Soap Making Fun at Greenfield Community Center

I had a great time with Mary Lou, Monica, Sue and Deb last night making Goat's Milk Soap at the Greenfield Community Center. The ladies had various reasons for wanting to make soap but they say they LOVE to buy homemade soaps and like knowing what's in the soaps they buy.

During the two hour class we made up a batch of soap using only all natural ingrediants including organic goat's milk, organic olive oil, organic coconut oil, organic sustainably sourced palm kernal oil and flakes as well as lye. The lye reacts with the oils to produce the soap. Once the products were all mixed together and reached "trace", we added some calendula flowers and oatmeal. The ladies will take their soaps home in plastic containers and keep them in a warm, draft free area covered up and within 24-48 they can cut it up. By this time, the lye will have dissipated and they will cover the soap back up and let it rest for an additional 6-8 weeks before using it. During this time, more water will evaporate making the soap harder so that it will last longer. Each participant took home two cups which will potentially be cut into 4-5  pieces.  In a two hour class they created what could be a year's supply of beautiful handmade organic soap to use at home!

They were a great group of ladies! We had a lot of fun and learned that creating your own soap can be a quick and easy project to do at home!

Homesteaders Meeting at Urban Ecology Center

A couple weeks ago, the Victory Garden Initiative held a meeting at the Urban Ecology Center for people interested in homesteading. There was an amazing turn-out from people both young and old and a cross section of the city. This movement is growing both in Milwaukee and across the United States as more people realize that our current large agricultural system is not sustainable. The nutrients in the soil are quickly being depleted so that the nutritional content of the vegtables and fruits you eat are not as high as when our parents or grandparents were eating them. Growing your own vegtables and fruits is now easier than ever because of the strong network of organizations dedicating to helping people do just that.

Also, Milwaukee may soon become the winner of a grant from Mayor Bloomberg of New York who issued a challenge to mayors throughout the United States to come up with an inivative program to address needs in their city. Mayor Barrett proposed turning empty lots and foreclosed homes into community based food system hubs. His proposal landed in the top 20 of 300 proposals and made its way to Mayor Bloomberg. The winner will receive a $5 million grant to move their initiative forward. Our Department of City Development is already looking at which properties would be best used for this purpose and Mayor Barrett says he'll move the project along with or without the funds.

Its an exciting time to live in Milwaukee if you are interested in growing your own food!

Core Beliefs of Resiliency Training

My motto is Be Prepared and Learn How to Thrive not just survive. These tenants are the core principles which I live by. I fully believe that every person should learn how to take care of themselves in the event of a disaster. To me that means having the right kind of food and a supply that will last at least a month. There are far too many scenerios in which we could find ourselves without a power supply and everything in the refrigerator and freezer will quickly become hazardous to eat. After a lot of research, I've come to believe that freeze dried food is the way to go. Every meal is ready to eat in minutes and only requires the addition of clean drinking water. Freeze dried food is easy to store and there are a lot of vendors out there who offer a five gallon bucket with a month supply of food in variety packs for families. Another bonus is the cost per meal which can be as low as $.31.

I know a lot of people that store huge quantities of water in order to feel more prepared but I believe that water storage is not convenient enough to be a viable solution for many families. The water has be changed out every six months to avoid bacteria build-up or the addition of bleach to kill any harmful organisms. Instead, having a water source nearby such as a rain barrel system, lake or stream along with homemade water filtering system that will take care of any contaminants is the better way to go. I created a filtering system using a high quality gravity purifier that can provide me clean water using any water source. A good catchment system assures me a source of water for short term needs but I also am lucky enough to have a large pond nearby to collect water. Every person in the household should have about five gallons of fresh water every day.

I also believe in knowing enough basic first aid to handle common medical issues during times of disaster. I went through the CERT (Community Emergecy Response Training) in order to learn the how to prepare for and handle the type of medical emergencies I might see during and after a disaster.

I believe everyone should be able to survive for the short term in the outdoors should the need arise. Knowing how to prioritize your needs is the most important piece of moving from survival to thriving. The skills to create your shelter, a fire, procure food and water are all things you can only learn by doing but having those skills can give you an immense sense of empowerment.

The path to self-reliance has become an incredibly interesting journey in itself. I have found many people that are also on the same path. My goal is to pass on the skills that I have mastered or connect people to other organizations or people that have the skills and knowledge to help people towards that goal. This spring, with the help of the Victory Garden Initiative, I will be creating a permaculture design to grow my own food and raise chickens. I'll be writing about this venture as it unfolds so that others can follow the same path.

