Michael Janzen

I was doing a little research on long term food storage and found a couple good resources. The first is this very detailed resource on survival-center.com which catalogs many different types of food that are good for this kind of disaster preparedness. The other is a blog called the Bear Ridge Project. The blogger, Big Bear, explains a simple approach to food prep on a tight budget.

I just ran across this incredible little list of edible items and when they are in season. This would be very useful to any freegan for sure, or a great knowledge prep for hard times. There are 12 PDF files to download, one for each month of the year.  Foraging Guide

A chicken tractor is a simple portable chicken coop designed to easily move your feathered egg laying friends around the yard while keeping them safe and sound from predators and visits to your not so understanding neighbors. Here’s an instructable on how to build a simple chicken tractor. I first learned of it on Make.

Chicken Tractor Instructable

I just stumbled on this from a reader’s private website. This page is not private… but a very cool collection of solar cookers and plans. Solar cooking is a great way to use the sun for free to cook food.

Solar Cooker Plans

I’ve been collecting as much information about rain water collection as I can find. I’m not sure why I’ve been obsessed with this but it just seems like a good thing to know how to do. Here’s a very good article on the topic called Eight Principles for Successful Rainwater Harvesting.

I want to make a tiny alcohol burning stove and space heater for Nine Tiny Feet and just came across this great tiny stove on Make. This example is so small if actually can be worn around the neck like a necklace. Weird but possibly useful. Stove Necklace. You can also see it for sale… very expensive… better to make one yourself out of copper tubing me thinks.

Why alcohol burning? My guess is that post peak-oil many of us will probably learn to distill spirits from local vegitation as an alternative fuel to petroleum and natural gas. Nine Tiny Feet will have a peak-oil prepper spin when I’m done; a teaching tool for simple and sustainable living without petroleum.

I guess I’m not the only one that suspects that suburbia will be one of the potential victims when peak oil trouble really hits hard. Dwell and Inhabitat have teamed up and are co-hosting a design competition called Reburbia. Designers of all types are invited to submit their solutions for solving this potential future problem. I’ve got my own design ideas in the works; and yes they will include tiny houses. The deadline for entries is August 1, 2009. Reburbia

A reader on Tiny House Design posted a comment with a link to Bart Orlando’s pedal powered innovations up near Humboldt State University. This website is definitely worth spending some time if you was some post peak oil transportation solutions.

Pedal Powered Innovations

also see CARazed.com for electric cars and other post peak oil transportation possibilities.

I’ve been researching different ways of collecting rainwater for garden and home use. I ran across this article on a simple down-spout fed rain barrel on Crafting a Green World.

DIY Gardening: Build a Rain Barrel

I just ran across this website from a solar still article (water purification)  on Make. Built it Solar is a do it yourself solar energy website. They offer hundreds of articles on renewable energy projects you can do at home to save money and generate your own energy.

Built it Solar