The past few days have been busy.  PS#1 and PS#2 celebrated their birthdays.  PS#1 turned 23, and PS#2 turned 3.  We had their birthday dinner at Red Lobster, with dessert of Spiderman cupcakes with the worst blue frosting ever.  Lips and teeth were BLUE, and I still have stains on my hands after a day.  No telling what was in those cupcakes.

PH was able to purchase the rest of the materials to complete the rest of the roof (wood and tar paper - no tin yet).  The weather isn't cooperating and we have had rain for several days, and are expecting more (sigh).  The wind has been high, and the weather chilly, though not freezing.

PS#1 came over to help me clean out the wash house.  There was a lot of useless stuff in the loft.  I have a LOT of laundry to complete (the rain is not helping, as it is hard to hang the laundry out when it is raining), and to sort through old, torn, and too small clothing.  We also moved 20 cases of canning jars, along with my large pressure canner.  I kept the small one inside in case I want to can something, but for now gardening time is upon us, and full scale canning will not be for several months.  By removing the cases of jars from my pantry, it freed up some space.  I still need to organize more, and go through and make an inventory.  It is very frustrating to have such a small cabin, and not have sufficient storage space.  I am very antsy for the house to be completed, as I will have a LARGE pantry. 

I did purchase several items to stock my pantry, as it was depleted in some areas.  I was able to purchase:

25 lbs rice
25 lbs flour
25 lbs sugar
5 lbs of cornmeal (wish this would come in a larger size)
tea
baking soda
cocoa
yeast
5 cake mixes and frosting (for PD#1)
1 box of rings and lids for jars
1 can opener for my storage (I've only had one, and was worried about it every breaking)

Next week's purchases will consist of:

soap
shampoo
t.p.
dish soap
laundry soap ingredients (borax, washing soda, Zote)
razors
deodorant
toothpaste
dental floss
ibruprofen
bandaids
Vacuum Sealer
Meat Grinder

I was given several pounds worth of produce this week consisting of potatoes, tomatoes, apples, carrots, oranges, lettuce, cabbages, romaine lettuce and onions.  It was a huge blessing and saved my purchasing at the grocery store.

We did start our seeds this weekend.  So far, I have started 66 roma plants, 12 cucumber, 6 green beans.  I will finish up this week. We are using egg cartons to start the seeds in, and will then transplant to our raised beds.

We watched Alaska: The Last Frontier on the Discovery Channel today.  I really liked it, learned a lot, but we also do a lot of what they do already, even though it's on a lesser basis, because we don't need 11 cords of wood for the Winter. 

I hear thunder, so it sounds like our storm is on it's way.  I am glad that the kids brought in so much wood, so I won't have to worry about heating with wet wood.

Only one more week until we butcher the Freedom Rangers.  I am very excited!

We had two more baby goats born, with another expected by morning, and one more left to arrive.  We have a total of four boys and 1 girl.  The run down looks like this:

Bluebonnet (doe) - female, Daisy
Hera (doe) - male twins - Ares and Poseidon
Mariama - male, Simba
Artemis (last year's doe from Hera) - male, Apollo
Chamomile (last year's doe from Bluebonnet) - in labor now (her male twin Dandelion is a wether and is sticking by her side, every time she cries and is restless, he rubs against her and licks her face, it is so cute)
Violet (2 year old doe from Bluebonnet) - pregnant with first kid

Water, Water....

I checked the forecast last night.  It was supposed to be a high of 73 and SUNNY.  I had big plans to knock out a lot of laundry.  I hang my clothes out to dry, so when it's rainy, I can't do too much laundry.  Well, today dawned grey and RAINY!  I was so shocked.

A couple of days ago we received 3 inches of rain.  Actually, the past couple of months we have received a lot of rain in my opinion, about 8 inches.  The rain was late this year according to my farm journal, but it has been relentless.  I blame our building project.  It has been dry for about a year, but as soon as, we started building our house it started raining.  It does not bode well for the house, since it is not dried in yet.  I'll give it another month and I expect it to be, with the grace of God.

Anyway, the other day when we received 3 inches of rain, I explained to the kids with the planned square footage of the roof on the new house, we could have collected 2000 gallons off the house roof alone.  Additional water could have been collected off the barn.  It is on "the list" to have a rain water catchment system in place to help water the garden and animals during the summer months.

