Homesteading may be far from the most dangerous way to live, but self-reliance means that you can’t always easily get help when something goes wrong. For that reason, you have to be responsible and keen to ensure the health and safety of your family.
Here, we are going to look at tips to help you protect what’s yours, both with health tips while you are taking care of the property, and security advice to make sure you can not be targeted easily by the criminal.
Protecting Your Health and Safety
Have a Stock of Emergency Supplies
Many people homestead quite a ways away from any signs of civilization. It’s one way to ensure that you are not overly reliant on the comforts of modern connecting living. However, it also means that in cases of emergency, it can be hard to get your hands on what you need.
Keeping supplies on hand can make sure that you don’t have to make any treks in potentially dangerous situations, such as when the roads are frozen over or when there’s a storm raging outside. Emergency stocks, such as food, essentials, water, first aid kits, and the like can help protect your family’s health and safety even if you are forcibly cut off from the rest of the world for some time.
Always Bring the Appropriate Gear
When you are heading out into the great outdoors, you should always make sure that you are dressed for the occasion. This might differ depending on whether you are wandering about in a vegetable garden or out in a bigger swathe of farmland.
However, though your needs might change, the basic premise of needing to bring your safety gear remains the same. This will mean appropriate clothing that can tolerate the outdoors, as well as essential safety gear. Safety glasses and gloves are critical in the garden and the farm.
Otherwise, be sure to consider your health and safety needs before you head out, whether it is needing to wear masks to filter dust and mold when clearing land, or needing chemical respirators if dealing with chemicals.
Backup Lights and Power are Crucial
Whether due to bad weather or unfortunate planning, temporary power loss is more of a risk to your health and safety than you might first think, especially if you are living off the grid and relying on the generator. To that end, the single best protection is to visit this site and take a look at the available backup generators.
However, you should also equip yourself with other power sources like batteries and solar charging devices, including solar-powered lights. This way you can at least make sure that you have the lighting and minor supply necessary to supply yourself with the essentials of safe living. At least until you can have someone look at your generator.
Know How to Deal with Bad Weather
It is worth delving into the question of what you can do to protect your health and safety. Specifically in the winter while homesteading. Ice and snow can be a lot more dangerous when you are out in the country. You may not have any city officials to take care of the environment for you.
Icicles can turn into ice dams on the roof which can cause leaks in the attic. This can make the whole home freezing and cause dampness issues. Taking care of ice around your home is essential. From salting the paths so that they are not a slip, trip, and fall hazard to insulating your attic to make sure ice can’t spread into it. If you are worried about trips and falls you can buy assistive technology such as a wearable alarm that you can press in an accident. Most of us do carry phones around with us, but sometimes we leave them on the counter. A wearable alarm can be worn around your neck or wrist so you won’t forget it.
Outdoor Visibility is Key
When tending to the garden or operating machinery, it’s critical that you are able to see clearly. Low visibility will increase the risk of slips, trips, and falls exponentially. These can be made all the more dangerous by a farm environment, especially if there are tools around.
What’s more, you can do injury to yourself by not seeing what you are doing with your tools. This is why it is key to make sure you follow this link and find good reliable glasses to wear. Furthermore, you should follow the age-old habit of countryside workers who know to stop working when the sun starts setting. Especially since your visibility immediately starts to suffer drastically. This is another great way to protect your health and safety.
Exercise Caution with Chemicals
Most farms and homesteads are going to have some pretty heavy-duty chemicals. Whether it’s to treat the land, take care of your tools and machinery, or otherwise. This can be a risk to your health and safety.
If you do find yourself needing to use chemicals, aside from making sure you have the chemical-safe gear to wear, you should also ensure that you’re effectively trained in how to properly handle them.
Safe chemical handling courses can make sure that you use them in a way that avoids spills and accidents. They are taught with your health and safety in mind.
They can also teach you all about the safe storage of chemicals. Many of them need to be stored in cool dry spaces, which can be difficult to find on a farm, especially in large supply.
One great resource for quality chemical storage containers is STOREMASTA. Here you can be assured to receive safe and quality approved containers to store and dispose of your hazardous chemicals.
Identify Any Plants You Have to Deal With
Are you wondering whether plants in your yard are safe for the animals to roam around? Are you clearing some land for the sake of planting or opening up grazing land? You should take the time to know which plants you are dealing with. There may be some that you recognize. But if you find yourself facing something uncommon, then you should treat it with caution. This will protect your health and safety.
You can use apps like this to help you identify almost any plant you will come across. You want to be mindful of any that might be toxic to animals, as well as plants like poison ivy. These can seriously irritate and sometimes even do real harm to your and your family. Some plants can really jeopardize the health and safety of you, your family, and your pets as well.
Take Care of your Machinery
Not everyone relies on heavy equipment and outdoor machinery to make homesteading easier. However, if you do, then safety with these devices is paramount and it is assured in a few ways.
First of all, make sure you are trained by a professional. Make sure to be licensed to operate any machinery that you have on your land. Secondly, keep it secured. Ensure that the keys to your machinery are kept well out of reach of any children. Lastly, make sure that you invest time into preventative maintenance. Changing what needs to be changed, and looking for any signs of wear and tear that need to be repaired to ensure that malfunctions don’t put you in any danger out there in the field.
Consider Getting a Guard Dog for Your Health and Safety
When it comes to the security of the farmstead, you should never underestimate the versatility and the practicality of having a good dog. Aside from making an excellent companion for you and your family, a well-bred security dog, especially from breeds such as german shepherds, can be excellent and keeping your property safe.
They work as a deterrent, making a lot of noise at the sign of intruders, and will even physically protect their family if necessary. Guard dogs are working dogs, however, so it’s important to know they have to be raised and trained differently. They can still spend time with the family, but know that you have to train them properly.
Final Thoughts on Protecting The Health and Safety of You and Your Family
By taking the proper steps and precautions, you can easily protect the health and safety of both you and your family on the homestead. Not all of the above tips may pertain to your specific situation, but they are a great start.
What steps do you take on your homestead to protect your health and safety as well as the health and safety of your family? Do you have tips to share?