I'm a prepper in Central Texas, three years ago we had a "snowmageddon". Power was lost throughout most of the state. What most people don't realize is that we are addicted to electricity. If you don't have water (even public supplies will runout in a day or two) you can't flush your toilets, can't brush your teeth, can't wash your underwear or sox, can't turn on a light at night, can't.... you get the idea. I wonder how many people forgot about the water in their water heaters. If you have a well and the power goes out, fill every container you can but don't flush the toilet (you don't need to waste clean water for that) use "dirty" water for that. Start studying for you ham license. I'm scheduled to take the Technician test and if I pass, the General test in January.
You are absolutely correct. We are so dependent on electricity. If the grid ever goes down society will in a lot of trouble. After the storm I told Ben in one night we got knocked back to the 1850’s. It was an eye opener for sure. All the neighbors were out talking with each other and visiting. After the power came back on everyone went back inside. It is a bit sad. All good advice about the water. Thank you for sharing. Good luck getting your license! 😊🙏
I remember that day. We left a friends house near Austin and missed it by a few hours. While in Louisiana my friend sent me a picture of his place full of snow! A lesson for everyone.
I agree that we are too dependent on electricity for just about everything. I've been watching as many videos of preppers who went through the disaster and the one thing that struck me is that even preppers aren't really prepared beyond the time when they run out of gas. I include myself to some degree, but there are very few doomsday preppers. My parents grew up without electricity or central heat, but they knew how to stay warm and how to preserve their food stores for the winter, but they were on farms. For them even the worst blizzard (near the Mason-Dixon line) was just a mild inconvenience. It makes me glad that they taught me what they knew.
@uthyrgreywick5702 great points. Once the gas goes out so does the power. Solar is great but the batteries do wear out eventually as well. You are fortunate to have learned from your parents. It is crazy to think how many people live in the city and not on a farm. If a Carrington type of event happens we are all in serious trouble.
The concept of solar power after a storm is a problem for most people. Outside of maybe FL and AZ, most people won't have sun for a day or two after. I'm sorry you guys had to go thru all that. Thank you for sharing and for taking us along on your journey to prep better. I appreciate you. I suggest home canned beef stew. Just heat and serve (over a campfile if you need). Healthy, hearty, comforting and filling. For me, big improvements came when I stopped thinking about "stuff" and started thinking about "systems."
I'm in the snow belt area of NY - I have solar at my place that works just fine up here, even in winter on short cloudy days. I recommend everyone have at least one of those small 5W solar panels you plug into your cigarrette lighter and keep on the dash of your vehicle to always keep your car battery charged along with a small 500W inverter. About $50 to $60 total for both. That way you can always have some power from your car battery. The other benefit for doing this, it greatly extends the life of your battery. I can go a good 10 to 12 years without having to replace a car battery.
Amateur radio is definitely the way to go for communication. Make sure you understand the propagation and the get some good antennas - I know that won't be first on your list - but once you understand that you can put up the antenna and get out of the "holler" after the storm is over.Hope you have a good Thanksgiving.
Thank you! I would imagine a good antenna is critical. Appreciate the tip. We are just getting into the comms side of this. Hope you have a great Thanksgiving as well. God bless.
There are tons of videos showing how to build one out of cinder blocks. I made one using 3 blocks and was very surprised how quick and easy it was. @@RenewedHomestead
Consider a manual well pump. Simple Pump and Bison are good brands. Will cost a few thousand dollars, but I think it's a good investment. Always good to reevaluate preps after storms no matter the season. God Bless!
Up here in ND it's all about heat I have gasoline, propane, kerosene, wood, etc. Preparation is the key to success I hope there are many more like you and Billy that saw this disaster as a test to shore up your preps LOL when we lost power here last winter I was happy to have the ability to make my coffee
Hi friend! Up in ND it is definitely about heat. We considered ND but worried about water, and we have never been on that kind of cold on a consistent basis. We liked a lot about it though. Good people. 😊 Coffee is such a comfort. It is the little things. 😂 God bless! 🙏
It's cold up there I've worked oilfields in those areas and every thing was heat traced - I'm in south Louisiana and only seen it get down to 0° twice in my life time - I do see it get down to 15° often enough - Presently it 38° but that's cold enough for me - I live in a rural area but our grid has a 0% tolerance for ice, sleet or snow - Any of those three can work havoc on our grid power and knock it out for weeks at a time - I've seen that happen often enough -
You guys did great! And it's really smart of you two to look at any weak areas in your preps. I'm really glad you shared all of this for the rest of us that didn't go through that awful storm. We use a Bison hand pump on our well, water is pretty shallow here so the pump was about $500 ,of course that was over ten years ago. We also have a second well out back with a pitcher pump on it. We store about 100 gallons of gas and keep a 1000 gallon propane tank full. Gas stoves are a must. I talked with an Amish guy I know about stoves a while back and he told me about a gas stove with a constant pilot light, like was used when I was a kid. The Amish have converted several types of basic gas ovens over to a constant pilot with a 12 volt battery to make the spark. Something to think about. We are not great at comms either but do have a plan in place with the kids if the worst happens. Btw. You have more snow than we do 😊. God Bless you both
Hi friend. Thank you for those kind words. We will be looking into that Amish tool. I have never heard of that. Glad you have a plan to get in touch with the kids. That is so important. We looked into a hand pump but our well is pretty deep, so not sure if it would work. We want to see if there is one that can go deep though. That would be very helpful. God’s blessings. 🙏😊
Very informative video, don't forget carrier pigeons as another backup for COMS. LOL Good to see that you are using this as a learning experience, we all need to take lessons from what happened. God Bless from TN.
