Rain Day

I got sent home from work today because of rain. Then it turned into a pretty nice day for a couple hours; now it's all doom and gloom again.
So I gardened.

This wont be a long winded post.  I'm looking after the baby tonight to let Tammy off the hook. We are staying home to watch a movie but every cry, feeding and diaper is mine till bedtime.

I've been obsessing over plant related activities lately. I think its really important and this is the season to start it all. After this its water and wait.

I've got a lot of tomato's this year.
This is a La Roma 3 I'm growing in a container. I made a bamboo trellis.
I have made 2 of these so far and am getting the knack for it. I'll post a how too some time.






I also made some small raised bed's for a grape plant as well as a lower area for contained invasive plants (in this case Peppermint and Spearmint).

I am going to need two of these to go at the east side of the hop beds.
This will allow me to grow the grapes on the same trellis as the hops.
This box cost about $5 in materials.

The hop beds are beginning to take shape...

I started out digging a 1 foot deep hole and filling it in with good quality soil.

 


Then I hammered in some cedar shingles to make a border.

Followed up with mulching it up with 'sunset red' cedar chips.

:)

 I'm really hoping it keeps the cats from using it as a toilet. Also the mulch will keep the dirt moist for the hops.

I don't know why I went with red. I guess because it compliments the green of the plants.

Chives have flowered next to the catnip.
Catnip attracts bees and butterflies so it's good to have near stuff you need pollinated. It also keeps certain insects away.
I haven't seen the neighbours cats near it; or around much t all since I got better with the sling shot.
Heh.

More to come as it gets done.

Summer Hate

Ok. So it hailed yesterday around 4am. Killed a lot of the plants. :(
By 9 am it was +26.

30 foot hop trellis

The seedlings survived. I had to take them out of the greenhouse and put that in the shed because we had such high winds and tornado warnings the other day. But the tomatoes and hanging plants got killed off by hail. :(
14 tomato pants in all. 7 green pepper. 7 hot pepper. 2 melon.

So its time to replant the replant. 3rd time!!

So I've added more grapes this time. Walmart had 'em on sale for $6. I think I might plant 'em near the hops so I can use the same trellis.

13 foot hop trellis

But for that trellis I'm going to need some wood. Hops are a vine that can grow 30 feet a year; up. I really can't have a 30 foot high trellis in my back yard.
So I'm going to build a 13 foot trellis instead. I really don't need 30 feet of hops from 6 plants. I couldn't use it all.
I might have enough to sell to locals in a couple years anyways. These need a season or two before they really produce.

I'll need to pick up a few more plants maybe today or Monday. Stores around these parts are closed Sundays.

Speaking of closed. There is a Postal Strike in Manitoba. I wanted to order some books from amazon but will they get here...?

• Gaia's Garden (good book for permaculture)
• Herbal Medicine Maker Handbook
• The Sustainable Vegetable Garden
• Seed to Seed

I've heard good things about all these books and they have good reviews too.

Tammy and Kayden are in Steinbach with their friend Mel; she's coming home with more decorative plants; Hostas for certain. We have a huge shade area at the front of the house we are still working on.

I also got another 50 feet or garden hose!!! I can finally reach my whole garden! That's right. I could only reach half my garden properly. The rest I had to fill a bucket. :(
Now I can even reach the orchard area!

Kiwi's! Yes. There is a variation on the Kiwi tree that can grow in my area! I found some bushes and meant to buy them but forgot. They produce hairless grape size fruit that can be eaten whole and it is sweater than a grocery store kiwi. They are also self pollinating but I'd like to have a couple in case one dies. 2 is 1 and 1 is none. Walmart $8.

In case you needed another reason why you need to grow your own food... there is a growing fear of another E.coli pandemic in Europe. It is deadly. 1800+ infected so far, in 12 countries; even USA.
It is resistant to antibiotics! You really don't want to get it - it won't be fun.
It is caused, in part, by poop. Usually wild pigs will poop wherever they good and if it ends up in fields of human food it doesn't bother them. Then you eat the human field food and if it wasn't cleaned properly and all the wild pig poop is still on your food you can get E.coli.
Yum. It's always the good foods too, eh. People that eat salads and try and live health... BAM - E.coli.
But what can ya do eh?

