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I really bombed out in December. I had to take DH to Mayo Clinic for surgery and now he is much better.
I got so far off track I didn’t even get the gingerbread house for the grandkids made and shipped to them.
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I’m here! It’s been a very busy December! 🙂
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I hope your husband is recovering soon woods runner!
this week I will focus on making more pantry mixes. I’m on the build a better pantry course and I’m very curious how it will go. I’m eager to learn more how to build and keep a better pantry.
I also will try to repair the chicken coop and remove it more near the house. I have clay ground in the garden and it is so wet and cold during the winter I will move it on the stones. I ordered a high pressure cleaner so I can easily clean the stones every week. I will place the coop in a fashion they will have a small part in the clay ground.
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So I am here from Arkansas for the challenge! Thank you Daisy.. really its to give me an incentive to spend less time on the computer reading news articles and worrying about an uncertain future for my child and more time actually prepping for it! And I do wish to stop our Take Out habit and be more organized in both our shopping and meal planning, and that role really falls to me, as my husband works full time as I look after our little girl (I am an older mother) . That said I am not really a prepper – I am just worried about not teaching my little girl about skills she may need for a very different life than I have had the blessing and privilege of having during the past years. As I have a sinus infection today, I am just concentrating today – Day One of the Challenge – on the planning of the rest of the month. My main goals are to make home made cookies for my husband every week, as opposed to buying them, Learn to make bread by hand better so I actually want to eat it and that I then make it every week, so I don’t need to buy bread anymore and get into the habit of making soup or stew at least once a week using pulses/dried beans/lentils etc. If I can make those new habits part of my life successfully I will be thrilled and this challenge will have worked for me. If I am inspired to learn other new skills or do other things to make my life more prepared and organized – BONUS! Hello everybody!
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Hi all….Our Internet crashed on Sunday 12/30 so I “disappeared”. Hmph! Weekend plus holiday…so tech is coming to fix tomorrow. We’ve been having trouble. Mountain access to the satellite is sometimes iffy but this seems to be something in the hardware/software? Anyway, for some reason we have signal right now. Hurrying to type in case it disappears again… I’m TRYING to hang onto modern life here!!
Yesterday we prepped for losing electricity during the 24 hrs of snow and DEEEP cold. Snow was lite tho persistent. A bother but the cold was dangerous. Went well into the sub-zero range all of yesterday and last nite. Stuffed the windows [only single pane of glass and no storm windows] with bubble wrap, then cardboard [I save the top …not greasy part..of pizza take out boxes]. Then I shove in spare pillow or whatever and cover with blankets. Kept only enough open to let in light and that had bubble wrap. After dark, the whole window is covered. The back door seepage is handled by the dog’s bed shoved up against it. The front door has an old towel at the base and folded newspapers shoved into the seepage crack…wind was from that direction. Brrrrr! ….have I mentioned we rent a OLD log cabin? Cute but …it’s flaws get tiresome.
Poured extra water…cuz the well has electric pump. Had non-electric phone [old Princess style] at the ready. Our usual one with cordless handsets, requires electricity. Kept heat up higher than usual in case of losing pellet stove AND furnace. In sub-zero, if the electric went off, we probably would have to go somewhere besides this house to stay warm enough. We do have 2 vehicles and could run them to stay warm….and have extra gas. Inside the house, we could try the Buddy Heater – on propane tanks. But not at all sure we’d be warm enough. ‘Course we do have a large dog to snuggle with…lol.
When we have sub-zero, we use different protocols. I was home but DH was at work. [yes Muffy, …I use DH for Dear Husband…But some occasionally use if for some other term like: “DX”….it would probably not stand for ‘dear’.. lol ] …anyway he was at work and I had to do PM chores. DV …does not stand for ‘dear’ vehicle in this case 😉 …started and ran but would not engage into gear. It’s a warm–weather sissy truck! So dog and I took poultry water on sled and went down hill to barnyard. With my disability, it’s an issue to walk up steep hillsides.
By protocol, I put in call….so someone knows when I leave house and when I get back inside. Only have cordless house phone service in certain locations down there. So…in case I slip on ice and sprain ankle, for instance. Yes, that happened once and I wasn’t in a phone access area of barnyard.
But last nite all was well and critters were all fine with extra bedding/feed. It wore me out to climb that hill again when finished tho the dog assists. Never stopped snowing. Below zero when I went out so part of our prepping is having pre-set protocols for dangerous weather. What we feed. How we feed. Subzero is so NOT forgiving. Take no chances around here with those conditions. [hate subzero!]
SO thankful we never lost power either. This snow was tiny, persistent bits. We’re more likely to lose power if it’s heavy spring snow that brings down power lines with the overburdened limbs of trees. Yay for furnace and hot showers …..so far we are not living post-stuff-hits-fan! 🙂
Today I made a little oil lamp from Altoids tin, OLD jute cord for wick, and olive oil. It barely works. I’ll try putting another hole in the lid…better air? Dunno. Also look around for any other ‘expedient’ material for wick. With low O2 and air pressure up at this altitude, there is a difference in how things burn.
OK…OldMtWoman is outta here….send before we lose Internet again. Tech coming tomorrow.
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Yesterday was a house full of under 21s. My oldest boy’s friends all wanted something to do, but I didn’t want them on the roads so I offered up my house for the night. No one’s parents needed to worry about where they were, if they were on the road with crazy drivers, or if anyone was drinking (because we don’t have alcohol in our house). We opened up the game shelves, made a ton of snack foods, set out the leftover Christmas sweets, and fired up the karaoke machine. Even my 2 youngest made it to midnight and we all had a good time.
So from scratch for Dec. 31: All the snacks served at the party – Potato skins, Mini pulled pork sliders, mozzarella sticks, and mini egg rolls.
Today we schlepped everyone home after breakfast. It has been a very quiet day because we’re all still tired from staying up so late last night. My youngest son began coughing last night so I made up a batch of homemade cough syrup with rosemary, ginger, water, and honey.
From scratch Jan 1: Homemade french toast for breakfast and cough syrup
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Hello everyone, this sounds interesting. I used to cook everything from scratch since I learned to cook pre- microwave 😉. Interested in the other make from scratch things. Luckily for me I live in the flatlands, feeding up isn’t such a challenge. Although with bad knees I keep a phone on me in case of falling. Really hate that.
Happy New Year!
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Hope your husband is feeling better. Yesterday we got all the Christmas decorations down and put away including the tree. Reorganized it all. Then I went on line to see how many points I had so I could take advantage of getting things for free using my points. Patriots supply had a 75% off sale, so got some long term foods. Also got a usb rechargeable led lantern. It is a goal zero lighthouse 400 also for free with my points. Now I will have to let them build up again for the end of 2019 sales. Have been washing clothes and cleaning house in order to catch up. Still have some canning waiting for me. Put a pot of black eyed peas in crock pot for dinner tonight. Did that early this morning so it would be ready. All I had to do was heat up collards and make the cornbread. Easy New Years day dinner. Plus it is a tradition for us. Going to start going through and inventory everything and get some older foods moved to kitchen to be used first. Then going to clean out closets and put more shelving into the one in office/sewing room. That closet serves as one of my pantries.
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January 1: Went to church – kept Fisherman’s Friend cough drops in mouth the whole time to keep from coughing, but made it. Daughter’s car died, so now we have only one car that’s running for 3 drivers going different directions, so “re-planned” tomorrow. Husband was really hankering to cancel his doctor’s appointment, so he was thrilled to have to do it. Now he gets to come with us tomorrow 🙂
Finalized prepping and other goals for January 2019. Some of them, like inventorying preps and organizing and cleaning are super urgent for multiple reasons this month. Cooked dinner for 2 times so I won’t have to cook tomorrow (meatloaf, grits, salad) – will be away for most of the day tomorrow with daughter at pre-op appointment. If I don’t cook ahead, we’ll end up eating out because daughter and I will be completely exhausted and won’t even be able to scramble eggs (polymyalgia plus fibromyalgia for me, cancer and fibromyalgia for daughter), and husband just can’t cook. That’s too expensive!
We had an adventure once when husband tried to cook, when the kids were little and I had the flu — that’s an adventure I don’t want to repeat.
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December 31 – sorted through some of the boxes in the barn that needed to be accounted. Found a package of printer paper, a container of soft soap, and two of my cook books. I was so happy as I have decided to try to do a no spend or minimal spend for January.
January 1 – picked up my new woodstove and chimney pipes. The pipes were wrong. I took them back to TSC and got my money back. I then had to go to Lowe’s but they did have the right ones and I hope this will be done. I have resolved to be better researched about what I am going to do/purchase as this has almost driven me beserk! I did cook some corned beef and cabbage for the New Year ( and also some ham) as this has been a tradition of my family and even though I am alone at the start of this year, I will do this for myself! I am trying to be a little more self sufficient as I have always been but when I lost DH, it set me back somewhat. I am having to learn to do for myself. I pray this year is better for us all!
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This should be fun. Today made perogies from scratch with the left overs from the holidays, but it all got eaten before I could freeze any so I’ll have to make more. Have never tried to make the dessert ones so I’ll have to try that this month. Used a different dough and I think it turned out better. Have to figure out what I’m doing tomorrow
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Today, I made homemade pizza crust with the two littles! We put Italian herbs & spices in the dough, and brushed the edges with butter. It was delicious! The older teens were snarky and said it looked like I put grass in the dough (because they had wanted to go out to a pizza restaurant instead), but they sure ate it all! Toppings were from our current stash.
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Ugh, I have fallen back into the habit of grocery-shopping almost every day, which ends up spending too much money on food. Every day buying the stuff for dinner that night. Part of the problem is that the store is 2 blocks from my home. Another problem is that when you try to eat healthier it seems to involve more fresh food than usual, which means loads of trips to the grocery store and exposure to temptation. And I use the credit card for everything. I am wondering if I need to start buying food with cash, the ol’ envelope method.
I have been trying all month to get up the courage to clean out my hallway closet. Every time I open it I just shut it again. Every morning I wake up swearing this will be the day, then it’s 10pm and I haven’t done anything. I need a clutter buddy.
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January 1st (yesterday now!) I listened to two more of Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy’s old podcasts (296 to go, lol), and watched some of the Modern History TV’s YouTube channel videos about food cooked in Medieval Britain (the peasants’ food was surprisingly healthy!). I also started keying in the data from my written November and December grocery shopping inventory lists into the big storage pantry list on my computer. Once that data (which includes things like brand, size, quantity, price, best by date, and store where purchased) is all in the computer, I will send a digital copy of the whole list to my smart phone to take with me when I do my next shopping later in January.
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Today I made chapatis for bread for sandwiches for lunch instead of going to the store. I also made my own frosting (2 flavors—vanilla and chocolate, and 3 colors—red, yellow, blue [I had food coloring sitting around].
I’m a big fan of chapatis. The recipe I have is from a Vacation Bible School that I helped with about 6 years ago. Recipe makes 3.
3/4c flour. 1/4t salt. 1t oil. 1/4c water.
- Measure 1/2c flour and 1/4t salt into mixing bowl. The rest of the flour is for kneading and rolling out.)
- Mix in 1t oil.
- Add 1/4c water and stir until dough holds together.
- Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth. (About 5 min. )
- Divide dough into 3 balls.
- Muse rolling pin to flatten each ball into a circle about 6 inches (15cm) across.
- Brown each chapati in a warm, oiled skillet. If it luffs up, press it down gently with a spatula.
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Hi, everybody!!! It’s so good to see many of you from last month’s challenge participating in the continuation daily prepping or the new challenge of doing everything from scratch. And, really great to see some new names joining the challenge this month: a shout out to Angelrose 2018, Beyond Blessed, Anne Baker, and Molly Malone to name a few I noticed.
OldMtWoman – you never fail to make me laugh! I spent a couple of years in a non-winterized cabin, so I know exactly whereof you speak; but, I was not in a part of the country where sub-zero temps had to be endured. I like that you have a way to check in and out with someone when you’re out of phone range. I wear an apron with pockets where I keep my phone with me even here in the house.
Hieronyme Textor – thanks for keeping us posted concerning the challenges you all are facing as a family.
Jesse Jones – noticed you are now coping alone; I think you will enjoy this group. I’m also not planning to spend any money beyond my fixed monthly expensives as part of the January Challenge. If I don’t have something I’m going to do without or as my mother taught me, “make do” with something else. Of course, I immediately think of all the things I want to purchase for my prepping efforts, so I won’t have to go cold turkey….
Anyhow, yesterday and today I’m taking inventory of all the fresh stuff in the refrig and planning menus that will use these things first or figure out a way to preserve in freezer if need be. Number two son came by today to finish off the kickin’ collards.
Open toothpaste tube is running low and though I have extra in pantry, I’m going to try to create a substitute for that. Hoping I can find a recipe that won’t taste too bad.
Hopefully we’ll hear from OldMansd soon…I’m curious how his indoor gardening is getting on….
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DH (dear husband) is doing quite well. He is diabetic and has some physical problems so I am the more active one and he is the brains. This next summer I hope to learn how to weld. He will teach me, he’s patient. He walks with a walker but hopefully can graduate to a cane.
A few days after Christmas a neighbor’s house burned down and they lost everything and had no insurance, so I got a list of sizes and raided my closets since they got out with just the clothes on their backs. The people up here band together when someone has a disaster and someone gave them a free months rent and we will be doing a fund raising dinner.
When I worked in the Post Office I realized how many people got welfare checks and I know a lot of people do drugs and don’t like to work so it would be different if/when SHTF.
One of my new year’s resolutions is to be more diligent about Bible reading- keep up with the spiritual part of prepping.
Daisy, thank you for the pasta recipe. I have had a pasta maker for a while but haven’t done anything with it yet. Now I will haul it out and use it. I was going to use it for fimo clay but abandoned that idea. Too many other things more important to do.
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We are making tacos for dinner tonight. 😋 One of the very first things I learned to make, as a homemade pantry staple, was taco seasoning! My mix recipe for 1lb ground beef is: 1TB chili powder, 1/2 TB Cumin, 1tsp salt, 1 tsp Pepper, 1/2 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp onion powder, 1/4 tsp oregano, 1/8 tsp red pepper flakes. Brown and drain ground beef, combine and add seasonings with 1/2c water, simmer 5-10 minutes, and serve.
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The kitchen cabinets are being removed this weekend, so I spent the day clearing things out. The $3.00 lunch bag which I got from Amazon as an add on item came in handy for spices.
I wont have countertops for awhile and the jury is still out on whether the stove will be replaced.
Looks like I am out of the make it from scratch challenge. Another time, cause I love the idea.
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For the last few days I have done a bit of prepping. Last year we did not use our gas fireplace because every time we would turn it on, it would set off the smoke alarm. Well this weekend my husband and I took it apart and cleaned it and put it all back together. It is now working nicely. This fireplace works even if the electric goes off so I am happy to have it fixed. I have decided that this will be the year that I test all of my preps. I filled and tested an oil lamp yesterday. It gave off good light, but boy does it stink. The other item I did was to check my emergency box that I have in my vehicle, ( or apocalypse box as my husband calls it). I rotated the food and organized it a bit. I made it easier to grab things should I need to stuff them in a back pack and walk.
