tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60369502972837373042024-03-13T00:00:26.176-04:00Grandma's Kitchen WisdomArticles about faith,freedom and family,where we are headed as a country and what to do about it, photos & recipes about country living, gardening, home food preservation and more.Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-80132485630783603642012-05-25T21:38:00.001-04:002012-05-25T21:41:55.675-04:00Broccoli, BCA and playing catch-up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For all the years I have been gardening, I have never been able to grow a really nice, pretty broccoli. Something always happened - it was planted to late, cabbage moths visited in droves, the weather turned hot & dry and it bolted - you name it, I have experienced it in trying to grow my family's absolute favorite vegetable. Now, thanks to wet weather and the grace of God, I would like to share a picture of some of the prettiest broccoli I have ever seen!<br />
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I am still planting and still adding garden patches. We don't usually grow corn, but will be doing so this year. A patch for eating and a patch for popping. You can hang popcorn in open shucks to dry, then take it down as needed to pop. My grandkids are great fans of microwaveable popcorn, so you can imagine our delight when I read that you can take half an ear of dried corn, put it in a lunch bag sized paper bag, fold it closed tightly and put it in the microwave for 1 minute and 45 seconds. Don't hold me to this, now, since we haven't tried it yet, but we're planning to once the corn is ready! <br />
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I also took advantage of where the "girls" had been in their henhouse over the winter. They furnished a nicely fertilized, mostly plowed little patch of ground that measured about 15 x 7 feet. This bacame a new potato bed for this year. I put some of the shavings from their house onto the area, planted the potatoes in ot and covered the area with some old hay. It is not the prettiest garden I've ever had, but it seems to be producing. I did this on Easter Sunday morning, and already have a number of nice little potatoe plants growing. Next year, I believe I will let it be a flower bed. I don;t have a bed for cut flowers. This new bed is easily seen from the road, and it would be a joy to us and our neighbors to see such a large, beautiful bed of cut flowers. <br />
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Last week, I spent some time in the pantry, sorting & organizing. We have a fairly extensive pantry, consisting mostly of things you'd find in a farm pantry "back in the day", plus some convenience items like soups, microwave popcorn (!) and convenience foods. As I sorted and made room for the upcoming jars of pickles, tomatoes, beets and more, I thought about how much I enjoyed having the security and beauty of a well-stocked pantry.<br />
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My first "pantry" was developed during the winter of 1962, when I was a little girl living in Central New York state. We lived 3 miles out of town, what we then thought of as "in the country". Our area was famous for it's deep, lasting, lake-effect snows, and the winter of '62 was no exception. We were sledding out of our second story bedroom windows! (What <em>were </em>my parents thinking???) All went well until we'd been snowed in for a number of days and started running out of food. My parents were not "country folk" - my mother was a comitted grocery shopper, not a gardener or canner. Eventually, it was determined that my father was going to have to snowshoe into town for groceries. <br />
I don't remember all the details, but he did go to town and did get back with groceries. <br />
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I was impressed for life with the desire never to have to go through that again. I don't recall anyone being upset over him snowshoing into town, but apparently it affected my little girl's psyche, since I immediately started keeping empty mayonaise jars so I could fill them up with flour and sugar. When I grew a little older, my sister brought me a pack of strawberries and I started my first garden. I learned to can in my early twenties, putting up tomatoes, pickles, beans - anything I could grown or buy fresh at the farmer's market. My skills and interests expended and well, here we are! <br />
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For us, as with with most of you, spring is really busy! I keep seeing all these wonderful things that I'd like to share with you, take a quick picture and then don't have time to post! Here are a few things that I thought you'd enjoy!<br />
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This is one of our new Sheriff's cars. We used to have brown cars with gold lettering, (see the one in the back?) but due to budget changes, the county decided to embellish white cars which didn't have to be repainted. Our community is very big on Breast Cancer Awareness, but imagine our surprise when we drove past the county jail and saw this little baby sitting on the lawn! <br />
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When I stopped to take this picture, one of the deputies was just pulling in, so I stopped and chatted with him about the vehicle. It is assigned to one particular deputy and he says he thought it was done this way just for community support. We loved it!<br />
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This is one of the magnificent poppies that grew in my front flower garden this year. The rain has really made everything so much more thick and lush than usual. And see those flower windmills in the back? There is one for each grandchild, and we have so enjoyed watching them whirl! <br />
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What are you doing this spring? Is your garden in yet? Are you growing anything different from what you usually grow? As you garden for the pantry, are you keeping an eye toward beauty? Try adding some flowers or ornamental shrubs just for fun. I have peonies & roses on each side of our front porch steps and the fragrance is heavenly whne we come in that way. Yes, it's importaant to produce on practical terms, but remember to - literally - stop & smell the roses!Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-39310766090704004102012-03-05T11:10:00.000-05:002012-03-05T14:30:39.104-05:00Snow Day!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Snow! Again! Yes, I know it's March and yes, I know snow is common in early March in Virginia. What is NOT common are 65 degree days, daffodils blooming, and late spring weather. My husband is out plowing, where last week we were working on the cold frame and transplanting berry plants. The grandchildren and <a href="http://www.stoneyhollow.com/" target="_blank">dogs</a> are delighted. The hens, well, not so much - they haven't come out of their house yet this morning - unusual for them at 9:30 a.m., but really, who can blame them!<br />
And yes, these disgruntled but productive hens are the adorable baby chicks shows in the post below. <br />
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One of my favorite homesteading sites, Harvey Ussery's <a href="http://www.themodernhomestead.us/" target="_blank">The Modern Homestead</a> used to make mention that they don't do much updating during the nice weather - too busy farming! I should make such a mention here, since I don't do too much either unless I am trapped by snow or some other thing that prevents outdoor movement. Between the family, the dogs, the farm and - oh, did I mention my husband and our church? - I don't get much time to do a lot of writing & photography any more. Perhaps this year will be different and we'll be able to stay in touch more. I love writing to you all! <br />
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Since I had some time this morning, I read some great posts this morning on the <a href="http://thesurvivalmom.com/2011/05/24/survival-survey-what-is-your-1-stock-up-item/comment-page-2/#comment-402986" target="_blank">Survival Mom</a> website....learned quite a few little details that I didn't know, which is always fun. Here's one of them:<br />
<em>"Bleach has a shelf life of just about a year, so also stock up on calcium hypochlorite, which is pool shock. Buy the stuff without any additives — calcium hypochlorite being the only active ingredient. Use this to make homemade bleach by mixing 1 heaping teaspoon with 2 gallons/8 liters of water. You now have bleach. For water purification purposes, add 1 part bleach to 100 parts water."</em><br />
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Just goes to show you that you should ALWAYS read through the comments section!<br />
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<br />Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-70609858981516342542011-04-14T15:32:00.000-04:002011-04-14T15:32:24.940-04:00Baby Chicks - Again!Last year, shortly after my heart surgery, I gave away (yes, <em>gave away</em>) all of our livestock. All the chickens, feeders, nesting boxes, lights, incubator and all the goats and their accessories. For those of you who have never had the mixed blessing of heart valve replacement, let me tell you in advance that it does strange things to your head and heart - not just in a physiological way. Anyway, I thought I wouldn't be able to care for them all properly, my husband was beginning to have his own heart issues so I just gave them all away to good homes.<br />
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Fast forward eight months. My heart surgery scars and new valve have healed. I feel wonderful - better than I have in years. My friends say I look more alive, more vibrant, ten years younger! It's spring! I can have a nice garden this year and I will have the health, energy and strength to plant and maintain it. So, much to my poor husband's amazement, I bought 8 baby chicks a couple of months ago. Six would have been enough, but I bought two extra "just in case". We had no problems or incidents with them at all, so "just in case" never happened and I now have eight beautiful young ladies, who I believe are Rhode Island Reds. Tractor Supply called the "red hens" and they should lay brown eggs. <br />
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Six, or rather eight, seemed like a good number. There are only the two of us. I am not planning to go into the egg business. These are eggs for our own personal supply, with maybe enough extra to put in the freezer. The goal is to be able to have nice, fresh, wholesome, healthy eggs and provide their food from here on our little farm, without buying feed. I used chick starter to get them going, but after that it has just been weeds from the garden and table scraps. They are thriving and happy. <br />
