Ohiofarmgirl's Adventures in The Good Land is largely a fish out of water tale about how I eventually found my footing on a small farm in an Amish town. We are a mostly organic, somewhat self sufficient, sustainable farm in Ohio. There's action and adventure and I'll always tell you the truth about farming.


Monday, December 9, 2013

Power Inverter and Storm Prep List

Some of us were talking about generators and storm preps over on 'the facebook' the other day and they were asking about the power inverter we have for our truck. Here is one like it....



As I understand it, someone who is not me hooks up this doohickey to the truck battery... then plugs in an extension cord... which we plug into whatever in the house. The one we have is mostly for small appliances like charging up the laptop or powering the TV. You can also get more powerful ones.

The great thing about this kind of whatchamacallit is that it's easy to use, cheaper than a generator, and can run a lot of stuff. The downside is that you have to use the gas in your truck. As with a generator, make sure you don't run your truck (or generator) in the garage attached to your house.

Another great storm prep tool is a hand crank weather radio. Some of them even have phone chargers in them. I'm not a "gadget" person but this one really makes sense to me.

Pretty much we can make the best of any weather situation. We are typically ready for a power outage at any time - and can do OK for a while without services or utilities.

The only time when things would really get ugly would be if I wasn't able to make coffee. I'm not kidding. So I love my trusty french press coffee maker. But don't forget to have some beans already ground if the weather looks bad.

I also have a variety of pots and pans that I can use either on the wood burning stove or outside on the gas grill. If you don't already have a bunch of Lodge cast iron pansthen now is the time to get busy. Properly seasoned and cared for they will last a lifetime. Even if you "ruin" them you can always re-season them.

Don't forget to have a million MagLites... with batteries, of course. 

That's my quick list of storm prep tools. Do you have someone who is hard to buy for on your Christmas list? How about a one of these items? Nothing says "love" like a power inverter!

Happy Monday everyone!  Are you still in the deep freeze? Any body with their power out?

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1 comment:

Fresh Eggs Farm said...

We are in the tundra that is SW Ohio...we got another round of wet roads, that of course froze so the kids are home again today. YAY - four days in the house together - joy noel! (three kids, two parents, two cats, two dogs, a rabbit and a fish...for four days in a row...UGH). I wanted to comment and add though. We have the weather radio, which is great! It is through the Red Cross - and is both battery and hand crank. It has the trusty cell phone charger, a flashlight, radio access etc. We've not had to use it yet - but it's there, just in case. We also have oil lamps here - for lighting and extra warmth. Finally - we got a "little buddy" heater from TSC. This heater runs either on the little green propane tanks, or you can get a converter for the bigger tanks. It's rated for inside use and would be a good source of heat for someone that hasn't been able to get their wood burning stove (Ahem...that's us!).
Stay safe and warm.

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