Preparing for the Worst

Preparing for emergencies on the farm is something we've thought about and I can say we've gotten at least a little prepared accumulating some necessities over the years, but the recent snow storm that knocked out our power for a week and even longer for others, woke us up a bit.  We have a nice 4500W generator we've had for awhile, but it only provides 120V service and has never really been used until now.  We never lost power in our old house, all the utility in our suburban neighborhood was underground.  Even if we had lost power in the old hood we had City water to rely on so little to worry about unless a water main broke.  On the farm we rely on our own well, so water supply is a little more vulnerable because it's gone without power.  Our well pump is also 240V service, so the generator we have couldn't help us.  We're also at higher risk for fire and medical emergencies because of our remoteness, so emergency planning is a bit more important and we're stepping up our game a bit.

In general we weren't completely unprepared.  With all the canning and food storage work we've been doing our pantry wasn't a concern, we have plenty of food stored away.  We also have been keeping cases of drinking water on hand, so we had plenty of fresh water.  Oh, and hard cider...yep we still have enough hard cider on hand to get through an emergency, so that was a big relief!  Unfortunately, without the well though our 50 gallon pressure tank didn't supply many flushes in the bathroom before running dry, so we had to carry water buckets to fill the tanks for flushing.  It's a good thing we have the 300 gallon water tank for rainwater catchment, came in real handy.  Some of the other things we relied upon was our old kerosene heater that we used to assist keeping the house warm along with the pellet stove we ran off the generator, and I have a 30 year old white gas single-burner camp stove we put to use to make coffee and cook simple meals.

The experience got us thinking about the things we can change for next time, to maintain a normal level of comfort, like a generator upgrade to power the well so we're not hauling water and a kitchen stove that doesn't rely on electricity.  We were actually shopping for a new generator before the snow storm hit and almost bought one, but as luck had it we passed because we didn't have the chance to do any research.  Thankfully the power outage gave us new motivation so we dug into the specs and options of new generators and found ourselves a dual fuel option that can run off propane or gasoline.  With intentions of replacing our electric range with a propane gas stove having a generator that can run off propane is a big plus.  Also having both 240V and 120V allows us to power the well and a few circuits on the house.  We're going to have an electrician install a transfer switch for a few emergency circuits in the house to cover the refrigerator and some lights.  It will be convenient having to only worry about one extension cord to the transfer panel.

Generator Upgrade - old > new

The next big item is finding a new gas range for the house.  We've wanted a gas range for years, it's more enjoyable to cook with a visible flame and we won't have to worry about a power outage.  It would also be nice to have a griddle burner and the edge to edge cooking surface.  The research has begun, just need to figure out if we want to deal with 100lb propane tanks or get a 400lb tank with delivery service.

That's pretty much it for our big items.  We still need to keep our emergency medical supplies on hand and feed for the animals.  We're also upgrading our rainwater catchment system, adding a 2500 gallon tank and plumbing to the barn and garden.  This wasn't intended for emergencies, but I could imagine the potential for power outages in the summer because of forest fires, or having a tank of water on hand in an emergency fire of our own.  The farm work continues.

Rainwater catchment tank