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My poor suffering husband has been busy in the last couple of days, building a chicken tractor that is big enough for the girls to be happy, and small enough for me to move around when the weather is nice. When it gets cold, the house will cozy up to my new kennel building, where I can just take 2-3 steps through my picket gate to care for them in the winter. I am pretty excited about this! <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mhJvtzkfQ8HzjH-edba8JmXfjVr9PEiQ_efukfLfIbZeltNpWtofeWDZid4xiRsfHtFm_AAol48huMuGMN4nRN0mJ1DB5EkNwAtY4LX_afAiapRxp5pvknHopx86vgnIMFX45fMjJ40/s1600/Baby-chicks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" r6="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1mhJvtzkfQ8HzjH-edba8JmXfjVr9PEiQ_efukfLfIbZeltNpWtofeWDZid4xiRsfHtFm_AAol48huMuGMN4nRN0mJ1DB5EkNwAtY4LX_afAiapRxp5pvknHopx86vgnIMFX45fMjJ40/s320/Baby-chicks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Watch over the next few days for pictures of the new chicken tractor! </div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-15003923910414315732011-02-11T18:16:00.001-05:002011-03-14T17:54:42.435-04:00A Penny Saved...Back in the day, people then known as survivalists used to talk about the things that were critical to survival. "God, gold & guns" was the motto. I never considered myself a survivalist, and I still don't. I thought of myself as a "homesteader", someone looking for a rural, self-sufficient lifestyle. We always had goats and chickens, sometimes pigs and other livestock. There are many folks - survivalists, homesteaders, and those who are now called "preppers" - who maintain this lifestyle and love it. We loved it - it's a good life. But it's also hard work, and when there are no children to share the load, it is sometimes grueling work. Neither my husband nor I have the strength or vitality that we did 20 years ago, and last year, we let all the livestock go. But still we keep a pantry. We don't do it out of fear. We do it out of love for our families. We do it so that if things get bad for whatever reason, food, warmth and shelter will be available for those we care about. <br />
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For us, and for most people in our families, buying gold is just not an option. But we can create a hedge around us by storing food, essential items that make life easier or more pleasant and some forms of precious metals (PMs). We like silver - junk coins and 1 oz rounds - because it is more affordable. Today, we saw a great video on something even more plausible for the average family - copper pennies and regular nickels. <br />
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Though it is illegal to melt down U.S. coins at this time, the value of copper in each penny is 3¢. That means every penny made between 1909 and 1982 is worth 3 times it's face value in copper. This makes having pennies with those dates a very inexpensive and "do-able" hedge against hyperinflation or dollar devaluation. Who among us doesn't have a penny jar?<br />
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<div align="center"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="310" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/e5N44WIyCXk?rel=0" title="YouTube video player" width="440"></iframe></div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-21719824319070789122011-01-28T12:23:00.002-05:002011-01-28T12:37:32.370-05:00The Self-Sufficient Gardener blog<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsWaWzMS3mzAHewAH9c0tn3zc9Ah67Wqps8p-S0vGG7zvqm24qUwvbvxp5V6_9SEN009_J3NnQj3zd05r_AkeHr5GW44XyHzNsaF3k2P_TWmSUyaB56zaK0L75AMkSoI_U5OSDkepDRo/s1600/principe-borghese.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" s5="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEsWaWzMS3mzAHewAH9c0tn3zc9Ah67Wqps8p-S0vGG7zvqm24qUwvbvxp5V6_9SEN009_J3NnQj3zd05r_AkeHr5GW44XyHzNsaF3k2P_TWmSUyaB56zaK0L75AMkSoI_U5OSDkepDRo/s200/principe-borghese.jpg" width="200" /></a>Don't we gardeners just love to dream about spring? I know I do, especially when there's snow on the ground! We didn't get as much snow as part of Virginia even 15 miles north of us, but we got enough to remind us that it is, really winter! </div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">I found this great website this morning, full of good articles and helpful links. I especially liked the <a href="http://theselfsufficientgardener.com/resources">"Planting Calendar/Calculator.</a> This neat little tool gives you all the dates to start indoor and outdoor planting according to your last frost date. Very handy! I am forever forgetting what to plant when - maybe this will help!</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br />
</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">There is also a nice set of plans on this site for a fluorescent light rack for starting plants. We set outs on a table, which uses a lot of space. Maybe I have (yet another) project to keep my poor husband occupied over the winter! <br />
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Are you wondering how much to plant? If you are trying to grow a garden just for fun, it's not too important a question. But if you are trying to offset food costs or become more self-sufficient, how much to plant becomes a very important question. Lauren Ware, over at <a href="http://smallfarm.about.com/od/designingandplanning/a/htplangarden.htm">smallfarm.about.com</a> has a great atricle to get you started, along with links to planning charts, gardening articles and more. <br />
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Have fun planning on this wintry day and stay warm! </div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-30682477776139177832011-01-15T13:38:00.002-05:002011-01-15T13:45:40.523-05:00Thinking About Spring<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDOxTYOdZiZ_hOklz2rOiHn3U5tpdJ1NtrrRvSzTQXCxlF8fsuKmFgVWEipxnzq_QDJElUMbPWJzZxEIeo27ig1G75twRtChYuTRezpHASZjnBFYYC0IvyVDgIJd_2_gYXUoJX7gOqj8/s1600/seeds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDOxTYOdZiZ_hOklz2rOiHn3U5tpdJ1NtrrRvSzTQXCxlF8fsuKmFgVWEipxnzq_QDJElUMbPWJzZxEIeo27ig1G75twRtChYuTRezpHASZjnBFYYC0IvyVDgIJd_2_gYXUoJX7gOqj8/s320/seeds.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;">Spring is, without a doubt, my favorite time of year. On days like today, when it is cold and dreary, I love to start planning my garden for the coming spring. <br />
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You know, I always tell everyone that they should keep a pantry. But the reality is that you cannot store enough food to feed your family forever. The pantry was the stop-gap measure between the abundance of fall and the starvation time of winter when nothing could grown. The pantry is the bandaid used until the wound heals, be that wound from winter, job-loss, economic collapse or Lord knows what else. It was never intended to carry you forever.<br />
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So if the pantry is not suppossed to take care of you indefinately, it stands to reason that it should be able to care for you until you learn alternative ideas for food growing and processing, herbal medicine, etc. With that being said, this is a very good time to start thinking about planning your garden. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">I buy seeds every year, but I also save seeds from plants I have grown the previous year. I seldom grow anything - flowers or vegetables - that is a hybrid. I make a real efforr to grow only open-pollinated seeds, so that I can save the seeds from theose plants for the next years gardens. Hybrid seeds are "one time growers " - open pollinated seeds can be saved and grown year after year.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Seeds have become quite expensive over the past couple of years, and they will continue to do so. I buy some from catalogs, but I buy a lot of seeds locally. I am especially fond of buying open pollinated seeds at the end of the season, when the seeds are 1/2 off or less. Seeds are dated for 1 year, but they actually are fine to grow for a long time after that with some basic care. You can just put the extra seed packets in a ziploc and freeze them and they will last several years. I would not spend any money at all on the "survival seed kits" you might see on the internet. You can easily buy all the seeds you need for a nice, simple, basic vegetable garden with some extra flowers for $20 or less, if you pay attention to prices.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">Before you start buying seeds, think about how much room you have to plant. Will you plant in the ground or in raised beds or containers? What kinds of vegetables do you like? Tomaotes, cucumbers, beans, corn, peas are all good staple vegetables and are very easy to grow. Will you be supplementing your food bill or will you want to grow enough to help fill your pantry? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;">There are a lot of really great older books available that are very helpful in discovering how to set up a garden. One of the most helpful books I've ever read is an very old book, originally published in the 1940's entitled "The Have More Plan". This great old book has really stood the test of time, ushering thousands of beginning gardeners and homesteaders into the basics of self-sufficiency. I have created a link on the right side of this gae where you can click and download a free copy. So download it, print it out if you'd like, and get ready for some fun reading. Have a great day! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br />
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</div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-11332250170977562462011-01-13T11:45:00.003-05:002011-01-13T13:52:06.593-05:00National Sanctity of Life Day - Sunday Jan. 16th, 2011<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6_ASd6-6dRAdRbd8t2oYy4c0P9M6awIBEDRwleSewhUhzpda8dfpHS5maoVDKJ0pttfy_CMSz0DrsS9RF45UkwtRiCMkEt2chnQkWq4zGF0nv1lghyP_cnlpBwxnztmrah17p-bQklc/s1600/baby+in+hand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" n4="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil6_ASd6-6dRAdRbd8t2oYy4c0P9M6awIBEDRwleSewhUhzpda8dfpHS5maoVDKJ0pttfy_CMSz0DrsS9RF45UkwtRiCMkEt2chnQkWq4zGF0nv1lghyP_cnlpBwxnztmrah17p-bQklc/s320/baby+in+hand.jpg" width="210" /></a></div>This coming Sunday is National Sanctity of Life Day. How sad is it that we have to actually designate a day to consider the sanctity of life? According to Wikipedia, <br />
"In a January 13, 1984 proclamation, President Ronald Reagan designated January 22, 1984 as the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day. The date was chosen to coincide with the 11th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case that legalized abortions in the United States.[1]<br />
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Reagan issued the proclamation annually thereafter, designating Sanctity of Human Life Day to be the third Sunday in January, which represents the closest Sunday to the original January 22 date. His successor, George H. W. Bush, continued the annual proclamation throughout his presidency. Bush's successor, Bill Clinton, discontinued the practice throughout his eight years in office, but Bush's son and Clinton's successor, George W. Bush, resumed the proclamation, and did so every year of his presidency."<br />
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The great American statesman, Daniel Webster understood how important it is to us both personally and as a country to guard against haphazardly disregarding basic, decency and human values when in 1852, he warned,<br />
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"If we and our posterity reject religious instruction and authority, violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality and recklessly destroy the political constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us, that shall bury all our glory in profound obscurity." <br />
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Mr. Webster was not talking about pro-life choices - indeed, such a concept would have reprehensible for he and his colleagues to even consider. Yet we, as individuals and as a nation consider it daily. <br />
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In the United States, roughly 3550 abortions are performed <em><strong>PER DAY</strong></em>. That is equivalent to 148 children per hour, 2 or 3 children per minute.. Honestly, look at your son, daughter, grandchild or even favorite niece, nephoew or adorable baby in the stroller at the park ~ can you look that child in the eye and still claim that abortion is a better choice? <br />
