Episode 28 – About Entertainment and Preparedness Planning
Mar 30, 2010 Uncategorized
What happens if the power goes out?
Might have radio. Might have lights from candles or lanterns or back up generator. Might have a lot of work to do to get ready for the remainder of the challenge.
For a few hours this is okay.
For a few days, this is drudgery.
What will you, your family and your neighbours do without TV, video games and the Internet? Same thing you do every time the power goes out. Get to know each other over a game of cards or someone playing guitar. Entertainment is an oft neglected part of preparation planning. Don’t let it be.
Resources:
- The House of Cards – Get card game rules here.
- About.com – Board Games – Everything you’d want to know.
- Books Recommended by Other Authors – NPR
Episode 27 – About Growing Productive Trees
Mar 23, 2010 Uncategorized
With the exception of the areas of Canada where orchards are ubiquitous, you don’t see a lot of food production going on with trees and shrubs. Why not? Trees are hardy, easy to grow and tend, and keep producing year after year. Add to that the wonderful benefits that you find in any tree – aesthetics, shade, and pollution cleaning – and why wouldn’t you try to grow fruit trees?
Today I highlight some fruit trees you might not think of growing, but will do well in Canada’s harsher growing zones. You might be surprised at what you hear! Kiwi, Honeyberries, Currants….mmmm.
Check the notes for more information:
Episode 26 – About Solar Generators
Mar 11, 2010 Uncategorized
Electricity generators are literally life-savers. Most home generators are gas, propane or diesel powered though. These can be loud, costly to run and, in a real disaster, hard to fuel. If the electricity is down, how will the gas pump work? That’s where a solar-powered generator comes in. You can buy pre-made ones for about $2000 USD or more, but that’s just too easy. We’re survival types! We can do it! And, in building one ourselves we’ll also learn how to improve and fix it.
Today’s podcast covers some of the basics and talks about the parts I’ll be using to build mine: solar PV panels, a Pelican case, charge regulator, AGM (Absorbed Glass Matrix) batteries, DC/AC inverters and ballpark figures on what appliances draw and how that relates to your solar generator. All parts in, my solar generator will cost me about $1500 to build, but be able to power all the crucial electrical things in my house, during an outage. You can make a smaller one for less, using the same principles and a little research.
Episode 25 – Preparedness Talk from the Phillipines
Mar 2, 2010 Uncategorized
CanadaPrepared.com member Roughrider_Fan has been overseas for a little bit and decided to sit down and chat with his brothers-in-law. One of them is Frodo – another CanadaPrepared.com fella. Listen in as they talk about their adventures in getting prepared (or not so prepared) for life. These guys have good solid thinking caps and a wealth of information and experience to share. It’s a long one, yet you’ll feel like you just sat down at Timmie’s for coffee with the boys and learned some neat things. The only thing better would be to have been there.