When we had a tornado go past, while living in Michigan, that took out the power for a week; I got all our water out of the pond with a bucket. Only had 5 acres and chickens, sheep and rabbits. We pretty much carried on as normal. I did NOT have multiple freezers full of meat. I wasn't a 'prepper' back then.
Hi Heather! That is wonderful that you are able to keep going as normal. We are so dependent on electricity now. We are in real trouble as a society if the grid goes down.
@@RenewedHomestead Hey Denise! I've got solar panels for when we build (if that ever happens) and we could connect those up here, if we had to. Though I DO need to get cables..
Solar is a great option for off grid. If it wasn’t so expensive we would get some. It is not so good for the environment but great if the grid goes down.
EMERGENCY Request## please send Buddy Heaters, hoses, adapters asap to Pastor Tim Clark, Bethel Wesleyan Church, 909 Tracy Grove Rd, Flat Rock, NC. 28731. Their volunteer Bud takes them to distribution points in the mountains. LOTS of PEOPLE in TENTs. Thank you!
Hi UnicornPurple. We had a lot of supplies up here. Is there a contact there (Bud’s contact) we can try to see if we can get some supplies sent to? You can email us at RenewedHomestead@gmail.com
You can be a prepper, then a raging river removes all your hard prepping! I just stumbled on y'all and subscribed. He sounds as if he's done radio at some point! Good video.
Starlink Backup doesn't have to be expensive: I bought the Starlink set up on sale for $299, chose the limited "Roam" subscription package for $50 per month, and then paused it. If the communications go out where I live, I'll just drag my Starlink dish out of the closet and unpause my subscripton and have internet and wi-fi calling in a matter of minutes
You have to have a way to contact Starlink to "unpause" your service so make sure you have a personal solar battery bank charged at all times so you can charge your phone and call out. And with cells tower down you may not be able to get connected until towers are repaired. Ham radio is great if you can put in the time and money for equipment.
You have to have a way to contact Starlink to "unpause" your service so make sure you have a personal solar battery bank charged at all times so you can charge your phone and call out. And with cells tower down you may not be able to get connected until towers are repaired. Ham radio is great if you can put in the time and money for equipment.
Hope you made it to the rocket mass heater gig especially if it was Uncle Mud because he is one of the best. We've been burning a rocket mass heaters since 2015 in northern Minnesota and we have no furnace (though we do use electrical heaters in the spaces that we occupy as needed) and have been fine.
Hi Jami, unfortunately, the ice on the roads kept us away. We are hoping to be able to go when he has another class. We are very interested in the stove. Thanks for sharing your experience. If it is keeping you warm on MN we should have no problem here! God bless.
Reminds me of here... An old saying goes: If you don't know where it is, you don't have it... We're learning here too, if you have the thought, get 'er done. 💪👏👍
just a thought came to mind. my friend used to practice drumming sessions. I just remembered her canyon drum. the sound could be heard from long distances. it wouldn't hurt to have a drum and code for communications. ceremony drums are beautiful. even police whistles can be heard at a distance. So glad you are ok and have Billy and Michelle nearby. I want to learn basic electrical skills. I saw a Helene video where a friend rig up a generator directly to a well pump to water livestock. I made it a mission years ago to collect livestock tanks and barrels to store water and water heaters. When TX got hit with the freeze, I saw a genius way to thaw out a metal livestock tank. They had no power and the tank was far out in a pasture. They took a t-post layed it across the top of the tank with a metal bucket hanging from it. the bucket was full of burning charcoal briquets. As it set on top of the ice it melted the ice and thawed out the tank so the cattle could drink. I got Gallagher solar fence charger after watching Greg Judy recommend them. Easy to fix, great quality, powerful and long lasting battery. I also got solar pendant lights by NIORSUN. Boy are they handy! I use them in the house and outside. quick to move and just hang wherever you need them. I have the kind with 2 lights connected to the solar panel. They have 16' wires so are easy to adapt. God bless you both. Iow tonight 16, Meh!
Hey SG! That is a great idea for the water for the livestock. Humans always impress me by their ingenuity. We could use more of that in society. Electrical skills are so important. We have learned a lot but there is still so much we can learn. The pendant lights are genius. I was glad to have the solar lights while the power was down. I have heard the Gallagher is a good solar charger. Greg Judy knows what he is talking about. Have a blessed day friend.
