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My list

PostPosted: Tue Sep 09, 2014 10:19 am
by BeckaSutton
Assuming my nice bunker was already stocked with food, water and other essentials enough to survive the apocalyptic event my list would include:

  • An old-fashioned treadle sewing machine in good working order plus spares and a repair manual
  • Hand sewing supplies
  • drop spindles
  • a basic rigid heddle weaving loom and a book on how to use it
  • a really good first aid kit plus reference books
  • Soap making supplies and information on how to make more supplies once they run out.
  • open pollinated heirloom seeds (not just food ones but also flax).
  • seed tubers/growing tips not only for multiple varieties potatoes but oca, jerusalem artichoke and sweet potato as well. (I'm a great believer in food diversity).
  • Self-sufficiency books.
  • Books on simple pottery and kiln building.
  • Instructions on how to build a rocket stove from scavenged materials
  • A good selection of hand tools.
  • A book on basketry
  • Books on basic carpentry and building

There's probably more but these are the ones I can think of off the top of my head.

Becka

Re: My list

PostPosted: Wed Sep 10, 2014 6:58 pm
by Billy
Hey Becka, right quick...

Somewhere around here, I've got working plans - blueprints - for a 6 heddle loom printed by the Smithsonian. The original loom was hand made during the early expansion westward here in the US, some 200 years ago. It currently resides in the Smithsonian, and some years ago, a master carpenter was allowed to take measurements and create a set of working drawings from it. I'm planning on building one out of quarter sawn white oak using the blueprints.

If you're interested in a copy of the 'prints, I'm sure we can arrange something.

Billy

Re: My list

PostPosted: Thu Sep 11, 2014 9:04 am
by BeckaSutton
Hi Billy,

That would be really interesting, please. :-)

Thanks,
Becka

Re: My list

PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 12:15 am
by Billy
Okay then.. I'll try and get a couple copies knocked out.

Got some things going on - a storm blew a big chunk of our barn roof away - took the rafters, stringers, joists with it, too... if you stand inside the barn right in the front, there's nothing between the blue sky and you except thin air... it's all just.. gone. The contractors are supposed to start working on the repairs in the next day or so, so I'm probably going to be a bit busy...

I have to track down the blueprints (my books and such are kind of sorted by geological strata. It looks like a mess to the untrained eye, but I have a pretty good idea of where they are. Then I have to track down a print shop that can duplicate the 'prints on that scale (they fold open and are quite large). There's a good reputable one over by the University I attended... they'll do a good job.

Anyways, I'll post when the 'prints are ready.

Billy

Re: My list

PostPosted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 6:08 am
by BeckaSutton
Yikes! Hope you get your barn sorted soon. :/

Becka

Re: My list

PostPosted: Tue Sep 16, 2014 6:30 pm
by Billy
BeckaSutton wrote:Yikes! Hope you get your barn sorted soon. :/

Becka


Heh.. you and me both, hon...

Thing is, the damage was done 5 months ago. I didn't even know it happened since the damage done was on the side of the barn facing away from the house... first I knew something went wrong was when my neighbor called me up and said "Hey, you're barn is in my driveway"... Erm.. okay?

Me, the insurance field adjuster and a contractor all stood in the barn, on the same day at the same time and all of us were in agreement as to what needed to be done. I thought things were going smoothly. Mr. Murphy had other ideas.

Though a very long and sordid series of events, which I will not go into because of my blood pressure, the work was not done. It was like watching a slow-motion tennis match between the contractor (who was being difficult) and the insurance company (who was being more difficult). After 3 months, I finally got fed up and called my insurance agent and told him in so many words: "In every organization, if you go high enough, you get to one man who makes the decisions. I pay my premiums on time and to the penny. If my barn isn't fixed within the next 4 weeks, I will make it my mission in life to find that one man and make sure he knows what my problem is. More importantly, I will make him very aware of who YOU are, who the other players in this sad little play are, and then I will find another insurance company."

The next day, someone was banging on my front door at 9AM, wanting to know if they could go measure my barn for repairs. :)

It's a shame that it has to come to this just to get a contract fulfilled. For it is a contract, agreed upon by gentlemen. I pay you X dollars in case something bad happens to my property. You take my money and agree to fix my property in a timely manner if something bad happens. I fulfilled my end of the contract. They have not. I should not have to threaten anyone just to get someone to fulfill their end of an agreement.

Meanwhile, the barn is not structurally sound enough to actually put anything inside, except at the far end (it's 80 feet long). The barn is easily a hundred years old and the timbers inside are actually whole trees. The land was cleared and the cedar trees had their limbs removed, then those trees went to make up the main columns and beams of the barn itself. It's pretty cool walking into a barn and seeing whole trees holding up the roof. Still, I cannot put livestock into it until the roof is repaired. So, we've had to lease out our land to a neighbor and have him run livestock on our land until next year. We make a few dollars in the process, and he gets access to improved pastures and an uninterruptible source of fresh water (large pond fed by an underground stream. It's drought-proof), so we both benefit. Plus, I don't have to mow the fields and the cow droppings will help fertilize the land further...

Still... was looking forward to having our own livestock this year. Cotswold sheep. I'm sure you're familiar with them, being as y'all Brits started the breed in the first place. They're a heritage breed over here and their wool brings good money. Plus, I'm a sucker for grilled lamb.