Venus Cloacina

Goddess of the Sewer

Just finished putting in all my flower bulbs.  It's amazing that it's the first week of December and we still can, but it is a bit of luck for me (Ceredwyn).

At left you see the little statue I've added to the garden.  Hopefully, in the spring the bulbs and wildflowers seeds I've planted will come up around her.  She will also hold a butterfly/hummingbird feeder when the weather is again freezing.

She is my Venus Cloacina, Goddess of the Sewer.  The Romans were very sensible people and did, in fact, have a shrine to this deity right in the middle of Rome.  They said the Health of Rome depended upon her.

Hummingbirds and flowers are especially sacred to Her, according to the Wikipedia entry.

So, right over our new leach field, we have a small statue of Her, 'cause it just seems like a good idea.

Feeding the soul

I, Ceredwyn, have spent a considerable amount of time and money this spring working on our flower garden.  I have doubled the size of our rock garden, planted a bunch of flowering plants and herbs.

I haven't done flower gardening in a major way before.  It's always seemed impractical and I am nothing if not practical.

One big practical reason for cultivating flowers is to give our friends the bees a hand and to attract other pollinators (I've seen a few hummingbirds).  Bees are dying and no one is entirely sure why, so they need all the help they can get.

More than that though, I am coming around to the notion that art, be it stories, drawings, music or flower gardens, becomes more important in austere times rather than less.

I had the opportunity, a few weeks ago, to go to a show where two gentlemen were doing an act straight out of the 1900's.  Their instruments were banjo, harmonica, jaw harp and their own hands and feet.  As well as being fine musicians they were historians and reenactors, giving us a wonderful lesson in musical history.  I learned how the banjo originated in West Africa and it was once made of cat gut and gourd.  They showed us a musical form they called "hambone" that uses nothing but the rhythms one can produce with slapping hands and stamping feet to accompany the sound of singing voices.

The songs they sang were traditional and their act vaudvillian, but you could see that they were performing the direct artistic ancestor of punk, rap, and hip hop.  Not the polished stuff the corporations keep trying to sell us, but the stuff that catches on in spite of the bosses and the banksters, the robber barons and the overseers.  The "What the hell is that noise?" songs that get the church lady's knickers in a twist.  The songs that slaves sang to remind themselves they were still human.  The songs that the strikers sang on the picket line, 'cause it was cold as hell and singing might possibly keep you warm.  The songs protesters sing because it gives them the courage to march into lines of riot police.

Song and dance require no equipment.  Instruments are nice, but can be improvised.  The visual arts are a bit more difficult, but people manage.  In any urban landscape, one can find graffiti artists.  Their chosen medium walls and cheap paints or inks.  Even a bit of charcoal on a concrete floor is can be lovely.

In some of the most distressed parts of the world, women still adorn themselves in fashionable clothes, even if it's under a chador or niqab.  Astonishingly, in Haiti, one category of business that still thrives is the hair stylist.  The people are very meticulous about their clothing and presentation.  A trip to the clinic requires that one be dressed as well as one can afford.  It is a mark of respect, both to the doctor, but also to oneself, using the art of fashion to raise oneself up.

As a teenager in the eighties, I was part of punk culture.  We shopped at Value Village cause we were broke and our ripped jeans were mostly natural.  I was never extreme, but I knew people that were.  The kids who wrote for six hours a day and published little 'zines, or painted, or played some instrument instead of doing something "constructive".  We never went out to events that cost money, because we never had it, so sometimes we went to listen to unknown bands play.  Some were good, some weren't.

I have noticed for a long time, that the more one spends, the less one creates.  When you can buy cool and pretty art that's a million times better than what you can produce yourself, why bother?  Art becomes a thing "talented" people produce.  It becomes something that only an "artist" can create

But always when the money's tight and people are living on the edges, art appears.  Angry art, desperate art, sad art, peaceful art, even joyful art; anything but polished "high" art.

So maybe I'm flower gardening for the Revolution or against the Man.  Anyway, it's nice to look out of my window and see the flowers bloom.

Treating Childhood Illness in a SHTF Scenario Part 4

This is the last part in this series:

General recommendations:

·       Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.  Water should be top priority in your preps.

·       Try to avoid using any medications in babies under six months old. 

·       In older babies and children, if you choose to use OTC medication, make sure that the ones on hand are single medication formulas to avoid double dosing.

·       Follow medication dosing instructions

·       Never give a child or adolescent aspirin

Preparations for people with children:

·       Take Infant and Child CPR and First Aid.  As always, the most important preparations are the ones you carry around in your head.

·       From the beginning of your baby’s life, breastfeed, if at all possible.   It is free and always available. Nursing moms should have preferred access to drinking water, this is much more important than food.  It is important for the other adults around a nursing mom to realize that, nursing a baby is a full time, strenuous, occupation.  In a SHTF scenario, mom may find her milk supply compromised due to stress.  Keep at it, stay well hydrated and nurse every time baby opens his mouth, eventually the milk will flow again.

