- June 17, 2024
- June 10, 2024
- June 3, 2024
- Disaster Focus: Earthquakes
- Disaster Focus: Flash Floods
- Disaster Focus: Tornadoes
The Urban Lady Prepper Newsletter
Monday, June 17, 2024
Welcome to the ULP newsletter! I hope you find the information useful.
Wednesday Blog: You’re Gonna Need a Checklist…
Friday Blog: Storage – Do’s, dont’s and Controversies
NEW PODCAST: Tales from a Stockpiling, Zombie Watching Chunky Dunk
LAST WEEK’S PODCAST: Get Your Mind Right; Prioritize to Survive! & ULP Special – Why Women Are #TeamBear
Did you know?
- Lightning can reach temperatures of 54,000°F
- There are USB-chargeable long-necked lighters now! Good to have on hand 🙂
- That the San Andreas fault is not the only one in the U.S.? Which brings us to the…
Disaster Tip of the Week:
Earthquakes. Only a handful of U.S. states are outside of a seismic zone. While the San Andreas fault is the most famous, another faultline that is also exceptionally dangerous is the New Madrid Fault, which runs through Northeast Arkansas, Southeast Missouri, Western Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Southern Illinois, and Missouri. We recently had one in northern Georgia. The recent earthquake in New Jersey, which measured 4.8 on the Richter scale and was felt through New York and into New England, resulted from an old fault line. Although it seems rare, the northeast has more earthquakes than you think; they’re too small to notice. Some preventative measures include securing heavy items in your home, such as shelving/bookcases, refrigerators, water heaters, TVs, and hanging objects. Put your heavy and breakable objects on lower shelves. If an earthquake happens, here are some safety tips for surviving it:
DROP where you are, onto your hands and knees. This position protects you from being knocked down by shaking and reduces your chance of being hit by falling or flying objects.
COVER your head and neck with one arm and hand.
- If a sturdy table or desk is nearby, crawl underneath for shelter
- If no shelter is nearby, crawl next to an interior wall
- Stay on your knees; bend over to protect vital organs
HOLD ON until the shaking stops.
- Under shelter: hold on to it with one hand; be ready to move with your
shelter if it shifts
- No shelter: hold on to your head and neck with both arms and hands.
- If you are in a recliner or bed: Cover your head and neck with your arms or a pillow until the shaking stops.
- If you use a cane: Drop, Cover, and Hold On or sit on a chair, bed, etc. and cover your head and neck with both hands. Keep your cane near you so it can be used when the shaking stops.
- If you use a walker or wheelchair: LOCK your wheels (if applicable). If using a walker carefully get as low as possible. Bend over and COVER your head/neck with your arms, a book, or a pillow.
Then HOLD ON until the shaking stops.
Gardening/Growing Tips:
Tomatoes are a garden favorite because they’re easy to grow and a great first plant for a new gardener to try. One critter that loves tomatoes is the hornworm. They can devastate your tomatoes and are tough to see because their coloring matches plant stems and leaves. If you are growing a lot of tomatoes and don’t have the time to squint for them, get a blacklight – they’re phosphorescent and will glow for easy picking!
ULP NEWS: The Urban Lady Prepper is now on Spotify, along with I Heart Radio, Podchaser, Boomplay, and Player FM! Apple, Amazon, and TuneIn are up next! But you don’t need any of those to listen right now, you can listen right through my website.
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
General News:
- A Russian submarine, the Kazan, was in the Cuban capital city’s harbor about 100 miles southwest of Key West, Florida, for “military exercises.” The U.S. intelligence community stated that while the submarine is nuclear-powered, it isn’t carrying nuclear weapons. If that makes you uncomfortable, it should.
- Update on Chinese Tariffs: The Aluminum Foil Container Manufacturers Association filed a petition seeking the addition of antidumping and countervailing duties on imports of Disposable Aluminum Containers, Pans, and Trays from China. While good long-term for U.S. industries, we may be paying more for these items than we’ve been used to.
Food News:
- On June 16, 2024, the FDA assigned whole cucumbers produced by Fresh Start Produce Sales, a Class I risk (the highest). The cukes were originally recalled as a lower-level risk on May 23 due to the presence of salmonella. A Class I is issued when there is a “reasonable probability” that the use of or exposure to a product could “cause serious adverse health consequences or death.” The affected cukes were distributed between May 17 to May 21 this year. They have an expiration date of May 27 and bear the lot number BG0813804. While only four states are affected by the Class I risk classification (Florida, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania), the product was also shipped to Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. While I would like to think no one has a cucumber from nearly a month ago, if you have an older cuke of questionable origin chillin’ in the fridge and you live in one of the aforementioned states, you may want to discard it to be safe!