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Today (Jan 2) I didn’t make so much anything but room. I cleaned out pantry clutter (all the stuff that needed a place to go during the Christmas season) and the front closet was started so I can restock, take inventory, and have room for all the new from scratch stuff this month. Tomorrow will probably be more of the same, but with a loaf of bread to go with dinner
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Prepping was a dud today since we lost power for about four hours. Our weather was “wintry mix” which usually means a cold mess that may freeze on bare limbs. Or maybe not. Anyway we did have some ice and somewhere in the area it knocked out the power. Fortunately we have a fireplace, so I got a fire going and spent a lot of the time burning very old papers. Power came on in time to get supper made (Cowboy Caviar, smothered cabbage and rice, and hamburger patties, plus the last of the pecan pie) and so far it’s stayed on. I do need some non-electric lights besides our hurricane lamps.
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I am so happy to see this forum continuing.
The New Year has not gotten off to a good start for me. I have been consistent with small things every day. After reading Daisy’s blog today, I decided to make pasta and gravy from scratch for dinner. I started making the red sacuce with sausage ( in Philly speak that makes it gravy). I then went in search of the manual pasta maker. I couldn’t locate it. It wasn’t where it was supposed to be. I then notice other items (copper cookware, cast iron cookware, Staub, tools) gone.
My mind suddenly took me back several months. My cousin had commented about all the extra stuff and that since I wasn’t using it, he could sell all and make some good money. I explained the two is one concept and that I wanted the stuff. Besides the fact, that the stuff was mine.
As soon as my mind connected, I sent a text to then DC (d&$# cousin). I could tell DC read it, but no response from DC. I am furious.
This is all stuff I have collected over the years — lots of gifts and purchases. The Staub and the copper cookware were my grandmother’s. I cannot afford to go out and replace the stuff. I am heartsick. Has anyone had this type of stuff occur to them? I hope karma bites DC in the a$$.
On a good note, I also have a Kitchen Aid along with a pasta attachment. The pasta turned out great. The gravy is awesome. I have leftovers for a few more meals.
Between us, I don’t feel so bad about using the Kitchen Aid as I have solar back up to run the necessary electrical, plus a few extras. I will be on the lookout for a manual pasta maker at the thrift store.
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@lovinglife I am so sorry to hear that you were robbed by your cousin. I hope your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance will cover it. Have you thought of filing a police report, specifically naming him as the suspect? Don’t worry that you “can’t prove it.” On the police report you can say that you have very strong reason to think he is the thief because of the comments he made, and the fact that he is now avoiding you. The police might search his home to see if any of your property is still there.
This sounds like thousands of dollars’ worth of property, which is felony theft. You might be able to check Craig’s List to see if your stuff was sold on Criag’s List by your cousin.
My guess is that your cousin is a drug addict because stealing from relatives is what drug addicts do. Again, I am sorry that this happened to you.
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Today i’m working on getting my right shoulder unkinked.. again.
When i moved from the farm into another state lost the most wonderful naturapath/chiropractor ever.
but i found this link and by massaging the triger points can work out the pain myself.
until the next time i mess it up! -
Muffy 1938 – thanks so much! I do believe that I will like the group.
Woodsrunner – Glad your husband is doing better. Hang onto him. Everyone needs a brains/brawn combo 🙂
Lele – thanks so much for the taco seasoning recipe. Will try that. Sounds goods.
Jan. 2nd – I stocked up on some packs of the thick diaper wipes which were on sale. They are so handy for little (and big) people. Also, picked up 8 more shelf stable boxes of 2% milk which has several months on the expiration date. Got some jerky which was on a really good sale and I actually like it and will eat it. Comes in handy when you can’t stop to eat.
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Loving Life – I am so sorry to hear about your cousin’s apparent theft of your heirloom cookware and tools! I would contact him by text or email again and tell him that if he must return all the items immediately or, if he has already sold them, must immediately turn over to you all the $$ he made from selling them (so you can try to replace at least some of them!) or you will report the theft to the police. Cousin or no cousin, he shouldn’t be able to get away with this! In addition to checking on Craig’s List to see if you can find any current (or past, if it’s possible to see those) listings of your items for sale, I would also check EBay to see if he has sold any of them there in the past several months, or is currently listing any of them for sale. If nothing else, that could provide proof of who took them! Of course, the sentimental value of many of the stolen items is priceless – but perhaps you could at least recover or replace some of them if he returns them or coughs up the $$ he made from selling them. Needless to say, I don’t think you should ever allow him to enter your home again – he can leave any items he’s bringing back at your front door (with you there to receive them). As far as looking in thrift stores for a replacement manual pasta maker, if you are talking about a metal, pasta roller (such as an Atlas machine), you may already be aware of this but I heard awhile back that people need to be careful about buying such machines in thrift stores because sometimes folks have used them to make craft items out of a plastic-type clay, and those machines might not be safe to use for pasta-making any more. So, you need to be extra careful that any used one you may buy is still “food safe”.
Yesterday (January 2nd) I finished keying in my November grocery purchases into my master pantry inventory list in my computer. I also started checking my OTC medicines and other medical preparedness supplies. I threw out some items I was certain had really expired and put them on my shopping list to buy replacements later this month.
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Hello again everyone. Yay! Tech arrived and fixed Internet modem and also spent time to talk to us. Answered questions. Nice guy. Did you know [rural reality here...] the electric meter they stick on the back of your house can appear when you bring up your Internet networks? [IF I’m using the correct terms?] I can always see ours and often see the neighbor up-mountain from me. Occasionally I see other sorta-near neighbors’ and recognize the network names. But all of these others are very low on the strength-of-connection bars. Barely receive any signal…cuz of distance between us out here in rural boonies.
However there is ALWAYS another network with a mysterious name [Hidden Network] that has full signal. So we asked the tech. He kept listing other devices that might be sending WiFi signal ….wireless printers [both currently unplugged] …cell phones [off, no cell tower here] …bunch of electronic stuff we hadn’t even HEARD OF …LOL. Finally DH comes up with the electric meter out back….cuz it sends a signal as far as the road so the utilities trucks don’t come up your driveway to ‘read your meter’ anymore. They catch it wireless as they drive by. THAT’S what that is! I so hate mysteries. I love answers! Don’t even READ mysteries…and I read a lot!
Anyway that was the big event and assume we now have steady Internet access. In prep for him coming, I did Clutter Clearing in a few more square feet of space in this tiny abode. 🙂 Also hauled a bunch of boxes waiting to be sorted….out of his sight. {embarrassed} But I did sort and empty two of them after he left. [ok..it was the easiest ones!] My time is WELL SPENT if I can declutter this place. I find all sorts of “lost” or “completely forgotten” items. I also filled up a whole stove pellet bag with trash during my clearing. Most of it was from the dog toys box: old ripped-up Tshirts [she likes the RIIIIIP sound], rolled up magazines from getting junk mail…taped and she plays with “her mail” sticks for a while. There was at least 10 old rolls in there.
We received some specialized Mitten/gloves for DH’s poor hands. Raynauds is very painful even with the air-activated heater packs. These are better insulated and have a pocket within the whole mitten for those heaters. Hoping he has less pain.
Loving Life….The AUDACITY! Whooooooeeee! I’d be pulling some EX-relative by his hair until he coughed up the originals or replacements. Banned for life too! Hmph! But…we’ve had that happen with EX-family on DH’s side. My guitar, for one. But unlike yours, not too much $$ value or sentimental value, fortunately. You have my sympathy….cuz alleged family can be tricky business. [lol ….the D in “DC” did NOT stand for ‘dear’ in this case, huh?]
OldGoat….your talk of perogies has my mouth watering. I hope you post your recipes in the January Make from Scratch challenge. 🙂 Lot of variation for the fillings, right?
MollyM…your observation about being in stores more for fresh, healthy food also exposes one to temptation…that’s true! Hmmm. And I chuckled about your unsorted hall closet. I’ve been doing some of the easy areas….or vital areas. But I’ve got boxes and boxes that need to stop moving from place to place and be COMPLETELY sorted! {sigh} Good luck with yours.
AmyDixon….hmm, price-checking from your phone is SO much more subtle than a spiral notebook! 😉 I’ve had frowns with that but… eh!
Lele…welcome to our daily prep group and thanks for the taco seasoning recipe!
Chicken Mama…welcome also. Oil lamp: did you use kerosene or lamp oil which is a liquid paraffin product and easier on the nose? Maybe light a scented candle as well as the oil lamp to offset the smell?
RufusJ….power outage during our subzero weather was my greatest fear. Glad you were warmer and had options! Our real weakness is not having a non-electric means of heat…except sitting in running vehicles outside. Once I had 6 baby chicks down in garage with a heat lamp…and the power went out. I always keep a few interesting smooth rocks sitting on our pellet stove. I brought those yellow babies into the living room in an old Styrofoam cooler. Wrapped the hot rocks in cloth and tucked in with the chicks. They were kinda freaked – esp. with my big head peering at them frequently – LOL. But they did fine til they got the power back on. I was getting concerned by the 3rd hours….thinking we’d all move to the cab of the truck…when power came back. Yes, it was a spring snow storm bringing down branches on power lines.
OldMtWoman….tired…need bed. G’nite all.
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A new year but zero resolutions.
Now changes, that’s what happens.
Spent a couple of hours on the 1st penciling out my finances, outside the family bills. What I can take care of with the side gig.
The 2nd, really started looking at what changes I wanted to make in the plans, food storage for example. Actually diving into pressure canning and more homemade stuff. Not that the wife isn’t on board but its a time factor for us, I’m going to make more time for the other stuff. This while at the side gig, its mindless and allows 4 hours or so to think about other stuff.
Today, the 3rd, had to add a bill I had forgotten to my numbers. Downloading some podcasts to listen to over the next three days, got a bit of a drive coming up and everyone else will likely be asleep.
Going to put in for the antelope tags this evening, starting the year off with the fall hunting plans, making sure that part of our preps (cheap and healthy meat) is covered.
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This week, I’ve purchased and downloaded the book deal Daisy posted (THANK YOU!). My husband is fully on board so we’ve been working out a month by month plan of what to prep. This month is organizing what we have and planning our food storage. We want to find some good cookbooks that are helpful for items now, and for SHTF where we’d be cooking on our wood burning stove or over an open fire. Today we are adding an additional shelf to our Master closet to help us get organized in there.
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Ok. we decided to do this. Apparently I answered somewhere else and yesterday I totaly forgot to check in. Today I hope I am answering on the right thread. sigh Our friend who is staying with us is very ill so it will be homemade Penicillin aka chicken soup. I will make the broth from chicken and turkey carcasses that I have been saving in the freezer. Then canning and freezing excess. Yesterday I have been purging before we went out for dinner with friends from out of town. Daisy Is going out with guests from out of town allowed😐😊
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Im a bit confused now where to put things. So today I try this thread LOL.
While making some pre made mixes I found out that I almost ran out of dry milk and totally out of baking owder. So much for being prepared. I had to go and buy some of the latter.
I made a baking mix and oat meal baking mix. Also made a crate all mix which I put in individual jars. Just st water and I hope mornings will be less stressful with two teenagers who can’t seem to get out of bed on time.
I grinded extra flour ( wheat oat and buckwheat) and made some sourdough bread for tomorrow.
forgot I received the book the suburban micro farm. Will be a great read I think.
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I’ve posted on the January challenge but want to keep up with this forum also….anyhow, today I made chili from scratch, a new recipe. Used a dried tomato powder for the tomato sauce. Pretty good recipe but still not the perfect one I’m looking for.
Placed an order with Emergency Essenials (BePrepared.com). They are a great company out in Utah I think with super customer service in my experience. I’ve ordered some candle type lamps that burn 115 hours so am curious how they will actually work.
Haven’t checked on the spinach today but am seriously considering adding another grow light and starting in some things for early planting. The onions are FANTASTIC! Wow, in such a short time too. So, when next you buy fresh green onions or scallions, instead of tossing the root end, just plant those puppies and the next thing you know you have another onion. 🙂 I’m going to give the celery another try and see if in better light conditions it will not expire.
OldMtWoman…happy you got your internet issue resolved….I’m assuming the tech who helped you made certain that your wifi connection is secure and cannot be used by anyone else in your neighborhood.
See ya tomorrow.
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After yesterday’s debacle, I was fueled with lots of restless anger and it found outlets.
I woke up to tree down in my rural driveway. I used both electric and regular chainsaw to cut it up and stacked it to season. Being a lady over 50, I find the electric chainsaws to be much lighter, but they don’t have the listing power needed. I am very fond of Stihl. I gave multiple batteries.
I then cooked breakfast from scratch on my wood stove, powered by my own . I am getting very good at this. Yes, I have a nice regular stove but I am practicing. The omlette was very good.
Still a bit peeved, I went to a gun range. A leo friend has recommended the range. First time there, the guys (all guys) looked at me a bit dubiously. I showed my retired military ID plus marksman credentials and then retrieved my 9mm from my SUV. Being a newby, they observed my first few rounds etc for safety etc. A little later, I had several nice groupings from different distances and positions. I took a couple targets home and hung on the laundry room as DIY Art. My new friends from the gun range put some bumper stickers and nice sayings on the paper targets.
The gunpowder, lead, gun oil and my lavendar tonic make for a nice perfume. After I finished shooting and cleaning my weapon, I went out for a beer with one of my gun range friends. Alas, I think I am out of the DIY/by scratch deal as I had a beer and munchies. Lol.
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After yesterday’s debacle, I was fueled with lots of restless anger and it found outlets.
I woke up to tree down in my rural driveway. I used both electric and regular chainsaw to cut it up and stacked it to season. Being a lady over 50, I find the electric chainsaws to be much lighter, but they don’t have the listing power needed. I am very fond of Stihl. I gave multiple batteries.
I then cooked breakfast from scratch on my wood stove, powered by my own . I am getting very good at this. Yes, I have a nice regular stove but I am practicing. The omlette was very good.
Still a bit peeved, I went to a gun range. A leo friend has recommended the range. First time there, the guys (all guys) looked at me a bit dubiously. I showed my retired military ID plus marksman credentials and then retrieved my 9mm from my SUV. Being a newby, they observed my first few rounds etc for safety etc. A little later, I had several nice groupings from different distances and positions. I took a couple targets home and hung on the laundry room as DIY Art. My new friends from the gun range put some bumper stickers and nice sayings on the paper targets.
The gunpowder, lead, gun oil and my lavendar tonic make for a nice perfume. After I finished shooting and cleaning my weapon, I went out for a beer with one of my gun range friends. Alas, I think I am out of the DIY/by scratch deal as I had a beer and munchies. Lol.
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Oops, I forgot to thank everyone for the kind words and advice. I am giving DC until tomorrow morning to respond.
I am so happy to hear everyones trials and successes.
OldMtWoman. Internet is a trial in the rural areas, let alone on a mountain. I feel your pain. I don’t have internet (other than cell phone with booster) as cable/internet is not in my area.
