{"id":5244,"date":"2016-02-20T03:00:37","date_gmt":"2016-02-20T08:00:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/?p=5244"},"modified":"2016-02-20T03:00:37","modified_gmt":"2016-02-20T08:00:37","slug":"q-and-a-good-seeds-and-city-sewers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/2016\/02\/20\/q-and-a-good-seeds-and-city-sewers\/","title":{"rendered":"Q and A: good seeds and city sewers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good seeds<\/strong><\/p>\n

I do not have a question, just wanted to tell everyone how wonderful your seeds are! I bought many kinds from you last year. The “Dragon’s Tongue” bush beans were fantastic \u2014 so tender, beautiful on the bush and boy do they ever out the beans! Your “Provider” beans were the same \u2014 I canned over 63 jars of just the Providers, ate many fresh, gave some away and still had many left over for seed.<\/p>\n

Carol Seldomridge
\nRigby, Idaho<\/em><\/p>\n

Thank you so much Carol! It’s always great to hear from folks who have liked our seeds. We try to only offer ones we grow and love ourselves. — Jackie<\/p>\n

City sewers<\/strong> <\/p>\n

I live in Mesa, Arizona, about 65 miles east of Palo Verde Nuclear Power Plant. We don’t have earthquakes or other natural disasters, other than 115 degree (or more) summers. I figure the power plant would be the most likely emergency if attacked by terrorists. Without that plant, the drain on the electric grid would cause blackouts. <\/p>\n

I’ve been stocking up on all the usual emergency supplies but there are some things I can’t figure out how to prepare for. If the electricity is out throughout the area for weeks (or more) are the city sewers going to back up? That was mentioned in something I read. I know they won’t work, but am I going to have to deal with backed up toilets? Also, how do I keep cool without electricity or running water? People here die from the heat. Even at night, it can be in the high 90s. My immediate area once lost electricity for over 8 hours in August. I wore my swim suit and hosed down periodically. But that wouldn’t be possible with total loss of electricity in a much larger area for weeks or longer, as the water won’t be running. A wading pool would be too warm within a couple of hours. A generator isn’t the answer, as the houses are close and everyone would be on my doorstep. I can’t provide for thousands of people. I’m 73, retired, and on a fixed income. <\/p>\n

Marion<\/em><\/p>\n

Most sewage systems rely chiefly on gravity which will allow them to function during a relatively short power outage. However if it is long-lasting, many have grinders and lift stations where the sewer pipes must go uphill for a short distance. These are run by power. Most plants have emergency backup generators which will help for awhile \u2026 until there isn’t any more gasoline or diesel available. It won’t cause your toilet to back up but it won’t flush down the stuff you put in it. THAT would cause it to back up, provided you have enough water to flush it in the first place. You can use a five-gallon bucket with a toilet seat and lid. Place a plastic bag in the bucket and add three inches of wood shavings. Use that bucket for “solids” and another one for urine only. (You can simply pour out the urine around your trees during the evening \u2014 discretely, of course.) After each use put a couple of handfuls of shavings on top. When the bag is full, tie it shut and stack it out of sight. This gives you a non-water, cheap solution to the potty problem. I’ve used it and it works great. Tip: Use a paper bag inside a wastebasket for toilet paper. It slows down the fill on the bucket and you can place the full bags inside a plastic bag, tying it shut.<\/p>\n

Think about how you’ll store sufficient water to get you by for quite awhile. If you have a garage, you could install one or two 300-gallon vertical poly water storage tanks and keep them full. (Nobody knows when an emergency will happen!) A simple wash basin in the house and a washcloth will do wonders to help keep you cool in the summer and yet not use much water. The same with a few gallons in the bathtub (not warmed by the sun). Don’t change the water every time you cool off; you’ll use too much water.<\/p>\n

If possible, install more insulation in your home. When we lived in New Mexico, our old house had zero insulation and was hotter than blazes in the summer (we had no air conditioning either). We also froze in the winter. But just adding plenty of insulation in the attic made a huge difference. But, of course, summer was still hot. We spent afternoons taking it easy \u2014 siesta time. Work was done early in the morning and later in the afternoon\/evening. Don’t discount the wading pool but have a deeper one. I used to sit in our retired stock tank in the afternoons that were real hot. It sure helped me feel cooler. (That tank was two feet deep and about 10 feet in diameter, on the north side of the barn where it got some shade in the afternoon.) Just use common sense and don’t over-do when it’s hot. — Jackie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good seeds I do not have a question, just wanted to tell everyone how wonderful your seeds are! I bought many kinds from you last year. The “Dragon’s Tongue” bush beans were fantastic \u2014 so tender, beautiful on the bush and boy do they ever out the beans! Your “Provider” beans were the same \u2014 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,10,13,17],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5244\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.backwoodshome.com\/blogs\/JackieClay\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}