Hemlocks organization preliminary design as of 4/26/13.

The mission is to survive until things get better.

Here's a start organizational  idea, since one cannot do it all, nor can we.  Said another way, we humans need to have people focus on jobs that benefit us all, like be thinking about it. And this is a start organizational idea, so many changes may come, including where you may live.

H1 - Personal and administration.  Think assignments as to living and sleeping (to include the two cottages and barn and storage sheds) and bedding (the Hemlocks has some( like six I think) sleeping bags, etc.).  Plus there is a 12 person tent, two cots, a three sided Cliff Field Pool shelter and outhouse, and many sleeping pads. There's also probably 5 sets of high tech long johns, too (adult size, and some for kids). Let the boss know just who is here at the time. Maintain a welcome aboard plan, to include sponsors. Newbies will appreciate any help. Always mention not flushing  bleach, antibacterial stuff, prescription meds, water from cleaning paint brushes, oil; grease, hand wipes; female sanitary products, etc. & etc. The intent is to enhance the septic tank system, which uses bacteria to "digest" things like poop, pee, and routine home cleaning needs. Things that the septic system can't handle should go into the dump, since we do have to get rid of this stuff. Bottom line, keeping the septic tank system running protects our long term health, like not getting cholera, as an example.

H2 - Intelligence and information, like what is going on around the World, the Hemlocks, and Monterey that will affect us, and what will happen and when.  Monitoring the emergency radios (already here, both CB and World Bands) is part of the job. Keep track of a calendar and daily time (the Hemlocks has two mechanical watches, one solar watch, and instructions on making a sundial). Walk or ride a bike into town (about a 15 minute walk to downtown)  as necessary. Provide weather reports/guesses.  Some basic tools, like a barometer, are here, already.  Be in charge of 1 of the 3 dry erase boards. The board should be a "news" board. The board should include weather info.

H3 - Operations.  This is further divided as follows:

                              A. Plans. Like thinking ahead, being it survival, the seasons, or whatever.

                              B. Operations. What we do day to day to survive. Include running and tabulating  the vote twice a year, like October 1st before the cold season, and April 1st, before the warm season.  Maybe that should later be once a year, but that will be decided by those here. As a rule, it usually takes about 3 months for anyone to learn a new job, and then they can do a better job. Even the military assumes a minimum of one year assignments these days. All positions are voted on, by name. Paper and printing and writing means will probably be short so using the old fashioned ways, like just saying  your vote to the right person may be necessary.

                                             1)  Maintain a journal of major events at the Hemlocks. Remember we have a point and shoot camera, and about 6 or more hours of video capability, all run by rechargeable batteries. Plus we have a lot of paper and pens and pencils. The intent is twofold:  1) record the history, and 2) help future researchers.

                              C. Training. Like what we are doing to get better to survive. Include gun safety, patrolling, cooking and food storage safety, gardening, hunting,  first aid, wild plant recognition, construction,  bartering ideas and techniques, and walkie talkies. Some combination of different instructors and books will probably be needed.  Some of these skills can be bartered, too.

H4 - Logistics and communications.

                              A. Food and drinking water. For example, keep an inventory of available food.  Develop a rationing plan as required. Assign a head cook to process, store,  and cook common food (working with the "mayor"). This includes canning and other such efforts. Using a wood stove will be tough over time since it takes wood to heat.

                              B. Medical. The Hemlocks should have a head doc, for example. This person will probably be more like a corpsman or medic or nurse.  If we're lucky, it will be a doc or a vet. There are some local OTC drugs also available to help them, too (plus some breathing filters and extra gloves, etc.). Initially, someone with First Aid training is best.  Priority goes to preventive medicine efforts, with corrective medicine efforts second.  Things like rubbing alcohol (70%) and hydrogen peroxide (3%) are also stockpiled to keep infections down from boo boos. Emphasize preventive medicine during all welcome aboard briefs. The Hemlocks also has some broken bone setting  stuff and basic dental  repair stuff, too. Also the main house middle room with the French Doors is the initial hospital room, too, to include mosquito netting stuff. I suggest making the barn (left side with concrete floor) an isolation ward if needed, and use the available 12 person tent, sleeping mats, sleeping bags, and sleeping cots as needed. There are also some one time only anti-biotic prescription drugs (times 5).