@@RenewedHomestead there's a man on YT that fixes fence chargers and does reviews. he said all were hard to fix, except the Gallaghers. I still have my first dead charger waiting for me to magical fix it, maybe. I got a fence tester that gives the joule levels. My Gallagher is still my top performer. I want a few more.
I'm getting my Ham license too. Although the 400 question bank is fairly easy to learn, it teaches you just about nothing you need to know about using a radio. Hopefully you have folks around who can help you learn what you need to know. Then, like everything else in your preps, use it on a regular basis. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
I have my license. The material is a bit tough to learn particularly the frequncy stuff- mostly wave lengths and knowing the bands. But there's lots of YT videos that take you through the HAM radio course you need to pass the exam. That said, anyone can listen on HAM. You just can't transmit on HAM without a license, except if it's an emergency. If you're in an e,ergency you can talk on HAM. The Baofeng UV-5R is a good, very inexpensive hand held HAM radio to have.
I think using more of the freeze dryer is a good idea. With all that meat in the freezer, you're already halfway there! Do extremes in storage temperature affect the quality once it's freeze-dried? I guess you could keep it in the root cellar to keep it at a relatively stable temperature.
Hi Randy, we hope to keep a lot of it in the cellar once we get it open, but standard temps are just fine for Freeze Dried foods. As long as moisture doesn’t get to it then temps shouldn’t matter too much. Does that make sense? Thanks friend!
Yes, your own radio transceivers is the only way to go. Do not count on any communications systems that depends on someone else's equipment, ie cell towers, satellites, internet. Your own radios is all you can depend on whether it's HAM, FRS, GMRS, CB, LoRA. You are communicating over the air via radio waves you make yourself with your own device(s). All can be powered by a 12v battery and a small solar panel can recharge the battery. Much cheaper too than Sat Phones, Starlinks or other over priced nonsense that has a service charge with it.
You did not fail in communicating. The storm thrusted you back to a time before the telegraph. Back to a time when messages took days, weeks or months. You chose to live a simpler life. With that comes risk. With that comes more simple ways. Those of today’s world of instant gratification need to realize the two worlds are different and thrive in their own way. There is now ideal in between. Set up prior signals. Know / communicate prior to a disaster. Love ones or friends should know your habit / plan to signal after a disaster. You indeed communicated with your love one, in the time your situation allowed.
Thank you for those kind words JF. We said we went back to the 1850’s overnight. We felt horrible we couldn’t reach anyone and check on them or to let anyone know we were OK. We love this life and wouldn’t trade it. Hope you are well.
I missed my first snow of the season while in Canada. It was all melted when I returned. We had a storm in Canada that shut down the ferries so we had to sacrifice so terribly that we had to spend an extra day with our grandchildren. Poor little ole us. Of course, you can communicate in emergencies. I was told, all you need is a smokey fire and a blanket. Are you tired of this smart mouth yet? The content of this video is evidence why you did survive in spite of the weather catastrophe. You know how to review failure and learn from it. Have fun at the end of month get together.
Hi friend. That is wonderful you were able to spend an extra day with your grandchildren. I am sure you endured the hardship well. 😂 Or a flag to wave around. 😂
Wife looks a little cold right now not hot😂 my biggest issue is food storage. Trying to figure out way to retrofit cellar for storage. “Survival HT” you tuber has great video on rocket stove. Making one so can get proficient with it. Healthy protein packed bars are great idea to.
😂 Wife was cold. 😂 Thank you Mandy. We wanted to make the class on making rocket stoves but the ice kept us away yesterday. We will definitely check out that video. Food storage is a big deal. We need to get our root cellar open so we can start storing our food. 😂
This is interesting watching all these different peepers say they weren't prepared - I'm 69 and live in the rural south - I've rode out I guess 20 hurricanes in my life time and some ice storms - Phone service is always first to go after storms hit along with power - I worked in the offshore oilfields for yrs and rode some storms in the gulf of Mexico and blizzards In high remote mountain oilfields - blizzards in high country shut crews in for months - Down here I've seen power knocked out for up to 9 months lol - After Katrina it was a long while till Walmart opened and they were only open 8 hrs a day for a while and we're not open 7 days a week - were I'm at if needed we use single side band CB radios to communicate with others more than 5 miles away - Also in this parish just about every one owns a chainsaw - we clear the roads our selves of trees and clear right of ways so REA can restring lines faster - there is 7 miles of wire per customer - when it's hot most will just run there generator about 3 hrs to run a window AC to cool a room enough to sleep and charge freezers or water pump accumulators - After hurricanes the trucks that fill propane bulk tanks will not run - also they won't fuel bulk diesel and gasoline tanks that many have - Most stand by generators burn from 35 gallons to 50 gallons of propane a day - I only have 600 gallons of propane on hand that won't last long - We just use small gens after storms a few hours a night - kids will read books at night by Kerosene lamps after storms - Many have fire places and wood heaters for when ice storms hit - If I want to talk to a neighbor at a distance just use the CB radio - Most of us that are older are acclimated to hurricanes and ice storms so they hit it's just another day were I live - We keep a lot of dried good to use during those times - that can