If you have any questions or source link requests, let me know. Stay safe, and have a great week! |
The Urban Lady Prepper Newsletter
Monday, June 10, 2024
Welcome to the ULP newsletter! I hope you find the information useful.
Wednesday Blog: So…Exactly What Kind of Sh*t is Hitting the Fan?
Friday Blog: What is a Bug Out Bag & Why do I Need One?
Sunday’s Upcoming Podcast: Tales from a Stockpiling, Zombie Watching Chunky Dunk
UPLOADED YESTERDAY: Get Your Mind Right; Prioritize to Survive! & ULP Special – Why Women Are #TeamBear
Did you know?
- For those who feel my emphasis on having water is overboard, note this: The average person uses 60-100 GALLONS of water PER DAY, with a family using more than 300 gallons. Let that sink in for a moment, then collect and store more of it 🙂
- When the power goes out, things will stay cold in the refrigerator for up to 4 hours, in a full freezer for 48 hours, or 24 hours if half full. If you believe an outage is coming, keep a cooler (or 2) with freezable ice packs to store essentials.
- …That a person can be swept away in 6 inches of moving water, and a car with just two feet? Which brings me to…
Disaster Tip of the Week: Flash Floods can be deadly. Here are some things you may not have known:
In the U.S., floods kill more people each year than tornadoes, hurricanes, or lightning. Flash floods can occur anywhere, even in urban locations, and almost half of all flash flood deaths are auto-related. Areas most susceptible to them are near any body of water, low-lying areas, underpasses (I was actually caught in one of those – it wasn’t cute), and areas dried out due to lack of rain. Here are tips straight from FEMA:
- Go to higher ground if possible.
- Avoid places that are already flooded and anywhere water is moving rapidly.
- Do not attempt to cross flowing waterways.
- If advised to evacuate, do so immediately.
- Continue monitoring weather forecasts and alerts–on radio, TV, or your phone.
- If driving in heavy rain, look out for flooding at highway dips and bridge underpasses.
- Do not attempt to drive across a flooded road. The depth of the water is not always obvious, and the roadbed itself may be washed out under the water. Turn around and go another way.
- If a vehicle stalls in high water, leave it immediately and seek higher ground. Rapidly rising water may engulf the vehicle and sweep it away.
Gardening/Growing Tips:
Plant green onions in your containers or beds. Insects hate the smell and will leave the veggies planted near them alone. This will NOT affect the taste of the veggies growing next to them. The best companion is tomatoes. Also, many critters with four legs or more despise the smell of Irish Spring soap, this includes deer! Stick chunks on the side of your containers or raised beds, or grate them in the areas you want to keep pests out. It won’t harm the plants. Replace as needed.
Yayyyyy…skeeters & flies. Everything sucks about them. If you want to avoid chemicals, get Citronella plants and bruise some leaves to release the smell where you want a bug-free zone. I fill a spray bottle with water and citronella oil, which I shake and spray across my porch and by the door to discourage them from coming in. A cinnamon spray can work as well. Rub Irish Spring soap along areas where you want to deter them.
ULP NEWS: The Urban Lady Prepper is now on Spotify, along with I Heart Radio, Podchaser, Boomplay, and Player FM! Apple, Amazon, and TuneIn are up next! But you don’t need any of those to listen right now, so head over to my website to hear 5 episodes!
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
General News:
The ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have disrupted global trade, leading to increased shipping costs. This could mean less availability and higher costs.
Reports about “Flying venomous spiders” expected to “invade” the East Coast are click-bait…sort of. The Joro Spider has four-inch-long legs and uses a “ballooning” technique to paraglide on a breeze, so it doesn’t really fly. It is venomous…to bugs it likes to eat. They are NOT known to be harmful to people or pets. Normally, I would say kill any spider with fire, but these spiders, comfortable in a big city, eat cockroaches and wasps, so they’ll get a pass from me! This non-native species landed in Georgia in 2014, and is moving up through the Northeast. It arrived via container ship cargo.
Food News:
June 8 recall for baby Arugula from Green Life Farms (Lot #LW15124) and June 3 for ground black pepper (7 oz. UPC code 8 22514 26626 6) from Baraka for possible Salmonella contamination.
