Great round up. Thank you. I clicked on the link about the Arizona town and I not only enjoyed that story — but many more on The Modern Farmer site. I used to subscribe to the print magazine and didn’t know it had gone digital so thanks for connecting me to a source of many amazing and informative stories.
We lost coverage from traditional insurers in California and then got California FAIR plan for basic fire coverage. I don’t know if other high fire risk states have something similar. I wonder if other states have similar for hurricane areas.
Could you please explain what “treated” refers to? Sounds like it reduces cooking time? Thanks!
For anyone who didn’t see it, I wanted to link to the unprecedented flooding in Yellowstone, causing the closure of the entire park. (I often think about relocating somewhere with more water and less heat, perhaps the PNW, and love the idea of living on a river, but looking at the Yellowstone images today, I’m reminded I don’t want to be too close to a river and I want to be someplace with multiple routes for evacuation.) tohttps://twitter.com/YellowstoneNPS/status/1536470361210077184?s=20&t=DOLaHaWMHEJcyZV9oH7JSA https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/13/yellowstone-national-park-closure-flooding-mudslides
I keep the Starkist Tuna Creations (foil pouches) and almonds in my car bag. They are nutrient dense and tasty.
I always appreciate these news roundups –and this was one of the very best ones. You covered many news stories I had missed (and that I am glad to know about!) and thank you for the wide breadth of topics in this one. Really great job!
I also buy the 2 lb vacuum sealed bags of Red Star from Costco. It is printed with a “Best Buy” date that is two years after the production date. When I open it, I move it to a jar and keep it in the refrigerator. I have used yeast that is YEARS and YEARS past the Best Buy date and never had it fail. (The package suggests storing it in the refrigerator “for optimum results”.)
Regarding food security:
In the 2nd to last paragraph, is that a typo? “not” buying farms?
I have never heard or Bacon Grill and am intrigued! Any ideas where I could acquire this is the US? (Thanks for the tip — always looking for new shelf stable foods to to add to my pantry — this seems like a product that could be used to make some delicious fried rice and much more.)
I came across another innovative material — for anyone who sews and has perhaps an old beanbag chair around, I just came across this “Wonder Oven” idea. http://prepared-housewives.com/alternative-cooking-wonder-oven-2/
This is fascinating — Thank you for the link as I really enjoyed taking a quick look at the book and intend to go back and read it in more detail later. I love the idea of a low tech/fuel method to slow cook and I am wondering if this type home made thermal cooker would be superior to the vacuum insulated stainless steel pots that are available? On-line, I see several types, such as the Stanley camp crock. I hadn’t previously considered what a nice way this might be to prepare steel cut oats overnight. Or how handy it might be to have one of these to keep foods hot enough for a second meal without letting the food temperature get down to the food safety danger zone. This is going to be a fun project for me to explore.
I haven’t bought or used disposable AA or AAAs in years. I use the reasonably priced EBLs and Amazon Basics in kid stuff. They work great.
I too love these news updates as-is! They are terrific and I appreciate all the work that must go into them.
I too have been thinking about this and trying to prep with EQs in mind. As for rodents, I have had good luck with putting stuff in Behren’s trash cans. They hold a lot, are quite sturdy, and are readily available at hardware stores. I’m hoping my garage will withstand an earthquake, so I’m working on keeping debris (falling around and on top of stuff) to a minimum. I have added support brackets to cabinets, and have added ways to keep cabinet doors shut. I remember when the Loma Prieta earthquake struck, everything shook out of the kitchen cabinets at my parents’ house. (I’m not exaggerating, every dish and glass smashed on the ground.). I have friends who couldn’t get into their garage because so much debris had fallen and blocked the door. I’d love to keep that from happening so I would have ready access to what I need, including being able to get my car out of the garage if necessary. And, like hikermor, I have dispersed my supplies.
As for small general power needs, we use a Jackery (and have a small portable solar panel to recharge it). Even a small one keeps the wi-fi going and lets us recharge lots of stuff. Our stove is gas so we can cook without electricity. We have a set of solar garden lights that we put outside during the day and bring in at night to spread around for a little bit of lighting. Saving our perishable food is the only really big challenge. As soon as the power goes out, I generally run to Smart & Final and buy a chunk of dry ice to keep some perishables safe for a few days. (Dry ice is quite expensive, so that’s not going to work for a long outage, but it’s been enough to get us through all the preemptive wildfire public safety power outages so far.)
I live in unincorporated San Diego County and have had to evacuate three times. I appreciated reading this thread — lots of good tips and a reminder to review plans. I am now feeling pretty ready for future quick evacuations, but I am wondering what could be done to prepare in the event I’m not at home when it comes time to evacuate. Yes, I travel with some survival essentials, but I’ve been wondering what I could do to prepare for an extended unplanned stay away. For example, instead of planning to grab my box of vital docs, should be uploading pictures of vital documents to a secure spot? What I could do before I leave home on a trip in case disaster strikes while away?
Great post. Thank you for an extremely thoughtful analysis; I am so glad I read this. Could you please clarify something. I do not read a lot of scientific/mathematical information . . . please explain the numbers on the list above of the 3 most common comorbidities / New York City? The most common comorbidities the doctors found: Hypertension (3026 patients, 56.6%) Obesity (1737 patients, 41.7%) Diabetes (1808 patients, 33.8%) Does this mean that 1808 of 5700 patients who were hospitalized had diabetes? Fewer of the hospitalized patients were obese but it was a higher percent of what as compared to diabetes?