarding flour storage: last weekend we opened and used some flour we stored in 2009. looked, smelled, baked and tasted fine. no adverse effects after consumption. stored in a heavy duty zip close bag with the air squeezed out. We hadn’t meant to keep it that long, just got mixed up.

    not trying to step on anyone’s toes here. I’ve seen it say in lots of places that flour is no good to store. don’t understand it. We have found that rice, flour and sugar store for a very long time in simple zip close bags. reasonable care regarding moisture, temp, and light.

    All I can go by is our own experiences.

  • Northern Raider

    You can greatly extend the life of flour by freezing it for 72 hours in the freezer, this kills off the eggs of both large and small weavils.

    You would think that the bigger weavils would be the problem but no, its the small ones…….

    …… They are the lesser of two Weavils……….. 🙂

  • Kenneth Eames

    I have a friend who was a Master Baker and he told me that, at one time the firm he worked for brought in some flour that was ten years old. With it they baked bread as good as that made from recently milled flour. If kept in the right conditions flour will keep for many years. Kenneth Eames.

  • Prepper Leigh

    Many thanks for your advice one and all.
    All great ideas and I’ll be trying all methods.
    Have a great weekend and stay frosty!
    Leigh

  • Prepper Leigh

    Northern Raider Sorry!
    Your Weavil joke deserves recognition above all advice!
    Humour is the most important survival tool…

  • …….LESSER OF TWO WEAVILS – L.M.A.O……

  • Ysbryd

    The first point that you made about preserving timber Skean Dhude. A lot of my American friends use a combination of old motor oil with chimney soot to make a kind of bastard creosote. It’s an ecological disaster but it apparently works well. Another way is to dry the posts and then scorch the end of the post that goes in the ground, this is supposed to prevent it rotting. Scorching will also work on untreated timber above ground, don’t ask me how or why coz I don’t know.