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This is commmon decency, folks. Let's put an end to the selfishness of abortion and work together to help women find better and more humane alternatives.Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-44601010924942981832011-01-10T13:30:00.001-05:002011-01-13T13:53:47.939-05:00Economic Precipice Near...new videoHere's a little more information, plus some commentary of Tim's letter to Harry. <br />
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<object height="285" width="440"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/j7_7IYukg04?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/j7_7IYukg04?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="440" height="285"></embed></object>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-47907951179673698122011-01-10T13:08:00.001-05:002011-01-13T13:55:28.473-05:00Heads Up, Folks - Even Washington is catching On...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0H3_2kuOD23d01bCeZJfbqA0anVCy97tvYYFvfXqqK3mniBCKKJeorHSoMlFMe7aI4wtR3wagkaHduAFbu0hKezb1CPFevFdA4Zcu70F0OyjeKECXFeknhGc6NYWv4zFax324ywzWqCo/s1600/farmhouse+pantry.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0H3_2kuOD23d01bCeZJfbqA0anVCy97tvYYFvfXqqK3mniBCKKJeorHSoMlFMe7aI4wtR3wagkaHduAFbu0hKezb1CPFevFdA4Zcu70F0OyjeKECXFeknhGc6NYWv4zFax324ywzWqCo/s320/farmhouse+pantry.jpg" width="212" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Do you have a pantry area yet?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Apparently, the brink of economic collapse is on the minds of Washington, as well as those of us who have been watching the economy, as Majority Leader Harry Reid made a request for Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner to look into the possible effects of default by the United States. <br />
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Last Thursday, Secretary Geithner responded with 4 page letter to Majority Leader Reid, outlining dire consequences in the even of US default and insisting that Reid pursuade Congress to raise the ceiling for the statutory debt ceiling. I would expect that Congress will raise the debt ceiling,, just to keep the economy more or less functional as long as possible. However, doing this means that we will begin to print even more money, which in turn will mean that inflation will continue to rise.<br />
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Do you still find economic collapse to be unlikely? Here's a link to the actual letter from Tim Geithner to Harry Reid, dated last Thursday, Jan. 6, 2011.<br />
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<a href="http://www.treasury.gov/connect/blog/Documents/Letter.pdf">Tim's Letter to Harry</a><br />
Friends and family, sit down TODAY and make a list of what you think you may need to get through at least 6 weeks. Look at food, medications, cleaning supplies, paper wotels, toilet paper, laundry soap, batteries - everything.<br />
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Here's very good, basic tutorial, complete with Excel spreaaaadsheets, to help you get started.<br />
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<a href="http://foodstoragemadeeasy.net/babysteps/step-3-three-months-of-normal-food/">3 Month Food Supply</a><br />
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Please take this seriously, folks. You cannot possibly loose anything by preparing. You could well loose everything if you don't.Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-11720164128263300212011-01-06T20:46:00.005-05:002011-01-13T13:56:06.583-05:00Struggling with Normalcy Bias<div class="MsoNormal">Human psychology has always fascinated me. I love trying to understand why people act the way they do, especially if it makes no sense to me whatsoever. When someone is doing something crazy, it's always helpful to try and figure out which one of us is really off base. For many years, I've thought it was just me. My family background makes it totally appropriate for me to feel a need to garden, keep a pantry, prepare for the worst - be that snow, floods, or, well, economic collapse. For many years, my idea of economic collapse was losing my job or my husband needing a new transmission on the old John Deere!</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So when I discovered this new term the other day, I was delighted to finally have a name for what I'd been seeing. The term is <b>"normalcy bias"</b>. According to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normalcy_bias">Wikipedia,</a> </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"></div><div class="MsoNormal"><i>The normalcy bias refers to an extreme <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_state" title="Mental state"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">mental state</span></a> people enter when facing a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster" title="Disaster"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">disaster</span></a>. It causes people to underestimate both the possibility of a disaster occurring and its possible effects. This often results in situations where people fail to adequately prepare for a disaster, and on a larger scale, the failure of the government to include the populace in its <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_preparation" title="Disaster preparation"><span style="color: black; text-decoration: none;">disaster preparations</span></a>. The assumption that is made in the case of the normalcy bias is that since a disaster never has occurred that it never will occur. It also results in the inability of people to cope with a disaster once it occurs. People with a normalcy bias have difficulties reacting to something they have not experienced before. People also tend to interpret warnings in the most optimistic way possible, seizing on any ambiguities to infer a less serious situation.</i></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Well, shoot! The whole danged country's got normalcy bias!!! What was I thinking! It's NOT just me! </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Okay, I know you're laughing. But look at these figures. This is not to spread gloom and doom, but to help you see what I am starting to see. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMVdEkMvpZdHqqSZFOsCmkSM6pAJCANl9RysoAYt4XMir0PZF6c-v4WB8H_X_PtII0AjHA5z2xHZ0xk2udx8NhfxqF38aCB0Z4YrP3bYOJbxbdE1D2l2reEtYnUW56KIuXtb0d9k_GrTA/s1600/Kristen-Dec-1%252C-2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7LEH8Q-GlCveLY5KLAC7PLexvHDRtWFSfiQiduOHClUMbfQajF1yS06LZBg09bltJG-UlKEiOVr-JaMNYHe6lEP-8j15qh0O3auij6okq53EFkKUn_usa-fLFVrTDEvoGxoRJAmEIDE/s1600/economic-chart.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX7LEH8Q-GlCveLY5KLAC7PLexvHDRtWFSfiQiduOHClUMbfQajF1yS06LZBg09bltJG-UlKEiOVr-JaMNYHe6lEP-8j15qh0O3auij6okq53EFkKUn_usa-fLFVrTDEvoGxoRJAmEIDE/s1600/economic-chart.jpg" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal"> *chart from Charlie McGrath's website, <a href="http://www.wideawakenews.com/">Wide Awake News</a></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">Now, with those kinds of statistics, why in the world are we super-shopping at Wal-Mart? What in the world are we thinking? And right there, in the above paragraph in the answer - we're NOT thinking. We are walking way on the other side of the room, as far as we can get from the elephant in the corner, hoping someone else will figure out how to get him outside so we don't have to do it. We, my friends, are suffering from "normalcy bias".</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">So, how do we learn to face what is happening around us? </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">1. Come to grips with the fact that our economic future is uncertain. Really, it has <i>always </i>been uncertain. A sudden illness, accident, job loss or other such circumstance could throw any family who is unprepared into chaos. The state of the economy is just another potential fire to put out. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. Face the reality of your personal situation. Maybe you don't feel that you have enough money to buy precious metals, or even stock a pantry. Assess your financial and personal situation calmly and see what you do have in terms of assets and how you can best apply them to preparing for uncertainty. Can you buy a few extra items to put in the pantry? Can you buy an ounce or two of silver every week? Start where you are with what you have. Try not to think about what <i>has </i>to be done - just think about what you <i>can </i>do, and remember, take baby steps. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">3. As much as you can, over-prepare. Normalcy bias assures us that everything will be just fine. Perhaps, but I wouldn't bet my life or that of my family on it. A couple of bottles of water and some microwavable, off the shelf soups are not enough. But again, do what you can with what you have - any preparation is better than none. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">4. Don't become obsessed with this. No matter what happens, it is not likely to be the end of the world.<br />
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Think of it this way - if a crisis comes - in whatever form - you're ready. If it never happens, you're ahead in terms of investments, money saved in food and so on. The sun will eventually come out again, no matter how long it rains!<br />
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Lighten up a little, but remember these predictions! <b><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><b>Top 10 Predictions for 2011</b></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">1. The Bible will still have all the answers.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">2. Prayer will still be the most powerful thing on Earth. </div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">3. The Holy Spirit will still move.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">4. God will still honor the praises of His people</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">6. There will still be singing of praise to God.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">8. There will still be room at the Cross.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">9. Jesus will still love you.</div><div style="text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Isn't it great to remember who is really in control, and that the Word of the Lord endures forever!</div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-70509563327690089122011-01-05T01:03:00.000-05:002011-01-05T01:03:59.822-05:00Grandma's Top 5 List of Things to do in 2011<b><span style="color: #0b5394;">"Grandma, all this stuff in the news makes me as nervous as a cat in a room full of rockin' chairs. What can we do to protect ourselves if things get really bad. I mean the news says everything's getting better, but a lot of our friends aren't able to find jobs and a lot of them are on food stamps. What can we do?"</span></b><br />
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<div class="MsoNormal">Glad you asked, Honey! Here's my list of <b>Grandma's Top 5 List of Things to Do in 2011</b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">5. Buy more canning jars and lids. The last time I checked, canning jars were still under $10 for a case of 12. No, this is not cheap. But yes, you will be happy to have them if jars become scarce - and they will. Even in the last couple of years, it is not uncommon for the big stores to run out of jars during canning season. They never go bad and if you are careful with them, they last a long time. Be on the lookout for used jars in excellent condition (no chips, cracks, dings) at yard sales and auctions. While you're at the auction, keep an eye out for good books on canning & preserving. Here's a link for a free e-book on canning & preserving to start your collection. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><a href="http://modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/food%20storage/canning.pdf">Canning and Food Storage</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">4. Grow a medicine chest of medicinal herbs in pots or in a raised bed.For some great ideas and free learning tools, click here:<br />
