This Feral Life

Food Storage and Radiation

Today on this episode we cover: 
Food storage and radiation preparedness as well as talk about quite a few other side quests. I will forgo most of the intro and summary to instead post the write-up I had about the crazy scary dream I had that I discussed a bit in the podcast. 
I had a bit of a scary dream
 
A Russian-sponsored group loaded a small 7kt improvised HEU nuclear device with a shit load of Cobalt 60 in it into a small panel van and parked it parallel to the CIA/Drone control building in San Antonio. Using a directional blast pattern they sprayed the whole area in a fan pattern out and away from southeast to northwest.
The initial blast killed 1,930 people with the fallout reaching Kerrville at 1 rad per hour
10 rads per hour was up past Pipe Creek
And 100+ Rads per hour out to Galm Road
Tens of thousands of people would be affected shortly.
 
We were out and about doing some shopping when the explosion went off, we were far enough that the trees and terrain blocked the brightest of the flash. We turned away and covered our faces anyhow. For some reason, I was wearing a dosimeter and it said we were in an area that had 14 millisieverts. We immediately left and worked our way south, to and then around back to the farm. All while freaking out a bit, naturally.
I had to wake up and Google Cobalt 60 and millisieverts. Up until the dream I had no clue what either was, I even googled them in my dream, and dream google didn’t come up with any clear answer just bullshit. “a radioactive metal’ and ‘a measurement of radiation’ without giving me any useful information.
Cobalt 60 it turns out is a highly radioactive material that’s relatively common and has been used to make what are called ‘salted’ radiation bombs, bombs specifically designed to make a ridiculous amount of radiation and deny the use of an area for an extended period of time while inflicting huge levels of casualties and overwhelm a medical system. It lasts a long time, and is very persistent.
To convert a millisievert to a rad, you basically move a decimal place. Where we were shopping we got 1.4 rads per hour.
A 400 rads dose kills 30-40% of the adult people exposed to it within 30 days.
10 rads can make you sick
100 rads will make you quite ill but you will recover fine… just get cancer in 20 or so years.
Radiation is accumulative, if you are in an area that has 100 rads/hour showing up on a Geiger counter, you can stay there for 4 hours before you have a 30-40% chance of death. But within that first hour, you have basically guaranteed you will get cancer in some decades.
If you are in an area with the background being one rad, you can stay there 400 hours before having a 30-40% chance of death.
The average background radiation you are exposed to each year is 2.4 millisieverts or .24 rads.
Potassium iodide is not a cure-all, but what it does do is it has a very strong affinity for the thyroid. It fills up the thyroid so that your thyroid cannot absorb any radiation. The majority of sub-lethal doses of radiation strongly affect the thyroid causing a great deal of issues. By blocking the radiation's ability to enter the thyroid you solve the biggest problem with the most vulnerable system in the body.
 
Immediately shut down all air handling, air conditioning, and air in a home or vehicle as it will just bring in radioactive dust. Air and water does not become radioactive. Impurities, such as dust in the air and minerals in the water can though.  Anything in a truck bed that is not in an air-tight container is to be considered exposed and must be processed prior to use. A mattress cannot be made safe after exposure to radioactive fallout.
Once you have determined the area to be safe. Before turning back on air conditioning or air handling you must clean the vents with a damp cloth to get all the dust and consider the cloth as contaminated. Then you need to change the filters and consider them to be contaminated. Do not burn contaminated materials as you are just putting fallout back into the air to settle back on you and your equipment. Bury all contaminated materials in a safe place away from water sources.
When a person has been exposed it is necessary to decontaminate them. Step one would be a loading dose of potassium iodide. After that they need to strip and wash themselves in a safe location with good drainage using ample water. They should triple-wash their hair with soap to remove any and all dust/oils that could hold onto dust. The contaminated person needs to start from the top of their head and work their way down. Quickly rinse your body off first to remove any surface contamination then wash your hair three times then wash your face, behind your ears, neck, and so forth down your body to your toes. Be very thorough and do not miss any places, it's your life in the balance. Radiation is accumulative. The water used to wash contaminated people should not be used to water animals or plants or be dumped in an area or allowed to run off into an area where animals and plants designated as food are housed or grown. A septic system is an appropriate place for the water. A French drain away from the area is another good place, or simply over a hole that will later be filled in and buried then marked is another.  The contaminated clothing should be disposed of via burial. Items such as jewelry, can be washed by the person decontaminating using a soft brush and dish soap. Items in a wallet such as plastic-coated ID’s shall be washed with soap and water as well. Paper money and the wallet itself should be disposed of.
 
