Sorry I've been neglecting the blog (and the e-mail box), but thanks so much for taking the time to come back to read---time for the neglect to end.... :)
Anyway, for those who don't already know, because I've been so slow to mention this--they are considering allowing people to keep chickens in Idaho Falls! You can read about it here. They say in the article that the proposal needs to be read three times, and it's been read twice, so if you want to make your voice heard in Idaho Falls, now might be an opportune time. Also, if you can't have chickens in your city/town/place of residence, and you want chickens, you might want to bring it up so that you can....nothing like a food source that keeps on giving!
I had a question posed by S. about Idaho Preppers meeting up. The best place to find out about this would most likely be over at the Idaho Preppers Network section of the American Preppers Network Forum. I have not looked at this extensively, but it is probably the first place I'd look for information on prepper meetings. I welcome comments about any meetings so that those who may want to can attend, if those organizing it would like it posted here as well. I will check my e-mail box linked to the blog more often as well, so I can get the info out if any comes in.
Hope everyone is doing well!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Food bank donations, retail-style
I don't know if this is happening everywhere, but I have seen in our area that there are at least two stores that are collecting donations for the food bank on a regular basis--at least I saw nothing that indicated a start date and/or end date for the collection. One place is the local national chainstore, where they have a basket of food for $1.00 or under or something to that effect right at the register. They also have a barrel in the entryway (where you pick up your cart if you so desire) where I suppose you could just bring in something to donate before you enter the store if you wanted. (I bet they wouldn't mind if you dropped something in that you bought in the store on the way out, either.... :)
The other place is a dollar store, where the price of the items is pretty much what you would expect. (Just don't forget the sales tax...) The cashier asks you if you want to donate at the register, (as they do at the national chainstore as well) and if the answer is yes, grabs an item from the basket, rings it up, and puts it away to be taken to the food bank.
To me, this indicates the great need that there is when it comes to food bank donations. Specifically in Idaho, you can read about what's happening when it comes to food banks in a couple of articles-- if you are in need of assistance in Coeur d' Alene you can look here, or if you can offer assistance in Pocatello by donating to the food bank, look here. The food drive in Pocatello is in connection with an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project that will take place there, which I think is a great idea, since they want to help more than just the family that's getting the house.
So, I don't know if this retail-style food donation practice is everywhere, or just around here. In any case, from what I understand, the need for donations is growing, and apparently so are the businesses that are trying to meet the demand...
The other place is a dollar store, where the price of the items is pretty much what you would expect. (Just don't forget the sales tax...) The cashier asks you if you want to donate at the register, (as they do at the national chainstore as well) and if the answer is yes, grabs an item from the basket, rings it up, and puts it away to be taken to the food bank.
To me, this indicates the great need that there is when it comes to food bank donations. Specifically in Idaho, you can read about what's happening when it comes to food banks in a couple of articles-- if you are in need of assistance in Coeur d' Alene you can look here, or if you can offer assistance in Pocatello by donating to the food bank, look here. The food drive in Pocatello is in connection with an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition project that will take place there, which I think is a great idea, since they want to help more than just the family that's getting the house.
So, I don't know if this retail-style food donation practice is everywhere, or just around here. In any case, from what I understand, the need for donations is growing, and apparently so are the businesses that are trying to meet the demand...
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
How does your garden grow?
Unfortunately, as in alas and alack, it doesn't look like we are going to get much edible produce from our garden this year. Our raspberries have come through admirably, however, and that is some consolation. Even our pumpkin(s)--yes, even plurality is in question at this point--are not prospering as they usually do. We will have to see...
I saw some information on the life expectancy of seeds, so went searching on the internet and found this site. The article not only provides a chart for the life expectancy of a list of seeds, but also outlines a way to determine if your seeds are still viable. If your garden doesn't meet expectations this year, (I feel your pain) then hopefully there's always next year, if you take good care of your seeds. I will go looking (again) for non-hybrid seeds, because they seem to be getting harder and harder to find, and put them in storage. Seeds in the hand, and all that...
Hope your garden is doing/has done better than ours this year. Who knows? Maybe our garden will surprise us. One can but hope.... :)
I saw some information on the life expectancy of seeds, so went searching on the internet and found this site. The article not only provides a chart for the life expectancy of a list of seeds, but also outlines a way to determine if your seeds are still viable. If your garden doesn't meet expectations this year, (I feel your pain) then hopefully there's always next year, if you take good care of your seeds. I will go looking (again) for non-hybrid seeds, because they seem to be getting harder and harder to find, and put them in storage. Seeds in the hand, and all that...
Hope your garden is doing/has done better than ours this year. Who knows? Maybe our garden will surprise us. One can but hope.... :)
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Water safety article
In our area of Idaho, there are a lot of canals that are full of water this time of year. I was at an outdoor activity not long ago where there were a lot of children running around in the vicinity of one of these canals, not to mention the fact that one of them found and handled a garter snake. That child knew what kind of snake it was, (I wouldn't have) and the other children enjoyed seeing it. The water is what made me more nervous--the water is fast-moving, and it wouldn't take much for a child sliding down the canal sides to accidentally end up in it. Watching for potential accidents is essential.
This experience reminds me of the water safety article, "Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning", that I received in an e-mail at the beginning of this month. It was written in May, so if you may have seen it before I did, but it has a lot of great information.
When linking to the article above earlier today, I noticed that there are other articles mentioned on the same page that might be useful to read, so I will probably check it out again. I hope everyone is having a great summer--stay safe!
This experience reminds me of the water safety article, "Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning", that I received in an e-mail at the beginning of this month. It was written in May, so if you may have seen it before I did, but it has a lot of great information.
When linking to the article above earlier today, I noticed that there are other articles mentioned on the same page that might be useful to read, so I will probably check it out again. I hope everyone is having a great summer--stay safe!
