Tom and Barbara were two people determined to do things their own way.
Tom had quit his job and gone to work for himself, not as a self-employed contractor or consultant, but as a self-reliant person.
They did not want to rely on Uncle Sam or The Man to provide for their needs.
Like the pioneers of old, they wanted to do it all themselves.
So far, they had succeeded in mapping out a game plan, and gotten a nice size garden laid out.
This garden served two purposes: give them food to eat, and food to sell.
It took a bit of trying, but Tom was finally able to persuade the local grocers to use them as a source of produce for their markets.
This gave Tom and Barbara money to put back into the growth of their self-reliant lifestyle.
Tom and Barbara were two people determined to do things their own way.
Tom had quit his job and gone to work for himself, not as a self-employed contractor or consultant, but as a self-reliant person.
They did not want to rely on Uncle Sam or The Man to provide for their needs.
Like the pioneers of old, they wanted to do it all themselves.
Read on to discover part three of a six part series.
Their next focus in The Plan was water.
They needed water for themselves as well as for their garden, and when they started to add livestock and chickens to their mix, those critters would need water, too.
For Tom and Barbara, water was of vital importance, not just to drink, but also to bathe in and cook with.
It was, essential, therefore, for Tom to get going on this part of their plan.
After a bit of thought, Tom and Barbara both realized that they knew next to nothing about water and self reliance.
They knew that they would need to store water on their property, not just for emergencies, but for use in their self reliance plans.
They decided to implement a combination of emergency preparedness advice and self reliance.
This is what they did.
They learned that for every person in their household, in this case, just the two of them, they needed two gallons of water per person, per day.
This would amount to about fifty-six gallons of water to set aside for an emergency.
What they would do would be to store this water in five gallon containers for easy storage, because each five gallon container would weigh forty pounds when full of water, making them easy to move around and keep.
They would store them in new containers, not used, to avoid contamination.
They also learned to stay away from metal containers that could rust or get things in them that could make Tom and Barbara sick.
They would keep this water stored for one month.
At the end of this month, they would use money earned from their garden surplus to purchase more water to replace their storage, and rotate the older water out to the garden and eventually the livestock.
They would in the meantime purchase enough water to use on the garden between storage rotation.
Tom realized this wasn't exactly total self reliance, but he had learned that gathering rainwater was not exactly legal where he lived.
He wasn't sure why, but he felt certain that it was just Uncle Sam struggling to keep hold of people just wanting to be let go.
This would work for now, Tom and Barbara decided.
When it rained, so be it.
Their garden would delight in the thirst quencher storm.
So would Tom and Barbara.
Until a better way of being totally independent of the municipal stranglehold on the private collecting and usage of water outside their control, this was it.
If they lived in the country, they could possibly have dug a well, but they lived in the city.
Someday...
Now, Barbara reminded her husband, what about that chicken coop? "I'm getting to it," Tom intoned.
"Don't rush me.
" Sure, Barbara thought.
At least they were getting somewhere.
She paused a moment to scan their little plot of land, pleased at her garden spanning the yard, already planted for another season.
Their water storage was placed in a safe place under an overhang by the side of the house, under a tarp.
She was pleased with what she saw.
Soon, she realized, she would be able to quit her job.
There debts were almost paid, and the grocers were coming to rely on them more for their produce.
Will it be enough? It will once the chickens arrived.
But first, there is the chicken coop.
She turned to Tom and smiled.
He groaned and turned his eyes skyward.
He knew.
Chickens.
Tom had quit his job and gone to work for himself, not as a self-employed contractor or consultant, but as a self-reliant person.
They did not want to rely on Uncle Sam or The Man to provide for their needs.
Like the pioneers of old, they wanted to do it all themselves.
So far, they had succeeded in mapping out a game plan, and gotten a nice size garden laid out.
This garden served two purposes: give them food to eat, and food to sell.
It took a bit of trying, but Tom was finally able to persuade the local grocers to use them as a source of produce for their markets.
This gave Tom and Barbara money to put back into the growth of their self-reliant lifestyle.
Tom and Barbara were two people determined to do things their own way.
Tom had quit his job and gone to work for himself, not as a self-employed contractor or consultant, but as a self-reliant person.
They did not want to rely on Uncle Sam or The Man to provide for their needs.
Like the pioneers of old, they wanted to do it all themselves.
Read on to discover part three of a six part series.
Their next focus in The Plan was water.
They needed water for themselves as well as for their garden, and when they started to add livestock and chickens to their mix, those critters would need water, too.
For Tom and Barbara, water was of vital importance, not just to drink, but also to bathe in and cook with.
It was, essential, therefore, for Tom to get going on this part of their plan.
After a bit of thought, Tom and Barbara both realized that they knew next to nothing about water and self reliance.
They knew that they would need to store water on their property, not just for emergencies, but for use in their self reliance plans.
They decided to implement a combination of emergency preparedness advice and self reliance.
This is what they did.
They learned that for every person in their household, in this case, just the two of them, they needed two gallons of water per person, per day.
This would amount to about fifty-six gallons of water to set aside for an emergency.
What they would do would be to store this water in five gallon containers for easy storage, because each five gallon container would weigh forty pounds when full of water, making them easy to move around and keep.
They would store them in new containers, not used, to avoid contamination.
They also learned to stay away from metal containers that could rust or get things in them that could make Tom and Barbara sick.
They would keep this water stored for one month.
At the end of this month, they would use money earned from their garden surplus to purchase more water to replace their storage, and rotate the older water out to the garden and eventually the livestock.
They would in the meantime purchase enough water to use on the garden between storage rotation.
Tom realized this wasn't exactly total self reliance, but he had learned that gathering rainwater was not exactly legal where he lived.
He wasn't sure why, but he felt certain that it was just Uncle Sam struggling to keep hold of people just wanting to be let go.
This would work for now, Tom and Barbara decided.
When it rained, so be it.
Their garden would delight in the thirst quencher storm.
So would Tom and Barbara.
Until a better way of being totally independent of the municipal stranglehold on the private collecting and usage of water outside their control, this was it.
If they lived in the country, they could possibly have dug a well, but they lived in the city.
Someday...
Now, Barbara reminded her husband, what about that chicken coop? "I'm getting to it," Tom intoned.
"Don't rush me.
" Sure, Barbara thought.
At least they were getting somewhere.
She paused a moment to scan their little plot of land, pleased at her garden spanning the yard, already planted for another season.
Their water storage was placed in a safe place under an overhang by the side of the house, under a tarp.
She was pleased with what she saw.
Soon, she realized, she would be able to quit her job.
There debts were almost paid, and the grocers were coming to rely on them more for their produce.
Will it be enough? It will once the chickens arrived.
But first, there is the chicken coop.
She turned to Tom and smiled.
He groaned and turned his eyes skyward.
He knew.
Chickens.
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