Any food that is outside and growing should be immediately harvested and washed/processed if outside of an immediately radioactive area. If inside a fall-out area, it should be left to fallow. Farm animals have a much higher tolerance for radiation than humans and should be kept in their barn and fed as clean feed and water as possible. If water pressure is available from a well or other trusted source, washing the roof of your house off every few days is recommended. Food grown in a greenhouse or high tunnel should be reasonably safe as long as it is washed and treated as contaminated prior to being brought into the house for processing and eating.
Anyone showing signs of radiation sickness including vomiting, diarrhea, rashes or skin eruptions should be treated with rehydration therapy and electrolytes with a multivitamin while being limited on solid foods until resolved. Powdered meal replacement drinks are a good option as well as soups and stews.
For several years after a radiological event, dust storms should be treated as life-threatening as they will redistribute radiation over a wide area. Decontamination will need to begin again after each event. In that same light, a good rain or snow should be celebrated as it will move radiation deeper into the soil and aid in its breaking down/trapping for good. 
During any disaster, but especially a radiological one any cut or injury should be treated as life-threatening. If people are treated appropriately with potassium iodide they still will take a massive hit to their immune system making secondary infections of the smallest cut a very likely thing. Antibiotics and antibiotic creams are very important to have a supply of. As well as liquid decontaminates such as rubbing alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, and witch hazel.
Broad-spectrum antibiotics should be administered to anyone with skin eruptions or severe sickness due to radiation. All individuals displaying advanced symptoms should be put on light duty until fully recovered.
Be aware that people who are acutely dosed at 500-1000 rads over a short period of time are fatal and tend to have a period of time of normalcy that will last 24 hours and a few weeks between showing severe symptoms and a very rapid system collapse and death of the proceeding 12 to 24 hours. This can seem a cruel thing as outwardly they seem fine, but inwardly their bone marrow and immune system is collapsing they, are no longer able to make red blood cells or replace any damaged cells in their bodies. Their DNA is literally cooking and they will reach a period where their bodies can no longer compensate and they will rapidly deteriorate and die.
The longer your accumulated exposure the less likely it is to cause you problems. 30 rads in 30 minutes will cause nausea and anemia along with other acute blood changes. 30 rads in 7 days will not likely cause any symptoms.  Although radiation is accumulative it is also time-dependent.
People with Acute Radiation Sickness should be managed with a focus on comfort, without access to a specialized care unit their survival chances are zero.
With all that said it is completely possible and relatively easy to survive a radiological event with a bit of preparedness and some forethought. Stay upwind of all radiation sources, stay out of radiation zones, wash all items before you eat them, and avoid exposure to runoff and fall-out dust. This includes staying away from the drip line of trees during the initial hour or two of a rain event. Understand that radiation, radiates out in every direction from every particle and the only safe place is distance or mass. Mass can be dirt, cement, lead, metal the basement of a building etc. Distance can be physical distance such as leaving an area adjacent to a radiological event.
The biggest threat a radiological event poses is a collapse of the global supply chain/economic collapse. Due to the defenses in place, it is unlikely more than 5 weapons would detonate on American soil in the event of a nuclear exchange. What we cannot predict and which will always remain a threat is sponsored terrorist groups with dirty bombs.
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TFL Basic Preparedness

On this episode: 
We talk about basic preparedness, things to think about, and the basics and reasons behind a grab-and-go bag. a simple 72-hour kit and what you might want to keep in it and in your vehicle. 
We also cover: 
The dust bowl 
Precious metals suck 
Kerosene heaters 
staying warm 
lots of craziness in the news 
The Wafflehouse Index
GTFO if you have a hurricane coming 
how to build a poor mans Berkey filter that works just as good for cheap 
Wood burning stoves 
keep your refrigerator closed 
don't eat snow 
The tree of the day is the Franklin cider apple, we also talk about growing basically any apple you want anywhere you want and just turn it all into alcohol. 
 
The plant of the day is the Sequoia Strawberry, a great berry with crazy runners that can kind of take over everything if you aren't careful. 
 
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Reach out to us if you would like to be a guest on the show and tell us your reason and story about what got you into homesteading and preparedness. 
 
 
 

How to monetize the equipment on your farm/extra income

In this episode, we talk about how to turn all that neat farm equipment you own into cold hard cash and make it pay for itself. We give you a ton of ideas on how to make money, from planting trees to grading roads, dirt work, and land clearing and we tell you how to charge for it. We talk a bit about charging per job vs charging by the hour and in what situations charging by the hour will work out in your favor. We cover a lot of ground starting with the most expensive equipment and going all the way down to the shovel. 
We cover: Tractors and implements 
Trailers and hauling 
digging fence holes and planting trees 
Freeze drying for profit 
using your dehydrator
canning for profit and trade, teaching lessons 
Why John Deere are kinda douches when it comes to Right To Repair and implements... but they are still good tractors and combines just expensive.
Kioti tractors, TYM/Branson tractors, Mahindra get a shout out. 
sewing, and other small house hold things to make a profit at and how we have done it in the past and will in the future. 
 
