Homeschooling The Well Prepared Child: Prepping with kids

Showing posts with label Prepping with kids. Show all posts

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Catching Crawdads

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We were finishing up in the garden the other day, when Zoey decided she wanted to go walking with her dad. He always walks our property once or twice a day. I told her to go ahead while I dumped our buckets filled with garden weeds into the compost bin. I could hear them talking over by the creek, but, when I turned back around, Zoey was no where to be seen. Mike was pointing into the creek, and I could hear Zoey's excited squeal. What on Earth is she doing down in the creek?

No it does not look like this anymore.
It is back to being a trickle with sides that are 6 foot high.

Like this...

This is what we are used to our creek looking like in spring. It is just a run off tributary that empties into the larger creek. Even it does not hold water all through out the summer months.

So what is Zoey doing down in the creek? Crawdad fishing! My hubby had spotted a few little ones while they were walking around. Zoey jumped in to see if she could catch a few. She called for me to come down. At first I said I would not come down into the creek and play in the mud! Then I thought about it.. Play in the mud for a bit? Why not? Off came my shoes, and I climbed down the embankment.

She caught one with a bottle and another one with her hands. I actually grabbed the second crawdad up with my hands first. I have to admit, I freaked out a little and tried to sling it into the bucket. It missed and went floating down the creek back towards Zoey. She caught it and managed to make it into the bucket even though she was freaking out the whole time as well. :)

Can you see the crawdad?

Sitting on the bridge, talking about me freaking out when I touched it.
She admitted she was scared as well.

No, Zoey, we can not keep them...

Brother came home from work and walked down to see what all the fuss was about.

He showed us there was nothing to be afraid of when holding it.

EEEKKKK! Get it away from me!

See, it doesn't hurt. Just freaks you out at first!

Zoey and I got back in the creek to look for more. I'm sure us running around and splashing scared all the rest off. Did we eat them? NO! Not only were they too small, they are gross! (Okay, so I have never tried them, they just seem gross to me. Several of my friends say I am crazy and they are amazing, but I just... no... no thank you!) Our favorite Chinese restaurant serves them on their buffet. Alex loves them, I think Zoey has eaten them, but I just can not bring myself to try them.
I guess in a survivalist situation, we at least know where another source of food is, right on our own property. Cool fact I read about is that they can not live in polluted water. If you see crawdads, you know the water is safer than most. Although, Wikipedia says there is a hardier species that can withstand more pollution than the others. You can read more about crawdads HERE.

Crawdads? Crayfish? Crawfish? What do you call them? We love your comments!

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Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Setting Up A Preparedness Group In Your Area

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I really want to set up a preparedness group my area. Especially one that offers kid friendly get togethers and classes! Setting up a preparedness group can be a valuable resource for you. Having a community means having back up when you need it. In case of emergency, you can't do everything on your own. You will need help. I am not good on hunting, but I can cook large meals, forage, garden, and preserve food. I may not be great on the medical side, but, I can teach, sew and Crochet. Think about all of the skills you are great with and can share with others. Now think about all of the skills others can share with you! My grandparents and their siblings had a community in the mountains. Each all chose their professions based on what would benefit the community. I love this idea. (No, I'm not talking about running for the hills and making a commune, but, knowing a bunch of like minded folks with different skill sets sounds nice to me.)
I have been kicking around a few ideas on what kind of group classes that can be offered. Not all of them are 'kid friendly' but all of them would be good skills to learn. Not sure when I will be able to set up my own prepareness group any time soon. But, I have found a lot of people in my area that have the same interests as we do. I'm making friends.

CPR/ First Aid
Join or start a Neighborhood Watch
Check to see if your Local Ag Extension offers classes.
Also try your local parks and wildlife centers
Foraging classes
Master Gardener's like to put on presentations
Thrive Life Freeze Dried Foods have in house demonstration parties.
You can do a group buy in to save money by buying bulk
Prepping on a Budget would be a good class
Couponing class put on by a local expert
Herbal/medicinal speaker
Bug Out Bag demo to see what others are packing
Primitive skills/camping trip
Self Defense Class- Most instructors will come to you
Paint ball special ops team challenges (How fun would that be!)
Sewing Basics- Fun for the whole family
Creating fire in different situations- Everyone needs to know and practice this!
Hiking with BOBs- Trust me... You need the practice!
Dutch Oven cookout
Old fashioned barn raising- or help someone build something else. Good practice or teaching experience.
Making homemade DIY items; Soap, laundry detergent, cleaners
Essential Oil classes
Local Nurse presentation
Craft classes
Hunting/Tracking lessons
Water filtration/expert
Bow practice day
Basics of distillation
Agua ponics, hydroponics expert presentation and maybe even a field trip
How Tos and Expert Demos: rocket stoves, waste oil demos,
Butchering Techniques
Communications
Trapping
Emergency Shelter Build
Brewing Homemade beer
Various classes on food preservation- huge learning list here!
Preserving with a food saver
Pressure canning
Water bath canning
Oven dehydrating
Medication alternatives (Herbal and Medicinal/Pet)
Prepping for pets
Building a root cellar
Cast iron cooking
Home made bread baking
Making apple cider vinegar and its uses
DIY candles
Knot basics
First aid preps and buy in
Meat preservation
Greenhouse build
Raised garden beds
Composting
Solar energy (I wonder if Home Depot or Lowes has an expert)