1.9 million bottles of Fiji water have been recalled for the presence of manganese and three additional “bacterial genera”. They were shipped directly to consumers via online sales. (24 pack) Case UPC Code: 6 32565 00004 3 Bottle UPC Code: 6 32565 00001 2
Veggies Made Great brand Broccoli Cheddar Breakfast Potato Bakes is the center of 10,000 recalled potato products by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). They were voluntarily recalled in early May due to potential Listeria monocytogenes contamination, but on June 5, the item was updated to a Class II,
meaning it “may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences,” if eaten, according to the FDA definition.
If you have any questions or source link requests, let me know. Stay safe, and have a great week!
The Urban Lady Prepper Newsletter
Tuesday, June 3, 2024
Welcome to the very first ULP newsletter! I hope you find the information useful. As a “thank you,” I have attached my Essential Prepper Checklist in a PDF file 🙂
Wednesday Blog: Tips for Staying Safe When Not at Home
Friday Blog: What is a Bug Out Bag & Why do I Need One?
Did you know?
…The prepper rule of Three?
In general, a human can survive for:
- Three minutes without air/breathing (asphyxiation)
- Three hours without shelter in an extreme environment (exposure)
- Three days without water (dehydration)
- Three weeks without food (starvation)
Disaster Tip of the Week:
It’s tornado season. Here are some things you may not have known:
- Do NOT crack your window! The idea of cracking your window “to decrease pressure” is NOT TRUE and doesn’t work. Keep the windows closed and stay away from them!
- While there is no hard and fast rule, tornados do tend to move from southwest to northeast. However, if you’re watching a moving tornado that appears to stop, it’s heading towards you. A tornado can move in ANY direction at ANY time.
- Do you have a tornado kit?
- Blankets, NOAA radio, Flashlight, Water, Shoes, First Aid Kit, PKW (phone, keys, wallet), and helmet if you have one. Keep these items in a box in or near your tornado “safe spot” so you can grab it and hunker down in your basement or an interior room/closet without windows on the lowest floor. If you live in a mobile home and have received sufficient warning, evacuate to a shelter or sturdy building; if there is no time, get in your tub!
Gardening/Growing Tips:
It’s not too late to plant stuff! You can still plant tomatoes, cucumbers (bush varieties, unless you have enough height to trellis), pepper, squash, salad greens, and herbs – all of these can work in small spaces and containers. If you’re behind schedule (like me this year) or new to gardening, there is no shame in getting the young plants you see in the big-box stores; in fact, I recommend them to build your confidence because growing from seed can be frustrating 🙂
We are at the height of the tick season. These Lyme disease-spreading jerks dwell in grassy, brushy, or wooded areas. Even if you live in the city, be cautious about walking through areas that have that kind of vegetation. And everyone, make sure your pets are protected! Get more information here:
ULP NEWS: My podcast has been picked up by several platforms, such as Spotify, I Heart Radio, Samsung, and Podchaser! Still waiting on Apple and Amazon…
THIS WEEK’S TOP STORIES
General News:
- Ukraine is now allowed to use U.S. weapons in its war with Russia. While this concerns the Prepper community as we are watching for WWIII, EVERYONE should be paying attention as it can only increase tensions and concerns about a nuclear attack on U.S. soil.
- China will restrict the export of aviation and space components beginning July 1, 2024, citing “the need to protect the country’s national security and interests.”
- Although the Panama Canal’s water level has increased, it remains historically low. As a result, shipping restrictions will remain in effect throughout 2024, continuing to impact the supply chain.
- The shortage of electrical transformers has continued, with prices increasing up to 9 times higher than before. The transformers are needed to manage energy flowing through the power grid. High electric demand, changes in electricity usage, extreme weather, and new builds have led to an approximate 2-year lead time.
- California firefighters continue battling wind-driven wildfire east of San Francisco
- A “heat dome” will cover the Southwest this week, sending the area into triple-digit temperatures.
Food News:
- Our grid, communications, and satellites are fine post-solar storms, but some farming equipment was affected, which could affect harvest. Depending on the extent of the damage, this may mean lower availability, lower quality, and higher cost.
- Glyphosate contamination is now considered to be widespread in essential foods. This chemical, used for weedkilling, has been found in even organic food due to the drifting of chemical residue from crops that use it to those that don’t. While it is considered safe in the U.S., it is banned in other countries due to a possible link to cancer and DNA damage.
- Projected food shortages for 2024 are eggs and chicken due to the new round of avian flu; wheat, flour, and cooking oil due to drought and the war in Ukraine; rice due to extreme weather and countries such as India reducing their exports due to lower-than-expected production; and beef due to drought and rising costs, which are passed down to the consumer. I recommend that you stock up on these items!
| If you have any questions or source link requests, let me know. Stay safe, and have a great week! |