Outdoor Life Prepare for Anything Survival Manual (30 page)

If you absolutely have to leave your pet behind, and there is even the smallest chance you might not be able to make it back, there are some important steps to take. Place your pet inside an interior room (or rooms, with interior doors propped open so they can’t shut themselves in one area) for safety, and consider leaving a TV or radio on to distract from outside sounds. Leave plenty of food and water in nonspillable bowls. You can also remove the toilet seats and fill the bathtubs with water for them to drink. Last, place signs on exterior doors to alert rescuers, and write your contact info on your pet’s crate, then leave it just inside the door.

Training your pet is a very important part of an easy getaway and for keeping it out of harm’s way. It’s unsafe to let your pet roam loose when there may be hazards or disorienting scents or other stimuli nearby, so keep it leashed (even if it normally comes when called), and do some crate training.

• Use an airline-approved crate, which most pet- friendly hotels also accept as standard.

• It should be large enough that your pet has 2–3 inches (5–8 cm) of clearance when standing up completely and enough room to turn around.

• When training, introduce the crate gradually. Position it somewhere your pet likes to be, and put a favorite toy inside.

• If your pet is hesitant, take apart the crate and remove the top and door. Allow your pet to go freely in and out of the open half until putting the top back on doesn’t cause alarm.

I was tending to my roof garden on a blistering-hot day when a massive fire broke out in my building!

. . . a jump! I sprang off the takeoff foot, kept my leg straight, tucked the trailing leg, and prayed.

I slid off an awning to slow down . . .

My only option was to get away fast. as a sprinter, i knew to start with my dominant foot forward. The “takeoff foot,” they call it.

I tried not to look back as the fire spread. I scanned ahead, and realized what was coming . . .

I swung my back leg up and landed on my heels, like a pro.

It was time for drastic maneuvers. I grabbed a drainpipe, wrapped my heels, and slid down.

. . . then tucked and rolled over a parked car. Ouch, but softer than the pavement!

At a safe distance, I watched the fire department do battle.

You can read all the gardening books and green-colored websites you like, but there’s no substitute for real-life experience. After a catastrophic event, folks may be suspicious of strangers, or wary that you’re out to steal their good stuff. So, start gardening now, and get all the local advice you can. What grows best in your local soil? What pests should you look out for? Local farmers and longtime gardeners will know, so seek them out and learn from their mistakes and successes.

The site you pick for your garden is critical and should take into account soil composition and light exposure. Visit your county’s agricultural extension office—with a little help, you can learn which parts of your property are best suited for gardening and farming. Then pick a spot in the best soil area with at least 10 hours of direct sunlight each day.

Orient all rectangular beds or rows on a north-south axis for equal light exposure. Plant the tallest plants at the north end so they don’t shade smaller plants. If you have containers, avoid placing them too close to metal siding or similar reflective surfaces during the hottest times of the year, as that will cause the plants to cook or dry out.

You can’t just throw some seeds out on the lawn and expect anything productive to happen. Vegetables need to grow in loose, rich soil—without competition. Your garden should have the sod removed, and then be dug and chopped with a shovel, or tilled with a rototiller machine, at least 1 foot (30 cm) deep—but twice that is better. This is hard work, but the payoff is huge, as deep root growth pulls in more nutrients and provides a better water supply.

Before you pile on a bunch of fertilizer willy-nilly, purchase a soil test kit to get a rough idea of the nutrient levels. This testing can help determine the deficiencies of your garden soil and allow you to make the right amendments. No matter your test results, well-decomposed compost is always welcome. The good stuff will be aged, very dark in color, and will have gone through a high-heat stage of decomposition to kill diseases and weed seeds. Add as much as you can to your garden, blending it with the soil or just applying on the surface. For clay-filled soil, add sand; likewise, add clay to sandy soil, and you can add aged manure to any variety.

You can sow seeds directly into the dirt, or you can plant seedlings from their small containers. Either way, water liberally to settle the soil around them. Seedlings can suffer from transplant shock if planted in hot, dry soil—plant in the evening so they can adjust to their new home.

Certain plants grow better or repel pests if planted as companions to one another. One of the best-known plant companion sets is corn, beans, and squash (the Native American “Three Sisters”), which provide each other with needed shade and structure. Onions, garlic, chives, marigolds, and nasturtiums all offer you some degree of pest repellent. And never plant anything near black walnut trees, as they release vegetable-killing chemicals into the soil.

Unless it rains all the time in your area, you’ll need to water all those plants. This can be done with collected rainwater (a great choice) or with a garden hose. Water deeply and thoroughly every other day. Water in the morning, if possible. Watering in the heat of a sunny afternoon will cause the droplets of water to burn the plant leaves like little magnifying lenses, and watering in the evening or at night can encourage fungal diseases. Here are a few factors to keep in mind.