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I tried soda crackers from scratch today. The recipe is on the January challenge post.
Also made dog treats and found some wool to make dryer balls and cleaned another closet.
Loving life, I think your DYI art is fantastic. Funny too if your cousin sees it. I don’t blame you a bit for being angry. I sure would be and I wouldn’t mince any words. Hope you get all or at least some of your stuff back. I have to admit that the thought of me using a chain saw scares me. I am very cautious with saws of any kind. I want to go to the range too but it is so cold here I don’t really want to go anywhere.
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It is so good to read what everyone is doing! @Loving Life, I am so sorry that happened to you! I guess it’s not just our food stores that we should be discreet with 🙁
I haven’t had time to read everyone’s posts, but thought I’d get mine in before I’m too exhausted.
January 2: No prepping – but rather I benefited from past preps! Spent all day in big city taking care of daughter’s pre-op appointment and some other needs, including a 2-hour conference with our priest. Got home late, and soooo glad I cooked double yesterday. All I had to do was heat stuff up.
January 3: No real prepping again. Caught up on a mountain of business-related work, and still working on it. Going to bed soon – 8 a.m. appointment for myself with the doctor in the morning. Meant to start some deep cleaning to get the house really, really clean before daughter has surgery next week, but couldn’t even start. Have decided that things I might have trouble getting done in a day absolutely need to be done in the mornings! So tomorrow morning, after the doctor, it’s super dejunking, laundry and cleaning day! Daughter will be helping.
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@oldmtwoman, glad your internet connection is fixed, and that you haven’t suffered a power outage during subzero weather. I see you are also in the throes of decluttering.
I am proud to report that today I finally began dragging stuff out of my hallway closet. I was looking at it… imagining some sort of demonic light seeping out around the door frame.. and I just flung it open and dragged out a third of the contents. So now my living room floor is littered with stuff. Tomorrow I hope to drag all the rest of the stuff out.
It’s worse than decluttering which is why I kept avoiding it. I own a 100 year old apartment and the plaster walls inside this closet have lumpy bumpy paint, cracks, and holes; and the former (deranged) owner built closet shelves and shelf supports out of scrap wood and it looks terrible. So after I empty this closet out, I will need to pry out the shelves and shelf supports, then fix and paint the walls. I plan to buy a wire shelf unit from Amazon rather than hire someone to build shelves. The closet floor is wood and in bad condition and needs replacing, but I am going to just clean it and cover it up with a piece of carpet. And then, at last, I will be able to put the stuff back in the closet. Hopefully all neatly sorted into bins.
I need to stop thinking so far ahead because that just gets me discouraged. I will try to take this a little piece at a time. The goal for tomorrow is to completely empty the closet.
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Didn’t get much prepping done today because a lonely friend called and spent, literally, 4 hours talking to me about what had been going on lately in their life, how much they missed their late spouse, etc., etc. Once that marathon call ended <whew!> the day was pretty well advanced, and I wasn’t able to do much more than my normal household activities – but still, sometimes you’ve just gotta “be there” for your friends when they need to talk. Later in the day I was able to sort through a few more of my medical preparedness items. I discovered that I still need to get more casting supplies, such as: both 3 and 4 inch wide rolls of plaster casting material (like that made by Gypsona), synthetic or cotton cast padding, and some 3 or 4 inch wide stockinette. I have a small amount of those items I bought several years ago when I took suturing and casting classes taught by Dr. Cynthia Koelker but I’d like to get a good deal more so I have an ample supply “just in case”. Hope I can get more accomplished tomorrow.
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OldMt Woman – I can relate to your experience losing electrical power (and heat) in winter! I was living on my elderly mother’s farm in February 2010 during the blizzard that came to be called “Snowmageddon”. The old wood-frame farm house was not well insulated and did not have any working fireplace or wood stove. The house lost power early in the blizzard, so we were without heat, water (the well pump ran on electricity), and lights for about 3 days until the road and long driveway could be plowed out enough for a repair crew to get in to restore the electrical power. The temperature dropped to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (not the sub-zero temperature you experienced, but pretty darn cold!). I had two “Big Buddy” propane heaters by Mr. Heater that used small propane canisters. I closed off the door to the master bedroom (which had an adjoining bathroom), cracked open a bedroom window a little, and set up one of the “Big Buddy” heaters in that bedroom on a sturdy, low table. My mother and I hunkered down in there. I kept one Big Buddy heater going all the time that we weren’t sleeping. While one Big Buddy heater was operating, the other one was set in an adjacent room to cool off until needed again. (Perhaps that was an unnecessary precaution but I was reluctant to put fresh propane canisters directly into a heater that was still hot from being used with the prior canisters). Even though those propane heaters are supposed to be safe to use indoors, as an extra precaution, I set up a battery-operated Carbon monoxide detector in the master bedroom also. While it was running, the Big Buddy heater kept that room at a comfortable temperature. If there had been another adult with me capable of staying awake while I slept, I could have kept the Big Buddy heater(s) running 24 hours a day (alternating one with the other). As it was, I was worried about running a heater (which, after all, has a flame) while both my mother and I were asleep. So, the bedroom got quite cold at night. We went to bed fully clothed and piled on lots of extra blankets (wish we had had sleeping bags!). It took about a hour each morning for the bedroom to heat up again after I re-started the Big Buddy heater. Still, I feel those Big Buddy propane heaters literally saved our lives! I had a Coleman Camp stove, which I used to cook with out on the snow-covered front porch, and a couple of battery and hand-crank radios, which I used to stay informed about the blizzard and the efforts to restore power. The water, canned goods, hot cocoa mix and batteries I had stockpiled came in very handy too, as you can imagine. If we had had more Big Buddy heaters and propane canisters, I could have kept the living room and kitchen warm also – but at least we were able to stay safe and warm in the master bedroom 🙂 So, bottom line, I think Big Buddy heaters could be useful for your situation also.
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Muffy…yes, in fact the tech DID tell us something we’d neglected. But houses are so far apart here that he/we doubt that it would be feasible for anyone to ‘borrow’ our Internet account. But now we’re zipped up. …’Course I had a different problem today. But it’s resolved.
Loving Life…I was giggling the whole time I read your post. Yeah…great DYI Art! At least your excess energy was used for good…not just ranting. You’ll sleep better for it! I hope you DO get satisfaction from DC tho!!!!!!! RE Internet…do you have Hughesnet in your area? They use satellites and a dish off the side of the house. They were even able to hit signal in our narrow deep valley. But you have cell service which we don’t. Rural challenges but we love it ‘out here’, don’t we?
Praying for Hieronyma’s whole family, esp daughter! Sounds like you’re doing what you reasonably can, friend. Your current preps are for your family’s right-now-personal-crisis of health. Every thing you’re doing for that certainly counts!!! hugs!
MollyM ….YAY! You opened that offending closet and got a start! Not only that, you have a plan. A good plan! Sure you’re a long ways from seeing completion but the vision of order when done should motivate. lol That…. AND the fact that the contents are now cluttering up other rooms. Yeah…I know THAT part of the story too well with my migrating boxes! We’ll cheer you on!!!
AmyDixon….casting supplies. We have extensive medical stuff. Just got more medical gloves and surgical masks cuz we use those – I use masks for dust and smoke during fire season. Either N95 if it’s bad or surgical masks if it’s less. But I’ve never even thot of casting supplies. Have a bendable splint for arm and solid brace for leg. Hmmm….
OK…..well today was interesting. I was responding to a friend’s inquiry in a long email. Just seconds from hitting ‘SEND’ …..and MY LAPTOP WENT BLACK! 😮 Aaaugh! We’ve been talking about me needing a new one – it’s been acting odd. Besides that dangling email, my next thot was:…..see that red can at the foot of the bed that’s to remind me of an overdue project? That’s a “mini-Faraday” where I keep the thumb drives. The last backup of this laptop was…..????? October. Awwww! I tried all sorts of coaxing and prompting…taking battery out and back in…etc. Still BLACK screen.
So I dressed for snow underfoot but sunny 50* outside. WOW! This weather is a January treat! One benefit with living in steep-sided mountain terrain is having great, safe backstops. Not talking baseball. DH and I spent some quality time hunting for hot metal in the snow. We made some DIY Art too! 🙂 Came in and I made beef stew while he cleaned everything.
I’d been praying….just need to update the thumb drives so I don’t lose 3 months worth of collected prep/other data. Additions to the Shopping List. Additions to my BO Graduated-Levels list….cuz that would be hard to reconstruct!!! Other stuff.
I pushed the button yet again and the orange light came on….holding breath and light turned white and the screen began to fill normally. YES, THANK YOU! I grabbed the red can…which has a smaller red can inside that – bubble wrap between them. Inside the inner can is bubble wrapped thumb drives. Spent some time carefully updating all my downloads, documents in word processing, pics, and all stuff in files on my ‘desktop’. In this current era in life, I can’t trust anything to memory so a LOT gets recorded there. I was thinking I’d just lost all those recipes OldGoat’s been putting up from WWI rationing, and the recipes from the new January Challenge….and a ton of other stuff. Some can be recovered again but… Whew! Now it’s all backed up and current.
And that long email to my friend? It was there as soon as I opened my email. Well I finished that right quick and hit SEND! …and I’ve been on the computer ever since….except to watch that stew. It was tasty.
OldMtWoman….so thankful ..and I mean to be more faithfully backing up now!
PS..just read AmyDixon’s scary winter/no heat story. We have one of the regular version of the Buddy heaters now. That day with the chicks is one of the reason we bought it….and have not had power outage since. So we’ve never used it. Turned it on to test it…might be too small. I think you used the two of them wisely…the last thing anyone needs is to compound trouble in a crisis…by being careless. Yes they did save your lives. So many don’t know that it’s deadly to burn charcoal briquets indoors. Any burn will use oxygen that you might need so cracking the window is our plan too. I wonder if the smaller unit would be enough? The ceiling in living room is not a full soaring 2 story but it’s just high to the peak of the roof. Well, there is always the vehicles as long as we keep the snow from blocking the exhaust pipe. Thanks for sharing that story.
OldMtWoman …sleep soon…
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I still haven’t heard from DC. Good news is that I told a couple friends. One offered me several cast iron pans. She called them ancient. I called them awesome and will pickup next time in Pennsylvania. Another friend offered me her manual pasta maker. They don’t know I prep and think I am just experimenting with the “rustic life”. Lol.
At least I put my frustration to good use.
Everytime I go down into the laundry room I smile. My artwork is awesome! I needed the practice. I have added going to the range to my calendar.
@OldMtWoman. I understand your issue with thinking you lost something on the computer, that’s what lead to my multiple posts here. My cell phone service, even with booster, is spotty. Hence, my multiple posts.@AmyDixon. We lose our power here all the time, that’s why I heat primarily with my wood stove. I have about 3-4 years worth of wood. I am also learning to cook on it. One of my neighbors gave me done great tips on cooking and the use of wood ash, but if anyone has some tips I would love to hear the tips. So far, I’ve used the wood ash as a replacement for rock salt (wood ash doesn’t hurt my pups feet) and baking soda in the fridge.
I am on the hunt for a dehydrator, so thanks for all the tips.
I am definitely making that ketchup recipe. I will add some spice to it and experiment.
Last night I made an excellent mushroom soup with Sherry and thyme. I have a small herb garden, but I am going to expand it. I have lots of vinegars in my stockpile, but I am adding some more and definitely some sherry.
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Its been a fibro ( fibromylagia )flare these past couple of days. So its just reading articles and blogs for me.
Cousins stealing stuff, and the times arent even bad. So sad that a relative ( or anybody ) would resort to that. I hope that you get back 100 fold then what was stolen Lovinglife
Gotta think about making my home “gray man”. You never know who is staking your place for things to steal. That “nice” neighbor, may not be so nice.
I had a sub-contractor put a bunch of materials on my credit card. Got the money back from his boss ( who kicked his butt out the door)
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@corsaire. My DC has had issues in the past. He was doing some carpenter work on the house. I was trying to help him out.
I am a bit too trusting, hut I would rather be too trusting than a hermit. If I hadn’t made friends where I’ve moved, then I wouldn’t have people to help, ie wood stove help, giving me their old cast iron and pasta maker, gun range love cation, etc. It’s a balancing act.
My neighbor that helped with the wood stove is a spritely 70ish (maybe 80s I am not asking) lady, who could buy and sell most of the area. She has given me the low down on most of the neighbors. In this small community, you don’t get away with much as we look out for one another. It’s the no good relatives, you have to watch out for stealing.
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Hey, everybody…I harvested my first tiny baby spinach leaves today!!! Yeah. I also cut several of the onion stalks (?) leaves grown from the onion roots I planted. I’m like a little kid…so happy with my gardening efforts. I noticed several lady bugs on the spinach. Somewhere I’ve read ladybugs are good things in a garden. Hope that’s correct.
Ordered the Gangloff’s book on dehydrating food someone had mentioned. Continue looking at dehydrators but decided to wait on purchase until I get the book. This lady’s an experienced expert and the blub said she does talk about the hydrators she recommends.
Number 2 son stopped by today. He is pays attention to in the craziness of the world but feels it’s important not to let the “Prepper” crowd get inside one’s head. Of course, I know there are those on the extreme limits of prepping, but what I hope to achieve is some common sense preparations. He said of course, as long as I had enough food set aside for him. 🙂
A cold, rainy, gray day in these parts…I’m already looking forward to Spring, blue skies and buttercups. So, guess I’ll get up and turn my gas logs up a little higher….such a lovely flame to sit and watch.
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@saucissiere Amy Dixon What a frightening story about Snowmageddon! Glad you and your mom survived! @oldmtwoman I’m glad your computer came back to life, at least long enough to back it up
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Portal to HellHall Closet, Day 2: I pulled another third of the stuff out of it and put it on the living room floor which is now a mini-disaster area. Do I need to update my tetanus shot? Maybe vaccinations for cholera, hepatitis and plague? The living room is now so uncomfortable that it motivates me to keep going. I filled another big trash bag already. I was also able to wrestle off one of the scrapwood shelves. BTW, I did not know that there were so many interesting audiobooks on Youtube. I always thought Youtube was a wasteland of cat videos. But all while I was attacking the closet, I was listening to an audiobook on Youtube playing on my laptop. -
Well, I didn’t get to log in much the past two weeks. I was just too busy. I was able to expand my garden to include more butter lettuce and a native plant I found on clearance that attracts butterflies. I cleaned out the fridges and deep freezer and been making up the food that’s been there awhile.I added more water to my storage. Reorganized and packed up all the Christmas decorations. I begin my final semester of nursing school on monday and I am behind on all the studying and homework we were assigned over our “break”. I never had to complete assignments when classes weren’t in session but such is nursing school. Its actual torture. The family and friends are aware of my drastic change in availability come January. I cannot wait to finish come May!. I hate to feel this way but I am truly exhausted and I am so tired of the anxiety and stress of trying to maintain good grades and raise a family all while surviving on one income. Well, I will stop my whining now, it doesn’t help anyway. Wish me luck!
