Swap & Barter - a fun idea from Preparedness Household Blog

from:  thepreparedhousehold.blogspot.com

Swap & Barter  

(from June 2011)

There have been so many things going on at the Prepared Household and before I tell you about the swap and barter we had, let me update you. 

The garden isn't doing as well this year.  The potatoes have all died out.  We aren't sure why, but they have been sent for autopsy through the extension service, so we should know soon. 

The beans are next on the hit list with the Mexican Bean Beetles eating their way through them.  We are out of the good poison we used last year, so the demise of the beans is imminent. 

Due to excessive rain and moisture, the tomatoes have the blight.  I had to pull up three plants that were just suffering in the muck and gave the rest of them drastic clippings to remove the diseased leaves.  Now they will be susceptible to the sun scald, so I plan on placing a cloth or sheet over them to shield them from the sun as fruit develops.  I am so saddened by the state of my garden.  The weeds are thriving though.

SWAP & BARTER:

So...tonight, the Prepared Household hosted a Swap & Barter at my church.  We placed our items on the table and placed bids on items others brought.  It was great fun and we got to bring home something different from what we brought.

We placed our items on the tables.

We began to place our bids.



Then the bartering began!

I was very happy with what I came home with!

The swap was a complete success.  It wasn't awkward and we all had a great time.  We are planning a "Trading Days" in the fall where we will have a "soupbean supper" and do a lot more bartering on a larger scale!  Exactly the outcome I had hoped for.

DIY Scarecrow - from Mother Earth News

Make a Simple DIY Scarecrow

March/April 1978
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/diy-scarecrow-zmaz78mazjma.aspx By Lee H. Arten

Enlarge Image Lee Arten's DIY scarecrows warn off potential critters while reusing plastic. PHOTO: LEE H. ARTEN

I'm not exactly wild about plastic (few of us are), but — like everyone else — I end up using it anyway. And like more and more folks these days, I try to reuse plastic that I come in contact with again and again before throwing it out.
Over the years, I've seen lots of ways to reuse plastic, but it wasn't until I visited my father-in-law's garden last summer that I learned of a way to recycle plastic and keep birds, rabbits, and groundhogs out of the garden at the same time.
It's like this: One windy day, Ed (my father-in-law) took a large plastic trash bag full of grass clippings over to his garden to work into the soil. After dumping the clippings, however, he found himself clutching a big, empty sack that was flapping violently in the wind. Not wanting to be left holding the bag (so to speak), Ed opened the sack, dropped it over a nearby post, and started doing something else. Then — before going home — he tied the bag to the post (so it would stay put).
During the next few days as he worked in the garden, Ed watched birds fly into and out of his strawberry patch. Not just into . . . but into and out of the patch. The birds didn't stay long when they landed, and they didn't seem to land as often as before.
Ed also noticed that — oddly enough — when the plastic crackled in the wind, rabbits left the area almost as fast as Bugs Bunny zips through a Warner Brothers' cartoon. Even groundhogs kept their distance. (One lived close by all summer, but never bothered the garden.)
So if you're fed up with plastic and with garden pests, good news! You can use one to bother the other. All you need are some stakes or posts (which you probably already have in place), a little twine, and a used trash bag or two. Put 'em all together, and you've got a plastic DIY scarecrow: a "scare bag."
If scare bags have one drawback, it's that they work too well. People in Ed's garden, for instance, are always looking to see who or what is behind them. (Ed admits that he's turned and said, "Howdy," to a plastic bag more times than he likes to remember!) I'd say that's a pretty small price to pay, however, for a device that [1] lets you make good use of "useless" plastic and [2] helps put food on the table, too ... wouldn't you?

Creative Food Storage - Storage

from: thepreparedhousehold.blogspot.com

Creative Food Storage...Storage

Okay, I admit it.  I have pantry envy.  You go online and google food storage or pantry, you will see image after image of neatly placed rows of foods on shelves.  So many ideas, it makes one envious and wish they had that organized and fully stocked food and emergency supplies storage.  Wouldn't it be "the bomb" if we could grab one of those hand held shopping baskets and "shop" for items in our own basement to stock the kitchen pantry.   Like photos on Google Images, I wish I had a basement grocery store, with aisle after aisle of foods, water and other emergency supplies.  Ahhhh. 

Photo courtesy of Robin's Roost

Okaaaayyy.  Back to reality.  And the reality of it is that to some of us, one of the obstacles in the path of food storage is space.  No place to store food or other emergency items.  Do you feel like you are a prime candidate for an episode of Hoarders?  Is every room in your house crowded with bags, boxes and piles of food towering over you to the point that you wonder if one day it will all implode and you will be lost in the debris? 

Have no fear, I have a few suggestions.  Not having had time to take actual photos, I checked the Internet for photos to illustrate my points. 

Photo courtesy of Walmart.com

I purchased a set of bed risers from Walmart.  (But you can find them anywhere.)  It lifts up the bed about six inches and gives you room for storage underneath.  Some food storage items have a long shelf life.  Simply tuck them  under the bed and be sure to record what you have under there in your food storage inventory book with expiration dates.  That way, you will know what is there and when it expires. 



Photo courtesy of  A Matter of Preparedness



In my Internet search, I ran across a great blog called A Matter of Preparedness.  She has a couple of entries on storage in small places, as well as other preparedness ideas.  In her entry, she says that she stores 104 #10 cans under a queen size bed.  You could get more under a king size, but you would require a couple of extra risers.  Please visit her site and enjoy. 

Another idea in creative food storage storage is to utilize underneath coffee tables, end tables, sewing machines, etc.  Store your boxes under the tables and drape a coordinating cloth over it.  There you have it, easily disguised storage.  Another cool blog, Prepared NOT Scared goes one step further to create an entire nightstand table out of food storage.  See the image below and read about it here. 





Photo courtesy of Prepared NOT Scared



One of my favorite ideas on water storage is a Youtube video from LowBuckPrepper where he displays his wall of water.

 

Using 2-liter bottles as storage is simple.  As you empty one, fill it up with water and stack it on the wall.  You should store at least one gallon of water per person per day.  Two 2-liter bottles is approximately equal to one gallon.  If my calculations are correct, that is twenty-eight bottles per person for two weeks.  LowBuckPrepper has enough water stored for nearly four people for two weeks.  Storing it against a wall, makes it a lot easier than stacking boxes.  I think this idea is ingenious. 

Here is another great idea.  A self-rotating can rack that doubles as a buffet-style table behind your couch.

Be sure to check out this great blog with lots of great ideas:  http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/2009/01/26/small-spaces-storage-solutions-results/. 

I once stored things behind the curve of a sectional couch. There was a ton of room between the wall and the couch.

Now, get your creative juices stirring and see where you can reclaim precious space to store the items you need.  Under or behind a couch?  What are your creative food storage storage solutions?  Share!