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<b style="color: #0b5394;"><a href="http://herbmentor.com/">The Herb Mentor</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">3. Start a vegetable garden. Yes, you can grow food anywhere, even if it means incorporating it into your landscaping. And if you don't have a place where you can plant an actual garden, grow some things in pots. It will make you feel good to nurture something and you will learn how to be a little less dependant of the grocery store. Just beginning? Take a look at these e-books to get you started.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><a href="http://modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/garden/Raised%20Bed%20Garden%20Book.pdf">Raised Bed Gardens</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><a href="http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/garden/articles/Container%20Gardening.pdf">Container Gardening, Part 1</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><br />
</b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><a href="http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/garden/articles/Container%20Gardening%202.pdf">Container Gardening, Part 2</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">2. Buy silver. The spot price for silver as I write this is $29.64 per ounce. If you can only buy one ounce per month, buy it and put it away. One a week is better. Do not buy paper silver certificates - buy physical silver. If you can afford to buy gold, that is a good place to store wealth, but for everyday purchases, silver is the precious metal of choice. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">1. Buy food. No matter how much money you have now, or think you may have later, if there is no food to be had, you'll still be hungry. Learn now how to stock a pantry. Here's a helpful chart to get you started. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="color: #0b5394;"><b><a href="http://www.modernsurvivalonline.com/Files/garden/articles/3monthfoodsupply.pdf">3 Month Food Supply</a></b></div><div class="MsoNormal"> </div><div class="MsoNormal">We've touched on buying food for storage before in the blog, and we will cover all of these things in detail over the next few months. But time is running short. Some experts say 6 to 36 months. I read an article tonight that said March 2011 would be the beginning of the crash. March 1st is only 8 weeks away, friends. I'd rather be ready on March 1st and have <i>nothing</i> happen than keep procrastinating and be in really bad shape with no preparations made if ......</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And if things improve, the sun comes out again and life is economically delightful, what have you lost? Not a thing, and you actually have gained skills, assets and the confidence to know that you have taken the steps you could take to protect yourself and your family from hurt & harm. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Not convinced? Take a few minutes and watch these videos. </div><br />
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<object height="285" width="440"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/WRvjufH29vE?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/WRvjufH29vE?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="440" height="285"></embed></object>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-86561006201073097272010-12-29T20:35:00.002-05:002011-01-13T13:56:45.914-05:00A New Year - A New LifeIt's been a little over a year since I started this blog. I have posted here sporadically, unsure of the direction I should take. My natural inclination is to talk about the things that I love - my family, the farm, the gardens. I did post about some of that, but I also made hesitant, self-conscious moves toward the political arena, an area that has always been foreign to me. Like many "farm-wives", I did not concern myself with politics, nor did the topic interest me in any way. I had children to raise, animals and gardens to tend and a family to care for. I just did not have time to "fool around" with politics. <br />
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Then about a year and a half ago, politics became a part of my life as I watched my country fall into an economic slump unlike anything we'd ever seen before. After much study, it finally became obvious to me - this country - and her people - is in big trouble, and not too many people are even really interested.<br />
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There is a huge percentage of our population that just does not want to think about how bad the economy really is, and thinking about what to do about it is even worse. <br />
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There is a term used on the internet - "sheeple". This is a derisive term used for people who just blindly plod along, following the leader (shepherd) without really having any idea of where they are being led. The implication is that "sheeple" are just too stupid to do anything different. Too stupid to ask questions, too stupid to consider change, too stupid to stop following the leader as he steers us toward a cliff from which we cannot retreat. <br />
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I would like to suggest that the majority of people in this country are neither stupid nor cowardly, but rather complacent. We have been taught for many years that we live in the best country in the world, that our leaders are good and honest people with the best intentions for our best, over all good.<br />
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Most of us know better than that now. <br />
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Yet, we still like to believe the news when it says that the economy is on an upswing, the recession is in recovery and things are going to be just peachy, right around the next quarter. I can't say with 100% certainty that this is not the case, but it really does not seem likely. My Bible does not tell me that the world will end in 2012, but it does tell me that there will come a time that sounds very much like the time in which we now live. <br />
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So how do we cope with this? How to we learn what is really coming and when? How can we prepare for a "time such as this"? <br />
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Many of us do not have the luxury of living in the country as we do, where a garden and everyday food production are just a part of every day life. Many of us just can't do the physical work we need to do to be self-sufficient the way we could in our younger years. How about us? Do we just stand by and wait for the country to fall to rack & ruin, the economy to swirl madly in a downward spiral, taking us with it? <br />
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So this blog will begin to change from a quaint little blog about country things into somewhat of a diary as one country woman, one grandmother, begins her journey toward understanding how to survive and thrive in the current and future economy, to try to learn which political pitfalls are present or presenting and to get through these next few years in comfort and prosperity - not just existing, but doing very nicely, thank you. <br />
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I hope you join me on this journey - it should certainly be interesting.Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-90444650190320359992010-11-29T18:33:00.002-05:002010-11-29T23:25:30.649-05:00Brrrr! It's Getting Cold Outside!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Winter is coming, and here on the farm we are just starting to "winterize". We are very late in doing this - most of these things <em>should </em>have been done back in the late fall, about the time of the first real frost. Time and work gets away from us all sometimes, and we are just now starting to do the things that are critical. </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></div><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">A little over a year ago, we installed water lines from the house to the barn. Then last spring, we put in water lines from the house to the gardens, and while we did get most of them covered, there was still a hydrant and a little line left that was not completed. With the weather getting really cold in the last few days, we were reminded that we'd better get that done! </span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span> </div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLsrMJcb_evx20eUO_6oPOMRWPPZwcprYa41_ejlq7jjbJxRVWDFbeZTBOJ1MfH1jVbHxdeOLf8rilnQVJ4QvIc-cq4NqzkTf7Bb5mhXk3u_1fsmaGKdhJBXyo88epnSuXcjWj6Uqa3I/s1600/Cliff_laying_pipe.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWLsrMJcb_evx20eUO_6oPOMRWPPZwcprYa41_ejlq7jjbJxRVWDFbeZTBOJ1MfH1jVbHxdeOLf8rilnQVJ4QvIc-cq4NqzkTf7Bb5mhXk3u_1fsmaGKdhJBXyo88epnSuXcjWj6Uqa3I/s1600/Cliff_laying_pipe.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Cliff laying out water lines to the barn in November 2009</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="200" ox="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmy-sF90MPDgqjAc_CWpF7E6JdqkIIxG-MSTyjDsnGHqaBk6WeVkC7hR-phcCzbbUpZLKCHErAANlKzfrBFC5uVk1Kh9PcljQcrvm0CCIY8PR2-MsFiy-hHlSGoQgH8tHZTMMDuhrwqn8/s200/water-hydrant.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="150" /></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The new hydrant finally</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> finished in November 2010!</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Another thing we intend to look into is buying a vent free propane heater. These are great for when the electricity goes out during a storm. Even if you heat with a wood furnace, as we do, the fan that circul</span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">ates the het through the house depends on electricity. So while the area where the stove sits will be warm with or without power, the rest of the hose stays cold. A vent free gas heater would solve that problem. It would also be nice to have one in the workshop and one in the pantry, where the water pipes come into the house - an area that has been known to freeze on really, really cold days. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana;">What do you need to do to prepare for winter? Do you need a cover for your strawberries? Mulch on the garden? Insulation in some of the animal housing? Drain pipes or hoses? How about antifreeze in your vehicles? Oh, yes, and don't forget to store a few jugs of drinking water, candles and alternative forms of poers for the winter storms! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">It's not to late to get settled in for the winter, but don't wait too much longer! You don't want to be one of those poor souls looking for water or heat during a blizzard! In Virginia, we started getting snow in early December last year, so be prepared! </span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-49682917148172529392010-01-26T17:52:00.004-05:002010-11-29T22:22:59.848-05:00Comfort Foods<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGX-Jt4H2vN9Pk8B1S-blYk4G1Nnrs4r-m1djrgCVM34hZ0qfT5yyJvNv7lWqqcrIDRTqAWuWO-m_7c2RI5htR3WBZDiJJCj8MFKNht2gmH_u3L9bSSi7EBBIb5p4ErxE7btZjlUKYaU/s1600-h/chili_web.jpg"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5431187315771659922" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWGX-Jt4H2vN9Pk8B1S-blYk4G1Nnrs4r-m1djrgCVM34hZ0qfT5yyJvNv7lWqqcrIDRTqAWuWO-m_7c2RI5htR3WBZDiJJCj8MFKNht2gmH_u3L9bSSi7EBBIb5p4ErxE7btZjlUKYaU/s320/chili_web.jpg" style="cursor: hand; display: block; height: 209px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 200px;" /></a><br />