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Yesterday I made 2 loaves of cinnamon swirl bread and 3 pizzas trying to use up some yeast that is getting really old. We had one pizza for supper and put the other 2 in the freezer. Today I washed up the dishes, and had my first physical therapy appointment for some back and shoulder issues I have been fighting for the last 2 1/2 years. Tired of headaches from the tense back muscles, not to mention the back pain. At one point the therapist moved my shoulder a way she shouldn’t have, and almost got punched in the face. Pain shot through me so intensely I gasped and pulled back a fist. I guess she felt because she had my right arm pinned I was defenseless. She found out I’m ambidextrous really quick. She moved a little more carefully after that and the session proceeded very well. I have to say it amazed me that at this later years in life, I can still defend myself when I need to. Did research the rest of the day on food storage.
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I have started out the year sick with a virus of the snot nose sore throat feel like crap style. I have managed to cook everything from scratch this week. Dried all the clothes on racks in the house with the help of an oscillating fan.
But my main thing has been managing my cold symtoms naturally. I know now I need to store more dried Mullein leaf. Steeping and drinking as tea has kept my lungs open (a major thing as I have a lung disease). I have been treating my sore throat with hot water, apple cider vinegar and honey.
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January 4: Feel like I <span style=”text-decoration: underline;”>finally</span> did something preppy again today. Husband and I pulled the daybed that we use as a sofa out away from the living room window and built narrow shelves out of bricks and raw lumber that come up to the bottom of the window sills. At one end, where the shelves would be visible to people coming into the house, we left the boards sticking out past the brick supports and put shoes there. In the rest of the shelves, but not on the top, we put #10 cans of dehydrated food. On the top shelf, right in front of the window, I put my aloe plants. Then we backed the daybed up against the shelves so that the food is completely hidden. It just looks like we have plants sticking up behind a couch, and people coming in the front door on one end only see a small bit of shelving with shoes. Tomorrow, underneath the daybed, we will slide shallow plastic under-th-bed boxes filled with canned food. Then a bed skirt will go around the daybed. And I will have much more space in my kitchen cupboards to put more innocuous looking food and supplies. It all looks neat and tidy and nobody will know the difference. 🙂
@Molly Malone: Love your description of your closet. That’s under the bed for me…..
@Corsaire: So sorry for the fibro – it’s a bummer. We just keep on pushing through – it’s the only choice.@Muffy1938: Congrats on the spinach! Mine would have died by now, I’m afraid
@Loving Life: So glad you’re getting some replacements. Like Corsaire, I think we need to make our houses “gray”.
@OldMtWoman: Thank you – I’m also praying that that computer lasts a bit longer.@Red Carnation: Hope I can learn to use a thermal cooker soon. That’s really cool. I once saw a short video where a woman in Africa used a solar cooker to bring the food to a boil for a certain amount of time, and then she put it in a homemade thermal cooker to finish it. I’ve always wanted to try that.
@Amy Dixon: The Big Buddy propane heater is what we have, too. They’re wonderful.
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Bought bulk einkorn wheat today, will pick up in a week or so, 4 totes worth.
Sea can fmarrived today, of course when only one person is here…. other than small things like citrus and some vegitables, I buy in process or size and break down some I sell local to pay for it.
Example buy 1 metric ton of salt for 700 shipping is 150 sell a 50 lb bag for 100 and you are still 20 percent cheaper than online store. Your sale value is around 4400 your cost is under 1000 including packaging.
Wheat einkorn 1800 per ton bag it after milling to flour for 75 per 50 lb bag 3200 of you sell it all.
I buy bulk white death sugar and cane sugar, buying in metric tons and repackaging is easy, bee kèpeers buy alot of sugar, we have local bee keeping club I sell them about 2 tonnes a year in bags.
Don’t bother with stores as markup is huge if you have space use it to your advantage and repackage ileveryday items with long to no expiry dates.
Bee people always need frames and boxes, made deal with the pensioners to make them in local wood shop, I supply the materials they the labour and we split the profit, this year we have orders for over 1500 full sets of frames and boxes because we are 5 percent cheaper than the big company. We also use the scrap from local saw Mills to make the frames.
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Molly Malone – Thank you 🙂
OldMt Woman – Based on my experience during that blizzard, I think you’d probably need the Big Buddy-sized heater to keep your living room comfortably warm in the sort of weather you’re dealing with – especially since your outdoor temperatures will be a lot lower than ours were. I recall thinking at the time (February 2012) that I wished I had a small Mr. Heater model also to keep my Mother’s large bathroom warm. The larger Big Buddy model heater did a good job of warming the master bedroom but it wasn’t a very large room, and the ceiling in that room was just of an average height. However, if you aren’t in a position to get a Big Buddy-sized heater right now I’m sure the smaller size Mr. Heater you have will still be a good help. If necessary, you could always partition off a smaller portion of your living room with hanging blankets (or even set up a tent in there) and use the Mr. Heater to warm that smaller section of the room.
Loving Life – We used to lose electrical power fairly often at my Mother’s old farmhouse, and sometimes for up to a week, however, Snowmageddon was the first time the power had gone out during a blizzard – so it was memorable, lol. The only use I’d heard of for wood ash before was to use it to make lye for soapmaking, so I was interested to read the other uses you posted. Wish I had a wood cookstove as you do! About 20 years ago I took a class on cooking with a wood stove that was taught at a farm museum. It was quite interesting! The teacher recommended a book by Jane Cooper called “Woodstove Cookery: At Home on the Range”, which I believe is still available on Amazon.
- Yesterday, I caught up reading the recent posts on several preparedness-related Facebook and Yahoo groups to which I belong, researched more medieval and ancient Roman recipes to see if they could be made from shelf-stable foods, and continued sorting through my medical preps. I realized I should probably purchase more sutures (in various sizes), practice sutures, skin staplers and sterile staple removing devices. More items to add to my wish list <sigh>.
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Corsaire….ouch! Fibro is no fun…have seen my friends suffer. 🙁
Loving Life….a balancing act: trust and seeing the good vs expecting all to be out to get you. Yeah, that’s right. I have an awfully bad feeling that the scales are starting to be heavier to the not-so-trusting side tho in recent years. Seems like a higher percentage of folks are insane! In the professional and informal sense of that word! …. present company excepted, of course!!! 🙂 Drug abuse is really not helping!
Muffy….Wow…you did it! Did you put the spinach in salad or something? Yes, ladybugs are great in gardens! Welcome those new residents.
MollyM….enjoying your description of closet clearing. Keep going…you will make it! Your success will inspire others….{like me?}
Hieronyma….good ideas for preps that are NOT in plain sight! Yes, I’m very thankful that computer is acting ok today. Look up “hay box cooking” cuz that’s what the pioneers called the thermal cooking. Cast iron pot with lid buried when hot in deep layers of straw. The first crock pots!
Amy Dixon…Yes, setting up blankets or tents was something we’d thot of too. We used to hang blankets over doorways in the OLD farmhouse I grew up in. That wasn’t power outage. That was when the wind blew hard. We only stayed in kitchen. I hadn’t thot of using the small one to keep the bathroom pipes from freezing, that’s an idea. Likely we would need the larger Buddy for living room …or sit in the tiny 3/4 bathroom. Two of us could not fit laying down on the floor space in there!
We also have a kerosene heater to save the plumbing in the garage area. [weird old house] If something lasted long term before we get moved outta here, we’d take the pellet stove insert out of the original fireplace. Likely have to remove the adaptions from top of chimney too. But the flue and such is still intact. Fireplaces are not efficient but you use what you have. I purchased 2 Army surplus good down sleeping bags – winter weight. …and large dog.
Not a good day physically…tho it usually improves toward evening. I added a pair of strong reader glasses to my BO First Aid kit and a cigg lighter to both DH’s and mine. On the theory of sterilizing a needle for digging out splinters or… ??
I read an article about……{brain lag….it’s been happening alllllll day! HMPH! } …oh, yeah! About using cayenne pepper to clot bleeding cuts. Supposed to be very effective. Oddly, it seems that some people experience immediate pain relief from it as well. Others have a nasty minute of pain before it subsides. Yet others will have terrible pain with it – and some wash it off in a few minutes but it’s usually clotted by that time.
What I wondered was….does that pain/no pain correlate with folks you can eat HOT SPICY foods like cayenne without apparent pain? Would folks like me who firmly believe that PAIN is not a flavor….experience that severe pain if cayenne was poured into a cut? Theory – no results yet. Not volunteering for that experiment. But I put cayenne pepper on the ongoing Shopping List. Yarrow is supposed to be good for clotting blood too. And it’s one of the FEW things that grow wild up at this altitude/climate. So does bearberry Ursa…whatever. ….well, it did until I free-ranged my goats and we had drought. {roll eyes}
OldMtWoman ….G’nite all.
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For blood cloting chitosan works well as a powder unless you have shell fish allergies.
For deep punctures you can take a 20cc sterile syringe cut off the needle end. Get twenty pieces of surgical sponge cut down to grape size. Trim off all loose stuff.
Tie fishing line stiched through the sponges. Sterilize the sponges and then soak in chitosan dry them and compress them. You can add antibiotic or local anesthetic.
Pull out the plunger in syringe load the sponges with the fishing line out of the top of syringe then work plunger in so it is seated and the sponges are all in the syringe then duct ape the cut off end of syringe.
To use rip off tape put syringe into wound and depress plunger pushing the sponges in they expand and seal the blood clot factor. Push plunger past the end then pull the fishing line through. Tape top of wound shut.
You now have a blood cloting injected for puncture wounds. The fishing line means when surgery occurs they can pull out the sponges and count. The ductape off the end can be used to tape the puncture wound shut and the lines. It’s a get to medical treatment.
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Just checking in with everybody…it’s hard to find this link by the way….anyhow, the sun is shining and it’s quiet in my little part of the world. Handyman is helping me get some more light set up in my tool shed for starting more veggies….my spinach is a bit spindly but he says it needs more air movement to strengthen plants. I’ve had such fun with this project and yes, OldMtWoman, I ate my little harvest yesterday…not enough for a salad so I tossed it on top of some salmon I had baking in the oven….yummy…
Went to a local Mennonite store today for bread-making flour and discovered they are really catering to the natural food folks….did you read in Wall Street Journal today the crazy genetic fooling around they are doing with our meat! Whoa, wait, I don’t like that idea, never have….just because scientists can do a thing does not make it right or ethical…
Oh, yes, decided I want to try (again) to make some mozzarella cheese so picked up the rennet today and #2 son will bring me some raw milk from a local dairyman…hopefully will perform better this time with pure milk straight from the cow.
I’m tired….nap time I think….tomorrow see ya’
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Several of the posters mentioned going “gray”, which I agree with to a point. No reason to advertise your prepping, but everyone’s circumstances are different. I live in a very rural in UpState New York with dirt roads and spotty electricity. Everyone here keeps several weeks of food and supplies on hand. I don’t buy my groceries at the same stores. I rotate and drive the 20 minutes in different directions. To me being “gray” is just fitting in with my neighbors.
In a rural setting, I definitely want to be part of the community. Here, community bands together.
As for the wood stove, I have a Vermont Castings Defiant. It is a wood stove that can be used for minor cooking, but it is not a cook stove. One Defiant owner posted a recipe for bread that she makes on her Defiant. It’s on my list to try. Cooking on a wood stove is very tricky. It is fairly easy to heat things up. I have mastered eggs in the morning along with bacon and potatoes. I have several woodstove cookbooks that i found at local thrift stores. I do not have the one that @AmyDixon mentioned. My best source for all things woodstove is my elderly neighbor.
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Today I got a pest guy to see about roof rat attic clean up. He went up and through the place to discover new droppings. I looked at them and had a facepalm/head desk moment. Yep they were new; same color as the bait blocks. I thought I plugged up every hole, but apparently those monsters are finding a way in.
Packed and put things in my give away pile. I hope to have the place on the market by March.
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Corsaire try buying bag or plaster powder for drywall mix 1/3 plaster powder and rest crushed junk candy misted with spray bottle and water so tacky to pick up plaster.
They eat and will plug them up and kill them and young, bonus if other predator eats plaster dust sets only once so safe for them to consume plaster killed rodents.
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Dehydrated cranberries so I can make snack mixes with almonds and peanuts. Thawed ham bones to make broth. Washed laundry and hung in the basement. Took down one Christmas tree. Cleaned out a drawer that houses our music, tablecloths and cloth napkins. Ate leftovers out of the freezer for lunch and soup for supper. Washed up the dishes and did some research on bread recipes for cast iron cooking. Did my physical therapy exercises for my back and arm issues.
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Nw Prepr 015 – I certainly do wish you very good luck in your final semester of nursing school!
Hieronyma Textor – With regard to learning about thermal cooking, you may have already checked these out but if not, http://www.thermalcooking.net is a helpful site as is the book “Let’s Make Sense of Thermal Cooking Cookbook” by Cindy Miller, and Cindy’s YouTube videos about thermal cooking. I enjoyed her book and videos and felt they were quite helpful.
Today, I searched through the needlework patterns I have in pdf format in my computer to help a friend find a suitable pattern so she can knit a cute winter headband for her granddaughter that will cover her ears well. I also did online research into the shelf life of various types of milk so I can make sure the type I order will do well in my storage pantry. Then I spent a little time (not enough though!) sorting through more of my preparedness items and re-organizing them on my available shelving. Quiet day – but pleasant despite the gloomy weather outside!
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Began research for mullien, yarrow, aspen/willow bark….cuz that’s what actually grows up here. I’ve saved and dried some in the past…but don’t have any on hand right now.
Here is a weird trick I discovered accidentally….and have used for years. I have long, thick hair which sheds quite a bit when I brush it. I was wiping the fallen strands from our porcelain bathroom sink, I noticed it was cleaning the sink. So I began to use a small bundle of hair…wetted and with some of the hand soap. I was shocked to find in a few months, the areas of this old sink that were not cleaned well with usual gritty cleanser, were now white and SHINY. Not only is it cleaning but also it’s buffing. And it’s a renewable product. LOL
OldMtWoman
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You all are doing so great……makes me think I’m a slacker. I am doing the best I can until my hands are 100% healed. I did manage to make shake ‘n bake & I cooked supper 2 nights (hubby has been doing the cooking) in a row. Maybe now I’m back to it. I made chicken and fried potatoes one night and turned around the next night and chopped the chicken, added the potatoes and made a casserole. It came out good and it tasted different that the meal the night before. Hubby’s working today, so I’m having leftover casserole today. I’m determined to cook from scratch this month and waste less food (you know the stuff that gets to the back of the fridge and you forget about it). We had tacos the other night and I had leftover meat, rice & beans. Froze them all, later this month we’ll have tacos again as I’ll make soft shells if I’m able or I use the hard shells in the pantry.