                              C.  Setting up outside barter relations. Walking into town with security may be required. For example, if times are really hard, what do we trade for things we may need, like cooking oil when it runs out, for example. Most of these things help us in cooking or cleaning, and we do have a start up supply (about a month's worth, depending on how many people). Think about salt, which the Hemlocks has (90+ pounds to start). Now barter decisions in the end are the head persons decision, if time permits. This position may become very important, depending on how long the hard times may be.

                              D. Getting stuff that helps the mission.  Mostly this means tools, and keeping  an inventory of what we have to heat and cook with. It also means checking on all the water, waste water, and local electricity sources. The Hemlocks has a good amount of tools. Also develop a barter plan, both what we can trade away and what we seek, and want we want to preserve and use  right here.

                              E. Establish and maintain a garden during the warm season.  The garden  tools to do so are already here. The Hemlocks is well set up in this area, including the best kind of seeds to plant, and we have an open and protected area to garden in. Though in the end, establishing and maintaining a garden is just hard work.

                              F. Designate a cemetery area, and prepare it. Appoint a religious lay leader, too. Nothing like weddings, and funerals. Think ashes to ashes, and making our own wooden caskets for those who want a casket. We may not have time or the ability to always make a casket, and may just have to put a body in a hole for burial. For those who prefer cremation,  think of a funeral pyre, Hindu style. In all cases, the Family decides what to do with the remains, including re-interment later (hence know where we are planted). For planning purposes, a cremated human remains  are about the size and weight of a  5 pound bag of sugar. I assume some death from old age, accidents, disease, and bad people. By the way, a cardboard casket is $270 if we could even get one in 2012. And the Hemlocks has two body bags, plus 200 sandbags that could be used to cover up the face or more of the deceased. Plus there are 20 metal markers and 20 more American flags to mark grave sites. After that we use creek stones.  The idea is to realize most may expect to be reinterred later, and being able to reliably  locate the remains is important.

                              G. Assign hunters and trappers (include using snares which are here) and gardeners and woods pickers, like for acorns and walnuts (fall...the Hemlocks has a manual grinder to make flour)  and morel mushrooms (spring), and  other mushrooms and greens (summer), and all the other wild foods identified by the Petersen and Army books.  Assign fishermen when fish are available in the warm season (basic fishing stuff is here). Use all the books that are here.

                              H. Maintain the "trash dump", and even  a separate food dump pit  (probably using carcasses left over from cooking) that will also attract worms for fishing, and probably yard dogs.  Establish a mulch pile, too. Mix dirt with the remains to keep the yard dogs ravaging down.

                              I. Keep track of the available 5 and 2 gallon buckets, and the larger plastic and galvanized  wash buckets, all which will probably be in high demand. Remember some buckets are more food qualified than others.

                              J. Key control. Be in charge of all the existing keys and locks.  There are many, and most are in the front room, but there is also a key locker in the new room closet.

                              K. Allocate distribution and use of the rechargeable batteries (AA's and AAA's, and some C and D and 9V cells). This can become a big deal. Most of the rechargeable batteries are eneloop style, which is good for the Hemlocks.

                            L. Maintain the electric turbine plant, including all the backup stuff.

H5 - Civil affairs. Mostly think of home educating our children, and keeping them mentally and physically helping  the effort.  Think "Little House on the Prairie".  Remember we can use school services as a barter tool, too. Develop an entertainment schedule for all, including the many available games or even music concerts kinda like the Grand Ole Opry, local style. We can even listen on the world radio to music like the Grand Ole Opry, or something like it. Or we can have story telling or book reading  periods. Our imagination is the limit. The initial plan is to use the second cottage "recreation room" as a school house, to include having one of the three dry erase boards, the fold out table tennis table, and the fold out and other chairs and card tables in this cottage. Books can be read in either house, or on the porches.