I am never sure if the kids are really listening to me, but they came in to tell me this afternoon, that they collected five gallons of water from the barn roof.  They had lined up all sorts of containers and then consolidated the water into the 5 gallon igloo water container.  They were able to fill up the chicken waterer with the rain they collected.  They were very excited.  I guess they were listening after all!

Another Sick Pig, More Goat Babies and Such

Went out this morning to feed our ZOO and Charlotte (one of our pigs) was obviously sick.  Tell tale signs:  #1 most important symptom is NOT EATING.  If a pig refuses food you KNOW something is wrong.  She was standing against the side of the barn, leaning on it.  She was kind of wobbly, like she was going to pass out.  The other two were eating away.  #2 sign - droopy head and droopy tail.  Overall "I don't feel good look".  I came back inside to get 2ccs of penicillin to give her an injection.  She wasn't so sick that she didn't struggle with that!  The first attempt the syringe and needle came apart, with the needle still in her backside.  I had to catch her to get it out, and go back and get another 2ccs.  This time I had PD#1 help me.  We grabbed her back legs, and she SQUEALED like we were butchering her alive.  I managed to give her the injection.


I finally remembered to give all the animals DE (diatomaceous earth) this morning.  I haven't noticed any signs of parasitical infection, but I gave some to each, and will leave it out free choice for the goats to "snack on".  I need to order a large bag so that I can dose the horses.  (If you decide to use DE, please use FOOD GRADE.)

**More later, I have to go into town, unfortunately.

**************************
Okay, I am back.  We had to run pick up eggs from a friend.  She is selling them for $2 a dozen, which is a good price.  I cannot wait until our hens start laying.  We only get one every other day from 14 hens.  They are just now old enough to lay, so we will have to wait for more daylight hours.  At our other house we had a light in the coop in the Winter, but here we don't have electricity at the barn, too expensive to run, so we are without eggs.  Then a trip to the feed store to pick up a saddle cover they had ordered for us, then dropping PD#1 off at her friend's for their birthday party.  Her friends are twins ;-)

Yesterday was a good day, we spent the afternoon at the barn cleaning it out, the coop too and I put the chicken manure and old hay in a pile in the garden.  I'll work on it this weekend getting it ready to plant in a few weeks.

We worked with the horses, and PD#1 cleaned their hooves.  She is interested in attending farrier school, so she works with the horses, as much as possible, to get the experience.  She may go this summer, if not, then next.  It is away from home, so her dad or I will have to attend the 2 week session with her to get her certification to clean and trim hooves as part of her business.  We have three horses.  One is a rescue and is difficult, the other two we work with, and PD#1 alternates riding.  We are working on getting them in shape to be transportation locally.  A small general store is about 1 mile away in a town of about 80, and the larger town of 4,000 is about 6 miles away.  Our closest MAJOR city is about 50 miles away, so way too far for the horse.  (We only go into the major city once a week for church.)  I'd love to have a family buggy or wagon to take into town for shopping, but that will have to wait until after the house is finished.

Today we arrived home to find that another doe, Hera, had two little boys.  I named them Poseidon and Ares.  (I keep the names of the goats in a "family" related so I know who belongs to who.  They are all boys so will more than likely be going in the freezer.  Here are a few pictures:

Poseidon (he was next to the water)

Ares

Hera and her boys

Poseidon

My seeds came in, yeah!

We'll be starting out seeds in egg cartons, before planting in the garden.  We will be planting, hopefully, 75 tomato plants this year.  We only planted 30 last year, and just wasn't enough, though I was overflowing with Romas.  We will also be planting cucumbers, onions, green beans, jalapenos, Mesculun, Corn, green peppers, watermelon ( 2 kinds), cantelope, cilantro, a few other herbs, pumpkin and squash (later in the year).