Resiliency Training Classes at a Glance

resiliencytraining.net

Here is a list of the upcoming classes that you can sign up for through resiliencytraining.net. The links will take you to the Greenfield or Milwaukee Recreation Departments depending on the date that you choose. All classes can be personalized and customized to meet your needs if the current schedule does not fit your calender. Contact Shannon at Shannon@resiliencytraining.net to organize your own training.

Class Title	Date	Time	Location
Soap Making	Wednesday, Jan. 30th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Disaster Preparedness	Saturday, Feb. 2nd	10:00 - 12:00 pm	Juneau Community Room
Disaster Preparedness	Thursday, Feb. 7th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Outdoor Survival Skills	Saturday, Feb. 23rd	10:00 - 1:00 pm	Konkel Park South Shelter
Build Your Own Purifier	Thursday, March 7th	6:00 - 8:00 pm	Riverside Community Center
Outdoor Survival Skills	Wednesday, March 13	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Hawthorne Glen
Survival Plants	Wednesday, March 20th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Hawthorne Glen
Compass and Pace	Saturday, March 23rd	2:00 - 4:00 pm	Konkel Park South Shelter
Cattail Baskets	Wednesday, March 27th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Hawthorne Glen
Cattail Baskets	Thursday, March 28th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Disaster Preparedness	Wednesday, April 3rd	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Soap Making	Wednesday, April 10th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Outdoor Survival Skills	Saturday, April 27th	10:00 - 1:00 pm	Konkel Park South Shelter
Compass and Pace	Saturday, April 27th	2:00 - 4:00 pm	Konkel Park South Shelter
Build Your Own Purifier	Wednesday, May 1	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Cattail Baskets	Thursday, May 16th	6:30 - 8:30 pm	Greenfield Community Center
Survival Plants	Saturday, June 1st	10:00 - 1:00 pm	Konkel Park South Shelter

 

Disaster Preparedness Organization COAD Closed Down

I was fortunate to have gone through the last CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) Training that COAD sponsored before their funding was cut and operations were shut down. I applaud their efforts and their training programs. The employees of COAD will be greatly missed by many in the emergency response field due to their committment to train as many First Responders as possible and the networking opportunities afforded through their workshops and seminars. The CERT Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area and trains them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, team organization, and disaster medical operations. Using the training learned in the classroom and during exercises, CERT members can assist others in their neighborhood or workplace following an event when professional responders are not immediately available to help. CERT members also are encouraged to support emergency response agencies by taking a more active role in emergency preparedness projects in their community. As we have seen by many national disasters, we cannot always count on our city's emergency professionals to be on the scene as quickly as we might like. More and more, we should be able to help ourselves and our neighborhoods and the CERT training certainly addresses that.

Fortunately, CERT training is still available through other cities. I highly recommend the training this program provides and the disaster awareness it instills. To find a CERT program near you, go to www.citizencorps.gov

I am passing on the e-mail from the Interium Executive Director:

COAD has shutdown all operations...

Unfortunately, due to recent financial difficulties the Board of Directors has decided to shut down all of COAD’s operations, discontinue our volunteer programs, and end our current fund development strategy.  COAD will not dissolve completely but will instead exist only as a Board of Directors who meets on a regular basis to discuss local emergency management issues and plans. 

Therefore effective immediately COAD will no longer be providing any of the core services you have come to expect including: Community Outreach and Education including CERT Training, Volunteer Management, Resource Management, and Community Planning and Recovery.   

The Southeast WI Medical Reserve Corp will be merged with the Wisconsin Disaster Medical Response Team (WDMRT) MRC unit, which is housed out of the Fox Valley area.  The MRC will continue to remain active in Southeastern WI and will provide support to local emergency management during exercises and emergencies/disasters under the WDMRT.  Racine County also operates its own MRC unit; please contact them if you are interested in joining a local unit based in SE WI.   

COAD will no longer provide CERT Training or operate a CERT Volunteer Program in Waukesha, Milwaukee, and Ozaukee Counties.  Milwaukee County may provide CERT Training in the future, please contact Milwaukee County Emergency Management this summer to find out the status of CERT Training in Milwaukee. 

On behalf of the Board of Directors and all of COAD I want to thank you for your time, consideration, and support over the years.  Though COAD’s operations are coming to an end, we are proud of the success the organization has achieved; success which was only made possible through the support of our volunteers, partners, and associates like you.     

Please keep in mind the COAD Board of Directors will not be providing any services to the public and will only meet quarterly therefore their ability to answer your correspondences will be very limited.     

Thank you for your support.