be apples, pairs, mixed dehydrated vegetables, dehydrated ground to a powder beef, chicken, cooked eggs ect - I'll make a gallon pot of food daily for my dogs and I after storms - I always have a bunch of dogs - dog food is imposable to get after bad storms - My dogs eat about a gallon of dried dog food a day - it only takes a quart of dried goods to make a gallon of cooked food - My dogs will just eat what ever I through together after a bad storm - it can be a while till dog food is available after storms - I always have a good large stove top pressure cooker to use after hurricanes - instant pots use to much gasoline or diesel fuel in generators to use for cooking - With stove top pressure cookers you burn 1/2 as much propane to cook meals as you do with cooking with regular pots - Those who cross the ocean on sail boats have limited fuel on board and use pressure cookers for that reason - Were I live REA was still string power lines up till 1960 - there was no phone service water till poles were raised - People used CB radios out here to communicate - Many had 32 volt DC power in there homes - the home had a 32 volt bank of cells or a battery that the house ran on - The fridges, fans, lights, water pump ran off the house battery's - they ran a generator all day once a week to charge the house battery's - then the house ran off the battery's for 6 days - You can look up Delco light plants on the net - in1916 they sold 20000 light plants to rural and farm homes there first yr - Out here there were farm homes with battery power since the 1890s till around 1960 or so - So in my area many know how to keep going during long power outages - it's not new for us that are older -
Hi able, that is wonderful. We moved to the mountains on Western North Carolina and never expected a hurricane. They told us to expect 8-12” of rain and we got 30. This was our first hurricane and hopefully the last. 😂 We learned a lot. Thanks for the great advice. We can always improve what we are doing and those that have gone through it can be a huge knowledge base. Thanks again!
Just brought another freezer... Though winter here turns the world outside into a freezer. 😂 Glad you guys were ok Thanks for the great report. ❤ No water, no life... She's right. 🎉 A Berkey-type will get you humans through but water for animals is critical too and much higher demand... Our friend plumbed her sink water into a bucket that "powers" the toilet.😂
😂 I think I have seen that on other toilets. It makes sense. 😂 Thank you. This was our first and hopefully last hurricane. We moved to the mountains so we wouldn’t have them. 😂 😂
Just a thought, even though you didn't have phones, power, internet or satellite, there's always fire! Build a huge fire and the smoke will let surrounding neighbors know you're alive and able to move a bit. Send smoke signals, LOL... Oh, and opt for a woodstove... if you run out of wood, you can start burning furniture or books.... (in dire circumstances)
You really need to do more research into Starlink. There are plans as cheap as $50/mo. But more importantly, you can pause your subscription and the reactivate it at any time. So while you don’t need it, it’s costing you nothing. But then when you need it, it’s there for you. You do have to buy the hardware up front and it’s not cheap. But that is a one time expense, not a reoccurring cost. Don’t just trust what people off handedly say when it comes to being prepared. Do real research for yourself.
Thanks David. Good advice. I did read that you need to be able to contact Starlink to reactivate your account. If that is true it would not have helped, unfortunately. We were without cell service for weeks. It is something we will be looking into. Appreciate it.
I'm a prepper in Central Texas, three years ago we had a "snowmageddon". Power was lost throughout most of the state. What most people don't realize is that we are addicted to electricity. If you don't have water (even public supplies will runout in a day or two) you can't flush your toilets, can't brush your teeth, can't wash your underwear or sox, can't turn on a light at night, can't.... you get the idea. I wonder how many people forgot about the water in their water heaters. If you have a well and the power goes out, fill every container you can but don't flush the toilet (you don't need to waste clean water for that) use "dirty" water for that. Start studying for you ham license. I'm scheduled to take the Technician test and if I pass, the General test in January.
You are absolutely correct. We are so dependent on electricity. If the grid ever goes down society will in a lot of trouble. After the storm I told Ben in one night we got knocked back to the 1850’s. It was an eye opener for sure.
All the neighbors were out talking with each other and visiting. After the power came back on everyone went back inside. It is a bit sad.
All good advice about the water. Thank you for sharing. Good luck getting your license! 😊🙏
I remember that day. We left a friends house near Austin and missed it by a few hours. While in Louisiana my friend sent me a picture of his place full of snow! A lesson for everyone.
I agree that we are too dependent on electricity for just about everything. I've been watching as many videos of preppers who went through the disaster and the one thing that struck me is that even preppers aren't really prepared beyond the time when they run out of gas. I include myself to some degree, but there are very few doomsday preppers. My parents grew up without electricity or central heat, but they knew how to stay warm and how to preserve their food stores for the winter, but they were on farms. For them even the worst blizzard (near the Mason-Dixon line) was just a mild inconvenience. It makes me glad that they taught me what they knew.
@uthyrgreywick5702 great points. Once the gas goes out so does the power. Solar is great but the batteries do wear out eventually as well. You are fortunate to have learned from your parents. It is crazy to think how many people live in the city and not on a farm. If a Carrington type of event happens we are all in serious trouble.
Thank you for sharing! Wonderful information!!!
