How is everyone fairing after the ice storm? We got an inch of ice, and no snow.
We lost power Friday evening. In hopes of it coming back, we went to bed in the dark and did not haul out the generators. It was cold enough nothing was going to spoil. When we woke up and lights were still out, we got the generators out. Our large one can power the pellet stove, a few lights, internet (but that was out too, so did not need it), the TV, and seven refrigerators and freezers. We also have a smaller invertor generator, but it was not needed. We saw so many people scrambling and driving great distances to get fuel for their generators, but we keep a lot of gas and propane on hand for situations like this, so we were well set before the storm was anticipated.
Since we are on a well, we lost water too. For drinking, we relied on bottled water which we had a lot of for situations like this. For everything else, from cold showers to washing dishes to flushing toilets, we used rainwater. The two 2,500-gallon tanks up in the high use area typically just provide water for the animals, but we do have a PVC pipe underground for 300 feet through the pasture getting the water closer to the house just in case we need to use it for ourselves. Because we have farm animals that are totally dependent on us for water, we would have been in real trouble had we not had stored water for them. From the frost-free hose bib at the edge of the pasture where the rain water connects, we use 200 feet of hose to get the water to the back porch. To top it off, we have a plumbed sink on the back porch for washing hands that we can hook a hose into. So, even though it was cold water, it was clean water and easily available. You may ask how clean it really is. Well, we put bleach in the water tanks regularly to kill any bacteria and keep it from growing. If you pour a glass of rainwater, there are no particles inside it. We do not drink it, but it is great for everything else. If we want to turn it into drinking water, we have filters for doing that.
Berries in the garden were thankfully not damaged.
One limb from a tree did fall on the corner of the barn, but no major damage.
We don’t have natural gas or house propane on the farm, so our stove didn’t work. However, we were still able to cook food in the BBQ, and we brought in our 4-burner propane stove that sat on our cook top.
On hand, we have a significant supply of candles, LED battery-operated lanterns and flashlights, and batteries. We were well lit through the house.
We also have nearly an obnoxious supply of food on hand that is stored in a number of long-term ways. We did not need to worry or go to the store for anything. Our neighbors were racing to the stores just to find out that they were closed due to wide-spread power outages. Stores that were open were generally sold out of water, batteries, flashlights, etc.
Unfortunately, like so many others, we experienced a massive amount of tree damage. On Sunday, we got after it with the chainsaw, Gator and trailer and cleaned our property up. Fortunately, we have a good chainsaw, a lot of sealed chainsaw fuel, oil and extra chains on hand.
Our preparedness was again tested, and rather than worry, panic or even leave the property, we had everything required to be comfortable. On top of that, this preparedness allowed us to help others that were less prepared or not prepared at all.
Here are come blogs we have done previously about being prepared:
- https://ganderanch.com/being-prepared-series-part-1/
- https://ganderanch.com/being-prepared-water/
- https://ganderanch.com/being-prepared-food/
- https://ganderanch.com/being-prepared-emergency-supplies/
Thankfully the power and internet came back on after four days, so we did not need any of our true emergency supplies or food, but it is always nice to know we have them if they are needed.
Recent Comments