Alright. I've done enough writing. I need to go plant another tree.
-Joel

Summer Love

So life got a little hectic for a while there; and still is.

The baby arrived!!!
My son, Kayden David Bydeley, was born on May 17th at 11:40am.
Mom and baby are doing great - we are all getting used to each other and trying to sleep when we can. ;)
Tammy did an awesome job during the birth. She is such a strong woman for going through with it and not using pain killers. Wow.
My son is a little cutie. He weighed 7lb 11oz. He has blue eyes (for now?) brown hair and looks a lot like his daddy.

So ya!! Babies. Now that's a DIY project.

But it is also gardening time!
So I have been busy getting that going for the last 2 weeks. I got everything planted and then we had a surprise frost and a lot died. :(

So I restarted the process and I'm back on track!

These 3 beds are our originals. They got reworked and touched up with peat moss, new dirt, blood and bone meal and de-weeded. The nice thing about my wooden raised beds is that there aren't a lot of weeds or grass; the rock raised bed gets invaded along the edges. To try and counter this I've poured a mixture of dirt, Creeping Thyme and water into the between the rocks. This will grow into a nice ground cover that will keep the grass roots out a bit better - I hope. I'll also be adding some "moss milk shake" to add to the diversity and appearance.
The fruit bed (top left) is doing great. There are a lot of strawberry plants that are taking over; and the blueberry is holding its ground. I'd like to add another 2 blueberries.

This year I also added a pair of Raspberry Bushes!

I added some mulch to keep grass out and moisture in

They were planted on a slight slope so I built up the edge with rocks; that way the water won't run away from the plant with the nice soil.
Tammy likes Raspberries. I'm not a big fan.





To the left you can see the pea garden and it's new trellis. I'm going to be using the nylon garden netting instead of the wire fencing I used last year. I don't think the plants liked growing up the metal.

Below that is the potato planter.
As the potato plants grow I'll add more wood boards and more dirt to keep the potatoes growing up!
At the end of the season I'll take all the boards off and it should be pretty full of spuds!
I'm planning on having 3 of these with different taters in each.

The hanging garden addition is coming along good. I bought a bunch of these hangers at a liquidation store for $5 each. I'm going to compare the growth and produce rate of each hanging plant to it's garden counterpart. Green peppers, tomatoes, hot peppers and cucumbers; with salad greens and herbs out of the tops.
The dog keeps watch.

These are the hop beds.
I haven't added a border yet. I'm going to just use the black plastic border and pound it into the ground. These guys will do fine once they are established.
Because they are a trellising plant I planted some peas also. The Peas will only grow up a couple feet; while the hops can grow up to 30 feet in a season. So the peas can add nitrogen to the soil and give me something to snack on while I tend to the hops. ;)

Cherries! I added two Evan Cherry plants. In a couple years they will produce nice fruit for snacks, jams, pies and maybe a cherry wine, baby food?







Apple tree!!
This is a Battleford Apple. I planted 2 apple trees last year, the other one isn't doing so well. But this one is! So, groovy.

Here is the compost I made. Its working quite well hidden in the bush. Next years dirt will be excellent.
I might need another one as this one is already half full.

German Ivy.
Grows up and out. Thick foliage.
I'm hoping they will blot out my 'neighbours' yard. So we wont have to look at their abused dog or dirty yard.
Yes. They use old tires as "decoration".
I added some Irish Moss and transplanted a Lilly here also.

These beds aren't food producers but it's nice to have pretty plants to look at; they are behind the house by the patio. I also have a few rose bushes and planted a few trees.

There is more to come. But not enough time to do everything. This blog will get more attention as the garden gets all planted. It's a short growing season here so a small window to get it all planted. I still have a lot more to do.
I have a bunch of seedlings growing in the greenhouse as well as a bunch of plants I'm growing in containers.

I'm hoping on growing a lot of the produce we would normally be buying - that way when food prices go up, like they are telling us they will, we will be in a better position to buy the food items we can't produce on our own (yet).

Still alive

I'm still here. I've been busy.
I had a really bad cold for a couple weeks. My wife is 9 months pregnant and I've been doing extra shifts at work during the Flood Watch 2011 in Winnipeg here. And the economy isn't looking very good.

