One of the major tenets of self sufficiency is reliance on oneself. Your own ability to prepare for anything that might come your way is essential to any set of survival skills. This is especially true when it comes to storm and emergency preparedness. If you live in an area where storms are prevalent, you may be used to bracing for the worst when potential disasters are looming. In many cases, your local and state governments are crucial in aiding those who are most in danger, especially when tornadoes, blizzards and other such events occur.

In Mississippi, Hurricane Katrina was a major wakeup call to area officials, especially the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency (MEMA), which was a big part of the recovery effort. In the years since, officials say that the mistakes from Katrina won’t happen again, an article from the Hattiesburg American says. Officials are now trying to shift more responsibility onto individual and family preparedness:

“Ultimately, it’s what people do when we give them information — about evacuating, having communication plans and having evacuation kits — that is actually going to save lives.In most cases, when a disaster strikes, the outcome as it relates to loss of life and injuries is really determined before the first firefighter leaves the station or the first EMT leaves,” [MEMA Executive Director Robert Latham Jr.] said.”

The article says the message change will be difficult, especially as new programs need to be enacted. However, a comparison is made between the fire safety programs that children participate in during elementary school, where children bring knowledge of safety issues home to their parents:

“Adults have trouble learning anything new,” Latham said. “They don’t want to sit down at the dinner table and talk about evacuations and disaster supply kits, and those are the kinds of things we need to start talking about.”

All in all, this type of message will more than likely become the norm for local areas – it is important for you to be self sufficiency in your own preparedness measures. How else can you be sure that you’re ready for the worst?

There are numerous ways to effectively preserve and store your food items at home. Many self sufficient homesteads uses various methods to grow and save foods to eliminate the processing, pesticides and other dangerous elements that come along with buying food at grocery stores. The primary reason for growing and packaging your own food is based on what you know – you can never truly know how something was grown unless you grow it yourself. For this reason, dehydrating food has become a major part of the healthy food industry.

Dehydrating food is a very simple and effective process for preserving foods to last from harvest to harvest. There are a myriad of benefits to dehydrating your food – here are just a few of the reasons to consider this process for your kitchen:

Healthy Snacking – There is nothing more promising after a long day than sitting down on the couch and opening a bag of chips to munch on. However delightful this is, making this a part of you and your family’s diet can be an awfully unhealthy idea. Instead of eating deep-fried, processed potato chips or artificially colored cheese doodles, make dehydrated fruit chips from bananas, pears and apples. These crisps will be a natural and nutritious addition to your snacking routine.

Emergency Food – Having an emergency stockpile of freeze dried foods or emergency water is extremely important to your survival plan. Adding your own dehydrated food to these must-have items is simple, considering the ease of dehydration and the small amount of space these foods take up.

Saving Cash – Supermarkets offer some wonderful sales on fruits and veggies, but these only come around once in a while. Instead of buying a lot of these items on sale and trying to eat 100 strawberries before they go bad, preserve them with dehydration. This way, you’ll save on the retail price and have fruit available all the time!

When hurricanes and tropical storms come and bring disruption to entire areas and communities, the amount of damage that is caused can range in millions of dollars. Hurricane preparedness is incredibly important, especially when you need to get your home stocked with supplies, emergency food, etc. Although this is crucial, there is not a lot of information about what to do during a hurricane – you only ever hear about the aftermath and what is going on after the storm. Keeping that in mind, what are the not-so-necessary items you need in case of a hurricane?

According to an article from the Milwaukee-Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, there are some very useful things you can do to prepare for a hurricane, although you might not think of them normally:

Laundry & Dishes – No one likes dirty clothes or dishes, so why not prepare by doing as much as you can in preparation for a major storm? Having a large number of these items will be great, especially if you have to hunker down once the storm hits. Consider the fact that you might lose your home’s running water as well – mine as well get cleaning done beforehand!

Staying Occupied – There have been many instances where a tropical storm or hurricane lasts for a few days, leaving you with no choice but to stay inside and wait for the clear signal from local authorities. In a lot of cases, you may have to stay with a family member in another area. In either case, the article says that you should ready yourself for boredom – “Fill a box with books, cards, magazines, crafts and other activities to keep your mind from worrying and your family busy. This is particularly helpful for families with young children.”

Buy a Map – Your GPS can’t do everything, especially if you have nowhere to charge it. If you are trying to leave town in a storm and need to find a new route out of dodge. Make sure you have a paper map to help you get to safety.

Do you have any interesting tips for hurricane and tropical storm preparedness?

Last year, Hurricane Irene caused a serious amount of damage to areas along the east coast of the U.S. The hurricane hit New England particularly hard, with major sections of Connecticut and Massachusetts losing power for an extended amount of time. Some areas in Connecticut actually lost power for close to two weeks, with an overall average of one week without power. Although different bureaucratic issues might have played a part in the slow restoration of power, this type of situation can happen anywhere, whether you are facing a hurricane, a tornado, a blizzard or any other type of natural storm.

For this reason, many home owners are beginning to take a page from self-sufficiency experts and are purchasing portable generators for their homes. Portable generator units don’t always run on gasoline, like you might think. Some generators offer safer and more cost-effective means of producing power for your home – i.e. batteries, solar panels, etc. Not only are these types of generators clean for the environment – they are also quieter than a traditional generator.

