Home Front: Injury and Illness

Being sick sucks. Being injured sucks. I've been both often enough just in the last year to make me strongly consider what options and risks would be apparent in the event of a disaster both for those with chronic illness or injuries, and those with incidental illnesses and injuries. One of my partners has some fairly hefty pharmaceutical requirements for the condition she has. The other has torn cartilage in her knee and a history of respiratory problems. The idea of loss of access to the medical facilities and the pharmacopeia that modern industrial society provides us is chilling. Even the idea of long trips "off-grid" would require significant stockpiling, and preparation, and this is not a bad thing, but costly and difficult to arrange.

Even taking stock of our little bathroom medicine cabinet at home, just to take stock, made me realise how dependent we are on the infrastructure both to have such things produced and also distributed. I recently watched the disease-thriller "Contagion" which really impressed me with its sensible and pretty accurate portrayal of both lab-science and disease epidemiology. It reminded me that in the event of a wide-spread disease, resources will become scare not only due to demand, but also as the infrastructure required to produce and disseminate it is affected by the disease. Not only medical supplies, but later on, all supplies and services, depending on the severity of the outbreak could be unavailable. Healthcare workers are often on the front lines, as the very sick are brought to hospitals and from there, it can spread. That not only means my workplace, but also the people who would care for and supply treatments to my loved ones, and children.

Fortunately, there are several sources for being kept aware of these kinds of events, both sickness, and natural.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
The World Health Organization (WHO)

both of which I follow via Twitter on:
https://twitter.com/CDCemergency
https://twitter.com/WHO

I'm also fortunate enough to be sent bulletins like these through work, from the Bureau of Meteorology

 
Sent: Tuesday, 4 September 2012 3:15 PM
To: undisclosed-recipients
Subject: ** State Health Command Advisory - damaging and destructive winds **


Good afternoon all,

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in the following forecast districts:

Mallee
Wimmera
Northern Country
North Central
North East
South West
Central
West and South Gippsland
East Gippsland

Damaging winds around 60 to 80 km/h with peak gusts of 100 to 120km/h are forecast to develop over the Southwest and Wimmera districts this evening, and will extend to remaining districts overnight and early Wednesday morning.

Over Alpine areas, winds are expected to average 80 to 100 km/h Wednesday with peak gusts of 140 km/h

The Victorian health sector should:

Maintain situational awareness via the Bureau of Meteorology website: http://www.bom.gov.au/vic/warnings/
Consider the dissemination of this advisory


Being aware is part of the battle, looking after my family and loved ones in the event of such an event, short or long term, is another. I have first-aid kits, but when it comes down to it, do we have enough medical supplies laid in? No.

Do I know where to go to get some, and what to get? Mostly. More work required.

It also occurred to me that improving my First-Aid training is always a good thing.

Home Front: Book Learning - homesteading

Taking a step back from all the boo-yah, of military style packs, pouches and things that go "stab" in the night, I thought it would be useful to do a quick review of some of the literature that I've read and plan to or have been utilising, both in preparedness, and also in recovery from a potential society-changing disaster. Not only that though, these are things that can improve your day-to-day life, if you're into that kind of thing. I have some other friends of similar ilk, Mr Not an Urban Hippie for one, who like to get into this kind of thing: growing, preparing and preserving ones own food, for fun, economy and satisfaction. The fact that he and I share common interests such as adventuring, Japanese martial arts, and raising families is encouraging, if for no other reason, that I know I'm not the only one.

I digress. The kinds of knowledge and skills that are called for to do this kind of thing, seem to be the kinds of things that many of us urbanites either ignore, have never considered, or assume that "someone else will do that for me". Take a visceral example: Meat. Where does meat come from? The story goes that a school kid asked that question innocently answers "the supermarket", and when pressed as to -where- the meat, the actual flesh comes from, answers, "umm, a cow? on a farm?" The same could be said for "bread" or "your shoes".

Well, I like to know how to do this kind of thing myself. Because it's fun to know how, to make things, and it might just be hands some day. I've previously talked about preserving (canning, mostly) and growing our own food items as well as training and practicing "survivalism" and "useful skills" which leads me to the main focus of this post: Where do you go to learn "homesteading"? I myself have turned to books! Four of the book I have used to teach myself how to do some things are pictured here; Guide, Canning, Freezing, Curing & Smoking for meat keeping, Tan Your Hide! for turning skins into leather, The Urban Homestead for its down-home DIY ideas and Toolbox for Sustainable City Living for more of the same.

