Improving my emergency information

Have you added anything to your emergency notebook lately? I finally started printing things off because there are a lot of things that would take a lot of time to write down, and I want it all in one place. So, soon to come: the emergency binder.

Some of the things I am adding I really really really hope that I will never have the need for. For instance, one of the pages I printed recently is about cayenne pepper. I had heard that cayenne pepper can do wonderful things if you are in a pinch, but until I actually looked it up, I had no idea just how many things it might help with. Here is the page I found if you are interested--it talks about wound care, and other possible helpful applications, including heart health. I am not a doctor or professional in that area at all, but I like to know if there are any options that I can turn to if I can't get to someone who does have such skills/knowledge immediately....

How about you? Any unusual pages in your emergency notebook/binder? I will probably add more of mine later, but suggestions are always welcome... :)

 

Ah, Peter, the pepper plant of surprises....

For those of you who would rather not read about my pepper plant, and would rather have a recipe (or would like to hear about Peter and have a food-storage friendly recipe), you might want to check out this recipe for taco soup, which I blogged about on my other blog. We had it yesterday and I was reminded of just how wonderful it is.The meat is the only thing that needs anything other than a shelf--one of the things I freeze, and hope that the power doesn't go out as part of an emergency...

So, back to the pepper plant. You may remember that we picked up a jalapeno plant at the farmer's market near the beginning of the growing season. We kept it inside for awhile. It grew a bud. A pepper started to form. We transplanted it outside. It suffered somewhat and looked scrawny for awhile. The pepper that had started to form didn't fare very well. We left it alone and thought we would have to try again next year. Then.....

 

 

...we noticed that there were buds. And more buds. And peppers--actually lots of peppers, which hopefully come across in the picture above. Enough of a surprise, yes? For us, yes.

 

Oh, but Peter wasn't done with the surprises.

 

Turns out that Peter, who was sold to us as a jalapeno pepper plant, is not a jalapeno pepper plant at all. Turns out that Peter is a serrano pepper plant. And though I know next to nothing about serrano peppers, my understanding from people who would know is that serrano peppers are hotter than jalapeno peppers. So, it's all good. As long as I can tell when the peppers are ripe, which I have read online can be ripe when they are green or red, we'll have some good eating. So, I have to do more research before I begin harvesting. But hey, I have something to harvest. And that is something to celebrate.

 

 

Let's face it--there was always going to be another post about Peter. If he didn't grow, I would have written about the importance of growing different things before an emergency so that you would have a better chance of success if/when you have to depend on your garden more for food, and can't just run out to the store for, say, a jar of jalapeno peppers. And that is important. I'm just glad that I'm writing this post instead.... :)

 

I'm glad that it did work out for us this year--planning on more peppers next year, and I should probably study jalapeno pepper plants so that I know one when I see one... :)

 

Hope you have had success (unexpected or otherwise) in your garden this year!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A pocket guide sounds good...

If you would like a chance to win a free disaster preparedness pocket guide, you might want to head over to the Texas Preppers Network and leave a comment on this post. Gotta love preparedness, and it's even better if you can get more prepared for free... :) Thanks Texas Preppers Network!

Fires in Idaho and elsewhere

Have been watching for news concerning the fire burning near Pine and Featherville, and the most recent information I can find at the moment is the article here. According to the linked article, there are nine fires burning in Idaho right now, and it goes on to give more information on fires in other areas across the West.

Situations like this always make me wonder just how prepared I am. Are my 72-hour kits really ready? Is there anything in my car, or that I would have with me that would help me deal with a situation like that the rafters mentioned in the above article experienced? Would I have enough in my storage to be able to avoid going out into the smoke involved (which is/has been a problem, and is mentioned in this older article) if necessary for health reasons?

How quickly could you evacuate? Might be time for an evacuation drill around here, is what I'm thinking. I am hoping the best for everyone more closely affected, and for whom it isn't a drill at this point...

If you want a good deal on bottled water...