I just changed the oil in my truck. That's a new skill I've picked up. I don't know anything about cars. Nothing.
But I've learned how to change my own oil and more in the last year.
Costs me about $9 bucks instead of $40 at the garages.
I do get dirty thought. Smells like dirty oil.
So I hope my truck runs a little smoother.

The big Winnipeg flood turned out to be a flop. Which is good I guess. A lot of people did not prepare in case it was bad. I build 8 foot high dikes along city properly that connected to a residential lot that have 0 feet of dikes, So if the river did flood then our 8 foot high dikes would do NOTHING. So I'm glade it appears to be a non event. And that I got paid good money for a non-event. :D

I have a baby on the way. Anytime now. My wonderful and awesome wife Tammy is 9 months and 1 week pregnant. This is our first born. It is a boy. :D
Dad is very excited!
I'm really really excited.

But this blog isn't meant to be mushy or cute. It's meant to be about doing it yourself and having fun doing it.
You know what sucks? Sandbagging. I, personally, handled around 130,000 sandbag's during my 5 weeks at it. You know what doesn't suck? Planting 14 onion bulbs in a raised bed garden that has no chance at seasonal flooding.
---

So I'm going to continue to post but life is really kicking it up a gear.
:D

-Joel

Compost! DIY dirt

If you are going to do any kind of gardening you are going to need dirt. Compost can make really good dirt and compost tea which the plants feed from.

If compost is done correct it does not smell or attract animals.

And best of all; compost is free dirt - and that's... dirt cheap. *Booo*

The web defines compost as "a mixture of decaying vegetation and manure; used as a fertilizer".

Most compost takes about a year to break down but there are tricks to get good compost in 2--3 months. It's all about bacteria and worms. If you give the microorganisms and worms ideal living conditions they will do all the work for you. Think of it as literally trillions of workers (slaves, mwa ha ha) working non stop.


There are 2 main parts of your compost you need to keep in balance.
Nitrogen(N) aka 'greens' and Carbon(C) aka 'browns'. 25:1 (C:N)
N - Nitrogen, P - Phosphorus, K - Potassium, C - Carbon, CC - Extra Carbon

Greens
Coffee grinds (N, P) - Acidic; great added direct to dirt for cranberries
Cooked food scraps - Low in nutrients and may attract animals
Grass clippings (N, P, K) - fresh = good nitrogen
Hay
Weeds

Browns
Grass clippings (C, P, K) - dried = good carbon
Sawdust (CC)
Wood Ash (P, K) - use small amounts, highly alkaline
Newspaper (CC) - shredded is best
Cardboard (CC)


Other
Egg shells - crushed up source of calcium
Drier lint - great!
Brewing yeast - Full of organisms.
Human urine - liquid gold


BAD
BBq ash/coal - contains sulphur oxides
Dishwater
Fish scraps - attracts animals, best if buried under new plants
Kitty litter - may contain disease organisms
Dog/cat poop - see above

Air, water and heat keep a happy compost. As the compost breaks down into dirt it heats up. That causes it to break down faster. So keep it in the sun. I have mine behind the shed facing south.
Turning the pile is also very important. Take a pitch fork and mix it up! This brings in air to help the bacteria.

A good size for a compost is 3x3 feet. This gives it enough mass to hold in the heat. When you mix it up you might see steam rising; that means it's working. :)

Alright. Good. So you have compost dirt and want to get the most from it. Use it to 'feed' the dirt around your plants. A scoop or two around you plants and watering them and they will produce nice quality food. You can also make a tea...

Compost Tea
This is like a free fertilizer. You need a water proof box or cooler, some cheese cloth and fresh compost. Put the compost in the cheese cloth or nylon socking and tie it shut; like a tea bag. Put the tea bag in the water proof box and fill with water to cover the tea bag (best-worst; rain water, pond water, well water, public water).
After about a week you can dump the tea dirt into the compost (the cheese cloth will compose). Now you have a great home made fertilizer that your plants will love.
As an added bonus you can pee into the tea and provide more nitrogen and minerals! Just make sure you have 10:1 tea:water ratio... AND water around the roots. Don't be dumping your Pee Tea all over the fruit you are planning to eat.
You can do more elaborate tea using fish tank aerator and pumps to circulate and oxygenate the liquid.