PD#2 - Waiting for Daddy

The view down the driveway, you can barely see the top of the house we are building

PS#2 helping daddy fix the coop door

Making Dog Food

This isn't something I ever expected to do, but I've read about it a couple of places, and thought I'd try it...someday.  Well, I was cleaning out my freezer (the one in the fridge) and wedged in the back behind bags of flour and cornmeal was a package of 2 pork loins that were TWO YEARS OLD.  I thought they would be okay for us to eat, they weren't freezer burned at all, but PH suggested I give it to the dogs.  After reading online about making dog food, I used what I had on hand.  I boiled the pork loins on low for a couple of hours, then added 1 lb of white rice, and a half bag of carrots that were starting to go soft.  Cooked it on low for another couple of hours, turned off the heat, and let it cool.  I then put it all in the food processor, took two batches to get it done.  I was then able to put it in canning jars.  It made 1 quart and 4 pints.  I used the jars I had washed today, so I didn't have to make too much noise in the pantry (it was already after 10 p.m. here). When we butcher the Freedom Ranger chicks in a couple of weeks, I plan to keep all the organs and make more dog food, and will pressure can it in pint jars for storage, so when I am out of store bought food, I'll have something on hand.  Here is the final product:

Homemade dog food

It looks and smells like tuna fish to me.  The reason I was prompted to do this, is that we were out of dog food.  Pet food is one area I don't stock up on.  I have limited funds and my family is more important to me than my pets.  Currently, we have five dogs (A Rott, Pyr, cow dog, rat terrier and a chihuahua).  They all serve a function.  The Rottweiler is a trained security dog and professional chicken killer (the last not something we advocate).  The Pyr, our livestock guardian dog, the cow dog, herds the goats where we want them to go, and sometimes where we don't.  The terrier is good at killing gophers and rats, and the chihuahua is our security alarm.  Yaps at anything, makes you get up and look to see what is going on.

We also have four cats (down 2 this week, the coyotoes are relentless).  With the exception of Lily, our house Diva, they hunt primarily for themselves, keeping the barn and area free of rodents.  I do give them a little cat food, but....if TMHTF I'd stop feeding them in a heart beat.  The hold outs would be the dogs.  Realistically, I could probably feed two dogs on scraps, the others would have to go.  I'm not the type to let one starve, so in an emergency situation, we would have to put them down, which is sad, but those are the hard choices I'd have to make in a rough world.

The livestock pretty much fends for themselves.  We do supplement with hay in the winter (we get this free), if the grass has stopped growing.  So far, we have been blessed with rain this winter, then warm days so there is grazing for everyone.  We do put out a flake of hay for each horse and the calf in the evening.  The goats don't care for the hay often.  The pigs graze, and get all of our vegetable scraps, and the chickens free range for what they can find.  They are pretty fat and sassy, so I think they are getting enough.  The chickens did get a special treat tonight.  PH was leveling the "cabin" (AKA shipping container) and found these HUGE grub worms eating away at the large wooden beams he had used previously to level the place.  The chickens were beside themselves fighting over them. It was pretty gross!  Oh, we do also gather wild melons that grow along the road sides here.  The past few years, I've gotten a couple of rubber maid totes for the goats, but this year we took the small tractor and wagon and filled it up, and stored them in the barn.  Each night we cut open several and toss into the pigs.  They really LOVE them, and it's free food.

Grub worms and PH finger

 I made bread for last night's spaghetti meal, it was supposed to be a normal french bread round, but I left it a little too long in the heat of the wood stove, and it blew up HUGE, filling the entire pan.  We only ate 1/4 of it last night.  

Huge French Bread Loaf

We had SEVERE storms last night.  A small tornado was reported to have touched down in the small town 5 miles north of us, and ripped off several roofs and destroyed carports.  Also, the closest major city of San Antonio had a tornado touch down on the West Side and caused damage.  I am thankful the Lord spared us, we had started praying when the storm hit for the Lord to put a hedge of protection around our homestead, and He did!  We received a hair under 3 inches of rain (according to the rain gauge), and while I worry about the house construction, I am thankful the pond was filled.  The dry creek bed on our property funnels the rain that drains from the rest of the property into the pond.  I had noticed yesterday, it was quite low, and the horses had been walking into the pond to eat the cat tails.  Now, it's up quite a bit, though not overflowing.

It was overcast and chilly this afternoon when PH arrived home from work.  PS#2 feels it is his duty to help daddy out every day, even if daddy doesn't need help.  They were out for quite a bit when PH opened the door and placed PS#2 in the door.  He was really cold looking.  In no time I had him stripped and in nice warm fleece pajama bottoms, wrapped in a small afghan watching Scooby Doo.  I had water already on the wood stove hot, so he had hot cocoa and chocolate chip cookies.  He was very happy to be warm ;-)

PS#2 and his dirty little face enjoying cookies and cocoa by the fire

It's a boy!

