Quick Start Guide for a Hemlocks hard times startup

Quick Start Guide for a  Hemlocks hard times startup

1/29/2014

Fourth Draft

1. If times get hard, and we have to get "things" running quickly , here's a proposed draft of how to try do it.

2.  It is assumed people will come here, vice the other way around. The place can get overwhelmed with refugees.  Remember the local town of Monterey has great capacity, too. The working assumption is the place can handle 20+ adults and an equal amount of kids.

3. The  priorities are water, food, waste water and sanitation, staying out of foul weather, fire safety, initial medical help for the ill, and simple security.

4. The people priorities are Family and Friends, then refugees in general.

            a)  Favored names are XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, XXXX XXXX, and XXXX XXXX. The Hemlocks expects not all will get here.

            b)  They will have to use the two main cottages.

            c)  All others are refugees, including their children. That is harsh, but this is a quick start guide. Said another way, one still has to try survive as best they can.

            d) The refugees will have to use all the other many facilities, including the Cliff Field Pool area.

            e)  A "spare" primitive wood stove should be moved out to the Cliff Field Shelter for both cooking and heat during the cold season. A kit to exhaust the CO1 gas outside comes with the stove if necessary. Plan B is to cook "camping style" if we have to.

5. Food initially should be served "soup kitchen" style in both cottages and the Cliff Field Shelter.  Food for cooking can be obtained from either cottage, and various cooking tools are all available. Wood is the main source of cooking heat. The Dutch Oven and large cooking pots setup will probably be used. Cups and "sporks" and paper plates are the main eating means.

6. Water comes from the springs, and the ponds. Bathing is by water and baby wipes if we have them (we have an initial supply of 700). Sanitation is by the four toilets in the two cottages, the Cliff Field outhouse, and dug holes for urine and feces. Going to the bathroom anywhere is forbidden. The garbage pits will still be used. Menstruation products will go to these pits.

7. Fire safely is by ruthless checking and observing by all.

8.  Initial medical help is to keep the ill as warm and hydrated as possible. Use all the sleeping bags, too.

9. Initially security is to maintain good order and discipline while setting up. LED lights for after dark are available.

10. One person will be the overall "boss". He or she will quickly  appoint people to maintain the water, cook, maintain sanitation (mostly to avert cholera and typhoid), appoint an initial doc, and a security chief that even assigns where to go. Any frictions will be sorted out by the boss. For those that don't like this proposed setup, they are welcome and expected to leave. Those who don't go along can expect worse.

11. Transition to a more detailed way to exist should begin within one week as things settle down. Expect change during the transition. A draft detailed way to go forward already exists at the Hemlocks.

12. Initial heat for both cottages will be provided to the wood stoves by those living in the cottages (i.e. they cut and gather wood for heating and cooking). Heat for the Cliff Field Shelter will be always be provided by those living there, or in the near vicinity.  If public electricity is on, then the electric heating bill will be paid for by those in each cottage. Each cottage already has its own account. There is no electricity at the Cliff Field Shelter.

13. Keep in mind the barn and 4 storage sheds are also available for initial use. None are hooked up to water. The metal shed has some electrical hookups and a motel type heater and cooler.  The barn does have some electrical hookups. This barn does have a lay down freezer with human and animal type food in it. It also has a very minimal "puppy house" that works OK for dogs. Those with cats will decide what to do with their pet cats.