Other compost options.
Having an idea what your ground pH levels are is a good idea. You may need to adjust what dirt you use for certain plants. Cranberries are one plant I grow that like a high acidic soil. So I save my used coffee grinds to make compost just for that plant. I usually add it in before I give it to the plant.
Egg shells are high in calcium. Some plants, like tomatoes really benefit from it and will produce nicer fruit. If you crush it up and sprinkle a circle around plant stems it will help deter slugs and cutworms.
When I brew beer I have a think brown sludge of yeast leftovers. I add some warm water to activate the yeast and pour it into my compost. It acts as an activator that speed up the compost. Also spent grains and used hops help feed the system and acts like rocket fuel to your system. :D
Adding a couple scoops of dirt to the top after you've mixed it can be good. Also adding blood meal, bone meal are good.

I've been pretty sick lately but I've still been building a new compost bin out of wood. I'll post about it later.

We've gotten used to saving certain food scraps on the counter for a couple days then dumping them into the outside compost.

In many ways compost is the most important part of producing good gardens. In order to really produce your own foods you need 2:1 compost:garden ratio. So for every 5x5 foot garden you need 2 5x5 garden beds producing compost material and cover crops.

So I hope this has given some ideas and insights to composting.
G'night!

Preparing for the best case scenario

You deserve the best life has to offer. You have great potential, nearly unlimited opportunity and an intelligence that sets you above all other creatures.
I'm starting this off with some motivation.
I'm not trying to B.S. anyone. It's true.

Life isn't fair though. It can build you up and tear you down. Some of the smartest people have made the dumbest mistakes. Look at that 'golden voice guy' - he was a crack head bum; turned into a sensation over night and just like that he ruined it all.


I guess you shouldn't do things expecting to succeed or fail. Do things to make your life better.
I have over 3 months worth of food on hand. Not because I expect the world to end - that's betting on failure. I have it because it makes my life better even if nothing else goes wrong. Coffee goes on sale and I buy 3 months worth - I saved money. That way when I go for groceries and coffee isn't on sale I don't need to buy it. I'm sure it will go on sale again before my supply is out. If I had only bought 1 can and expected coffee to still be on sale when I needed it I would be betting on success.
So I'm betting on both and I'll come out a winner - even if something really successful happens!
I ran out of ketchup today, so instead of having to drive to the store I grabbed another container from the pantry. I still have 3 bottles left; I got them half price.

If you ask most people about having extra food on hand they think it is a dumb idea and they bet on the stores always being open and betting they can afford to buy it. If you went back in time 100 years they would think you were dumb for not having extra food on hand. Not because our great grandparents were worried about the current food crisis, financial crisis, oil crisis, water crisis or hop crisis.

They did it because they didn't want to have to worry about eating. Short of their house burning down they could provide food for their family for many months. They didn't pay money to house insurance companies because they had neighbour insurance - people who would take you in and help you rebuild because they knew you would do the same.

I have extra food on hand in case anything bad happens happens. Or anything good. So far the worst crisis that has hit me and caused me to really need stock from the hamper is lack of ketchup one morning. And most of the time that's all you will need the hamper for.
Building up a food supply to survive the end of the world is really kind of 'out there'. People have been saying it was going to happen for ever - its not a new concept. But there have been a lot of really let down people who bet on the worse and lost. But by preparing for 'no ketchup' events and bulking up on foods you eat regularly when they are on sale you save money. You are still saving up to have a Gramma level of food on hand and it saves you time from having to drive to the store and get it. Or if anything bad were to happen.
Don't buy 10 packs of Spam because it was on sale and lasts long; unless you like to eat Spam.

My wife and I are going to have a larger garden this year so we are going to store the extra away for winter. Especially vegetable mush for the baby. ;)
We aren't gardening in case the food supply disappears; but because the food tastes so much better. We aren't even doing it to save money but that happens also. But if the garden doesn't turn out we can still get food at the store.

I guess the moral is that you shouldn't expect for the worst. Bet on the best and worst case scenario. And to enjoy life.

I'm going to get back to more Do It Yourself stuff; I've been busy working all week and haven't had the energy or time to invest in this much.