Mariama and her new baby boy

Mariama is my sole milk goat.  Her mother was Saanen and her father a Nubian.  She looks exactly like her mother (except Dolly was dehorned).  PH doesn't like dehorning the goats, he wants them to be able to defend themselves against the dogs/coyotes, etc.  They are effective at deterring our dogs and pigs.  PH was disappointed the baby was a boy.  We want girls so we can keep breeding them, as we need a certain number to keep our agricultural tax exemption.  But to me a boy means FOOD!  The last time Mariama had twin boys.  We butchered one, and sold the other to a friend.  I am thinking food for the freezer in 6 months time. 

After this picture was taken, PH added additional tin to the bottom of the barn.  He thought it'd be good to have air flow through there in the summer, but using it for the new kids in the Winter and when it's raining, well we need to keep the wind off the little ones.  I was thinking of asking him to do it when he arrived home, but he saw the need without me asking.  I am so thankful!

I reminded PH that in the Winter the wind comes from the North (which is behind the tin wall) and in the Summer it blows from the SE, and the open side faces South.  So, it shouldn't be a problem.

Here are a few random pictures:

Venison and Brocoli

Venison burgers

Homemade hamburger buns

Mariama, shortly after giving birth - in the RAIN

A plane flying over head

Emergency Preparedness Class for Kids

I will be teaching an Emergency Prep class at our home school co-op this semester. Here is my basic lesson plan: 

Emergency Preparedness 101 Class Description

We will learn the basics of being prepared for an emergency (wild fire, storms, accidents and more) away from home and at home. 

Discuss the three basic necessities: Food - what kind, how to store, how to prepare; Water - sources, how much and how best to store; Shelter - various types (from tent, rv and home).  Last class session will be to prepare a "Grab 'N Go" bag.  Items needed for this class:  a sturdy bag (duffel or backpack with working closure (velcro or zipper).  The bag does NOT have to be new, just sturdy and in working order.

Resources:

The West Ladies DVD - Canning
FEMA Website
Backwoods Home Magazine
http://www.ready.gov/kids
http://www.equipped.com/kidprimr.htm

Lesson 1: 

Proverbs 31:10-

Define emergency
Define preparedness

To start build an emergency kit and a family communications plan (this is who calls who, where to meet)
A disaster supplies kit is simply a collection of basic items your household may need in the event of an emergency.

Try to assemble your kit well in advance of an emergency. You may have to evacuate at a moment’s notice and take essentials with you. You will probably not have time to search for the supplies you need or shop for them.  You may need to survive on your own after an emergency.  This means having your own food, water and other supplies in sufficient quantity to last for at least 72 hours. Local officials and relief workers
will be on the scene after a disaster but they cannot reach everyone immediately. You could get help in hours or it might take days.


DO NOT RELY ON THE GOVERNMENT, LEARN TO RELY ON YOUR PARENTS AND YOURSELF.

http://www.ready.gov/document/family-supply-list

(BRING IN RED NOTEBOOK - I KEEP ALL DOCUMENTS IN ONE LARGE RED THREE RING NOTEBOOK SO I CAN GRAB AND GO)

Additionally, basic services such as electricity, gas, water, sewage treatment and telephones may be cut off for days or even a week, or longer. Your supplies kit should contain items to help you manage during these outages, or if sheltering at home have other ways on hand to get by.  Electricity is a luxury not a necessity.  You can live without it.  If your family has a generator, encourage your parents to keep it in good working
order, cleaned, maintained and stored to prevent corrosion or harm.  Fuel for the generator will also need to be stored for the generator.  Talk to your parents about how to do this safely (out of the weather, away from flame, fuel stabilizers)

FEMA website:

The National Incident Management System (NIMS) defines preparedness as "a continuous cycle of planning, organizing, training, equipping, exercising, evaluating, and taking corrective action in an effort to ensure effective coordination during incident response.  What types of emergencies should we be prepared for?  Ask student to list several they are aware of, and discuss others missed.  (natural disasters/weather, pandemic, terroist, nuclear, martial law, economic collapse, governmental issues)

- In our area we have had wild fires, train derailments, chemical spills, flooding, extreme drought/heat
- How do we handle each of these?  In most cases, listening the local authorities that call for evacuation is best, this will be different for each family, and how our parents want to handle it.  Children may be taken to a safe place, and the parents may stay to prevent home from burning by making fire breaks, clearing brush away from the house, watering things down, etc.  Check with your parents on their plan in the event of a wild fire.  In the event of chemical spills it's best to get out of the area, if you are stuck at home, it is best to turn off AC/heat, close windows, and cover with plastic and duct table to keep toxic fumes to a minumum.  While you may be worried about pets, if you can't find them, your safety comes first.  Don't go hunting for pets or livestock.  Most animals use their God given instincts to escape disasters, and will often run away and hide.