You might want to check out the Albertsons store nearest you. They have Arrowhead water, 24 pack, 16.9 fl. oz water bottles at 2/$5.00. You have to love prices like that, especially since according to my sales receipt, a single 24 pack usually goes for $7.29....

Usual mention that: 1) I am not related to anyone that works at Albertsons, nor do I work there myself; 2) you may want to check to see if your Albertsons is offering this deal before you go; 3)and you will need an Albertsons card to get the deal as far as I understand. But still, it will probably be worth the effort if you need some bottled water--if memory serves, I've seen similar bottles for $2.50 a piece in amusement/tourist/whatever venues. (I know that I'm paying for convenience, cold water, etc. in these venues, but at the rate of 24 bottles for $2.50, wow. I'm just sayin'....)

I have no problem giving Albertsons free publicity when they give me a great deal--thanks Albertsons!

Freezing is one option...

Well, not right now weather-wise, since it's kind of really really hot where we are, but in terms of food storage, it is. I never think of freezer storage as a huge option, because one of the emergencies I think of is losing power, and of course, in a scenerio including that, your freezer storage won't last very long. Or, say your refrigerator decides it doesn't want to cool up inside, but would rather start burning up its inner workings, like ours did last week. (True story. None of our refrigerator or freezer things was ruined, but we were lucky enough to get the early warning of it just not being its regular cold self, so we called out a professional who said that the whole thing would be more expensive to fix than to replace, so replace we had to--before it entirely died. If it had gone totally off, there may have been a different outcome...) Anyway, there may be some really good reasons to make part of your storage freezer storage, one of which I was reading about this week.

You have probably heard about the drought situation--you can read more about it here, or here among other places. The prices on the crops will go up, of course, but here is an article that states that meat prices will go up as well. This would make sense, as the price to feed herds would go up, which is something I also read elsewhere (thanks to whomever mentioned it) and is not an idea original to me. Sooo, if you don't can meat, freezing it while it is still affordable and there is little chance of a power outage may be an option to be considered.

You may even want to get an entire headstart on meals by not only freezing the meat, but putting it together with all the other items like vegetables and grains that will also most likely go up in price. A while back I found this link on the Our Best Bites blog, and talk about convenient! At the bottom of the post you will find a link to bring up an entire mini-cookbook for freezer meals! I have not yet tried these, and know which ones I am most likely to try. However,I don't know the preferences of the readers of this blog, so I will leave it to your perusal, and not bias you with my choices. Thanks, Our Best Bites!

If you only came here for strictly preparedness purposes, you may want to skip the remainder of this post, although just about anything can be related to preparedness... :) Seems to me that I mentioned on one of my blogs that I don't try to be political on my blogs ( I should blog more often so that I could keep better track, huh? ) but I guess sometimes what I think is just plain American could be taken as political. I know that on this blog I have written about the importance of the 2nd Amendment, and the importance of upholding the Constitution. From what I understand, there is a Small Arms Treaty set to be signed a week from today, the aim of which is to take the 2nd Amendment (the right to bear arms) out of effect. The thing is, it won't go into effect unless it is ratified in the Senate. I have already called the Senators from Idaho, but it will take all of us working together to stop this. I was sent an e-mail with this link, explaining what this treaty would mean. On the video there, they ask for donations, etc., but that is not why I am providing the link. I am providing it because it begins by clearly explaining the situation. If you want to contact your state's Senators (Idaho's Senator Risch and Senator Crapo included, of course! :) the capitol switchboard number is 202-224-3121. Just give your Senator's name, and they will connect you... I, of course, hope that you will ask them to vote this treaty down, but it's a free country, for which I am unspeakably grateful. Whatever your opinion, make it known.

Oh, and I guess there is  one more preparedness thing--Peter the pepper has continued to grow, but there is only the one pepper with lots of green leaves above it. Sad, but it is one more pepper than last year. Hope everyone's gardens are doing well!

Happy Birthday, America!