My lil' wife is sick right now so I need to go take care of her.

Sand and oil

I'm working again. Back at the city filling sandbags for the upcoming 'flood of the century v2.0'.
So I haven't had time or energy to post as much. I'm having truck troubles right now or I'd be at work. The transmission is leaking. I'd like to get under the hood to try and fix it but we have really wicked wind for the last week -40 ain't no fun.
So I've been sandbagging. Hanging out at the beach.

Meanwhile, in another part of town....
The gas prices are going up and up!
Gotta love it. Whenever there is a disaster or global tension the price of oil goes up; even if it has nothing to do with oil. They jack the price.

But this time is is related to oil.
The Arab nations are getting all shook up.
So today the oil goes up because 2 or 3 American ships are heading to Libya.
My gas goes up.

Ok. I can understand and would expect that if I sent my little boats there that oil would cost more. So why did they decide to send the ships there?

Property of... Star Trek. Please don't sue me.

Lets look at the ships going.
The USS Ponce, built in 1970 - 900 troops.
USS Kearsarge, built in 1992 - 1900 troops.
And maybe...
The USS Enterprise! Built in 2363 1960 - 90 air crafts.
They aren't going there to attack just 'be there'.


Libya has 50,000 troops with  2100-7800 commando's that are very loyal to Gadhafi; due to his paranoia the bulk of his military are poorly trained and under equipped - often with no bullets. The Commando's were trained by the British in 2009.

So what are they going to do and why?
The British have been caught selling Libya military supplies to suppress the public.
Now Obama is asking the Saudis to give weapons to the Libya rebels...
So we are arming both sides. And neither side wants our help.

Whats Gadhafi going to do? If he steps down and lets the rebels take over he will end up in a coma like the Ex-President of Tunisian Zine al-Abidine or Ex-President Mubarak of Egypt; both slipped into unexpected coma's  soon after turning their country over to non-America anti-west supporters. These guys have been allied with the USA long enough to know how the CIA works. Gadhafi knows too. His job is to create as much chaos as possible. If he is a good dog, his masters will reward him.
The UN has already moved in and frozen his bank accounts. Who gives them the right? No one. They took it. I'm not saying the money isn't dirty and bloody.
It's like you have a neighbour that sells stolen merchandise. You decide it's wrong and you take all his money. 2 wrongs don't make a right. But none of this has anything to do with whats 'right'. It's about control. Why should the ruling elite need the middle/lower class? They don't. they want surfs, slaves, peons and peasants. They want to RULE like their ancestors did in the 'good ole days' of kings and peasants.

None of this is being engineered to make life better. Obama doesn't care about the Libyan people any more than he cares about his own people. HE cares about playing golf while the world goes down the tube.
I am happy to know that the President and I a couple things in common. He is brewing his own beer! That's right. Besides ruining the free world he has time to make home brew in the white house. The other thing we have in common is... well... I'm not American either. SNAP.

So good luck! With people like this running the world and people like us letting them I'm surprised we aren't worse off. ;)

This probably wont end well

I've been paying attention to what's going on in the middle east.
More fighting.

But there is more to it. But before I get to that I'm going to start here. At home.
More fighting.

Right now there are union's all across USA and Canada protesting and/or striking. Hawaii is the latest to join the craze that is taking us by storm. My job is also in peril as my co-workers have voted to strike if an agreement isn't made.
You see, the money is drying up. The US and Canadian governments gave out all that money to stimulate the economy (dumb idea) has run out so now there is no money to keep the great machine going; in fact now there is less money because we still have to pay it back with interest. So all these cities are trying to cut costs anyway they can AND trying to point the blame in another direction because they know just how screwed things really are.

So in my case, the city wants to contract out the jobs to companies that will do it for cheaper than the city worker. The actual job doesn't get cheaper - we workers get paid pretty much the same. Its the quality of the work done that is cheapened. Roads that should be 8" thick become 4" thick; instead of lasting 10 years last 1-2 years.
If your city needs $8,000,000 for road repairs but only has $2,000,000 - you're roads are going to start looking like shit.
It doesn't matter to the guys trying to cut costs because they don't want to be re-elected next term anyway. Leave the mess for someone else to clean up.

This is the crap I take OFF my burger.