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The
Portal to HellThe Hall Closet: Yesterday I completely emptied it out! And wrestled the scrapwood shelves out and took them to the trash. I need to crowbar the scrapwood shelf supports out of the walls. I can’t face trying to fix these lumpy bumpy dinged plastered walls so I going to use a textured wallpaper. That will be an adventure as I’ve never wallpapered, but hey, it’s only the inside of a closet. I ordered the supplies from Amazon today. Ugh, spending money. The living room floor is a disaster now and this evening I need to pick through it and discard what I can. -
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Hang in there Molly Malone!!! You’re gonna love it when you step by step get this project completed. We’re here to cheer you on!!
Beautiful, almost Spring like day here and I’m being a total do nothing person…ate left over chicken breast for lunch…keep reading the instructions for making mozzarella cheese but delaying starting it…seems it’s going to take a bit more energy and commitment than I have just the minute, so will put off ’til the morrow. Milk is really fresh from the cow so should be okay to wait another day.
I also have a temporary “guest” staying with me for a few weeks and that has me a little distracted….I’ve lived alone for many, many years and I’m finding having someone I don’t know staying with me a bit more challenging than I thought it would be. She’s a young teacher associated with a project of #2 son, and she’s certainly pleasant enough…it’s just I’m sort of set in my ways I guess…whatever, perhaps once she starts to work tomorrow, I can have my house and privacy back at least during the daytime….somehow confessing this doesn’t make me feel very good about myself….hmmm…getting old is perhaps my fall-back excuse…
Maybe tomorrow I can report I finally got the cheese made….:)
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Worked on my genealogy for an hour then cut hubby’s hair. We took down the 2 big Christmas trees and packed them away in the basement. Rearranged some of the shelves and cleaned the house. Washed a load of clothes and hung in the basement. Found walnuts on clearance and plan to vacuum seal and freeze them.
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@Amy Dixon – thank you so much for the link!
@Loving Life – exactly – I agree. You need to fit in and have a community. I believe that, too. However, I live in a neighborhood with both drug dealers as well as some other people who have expressed disapproval of people who have more than they do and actually voice their opinion that that “more” might just belong to them in certain cases. I won’t say more. Due to some rather complicated circumstances, we do not have the option of moving at the moment, so it is important for us to look as much as possible like everyone else (economically, that is), and to be friends with my neighbors, if at all possible. I also try to make it a point to share with those that are truly in need (rides for those without a car, small loans, eggs to a family with children that has run out of SNAP, etc.) without revealing that we have food storage, and in the hope of encouraging community. I need to do better in that area. Right now, however, people on SNAP do not seem to want anything to do with beans and rice anyway, because I have offered it in the past and been turned down. We do each have our own circumstances and need to use wisdom to discern what our actions should be.
Jan. 5 – I worked like crazy so I can take Sunday off. Daughter drug every last piece of clothing out of her closet and laid it on the daybed with the hidden storage so she can get rid of at least half of it. That is the goal anyway. Husband bought some bottled water for water storage. It fit perfectly under the daybed, so I changed my mind and decided that under the daybed will be our water storage. I can get at least 40 or more gallons under there with nobody the wiser for it.
Jan. 6 – Most of the day at church along with traveling back and forth, then visited Dad in nursing home. Spending the evening working on the 2019 goals and trying to arrange work so it’s all done before daughter’s surgery on Thursday.
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Gah! Still messing with the eye meds. They either make me want to crawl the wall (high anxiety) or give me asthma and tachycardia. If I can’t tolerate eyedrops I’ll have to have surgery– which usually is effective for a year. Not good odds. Phooey.
Spent the afternoon with DD#1 and her son so no preps today.
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Molly Malone – Your battle with the closet is inspirational – and you’re winning! Makes me more motivated to finish organizing all my preparedness items that got jumbled together during my big move last year, lol.
Rufus J – Sorry you’re having such trouble with the eye medications; I hope you find a good one soon!
Hieronyma Textor – You’re welcome 🙂
Today, I ordered some sale-priced “drinking quality” powdered milk in 3 small pouches and one cute pantry-sized can for my short-term food storage pantry. (I already had a lot of “cooking/baking quality” powdered milk in my long-term storage supplies but wanted some tastier milk in small quantities for drinking and some fancier cooking uses). I also re-watched the 4 Food-related videos on the “Modern History TV” YouTube Channel about the sort of medieval meals that could have been served in a peasant’s, vassal’s, knight’s, and noble’s households, respectively. It was interesting to see the food historian, Ms. Chris Carr, cook venison and then salmon in a metal pan over what looked like a large, open, rectangular charcoal brazier, and then cook pottages of peas, and “broad beans” with rabbit, leeks, diced bacon, etc., in glazed pottery containers over the charcoal briquettes. I guess a modern charcoal grill could double for the brazier but I wish I could find out where she got the pottery cooking “pots” They looked a bit like short pottery pitchers with wide mouths. It was also quite interesting to learn about the uses for spices such as “Long Pepper”, “Galangal’, and “Grains of Paradise”, lol. I’ve already checked out Ms. Carr’s medieval and ancient Roman recipes on her website: brigaandfriends dot co dot uk so now I’m going to try to read the medieval-era cookbook she mentioned in one of the videos, “The Forme of Cury” (with “cury” being another term for “cookery” back then). I was able to get a free e-copy of that very old cookbook on Amazon a few days ago. It should be fun to try and decipher the recipes and cooking terms in “Olde English”, lol. (For example: “Take benes and dry hem in a nost or in an Ovene and hulle hem wele and wyndewe out he hulk and wayshe hem clene and do hem to seep in gode broth an ete hem with Bacon.”) I’m curious to see if any of those recipes could be useful in a SHTF situation. I guess you know you’re a die-hard prepper when no matter what you’re looking at, you start wondering if and how it could be useful in an emergency or SHTF situation, lol.
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The last two days I have working on sorting through boxes of stuff, designating placement (donate, keep, trash), and acting accordingly. I did find some material appropriate for curtains on windows in two different rooms. Also, read some articles about prepping for power outages. Also, traded in my lights that I bought for my porch for two sets of solar powered string lights and three other portable lights that can be charged daily to be brought into the house to be used in the evening. We need to get ready to move into the new house and it looks like it will be without electric. I do have a new woodstove that is working well even without the blower. I have the propane heaters, gas stove, water heater ready for the propane people on the 23rd. The water will be worked on next week. It also looks like no internet or phone system to start with. That is okay. I have lots of stars at night, the soft sound of the creek across the road, and not hardly any traffic. I also have a porch that I can sit on and relax.
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Namelus – Would that ‘sponges in the syringe’ method work better than just, for example, sprinkling some chitosan on a new (clean, fresh out of its wrapper) tampon and inserting that into the puncture wound? Also, I’d be a bit concerned about closing the wound shut before it had been fully irrigated and disinfected – but I guess if it’s just until you can get to an emergency room that would be O.K.
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Problem with tampon the chitosan the powder falls off and unequal if wet then expands, tampons work ok but, packing a wound with gauze is super painfull and sometimes fails and gauze gets lost causing sepsis.
The tampon does not equally expand to put pressure on wound to help stop bleeding, it expands bell shaped and is designed to be collapseable when pulled out.
There is a company called https://www.revmedx.com/
That has an advanced version but near impossible to get.
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Kinda in a hurry tonite…have to be up in a few hours for a morning medical appt. I always try for afternoon cuz mornings are not kind to me. I’ll have to read what you all have written later tomorrow!
I tried a different wick for my expedient Altoids tin oil lamp. Couldn’t find any cotton cordage so I cut off a thin strip of jeans denim. It did work better but the flame is still burning way more of the wick than the oil. Dies out too quickly. I actually tried rolled bits of paper towel…soaked in bacon grease and one soaked in olive oil. That was the longest lasting flame…paper towel. Wasn’t in the Altoids tin…only on a disposable pie tin for experimenting. Hmmm…
OldMtWoman ….G’nite all
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@oldmt woman
mum following your tin lamp experimentvwith great intrerest I know how difficult it is to find the right size wick.
When I read your experiment I thought of ghee lamps. They are used in religious ceremonies but they use a simple wick of pure cotton. Perhaps you can google and find some new ways tovexplore?
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OldMt Woman, When my BIL (brother-in-law) was a trapper he made a candle with beaver fat, a coat button to put the wick thru and something for the wick. I am wondering if the coat button made a difference in getting oxygen or if it only held the wick in place.
Just went to church today and made bread and biscuit mix. Neighbor gave me from fresh fish so dinner tomorrow will be fish.
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@rufusj, have you tried natural remedies to lower the blood pressure in your eye? If not, feel free to message me. I have doctor’s advice.
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Yesterday, I fixed my very ancient vacuum. I am quite attached to this 1960s/70s Hoover relic. It’s one of those steel canisters and the thing just won’t die. The vacuum was my Great Aunt’s. The Hoover is more than a tad heavy though, but it does the job.
My guests arrived yesterday. They came bearing gifts and food for the week. I told them I was eating from scratch this month, heslthy options, so they think it’s some know of new year’s resolution. I was very impressed with the gifts, medical supplies. Of my guests is the medical field, so she brought me all kinds of goodies, even an extra suture kit!
On the tour, they were very impressed with my DIY Artwork. Her hubby was very intrigued with the wood stove and how it heats the entire house. I have it timed so I fill it before bed and it lasts through the night. The hubby got up in the middle of the night and filled it. I woke up early drenched in sweat from the heat. I thought I was having a hot flash! Lol.
It was a chilly -10 this morning, probably -20+ with the wind chill. I used the wood ash on the driveway and walk ways to melt the ice.
My guests made breakfast from scratch. My friends also brought a whole huge tin of homemade granola for me! My pantry runneth over! Sorry Daisy, but I can’t turn down free food, especially homemade granola and jams, let alone all the wonderful medical supplies.
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@namelus thanks for the tip. I will try that.
Today the bins began working their way into the storage shed. I needed to attach some plywood inside, and didnt think about my hair. Yep, the screw started going in with my hair around it and the drill bit. I reversed direction on the drill all was well.
Note to self: tie your hair back when working with tools
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Getting back on track with flylady. I did well today. So pretty happy about that.
My mom gave me a kilo bag of pepernoten. A cookie that is a bit like speculaas but especially eaten during sinterklaas period. I grinded them up and now we have cookie sprinkles and I made a graham cookie like pie crust. Tomorrow I wil make monchou pie http://work-and-process.blogspot.com/2010/05/food-inspiration-dutch-mon-chou-cake.html?m=1 that is the recipe in case you like to try. It is mostly stuff you have in the pantry. AND no cooking involved.
Today I printed a preppers year calendar. It is from 2018 but I’m sure still works in 2019..
i cooked whole wheat pasta with home canned tomato said and added a jar of canned lentils. Added some veggie powder so no one notices. I cooked for two days so tomorrow I have an easy night: just pop the bowl in the oven-night.
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hi, all….love reading your posts and wishing I could take the time to respond to so many of you….weather really unusually warm in West Tennessee the past 3-4 days. I have a new helper who will replace my granddaughter. She and her hubby are homesteading type folks…she has chickens and gardens and all sorts of things….and lives locally so that’s good….we’re working on some serious de-cluttering….I’m down to the really “hard to let go of stuff” now so it’s good to have someone to help me say goodbye to these things….
#2 and #3 sons along with 5 of my awesome grandchildren are headed out to France tomorrow. Carolina will remain in a boarding school for six months, the others will spend 10 days just doing the touristy thing. I’ve traveled a lot myself, internationally as well as within the States. Why is it I feel so much more apprehensive for them than I ever did for myself? Sons are grown men, kids are upper high school/college age….yet I am apprehensive….is it just the constant 24/7 news feeds that keep us more stirred up? So, up go my prayers for them everyday and peace will enter my heart. All will be well.
Wishing all of ya’ll well as I read your posts! Thanks so much for sharing a bit of your lives with me.
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Correction: I have the time to respond to you; it’s an energy thing for me…also wanted to report I’m looking into adding more spices to my stash, especially black pepper which I’ve read is the number one spice forever….like black gold at certain times in history. And, though I don’t smoke, I’m not sure but perhaps some money invested in cartons of cigarettes might prove beneficial in really bad, serious, oh my goodness, the trucks have stopped running scenarios. Read today that a hamburger in Venezuela cost $150…people’s savings being demolished. Reminded of stories from Germany after 1st World War when it took a wheel barrow of marks to buy a loaf of bread. I’m watching too many hard core prepper videos….later
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Had another physical therapy appointment which better than the last one. Made ham bone broth from 3 ham bones I had in the freezer. I inventoried our dried and canned beans making note of the ones to be restocked and canned. Worked on the family genealogy and then took hubby to the doctor. Worked out the menu for the week since hubby is getting a tooth pulled tomorrow. Needed a softer diet since he doesn’t have any molars on the other side of his mouth.
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Namelus – Thank you for the interesting explanation!
Today was a quiet day. I was pretty lazy and didn’t get as much accomplished as I’d planned to. I did make a start on compiling a streamlined list of my most commonly purchased grocery and household items and where I’ve found the best price(s) on them. I’m hoping to finish that list soon so I can take it with me later this month when I do my main shopping. I also read some good prepping-related articles online.
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woodsrunner…..hmmm, now that sounds like a REAL make- it-yourself oil/fat lamp…beaver fat. I am drawing my wick materials thru a hole in the top of the Altoids tin so that should be ok. I need to find the site again where I read about this. I didn’t have any new ideas for wicking materials today…except an idea that will require me to remember HOW I used to make this cordage years ago. I’ve been approaching this as if I was in the ditch with vehicle until rescue. What would I have? Cut off the bottom of my jeans? ‘Course….I was just coming from the grocery in my scenario….or I wouldn’t have the oil. LOL
MollyM…yay! Empty closet is great. Well, ok…it does always makes the the room look bad til project is done but…yeah, that’s motivation. \0/
RufusJ….sorry you’re still not tolerating the eye drops. 🙁
AmyD….interesting report on the Olde Cookin’
Xant …made me smile to think my odd little experiment is being read Internationally. The ghee lamps…they just lay the wick half in and half out of the ghee, don’t they? So perhaps I need a larger hole for the wick! It’s pretty tight and might also be too tall for oil to climb. I’ll work on that. …….. Hey, I read of a town in Netherlands that traditionally has a huge bonfire on the beach on New Year’s Eve….and this year it was overly hot or windy??? It made a few of what we call “Firenadoes” [ fire + tornado]. Caught my eye cuz I saw one of these fierce things in a wildfire near our elderlies. Amazing. The town officials weren’t too pleased tho. They aren’t really tornadoes but the smaller “whirlwinds” or also called “dust devils”….made from heat rising up quickly. The ones coming out of the heat of a fire tho….scary cuz they carry fire instead of dust!
Muffy….of the homemade English Muffins. I’m impressed. I don’t have a clue on how one makes those…with all those holes that can fill with melted butter! 🙂 Will pray your family has wonderful time and all …esp. DGrD …come home safe. Yes, I think we’re all edgy cuz we hear so much news. But also cuz there is so much going on.
Sooo today was rough! I am currently a very late-to-bed person. Up till all hours and sleep til I get enough. DH’s job is later shift and that sets the schedule. So today I had a morning medical appt. Not real early but it seriously takes me 2.5 hrs to get brain/body all coordinated. The doc squeezed me in so she was running late before she got to us. Discussed a test result and how to proceed from here. I’m thinking….lets get this done before we lose modern surgical procedures, please! But the saga continues…next consult appt at end of the month. Hmph. OTOH, being down after the worst of winter is passed….would be an advantage.
