I went to a Mormon site on storing food. I wasn't aware (not being Mormon) that they have been instructed to keep a year's extra food on hand at all times. Seems a bit extreme to me. Or it used to. If you told me a year ago that we should have a year's supply of food on hand, I would have called you crazy. Now, however, it doesn't seem so wrong.
So, I decided to read the article and I got some pretty good ideas from it. I had started buying individual items and putting them back but I really didn't have a plan. Now I do. They suggested a really good plan. They've been doing this a lot longer than me. Here, basically, is what they do.
Sit down and figure out some basic meals that your family eats. Now, if you're going to figure on a financial crisis that our nation is about to face, you'll have to figure that some ingredients are going to be hard to find. You'll have to figure meals that have ingredients that are mostly things you can put all the stuff away for, or have common ingredients that won't be hard to find, or can be substituted.
I'll give an example. I used Spanish Rice. My recipe calls for 1 pound of ground beef, but let's face it, in an emergency you could use wild game and grind up anything you hunt in a hand grinder. It also calls for 2 cups of rice, 1 large can of tomato sauce, 1 can tomato paste, 1 quart of stewed tomatoes (I stew my own), 2 tbsp of chili powder, and 2 tsp each of salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder and celery seed. If you could only come up with 7 recipes, you would have 1 recipe a day, and eat it once a week, so you would multiply everything times 52 to get your quantities for a year's worth. The more recipes you can come up with, the more variety you have. So, that's 104 cups of rice (no, I don't know how many pounds that is), 52 cans of tomato sauce, 52 cans of tomato paste, 4-1/3 cups of chili powder, about 2.5 cups of the other spices, 52 quarts of stewed tomatoes.
It would make more sense to come up with more than one recipe a day for a week. I don't know about you, but I really don't want to put up 52 quarts of stewed tomatoes. Right now, I only have 5 recipes, but I'm working on it. You also need to come up with breakfast ideas. And you have to think about what stores well. If your family likes pizza, you have to remember, to substitute the eggs. I found a site that says you can 2 tbsp of cornstarch, arrowroot flour or potato starch for the eggs. You also have to remember that cheese may be hard to find.
Once you have everything listed, then you go and add up all that you need in ingredients. For me, I don't think I'll need a whole year's worth. I'm shooting for 6 month's worth. For one thing, I don't have the space in my 1500 and something square foot house to store that much food. Nor do I have the ability to buy that much food in the time I believe we have left. Nor do I believe this will last that long. And if it gets out that I have a year's supply of food in my neighborhood, I better have an arsenal to protect it. It will be bad enough if the economy hits bottom that I have a garden.
Which brings me to the second part. You can dehydrate vegetables and store those. As soon as I can, I'm going to start that. It's getting hotter here in Texas already. We'll be setting the dehydrator up in the garage so as not to make the AC run harder. I just printed a jerky recipe off the Internet. I'm wondering if I can rehydrate jerky into a stew if times got hard enough?
I'm also hoping this is all for naught. I'm sort of like Glenn Beck. I would love to be wrong. But, I don't think I am.
I'm still an American. I was raised on stories of the great Depression from my grandparents. We can huddle together and make it. We are a tough breed. We can make it.
Lori Ann Smith
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Taking a Break
I'm taking a break from the political blog, so it may mean I have more time for this blog, or it may mean I have less time for any blogging. Just to warn everyone. I have some health issues that need attending to. Of course, gardening is relaxing to me, so there will probably be more gardening going on in this household...
Lori Ann Smith
Lori Ann Smith
God's Message in a Garden Patch
Here I am, weeding my vegetable patch, when it hits me. When I planted this patch, it was freshly turned soil. I had pulled a hedge out. The heavy snow had killed off the middle of the hedge, by splaying it out, because it was so heavy. So we pulled it up and it's right next to my raised bed, so I decided to plant it. It's really good soil, and it was already loose.
But, when I planted my seeds, all sorts of things started coming up. I had read that weeds wait until the soil is disturbed to germinate, sometimes years, to start growing. I hadn't actually experienced it, because my mom was always the one doing the planting and growing. I planted radishes, onions, and lettuce. I know what they look like, but not the first 2 leaves. So I had to wait until they got a bit bigger.