·       If you’re a nursing mother with a well established milk supply, you may be in a position to offer feeding to a child other than your own.  It's generally only practical to nurse one other.  Women have done this for the entire history of our species.  Don’t be afraid that another baby will “steal” your own child’s milk.  Keep properly hydrated and the more the children nurse, the more milk you will have. 

.     If breast feeding is not possible, remember, in a true collapse (Katrina and Haiti come to mind), infant formula will become unavailable.  Formula made with contaminated water or formula that is made dilute to “stretch” it will make your child sick.   Therefore, formula and water to mix it with should be on the high priority list in one’s preparations.  Powdered formula is easiest to transport and store, but it may be impractical to sterilize bottles and equipment. 

·       Premade formula in single use bottles can be stored in the bug out bag for immediate use or in the event that water is unavailable.  Store enough for as many days as you have food for the adults. 

·       Comfort food is essential in the bug out bag for everyone involved, but especially children.  A bag of M&M’s or Hershey’s kisses can calm everyone’s nerves as well as supply much needed calories

·       OTC medications to include in one’s first aid kit for children: Children’s Ibuprofen, Children’s Tylenol, Chewable Dramamine (this has the same medication as Benadryl), oral rehydration solution; either commercially prepared or homemade.

 I’ve covered only a few of the more common illnesses that can happen to children.  In any child’s illness, it is important that the parent be as calm as possible, doubly so in a SHTF situation. My goal here is to foster calm and provide parents with tools to treat  a sick child, without waiting for the power to come back or the road to be plowed out..

Treating Childhood Illness in a SHTF Scenario Part 2

The second in the series.


Upper Respiratory Illness

Characterized by snotty noses, cough and general cold symptoms, this is usually a virus. 

Cold medicines are not recommended in children under four; therefore one can use a bulb syringe, better known in my house as a “snot sucker”, to clear secretions.  This is a completely mechanical solution. 

To use a bulb syringe:

Squeeze the bulb of the syringe

Inserts the tip

Suck the snot out of small nose.

MAKE SURE BULB IS SQUEEZED BEFORE INSERTING INTO NOSE!  Otherwise you will blow snot further into nose.

Vicks Vapo-rub is no longer recommended for children. However rubbing a child’s chest and back is helpful to break up the congestion.  If it’s available, using olive oil or baby oil will have a similar effect to the one once attributed to Vicks

Older children can take cold medicines (assuming they were included in your preps) as directed, but should be in single medicine formulation.  Multi symptom cold medicines can lead to unwanted side effects or overdosing.  It’s also a bad idea to suppress coughing too much unless the child is completely unable to sleep due to coughing—coughing is the body’s way of ridding itself of the gunk.

Another purely mechanical solution is to use a nasal rinse (neti pot) if your child will tolerate it and you have it available.

Steam is very helpful for respiratory yuck, assuming you have water and a way to heat it.  Boil a kettle of water and have the child lean over the hot (not boiling) steam.  If a tent can be made with a towel or a sheet, all the better.  Encourage them to blow snot out of their nose rather than sniff it up.

It is helpful to give the child oral rehydration solution, but unless they’re also vomiting, use it to replace only half of the fluids they drink.  Otherwise let them drink whatever you have. 

Hot drinks, even just hot water, can clear the nose and sooth the throat. Lemon juice, honey and hot water create a good cough medicine that is soothing, reduces phlegm and is completely without side effects.  Soup, is good alternative, as well.  Stay away from hot chocolate, though—milk will thicken the secretions.

A normal cold or flu will run its course in 7-10 days. 

Treating Childhood Illness in a SHTF Scenario Part 1

One of the things people told us they wanted to see in this blog when we asked them, was practical homesteading tips. This week, I'm going to be posting some practical instructions on healthcare in situations where the Shit Has Hit The Fan (SHTF).

I'll start with childhood illnesses. The worst thing about being a parent has to be sick kids. Having children lowers the bar on what constitutes an emergency. The same symptoms which, in an adult, would result in popping an ibuprofen and going back to bed, often induce panic when in a child. Not without reason; we are programmed to react this way both by genetics and culture. Unfortunately, our culture also programs us that only “experts” can take care of these problems. Hence we depend heavily on pediatricians and emergency rooms to simply give us psychological first aid—a hand pat and “Don’t worry Mrs. Alexander, it’s just a virus”.

I don’t intend to cover the preparations for chronically ill children, or injuries; both of those subjects require discussions all their own.

In these posts, you’ll find how to treat everyday symptoms of illnesses that are usually minor and will take care of themselves if, given proper at-home treatment. For the purposes of these posts, we’ll assume that the SHTF scenario is a temporary one; think hurricane, earthquake or ice storm.

Modern medical care is three to ten days away—this might as well be forever when you have a sick child. In a true collapse situation, these suggestions would still hold true, but that’s outside of the scope of what I want to talk about here.

In this series, I’d like to discuss how to make illnesses easier to bear for mom, dad and children and also how to prevent a minor illness from becoming life-threatening.