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On a trip to town this morning, I had time to wander around and casually look at the magazines on the racks. To me, magazines are indicative of what we are thinking – collectively – as a nation. <br />
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Better Homes & Gardens has no less that three special publications with the title “Comfort Foods” and even more that highlight “comfort foods”, slow cooking & casseroles. But the main theme is “comfort foods”. Same thing for Southern Living, Taste of Home and even those little Bisquick cookbooks on the racks b the checkouts.<br />
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Most of us know what comfort foods are. They are the foods we cuddle up with in a nice soft chair, wrapped in our blankies, preferably in from of the fire when we are fending off….yes, that’s the key – fending off. Fending off the flu, fending off exhaustion, fending off being stood up, fending off a spouse producing a pink slip. Comfort foods are the foods we enjoy because our lives have for some reason become miserable, we are sure no one really loves us, so we turn to the “friend” who is there day and night – the fridge.<br />
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According to the North American Center for the Study of Obesity, 65% of Americans are overweight or obese, 26% are actually clinically obese. Should current trends continue, 75% of adults in the United States are projected to be overweight and 41% obese by 2015. Approximately nine million children over six years of age are considered obese. And if that’s not bad enough, today I received an email from Royal Canin, stating that even our dogs are over-weight. 20% to 40% of dogs in the general population are obese, and nearly 50% of dogs between 5 and 10 years of age are either overweight or obese. <br />
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We are scared, alienated, and uncertain of our futures, of the future of our children, our society, our nation, our world. We desperately seek comfort, and many of us find that comfort in the familiarity of the foods we ate as children. Macaroni and cheese, chicken soup, Hershey’s bars – well, you get the picture. <br />
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What if we sought comfort from other sources? From our families? Our friends? Our God? How much stronger would we be as individuals, as families, as communities and as a nation if we sough solace and comfort from one another? Would the percentage of obesity drop? Would people start to learn to get along and look out for each other, instead of relying on the government to care for us? Would families become stronger, communities more safer and pleasant places to live? <br />
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Here's my plan...How 'bout we try to love each other, or at least be nice! We can build our pantries at the same time we are re-building our relationships with each other. Because face it, folks, we need the pantry to live, but we need each other, too. You know the phrase, "No man is an island." If you're here on this site, you likely have family of some kind that is important to you. Let them know that today. <br />
Give them a hug. Tell them you love them.<br />
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It’s something to think about tonight over our macaroni and cheese, isn’t it?Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-49636068869269709522010-01-26T17:22:00.008-05:002010-01-26T17:51:06.159-05:00More on Keeping A Pantry - Survival MomIn the last post, I talked to you a little about keeping a pantry. Now, y'all know that we live in a very rural area...back in the holler, as we say. But not every one concerned with being prepared lives in the country. In the video below, I'd like to intriduce you to a wonderful suburban mom, Lisa, owner of a blog called "The Survival Mom" (http://thesurvivalmom.com). I think you'll enjoy Lisa's perspective and down-to-earth manner.<br /><br /><object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" id="video" width="400" height="340" data="http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=4747"><param value="http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/video/videoplayer.swf?dppversion=4747" name="movie"/><param value="&skin=MP1ExternalAll-MFL.swf&embed=true&adSrc=http%3A%2F%2Fad%2Edoubleclick%2Enet%2Fadx%2Ftsg%2Eksaz%2Fnews%2Fnews%5Fother%5F1%2Fdetail%3Bdcmt%3Dtext%2Fxml%3Bpos%3D%3Btile%3D2%3Bfname%3Dthe%2Dsurvival%2Dmom%2D1%2D20%2D2010%3Bloc%3Dembed%3Bsz%3D320x240%3Bord%3D478503500867880200%3Frand%3D0%2E1015767689138441&flv=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emyfoxphoenix%2Ecom%2Ffeeds%2FoutboundFeed%3FobfType%3DVIDEO%5FPLAYER%5FSMIL%5FFEED%26componentId%3D131489818&img=http%3A%2F%2Fmedia2%2Emyfoxphoenix%2Ecom%2F%2Fphoto%2F2010%2F01%2F20%2Fsurvivormom9p012010%5Ftmb0000%5F20100120214548%5F640%5F480%2EJPG&story=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emyfoxphoenix%2Ecom%2Fdpp%2Fnews%2Fonly%5Fon%5Ffox%2Fthe%2Dsurvival%2Dmom%2D1%2D20%2D2010" name="FlashVars"/><param value="all" name="allowNetworking"/><param value="always" name="allowScriptAccess"/></object>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-19035510454881559602010-01-20T21:41:00.001-05:002010-11-29T23:02:03.297-05:00Organizing A Long-Term Storage Pantry, Part 1<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-zKhYJCOCWa3U5-7TAzhvk0Xda_BSgVvKEjWYBzXaPayad_pQDEi1azr682X8QMWxfqKLioh6cN8Re5wChjJ2yyYJVHk0UhGjm0IswupmXZDMW_MC0_vtZelvIO9wBXShiLlHIR03vjA/s1600-h/litterbox_storage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" mt="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-zKhYJCOCWa3U5-7TAzhvk0Xda_BSgVvKEjWYBzXaPayad_pQDEi1azr682X8QMWxfqKLioh6cN8Re5wChjJ2yyYJVHk0UhGjm0IswupmXZDMW_MC0_vtZelvIO9wBXShiLlHIR03vjA/s320/litterbox_storage.jpg" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">There is hardly any sense in talking about caring for your family, gardening or having a small farm if you don't seriously plan to keep a pantry. It's not enough to put up a few jars of tomatoes in the autumn. You have to give thought to what you might need to get through several weeks or several months of living off the food you and your family have stored in your pantry and freezer. It's not about TEOTWAWKI (the end of the world as we know it), it's about looking to uncertanity of the future. Income can be lost by sickess or injury, natural disasters may come your way - Lord only knows what might happen. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Nobody wants to survive on MREs (meals ready to eat). We need to find ways to prepare to feed ourselves and our families using food and supplies that are already familiar to us. And we need to find ways to accomplish this in a fairly easy, economic manner. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">One thing we found that works well for us are the big, plastic buckets that contain kitty litter. These white plastic buckets have handle, a snap on, tight lid and are square or rectangular, which makes for easy storage. Once you have them, you can store all kinds of items. They are great for holding small, easy to carry amounts of rabbit food, grain, dog foods and very handy to store small tools, fence parts, etc that we may otherwise loose around the farm. They also make great watering buckets for taller animals such as goats and big dogs. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Now we do buy kitty litter, but we'd never be able to get enough buckets to use for storage at the rate we buy the stuff - it's very expensive! HOWEVER - we have friends who save their buckets for us and you can get them all the time FOR FREE at the county recycle center. They are, in fact, so plentiful that you shouldn't even think about getting one that is beat up or dirty. Get nice, clean ones that will stack neatly with their flat, snap on lids.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;"> We also use them in great quantity for dried goods. Bags of rice, flour, boxes of spaghetti - anything that needs to be stored in a dry place can be stored in these buckets. One bucket holds four 5# bags of flour, two 10# bags of sugar, etc. This not only makes it easy to store these items, but easy to buy for storage, too. It is much less daunting to pick up an extra bag of flour or sugar to add to your stash than to even think about needing 100# of flour for a year. Buy two 10# bags of sugar, put them in your clean bucket, make a label, put it on your inventory list, carry it out to the pantry and you're done. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">There will be many more posts along this line and eventually, I'll compile them into an ebook which I'll make available through this blog. But right now, I just want to stress the urgency</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">of starting a pantry. It's not as hard as you might think and you'll be glad that you did. </span></div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-48276990170303378012010-01-15T20:24:00.000-05:002010-01-15T20:24:59.962-05:00Happy Birthday to Me!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCVF95GJM7tZfzNpPB-ZO27ttuZLCNbaxdw9NsoAC7B5-lht980Et6_bA9riHVPOMRilMIrFbJHX8P4L8WGEExbLY5UNg3k9TcOeGQgOM3IWRDHdrwXl1EdNsGzeqHAj1L_x83CB30Ew/s1600-h/birthday_cake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoCVF95GJM7tZfzNpPB-ZO27ttuZLCNbaxdw9NsoAC7B5-lht980Et6_bA9riHVPOMRilMIrFbJHX8P4L8WGEExbLY5UNg3k9TcOeGQgOM3IWRDHdrwXl1EdNsGzeqHAj1L_x83CB30Ew/s320/birthday_cake.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Today is my birthday! You wouldn't believe what my sweet husband did! He managed to round up not only all the kids, but a cake and my favorite ice cream and pull it all together for a surprise party! I am so impressed! </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">What a wonderful surprise! No other gift could be as precious! I am so blessed! Thank you, Cliff - thank you, Family! Love you all! </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj66jaUSwraEOhOcINruTThyphenhyphen_lC_mHM7sIA6TUTe6WnjRMQT8YhK8oLu6I709iSgyrh91fqQHw3_percX1Eot5n5RtPcOCn_V8BVNAyDUcknOCSCSdSyAa7-Y3aixJX0apizUYFG4V_74/s1600-h/mybirthdayparty_blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgj66jaUSwraEOhOcINruTThyphenhyphen_lC_mHM7sIA6TUTe6WnjRMQT8YhK8oLu6I709iSgyrh91fqQHw3_percX1Eot5n5RtPcOCn_V8BVNAyDUcknOCSCSdSyAa7-Y3aixJX0apizUYFG4V_74/s320/mybirthdayparty_blog.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: x-small;">From left to right: Daughter Laura, Daughter-In-Love Christy, Son Will, Me, Daughter Meredith, Grand-daughter Sarah (in the pink boots), Daughter Becca and Grand-Daughter Abrianna</span><br />