What does it means to be prepared?  Ready for anything.  The government suggests have from 3-7 days worth of food and water on hand, plus adequate shelter.  Sometimes they will ask for evacuation, other times it is better to stay home and shelter in place.  Another term for this is to "bug in", as opposed to "bug out" which means to leave.  In this class, we'll discuss the Rule of Three.  Meaning always have at least three ways of doing something.

Plan for the risks in your area.  We will be working on tailoring a plan for your family's own particular needs (disabled, city, country, etc.) Get your parents involved.

Homework:  Look at a map of your area and locate three ways to get home.  Think outside the box, sometimes roads are not the best way.  Cross country, walking or cycling may be a better/safer way then driving, but look for at least three or, as many as, you can find.

List three emergenices you want to make sure your family is prepared for.. The three I emphasize are:

1) Severe storms (tornadoes)
2) Wild fire
3) Economic collapse/governmental disarray (martial law).. The three I emphasize are:

1) Severe storms (tornadoes)
2) Wild fire
3) Economic collapse/governmental disarray (martial law)

http://www.ready.gov/kids
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/library/color.pdf

Lesson 2:  FOOD STORAGE

READ Patrice Lewis Intro on Food (www.rural-revolution.com) - her article is on the Backwoods Home website

We are going to operate on the presumption that we are "sheltering in place".  Who remembers what this term means? "General" recommendations are 3 days to 1 week worth of food, this is basic, opt for larger amounts

Main Rule of thumb is:  Store what you eat, eat what you store.  Make it balanced and nutritious, include comfort food/fun food to alleviate food fatigue and stress

Types of food I have:

store  bought canned goods
store bought grains, flours, basic staples
LDS
meat animals (chickens, coats, calf)
garden
home canned foods
dehydrated

3 ways to store food without electricity
1) dehydration
2) commercially canned
3) smoked
4) home canning
5) more?

**Try and steer away from keeping primary food sources stored in refrigerator/freezer)

3 ways to provide food in an emergency
1) garden
2) own meat animals
3) hunting (not a good long term solution, as others will be using too, and game will be depleted)
4) stock own tank with fish
5) store food (start now)

Bring and show examples of different types of food to store/prepare

1) LDS cans
2) home canned (canning supplies)
3) dehydrated (bring dehydrator)
4) garden seeds (can or packages)

http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/lewis133.html
Baker Creek Seed catalog
http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles/clay55.html (has list of year supply of food for a family of 3)

Provide list of basics to have on hand (Backwoods Home prep book)

Example:
bread flour
corn meal
baking soda
cream of tartar
salt
sugars (white, brown, honey, etc.)
oils/shortening/lard
rice
beans
oats, etc.,

Homework: 
1) Discuss with parents on starting to prepare and store food and supplies for emergencies
2) Take an inventory of your home food pantry or freezer and make a list of TEN basic items needed for your pantry.
3) Organize at least one cabinet in your home pantry or freezer (get permission first).  Have a parent initial your basic food list and bring to class.
4) Read Patrice Lewis article online (at home or library) - I'll send link to parents, but please write it down as well.  If you can't get to a computer, please let me know.