Stomach problems

Stomach aches, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea will often accompany emotional distress, especially in children. Most of the time, it resolves on its own and requires no treatment. Encourage the child to eat and drink water as tolerated.

If vomiting continues for more than an hour, or diarrhea occurs more than twice, it’s important to begin to treat for dehydration. Don’t wait for the child to show or complain of symptoms.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most common cause of death in children is dehydration.

Dehydration is caused most often by diarrhea or vomiting which can be traced back to emotional upset, viruses, spoiled food or contaminated water.

In the majority of cases, if the child is given adequate fluids, their immune system can take care of the rest.

In order to help the body retain the fluid, it should be in the form of oral rehydration solution. This is available commercially as Pedialyte, in dried package form (probably most convenient for the medicine cabinet or bug out bag) or one can make one’s own. Find the recipe here:

Homemade Oral Rehydration Solution recipe

Whatever formulation you use, give the child one teaspoonful every fifteen minutes until vomiting subsides. In cases of diarrhea, feed to child as much as they will drink in small sips.

Remember that this is not intended to stop the vomiting or diarrhea, but to keep the child from drying out. The symptoms will stop on their own.

For an infant, breast milk is considered a clear fluid, and nursing should be continued at all times, even during the initial rehydration process.

The oral rehydration solution can be given in between breast feedings. This is an exception to the "no water for babies" rule, as the salts and sugars even in breastmilk are not the correct balance for rehydration purposes.

For non nursing babies, who are normally formula-fed or who eat solids, formula and foods should be stopped during rehydration and restarted as soon as the child is no longer showing signs of dehydration several hours later. Changes in formula usually aren't necessary.

The same goes for older children. Until the child is no longer dehydrated, other foods and liquids should be stopped.

Something to note, other "clear liquids" often used by parents or recommended by doctors, in the past are no longer considered appropriate for use in dehydrated kids.

Drinks to avoid include: water, soda, ginger ale, tea, fruit juice, gelatin desserts, chicken broth, or sports drinks. These don't have the right mix of sugar and salts and can even make diarrhea worse. NOT something one needs in a SHTF situation.

The American Pediatric Association does not recommend giving a child anti-diarrheal medication such as Imodium or Kaopectate. The reason is that over-the-counter medicines for diarrhea or vomiting can have potentially dangerous side effects. Vomiting and diarrhea are the body’s way of removing the toxins or the bacteria from the digestive system. Appropriate fluids to support that process are the key to treatment.

When the child’s stomach has settled, bland foods such as applesauce, crackers, rice or toast can be offered.

For stomach ache, with or without other symptoms, often the child’s instinct of staying still is the best treatment. If they are not hungry, don’t try to force food. If they are hungry and food is available, allow them to eat. Most serious abdominal illnesses include lack of appetite, so hunger is good sign.

In the case of more serious stomach problem like appendicitis, one might to see some vomiting but diarrhea is unusual. Commonly the most prominent symptom will be pain that begins around the belly button then moves to the lower right. The stomach will often be hard and sore to the touch.

Until medical help becomes available, let the child rest quietly—they will be disinclined to move anyway. What will happen is that the body will attempt to wall off the infection. Lying still encourages this.

Under no circumstances, should one give a laxative to a child who is experiencing persistent abdominal pain.

The specter of injury

How dependent on our physical health is homesteading!

This was brought home to me yesterday, via a minor injury. I thwacked my knee with a pickaxe. It didn't hurt too badly, but describing it out loud, or writing it, does make it seem both serious and awkward.

I was trying to get a boulder out of the lower driveway. It was, and remains, a big damn thing, bulking up in the middle of the dirt. It sticks up about three inches into the air, annoying the undercarriage of cars driving over it. So I thought to dig around the rock, carving out a trench, and maybe rolling the thing out of the way.

So I used the pick to excavate on all sides, since the dirt was a ferocious mix of glue-like clay and tons of little rocks. After around 50 vigorous swings of axe through dirt, the pick hit what must have been a hidden part of the big rock. Like the classic iceberg, the boulder must have been bigger underneath that it appeared from above. WHACK and the pick rebounded off in a flash, hitting my left knee.

I decided that it was probably a good time to take a break in my labors. Using the pick and shovel as braces/crutches, I hobbled back to the house along the driveway, alongside the fresh earth of my most recent excavations. Ceredwyn gave me one of those Looks, and agreed that, yes, it sounded worse when said out loud.

The knee is ok now, after ice, shame, and sitting down for a bit. But I'll not dig any today.

What does this have to do with homesteading? Just the fact that the ability to work on land - the basics of existing, of surviving! - are predicated on basic physical health. If that pick's arc had been one centimeter to one side, or struck with a bit more force, I could have lost the use of that leg for at least a month. That would have cost us deeply, removing one adult from our labor force.

It reminds me of one reason Barbara Kingsolver's homesteading book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, is so irritating. It blithely presumes fine health for all concerned. Other homesteaders don't do this. For instance, the Nearings are keen to describe their physical health.

Well, this is also a reminder to continue writing...