by Stephen Clay McGehee

It is amazing what can fit on today’s small USB drives, so if being prepared is important to you, it’s time to set up your own “Life on a Drive”. A standard piece of preparedness advice is to have a water-proof, fire-proof container with all of your important papers in it, and another with copies of those papers. A USB drive gives us more options, so let’s use them.

I began my own “Life on a Drive” project with a standard USB drive that can be purchased cheaply at any office supply store. A 2GB drive will work just fine, but as always, a larger drive gives you more space for more options. Start by going to www.portableapps.com to set up your USB drive with some basic (free) software such as a word processor, PDF viewer, email program, and whatever else looks interesting to you. Portable Apps allows you to simply plug your USB drive into any Windows computer and use your programs without leaving any trace on the host system. All your data and settings are saved to the USB drive – portable apps just uses the hardware and operating system of the host computer – nothing else.

This assumes, of course, that a computer and printer will be available at some point. While an extreme disaster may make your USB “Life on a Drive” useless, the incredibly small size and weight of a USB drive makes it well worth having even if there is only a low probability of having a computer available.

Once you have the portable apps system set up, start copying scanned images of your important papers and photos. Here are some ideas for what to include:

Scanned Images

• Passport
• Wallet contents (Driver’s License, credit cards, insurance cards, etc.)
• Recent utility bill to document your current place of residence
• Recent bank statement (to show account information)
• Investment statement (to show account information)

Text Files

• Contact information (name, email, phone, address)
• Central contact – who your family agrees to contact in case of separation.
• Family information – full name, date of birth, social security number, height, weight.

Photos

• Recent passport-type photos of your family members. Along with a good description, this can be used to quickly create a “Missing” poster to be distributed, or to distribute to various shelters

Family Information
The confusion that reigns following a large disaster means that family members could easily be separated. Having the information needed to reunite a family can be crucial. In 1998, I served as a radio operator in a Red Cross disaster shelter as wildfires burned large portions of our county. I had several requests from frantic people to try and help them locate other family members after they were separated. Having the right information can make it much easier to be reunited after a large-scale disaster. Planning to make sure that doesn’t happen in the first place is a much better way to go, of course.

Security
The information you will have on this drive must be protected! Make sure that all files that contain any sensitive information are encrypted.

Raising backyard chickens

by Stephen Clay McGehee

There is no question that raising chickens in your back yard is becoming more popular – and for good reason. Chickens can supply you with healthy fresh eggs and an occasional fried chicken dinner. They are cheap and easy to care for, fit well in all but the most urban surroundings, and they’re just plain fun to have around. We like to refer to ours as “country goldfish” as we look out the back window at our small flock of Buff Orpington chickens.

In these uncertain times, having a dependable source of good food is important. The egg has often been regarded as the ideal source of protein. Especially when it comes to young children, a good diet with adequate protein is absolutely essential.

Another benefit that should not be underestimated – being able to look outside and see your “egg factories” busily scratching for bugs and weed seeds is quite comforting when it looks the whole world is coming apart at the seams.

The details of how to successfully raise chickens is beyond the scope of a blog article, but we’ll include some good sources at the end of this article.

Let’s start by dispelling a few misconceptions about chickens:

First, a hen does not need a rooster to produce eggs. If you want to raise your own chickens, then of course, you will need a rooster. You just won’t need one to produce eggs.

If you plan on raising your own chicks, keep in mind that most modern breeds of chickens will not set on their eggs. That instinct has been bred out of most modern breeds. When a hen sets on her eggs (known as being “broody”), she stops laying eggs, and a non-laying hen doesn’t pay the farmer’s bills. There are ways around that though. Some breeds, especially the larger dual-purpose (eggs and meat) breeds like the Buff Orpington, still retain the instinct to brood. The small Bantam breeds are well known for the mothering instincts. Another option is using an incubator – as long as you have dependable power available. We have had good success with our hens hatching and caring for the chicks.

One final note about raising your own chicks: Our experience has been that chicks raised by a mother hen are healthier and have a much higher survival rate that incubator-raised chicks.

Raising backyard chickens

The economics of back yard chickens? Frankly, you will be better off dollar-wise, by getting your eggs and meat from the local grocery store.

That assumes, of course, that there will always be ample supplies at reasonable prices – not a very good assumption these days. Bottom line here – don’t raise chickens in your back yard thinking you will save money. The objective is not to have food at a low price, but to have food.

Protection from predators is an absolute must. Despite our best efforts, we have lost chickens to hawks, possums, raccoons, and dogs. My brother had his chicken coop destroyed by a bear; the chickens were unharmed, but when they fled their coop, the were then killed by other predators. Chickens are especially vulnerable at night. Even the most skittish chickens can easily be picked up and handled after dark.

Despite the fact that chickens are excellent at foraging for their own food, if you want regular egg production (almost an egg a day under ideal conditions at their peak), you will need to provide plenty of high quality chicken feed. We keep a good supply of “layer crumbles” available to our chickens at all times. We also toss out “scratch feed” a couple times a day.

