Self Sufficiency Housing Accessories.

[ArmedBear]

How 'bout a post regarding accessories to make your house - household self sufficient.   

-  PotBelly stove
-  Washboard or one of those old hand crank washers
-  Clothes line
-  Cistern
-  Old time wood cooking stove

I guess it depends on how far you want to take it, but i know i'm missing ALOT here.  So help me/us all out!

[Beetle]

Don't forget an outhouse.

[dreadstalker]

root cellar?

Smoke house?

In the summer months you will likely want an outdoor kitchen. Keep the heat forom getting in the house to start with. Many of the oldr places had a screened in gazebo that was used as a place to cook out doorsand kept he bugs out of the house as much as possible.They were a life saver during canning as you kept that old cookstove going most of the day.

[Lucretius]

Compost.

Can't believe how much invaluable organic matter I threw away, only to use gasoline and cash for getting some other organic matter in order to fertilize my garden...

[Aunt Bee]

Grain mill

Canner, jars & lids

Water filtration

Lighting...lamps, lanterns, fuel, etc.

Wringer, washpot, clothespins for washing clothes

Hand pump for wells

Gardening tools

Making this list reminds that I need to get serious about a pump and extra gardening tools.

[DeltaEchoVictor]

Compost.

Can't believe how much invaluable organic matter I threw away, only to use gasoline and cash for getting some other organic matter in order to fertilize my garden...

+1
Man, your statement really hits home.  Composting is something I need to get on the ball about as well, thanks for the poke.

[archer]

I have 2 compost bins. I rotate them, fill one and let the other age. I just have to make sure I feed the worms the left overs after boiling down tomatoes to make sauce. Had about 2 dozen volunteer tomatoes come up in the compost and not the ones I wanted this year.

[preel]

I know this is something that would require electicity, but it's a (big) purchase I'm considering.

http://www.ecoloblue.com/en/ecoloblue

I live in New York City, and finding fluoride free water is becoming a concern for me.  Ideally this could be powered through a solar or other source.

Does anyone have any opinions on this?  Is this the right/wrong place for this?

Thanks in advance.

[Aunt Bee]

If you could figure out how to power that with solar, it could be a life saver if you were stuck in a city with no water.  It must work like a dehumidifier but purify the water as it takes it out of the air....I like that concept.

If obtaining water is not an issue, Berkey has an add on filter that removes chlorine.

[preel]

A solar hook up is not an option in the short term, but possibly in time. 

Berky was the other solution I was considering.  But I figured that there's so much crap in the NYC water supply that the air might be a better solution.

I'm just holding out until I call them or hear from someone about what it means to maintain something like this.

Thanks!

[tash]

Preel - Not to plug my own thread but check here:

http://thesurvivalpodcast.com/forum/index.php/topic,408.0.html

This might be something you may want to consider.

A fluoride / arsenic post filter can be found here that works in conjunction with the Black Berkey Filter:
http://store.advancedmart.com/pfpofiflarre.html

My thoughts: Relatively cheap, easy and effective. Does not require much maintenance. Does not require anything of you other than putting water in and every now and then cleaning the filters. That's pretty easy.

My 2 cents.

-Tash

[archer]

For the cost of the EcoBlue, you could get a 30 qt dehumidifier and run the output hose through the homemade Tashs's Berkey filter.

[Lucretius]

Compost.

Can't believe how much invaluable organic matter I threw away, only to use gasoline and cash for getting some other organic matter in order to fertilize my garden...

+1
Man, your statement really hits home.  Composting is something I need to get on the ball about as well, thanks for the poke.

You're very welcome!  It's strange how you some things you never get around to doing, even when they're obvious...

[preel]

Thanks Tash, I may look into rigging this up.  My only concern is space.  I don't have a lot of it, which is some of the appeal of the original system I posted. 

But as far as bang for your buck I think the humidifier / DIY Berky filter is amazing.  Might be worth getting the parts together and assembling just to have in case, in the event I can't power another solution.

The ecoloblue system also has UV, is there any advantages to killing the bacteria/crud before filtering it?

Thanks!

[ChadK]

I purchased the Berkey water filter earlier this year.  Tash's solution is half the cost and just what I was looking for.  A way to filter water in an emergency, but not sacrifice quality/quantity.

Using buckets and simple pvc parts is so simple its genius!  Plus those filters are really good, so that is where I'd put my money again.

[tash]

Thanks Tash, I may look into rigging this up.  My only concern is space.  I don't have a lot of it, which is some of the appeal of the original system I posted. 

But as far as bang for your buck I think the humidifier / DIY Berky filter is amazing.  Might be worth getting the parts together and assembling just to have in case, in the event I can't power another solution.

The ecoloblue system also has UV, is there any advantages to killing the bacteria/crud before filtering it?

Thanks!

No problem.

In my opinion...