Boss - like the Compound head person in charge. This is the person who decides about conflicts and priorities, and guides the whole thing. Think of a savvy judge and jury along the way. People will come and go, too.  This person is also the supreme court, like including evicting lazy people, which will probably have to happen. This person is like a savvy judge too. It is a tough job, but somebody has to be in charge.  Remember preserving  American moral values, too.

Assistant boss - the boss needs help. Also work with the Hemlocks mayor to maintain a daily schedule for all to see or know about. All the H people report to him, too.

Hemlocks mayor - this person runs the local setup for all to survive. When many get cold and hungry, then this will be an unpopular position.  This person also reports to the Boss. This person controls one of the three dry erase boards at the Hemlocks. The job includes:

               Compound security.  Develop a security plan.  There is extra info on this subject (to include a map) in the If Times Get Hard 3 ring binder.  Assign "watches" to protect the compound, 24 hours a day. And oversee it.  Establish a patrolling checklist and use it.  All this a big deal when other people try to steal our food, or do other harm.  Many of these will also be doing other H (Hemlocks)  type services, like keeping a ship running 24/7. Keeping the Hemlocks electric plant going will have a higher priority than protecting the Cliff Field Pond, for example. Having a reliable time keeping means will become a big deal, especially when awakened like at 0345 in the morning to do a 4 hour security watch/patrol in the winter, and it is raining. The Hemlocks has such a solar powered watch and two  manual clocks to help in this idea. Think 24 hour operations, plus people have to work during daytime, too. Consider the use of yard dogs, too.  All in all, this is a thankless, but necessary task, especially because the Compound is close to Monterey.  The Compound's proximity to Monterey is a two edged sword, so to speak. Like it or not, that is the way it is.

               Religious services. Provide them on Sunday mornings. The Hemlocks needs a lay religious person. And for the  rest of the week, too., to include weddings and funerals. Some may marry in and out of the compound.

               Monitor the food, drinking water, and waste water services. This includes bathing, and rationing the 700+ baby wipes that are an OK substitute for bathing. Those that prefer hot water can use the wood stoves  to make it with wood heating.  Boiling pots are here. Now priorities for using warm water are the makers choice (the mayor will probably make those that like hot water cut their wood). Assign a chief cook for the Compound. Food will be offered out of a common meal. Individual cooking cannot be tolerated. Cooking and eating is a communal  effort. This is probably not as harsh as it sounds, especially if we kick out lazy people.  Think gardening , hunting, snaring, etc., to feed, via food storage and cooking.

               Monitor the children services, like schooling, including lesson plans, and "keeping them busy". Support  home school efforts. Children still have to be taught.

               Be in charge of one "dry eraser board" (there are two, the third goes to the "H2". Hopefully the mayor assigns one (like control, location, and stuff on it) to the "school".   This may become a big deal because of various good demands to use it.

               Assign people to cut and stack wood for heat  and cooking during the cold season. Do the same to stockpile prepared wood during the warm season. Think mechanical, like the old days, including the wood stove. The tools are here, to include saws (one and two man), axes, and splitters, and sharpening tools and methods. This will be a major effort, I believe, that is cutting, splitting,  and stockpiling wood.

               Remember we have a local coal seam also, which can be mined for heat or cooking reasons. We have a book and the tools and the grates for using coal, which is different from using wood. A map of the location is in the infrastructure folder, and how to use coal is in one of the "if times get hard folders".

               Assign people to both work in the garden ( a reasonable time after frost planting time is after May 15th), and then put up the food for the cold season time.  In other words, plan ahead. The Hemlocks has a book about that (and some supplies, to include two canning pressure cookers, a hot washer canner, a food strainer,  and utensils and directions), to help the people who do it.  It is pretty much like a high school chemistry experience in my time. And it works.

