[sandalwoodprepper]

Hi

I'm new to the prepper community. I'd love to find preppers in the northern va area to get advice and possible assistance with my preps. I live in a duplex, so I have not so much space to work with, the good, security will be fairly easy, I have a large walk in closet and a small area under the stares (if I get a tankless water heater, then I can use it for storage or hiding, the open foryer gives me a great high vantage point of the front door..The bad, what I can do prep-wise is limitted. I have a small probably 3x15 area where I can put in a vegetable garden. the ugly, my HOA is slow to respond, I put in to have the bushes removed in April, and they still haven't done so.

 

[LunaticFringeInc]

First of all welcome to the forum, its great to have you here. The bad news I am from Texas and can only help you so much being so far away. Surely we have a member or two here from VA that will check in on this thread soon. At anyrate, glad to have you here with us and I hope to see you around and see you often!

I would definitely recommend the tankless water heater. I used them in Japan where they are the standard and they are so effcient I cant believe that America is still in the dinosaure age on that. They just make that much sense from a energy consumption stand point not to mention convienence and space savings. While its expensive to retro fit in many cases I think you will find the benefits to be well worth the trouble in the long run.

I feel you on the HOA issue. I could never live in such a situation myself and thank God they arent more prevelant here although they are pretty common. At least here if you look around a bit you can find a place that doesnt have one. Not every place is so lucky though. Your right though they take there sweet time about approving things unless they wanna fine you for something. Then they are quicker than lightening to let you know all about it, lol.

3x15 aint much space for a garden. But if you plan it right and use the right growing techniques you might be surprised by the amount of veggies you can put on the table. I have one raised bed about that size and although I am single I can get a pretty amazing amount of produce out of it. The best advice I can give you is to grow things that are very expensive for you to buy at the store and to grow things that work well on trellis's or Tomato cages. This will allow you to make the most of your space and shave the most from your grocery bill which in turn will free up funds to be used else where. Dont over look using large planter pots for other things that can be grown without planting directly into the ground as well to further boost production potential. Think outside the box!

For example...instead of growing strawberries in the garden I used a 55 gallon barrel on my patio with some holes drilled in the side and it holds about 20 ever bearing strawberry plants and I get a hand full of berries every day just about through out the growing season.

Another example of what I am talking about...my raised beds are made of cinder bricks just stacked to form the bed walls. Each brick has 2 holes in it. I plant herbs in these holes instead of in the garden to give me more growing/producing potential. With about 60 holes to work with, this gives me a lot of places to plant stuff on a rotating basis so that I constantly have fresh tender herbs to season my food with.

As I mentioned I grow things I eat often that cost me dearly in the store. Some of the things I grow are Tomatoes, Bell Pepper (Red/Yellow/Orange), Snow Peas and such. These are pretty expensive here. Think about it, a pack of seeds cost a couple of bucks and will get me about 20 pounds of Tomatoes which would other wise likely cost me 30 bucks or more to buy! While Green Bell Peppers arent that much at the store I flat out refuse to pay 2.00 each for the Red, Yellow or Orange ones, especially when a pack of seeds will give plenty of plants for produce over the next 3 years for the price of just one purchased at the store! See what I am getting at? If you look at it from that stand point 3x15 feet is plenty big enough for some major savings, not to mention the experience of learning a much needed skill should the SHTF for real one day. There is a lot more to gardening than throwing a few seeds in the dirt and watering them and harvesting a couple of weeks later.

 

[paraquack]

Welcome from the state of confusion, ILL annoyed. Wish you luck in your search for people of the same mind set in your area.

 

[Old Man]

Welcome from Mississippi.

 

[Moonshinedave]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Fuzzee]

Welcome.

 

[MrsInor]

Welcome from Minnesota

 

[AvengersAssembled]

Welcome from Virginia Beach! I'm also a pretty big newbie here, but slowly leaning. I too live in a small area, a two bedroom apartment, in a very populated area. My husband has only another year in the Navy, at which point we will be moving back west. Before having to move into this apartment, I had successfully grown tomatoes and potatoes in a pretty small space. No yard here though, but I do grow herbs on my windowsill! And I can't do too much to prep right now, I can't do anything to this property, store any large amounts of supplies, or plant anything beyond my herbs. So for now I'm focused on trying to learn, prepare for my future, and store/maintain what I can.

 

[Rigged for Quiet]

Another welcome from Texas!

If you live in Northern VA, I would ask what your population density is. In that area you can be surrounded by Spawlbrubia, or be fairly close to rural areas. If in Sprawlburbia, learn your area and find routes of evacuation that ARE NOT major highways.

I can think of no worse place to be than in close proximity to DC should it all fall apart.

 

[rice paddy daddy]

Welcome from Florida

 

[captstarlight]

Welcome from southwest Florida. I lived with a HOA when we first moved to Florida had to deal with them for a year swear my neighbor was measuring my lawn to make sure it was not to tall. Hated it. You will learn alot from here.

 

[sandalwoodprepper]

I can think of no worse place to be than in close proximity to DC...period!!!

I looked it up, my county is 10 sq miles and it has 39,000 people, but that's just the city, this does not account for the other two jurisdictions in my town or the neighboring jurisdictions.

 

[longrider]

Welcome from South Central Minnesota.

I put canned & boxed goods behind my 100's of books. I've heard of making a stair tread a lid, and using the stair step for storage. Tape gravy & seasoning packets behind dressers & book cases. I have shelves above my front & back door and you know what's behind the books. Under the bed, especially for TP packages. Use any attic space available for non parrishables, I've heard of people taking the guts out of a hid-a-bed and using that area for storage. Under the couche. Hang shoe hangers or wire shelves on the back of the closet door. Look at your place as space, then how to use the space, rather than a house. Inside winter boots. I bought a cheap old school picnic basket (tin) from the '50's. It sits above my kitchen cupboards looking decorative, but is filled with stores. Use the space under your sinks in bath and kitchen. Use the little space in the access door to your bathroom plumbing. I use the space under my shower, which accessed by the door to plumbing. You can fit some behind a washer or dryer, if they are plugged into the wall behind them. I have a lot of "decorative" boxes with prepp goods stored in them and topped with old clothes, in case someone would break into my house. I have ammo stored in old hard sided suitcases I bought at thrift stores. I have them marked as "fabric" and "yarn". Use your imagination.

I just read about using a garbage can to grow potatoes. Fill it 60% full with soil, plant the potato plant, when it grows, fill again with soil until you've filled it to 6" from top, then let grow. You'll have a can full of potatoes! I container garden now, and I grow squash, onions, herbs, bell peppers, carrots, callorabi, tomatoes, beans, peas, even corn. Corn isn't really worth it, as it takes up too much space for what you get.

I made shelves in my extra bedroom, and use it as a store room. It has a nice south facing window, and I'll put my herbs there when winter comes. USe your imagination and you'll see all the possibilities.

Good luck!