Perhaps these are "too simple", "too hippy" or "too out there" for your needs, but I want to have an understanding of not only what I don't know, what I do know, but also to have tools at hand to educate those around me. Electricity is a tenuous resource, those of you who have visited third world nations can attest to that. Books, whilst delicate in their own way, are power-independent. I'll be sad, come the EMP, the power station/lines being out or apocalypse, if you are unable to read my blog, and that I won't be able to continue my postings, but having a stash of books with valuable knowledge at hand will be a comfort. Sitting back at home whilst everything is fine, reading up on "how things are made" or planning out my next urban homestead improvement, making delicious and lasting foods.

So, for those of you who didn't grow up on farms, or had parents, or grandparents who taught you all "the old tricks" but still want to be able to do all the "old timey" for when you can no longer just order a pizza delivery online, or duck to the 7-Eleven for that whatsit, I heartily recommend finding yourself a selection of "how-to" book, comparing, contrasting, and trialing out their techniques, suggestions and finding what works for you, and your situation, before there is no choice. It's fun, informative and very satisfying.

Home Front: Perservering Preserving

 Food, and the correct storage of food is a major component of medium and long term disaster preparedness, in my opinion, not only from a pure survival point of view, but also from a morale and social well being point of view. Any starving student can tell you that you can live on beans, porridge, rice or ramen, but that it isn't a lot of fun. Same goes with MRE's and other stockpileable staples. I've read through the LDS preparedness manual, and it didn't strike me as setting an exciting table. There are ways and means to not only make long lasting supplies, but make them interesting, and also make good use of the ample times in ways that many modern folks may simply overlook. I've done a fair bit of reading on preservation, and my background in Microbiology has served me well too. There are some basic aspects that are easy to grasp, and apply to almost all food preservation; Sterilize, aseptic technique, reduce water, inhibit growth and inhibit oxygen. By no means an exhaustive list, but a good guide.

Here's how I use these aspects to preserve food, and keep it tasty, for far longer than the base products would last fresh. The tomatoes we grow in our vegi-patches all ripened at once, and faster than we could eat, so in the grand Southern European tradition, I dried them. I used an electric dehydrator with herbs also from the garden after scalding them with boiling water, and packed them in a steam sterilised jar, covering them with oil. Dehydrated, [naturally acidic], inhibited oxygen (the oil), delicious. I also make my own beef (and other meat, although I haven't been allowed to use our rabbits) jerky, which alas, I have none remaining to photograph, but, really, dehydrated meats are an awesome means of preserving them, if not making delicious snacks.

A girlfriend of mine had a lemon tree overburdened with fruit a couple of years ago, and we collected a cooler full. As well as lemon tart, lemon juice and the like, we quartered many of them, packed them with salt and covered this in juice. This salt-lemon juice slurry eventually jellified, and the lemon quarters took up the salt. Again, dehydrated, oxygen inhibited and delicious. A combination of super high salt and acidity inhibits bacterial growth. These will last for years, and make an amazing addition to my cooking.

Similarly, a glut of fruit from my partners family's house gave us the opportunity to try our hand at making quince jam. This was harder, quinces requiring a bit more preparation to being good, but as an experiment we had nothing to lose. Jam is again, a dehydrated, acidic, highly concentrated, (and if made properly, with good aseptic technique) long lasting method at turning a crop of fresh food into a long lasting  food stuff that can improve man simple recipes, add valuable calories and be utilized in a variety of ways.  We've added it to sauces, marinades, on toast and into baking. Jam-making can be laborious, but is well worth the effort, month if not years down the track. Its a skill anyone with thoughts of preparedness should ad to their repertoire.

Salting and sugaring are not always the best ways to preserve all foods though, and pickling is just as ancient, and downright tasty a means to make fresh produce last a long time. A combination of acidic and oxygen depleted environments, as well as good sterilization lets you preserve a variety of foods (eggs from our chookens here, with herbs from the garden, mustard and garlic). Looks horrific, tastes amazing. A layer of olive oil on top acts and a further oxygen barrier. Eggs, cucumbers, cabbage, fish, the range of foods than can be pickled is vast, and it's really easy to do. Just be sure to read up and follow instructions to ensure its all done safely, because as will all preservation, getting food poisoning from it would be terrible!

Which leads me to the last means by which I preserve foods, fermentation. I have a home brewing kit, and a rather large collection of Grolsch swing-top bottles thanks to my beer-drinking friends, and have turned apples, ginger, honey and the like into a variety of bacteria-free, yeast enhanced, safe to drink beverages containing anywhere from a slight tingle to fountainously foaming carbonation. The fact that these may have also been mildly to highly inebriating is merely a side effect, but after a day of converting car tyres to body armour, or fighting off waves of triffids, a relaxing home made foamy drink is a great refresher!