               Assign a "Hemlocks Engineer" to maintain/understand the water, waste water, and electric stuff (which is still new in early 2012). Preventive medicine is a big deal, like having clean water, and a waste water working system to avoid getting sick. This engineer reports to the " vice mayor" directly, and can help the preventive medicine effort a lot.

               Assign cooks, food cleaners, and house cleaners (the common areas).

               Conduct health and sanitation inspections with the doc.

               Schedule announced periodic drills, to include fire, tornado, security of the compound, security of the garden, and patrol back up.

               Maintain and control all Hemlocks equipment, including the bicycle, and the batteries, to include rechargeable batteries run off the local electric plant, with converters, too.

               Setup  a monthly barber and beauty service for health and sanitation and human preference reasons.

               By the way, and best case, we can do OK up at the Hemlocks if need be.  It won't be a fun experience, but this is a good place to survive for a while (like more than one year), if need be. The key point is the running water springs, and a waste water system, all gravity powered. That is a big advantage to staying alive.

               Hemlocks vice mayor. The mayor needs help. All city type people positions report to him/she, and he/she reports to the mayor.

               Everyone has to wash their own clothes and bedding on their own limited time. The Hemlocks has such gear, plus they have to hang their clothes and bedding out to dry out  (such stuff is here). Plus they have to dump their own trash into the Hemlocks dump hole, to be burned by the H4 periodically. Just how we collect our trash after the plastic bags run out will depend on our ingenuity.

               Last, here are the underlying assumptions I am using on June 24, 2012.

                              A. Public electricity is lost (for whatever reason), and using the triage idea, Monterey and the Hemlocks may go one to three years without public electricity while the new transformers are both manufactured, transported, and installed; and other repairs are done.  I suspect  big cities will get a priority since that is what I would do. Hence a place like Nashville or Kansas City will do better, like go 1 to 4 months before public electricity is restored  where most live. Cookeville or Crossville may come back on like within a year or so. A place like the Hemlocks will probably be last.

                              B. Best case, the Hemlocks will be making its own electricity, EMP and winter  and beaver proof to boot (I hope). In that idea, the place will make enough electricity to maybe power the small freezer, some lights so we don't have to live like Abraham Lincoln,  one LED security light to make trespassers a better target, and a rechargeable battery charger (we have a small solar one, too). Plus this design will include a " dump load" that may help heat the main house place during our cold season (it depends on the situation and weather and number of people here), and then dump the excess heat into the atmosphere during the warm season. The main house also has a wood stove for heating in the front of the cottage, and a second stove for the back of the house. And the second cottage has two primitive wood stoves, too. The barn has a lot of room for a big tent (the Hemlocks has one for 12 with some sleeping pads) that is here, too. Cold is one thing, but wet and cold is another less fun thing, so the barn overhead cover will work well when it is rainy.

                              C. Compared to the Nashville area, the Cumberland Plateau where the Hemlocks is, is a crummy place to garden and farm, mostly due to the acidic type soil. Many garden plants prefer a less acidic soil.  Hence plan ahead.  Other  ancestors (including  local Indians) have done this too, and so vegetable gardens will grow OK, and have already grown OK at the Hemlocks, which has a nearby garden area, too (already limed and fertilized), like with full sun most of the day. Gardening tools are available, too. The Hemlocks has a seed vault, too. For example we can grow our own potatoes and tomatoes relatively easy.

                              D. Depending on the situation and circumstances and the amount of people at the time, most people will have multiple responsibilities, like normal. That will probably change (like responsibilities)  as people come and go. Imagine living on a ship as a good example. Keeping up with that is what the "H" type people and mayor do.

                              E.  Thanks to mother nature, we have plenty of clean spring water, and even waste water treatment (like a septic tank and drain field), all  gravity powered. Now we are probably hurting on the food side of things  after a month or more (depending on how many people we have show up), which is a good problem to have. The food dilemma will depend on the season,  the number of people here, the food we grow, and what we can live without. Also consider if a cold spell affects our growing season, and just what we will do (usually do an abbreviated growing season).