</div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-8575362084017366312010-01-07T22:54:00.000-05:002010-01-07T22:54:38.106-05:00There's nothing like a nice, cozy fire!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKx3plWxeSDXInpoSCC18iNDrTSZiTYcyIC-bWI7ZsSUuzZJ4HW_Sc0sf59b-hulvjYWRq5MpFfpVm29yUCaejLUUsWRzJmJaFSZMbpX1wUCAI8oEV54-mlXjXDQt1FFb1uyQbe76wt1w/s1600-h/cows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKx3plWxeSDXInpoSCC18iNDrTSZiTYcyIC-bWI7ZsSUuzZJ4HW_Sc0sf59b-hulvjYWRq5MpFfpVm29yUCaejLUUsWRzJmJaFSZMbpX1wUCAI8oEV54-mlXjXDQt1FFb1uyQbe76wt1w/s320/cows.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yes, indeed, we are having winter. It has been years since we have had so much snow in the Shenandoah Valley. The kids here actually only wear hats and mittens once or twice a winter, so when the first real blizzard came, everyone was in a panic for hats, mittens & boots! Everyone seems outfitted now, since this is the 3rd storm we've had since Dec. 18th, 2009. We are starting to call them "weekend storms", since they seem to come on Thursday and Friday!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">A friend is coming from Richmond to visit us in the mountains tomorrow and I wanted to be sure to remind him to prepare for mountain weather. And you, too, should be prepared for bad weather, wherever you are. Pack a couple of warm blankets, a first aid kit, drinks, food & a warm change of clothes in your car and keep it in the passenger area - not the trunk - if you possible can. (What if you couldn't get in the trunk for some reason?) Think about where you are going, what you may encounter between here and there and plan for it. You absolutely cannot depend on someone rescuing you if there is an emergency. Oh, yes, probably someone will come along eventually, but you can get very cold and hungry waiting. Don't </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">take any chances with your health or safety - be prepared! </span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-15851308851491044142009-12-26T22:08:00.001-05:002009-12-26T22:09:51.131-05:00Merry Christmas Everyone!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMseZFMS5z7H0Sr3ObbXt3vfxb6-RpHkuVO1WQe-LfPBOPs6JS7j6WQnUVUf4qOuITnqkGD6OAIbyklDnrfnzdaIXruPqSVGbVXQYgf7FHjvML32CmIf9jInfenz32GPBaUEA0qYw5Vc/s1600-h/Christmas+tree+2009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoMseZFMS5z7H0Sr3ObbXt3vfxb6-RpHkuVO1WQe-LfPBOPs6JS7j6WQnUVUf4qOuITnqkGD6OAIbyklDnrfnzdaIXruPqSVGbVXQYgf7FHjvML32CmIf9jInfenz32GPBaUEA0qYw5Vc/s320/Christmas+tree+2009.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Christmas was wonderful! We had Christmas at our house on Christmas Eve, blending some traditions, creating new ones. We have a "new" Christmas tree this year. Instead of hunting for a "real" tree, we were blessed to find a beautiful artificial tree. You couldn’t tell that it's artificial unless you really looked closely at the needles. You'll laugh when I tell you that I found it at our nearby dumpster back in September, packed neatly in it's own immaculate and original box! It came from Wal-Mart in 1989 and at that time cost $139!! I love it because now I don’t have to be in a hurry to take it down! </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Christmas Eve, all of the kids came (adult children and grandchildren) and we had cookies and eggnog and watched the little ones open presents. Each child had 3 presents, one of which was a new pair of heavy mittens (handmade by Grandma!), a bag of their favorite cookies to take home and a handmade ornament for their tree at home. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">We did not buy presents for the adult children, but we did give them food gifts. Everyone brought something for the little ones. We all had cookies & eggnog before presents…</span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZlSYrdgBU80-da8ZNOiZiGL9dWv9YuCkjWrfvSv84RQf7o1kxZ1pV5Gg68I-f_mQ0zCf6Ihv3cBeqEIFa6lsNhJOR9-ykSFisyUQQMmWNt8TcGfhu1syfmBfA1S8tLEdcRs3yzcmRWjE/s1600-h/cookies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZlSYrdgBU80-da8ZNOiZiGL9dWv9YuCkjWrfvSv84RQf7o1kxZ1pV5Gg68I-f_mQ0zCf6Ihv3cBeqEIFa6lsNhJOR9-ykSFisyUQQMmWNt8TcGfhu1syfmBfA1S8tLEdcRs3yzcmRWjE/s320/cookies.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Notice the little hand making it's way toward the Peanut Butter Blossoms! That is my grandson Robbie, who loves peanut butter and chocolate combinations of any kind. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">At the end of the evening, when people started going home, we gave the adults their presents to take home. Each package had a jar of homemade chili, banana bread in a jar, a bottle of homemade eggnog, a tin of homemade cookies & 1 other present – red zinger tea for dauhter Laura, saffron rice pilaf for Becca, hand lotions & soaps for Meredith and hens and chickens for Will to plant by the walk at his new house. </span><br />
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</div><span style="font-family: Georgia;"></span> <br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">On Christmas Day, Cliff & I had a wonderful breakfast together of scrambled eggs (from our hens - look for an entry on home-grown eggs in the next day or so), bacon, toasted homemade bread & some of our homemade eggnog. Our own children were having Christmas in their homes with their kids and other family members, so we attended the large extended Hall Family Christmas Dinner at Cliff's Mom's house. It is nothing to see 30-50 people come to Mom's for Christmas. We all opened presents and Cliff gave several jars of apple butter away for Christmas presents, which reminded me that I had LEFT all the banana bread in jars at home! Fortunately, we see everyone regularly, so we'll just deliver them as late, but well-intentioned gifts! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I keep a journal of each Christmas, with photos and recipes, detailing what went well, how we decorated, what was happening then and what we could do to improve things. This year, I was actually knitting the finishing touches on Sarah's mittens when she was HERE, waiting for the rest of the family to arrive. So, I would certainly say that I need to get started earlier and finish a little earlier! My goal this year is to have everything done and WRAPPED by Oct 31st! If I start right now, I can do that and make sweaters instead of mittens! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I was in such a rush, having not yet recovered from nursing Cliff through shingles and everyone and everything else through 2 feet of snow and 3 solid days of plowing (18-20 hr days), that I forgot a lot of pretty basic things. I left out 6 of the 18 eggs for the eggnog, forgot to make labels for the banana bread in jars and then even forgot to take the banana bread in jars to the big family Christmas dinner to give them out! But we all had fun, no one noticed my faux pas and we'll do better next year!!!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">If you like eggnog, here is the recipe for ours (with the RIGHT amount of eggs!) - you can still have it for New Year's Eve! Enjoy and hope you all had a very blessed & Merry Christmas!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Kristen's Eggnog Recipe</span></strong> <br />
</div> <span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">3 quarts whole milk</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1 c heavy cream</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">18 fresh eggs (homegrown if possible)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1½ c sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1 tbsp vanilla</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1 tsp nutmeg</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Beat eggs, vanilla & nutmeg in food processor. Pour sugar through dry funnel into gallon milk jug. Add eggs & milk & shake well. This makes about 1 gallon. </span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-29841566126887296062009-12-20T21:08:00.001-05:002009-12-20T21:13:21.465-05:00Kristen's Whole Wheat Bread Mix<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLDO_LgGBHbmIyzjKaLJy9hVlKFTp4xB1CoPRQ9aS3e12kRQjBgkK46yKbs9TWcsQivyXuwM-Q_hsMwWQs5oz0JbygzELWJyUL6EYTJxUXAklzWHwXi8AonCW0kZV3Rxfxag8GuMpd04/s1600-h/bread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNLDO_LgGBHbmIyzjKaLJy9hVlKFTp4xB1CoPRQ9aS3e12kRQjBgkK46yKbs9TWcsQivyXuwM-Q_hsMwWQs5oz0JbygzELWJyUL6EYTJxUXAklzWHwXi8AonCW0kZV3Rxfxag8GuMpd04/s320/bread.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">To me, one of the best aroma’s in the world is fresh baked bread. And I can’t think of anything better to eat than fresh, hot bread, just sliced, slathered with real butter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Everyone regards fresh bread as a big treat, but really, it is not hard to make fresh bread everyday if you want to. I’ll tell you my secret – I have all the dry ingredients pre-measured into gallon-size zip closure bags. Each bag has a large label with the remainig necessary ingredients and directions on how to make the bread. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I also make a smaller label with the date. Usually, I make 6 bags at a time, since that exactly uses up one 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Using this system, I can make 2 loaves of fresh bread in about 15 minutes, not counting the rise time, but which does include proofing the yeast. And, since everything is pre-measured, there will be less dishes to wash. The cost may vary depending on where you live and the cost of ingredients, but each loaf costs me about 65¢ to make. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This recipe is my basic whole wheat bread recipe. I have made this for years, and this is the bread my daughters learned to bake when they were first starting. It is a good, hardy everyday bread with a nice grain, but you can also doll it up with raisins, sunflower seeds – whatever you’d like to make a multi-grain kind of bread. Cut the dough in half, roll it out flat, spread melted butter, sprinkle with cinnamon & sugar & raisins, roll it back up (like a pinwheel) and you’ll have an excellent cinnamon raisin bread. Shape it into rolls, make a soft pizza crust - the variations are endless.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This bread is has a nice crust, so if you like a crunchy crust, you can brush it with egg white or melted butter, or do nothing. I like a softer crust, so when they come out of the oven, I brush each loaf with melted butter and cover lightly with plastic wrap and a dishtowel and let it sit for a few minutes. This makes a nice, soft crust but doesn’t turn the bread soggy.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Give this recipe a try and tell me what you think!</span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Kristen’s Whole Wheat Bread Mix</strong></span><br />