Chickens need a constant supply of fresh clean water. Eggs are mostly

water, and without plenty of water, you won’t get eggs.

You can expect your chickens to begin laying at about 5 to 6 months old. At first, egg production will be very irregular, the eggs will be small, and they are likely to be found just about anywhere until they learn to lay in the nest box you provide for them.

Choosing a breed is going to be one of your most important decisions. There are meat breeds, egg breeds, dual-purpose breeds, and misc. breeds. My own recommendation is either an egg breed or a dual-purpose breed. The egg breeds are bred specifically for efficient conversion of feed to eggs. The top egg laying breeds will not hatch their own eggs, but if that is not a problem for you, they are a good choice. The dual-purpose breeds are good at egg laying, but not quite as efficient as the layer breeds. The difference in egg production is usually pretty small though. Another major advantage of the dual-purpose breeds is that they are generally easier to work with. There are few things more frustrating than trying to work with chickens that are terrorized when they see you coming. Place a high priority on a reputation for gentleness. This is a good time to note that roosters – no matter what the breed – are almost always very aggressive, and they are quite capable of causing serious injury to a person. Treat any mature rooster with caution.

Sources for more information:

BackyardChickens.com

Raising Poultry the Modern Wayby Leonard S. Mercia

Geo-Political–Pakistan Down?: “Pakistan in danger of fracturing into Islamist fiefdoms, U.S. experts say” is the title of Jonathan S. Landay’s 4/10/09 article from McClatchy Newspapers (www.centredaily.com). The article describes the current political/cultural situation in Pakistan; one of the two most politically unstable countries (the other is Mexico) in the world according to U.S. intelligence sources. Here are some key excerpts from the article:

• “A growing number of U.S. intelligence, defense and diplomatic officials have concluded that there’s little hope of preventing nuclear-armed Pakistan from disintegrating into fiefdoms controlled by Islamist warlords and terrorists, posing a greater threat to the U.S. than Afghanistan’s terrorist haven did before Sept. 11.”
• “Pakistan’s fragmentation into warlord-run fiefdoms that host al-Qaida and other terrorist groups would have grave implications for the security of its nuclear arsenal, for the U.S.-led effort to pacify Afghanistan; and for the security of India, the nearby oil-rich Persian Gulf and Central Asia, the U.S. and its allies.”
• The experts McClatchy Newspapers interviewed said their views aren’t a worse case scenario but a realistic expectation based on the militant’s gains and the failure of Pakistan’s civilian and military leadership to respond.”
• “The Taliban ‘have become a self-sustaining force,’ author Ahmed Rashid, an expert on the insurgency told a conference in Washington … . “They have an agenda for Pakistan, and that agenda is no less than to topple the government of Pakistan and ‘Talibanizing’ the entire country”

The Economy– A Copper Standard?: “ A ‘Copper Standard’ for the world’s currency system?” is the title of the Ambrose Evans-Pritchard article at Telegraph.co.uk via lifeaftertheoilcrash.net, 4/17/09. The article discusses China’s moving out of U.S. Treasury bonds to metals as a reserve. Here are some highlights from the article:

• “Nobu Su, head of Taiwan’s TMT group, which ships commodities to China, said Beijing is trying to extricate itself from dollar dependency as fast as it can.”
• “China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years.”
• “The SRB has also been accumulating aluminum, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals…”
• “They (the Chinese) are definitely buying metals to diversify out of U.S. Treasuries and dollar holdings’ said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.”
• * The Key – “One thing is clear: Beijing suspects that the U.S. Federal Reserve is engineering a covert default on America’s debt by printing money.”

The Economy–Unemployment: Aaron Smith’s article, “Oregon and Michigan push past 12% jobless”, at money.cnn.com on 4/17/09, highlights America’s rising unemployment problem. Here are some key points:

• “…the unemployment rate (is) rising in 46 states and Washington, D.C.”
• Other states with double-digit unemployment: NC @ 10.8%,RI @ 10.5%, NV @ 10.4%, and IN@ 10.0%. Nationwide unemployment = 8.5%/ March ’09’.

Until next time, keep your eyes on the horizon as the weather’s changing fast.

My wife and I recently sat down and watched a DVD titled “Obsession-Radical Islam’s War Against the West” obsessionthemovie.com. After we finished watching the video, we spent some time discussing the Islamic threat and the other threats to our current stability. We realized that it is very easy to become fixated on a single high profile threat and lose track of the other threats. We had started to slip into tunnel vision-focusing on one thing to the exclusion of other things that could be just as important.

If you are reading Prudent Home, then you already have a good grasp of the wide range of threats to the way we are accustomed to living. The high potential for economic meltdown is what attracts the most attention today. A few weeks ago, the rising price and lower availability of oil held the spotlight. Sandwiched in between was the threat of Russia’s rising military might. Somewhere along the way was news of threats to our food supply.

We need to make a very conscious effort to avoid tunnel vision and the vulnerability it expose us to. It is perfectly fine to focus on a topic in order to carefully study that topic, but focusing to the point of excluding awareness of other threats is a serious mistake. Be aware of your total situation – not just the latest “threat of the day”.