You guys did well. You lived to tell the story. Others were not as lucky. Pray for them and those still suffering.
We are very fortunate. We don’t take that for granted. God’s blessings.
The concept of solar power after a storm is a problem for most people. Outside of maybe FL and AZ, most people won't have sun for a day or two after. I'm sorry you guys had to go thru all that. Thank you for sharing and for taking us along on your journey to prep better. I appreciate you. I suggest home canned beef stew. Just heat and serve (over a campfile if you need). Healthy, hearty, comforting and filling. For me, big improvements came when I stopped thinking about "stuff" and started thinking about "systems."
Hi tooshieg, that is great advice. Systems are definitely an area we can improve .
Beef stew is yummy, that is a great idea. Thank you! 😊
I'm in the snow belt area of NY - I have solar at my place that works just fine up here, even in winter on short cloudy days.
I recommend everyone have at least one of those small 5W solar panels you plug into your cigarrette lighter and keep on the dash of your vehicle to always keep your car battery charged along with a small 500W inverter. About $50 to $60 total for both. That way you can always have some power from your car battery. The other benefit for doing this, it greatly extends the life of your battery. I can go a good 10 to 12 years without having to replace a car battery.
Hi gwebocelestrong, that is great advice. The fact that your battery lasts that long is impressive! Thank you!
Amateur radio is definitely the way to go for communication. Make sure you understand the propagation and the get some good antennas - I know that won't be first on your list - but once you understand that you can put up the antenna and get out of the "holler" after the storm is over.Hope you have a good Thanksgiving.
Thank you! I would imagine a good antenna is critical. Appreciate the tip. We are just getting into the comms side of this.
Hope you have a great Thanksgiving as well. God bless.
Never can be too prepared for sure.
Amen!
Rocket stoves and the rocket mass heater are both fantastic projects. Both useful in their own way.
Thank you Johnj. We want to build one. 😊
There are tons of videos showing how to build one out of cinder blocks. I made one using 3 blocks and was very surprised how quick and easy it was.
@@RenewedHomestead
Consider a manual well pump. Simple Pump and Bison are good brands. Will cost a few thousand dollars, but I think it's a good investment. Always good to reevaluate preps after storms no matter the season. God Bless!
Great idea Jamie, thank you! God’s blessings. 😊🙏
Up here in ND it's all about heat I have gasoline, propane, kerosene, wood, etc. Preparation is the key to success I hope there are many more like you and Billy that saw this disaster as a test to shore up your preps LOL when we lost power here last winter I was happy to have the ability to make my coffee
Hi friend! Up in ND it is definitely about heat. We considered ND but worried about water, and we have never been on that kind of cold on a consistent basis. We liked a lot about it though. Good people. 😊
Coffee is such a comfort. It is the little things. 😂
God bless! 🙏
It's cold up there I've worked oilfields in those areas and every thing was heat traced -
I'm in south Louisiana and only seen it get down to 0° twice in my life time - I do see it get down to 15° often enough -
Presently it 38° but that's cold enough for me - I live in a rural area but our grid has a 0% tolerance for ice, sleet or snow -
Any of those three can work havoc on our grid power and knock it out for weeks at a time -
I've seen that happen often enough -
@@able880 we're going sub zero next week
Hi able, yeah, ND is another kind of cold. We are in the mountains but still no where near as cold as ND.
38 seems cold for y’all. Stay warm! 😊
🥶
Thank you for sharing. We realize ourselves that we need to work on the comm. God bless y'all!
Thanks Mrs.h! We appreciate you. 😊 Good luck with the comms.
You guys did great! And it's really smart of you two to look at any weak areas in your preps. I'm really glad you shared all of this for the rest of us that didn't go through that awful storm.
We use a Bison hand pump on our well, water is pretty shallow here so the pump was about $500 ,of course that was over ten years ago. We also have a second well out back with a pitcher pump on it. We store about 100 gallons of gas and keep a 1000 gallon propane tank full. Gas stoves are a must. I talked with an Amish guy I know about stoves a while back and he told me about a gas stove with a constant pilot light, like was used when I was a kid. The Amish have converted several types of basic gas ovens over to a constant pilot with a 12 volt battery to make the spark. Something to think about. We are not great at comms either but do have a plan in place with the kids if the worst happens.
Btw. You have more snow than we do 😊.
God Bless you both
Hi friend. Thank you for those kind words.
We will be looking into that Amish tool. I have never heard of that.
Glad you have a plan to get in touch with the kids. That is so important.
We looked into a hand pump but our well is pretty deep, so not sure if it would work. We want to see if there is one that can go deep though. That would be very helpful. God’s blessings. 🙏😊
Very informative video, don't forget carrier pigeons as another backup for COMS. LOL Good to see that you are using this as a learning experience, we all need to take lessons from what happened. God Bless from TN.
😂 we even joked about getting pigeons. 😂 😂
Thanks friend. Always foot
To reevaluate. God bless. 😊🙏
When we had a tornado go past, while living in Michigan, that took out the power for a week; I got all our water out of the pond with a bucket. Only had 5 acres and chickens, sheep and rabbits. We pretty much carried on as normal. I did NOT have multiple freezers full of meat. I wasn't a 'prepper' back then.