</div><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">In a 1 gallon ziplock bag, add the following:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">4 c white flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">2 ½ c whole wheat flour</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">¼ c. brown sugar</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">1 tsp salt</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">¼ c gluten (optional)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Seal & label. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">One 5 lb bag of whole wheat flour is enough for 6 batches (equivalent to 12 loaves). </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Be sure to label these with directions, especially since they have the rest of the ingredients listed! Not only are the mixes convenient, they make great gifts. I like to print the labels are printed on Avery 8160 size shipping labels so they look like this: </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><strong>Whole Wheat Bread Mix</strong></span><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">1. 3 c warm water, 1 Tbsp yeast, 1 Tbsp sugar in bowl, 1/3 c olive oil in large mixer bowl. Proof yeast by waiting 15 min to see if the yeast begins to bubble.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">2. Add bread mix. Use dough hook to mix or mix & knead by hand. Let rise in bowl.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">3. Remove from bowl, divide into 2 loaves. Shape, put in lightly greased pan & let rise. Preheat over to 350°. Let dough rise until nearly double. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">4. Bake 30 min. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Makes 2 loaves</span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-6428417923749614812009-12-20T13:12:00.002-05:002009-12-20T14:21:49.317-05:00The Big Snowstorm of December 2009<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyAP_72zVv0SAR34trBPYzO460jjVzGqulJnAb0Q_kZbVBBbbjWzNR0d7kl0WTXnupy5C8I50XqtfAJcjslHOopDH2PJH-RaOwSUGTarSODZLVu8d1y7FUDWVbSa8BhJiNtTx3l5REsc/s1600-h/snowyday122009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" ps="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixyAP_72zVv0SAR34trBPYzO460jjVzGqulJnAb0Q_kZbVBBbbjWzNR0d7kl0WTXnupy5C8I50XqtfAJcjslHOopDH2PJH-RaOwSUGTarSODZLVu8d1y7FUDWVbSa8BhJiNtTx3l5REsc/s320/snowyday122009.jpg" /></a><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Yes, Virginia, we are going to have a white Christmas! At least, we are having one here in Virginia! Our home is in Rockbridge County, which yesterday received the dubious distinction of getting the most snow of anywhere in the snowfall area – that included West Virginia, Kentucky, Delaware, anywhere else in Virginia and so far, all the states to the north of us currently getting heavy snow. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Cliff has been plowing since 8 am yesterday, finally getting home at 4 am this morning. After a couple of hours of sleep, he was out digging out the livestock, re-fuelling and preparing to go out again. We expect he will be plowing until Monday afternoon, at least. We understand that another, smaller, snow storm is due on Christmas day, so we are especially anxious to get everyone cleared out as much as possible before the next snow.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">While Cliff is plowing, I do what I always do - tend the hearth and keep the fires burning – literally. The woodstove is keeping our home very cozy and nice, with or without electricity. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">I did make a shocking discovery yesterday, however, and I want to share this to stress a point to you ladies out there who are preparing for storms of whatever fashion. If you get a generator, and I am sure you should if you don’t have one already, be sure to spend the money and get one with an electric start. Our is a gasoline powered generator, and we have had it and used it for many years with great success. However, it has always been my husband who ran it. When he left yesterday to plow, he set up the generator for me, showed me how to start it, refill it, etc. But one thing neither of us bargained for was that I am not strong enough to pull the cord hard enough to get the engine to start. Thankfully, we have a neighbor who cam e and pulled the cord for me, since otherwise, I would have had to have gone without. Imagine – an accessible generator, more than enough fuel…and can’t get it to start because the operator doesn’t have the strength to pull the cord hard enough! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Ladies, if you have a generator like this, go out and start it BEFORE you need to! Be sure you can start the thing! If you can’t, you may as well not have it at all!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">(For more snowstorm photos, visit our Facebook page at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/help/?guide#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000564877004">http://www.facebook.com/help/?guide#/profile.php?ref=profile&id=100000564877004</a>)</span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-56863749279068028592009-12-16T14:06:00.002-05:002009-12-16T14:37:03.094-05:00The Hand That Rocks the Cradle - Revisited<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">This morning, leafing through the January 2010 issue of "Better Homes and Gardens" magazine, I came across two fascinating articles. Normally, I am really more of a "Mother Earth News", "Backwoods Home" "Countryside & Small Stock Journal" reader, but this issue had headlines about getting more organized, so I just had to check it out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">I never found the article on getting organized. Instead, I found two articles that that are notable for their very presence in this "upmarket adult female" oriented magazine. One article was about having swap parties. The idea is that you and your friends clean out and declutter all your closets and basements, get it all together in one spot and trade things, no money exchanged. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia;">This is an old idea - and a good one, but not something you'd be likely to read about in BHG.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The other article fascinated me even more. This one was about starting seeds. Starting seeds! Can you imagine? Not going to Lowe's and buying nearly grown tomato plants, but actually starting seed in little peat pots for use in your garden!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Now, among my family and friends, swapping, seed starting and so forth are old news. Very old news. In fact, it's a way of life. But for the readers of BHG, it seems to be a new concept. indicative of the narrowing gap between the economic classes and the rapidly disappearing middle-class. Very shortly, we will see "middle-class" as a briefly transitory state between becoming very rich or, as is the case for most of the country, very broke. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">A couple of months ago, I wrote an article for The Texas Ring (<a href="http://www.thetexasring.com/">http://www.thetexasring.com/</a>) about a similar phenomemon - homesteading how-to books available through the "Doubleday Craft Book Club". Rather than re-write it here, I have included parts of the article below. </span><br />
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<strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>The Hand That Rocks the Cradle...</em></span></strong><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>If ever there was an doubt about the feeling of mainstream America in regard to the shakiness of our economy, one need only to look in the places where the average, middle-class lady may be found. One such place is in the crafts & hobbies market. <br />
</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Having a bent toward being such a lady myself, I am a long-term member of one of the larger crafts related book clubs. Recently, I logged onto that website, looking for a book on building small backyard sheds, something which one can never have too many of.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>While perusing the selection of landscaping and gardening books in the “outdoor section”, I came upon several books that shocked me with their presence. Here, the bosom of middle class America’s bookshelves were books on homesteading!</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Raising chickens! Self-sufficiency! Keeping bees! Urban homesteading!<br />
</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Do I detect a sense of uneasiness and/or dissatisfaction in the lives of my sisters? Or is the harsh reality of the future of our society and lives starting to reach even the most cheerful optimists? And rightly so, since our future no longer glistens like the morning dew. More like the hot, dry dust at the end of a parched summer day. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>How appropriate to see the beginnings of change in a vehicle such as a crafts club. It will be the womenfolk (as our dear Bill Buppert once called us) with a penchant for “handiwork” who carry the bulk of the preparation and work involved in keeping our families (and possibly farms and small-holdings) alive. It will be the womenfolk who stock the pantries, learn to garden and can our produce, learn to cook from scratch and how to make do with a good bit less than we are used to having. It will be the womenfolk soothing the battered egos and easing the torment in the eyes and hearts of our men as they see so much of what they have worked for slowing dissolving into the sand of a past life. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>It is telling that the larger publishing houses also recognize and capitalize on this trend. Is it so obvious even to the publishing houses that our country and society have changed, yet we cannot gain even a hint of recognition of this fact from our own government? When a solid 40% of our population is now owned, financially speaking, by the federal government, it seems plain that we have, in fact, experienced the beginnings of Obama’s “change”, though it certainly is not the change for which we’d hoped.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em> The 2008 Presidential Election map, shows the territory won by Republicans was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country. Democrat territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in government-owned tenements and living off various forms of government welfare."<br />
</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>While I would certainly hesitate to generalize all of the pro-Obama voters as welfare or federal fund recipients, I do have to agree that the United States as we have known it is certainly on the downhill slide, and apparently the major publishing houses agree as well. <br />
</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>In a recent story on Yahoo news, it turns out that we, as a country, have a good deal less financial wherewithal that we’d been led to believe. The National Academy of Science uses a slightly different formula for calculating the poverty rate than the Census Bureau, in that the NAS factors in such frivolities as rising medical care, transportation, child care or geographical variations in living costs. Factoring in these items shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That’s higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula. Currently, a family of 4 making $22,050 is considered at poverty level, according to Federal guidelines. Shoot, that’s most of the folks in the county where we live, except the wealthy folks who have retired here, university professors and government officials. In fact, these days, $22,000 for a family of 4 in our area is GOOD money.<br />
</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Everyday, despite the placid reassurances from Washington, D.C., we see another indication that homesteading might not be a bad idea. Articles abound telling us that it is perfectly moral and upright to walk away from your mortgage, forsake your car loan, default on the credit cards. We know in our hearts that this is just not true, but we know that it is a hard fact of life that difficult decisions must be made in difficult times. “Shall we buy groceries this week or chip away on the credit card balance?” is simply not a realistic question.</em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>Prepare for a revolution, Friends. It will not come prefaced by the demolition of the Goldman-Sachs lobby, as predicted (hoped for?) by one prominent author. It will come quietly during the sleepless nights of those caught in the crux of the change. </em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />
