Protecting Your Family from a Nuclear Disaster

Here is a fun “infographic” in the style of those great school posters and pass-outs during the good old “Atomic Age” of the 1950s and early ’60s that provides real information you and your family can use to protect yourselves in the event of accidents and releases at your nearby nuclear plant or a fallout plume passing over from a nuclear disaster farther away. Bookmark this post or go ahead and print the whole thing out, staple it and keep it handy.

Happy Leap Day!

From: BestHealthDegrees.com

Filed under Emergency Preparedness, Environment, Family, Health, Homestead | Comment (0)

Finishing Up Last Year’s Food

Waiting for ‘Spring Enough’ to spend real time outdoors to clear and dig beds for this year’s spring crops can be maddening. I’ve folded up dozens and dozens of newspaper seedling pots, have some of them filled halfway in preparation for planting – which can be done as soon as the local garden supply outlets get their annual allotments of potting soil. They’re not used to doing that before Valentine’s day, I’m guessing the USDA’s recent re-figuring of our planting zone took them by surprise.

I’ve gone through the seed basket to see what I’ve got, what needs planting first, and what I need to order. I’ve pulled the crispy brown leavings of last fall’s crops, and turned the compost. I’ve dug several 5-gallon buckets full of old compost out for adding to the beds and covering the perennials (asparagus, strawberries, artichokes). And I’ve planned what will go where while trimming the dry stalks of last year’s herbs and splitting root systems to spread them out a bit.

But it got cold again, and too rainy to ignore. So I figured it was a good time to do what I’ve been putting off all winter long – finishing up the processing of last year’s crops.

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Old Crafts as New Careers

I recently met a wise 70 year old man from my hometowm who raises Oxen. He also builds log cabins… using no modern technology. To say that I was impressed is an understatement.

On a cold day recently we sat next to a fire in one of the log cabins on his property. The fireplace was made of stone. Each stone had been collected from the creek bed down the side of the mountain. He even told me about the large, sweeping headstone that ran across the top front of the fireplace. He said he spent months looking for the perfect stone and had almost given up hope when he was hiking the creek and it just popped out of him. If you saw this stone, you’d say it was a miracle. It is one continuous piece of long rock, with one flat side and one curved side that seems like it was made to fit this function.

The reason I tell this story is to make a point. Human beings receive a great deal of joy from working with their hands. From making things. From producing things. But many of the jobs in today’s economy leave people feeling dispirited and hopeless. They do not foster creativity or joy.

As I look to raise and shape my boys, I hope to encourage them to pursue a job not primarily for the money, but for the joy of learning a craft and making something wonderful. I want my boys to be able to look at their handiwork and feel a sense of pride.

Whether it’s being a farmer or being a gunsmith or a log cabin builder, the key is to find the right balance between effort and reward while minimizing stress. I believe that working the land or building something physical offers the greatest intangible rewards – but you do have to pay the bills too.

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