journal · 21 September 2026
The journal
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this week · late September
National Preparedness Month ends on 30 September. Four small jobs, one per evening.
FEMA's Ready campaign runs National Preparedness Month every September. You do not need a bunker to take part. Pick one job per evening: count what the house already holds, read the water report, check the well if you have one, and write the plan down.
- Count what the house already holds: Most tank water heaters hold more than 30 gallons you already own.
- Read your water quality report: What it must contain, and the unit trap.
- On a well? What to test, and how often: The tests, the schedule, and what they cost.
- Plan 48 hours without power in a small apartment: Water, power bank, fridge clock. No generator.
the archive
Everything, newest first
- ·Joseph's WellA $67 digital guide to building a small water from air rig from off-the-shelf parts. Nothing ships, and the parts are extra.
- ·Testing your well waterWhat to test for, how often, and what it costs.
- ·Well water or city waterThe real difference is not taste, it is who is responsible.
- ·How to read your water quality reportThe report arrives by 1 July. What it must contain, and the unit trap.
- ·Which herbs survive your winterFourteen herbs by USDA zone, and the rosemary trap.
- ·Companion planting with herbsWhat extension services actually support, and what they call folklore.
- ·The herbs that take overRhizome or seed, and how far down the barrier has to go.
- ·Growing herbs indoors through winterThe light numbers three extension services publish.
- ·Your frost dates, from the federal recordFirst and last freeze, from the 1991 to 2020 normals.
- ·Finding the foraging rules where you liveThe method, not a table that goes stale.
- ·When the identification does not closeThe rule for the moment of doubt, and the kit worth carrying.
- ·Water from air or a rain barrelEight cities, side by side: the air, the rain, and the yearly bill.
- ·What to do with dehumidifier waterNot the salad bed. The uses that are genuinely good, and how to keep the tank clean.
- ·Building a water from air unit yourselfThe dehumidifier is the easy half. The treatment train is the half that decides if it is drinkable.
- ·Is air conditioner water safe to drink?The measured answer, and the uses the plumbing codes actually allow.
- ·Water from air machines, and the cost of a gallonWhat the rating on the box assumes, and what the electricity really costs per gallon.
- ·30-day pantry, priced this monthWhat a month of food costs at today's federal average prices, scaled to the calories you want covered.
- ·Generator or battery, by stateYour state's outage hours, a typical outage length, and the watt-hours your list actually needs.
- ·Water from air, by cityGrams of water per cubic metre of your air, and how much air one gallon really takes.
- ·Drought map, by stateYour state's five drought bands, the people inside them, and how the number moved in a year.
- ·Water treatment dose, by containerHow much bleach, iodine or calcium hypochlorite for the container you have, how long to wait, and what none of it removes.
- ·The blackout kit you already ownHow many gallons and how many hours the things already in your house cover, and the one gap left.
- ·Rain barrel calculator, by stateGallons your roof catches per inch of rain, per month and per year, plus what overflows.
- ·48-hour power plan for an apartmentWater in gallons, power bank in watt-hours, and the fridge clock for your household.
- ·The day after a stormWater, power, and the three lines to write down, in that order.
- ·Water Freedom SystemDigital build plans for a water-from-air rig, plus the household water plan that tells you how many gallons your house actually needs.
- ·Water storage basicsOne gallon per person per day: the containers, the cleaning dose and the 6-month rule.
- ·Rainwater harvesting basicsCatchment, overflow and the local rules to check before buying a barrel.
- ·A herb garden when space is tightWhat actually grows on a balcony, and in what order to plant it.
- ·First-time foraging rulesRule things out before you eat anything. The habits that matter more than any plant list.
- ·Smart Water BoxDigital build plans, not a device, with roughly $106 of parts on top. The seller gives 60 days.
- ·Medicinal Garden KitA box of non-GMO seeds for ten cottage-garden plants people have grown for generations, with a growing guide.
- ·The Forager's Guide to Wild FoodsA printed and digital guide to 400+ edible wild plants, with color photographs and the poisonous look-alikes beside them.
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