I was so miserable as we waited. Overly tired and sore…and after we finally got home again, welcomed my bed/ It rises to a chaise lounge position so I stayed there most of the rest of the day. Fell into a nap for a short time. I was waiting and waiting for the FIERCE WINDS to die down at sunset so I could do PM animal chores. It didn’t die down until well after dark….8pm. But my nervous system does not tolerate such a barrage so I went out late with my dog and headlamp. Tucked everyone in for the night with food/water/bedding. I think the poultry stayed inside all day….enough to nearly blow them away thru this valley! And it wasn’t warm Chinook winds either. Strong enough to blow out the folded newspaper I shove into the crack between door and it’s old warped frame. So I made another using more sheets of newspaper to make it tighter. Brrrr!
OldMtWoman …G’nite all
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I guess this is where we’re supposed to post today, since there’s no January 7-14th thread available yet – at least not one I could find.
Today, a friend of mine was able to find where in the basement the movers had stashed two boxes of my small Goal Zero appliances (such as 2 little “Lighthouse” lanterns, “Torch” and “Bolt” flashlights, and a “Switch 8” small power pack), so I got started re-charging them (which hadn’t been done in quite a long time). I’m hoping all of their internal batteries are O.K and will still hold a charge! They can all be recharged by solar panels if necessary but this time I’m just charging them from wall outlets or USB ports so I can get it done faster. Then I spent a little time discussing the merits and drawbacks of “Quick Clot” (the powder to stop bleeding) with a friend whose son got a bad cut earlier today.
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80,000 calories in a 50 lb bag of wheat berries. And its all in foodsaver bags ready for a good freeze tonight. Thats 320 cal a day for half a cup berries a day for one year. No wonder everone suggests you get wheat berries for long term food storage. I have a bucket i bought last year, but it wouldnt germinate. So i got organic and fresh, to try again.
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well, pooh….I just lost my report trying to go back and check something someone else wrote….Loving Life talking about vacuum repair…. whatever, today has been very warm again tho they say we’re likely to get snow by Saturday….checked on spinach which is surviving but doesn’t seem to be thriving…still I’m so excited with this new interest I’m definitely going to keep trying…got my Dehydrator Cookbook by Timmy Gangloff today…thinking to order my dehydrator tomorrow…OldMansd reported on some homemade mayo he did that I think I’d like to try next week….I’m reviewing again what the LSD materials suggest for purchasing each month to eventually have a year’s worth of stuff….Kroger’s has 15 oz mandarin orange cans on for $1 a can so I’m thinking to buy a case of same as my grandkids really like these oranges…maybe I’ll get 2 cases…decisions, decisions….am I too old for this? 🙂 no it’s important that I stay involved and engaged in life though there are times when I think it would just be lovely to sit and do nothing…warmest wishes to all who are participating in this forum…I so enjoy your posts!!!
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Have been hitting the stores for the good sales. So now I will be doing a great deal more canning of meats. After that, I really need to organize all the preps I have bought over the years that I know we will be needing. I made a faraday cage out of a medal trash can and have my radios, flashlights, etc in that right now and know where all that is in case of EMP. You just never know what is going to happen but I really see a collapse of the financial system coming. That I am ready for as I have everything paid off. Things I need to get organized with are my candles, oil lamps and oil. All my different ways for cooking without electricity or natural gas. I plan on buying up one or two propane tanks a month and keeping them filled and in the garden shed. I hope to have about 20 of them. We have 3 now that we use during summer for grill. These will only be used when we can’t cook over an open fire. We loose electricity there will be no more propane in a SHTF situation. But the propane we hope to have if and when that happens will be used very little and only in emergencies. I have things in all bedrooms in boxes and tubs as well as in attic and my shed I use for an attic as well. I really need to go through the boxes and tubs and just get the stuff together and better labelled. Things like the fire starters are in different boxes and need to be in one box together and labeled. Same for candles and oil lamps. They are packed up in different tubs and need to be put together in one. Plus I have oil lamps on top of a book case in a bedroom. So the reorganizing is next on my list.
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Muffy1938 – I just now remembered that I’ve been wanting to mention to you that I heard about a month ago that Emergency Essentials was bought out by another company earlier in 2018. I think it was Augason Farms that bought it. (I expect that is why so many of Augason Farms’ products are now being sold on the Emergency Essentials’ BePrepared dot com website). I have also been a very satisfied customer of Emergency Essentials for many years, so I was sad to hear that news. I hope the new owner keeps the company going without too many changes.
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@muffy1938- I did some research (mostly asking my siblings who smoke) and they said a carton of cigarettes would probably go stale within a year of buying them, which may help in a very serious emergency, but may not. Just food for thought.
DH and I have been cleaning out and organizing the office to make room for preps in the closet. We’ve gone through the hunting clothing and gear, and organized it, as well as made a list of bare spots to fill.
We bought more rice, beans, powdered milk, and TP. Stocked up on an extra bucket of litter, Costco box of diapers and wipes, and 20 lb bag of cat food.
We also made a list of things to do this week. Our wood burning fireplace isn’t properly sealed, so we’ve got to fix that, as well as replace batteries and one smoke/CO2 detector.
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Muffy…..you said:… am I too old for this? 🙂 no it’s important that I stay involved and engaged in life though there are times when I think it would just be lovely to sit and do nothing… ABSOLUTELY CORRECT! I keep saying that too, tho I’m somewhat home-bound. Yet…there are creative ways to be “out and about” …if not literally. We all must find our own best ‘pace’ in our lives as we currently deal with it.
Amy Dixon….EE sold out to Augason??? Oh I hope they remain good quality/service!!! Well…their foods. I’ve never been too confident in their choice of brands for tools, hardware, stuff. They do GoalZero but that might be good quality…I don’t know. You said you have some? Do you like that brand? I know some of their brands are not what I want in quality..in their BOBs. “Adventure Medical” stuff is good tho. YMMV {your mileage may vary}
Padded Cell….80,000 calories = 50# wheat berries. Oh..good information!!! I have a list of data like that..somewhere. Important for realistic calculations. Next question: What square foot [or acreage] area would one have to plant in THEIR particular location to REALISTICALLY yield 50# per person in their group?
LittleSister….I have done two types of organizing. Sometimes I make buckets or boxes that have a little bit of everything inside. In case I only get to grab a few things. Other times ….and the way I’d prefer if not for the above concern…is to group like next to like so I can FIND things easier. {sigh} The stuff nearest the exits are likely to be the mixed stuff. Grab N Go. Otherwise, I’m with you….also working on ORGANIZING THIS MESS! 🙂 Think about your labels tho…. If you ever had a confiscation or theft, you might want a color code or a key code that you and yours know. I like names like “Christmas decorations”….”Jeans -too small”….”Craft paint”… Y’all know what I mean. But don’t fool yourselves. {ask me how I know….DH thinks I’m crazy!!!} Someone mentioned different colors of tape. That appeals to my sense of organizing!!!
OW….I was working on that Altoids oil lamp again. Enlarged the hole the wick comes thru. Still using the denim strip for wick. It’s about to be retired…if I can think of another idea. Enlarging hole didn’t work either. Might be too high from the top of the oil?? Tried opening the tin and laying the denim along a rock above the level of the oil. Held the wick up with a tweezers. Well, I could see that the oil was burning quite nicely and then it dries and burns the denim just as quickly. Then the oil dripped on my finger. Yeah, OW. But that’s what the aloe plant is for. Got a bit of leaf juice on quick….and kept applying til it didn’t hurt. If you’re gonna play with fire, keep near water and aloe! {roll eyes} Think I need to research.
OldMtWoman
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OldMt Woman – Technically it seems that Emergency Essentials was bought out by Blue Chip Group (a company that was founded by Mr. Augason) so now Augason Farms and Emergency Essentials have the same parent company. Except for their freeze-dried foods, I have liked the food I purchased from Emergency Essentials. I have also been happy with the Goal Zero products I have purchased from them over the years. In my opinion, they work well and seem to be well designed. Because the Goal Zero items were pricey, though, I usually waited until they were on a really good sale (sometimes an open box or clearance sale) before I bought them.
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<p style=”text-align: left;”>Doing some research on my house today. We’ve lived here almost 2 years and I’m not certain on a couple things, like care of the Sump Pump. DH and I are wanting to put in a water catchment system, as well as plant some berry bushes. I’d love to get the water system in soon to take advantage of the melting snow that hopefully will hit. Last year, our small community was almost put on a water limit because we didn’t get enough snow last year. Every little bit will help my garden this summer.</p>
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Goal zero is a good product. I have not been disappointed with anything from that brand as of yet. They are pricey, so I to wait for the sales. I have ordered many things in the past from EE. Loved that place. Lately I have been using Patriots supply. I only buy when they have a sale and only things like whole eggs, butter power and things that would be very hard for me to get if things get bad. I have tried the cream cheese powder and it was great. Tasted just like store bought cream cheese. Will be ordering another one when it goes on sale again. Still working on the closets I use for food storage. Things are really piled up in them. Need to bring in my folding tables from garage to put things on and get it organized. Need to buy some more 1/2 canning jars for my canning. Need to get out to shed to get my buckets to get a lot of things set up and ready to go into them. I like the idea of several different things in some of them for grab and go. That is a great idea Old Mt. Woman. I also like the idea you have for marking things and color coding them.
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Last week, here in the northwest, Safeway had a ‘case’ sale.
Buy 12 or more of item and was good price. Got lots of progresso soup .99 Signature 14 oz PB .99 and Stagg chili including beef chili NO beans .88!
They had many other items I didn’t need & no more room anyway.Did wonder why such a great sale.
Are Safeways inventories too full? -
I worked yesterday in getting the neurology appointment that I need scheduled. Took way longer than it should but it is done. Then took lunch to those who were working at the other house and also took some items that needed to be taken. The wood stove is working great. The men who are going to put in a new line from the water main to the house and those working on the water pipes under the house will be there on Saturday. Unfortunately, the weather is now really acting like winter. On Sunday, it was 68 and today it started out at 32 and is still falling. Supposed to be 22 tonight with chance of flurries. Today, I worked on painting the living room in the old house. Also, washed 5 dozen eggs, baked pork chops for lunches this week, and also did laundry. Will finish the article on homesteading that I started last night.
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yesterday took hubby to get a tooth pulled and worked on menus for the week since he will need soft food for the next week or so.Worked on the budget to see how much extra i could apply toward food and drink for storage. Started updating the inventory and grocery list. Late last night we received a phone call from hubby’s doctor saying his MRI showed no progression of his brain tumor and no mass in the ear to account for hearing loss. Ordered a special type of hearing aid to assist with hearing in one ear.
Today I worked on the laundry, canned 2 1/2 quarts of ham bone broth, and vacuum sealed dried beans to add to the 5 gallon pail and sealed some walnuts for the freezer. Made some fajita seasoning mixes.
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The
Portal to Hellhall closet: You know it’s bad when you catch yourself thinking, “Maybe I could just SELL the apartment… in “as is” condition!” I felt paralyzed for the past 2 days. I just couldn’t deal with it. Then tonight I found the gumption to attack the pile covering the living room floor (all the junk I hauled out of the closet). I am heartened to realize that it is not as impossible to deal with as I thought. It’s now almost in 3 piles — to throw out, to keep, and to give to my building’s super, who does a lot of handyman work. It looks like I will be keeping 1 medium-sized box of stuff, which will only take up one shelf in the new closet. I’m keeping things I will need in the near future like paint, paint pans, paint brushes and rollers, sanding paper, drop clothes, eye shield, face masks to wear while sanding. I found that I have plenty of N95 and N100 face masks. Hmm, will come in handy in an ebola plague…. If I can find more gumption tomorrow, I could be rid of the pile tomorrow. I think I now have an inkling of what it might be like to be a hoarder, as in, just the thought of attacking the clutter is so overwhelming you can’t face it. Also, every time I put something in the trash bag, I would feel guilty like I was throwing away something valuable. -
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AmyD, Namelus, and LittleSister…..glad for the good reviews on Goal Zero. I’ve been watching that product for years but since it is so expensive, I only wondered. I’d like to have even just a small system for a few things…in case of…
Olivia Green….our Safeways just began that sale. I looked at the paper this evening. Might be trying to kick-start sales after all the holidays? Good prices on canned goods.
Flamingo Lady….oye, your dh has some health problems going on. 🙁 Hard to keep up when such things are always taking precedence.
MollyM…..I can certainly relate to those feelings!!! I struggled to get ANYthing accomplished today. But then there are days when things roll smoothly and I get all excited about the [even minuscule] progress. That’s why the Nov/Dec challenges were helpful to me. I’d pretty much stalled out….discouraged at the magnitude. But you’re right…..the magnitude isn’t always real. You’ll make it!!!
Other than making oatmeal early this morning …when I wish I’d been sleeping… And I’m making some good Asian rice tonite…cuz I’m still not feeling quite settled. Did read some things on Internet. No OJ in this house….blech! I feel for the growers in FL but the solutions are always more and more chemicals. 🙁
I’ve been doing research for data storage….laptop…Ereaders…tablets… I’ve only had laptops.
OldMtWoman ….gonna have some rice ..milk/sugar/cinnamon? Prolly just a bit of butter.
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OldMtWoman- there is a video on English muffins on youtube by katzcradul. I like her videos.
Muffy, if you have a food saver and an attachment so you can take the air out of jars, I would think that the cigs would keep pretty well. I haven’t tried that but when I sealed jars with mine I found it hard to get the lids off later they sealed so well.
Gotta get what I want out of the computer and make hard copies.
good night all
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Can’t remember if I checked in yesterday, so thought I’d do a quick report this morning….family are safely in Paris, France and are sending pictures back…7 hour time difference meant a 2 a.m. notice on my phone, but as I can’t turn my phone off at night I’ll just be grateful we have these technical things available to keep up with those we love…#3 son just sent pic of climbing to the top of Notre Dame bell tower….two sons and 5 grandchildren traveling in France for 10 days…making great memories
I’ve ordered a dehydrator which should be here tomorrow…trying to figure out where to put it as my kitchen has limited counter space but I do have several other possible options…young guest who is staying with me temporarily is from a “homesteading” type family and she is experienced in using dehydrators, so that’s a good thing for me. We’re going to do some Kale chips this weekend and that should be fun.
After 4-5 days of spring like weather, winter has arrived this morning….24 degrees outside but sun is shining so makes it more tolerable for me than the cold, dark, dreary days….
My decluttering/organizing effort continues on and I’m beginning to see the end of it!!! Now, just to discipline myself to not bring anymore stuff into the house.