<em></em></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"><em>It will come as decisions are made on the family level to abandon the McMansion, the car, the credit card bills, using that energy and money instead to simply stay alive and on our feet. It will come as more families realize that they have sold their souls to the devil in exchange for a pittance of mediocre care. Revolution will come when individuals and families, one at a time, make the decision to stand for themselves, out of desire or necessity, and to do whatever it takes to stay free or become free. </em></span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-88724612912004389132009-12-07T10:03:00.001-05:002009-12-07T10:06:34.488-05:00Life is Good<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-gAoUbfjaiM8NovovCQL71QLlE3JiY8EuJg8KZpHbZAjxcnzJ0vjN8hV_8Ki49FcHH2M2BO7Z3peySosZbI_MavB-fAxKvU2vAsxh_R84BdLfzJTguyqqGSEIaYERK0XWxk34ZGxZH0/s1600-h/Like+is+good.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" er="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT-gAoUbfjaiM8NovovCQL71QLlE3JiY8EuJg8KZpHbZAjxcnzJ0vjN8hV_8Ki49FcHH2M2BO7Z3peySosZbI_MavB-fAxKvU2vAsxh_R84BdLfzJTguyqqGSEIaYERK0XWxk34ZGxZH0/s320/Like+is+good.jpg" /></a><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Several months ago, we were blessed with a homeless Yellow Lab pup. We are suckers for cute, homeless puppies, and everyone knows it - a liability when you hav a farm and a couple of empty kennels. So this pup came to stay with us. Her name is Polka (don't ask - she came with that name), and she came here with the intent of staying only until we found a home for her. </span><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">We have another dog who came here, 8 years ago, under that same premise. A Dalmatian-Lab cross who we named Lucky. Lucky came with a broken leg, and we agreed to foster her until "she found a better home". Well, who has a better home than us, for heaven's sake? We lived this lie for about 4 years. Then one day, my husband came home from the farm supply store with Lucky (who rides everywhere with him) and Lucky was sporting a fancy new John Deere collar. We knew she'd found a forever home.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">I imagine Polka will have a similar experience. She is very much like our Lucky in terms of size, temperament and lovability. We figure that Lucky is now about 9 years old, so by the time Lucky is ready to pass onto that big playground in the sky, Polka will have grown up to be a sensible, adult lady dog. We hope that will help us make the transition and ease through the loss. </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Odd, how as we age, we think in those terms. When I was a younger woman, I'd have never even considered that Lucky would ever die, much less bring in a companion for her to play with that will eventually help us with Lucky's ultimate transition. When the Lord calls me home, I'm ready, and I've made all the earthly preparations I can make, both for myself and for those I love. </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">What kind of preparations have you made? Have you even really considered the possibility that you may not live forever? Have you gotten things right between you and the Lord? Do you have your personal life & finances in order? Have you forgiven all you need to forgive? </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia;">Getting your house in order, as the phrase goes, both with God and with earthly issues will give you a peace and security that you have never known. You'll have a contented smile on your face just like Polka - sigh, life is GOOD!</span><br />
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</div>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-80624461810255192812009-12-04T23:49:00.000-05:002009-12-04T23:49:06.848-05:00Getting Ready for the Storm<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUignzQsv6laU9dL79beuKpTlFVeCzl-xidzS1_AM6tsyKCWJqMs8HxZCAjPf6weGLbTDgCRfIuo0aZobz8PR-BKpahXqbuN6to2MTX4WOPQ23LG_zKhf6yODBUrKoXqrnMbJjxocCIO0/s1600-h/cows.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" er="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUignzQsv6laU9dL79beuKpTlFVeCzl-xidzS1_AM6tsyKCWJqMs8HxZCAjPf6weGLbTDgCRfIuo0aZobz8PR-BKpahXqbuN6to2MTX4WOPQ23LG_zKhf6yODBUrKoXqrnMbJjxocCIO0/s320/cows.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Remember how we talked earlier this week about the warm tepmeratures, flowers blooings and all that wonderful spring weather? It's over. We have a severe winter weather forcast showing on our weather alert, predicting from 1" to 4" of snow by tomorrow, starting around daybreak.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">In our area, a good snow storm is when the farmers like to burn brush piles. Last year, we burned a good size pile in January and the cows were very grateful. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the flame in the middle of the herd as they circle around the campfire! Even cows like to be toasty warm! </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">We have been preparing for a storm for a long time now. What kind of storm, we did not know, but we're ready anyway. If the weather is bad, rain or snow, we're fine. If the economy sinks to the bottom of the global ocean, we're fine. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Are you? </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Can you get by if you can't get to the store for 2-3 days? Do you have at least 72 hrs worth of food and water stored somewhere accessible in your home? What about lighting? What about warmth? Do you have a "bug-out bag"? That's a bag packed for each member of the family with the barest essentials that you can grab and run with if you need to in an emergency. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia;">If you don't have any of these things, now is a great time to start thinking about it. There are literally hundreds of sites online that talk about preparedness and stocking your pantry. We'll be covering some aspects of that here, too. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">But for today, just see if you can prepare your family for 72 hrs. That's not much time, effort or money and will leave with a wonderful sense of security. You'll find that you already have 90% of what you need - you just have to get it organized. Here are a couple of websites to get you started: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://72hours.org/">72 Hours</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://lds.about.com/od/preparednessfoodstorage/a/72hour_kit.htm">How to Make a 72 hr kit for Emergency Preparedness</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;"><a href="http://www.emergency-preparation-hq.com/72-hour-survival-kits.html">72 Hour Survival Kits</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">Take the time to start working on this today. You never know what storms might come or when!</span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6036950297283737304.post-61985585925924224992009-12-03T22:36:00.001-05:002009-12-03T22:46:28.895-05:00Banana Bread (and other treats) In Jars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e_RaMpGQZVc97PwG9CugroThGLaO9zuUK3RGbG1q7gFyUWiiH7EAiqX6Awru60KlYxQDCIMTkzDF4WMX9it61WMcwWwrBOM3EyaJ-wQm0Wn1xIuZMUd8UMMENK7uRb5i3Zrea2U5P7E/s1600-h/bananabread.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" er="true" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7e_RaMpGQZVc97PwG9CugroThGLaO9zuUK3RGbG1q7gFyUWiiH7EAiqX6Awru60KlYxQDCIMTkzDF4WMX9it61WMcwWwrBOM3EyaJ-wQm0Wn1xIuZMUd8UMMENK7uRb5i3Zrea2U5P7E/s320/bananabread.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">With Christmas rapidly approaching, it's time to start baking some of our gifts. We long ago abandoned the big Christmas shopping ordeal, in favor of handmade, useable or consumable gifts. One of our favorite gifts is a "goodie basket". This is usually a very pretty basket (picked up sometime over the past year at Goodwill or somewhere similar) filled with goodies like banana or cranberry nut bread, maybe some homemade jams or jellies, apple butter, handmade soap or salves. It is always handmade and usually comes from the farm. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia;">The first item for the basket this year is Banana Bread. It's a pretty popular quick bread, and there just happened to be a sale at Kroger - bananas were 29¢ a lb. Lord only knows how many pounds I bought, since we love bananas. We ate some and the rest we used for Banana Bread. We made some of the usual small traditional loves (pictured above) and the rest we baked in canning jars, put the lids on as soon as they come out of the over and you have Banana Bread in Jars that lasts about forever (as long as the seal is good). These are great as gifts for people who may want something sweet long after the holidays. </span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Here is a picture of a few of the Banana Bread(s) in a Jar, right after they came out of the oven. After they have cooled and the jars have sealed, I put them back into the original case and cover them with a sheet of newspaper, plastic or whatever is handy so they don't get dusty in the pantry. Then I label and date the cover so I don't have to remember what they are in a year or so! When I need one to give away as a gift, I print a nice little label for the jar, tie a ribbon or several strands of natural twine around the top for a decoration.</span><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Besides being great little gifts for a food basket, house-warming or thank you gift, they are right handy to hanve in the pantry for our own use. And it doesn't have to be just Banana Bread. Any favorite quick bread recipe will work for an instant quick treat with out the chemicals and preservatives of store-bought food. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">If you are having a rushed day, how about taking a jar of homemade canned chili off the shelf with some Cornbread in a Jar? Once you know the technique, the possibilities are endless for healthy, satisfying and fast desserts, snacks or side dishes. Here's the basic formula - </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">You'll need:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">4 wide mouth pint jars with lids and rings</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">A quick bread recipe that makes 2 loaves - banana, banana nut, cranberry nut, pumpkin,</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;"> zucchini, applesauce cake - you get the idea</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Preheat the over to 350 º F (or whatever your recipe calls for)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">Grease the insides of the jars. Mix up your quick bread recipe as usual. Fill each jar about ½ full. Place the jars evenly spaced on a cookie sheet. Bake for 30-45 minutes, according to your recipe. Test with a toothpick for doneness. When they are done, remove the cookie sheet with the jars and place on the counter on a towel to prevent burning the counter. Place a lid on each jar and screw down, but don't crank it down tight. Set the jar on a towel on the counter andrepeat with each jar. Within a few minutes, you'll hear the jar lids start their delightful "pinging", signifying that the lids have sealed. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">When the jars have cooled, place them in the jar box for storage or store in a cool, dry, dark place. The cakes will last indefinately as long as the jars stay sealed. If you are canning these for your own use, you can remove the lids before storing. I usually leave the lids in place for things like this, since we normally use them as gifts, and you'll want rings on them in that case. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, "Times New Roman", serif;">To remove the cakes from the jars, place them in the microwave (without the lids) for 30 sec or so or set in a pot of hot water for a minute. They will slide right out and you can slice them into pretty little rounds. </span>Kristenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08395953532367840704noreply@blogger.com0