Bees and Other thoughts on Preparedness

As most of you know, Joe has been very interested in preparing our family to subsist in case of some type of disaster or hard time. He has spent a lot of time researching what would be required if there were different types of natural (or unnatural) disasters, if he were to lose his job and be unable to find new work, if we needed to survive without being able to go to the store.

To this end, we have mostly compiled a years supply of food. If you look at what is needed for a years supply of food, however, you see that what is recommended is very basic and would make for a miserable year. He has tried to diversify this by doing many things that will continually help supply or family with food and necessities.

A little over a year ago, we bought some rural property that is on a lake about 30 miles from here. We bought it with the idea of using it for a place to get away from the city and relax. It also is a nice place to think of when we think about emergency preparedness. It is away from the city, so not as many people will be around to bother us. It has a natural body of water nearby that can provide water (with filtering) and fish. It is in a forest so there are many types of wildlife that we can eat (if absolutely necessary...otherwise, we will leave them alone). We have also been working on bettering the land for our use, and so we have planted some fruit trees there. That will provide fresh fruit to us. Last week, Joe got a beehive and put it up on the property next to the fruit trees.

Apparently, when Joe was growing up, his father had a beehive. Raising bees is quite a hobby as far as I can tell, but I think that having fresh honey will be a good thing for our family. (Plus it makes a great Christmas gift). We have also planted pecan trees at our house because that is another excellent source of protein for us. We plan to get a rabbit as a pet, but also with the idea that we can learn to breed them to provide a protein meal for our family. (My family raised rabbits when I was young, I am not a big fan, but as compared to one solid year of ground wheat, it might be okay).

Beyond this, Joe has also thought about what we would need to take with us if we have to leave our house. Instead of the basic 72 hour kits, Joe has created for our family "survival backpacks" that have supplies for us to survive on foot for an extended period of time. Everyone in the family has one, and together we have all the supplies for our family. (Nate doesn't have one yet, but Ellie does). He has really spent a lot of time thinking through this.

We are now working on creating a set of bins we could throw in the car that would give us some essentials if we had to take off by car for an extended period of time.

I'm glad that Joe has spearheaded this effort, because it is a lot of work, and there are a lot of variables to think about, but it is nice to have a plan in order.



This is Nate last weekend at our property. He likes to crawl on the ground and eat the dirt.

A cherry blossom on one of the trees:

Plum blossoms:

Pears growing:

The property we bought had 5 pear trees on it. Three are quite large and produce pears, but two are smaller and will need some care to start producing.

We are teaching the children to work by letting them do projects with us at the land. Here they are watering the trees:

If you want any of Joe's spreadsheets on survival, e-mail him and he would be happy to forward them to you.