Hi Heather! That is wonderful that you are able to keep going as normal. We are so dependent on electricity now. We are in real trouble as a society if the grid goes down.
@@RenewedHomestead Hey Denise!
I've got solar panels for when we build (if that ever happens) and we could connect those up here, if we had to. Though I DO need to get cables..
Solar is a great option for off grid. If it wasn’t so expensive we would get some. It is not so good for the environment but great if the grid goes down.
EMERGENCY Request## please send Buddy Heaters, hoses, adapters asap to Pastor Tim Clark, Bethel Wesleyan Church, 909 Tracy Grove Rd, Flat Rock, NC. 28731. Their volunteer Bud takes them to distribution points in the mountains. LOTS of PEOPLE in TENTs. Thank you!
Hi UnicornPurple. We had a lot of supplies up here. Is there a contact there (Bud’s contact) we can try to see if we can get some supplies sent to? You can email us at RenewedHomestead@gmail.com
@@RenewedHomestead
it's Pastor Tim Clark ...
Bud is the guy (crew) that's Running the Supplies to other Dist. Sites in the area(s) 👍
@lstroud454 thank you. Do you have a phone or email for him? We would like to call and see if we can coordinate some things.
Bummer we're going to miss the get together, but we'll catch up soon! So glad y'all were pretty well prepared!❤
We will miss you! We definitely have to get together when y’all get back. 💜
You can be a prepper, then a raging river removes all your hard prepping! I just stumbled on y'all and subscribed. He sounds as if he's done radio at some point! Good video.
Thank you Allisillusion, we have said that many times. You can prepare and still have all your preps drown or burn so to speak. Great point!
Starlink Backup doesn't have to be expensive: I bought the Starlink set up on sale for $299, chose the limited "Roam" subscription package for $50 per month, and then paused it. If the communications go out where I live, I'll just drag my Starlink dish out of the closet and unpause my subscripton and have internet and wi-fi calling in a matter of minutes
That is a great idea Michelle! Very handy as well. Appreciate it!
Thank you for this Info !! ... interesting ... did Nottt Know that you could "Pause / UNpause" Starlink !! Great to Know that !! Take care !! 👍
You have to have a way to contact Starlink to "unpause" your service so make sure you have a personal solar battery bank charged at all times so you can charge your phone and call out. And with cells tower down you may not be able to get connected until towers are repaired. Ham radio is great if you can put in the time and money for equipment.
You have to have a way to contact Starlink to "unpause" your service so make sure you have a personal solar battery bank charged at all times so you can charge your phone and call out. And with cells tower down you may not be able to get connected until towers are repaired. Ham radio is great if you can put in the time and money for equipment.
Thank you @jillking, we had no cell service for weeks, so that could be problematic. Really appreciate you sharing that. 😊🙏
Hope you made it to the rocket mass heater gig especially if it was Uncle Mud because he is one of the best.
We've been burning a rocket mass heaters since 2015 in northern Minnesota and we have no furnace (though we do use electrical heaters in the spaces that we occupy as needed) and have been fine.
Hi Jami, unfortunately, the ice on the roads kept us away. We are hoping to be able to go when he has another class. We are very interested in the stove. Thanks for sharing your experience. If it is keeping you warm on MN we should have no problem here! God bless.
Pemmican: dried fruit in the dried meat. Besyt energy bars.
Thank you Sarah! We have talked about making Pemmican in the past. Great idea!
Reminds me of here... An old saying goes: If you don't know where it is, you don't have it...
We're learning here too, if you have the thought, get 'er done. 💪👏👍
Hi Jami, great saying and so true! As long as we all keep learning. 😊🙏
A very good reason to review your preps….ALL OF YOUR PREPS!
I got the portable Starlink. It’s $50 a month unless you want the bigger package.
Thank you! That isn’t bad at all. 😊
just a thought came to mind. my friend used to practice drumming sessions. I just remembered her canyon drum. the sound could be heard from long distances. it wouldn't hurt to have a drum and code for communications. ceremony drums are beautiful. even police whistles can be heard at a distance. So glad you are ok and have Billy and Michelle nearby. I want to learn basic electrical skills. I saw a Helene video where a friend rig up a generator directly to a well pump to water livestock. I made it a mission years ago to collect livestock tanks and barrels to store water and water heaters. When TX got hit with the freeze, I saw a genius way to thaw out a metal livestock tank. They had no power and the tank was far out in a pasture. They took a t-post layed it across the top of the tank with a metal bucket hanging from it. the bucket was full of burning charcoal briquets. As it set on top of the ice it melted the ice and thawed out the tank so the cattle could drink. I got Gallagher solar fence charger after watching Greg Judy recommend them. Easy to fix, great quality, powerful and long lasting battery. I also got solar pendant lights by NIORSUN. Boy are they handy! I use them in the house and outside. quick to move and just hang wherever you need them. I have the kind with 2 lights connected to the solar panel. They have 16' wires so are easy to adapt. God bless you both. Iow tonight 16, Meh!