Monday, May 31, 2010
Remembering with gratitude
On Memorial Day we take the family out to see family gravesites. This year we also asked our children to locate at least two graves of veterans. This wasn't difficult, as it is a tradition here (and I imagine many other places) to put flags on the graves of veterans. In the past few years we have made it a tradition to place a plant or flowers on the grave of a veteran near one of our family member's gravesites. We never met him, but we are grateful for his service nevertheless.
And if you are serving or have served in the military, or are the family of someone who has, we are grateful for your service as well.
Thank you.
And if you are serving or have served in the military, or are the family of someone who has, we are grateful for your service as well.
Thank you.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
From the emergency notebook....
This is about the fourth or fifth or umpteenth time I have started this post--when I first started, some part of the program was automatically putting the English into another script. Never know what will happen when technology meets up with little fingers, (I don't know for sure what happened, but that's my guess, and I'm sticking with it) so I hope the final product turns out normal when I publish it. Ah, technology.
Anyway, I have been thinking about the garden, and have also been thinking it's just too early to send those seeds out on their own. So in place of a gardening post, I thought that I would include a couple of recipes that I have commented on on my other blog, but haven't mentioned here. One is for cornbread, found on Friday's Food Fancy, which is just a really good resource for all sorts of food storage recipes. Another is this recipe for tortillas, over at The Happy Housewife. I have gotten better and better at making these, but alas, they are still not really round.... :) They taste good, as does the cornbread--I highly recommend both recipes, and they are the way I like my recipes--really, really, easy.
As for the title, I really do have these recipes and others in what I call my emergency notebook, because I never know when the power will go out, and I want to have those recipes and lists of substitutions and etc. in one place in my hot and sweaty little hand in times of emergency. If you don't have an emergency notebook, please consider starting one. And for those who have not seen other recipes I have already listed, you may want to look here for bean recipes and here for another list of bread recipes--- just in case you would rather not jump all over this blog trying to collect them one by one. :) Gotta love having recipes where you can use those food storage staples or at least do simple things from scratch--hope you like them like we like them around here!
Anyway, I have been thinking about the garden, and have also been thinking it's just too early to send those seeds out on their own. So in place of a gardening post, I thought that I would include a couple of recipes that I have commented on on my other blog, but haven't mentioned here. One is for cornbread, found on Friday's Food Fancy, which is just a really good resource for all sorts of food storage recipes. Another is this recipe for tortillas, over at The Happy Housewife. I have gotten better and better at making these, but alas, they are still not really round.... :) They taste good, as does the cornbread--I highly recommend both recipes, and they are the way I like my recipes--really, really, easy.
As for the title, I really do have these recipes and others in what I call my emergency notebook, because I never know when the power will go out, and I want to have those recipes and lists of substitutions and etc. in one place in my hot and sweaty little hand in times of emergency. If you don't have an emergency notebook, please consider starting one. And for those who have not seen other recipes I have already listed, you may want to look here for bean recipes and here for another list of bread recipes--- just in case you would rather not jump all over this blog trying to collect them one by one. :) Gotta love having recipes where you can use those food storage staples or at least do simple things from scratch--hope you like them like we like them around here!
Monday, May 3, 2010
Unusual emergencies
A couple of unusual emergencies have occurred in our country recently:
--I first heard about the water pipe break in Boston yesterday, and found this article on it today. From what I understand, the break has had far-reaching consequences, and while water is available, it must be boiled. I found it interesting that one person quoted remarked that it is "inconvenient"--I'm just glad that they have water to work with, even though it must be boiled. Perhaps more disturbing are some of the comments in the comment section (though I read only the first few) about fights over the bottled water in the stores...
--The oil spill disaster is affecting the Louisiana fishing industry, which you can read about here. In the linked article, mention is made of the fact that the fishermen are now unable to go out and harvest, when they have spent a great deal of money to get ready for the fishing season, which usually begins about this time. This means less (or perhaps, unfortunately, no) revenue for them, and less available food for any/everyone who relies on the seafood they usually provide. In this less recent article, there is a man quoted who indicates that this disaster will have an impact on the sea life in the area that could last many years.
My thoughts and prayers are with the fishermen and their families, and to those (some of whom are the same fishermen) who have to work in dangerous conditions to clean up the effects of the oil spill. I hope that those affected have enough provisions set aside to weather this emergency, and I hope that everyone in the affected area in Boston has the means to either boil their water or purchase clean water. And I hope everyone everywhere prepares for emergencies, unusual or no....
--I first heard about the water pipe break in Boston yesterday, and found this article on it today. From what I understand, the break has had far-reaching consequences, and while water is available, it must be boiled. I found it interesting that one person quoted remarked that it is "inconvenient"--I'm just glad that they have water to work with, even though it must be boiled. Perhaps more disturbing are some of the comments in the comment section (though I read only the first few) about fights over the bottled water in the stores...
--The oil spill disaster is affecting the Louisiana fishing industry, which you can read about here. In the linked article, mention is made of the fact that the fishermen are now unable to go out and harvest, when they have spent a great deal of money to get ready for the fishing season, which usually begins about this time. This means less (or perhaps, unfortunately, no) revenue for them, and less available food for any/everyone who relies on the seafood they usually provide. In this less recent article, there is a man quoted who indicates that this disaster will have an impact on the sea life in the area that could last many years.
My thoughts and prayers are with the fishermen and their families, and to those (some of whom are the same fishermen) who have to work in dangerous conditions to clean up the effects of the oil spill. I hope that those affected have enough provisions set aside to weather this emergency, and I hope that everyone in the affected area in Boston has the means to either boil their water or purchase clean water. And I hope everyone everywhere prepares for emergencies, unusual or no....
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