Has anyone else had the joy of yellow and green tomatoes yet? Absolute garbage. But soon enough there wont even be garbage tomatoes to put on your burgers.

About the violence in the middle east. It seems like the whole area is destabilising. All these people are tired of being cheated. Their leaders have special deals with the west and little to no money ends up in the hands of the people. So the people are rioting and rebelling against it! They are forming new governments that are no friendly to the west. They are fighting and destroying oil production. That's going to push oil way up.

You hear about $100 a barrel, $104 a barrel, $117 a barrel.
A barrel has 42 gallons (159L) of oil.

But this is crude oil. Unrefined oil.
After it is refined each barrel converts to 19.15 gallons(72.5L) of oil.

These are just facts. No real point to them.

George Soros (investment banker and rich dude) says it is likely that oil will reach $200 a barrel and beyond, by summer, unless the fighting stops and pro-western governments form in the middle east.

Alright.
Best case scenario.
The fighting stops.
The leaders of these Arab countries love USA and Canada even more; they share the wealth with the people.
We all get along and oil returns to a nice low double digit number.
OH, and we discover fields of really great tomatoes. :D

Worst case...
The leaders of these troubled countries continue to fight and kill their rebelling population. The UN steps in and starts to arm and defend the people against the governments. Oil stops flowing and goes to $220 a barrel.
Gas stations in your town are either empty and closed down or they are charging 312.8L for regular or over $9 a gallon in parts of USA.
It costs a lot more money to ship food from 10,000 miles away; so your grocery bill that used to cost you $100 is now costing well over $400 and you can't even get some of the products because they are not available to you.
What makes matters worse is that the food transportation industry goes on strike when oil hits $170 a barrel. Then you can't get any food no matter how much you are willing to spend!

I don't like to plan for the worst case scenario. I don't even like to think about it. But ignoring it's potential for destruction because 'it's never happened to you' is nuts. This worst case scenario has a very real chance of happening. And when it does it will be very quick. You will probably get home from work or wake up in the morning and hear dire news warnings. By the time you know what is going on it will be too late. Because when you realise what is going on so will everyone else. Just like the  "Y2K disaster" - the day before everyone rushed out and bought all the foods they could. I was working at a grocery store and watched as people did this. Within a matter of hours after opening the store it was picked nearly bare.

I've talked about this in "12 Meals to Anarchy".
How will people react? They wake up in the morning, there is no food left, the grocery stores are empty. Do they go to work that day? Do they sit at home and watch TV while their children go hungry?
What would you do?

I have a lot of faith our ability to weather this storm. I don't think we will degrade into primitive African nation sitting around waiting for other to help them. Life will get hard for a while but we will pull though and we will do it ourselves! Our forefathers built this country from nothing and we can do it again. We aren't 'too big to fail' but we are too big to let it destroy us completely.
We have such a strong will to survive and endure, especially if we plan to endure.

So love life. Buy some 'food insurance'. Ride a bike to work if you can. Work closer to home if you can. Grow some food if you can. Do it yourself if you can.
And don't give up. Just keep going.

Buy once, lasts forever.

I like items I can buy once and can rely on. The DeWalt drill my wife bought me. Cost more than other name brand drills but it will last much longer too.

But t

So here is a list of 11 items that will keep indefinitely.

SALT
I bought a 30lb bag of food grade salt for $4 at Costco. I also have several lbs of sea salt, canning salt and course salt. Why so much?! I will eventually use it. As long as you keep it dry and clean it lasts forever. And you can do so much with it. I could write an entire post how awesome salt is and I would only be scratching the surface. Entire wars have been fought over it. It was a form of currency. And if anything REALLY bad ever happens (knocks on wood) there is no where in my area where I can get salt naturally. :(
There are many types of salt. I like Sea salt the most, it has more nutrients than table salt.
46 Smart Uses for Salt - Yahoo!