Hey SG! That is a great idea for the water for the livestock. Humans always impress me by their ingenuity. We could use more of that in society.
Electrical skills are so important. We have learned a lot but there is still so much we can learn.
The pendant lights are genius. I was glad to have the solar lights while the power was down.
I have heard the Gallagher is a good solar charger. Greg Judy knows what he is talking about. Have a blessed day friend.
@@RenewedHomestead there's a man on YT that fixes fence chargers and does reviews. he said all were hard to fix, except the Gallaghers. I still have my first dead charger waiting for me to magical fix it, maybe. I got a fence tester that gives the joule levels. My Gallagher is still my top performer. I want a few more.
We will have to look into the Gallagher. Good solar chargers are difficult to find. Thanks again!
Omg! Awesome information!!! Thank you!!!
@creceda thank you so much! 😊
I'm getting my Ham license too. Although the 400 question bank is fairly easy to learn, it teaches you just about nothing you need to know about using a radio. Hopefully you have folks around who can help you learn what you need to know. Then, like everything else in your preps, use it on a regular basis. Thanks for sharing your experiences.
Thanks commonsensepatriot. Sounds like my college degree. 😂
Great advice to always use it. If you don’t know how to operate it you can’t use it.
I have my license. The material is a bit tough to learn particularly the frequncy stuff- mostly wave lengths and knowing the bands. But there's lots of YT videos that take you through the HAM radio course you need to pass the exam.
That said, anyone can listen on HAM. You just can't transmit on HAM without a license, except if it's an emergency. If you're in an e,ergency you can talk on HAM.
The Baofeng UV-5R is a good, very inexpensive hand held HAM radio to have.
Thank you! Hopefully, we can learn all of it fairly quickly. The good part of YT is all the good info out there. 😊🙏
I think using more of the freeze dryer is a good idea. With all that meat in the freezer, you're already halfway there! Do extremes in storage temperature affect the quality once it's freeze-dried? I guess you could keep it in the root cellar to keep it at a relatively stable temperature.
Hi Randy, we hope to keep a lot of it in the cellar once we get it open, but standard temps are just fine for Freeze Dried foods. As long as moisture doesn’t get to it then temps shouldn’t matter too much. Does that make sense?
Thanks friend!
Bee well Outpost ministries is near u, in TN. Hope to meet you soon.
That would be wonderful. 🙏😊
Yes, your own radio transceivers is the only way to go. Do not count on any communications systems that depends on someone else's equipment, ie cell towers, satellites, internet.
Your own radios is all you can depend on whether it's HAM, FRS, GMRS, CB, LoRA. You are communicating over the air via radio waves you make yourself with your own device(s). All can be powered by a 12v battery and a small solar panel can recharge the battery. Much cheaper too than Sat Phones, Starlinks or other over priced nonsense that has a service charge with it.
Thank you! That is what we are finding. Glad to know we are the right track. 😊
You did not fail in communicating. The storm thrusted you back to a time before the telegraph. Back to a time when messages took days, weeks or months. You chose to live a simpler life. With that comes risk. With that comes more simple ways. Those of today’s world of instant gratification need to realize the two worlds are different and thrive in their own way. There is now ideal in between. Set up prior signals. Know / communicate prior to a disaster. Love ones or friends should know your habit / plan to signal after a disaster. You indeed communicated with your love one, in the time your situation allowed.
Thank you for those kind words JF. We said we went back to the 1850’s overnight. We felt horrible we couldn’t reach anyone and check on them or to let anyone know we were OK.
We love this life and wouldn’t trade it. Hope you are well.
I know where my wind up radio is !
Yay! Better than we were. 😂
I missed my first snow of the season while in Canada. It was all melted when I returned. We had a storm in Canada that shut down the ferries so we had to sacrifice so terribly that we had to spend an extra day with our grandchildren. Poor little ole us.
Of course, you can communicate in emergencies. I was told, all you need is a smokey fire and a blanket.
Are you tired of this smart mouth yet?
The content of this video is evidence why you did survive in spite of the weather catastrophe. You know how to review failure and learn from it. Have fun at the end of month get together.
Hi friend. That is wonderful you were able to spend an extra day with your grandchildren. I am sure you endured the hardship well. 😂
Or a flag to wave around. 😂
And I love the first snow. ❄️
@@RenewedHomestead Indeed we are real martyrs to suffer the hardships of loving grandchildren. That should make a special star in my crown. 🤪
@dwighthires3163 😂 God will reward you for your sacrifice. 😂
@@RenewedHomestead
definitely have your water tested
Thanks Steven. Thankfully we own to the top of the mountain and no one is above us.
Wife looks a little cold right now not hot😂 my biggest issue is food storage. Trying to figure out way to retrofit cellar for storage. “Survival HT” you tuber has great video on rocket stove. Making one so can get proficient with it. Healthy protein packed bars are great idea to.