These are just a few of the classes or discussions I am interested in learning about. Do you have anything you would add to this list?

Thank you to Alyssa over at The Bow Legged Cowboy for letting me pick her brain!

Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Learning To Chop Wood

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It is 38 degrees, and guess what my kid is doing? Learning to chop wood. One of the many 'prepper' goodies she got for Christmas was a camping hatchet. (She calls it her Tomahawk.) It is kind of like THIS ONE, just not as fancy. You can see the rest of what she got HERE.
She got a short lesson from daddy on how to chop wood, and I supervised. She wanted me to come out to watch her, but I could not stay outside for long. Not only am I not that crazy, (It's cold out there!) I also had to keep watch on the wood burner. We decided to use some of our preps to make pinto beans. Cooking them on the wood burning stove required me to keep the wood burning hot. So I was running in back and forth, but mostly, watching from the window.

I'm ready!

I know, she is so scary! She ended up moving out of the front yard and into the driveway for more stability. Zoey actually did a really good job. Once she learned how to chop is a smaller area, and turn the limb so she could chop on the other side, it took her no time to get the limb off of the branch piece. When she was finished, she handed me the wood and told me to go put it in the wood burner for the beans!

You can tell she is pretty excited to have chopped her first piece of wood. Once spring hits, we are going to see about chopping enough wood to build an emergency shelter. Hmmm... we will definitely have to research that! :D

Sunday, January 11, 2015

Take A Hike

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Along with our new motto for the year, 'Do More,' we are also following our old motto of 'If you're going to talk the talk, you better walk the walk.' And that is just what we did, We took a walk! Full G.O.O.D. bag, gear and all! It was a bit chilly, 42 degrees. Maybe that is not chilly for where you live, but it is for Texas. Definitely, a lot chillier than I want to go for a walk in. However, the girl has been begging me to go out since BEFORE we got her New G.O.O.D. Bag. (It was my idea... That is what I get for thinking out loud!) So today, we messaged our Super Awesome Neighbor, Bree, and asked if she wanted to go with us to test out our bags. She messaged back, "I'm in!!" However, when she showed up, she didn't bring a back pack. She got a little lecture, agreed she needed to make up her own bag, and will come prepared next time.

Here are a few pictures of our first hike in full G.O.O.D. Bag gear!

Getting ready to head out.

And away we go!

Hiking across the bridge to the road.

I swear she tries to give me a heart attack!

Are you going to wait on us? I guess NOT!

Zoey and the Awesome Neighbor Bree!

(She will probably kill me for this! BAHAHAAA!)

Zoey stayed in front of us for most of our hike.

We didn't walk far. We started out late and needed to get back to make the hubby dinner. It was a good walk though. The road we took has a slight uphill angle the whole way up. We found out a lot about our bags. Lightening them up a bit, of course, is on the list of 'Hiking To Dos' but it is not at the top. Zoey had some issues with the back pack pulling her pants down. (I know you can hear me giggling from here! bahahahaaa!) She was constantly having to hike them back up. She saved some of her birthday money to buy her some camo clothes. We are thinking she might need some overalls. The back pack is a full adult size. It hits her on the hips differently than me. She also said the pack made her itch under her clothes. I'm not sure why, but maybe a good rub down with lotion might help in the cold winter wind. (She claims she just needs a back scratcher.) However, she never complained about a thing when we were walking. I knew of the pant situation from seeing her struggle, but never a complaint. I found my bag to be a bit heavier than what I would like, but I can't think of anything to take out. (My pants did not fall down, I remembered to wear a belt.) Zoey also claims that we need to be quicker when walking. She walked in front of our Awesome Neighbor, Bree and I for most of the way.

What did she like about the hike? She found a 'Cool Rock.' No, baby, about the hiking with your back pack... "OH! It was AWESOME!!!!! I like my new back pack. It was not so bad walking in it. I liked that we all walked together."