By the time they got a bit bigger, there were MASSES of weeds. I almost couldn't find the ones that I had planted. The weeds had taken over my garden patch. I decided I had to do something about it though. As I'm pulling, very gently, the tiny weeds out, the Holy Spirit taught me a few lessons.
1.) Sometimes there are too many weeds to pull up because they could disturb the real plants. Pulling them up would pull up the good plants. It's the same with disciplining the sinners in the world. God can't always deal with them because they're too close to those of His, His children, who are doing good in the world. So when you wonder why so and so isn't getting disciplined, and is prospering, maybe it's because they are too close to someone doing real good in the world and God doesn't want the good person to receive fall-out from the discipline. God is mercy. Maybe it's you he is saving the dirt around.
2.) All the weeds coming up did serve a purpose: they loosened the soil and made it easier for the good seeds to push up. It also made it easier for me to pull up the weeds.
3.) I had to pull each one individually, not as a group, because I had to look closely to see which was a weed and which was a plant that I planted. It was time consuming, but it will be worth it because the fruits of my labor will be enjoyed at the dinner table. God deals with us on an individual basis. He disciplines those he loves, or those who will never come to him He removes from our presence, I suppose. But we don't know the difference, just like my plants don't know the difference between what plant is next to them. The fruits of His labor will be enjoyed at the Bridal party, in the last days.
Amazing what a garden can teach you, huh?
Lori Ann Smith
But, when I planted my seeds, all sorts of things started coming up. I had read that weeds wait until the soil is disturbed to germinate, sometimes years, to start growing. I hadn't actually experienced it, because my mom was always the one doing the planting and growing. I planted radishes, onions, and lettuce. I know what they look like, but not the first 2 leaves. So I had to wait until they got a bit bigger.
By the time they got a bit bigger, there were MASSES of weeds. I almost couldn't find the ones that I had planted. The weeds had taken over my garden patch. I decided I had to do something about it though. As I'm pulling, very gently, the tiny weeds out, the Holy Spirit taught me a few lessons.
1.) Sometimes there are too many weeds to pull up because they could disturb the real plants. Pulling them up would pull up the good plants. It's the same with disciplining the sinners in the world. God can't always deal with them because they're too close to those of His, His children, who are doing good in the world. So when you wonder why so and so isn't getting disciplined, and is prospering, maybe it's because they are too close to someone doing real good in the world and God doesn't want the good person to receive fall-out from the discipline. God is mercy. Maybe it's you he is saving the dirt around.
2.) All the weeds coming up did serve a purpose: they loosened the soil and made it easier for the good seeds to push up. It also made it easier for me to pull up the weeds.
3.) I had to pull each one individually, not as a group, because I had to look closely to see which was a weed and which was a plant that I planted. It was time consuming, but it will be worth it because the fruits of my labor will be enjoyed at the dinner table. God deals with us on an individual basis. He disciplines those he loves, or those who will never come to him He removes from our presence, I suppose. But we don't know the difference, just like my plants don't know the difference between what plant is next to them. The fruits of His labor will be enjoyed at the Bridal party, in the last days.
Amazing what a garden can teach you, huh?
Lori Ann Smith
Monday, May 10, 2010
Long time since I updated
It's been a really long time since I updated this blog. I have a new compost bin. My Father-in-law gave me a bin. He's really good at composting...I'm the beginner. I collected all the partially composted material from around my house after putting some clippings from the bushes in the bottom. I put it in the corner of the yard out of the way. He says I'll have good soil in about 6 weeks. The first weekend I had a good 12 inches all across the bottom of it. It's one of those really heavy duty cardboard boxes that Sears tool boxes come in. He says it will weather well for about 6 months before it needs to be thrown out. So I guess I'll get a couple rounds of compost from it.