Continue Watch Canning DVD (if time)

Lesson 3: Bring water filter, water jug, washer, solar shower)

Water (sources, amounts, purification, bathing, toilet, laundry - bring rapid washer)

Bring stuff to make a bucket toilet

procure and start filling 2 quart size soda bottles with water, rotate out every 6 months to keep fresh

water filter, Berkey Filter, bleach

Homework:  Draw a diagram of your home and outbuildings and plan a water catchment system for an emergency water source
           Find, locate and list three alternate water sources in your area, OTHER than water company delivery, share with class next week
           With parent's permission store 1 quart of water for each person in your family (you can use old soda or water bottles, clean bottles really well, and put 5 drops of bleach in each 2 quart container before storage


 *********************************************************************************************
         
Lesson 4:  Shelter  (inclues heat, light, sanitation, entertainment and security)
nclude games, generator, inverters, batteries, lighting and more)

3 different types of shelter
1) home
2) RV/Pop Up
3) Tent
4) Tarp
5)

3 ways to heat home - How do you heat your home? What would you do if the power was out? Cold vs. Heat
1) wood stove
2) fireplace (not efficient)
3) kerosene heater
4) propane heater
5) ??

3 ways to light home
1) candles
2) oil lamp
3) LED lamps (batteries/solar chargers)
4) Solar panels (see Harbor Freight, Ace or Lowe's for inexpensive solar lights)
5) generator (don't forget storage of fuel)

3 ways to provide sanitation:
1) bathng (tubs, outdoor shower, pond, solar shower)
2) toilet (own septic system, out house, camp toilet, compost toilet)
3) dish washing (kitchen sink, dish pans, paper plates, etc.,)

3 ways to provide security
1) be aware, guard duty
2) weapons (guns, knives, etc.)
3) lock doors/windows, clear brush from windows, fencing, dogs

Bring tarp, bungees, tent?
Inverter, lamp, solar light
Battery Charger
Mr. Buddy Heater
Games/Cards/Books

Homework:  Evaluate each area above and find one area of improvement and report on it

1) Heat or Cooling
2) Light
3) Sanitation (build outdoor shower?)


Lesson 5:  Safety and Protection (OPSEC, weapons, awareness), Important Documents

Talk to your parents about their safety precautions.  There may be some things they don't want discussed about your personal possessions outside of your home.  We call this OPSEC or Operational Security.  Gather important documents and keep centrally located. 


Homework:  Talk to parents FIRST and get their okay
1) Make copy of your brith certificate
2) Make copy of your health insurance card and doctor's name, number, address
3) Make copy of your Emergency contact information


Lesson 6:  Gardening

Watch West Ladies DVD on Gardening
Talk about what grows best in our area
Review Growing Zone (last freeze, first freeze, length of season)

Homework: 

1)Review the outlay of your property, discuss with parents the best location for a possible garden (this can be a real location
or just a plan)

2) Make a list of 10 types of vegetables, herbs, etc., that your family normally eats and that you would like to grow

3) Gather as many packets of seeds that you can find, inexpensively.  Don't worry about non-gmo, or hybrid at this time, the
importance is to start your own "seed bank".  Starting is the KEY.



Lesson 7: Preparing in your Community, Discuss using Rubber Maid Tote and larger preps for vehicle, Discuss items for Grab 'N Go Bag


What avenues are in our community for emergencies?
Where are our local shelters? Do we have any?
Do we have a food pantry in our town/city?
What can your family do to help?

Homework:

1) Gather items from list of needed items for Grab N Go bag, bring to next class.  DON'T FORGET WE WILL BE COMPILING OUR BAGS, and
making sure we have all needed items.



Lesson 8:  Compile items for Grab 'N Go Bag and complete packing bag

2 bottles of water
3 granola bars
3 small cans of spaghetti o's, ravioli, etc.
3 packs of dried fruit
3 candy bars
3 bags of chips
fork
flashlight
whistle
reading book
Bible
pad/pen
cards
3 pairs of sock
1 pair of underwear
2 clean shirts
travel size bar of soap, shampoo, kleenex, toothbrush, toothpaste

**Meal/snack made with food storage items for final class


A Few Survival/Preparedness books for Kids

My Side of the Mountain
Johnny Tremain
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
U.S. Army First Aid Manual

Update on "What I've done to prep this week"

This is my entry on another blog when the blog author asked the question of what everyone has done this week to prepare:

1) Ordered additional seed for our seed bank, and our garden from Baker Creek Seed
2) Worked on gun safety, loading and target practice with family
3) Ordered 2 DVDs (one Stargate Season 7 – okay it’s a stress relief, and a DVD “Homestead Blessings: The Art of Soapmaking”
4) Prepared garden
5) Purchased one item from each category on Master List
6) Made bucket toilet, been having everyone use it, then showing kids how to deal with human waste.

That's about it....what have you done lately to prepare?