                              F. The wood stoves are the main methods of cooking, boiling water, heating water, heating ourselves,  heating our below floor pipes,  etc. There are two camping ovens, and a Dutch oven than can be used, too. The wood stove in the main house has a small thermocouple fan (around a 150 cfm (cubic feet per minute)) and a magnetically held temperature gauge (old fashioned spring designed)  on it, too. An extra 100 cfm thermocouple fan will be next door, plus a third similar fan in the back of the main house.  The place  (the Hemlocks) is about a square mile in size, so there is plenty of wood to cut and burn. Much of it is already "seasoned", too.  The Hemlocks also has a "high tech" third world stove that is good for cooking, and of course there is plenty of wood for it.  Just use it outdoors to keep the carbon monoxide killing problem away. Now there is also another third world type stove that has the bad gases go out the flue and chimney, and one has to collect the yard wood twice a day, kind of like he old days. Back then, the yard wood would go into a box...now it goes into a large metal trash can  with a cover. Ole granny use to do the chore, now I (65 year old male) does it.

                              G. People that come up here will bring extra ammo, and their prescription drugs. Right now the Hemlocks has a 30-06 rifle, a 22 long rifle, a Japanese WWII Arisaka rifle,  plus three crossbows,  two air guns with a lot of air gun ammo, plus knives and other similar things. If "guests"  don't bring more ammo, or guns, then we will suffer, but survive. The Hemlocks also has a hunting slingshot. Ammo for that, after the ball bearings run out, will be driveway and grounds pebbles.

                              H. The local town grocery  and hardware stores will run out of all commodities within a few days (like three), and without electricity, all fuel supply  and phone and other services, to include emergency and medical,  will end.  What we have is what is here, plus what we grow, and make, and defend from other humans.

                              I.  All huntable game will probably be hunted out within a year by local Monterey citizens. Then the use of snares (the Hemlocks has some), and patrols, will be a big deal.

                              J. Don't throw anything away casually. Even things like animal fat will have value in so many ways. Also old Mylar used food bags will have value, as another example. Wood stove ashes can help make soap.

                              K.  The main way to protect dry goods food stocks from animals like mice is by using the large plastic containers here at the Hemlocks in the main cottage.  Also the local small freezer (7.2 cu. ft.) serves the same function, but extends the lifetime of whatever is in it. Plan B is too use natural cooling which implies digging into to the local overhangs, and taking advantage of the constant 54 F temperatures. Now this usually means three things, also. One is protecting the cache from local critters, two is protecting the cache from  local stealing humans, and three is the 1/3 mile or more hike down and back  to use this local 54 F refrigerator ( if we did it under the local cliffs).

                              L.  We may move some or all of the gardening effort closer to the compound for security reasons. Consider the near back yard, for example.

                              M. The four traditional springs  in July 2012 run somewhere between 3,000 and 5,500 gallons per hour, estimated. We really don't know for sure, though. Now this is a drought estimate, and during rainy times, it will be better, like probably more like 5,000 to 7,200 gallons per hour.  Plus there is surface runoff, too, that helps fill the pond that helps make electricity, if it rains or more likely thunderstorms over this land.

                              N.  Females menstruate.  Females are half of all humans. The reusable and cleaning methods  to accommodate that include natural sponges, manufactured pads, and existing  cotton and natural products, plus Oxyclean soaking methods to help the reusable methods. Old fashioned soap and water helps, too. Then later we may have to go the American Indian route, like using the local Hemlocks' moss.

                              O.  People will have sex, and some females  may get pregnant.  The Hemlocks can handle that.  In fact, having a midwife can be a barterable trade. Now preventive methods to getting pregnant  include condoms,  of which the Hemlocks has 100.

                              P.  The dry erase boards have writing and erasing materials to use.

Bottom line. The mission is first.
After that we have to organize as best we can.
And generally speaking we humans have two things to do.
First is to work together.
Second is to live together.