The Tree of the day: Catalina Avocado 
Plant of the day: Texas Super Sweet Onion 
 
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How To Monetize The Animals On Your Homestead/Farm

Welcome listeners, sorry it's been a couple weeks we got busy with life, the construction of the house and the land clearing and whatnot. It's been CRAZY hot in Texas! Today's episode is a continuation of making money from your homestead or farm. We are gonna talk about animals! So grab a pad and paper, fire up the Google machine and let's jump right in! 
In this episode: 
Making money with cattle: meat sales, soup bones, milk, cheese, breed selection and the likes. 
Making money with goats: pack goats, goat yoga, renting goats to clear land, breed selections, goat milk, soap, cheese meat and the likes. 
 
making money with pigs: You can use everything but the oink, how to boomerang pigs. A introduction to getting free food for your animals. 
 
making money with turkeys: High dollar turkeys and how to add value to their sales. 
 
making money with ducks: Easter boomerang duckies, eggs, meat, feathers and the likes. 
making money with chickens: Eggs, meat, feathers, easter boomerang chicks. 
 
making money with quail: Eggs, meat, selling live quail, selling baby quail. 
 
making money with rabbits: Boomerang bunnies are super profitable, meat, furs, feeding them for free. 
 
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Love mail, hate mail, ideas, or wanna be a guest on the show... e-mail us ThisFeralLifePodcast@Gmail.com 
 
 
 
 

Monetizing your farm

This episode is a bit of an information dump, we cover a lot of topics on how to monetize your farm. We give you lots of ideas on how to make your farm pay for itself as well. NOT included in this episode are animals and equipment or bees. Those three things require their own episodes, there's just too much to cover with those topics. 
Included in this episode! 
Value added products 
Soap
Flowers
spices
jams/jellies
concrete planters
oils, compound butters and the likes 
backdrops and venues 
parties and events 
selling to restaurants and getting your foot in the door 
Things to avoid... don't do what everyone else is doing 
Adult lemonade 
How to get around selling your wine and cider/beer.. its worth going legit
field trips.. schools have grant money for things like farm trips and local food experiences. You can help them find it too. 
Teaching Classes
Breads, we will be putting out our tried and true recipes for breads that sold gangbusters for us, and will for you. 
The Kimchi As F*ck cook book is out and on amazon for digital download! https://a.co/d/11h9XJO
 
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Bread making episode!

In today's episode, we talk about bread making and the history of bread, we also give away one of our most beloved recipes for Biscuits AF. We cover a lot of ground in a short period of time in this episode, it's a bit of a shorter one but we are quite busy. How was everyone's Merika day? Ours... SeaWorld tried to kill us, fun story there.... worst zoo ever. 
In this episode: 
This history of bread back to about 30,000 years ago (15 Jesus's) 
flatbread 
quick breads 
the biscuits AF recipe 
yeast breads 
sourdough breads
bagels and pretzels how they get chewy 
the middle ages sucked 
The tree of the day is The Dancy Tangerine 
The plant of the day is Rosemary 
ThisFeralLifePodcast@gmail.com if you want to get a hold of us or come on the show
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Seed Saving

In today's episode, we go over seed saving, how to ferment your seeds, and how to acquire seeds from the store... basically pirating them. We cover a bunch of history of corn and of Anasazi beans. We also give you a recipe for pesto, so be sure to write that one down. It's a good episode with a lot of cool information, and a fun easy listen. 
Fermenting seeds
Saving seeds year to year 
Adapting seeds to your land 
Plant of the day is Lemon Grass
Charleston Grey is the melon of the day, a awesome watermelon 
Tree of the day is the Loquat 
A HUGE Shoutout to Big Blue who threw some support for the show this way! We love you Blue! 
 
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Emergency Preparedness Episode

Welcome! In today's episode, we talk about supplies you might need in the event of an emergency. we are primarily focusing on family preparedness and personal preparedness and not so much on bugging out. Short-term supplies you might need in the event of a localized disaster like a power outage, storm, or earthquake. These are all items that are good to have on hand even if nothing bad happens on a big scale they will just add to the buffer between you and the world at large. 
 
In this episode: 
Dental kits 
Hygiene 
Freeze drying stuff 
Storing water and filtering it 
Medications to store and where to find some of them 
And much more! 
 
Thank you for listening! 
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Hydroponics

In this episode, we discuss our own method of hydroponics that's kind of a mix of several different ones. Our method is highly effective... although I can't add a bunch of pictures on this platform I will add a bunch to our social media! You can check out our Facebook page or Instagram for a full-picture walkthrough. You can also message us there if you have any questions. 
 
Also! Best news EVER! We closed on the new farm! YAY NEW FARM! We are suupppeerr pumped! Guys and gals, things are going to get interesting pretty darn fast from here on out! Come on virtual family and hit that virtual fist bump! Go team! 
 
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Fish for the Homestead!

Hello, fellow humanoids!
In today's episode, bringing to a close the livestock for the homestead we talk about fish and crustaceans. 
In order: 
Tilapia 
Catfish 
Trout 
Crawdads 
Fresh water prawns 
This is a pretty in-depth episode and a great primer if you are looking to get into any of these yourself. 
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