We have plans to walk again soon. (Weather permitting) Hopefully, this time the SUPER AMAZING AWESOME NEIGHBOR, BREE will pack and bring her own G.O.O.D. Bag!

(Yes, my friend, You have been challenged!)

Want to see what we pack in our 'Get Out Of Dodge' bags?

Click the pic!

Sunday, January 4, 2015

Catching Fire

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It was a Very Merry 'Prepper' Christmas for Zoey and I. The Hubby got us camouflage back packs and kit that had a spade, hatchet and flint stick striker in it. (The Flint Striker I have used for example is not the one we have, but it was the closest I could find. I think I am going to buy the one on Amazon and try it out. I have no plans to buy another spade and Hatchet kit, we just want extra flint strikers.) Since our New Years Resolution is to get out, learn and do more stuff, learning to use our flint sticks to create fire is on the top of our list.
A couple of our neighbors were over on New Year's Eve day. Zoey was showing them her new G.O.O.D. bag and goodies. They asked if Zoey knew how to use her new flint stick. We had not tested them out yet. We found out it is necessary to scrape the black coating off before you can get a spark. This coating protects the shiny ferrocerrium underneath. Once you get the black coating off, you need a lot of downwards pressure to get a good spark. Zoey was slapping it more than applying pressure while she slid it down the shaft. She refused to give up, and was soon making sparks like a pro. We allowed her to light some lint and create a small fire before Daddy stomped it out. (Oddly enough, he did this in socks!) You can see the video at the bottom of this post. Here are some pictures of her practicing with her fire stick.

WOW! Look at that spark! We all took turns learning how to light the lint. Zoey and I both have pill bottles full of our dryer lint in an old pill bottle. We have put the flint sticks and the lint bottle in a small pocket on the sides of Our New G.O.O.D. bags. She also has a lighter. She has practiced being able to light a regular lighter as well. At first her fingers could not get it to work. Soon, we will also make EDC bags that will hold some lint bottles as well.

In my bag I have 2 different flint sticks, a propane lighter and a regular lighter. My son and I bought the orange fire starter a while back while at a vendor event. He had no problems getting it to spark off when we bought it, but I had a hard time with it. I still have a hard time. I do not feel my thumb is strong enough to hold down the button that is required to get it to spark. My husband just tried it as well and came across the same problem. I personally like the red and black one that I got for Christmas. It has a compass on it, too!

Ready to see the video? The Guy that sounds like 'Mator' is our neighbor from the corner, and the girl that 'Got it all video' is our Amazingly Awesome Bree! Enjoy our holiday silliness.

What kind of fire starting implements do you have?

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Our Top 10 Posts Of The Year

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On June 9th, 2014, I began my blogging career because of encouragement by my Facebook bestie, Treats By Tanya. Never in a million years would I think someone would want to read about my daughter and I's homeschooling/homesteading journey. The more I posted our funny adventures, the more she would urge me to write for the world to see. I finally gave in. I love this journey we have taken, and I love sharing it with you. Thank you all for the support you have given us! Here is a list of our Top 10 posts of 2014.

10. Attitude Is Everything: See what happens when little miss catches attitude about a research/writing assignment SHE CHOSE!

9. A Foraging We Will Go: I spent my whole mommy career telling my kids, "You can't eat that!" Just to find out.. YES YOU CAN!

8. What do you do when you have super juicy yummy tomatoes you wish you could grow again for the next year? Save The Seeds of course!

7. Water Filtration: How do you make puddle water drinkable? We are still not sure if you can drink it... but we managed to filter it out (and get rid of the unexpected pee smell.)

6. A deep contemplation about where I just 'naturally' acquired all of my homemaking/homesteading skills. Things I Learned From My Grandparents, (And I Didn't Even Know I Was Learning!)

5.Washing Clothes The Old Fashioned Way: How much can you save from washing your clothes by hand? And did my kid enjoy it? You be the judge.

4. You Ate What? Yes, I did! And I will do it again. Only, now that the boy is gone.. Who is going to kill and skin it for me?

3. Why We Prep As A Family: For the kids of course. I want our family to be prepared for any situation that comes our way. You might think you know what you are going to do, but have you done the stuff?

2. Guess What This Is For?: We got several answers, but did you guess correctly? I bet you did, you smart cookie you!

And Our #1 post of the year? Came as quite a shock to me. Who knew a simple test to check if your eggs are fresh would be so popular? Don't Be A Rotten Egg!

Thanks for joining us on our Homeschool/ homesteading journey towards self sufficiency. We will see you with new adventures in 2015. Until then, go check out some of my favorite blogs and their Top 10 of 2014.