FlamingoLady, my thoughts are with you and your hubby…
Prepperfan, thanks for the info re: cigarettes….I think maybe putting them in the freezer might help preserve freshness, plus for the serious addicts I suspect if things were really awful they would smoke whatever they could find. 🙂 Maybe, my idea of stock piling black peppercorns as potential bartering items might make more sense. On the other hand, I don’t want to get too obsessed with the SHTF possibilities. At my age, I think just being prepared for the more likely power outages related to weather conditions we experience in my neck of the woods, makes most sense for me. Then if deeper trouble comes I’ve got enough to share. Just thinking out loud….
Hope all are having good days!!! Happiness is a choice…and my pillow cover says “Make everyday an Adventure” so I best be getting to my adventure for this day….shopping for a new stove…:)
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The
Portal to Hellhall closet: OMG the clutter pile on the living room floor is gone! I did it! I threw out a lot and gave a lot away to the building’s super. All that remains of it is one box of tools and supplies for painting and repairing the plaster walls. I feel so much better. Tomorrow’s task is to vacuum out and clean the inside of the closet as best as I can. I was looking at the scrapwood shelf supports built into the closet by the former (deranged) owner, and I can’t see nails… I sincerely hope that nut didn’t superglue the shelf supports to the walls… tomorrow I am also going to try to crowbar the shelf supports off the walls.
@Daisy: Could you change the name of this thread to January Check-In? -
Yesterday (January 10th), I went to a local pharmacy (CVS) to pick up some medications and saw that they had DAK 16 ounce-sized canned hams on sale at $3 US if you bought two cans. I bought several for my long-term food storage pantry because that price beats what I can get them for online. The store also had some condensed cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soups on sale for $0.88 US per can – so I picked up a few of those also for making casseroles.
While I was at the store I happened to meet another shopper who has lived in this area for many years. She told me about a nice discount/outlet grocery store in a nearby town, which has great prices on pantry staples suitable to be “dry-pack canned” for long-term storage. I’m definitely going to check it out later this month! Since stores like that don’t usually advertise, sometimes the only way you can find out about them is word-of-mouth” – so I’m really glad I stopped to chat with that lady, lol.
When I got back home, I listened to Dr. Bones and Nurse Amy’s latest podcast and downloaded a few more preparedness-related articles. All-in-all, it was a fun day 🙂
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Muffy….good to hear from your family….even at 2am. Have fun with new dehydrator!!! Watch fingers when thin slicing…. {ask me how I know…I’ve been having a strange day since I’m usually good with knives! No blood but a near thing tonite!}
MollyM….Hoooray! Clearing the clutter from living room is GREAT! I burst out laughing at your comment about the former owner’s potential for disastrous choices…like glue. Oye. Hoping for the best…
AmyD…sometimes the odd, quirky places can have the best prices or they stock things you can’t get elsewhere. OR they have things you’ve never heard of …but are great. I love to go thru Asian stores. I have a favorite garden weeding tool from there. And a big rice washer…[get the talc off]…..useful for washing many things from garden. Got the stretch-over netting material useful for covering the bowl I was then milking my goats into. {awkward sentence but too tired to repair it} One goat hair drops into the milk and it tastes ‘goat-y’. Blech. These nifty elastic netting things are actually for covering the batches of fermenting kim chee but worked excellent for my purpose too. I miss milking goats….I really miss their milk and by-products!!! Someday I hope to do that again…..when our physical layout is not so labor-intensive.
I was so glad to wake up and feel normal today!!! Did a lot of catch-up {again} and later rode into town with DH. He had to deal with an issue which required using cell phone AND computer at same time. No cell out here. Used library’s Internet. But he dropped me off to visit our elderlies. It’s been a while and they need regular visits. I put the lens back into a pair of glasses. I located the missing grocery sack – and the receipt he was looking ALL over for…. We finished that last bit of the current puzzle…but I forgot to bring the new one from my house. These little things help them a great deal.
OldMtWoman …now if I could only get a full night’s sleep, I could get my brain to work!
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Going through 2 bedroom closets and pulling out all the food to redo the shelving in them. Then I am going to rearrange the smaller bedroom so I can caddy corner the 2 book cases I also use for what I have canned. Then I am going to pull the buckets of food storage out of a third closet to put behind the 2 book cases to give me more room in that 3ed closet. Have been checking the dates on a 4th closet and moved the oldest dates to the kitchen to be used first. Kitchen cabinets are depleted from Christmas cooking. Then going through our bedroom closet to remove any clothing we have not worn in over a year to pack up and send to salvation army.
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It’s my birthday! Yay!! Plans to go to lunch with my mom, and dinner with my In-Laws. Sometime soon, I get to order a Dehydrator and new Cast Iron Skillet as my present. Now to find a good dehydrator. (I haven’t been able to get one yet so I haven’t done a ton of research.)
Went through some of my husband’s old work t-shirts to rip into cleaning rags. Went through the socks without matches, sewed them together, and turned them into breeze blockers. I like to cover them with cute fabric and give them as Christmas gifts for friends and family, so I work on them all through the year. Worked on meal planning for the rest of January. Mapped out some shelves to the side of my wood burning stove to hold wood, kindling, and fire starter rolls. We get leftover grocery store ads every week so I’m thinking about turning them into logs (per a tutorial on Pinterest.)
When I was cleaning the guest bedroom, I ran into a box of leftover denim bits (back pockets, zippers, gems and seams) from when I made our denim quilt a few years ago. I still have no idea what to do with all of this stuff. Any ideas from here? Or is there a forum on here for ideas? TIA
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Happy Birthday, PrepperFan!!! Hope it’s been a good one. I just got my new dehydrator in mail today…I did a lot of research and asked others on this forum for their thoughts. I ended up buy an mid-priced Excalibur through Amazon…it arrived today so I’m going to play around with it a bit tomorrow….it has nine trays and the fan is in the back which everyone says is most important feature.
Glad you’re feeling a bit better OldMtWoman…and excited for progress Molly Malone is making with her closet….where’s OldMansd…has he been on today or yesterday? Wondering how his indoor gardening efforts are getting on…I think I can harvest a bit more spinach this weekend for a nice salad maybe….loving the way my onions have performed….
We’re getting a bit of winter weather today and tonight…a bit of sleet means the highways might be slick in the morning but I don’t think they are calling for heavy ice which is the thing that causes our electrical outages around here….I’m okay as long a gas stays on….nite all
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Prepperfan305 – Happy Birthday 🙂
OldMt Woman – Did you put the netting over the bowl before you milked the goat or after the milk was already in the bowl?
Didn’t do much prepping today, however I did order a couple of fermentation airlocks with universal-sized carboy bungs for when I later try to make mead. I also ordered some of the Rico’s canned cheese sauce, which was recommended by another member of this forum awhile back, to see if I want to get more of it later to add to my storage pantry. Then I read Daisy’s article about coping with the government shutdown.
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Happy Bday, Prepperfan
Muffy…congrats on your Excalibur!!! Our box style has had so much use for all sorts of things. It was from the 1980’s and still basically works. Sits on our coffee table…for lack of any where better. but I put plants on top of it. Aloe, for one. Stay safe if the lights go out with the weather. Got your flashlights handy? Worse come to worse: leave a small flashlite on all nite for a nite light. Safety well worth the batteries.
AmyD…yes, I put the mesh across the bowl and the elastic edges kept it tight. Like long ago plastic to put over bowls for picnics, etc. Then I milked thru. I have the dwarf Nigerians so I can’t use something taller than a SS bowl. Tho I always wash the udder/teats, hair can still drop. This way it never dropped into the milk. I’d aim the squirted milk to a different area of the netting to avoid splashing thru the hair. Goat milking has to be super clean. I always used a pie plate for the first few squirts. 1) to check for mastitis [never had any lumps and had the test papers to check further if I’d spotted any] … 2) to clear the ‘tubes’ of any bacteria up there as they lay in …whatever. I’d dump the pie plate and begin milking into the bowl. Get immediately into qt canning jars stored in fridge. It goes thru a funnel that has a disposable milking filter. Then it’s clean in the fridge and never had ‘goat-y’ tasting milk.
Should I mention how long it took me to finally just tie that dratted [and beloved — they’re ALL hooligans!] goat’s left foot to the milking stand? A goat foot into the bowl means the whole thing is wasted…unless you have pigs/chickens. She and I learned how to milk together and we had many a rodeo while we both learned. Took me a full two months …due to the miscoordination of my disability. And developing the strength. I don’t think I ever labored so hard to learn a new skill. But ….my mom read me the Heidi story too many times when I was a kid. I WANTED very badly to learn to milk. Did that!!! So IF you resort to tying a foot during milking, DO NOT FORGET TO UNTIE…BEFORE you let her head out of the stanchion. Alllllllll kinds of drama for a few seconds when that happens. I rigged a quick release…JIC!!! Still… fond memories! Someday I hope to do that again!
Today, did research on growing food if we would have a solar minimum. The affects on large agriculture. History of what folks did during those time periods. It was pretty ugly. Modern times there are some adaptions but…..population density might cancel out any advantage.
Had weather-related chores today. Not too bad.
OldMtWoman …G’nite all
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I haven’t checked in for a few days as I had guests.
The temperature has been wicked cold here with lows -10 and with wind chill over 25 below. I continue to heat the house via my wood stove. My guests were quite interested in my self sufficiency in heat. My property provides all the wood I need. In cut and stacked seasoned wood, I am about 3-4 years supplied with another 1-2 years of felled wood that needs to be cut. I even make my own fire starters. I never thought about how much this saves, but after my guests inquiry, we figured it saves me over $1800 each calendar year in heating bills. This amount may be higher as I live in frigid Up-State NY. We just did some quick figures.
In addition to medical supplies, one of my guests spent a few hours giving me a medical refresher, including on suturing and wound care. We also had some interesting conversations about epidemics. All my medical profession friends are in agreement that a flu epidemic or other widescale infectious disease is overdue per the normal historical cycles. After my friends’ visit with medical gifts, I am making lots of progress in the medical area.
It’s amazing how just doing a few things every day can make progress toward self sufficiency.
Even though I didn’t post, I continued to enjoy reading everyones posts, especially about goats! Lol. I really enjoyed reading the posts about overcoming clutter and organizing that closet. We all have one of those closets. Mine may be a portal to another dimension.
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Slow, slow day…well, new kitchen range delivered so that was good…tried reading the user manual but type is so small and pale had some trouble…bottom line, I’ve got to take more care with the ceramic glass top than I had anticipated….haven’t felt like working with the dehydrator yet….just been one of those gray, dreary, rainy days that doesnt do much for my energy level…I did however get in a short walk today so that’s a positive thing….
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@oldmtwoman It’s really interesting (and entertaining) reading about your experience with goats. I hope you will post what you find out about growing food during a solar minimum and what people did to survive during solar minimums. I would like to read that and I think many other people would too.
@lovinglife it is very educational (and inspiring) to me to read about you how you are staying warm at very low temps by heating with wood.The
Portal to Hellhall closet: @oldmtwoman @muffy @lovinglife thank you for the encouragement! Well, today I spent nearly an hour trying to crowbar the shelf-supports out of the closet walls, and I have given up!! I have hope, though, that the former (deranged) owner did not actually use superglue or cement, because I can get the shelf-supports to wiggle when I attack them. But I can’t pull them out of the walls. I am going to have to break down and hire a handyman to do it. Maybe a chisel and hammer are needed. Here’s hoping the handyman doesn’t take out huge chunks of wall in the struggle.So I turned my attention to filling in the cracks and crevices in the closet door frame with wood filler. This is a real door frame, on both the outside and inside of the closet, and there are working doorknobs on both sides of the closet door. It must have been a real door to somewhere at some time… hmm… cue the Twilight Zone music… My guess is, if I broke the wall at the back of the closet, I’d find myself in my neighbor’s apartment, not Narnia. In old buildings like this one, big apartments would get chopped up into smaller apartments. Anyway, the closet door frame is badly cracked in many places, and I got a lot done today filling up the cracks with wood filler. I’ll need to buy more wood filler tomorrow. I can fix, sand and paint the frame and the door by myself. Oh, and it looks like at one time, the former (deranged) owner painted over the closed door, then wrenched it open after the paint dried, so there is definitely sanding to be done. I tried to take out the doorknob and failed. Nevertheless, I feel very good about all the repairing to the cracks. Wood filler is easy to use.
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Had a nothing Day. 5 month old is teething, 2 year old is getting molars, and 5 year old was feeling left out, so I spent a lot of time cuddling and playing games.
We had some issues with our fireplace yesterday, which my father-in-law debunked, so we kept a nice fire going. I want to start practicing cooking on the fireplace, so I’m incredibly grateful that we don’t have to replace it.
I did make 2 casseroles tonight for my freezer, in addition to the one I made for dinner.
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Loving Life…..Yay! … for a good visit with medical friends. You showed them wood stove skills and capabilities. They showed you medical stuff. Overdue for global infections?…I’ve been hearing that. A late friend of mine was born in 1918. Her dad lived in barn cuz he continued to go to work and didn’t want to infect family with THAT flu if he caught it. Her mom, older sister, and aunt delivered baby [her] …then hollered the news out the window to her waiting dad. She told me many stories of Hard Times. But she lived well into her 90’s.
Muffy…. {hugs} …seemed like you needed one! We don’t have to be stellar EVERY day. ….today was NOT stellar for me either. [check my January challenge report..ugh!]
MollyM….I love old houses/buildings [but they do have surprises]. The stories the walls could tell. A closet door to Narnia, huh? 🙂 You’ve got us all waiting to see what your former [deranged] owner did to those shelf supports. You’re making good progress.
And I did some more research on the ‘ice age’…. Followed the topic down many rabbit holes! The thing is, I began on one website and I’ve been trying to confirm the validity of his data. I’m cross-checking with Wikipedia, etc. He’s got a LOT of history data on what happened in many places during former times of colder/wetter conditions. His website is filled with links to elsewhere. Some are PDFs that I wait to download until I’m up and alert between 2-7AM. Doesn’t count against our data quota.
From what I’ve read so far….much concern was with inability to bring grains to completion before frigid temps killed those crops. Crops grow more slowly with overcast skies and lack of true heat. They also got flooded out in unusual areas. Secondly, concern with being unable to dry forage [hay] for animals to winter over. Specific problems with those time periods:
1) Cold more intense and longer 2) Big increase in precipitation – rain/snow 3) weather much more unsettled – storms, flooding, and irregular patterns 4) agriculture needed to take place further south (or north in southern hemisphere) and at lower elevations
Link to a report of: The “Old Fashioned” Winter of 1917-1918. 101 years ago. If link doesn’t “click” ….you can copy/paste. It’s a first hand account.
https://www.jstor.org/stable/207470?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
This is the link to the guy who’s writing about solar minimum, etc. So far tho, I’ve found a minimum of data about this era’s posibilities for agriculture. We do have options like hydroponics/aquaculture [together they are ‘aquaponics’]. But then there is usally at least some energy needed to run lights and pumps…and for heat.