Rob Kraemer
Interim Executive Director

Tornado in Tuscaloosa, Alabama

The April 25 to April 28, 2011 tornado outbreak was the largest tornado outbreak ever recorded. The outbreak affected the Southern, Midwestern and Northeastern United States, leaving catastrophic destruction in its wake, especially across the state of Alabama. It produced destructive tornadoes in Alabama, Arkansas, Geogia, Mississippi, Tennessee and Virginia and affected many other areas throughout the Southern and Eastern United States. In total, 358 tornadoes were confirmed by the National Weather Service in 21 states from Texas to New York and in southern Canada. Widespread and destructive tornadoes occurred on each day of the outbreak, with April 27 being the most active day with a record of 205 tornadoes touching down that day. Four of the tornadoes were destructive enough to be rated EF5 on the Enhanced Fujita Scale, which is the highest ranking possible; typically these tornadoes are only recorded about once each year or less.

In total, 348 people were killed as a result of the outbreak. That death toll includes 324 tornado-related deaths across six states. In addition, 24 fatalities were not caused by tornadoes, but were confirmed to be as a result of other thunderstorm-related impacts such as straight-line winds, hail, flash flooding or lightning. 238 tornado-related deaths in Alabama alone were confirmed by the SPC and the state's Emergency Management Agency.

I don't remember the newscast of this extreme weather outbreak but extreme weather is becoming all the more common. The event only stands out because as a member of the Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT), I was able to attend a conference on Emergency Preparedness. The Keynote Speaker was Julie Schoeing, State Emergency Management Program Manager for Alabama. She gave a first hand account of the destruction and massive inter agency cooperation that had to occur afterwards in order to create some sense of control to a very chaotic environment. More than 300 power transmission towers, 120 feet to 150 feet tall, were destroyed in the storms, some "twisted like bow ties" according to National Weather Service meteorologist Eric Holweg. The towers supported some 90 transmission lines. Those lines provided power from Tennessee Valley Authority to 128 regional distributors. In addition to electricity being cut for thousands of households for up to eight days, cell phone towers had also been destroyed making communication between emergency management responders very difficult.

First Responders quickly discovered there weren’t enough radios, flashlights, batteries, food, water and medicine to go around. Fuel stored underground at gas stations couldn’t be accessed for emergency use because generators weren’t available to power the pumps to extract it. People without proper identification to prove residency — because it blew away with their wallets or purses — were prevented from returning to damaged homes, doubling their frustration over already dismal circumstances.

In the aftermath, an Emergency Management Council appointed by Alabama's Government asked the questions, "What if people had routinely kept on hand emergency supplies of food, water, medicine, radios, batteries and even copies of important documents needed later to confirm homeownership, insurance coverage and bank accounts?"

In short, what if everybody had been more prepared?

Go to Resiliencytraining.net and sign up for an Urban Thriving training to find out more about what the council recommended and what you should be doing to prepare for a similar event in Wisconsin.

Sweet Water Organics - Aquaculture

I like to share organizations that are working towards the same goals of self-sustainability and Sweet Water Organics is exactly that. This past Sunday I went through a tour of their facility in Bay View with nearly twenty other individuals. Our tour guide was Nick who has worked for Sweet Water for the past two and a half years. He was passionate, well-spoken and very knowledgeable. Sweet Water's goal is to educate community members on how to create their own aquaponic system to grow their own vegetables. The system basically uses the waste from fish to entirely feed a floating garden of vegetables. The plants are placed in foam boards that float in the water and put in as plugs so that their root systems are in the water. The water comes directly from a tank that holds fish and the waste from the fish feeds the plants. The plants never see soil yet grow beautifully in that environment and in fact seem to have more nutrients then their soil grown counterparts as shown  by early studies.

Sweet Water sells their fresh produce. I brought home some sunflower sprouts that were huge and absolutely delicious!  They are moving from an indoor facility to an outdoor facility in the next few months which should allow them to expand their production and be even more efficient in their energy use by using gravity to feed the vegetable systems rather than pumps. It is a science to get the balance between fish and produce but Sweet Water will be on the edge of that science and be a leader in the coming decades.

What I love about Sweet Water is that they want to share this science with everyone and demonstrate that these systems are easily recreated by homeowners. This will fit in well with the current permaculture project that I have going on at home. In fact they have partnered with the Victory Garden Initiative that I have written about earlier that has the mission of encouraging home owners to grow their own food through a program they call the permaculture blitz. If you are looking to grow your own food to become more self-reliant I highly encourage learning more about Sweet Water and the Victory Garden Initiative.