One of the best features of indoor / outdoor power generators is their ability to be moved easily and at a moment’s notice. How many times have you decided to go camping on the spur of the moment? Simply place your portable generator in your car along with your camping supplies and you’re ready to go!

Self sufficient and prepared home owners have generators for a number of reasons beyond simply being ready for any type of power outage, caused by nasty weather or not. Homesteads that are not connected to ‘the grid’ will use solar power generation as a main source of power when needed. Each generator has a number of different outlets for whatever your particular needs may be, even if you need a USB connection for your cell phone or computer.

Whether you consider getting a generator for preparedness or pleasure, think of the peace of mind you’ll gain by being ready for any type of power outage.

When it comes to organic food, many people think of healthier options apart from the mass-produced goods we see in the supermarket aisles. A lot of you self-sufficient folks most likely have a garden, but haven’t thought about using your kitchen counter as a place to grow one of the most popular healthy organic items – sprouts! Whether you add them to a salad or just eat them out of a bowl, you can add valuable nutrition to your daily diet.

EarthWave Living, a leader in the world of self sufficient lifestyle goods, has a wide variety of options for growing your own sprouts to have anytime at your home. To begin your sprout growing, consider a 2-tray Kitchen Garden Sprouter, which can fit easily on your counter. Although it may seem limited, the combinations of seeds you can buy with this sprouter is seemingly endless. You can have one tray of organic broccoli seed sprouts and another of garbanzo bean seed sprouts.

Aside from the variety, sprouts can be hugely beneficial to your regular eating habits. Sprouts can boost your immune system, containing more vitamins, minerals, enzymes, anti-oxidants and phytochemicals. Furthermore, sprouts contain high levels of protein – 400% more than lettuce. Not only are these mini-plants rich in nutrition, but they are also very simple to grow.

EarthWave Living also offers kits to help you grow wheat grass, which is a very popular addition to healthy smoothies and juices. The Wheat Grass Growing Kit comes with all of the tools you need to grow this crop, including 3 pounds of organic wheat grass seed for you to begin your own easy-to-care-for garden!

For a limited time, EarthWave Living is offering a 10% discount on all seed sprouter kits and products. Simply enter the discount code EW10 at checkout and you will get your cart discounted!

Two weeks ago, we put up a blog post that discussed National Hurricane Preparedness Week (starting on 5/27), a newly established week dedicated to helping people prepare for hurricanes that may spring up this summer. This type of public service event is important in areas that are prone to seeing severe weather like hurricanes, tornadoes and tropical storms. Starting on May 27^th, this week should provide many families with essential information.

Many states are starting their own hurricane preparations, including Virginia. This East coast state was hit hard by Hurricane Irene last year and in conjunction with this national preparedness event, Virginia will have a tax-free holiday for emergency supplies. According to The Virginia Gazette:

“During Virginia’s Hurricane Preparedness Sales Tax Holiday, May 25-31, shoppers can purchase essential items without paying the 5% state and local sales tax. There are 22 categories of smaller items, including batteries, flashlights, bottled water, tarps, duct tape, cell-phone chargers, smoke detectors and first aid kits.”

As with any tax-free holiday, there are restrictions, the article says. Items priced under $60 will be tax-free as long as they are on the official list. This list includes a number of products, including first aid kits, batteries and flashlights. Bigger ticket items like portable generators and inverters will be exempt from taxes as well, provided they cost under $1,000.

Outside of this tax holiday, Virginia is no stranger to sales tax-free holidays:

“Virginia also has two additional sales tax holidays – one for school supplies and clothing in August, and one for Energy Star and WaterSense products in October. The 2012 General Assembly renewed this tax-free hurricane preparedness holiday through 2017 after successes of previous campaigns.”

Whether you live in Virginia or not, make sure you check your emergency supplies and stockpile to see if there are any items you may need in case of an emergency.

As a self-sufficient home owner, you are no doubt aware of how important it is to provide nutritious and delicious food to your family every day. There are definitely places where you can pick up organic food items in your area, but can you ever truly know how fresh and chemical-free these foodstuffs are? Luckily, there are ways to grow and harvest your own vegetables to prepare for your own dinner table.

Here are some tips to start your own organic garden this summer:

Map It Out – Before you start tilling the ground and putting up fencing to encase your garden, mark the area off with stakes. Find a relatively flat area and work out how much room you will need for the crops you decide to plant. You will also want to find a space that allows for simple watering and easy access to your gardening tools as well.

The Right Seeds – Choosing a wide variety of truly organic heirloom seeds can be difficult, but once you have decided on what you’re going to plant, you can begin choosing the right types of seeds for your particular needs. Some companies sell collections of seeds that can cover a wide area (up to an acre) and produce a variety of different types of plants and vegetables.

Add Compost – If you live in a self-sufficient home, there’s a very good chance that you own a compost tumbler and have been creating your own compost for years. Use this compost as a good bed of healthy support for your new garden. All-natural compost not only cuts down on your waste, but also provides your fledging seeds with the nutrients they need to grow.

Organic gardening may take some time and effort, but you will be very pleased the first time you get to serve totally fresh, pesticide-free vegetables to your family. Take your time, be patient and use these tips to find your own best gardening practices.