I do not know enough to endorse this site or not at this point. There are a LOT of interesting links at his site. He’s got some beliefs/agendas but those don’t necessarily negate his findings or ideas. {shrug}
OldMtWoman …G’nite all
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I don’t know that this counts as making it from scratch, but I just put up my own deer meat. A friend’s father shot it for me and dressed it, but did not process it. I don’t know how he thought I was going to do that, but he actually forced me to learn how to do it myself. Thank God for You Tube and Prime shipping! I was able to watch how-to videos and have a meat grinder delivered almost overnight. Anyway, I divied the meat up, and put portions in the freezer. I roasted the ribs and removed the meat and made BBQ for sandwiches (with sauce made from scratch). I also made my own ground venison. First ever in my life! I am exhaused but proud of myself. I’m sure the meat is not cut and processed like someone who knows what they are doing, but still it is edible, saves a bundle of money, and I will have enough meat to eat for a very, VERY long time.
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I’ll give you credit for the deer processing. Around the end of November, someone hit a deer and I came across the flashing lights and accident scene a bit later. No one wanted the Deer, so I was able to get it. Just like you, I didn’t know crap about how to process it. I did as best as I could to salvage the good parts. Warm weather was expected the next day so I didn’t take time to drain the blood. I ground all of it into Deer Burger with a lot of Bacon in it. It’s still bloody, but when I add some bread to it, then cook it on the grill, it still tastes great. The blood won’t kill me……… Glad you were able to get the job done. It’s a learning experience………
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As I am recovering from lots of guests and the holidays, I spent time rereading the posts here from the beginning of the year.
I am in the hunt for a dehydrator as I am tagging my saved money from the scratch challenge and all the food I didn’t have to buy as my guests brought tons. They all commented on how they really enjoyed cooking together and didn’t miss going out all the time.
As posted on the “scratch challenge”, my wood stove cooking has really progressed. I made some awesome stew last night and a wicked good grilled cheese sandwich for today’s lunch.
For me, this lifestyle is about being more self sufficient and getting away from so many of the toxic chemicals in food, cleaners, etc. It is more expensive, but I try to buy as much of my food as possible from local sources. I am amazed at how good it tastes.
After reading Daisy’s recent blog posts, I am quite happy that I have increased my self sufficiency. It makes me happy and even happier when I look at my inventory of supplies. My DIY Artwork still makes laugh every time but see it in the laundry room. To me, this increased self sufficiency and happiness are my goal.
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I’ve been pretty lax about posting,sorry. I have been cooking dinner, from scratch most nights and have been “creating” different casseroles and meals using just what I have in the pantry,freezer. When I was working and the boys were out of the house (married) few years before I retired, DH and I got in the bad habit of eating out too much or using the pre-made micro stuff. Now that I’ve retired I’m doing more.Still have a ways to go.Been looking up and making low carb meals DH is diabetic and it’s been a bit tough to find not only low carb but low fat recipes that he’ll actually eat. Since he’s been counting carbs, he’s lost a bit of weight although I swear it just passes to me LOL. Will try to keep up on this forum
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( )I wash and reuse (most) of my sandwich bags. Hot soapywash water and a bit of Bleach in the rinse water works well for me. I even make a rack from a refrigerator shelf to hang them on to dry, near the wood burner. (cut one side off of the shelf and added hinges, then attached it to the wall).
( )I try to use jars instead of sandwich bags because the jars last longer. (I’ve got enough to start my own glass recycling company).
( )When the sandwich bags are no longer worthy of being reused for food, they go to the garage for other stuff.( )When I go to a restaurant or hospital, I always make sure to take extra napkins or paper towels home with me. It saves on the amount of paper towels I have to buy.
( )I have city water, but I try to use water from my well to wash laundry. Water isn’t an issue. Although the Well has a 1/3 hp Sump Pump sitting in it that runs off of 110 volts, I have a Deep Cycle Marine Battery and a 2000 watt Power Invertor that has been tried (and works) and will get me water. I also have a brand new “back up” Sump Pump sitting on a shelf, in a box.
( )When my clothes wear out, I cut them into rags.
( )When the rags are no longer useable, I use them to help start a fire in the woodburner.
( )The wood that keeps my house warm all Winter long is free; I don’t pay a dime for it, other than what it costs me to get it.
( )Since the wood burner is already heating the house, it only makes sense to use the top of it to brew Tea, have heated water for Coffee, heat water for my shower, or sometimes cook Bacon.
( )I use the woodburner ashes along the house foundation, or to fill mole holes.
( )I use solar lights in the house all the time, instead of relying on the utility company.
( )I use 12 volt Ceiling Fans most of the time, but still rely on a 110 volt fan at night, when I sleep by the fan.
( )I use a propane light in my living room in the Winter so I can get light and heat from the same source; and I don’t have to worry about it getting shut off because I didn’tpay my bill. I adapted a second Propane Light so that it will not only supply Light and Heat, but I can also cook on the top of it.
( )When I see a penny on the ground, I pick it up. I need 99 more of them to make another dollar!
( )I hang all of my clothes on hangers, and hang them on a long pipe over the woodburner. The house needs more humidity during the Winter anyway. I don’t pay forelectricity to run the dryer.
( )I removed the Dryer from the Laundry Room. (Fall of 2016).
( )I rinse out and save my food cans after I open them. I get 6 cents a pound for something that most people throw away, and they don’t go to the landfill.
( )I buy candles at rummage sales rather than pay more at the store for something that does the same job regardless of the price.
( )I save sawdust and candle wax for making homemade fire starters for the wood burner.
( )When I buy stuff at the store, I look for the “scratched & dented” stuff. Then I ask for a 10% or more discount. I’ll end up scratching or denting it sometime in the future anyway.
( )I own a battery operated pencil sharpener. (with a rechargeable battery).
( )I also own a manual pencil sharpener.
( )I recharge my small batteries in my portable solar battery chargers.
( )I flush the toilet with recycled laundry rinse water from the Washing Machine and WELL water, using a 110 volt pump to get the water out of the WELL.
( )Rabbit poop and the remains of butchered rabbits helps to fertilize my large garden.
( )I grow a large garden rather than rely on the store for all of my vegetables.
( )I home-can most of my vegetables. Even tho it’s more work, it’s a skill, and I know where my food came from and how it was handled before I ate it. And it tastes so muchbetter!
( )I keep 450 gallons of water in a tank as a back-up water supply for about 8 months out of the year. Can’t do it in the Winter–garage isn’t heated.
( )I try to buy more clothes than I need every year. Prices will always go up. And if they don’t fill well, I put them away until they do.
( )Rabbits. I raise them as an extra food source. When the Shit Hits The Fan, I’ll have something to barter with. (as long as I can feed them). I stopped raising rabbits afterTen years; 10-2017.
( )I have 2 types of showers set up. One is city water with a water flow-valve inline, the other is a homemade shower container that sits on a shelf above the shower head.
( )I save all of the small bars of Soap; I add them to an old Sock, tie a knot in the Sock, cut off the excess, and I’ve got a way to use up those little bars of Soap! It’s kind of awkward to use, but at least I’m using the soap all the way down to nothing, and the old sock can still be used to start a fire when it’s finished with the soap.
( )I use a curtain rod in the kitchen to hold paper towels.A regular paper towel holder is $8. The curtain rod is $1.00 at walmart and holds three rolls of paper towels.
( )Green Tomatoes. I learned to make Green Tomato Relish, rather than throw them away, at the end of the season.
( )I toss my egg shells on the garden where I plant the Tomato plants. It prevents Blossom End Rot.
( )Sometimes I get extra packets of ketchup, Mustard, etc. Even if I don’t need that extra fork, or spoon, take it for another time. LOAD UP.
( )I always have more Chili than I’ll eat when I fix a 5 quart crockpot of it. So I pressure can the home-made Chili for later.
The other day, I bought cheap Pork meat, and pressure canned it so that I won’t have to pay more money in the longer term. It’ll keep on a shelf for about 3-4 years.
( )I always buy a watermelon that has seeds in it; that way I always have seeds to plant in the garden.
( )I quit using my electric coffee pot. In the Winter I use the wood burner to heat water for instant coffee. Any other time, I use the propane Kitchen stove.
( )Years back, I used to pull the thrown-away oil containers out of the trash cans at the service stations. I’d take them home and drain them into one container. It took a lot of containers and a lot of time, but eventually I’d end up with a quart of oil. The point is though, is that it’s free Oil. And the oil containers are recyclable.
( ) Although I haven’t done it often, I occassionally use my crockpot on top of the wood burner. Since the heat is indirect, it won’t hurt the crock pot. No way to regulatethe heat well, tho.
( )The garage door opener uses electricity. As a precaution, I have already installed the Manual Garage Door Opener.
( ) 05-2018. I had the Utility company shut the natural gas off, since they charge $25 a month for the meter. Now I heat all of my water on the Wood Burner or Propane Stove during the Winter, and I use a Camping Shower Bag during the warm months. Just to keep the authorities away, I keep the Utilities hooked to the house. I don’t have to use them. Just have them attached to the house. Plus, when I do have something shut off, I don’t make it a national issue. No one knows.============================================================
DIY. 12-2018: How about my 2nd attempt to put up my 27′ tall
tv tower with a homemade Wind Generator on top of it, by
myself. I used a Deep Cycle Battery and a 12 volt Winch to
get it into place.
I tried the 1st time of doing it by hand, and had thebottom of the tower pop up, the top of the tower go down,
and break one of the pvc blades that I made for it. The 12
volt motor is from a $5 Treadmill that I bought 6 months
back, at an auction.
DIY. January 2019: When Spring/Summer comes around, I’ll use
the free/thrown-away Gas Powered Post Hole Digger that I was
given, and fixed, to make a deep hole for the clothes line
pole than is currently holding the Wind Generator in 40-50
mph winds!
DIY. 01-12-2019: I made an extension piece for the Post Hole
Digger, using my Manual Pipe Threading Tool, because I live
20 miles from nowhere and can’t afford to drive that far,
one way, to get specific pipe lengths made, using 1″ pipe.
DIY. Last month, I welded a few pieces of metal to my truck.
I now have two extra 2″ Balls on the truck. One at the
center of the truck bed just behind the Cab, and the other
is located on the front of the truck. A few months back, I
bolted a 3000# 12 volt Winch to a Trailer Hitch, along with
a pair of Jumper Cables. Now I can pull something from the
Front, Center, or Back of the truck, using the battery under
the hood.
DIY. I used a few pieces of 1″ Black Pipe to make a Log Jack
(holds the log off of the ground while cutting), and then
modified it to become a Peavey (straight piece with a hook).
Now I can change the end piece out when I find a pile offree fire wood, and I need to use that tool.
DIY. I recently made a heavy duty table out of free 4×4’s
and a purchased piece of plywood. It’s mainly used in the
Kitchen. The other day I mounted the Chainsaw Sharpener to
it and watched tv while sharpening the chains in the Living
Room, while using the light from my 12 volt Solar Panel
System.
DIY. January 13, 2019: Made homemade Bread, to go with the
Stew that I made with homecanned Corn, homecanned Green
Beans, and homecanned Carrots. All of which I had put
together before I noticed this challenge contest.
DIY. I do have a #10 can of Powdered Eggs open, and I’m
currently out of real Eggs. I guess I’m not going to the
store for “real” eggs tomorrow. I think the powdered eggs
are okay in this challenge, since I don’t normally use them,
and they do change the way I normally live.
DIY. 01-15-2019: I guess I can always break out some of
those homemade dehydrated sliced Potatoes and make some
Scalloped Potatoes. I haven’t made the homemade sauce for it
yet………
DIY. 01-15-2019: It snowed a few days ago. For the first
time in 2 years, I was able to think about using the free
Snow Blower that someone gave me. The gasoline primer was
broken from the cold weather, and it wouldn’t start after
that. Then I found a chunk of ice attached to the float in
the carburator. It ran after that.
I already have Solar Dryer for drying the clothes (the
outside clothes line), and an inside clothes dryer (a pipe
over the Wood Burner).
I’m going to tell you that you can use this information however you choose. I believe I’d like to be in the contest, but I’m not sure of how much I will be able to participate, because I’ve done almost everything that I need to do to survive. I think. I’ve got enough food and recipes stored up to last me over a year; same goes for toilet paper and other hygene options, etc.
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I used up the corn flour that I had ground myself. The Stew is becoming a week long mulligan stew……….
I fixed homemade Hash Browns this morning. I had some Banana and Green Bell Peppers that were dried and ground up into a powder. It was sitting in the spice rack above the stove. So I went ahead and used it in the Hash Browns.
My Onions were going bad; starting to grow a bit. So I cut them up, minced them, and dehydrated them.
I fixed a jar (2 cups) of Distilled Water. I added my two Silver bars that are attached to tiny Alligator Clips. I ran the two wires from those clips to the two clips at the other end. The other end attached to three 9 volt Batteries that are connected in series. I checked them with the voltmeter and saw that I had 25 volts. I started my timer and set it for 20 minutes. I was starting to see a tiny bit of cloudiness in the water, and that’s when I wanted to stop it. I’ll take my time and drink the Colloidal Silver water, just a bit at a time.
I don’t yet know how to add colloidal silver to vaseline or other things yet.I cleaned out the ash tray in the bottom of the wood burner earlier, and added more wood to the wood burner. Then I reset my timer for about 2 hours.
I checked the solar panels. 3 out of 6 of them are clean, so I’m getting half power to the batteries right now. I can’t reach the other 3 panels to clean them off.
I fixed homemade bread for the second time this week. This time I almost screwed up. I had all the flour mixed when I realized that I still needed to add the Salt and Coconut Oil! I think I got it mixed up okay. I also added some of the Onions that I dehydrated earlier today. So now I’ll have Onion Bread before I go to bed.
I did dishes with water that I always heat on the Wood Burner during Winter.
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The weather man swore up and down that we were going to get some crappy weather. Blowing winds, Rain/Freezing Rain, Ice, Snow, etc. It was supposed to happen today (01-19-2019) in East Central Illinois. I just looked out the window, and we aren’t getting anything…….. I wonder how many people hurried to the store to stock up on things that they can make at home? It isn’t terribly difficult to make Bread. Even if I make it wrong, it’ll still be Bread.
The Wind Generator isn’t hooked up to anything yet. Last night I hooked a 12 volt Fluorescent 5 watt Bulb to it. I look out the window occassionally, and I’m not seeing it light up yet.
I’m looking for an Air Conditioner Compressor that goes to a vehicle. One with the “V” belt pulley. My plan is to make a homemade Wind Generator that will put pressure into my portable Air Tank. I have an Air Scribe tool to use with it. No other air tools yet, though. It’s a way to work on projects when it’s too windy to work outside, for example.
Compare the White Bread. I think I proofed the yeast correctly in the heated (105-110 degree) 2% Milk. I’m disappointed in the White Bread. I don’t think it “rose” as it was supposed to. However, I do have experience with making Grandma’s Bread in a Can. There’s no kneading with the Bread in a Can, which not only turns out better for the novice baker, but it is also healthier, since it has Raisins in it. The next time I make the Bread in a Can, I’ll use some free Tart Dried Cherries.
I’ve got store bought Bread in the Freezer, but who wants to use that crap when I have homemade Bread. I’m thinking of making a Bread Box out of wood. I wonder what kind of wood would be best for making it?
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