1. The berkey filter system would take up no more room than the ecoloblue system you were suggesting.
2. ecoloblue can only work with electricity, therefor if power goes out, you don't get filtered water
3. as already stated, it uses electricity, and since you're not planning on doing solar soon....
4. what if a part breaks? how long is the down time? you comfortable drinking regular water while it gets fixed?
5. do you really want to have the berkey filter as a backup if you haven't used it?
6. if thing get really bad, and you have to scavange for water, you can pour it into the berkey and it will filter it.
7. berkey filters can be cleaned and reused with scotchbrite pads
8. i don't think that there is anything the ecoloblue could filter that the berkey element + the fluoride/arsenics add-on can't, even with fancy uv filtering
9. city water, put thru the berkey filter, costs me roughly .00306 cents per gallon. the ecoloblue costs you .20 cents per gallon.

my basic premise - k.i.s.s. - keep it simple, stupid (btw, i wasn't calling you stupid)

Like i said - all that was only my humble opinion

-Tash

[preel]

One last question. 

Wouldn't the water stop flowing from the tap in a large city when the power went out?

Then I'd be hosed no matter what. 

[Beetle]

Same thing happens to rural property's. If the power is out my well doesn't run. lol

[tash]

preel - What I do is fill old 2 liter bottles, milk jugs, bottles, etc and store them in the back of cabinets, under the bathroom sink, in a closet. It's easy to put back water when its so cheap from a good filtered source.

I would also suggest finding some friends who don't live in the city that you could crash with if it gets THAT bad. I know this will sound crass but you gotta make sure you take care of number one first. If it's that bad and you run out of water, you should have already got out.

Bailey - luckily a well pump can be run off a generator or a battery backup solution to that get you enough water to last a day.

My 2 cents

-Tash

[Beetle]

Bailey - luckily a well pump can be run off a generator or a battery backup solution to that get you enough water to last a day.

My 2 cents

-Tash

You mean the water is still flowing under ground when the power is out. lol      I have it on my list to wire up my well for a generator, wiring in the well house is pretty scary as it is now. Gonna have to get it done soon, no water is not a good situation whether in a city or the country...

[tash]

lol it is amazing how many individuals think that when the power goes out the toilets won't flush and the home phone won't work. hehe.

[archer]

Or even worse, they expect things like AC and fridges and freezers and coffee machines to work...

[Lawyerman]

One of the most important homestead tools to me is the Chainsaw. If you have ever cut wood by hand, you will not argue with that choice.

Another is the Hi Lift Jack. You can actually use it as a winch if you need to......

The come along. A critical piece of gear, subs for a fence stretcher, helps move heavy objects onto a trailer with minimal strain, have used them to deliver calves.......

None of those are terribly expensive but I would not be without them.

[tash]

One of the things that I have been doing for years now is attaching a small UPS to my cable modem and router. Power goes out I can still use my laptop or PDA to connect to the internet, in most cases. It usually lasts long enough for the power to come back on or my laptop runs out of juice.

+1 for the chainsaw. I love love love my stihl 029 farmboss. That is a fantastic, reliable and tough as nails tool.

[Lawyerman]

My dad works in IT for a huge company with thousands of computers. He is always getting all kings of "computer scraps" as we call them. Everything from machines to all of the various peripherals etc....I run MANY things at my house through a UPS, have scads of them for surge protection etc......

[Beetle]

Great post lawyerman +1. I am going to buy a sthil 390 tomorrow, Jack's podcast pushed me over the fence.Tash How do you like the Farm boss? It was a toss up between that and the 390. Already have a 044 with 28" bar and MS 170 and love them both. Stihl is the only way to go.

Lawyer man there is a post floating around here about handtools, maybe they could add it to that.

[tash]

Great post lawyerman +1. I am going to buy a sthil 390 tomorrow, Jack's podcast pushed me over the fence.Tash How do you like the Farm boss? It was a toss up between that and the 390. Already have a 044 with 28" bar and MS 170 and love them both. Stihl is the only way to go.

Lawyer man there is a post floating around here about handtools, maybe they could add it to that.

From everything I've read the MS 390 is one sweet little machine. It's the best of mid-class choppers. I am sure you'll never have any problems out of it.
My 029 Farm boss was passed down from my father to me. Now, I can't be sure, but I think he got it early to mid 90's and with proper care and maintenance it is still preforming like a champ. I guess the thing I really like about the farm boss, and I'm sure the new 290 farm boss is the same, but it is the most versatile all around work horse they sell. It can handle it all. The 310 and the 390 just have more power. IMHO i'd rather go for the farm boss and say a 16in bar and 28in bar with extra chains. Like I said, just my opinion.

[Beetle]

Ok Tash I went and did it, got the 390. It's the momma to my lil chainsaw family...

[tash]

Bailey you gonna start juggling now?  LOL

BTW - very nice!

[flagtag]

Or even worse, they expect things like AC and fridges and freezers and coffee machines to work...

Coffee:  Got to have it!  So I have a "perk" and a "drip" coffee maker.  I'm all set!