Yesterday I went by the Charter Cable office to return the digital box. We signed up for one of their special packages a year or so ago — you know, the ones that they sell you over the phone with “introductory pricing” for a trial period. This package was internet (which I must [...]
My neighbor, Preacher, kept my purple hulls and okra picked whilst I was in Arkansas. I returned the favor by taking him some of the peas cooked, and cherry tomatoes that he likes. He also brought me a five gallon pail full of knotty apples. I am not one to waste [...]
Continue reading about Apples, and an alternative to Fruit Fresh
Part I can be found here.
Okay, I should be at the farmers market this very moment, but I’m leaving town for a few days tomorrow evening, and I don’t see the point of buying food I don’t have the time, room or means to handle before and during my absence. And my plans to run [...]
Continue reading about Stocking Up 101: Stuff {Storage, Part II}
I finally got my ginger and lemon grass plants over here. The ginger plants are looking wan, which is to be expected — they’ve received almost no care in months. Now, however, they’re occupying the prize spot on the back porch: smack dab in the middle of the table. I’m drenching them in water [...]
Continue reading about The Gardener’s Medicine Cabinet: Authenticity as a Core Principle
… wannabe farmer who has reached the decision (one that might change yet again as I continue gathering information) that smallish cities and urban areas are more likely than rural areas to survive the coming ___________ , I urge you to read this:
If managing in a catastrophe were just about growing your own food, many [...]
Note: Stocking Up 101 will return next weekend.
And, boy oh boy, is there ever a wealth of information on passive solar heaters.
In my less busy days, I bought the plans for this: Mother’s Heat Grabber. Unfortunately, though, I never got around to making it, in part because my neighbors had made me so self-conscious [...]
Continue reading about Sunday Solar Fiesta: Passive Solar Heater Links Galore
Note: Stocking Up 101 will return next weekend. Blame the mowing!
I love my solar oven. I’ve had it since 2003 and have cooked countless meals in it. True, it’s a bit glitchy — I planned to use it today to to roast a nice buffalo chuck roast, but storms moved in last night and it’s [...]
YES! CSAs are a wonderful and necessary step toward a more sustainable way of life that we all must embrace. Yes! But, they are getting shoehorned into a model, and getting suddenly and sorely pressured.
There are just not enough of them of scale (Centennial Farm sized) right now, and all the media push toward them [...]
My cabinets are a mess, but there is some degree of method to my madness.
Okay, so there isn’t, not much, but I figured I’d try to at least claim it. I’m just not a terribly organized person. But I do like my food, and I did grow up in a household of penny pinchers and [...]
Continue reading about Stocking Up 101: Freeze-dried vs. Dehydrated
While muddling through a pile of throw-away books at work yesterday, I found this: The Complete Y2K Home Preparation Guide. And oh what a gem it is!
Now, bear in mind that I’ve been haunting online survivalist enclaves and befriending well-armed mountain men for years now, so it’s pretty hard to catch my eye. But this [...]
Continue reading about Paradigm Shifts, Y2K and the Green Blowback