HONEY
Another I could talk a lot about. 2500 year old honey found in the pyramids still has the consistency of and taste of honey. Besides a sweetener they have medical uses too. They both have antimicrobial elements to them, even against the tougher anti-biotic resistant bugs! You can use them to treat infected wounds. Ulcers. Acne. Etc.
You can smear it on cuts; bandage it up and it will heal.
I would really like to have my own hive. I like to use honey when I brew beer instead of using dextrose or Dry Malt Extract.
15 unconventional uses for Honey - Life Hacker

SUGAR
Just like honey, is a great sweetener. I like it in coffee. I cook and bake with it. It doesn't go bad. I have over 70lbs of it; got it on sale - saved a bunch! It has many more uses though.
Uses for Sugar - Hubpages

DRY BLEACH
Lasts forever.
Wait. Why? So you can have white cloths? No - and yes. But 25lbs can purify 4 million gallons of drinking water. Keep this one secure it can be dangerous if small children get into it. I have one on the way so mine is secure.
12 Uses for Bleach - Readers Digest

HAND TOOLS
Tools that don't use electricity. A Hammer. HAND saw. Grain mill. French Fry slicer.
This stuff rarely breaks down. You buy a set of screw drivers with plastic handles - they will last forever. I love (love) my DeWalt drill but it has moving parts and needs power and if it fails it probably can't be repaired. Hand tools are too awesome.

SKILLS
Knowledge is power. The more you know the more you know you don't know. True... But the more you know the better off you are than when you didn't know; ya know? So you know that seeds turn into plants but you've never planted one. Hrm... So you've grown a plant and it fed you. GOOD.
Do things. Do things yourself! Build a book shelf; paint a self portrait. Change the oil in your car.
Know how to do things yourself.


BOOKS
Besides being great kindling they are useful as knowledge. They can teach. Acquire the ones that tell you skills (see above) that you want to learn or want to teach. I have an e-reader and can download a lot of good books (well over  30,000 and growing) but I still buy the books I'd use if there was no electricity. I love books. My mom read to me when I was a kid and I'm already gearing up to read to my kid. May favourite books: 33 Strategies of War, SAS survival Handbook, Celestine Prophecies, World War Z, On Killing, Encyclopedia of Country Living, Band of Brothers - to name a VERY small selection of the many physical books I own and love. The art of war. Books are awesome. Any book by S.M Stirling - I've read every one so far.

WATER FILTERS
Besides air water, clean safe water, is important. I did a post about how Water Is Awesome. And it is. I could talk a lot about water and what I know about it but I won't yet. But what I will say is that water filters are really cheap right now and if you think you could use one for camping or as a back up it won't cost you a lot of money to get one now when it is optional compared to if it is important. Mine cost me about a hundred bucks and I've had it for 5 years. I don't use it often but when I do use it I'm glade to have it. I would like to do a real in-depth post on creating your own ceramic water filter system for a few dollars during the summer. But I will say that you can do it yourself for cheap and that is is a good SKILL to have.

BAKING SODA
I don't know a lot about this product. I use it in baking. I know it has a lot of uses but I don't know how to make it myself - yet.
Best if kept in a glass, wax sealed container. Lasts forever.
75 Uses for Baking Soda - lifehackery.com

VINEGAR
Lasts forever. I don't need to tell you it is good on fries.
It's really a cheap buy now a days. If you see it on sale and you buy $30 worth of it you will be able to use it. It won't go bad. If you want to make your own (I do) then you will need a mother...
Not all vinegars are created equal.
50 uses for Vinegar - Paul Michael @ Wifebread; good read


PARAFFIN CANDLES
This lasts a lot longer than candles - which are prone to melting. Paraffin is a wax in its liquid form and usually is in an airtight sealed package. Just add a wick and voila you have a heat and light source!

PAPER PRODUCTS
This is stuff like TOILET PAPER. You are going to use it eventually right. I've never used a leaf, nor want to, so buying a 'shit' load of this when it's on sale is a good idea. Diaper's and feminine pads are good items too - if you have a female or baby in your life I guess. This stuff can be great for barter too. After everyone else runs out of TP give 'em a week and they'll trade anything for some 2 ply love.
I think items like paper plates, napkins and paper towels are good stuff to have on hand also. You can get them for pretty cheap.

:D

So that's about all I have to say about that. This list is mostly a mash up of lists I've read over the years. If I can think of anything else I'll do another posting about it down the road. If you come across any of these items on sale you can stock up on them knowing you will save money and they will not go to waste. I won't run out of sugar for quite a long time. ;)