😂 Wife was cold. 😂
Thank you Mandy. We wanted to make the class on making rocket stoves but the ice kept us away yesterday. We will definitely check out that video. Food storage is a big deal. We need to get our root cellar open so we can start storing our food. 😂
This is interesting watching all these different peepers say they weren't prepared -
I'm 69 and live in the rural south - I've rode out I guess 20 hurricanes in my life time and some ice storms -
Phone service is always first to go after storms hit along with power -
I worked in the offshore oilfields for yrs and rode some storms in the gulf of Mexico and blizzards In high remote mountain oilfields - blizzards in high country shut crews in for months -
Down here I've seen power knocked out for up to 9 months lol -
After Katrina it was a long while till Walmart opened and they were only open 8 hrs a day for a while and we're not open 7 days a week - were I'm at if needed we use single side band CB radios to communicate with others more than 5 miles away -
Also in this parish just about every one owns a chainsaw - we clear the roads our selves of trees and clear right of ways so REA can restring lines faster - there is 7 miles of wire per customer - when it's hot most will just run there generator about 3 hrs to run a window AC to cool a room enough to sleep and charge freezers or water pump accumulators -
After hurricanes the trucks that fill propane bulk tanks will not run - also they won't fuel bulk diesel and gasoline tanks that many have -
Most stand by generators burn from 35 gallons to 50 gallons of propane a day -
I only have 600 gallons of propane on hand that won't last long -
We just use small gens after storms a few hours a night - kids will read books at night by Kerosene lamps after storms -
Many have fire places and wood heaters for when ice storms hit -
If I want to talk to a neighbor at a distance just use the CB radio -
Most of us that are older are acclimated to hurricanes and ice storms so they hit it's just another day were I live -
We keep a lot of dried good to use during those times - that can be apples, pairs, mixed dehydrated vegetables, dehydrated ground to a powder beef, chicken, cooked eggs ect -
I'll make a gallon pot of food daily for my dogs and I after storms -
I always have a bunch of dogs - dog food is imposable to get after bad storms -
My dogs eat about a gallon of dried dog food a day - it only takes a quart of dried goods to make a gallon of cooked food -
My dogs will just eat what ever I through together after a bad storm - it can be a while till dog food is available after storms -
I always have a good large stove top pressure cooker to use after hurricanes - instant pots use to much gasoline or diesel fuel in generators to use for cooking -
With stove top pressure cookers you burn 1/2 as much propane to cook meals as you do with cooking with regular pots -
Those who cross the ocean on sail boats have limited fuel on board and use pressure cookers for that reason -
Were I live REA was still string power lines up till 1960 - there was no phone service water till poles were raised -
People used CB radios out here to communicate -
Many had 32 volt DC power in there homes - the home had a 32 volt bank of cells or a battery that the house ran on -
The fridges, fans, lights, water pump ran off the house battery's - they ran a generator all day once a week to charge the house battery's - then the house ran off the battery's for 6 days -
You can look up Delco light plants on the net - in1916 they sold 20000 light plants to rural and farm homes there first yr -
Out here there were farm homes with battery power since the 1890s till around 1960 or so -
So in my area many know how to keep going during long power outages - it's not new for us that are older -
Hi able, that is wonderful. We moved to the mountains on Western North Carolina and never expected a hurricane. They told us to expect 8-12” of rain and we got 30. This was our first hurricane and hopefully the last. 😂
We learned a lot. Thanks for the great advice. We can always improve what we are doing and those that have gone through it can be a huge knowledge base. Thanks again!
Just brought another freezer... Though winter here turns the world outside into a freezer. 😂
Glad you guys were ok Thanks for the great report. ❤
No water, no life... She's right. 🎉 A Berkey-type will get you humans through but water for animals is critical too and much higher demand...
Our friend plumbed her sink water into a bucket that "powers" the toilet.😂
😂 I think I have seen that on other toilets. It makes sense. 😂
Thank you. This was our first and hopefully last hurricane. We moved to the mountains so we wouldn’t have them. 😂 😂
Just a thought, even though you didn't have phones, power, internet or satellite, there's always fire! Build a huge fire and the smoke will let surrounding neighbors know you're alive and able to move a bit. Send smoke signals, LOL... Oh, and opt for a woodstove... if you run out of wood, you can start burning furniture or books.... (in dire circumstances)
😂 Ben joked about sending smoke signals. 😂
We kept a wood stove for that reason and because we can cook on it. Great advice. 😊🙏
You really need to do more research into Starlink. There are plans as cheap as $50/mo. But more importantly, you can pause your subscription and the reactivate it at any time. So while you don’t need it, it’s costing you nothing. But then when you need it, it’s there for you.
You do have to buy the hardware up front and it’s not cheap. But that is a one time expense, not a reoccurring cost.
Don’t just trust what people off handedly say when it comes to being prepared. Do real research for yourself.
Thanks David. Good advice. I did read that you need to be able to contact Starlink to reactivate your account. If that is true it would not have helped, unfortunately. We were without cell service for weeks. It is something we will be looking into. Appreciate it.
Wifey is good. As far as food survival. Three days at least.
Hi FalconMoose, having some food stored up is definitely a necessity. 😊🙏