I've planted a few things in my garden. I bought a topsy-turvy and hung it in the tree. I don't trust it for my only source of tomatoes, so I bought another tomato plant for my one raised bed. I also planted radishes, lettuce, carrots and tomato seeds. The birds got the lettuce, tomato seeds and carrots. But the radishes did real well. I've already pulled several out for salads. They're a bit hot, being red and white. We had a really bad snow one day last winter (actually late in the season) and it killed one of our bushes, laid it open with the weight of the snow. We had to cut it down. It was right next to my raised bed, so I planted that area with radishes, beets, lettuce and onions. I think the beets and onions are coming up. I have lettuce coming up, but slowly. I think I have cucumbers coming up. I also have beans coming up and I'll need to tie them to the trellis pretty soon.
I have tons of blooms on the grape tomato plant (the one in the bed) and several green tomatoes. The topsy turvy tomato plant has lots of blooms and several tomatoes as well, but not as many. It's not a grape, though. Forget which variety, but bigger. I planted 2 of my avocado pits. I don't know if Garland, Texas is far enough south to grow avocado trees or not. We'll see. That would be great. I could dig up some of my trees and replace them with fruit trees. Flowering trees are nice, but fruit bearing would be better.
I still have to get my sister-in-law's fiancee over here to cut down my pom pus grass. I know I didn't spell that right, but you know what it's called. I had to cut down the Oleander in the front yard this morning. I had to wear gloves and long pants...I'm allergic to it. We thought it had been killed by the big snow we got, but it did come back. Good thing we waited. We had planned on taking the whole thing out. We stalled so long, it came back. It's a white one. We have a red one up next to the house, but when we sell the other house that we bought with my in-laws, I'm giving it to them. My mother-in-law always wanted one. Or maybe I'll trade it for some tree they have.
It's fallen into a routine, taking care of the garden. It doesn't take much time. I water, trim my tomato plants, water the compost, all in about 15 minutes.
Pretty soon, all of my radishes will be picked, and I'll have to plant more radishes. To solve the bird problem, I put a spinning decoration up so it distracts the birds. I also put up a scarecrow that was left over from Halloween. I had a holder for potted plants, and I hung 2 wind chimes from it on the other side of the little patch that I planted for another distraction. The movement seems to be keeping the birds away.
We shall see as more matures in my garden.
As far as the stock pile goes, I'm putting away as space allows. I've pretty much run out of room above my washer and dryer. Unless I find more room, I'll have to stop. If I can plant enough to get a crop in, I may dehydrate and save in containers outside.
Lori Ann Smith
I've planted a few things in my garden. I bought a topsy-turvy and hung it in the tree. I don't trust it for my only source of tomatoes, so I bought another tomato plant for my one raised bed. I also planted radishes, lettuce, carrots and tomato seeds. The birds got the lettuce, tomato seeds and carrots. But the radishes did real well. I've already pulled several out for salads. They're a bit hot, being red and white. We had a really bad snow one day last winter (actually late in the season) and it killed one of our bushes, laid it open with the weight of the snow. We had to cut it down. It was right next to my raised bed, so I planted that area with radishes, beets, lettuce and onions. I think the beets and onions are coming up. I have lettuce coming up, but slowly. I think I have cucumbers coming up. I also have beans coming up and I'll need to tie them to the trellis pretty soon.
I have tons of blooms on the grape tomato plant (the one in the bed) and several green tomatoes. The topsy turvy tomato plant has lots of blooms and several tomatoes as well, but not as many. It's not a grape, though. Forget which variety, but bigger. I planted 2 of my avocado pits. I don't know if Garland, Texas is far enough south to grow avocado trees or not. We'll see. That would be great. I could dig up some of my trees and replace them with fruit trees. Flowering trees are nice, but fruit bearing would be better.
I still have to get my sister-in-law's fiancee over here to cut down my pom pus grass. I know I didn't spell that right, but you know what it's called. I had to cut down the Oleander in the front yard this morning. I had to wear gloves and long pants...I'm allergic to it. We thought it had been killed by the big snow we got, but it did come back. Good thing we waited. We had planned on taking the whole thing out. We stalled so long, it came back. It's a white one. We have a red one up next to the house, but when we sell the other house that we bought with my in-laws, I'm giving it to them. My mother-in-law always wanted one. Or maybe I'll trade it for some tree they have.
It's fallen into a routine, taking care of the garden. It doesn't take much time. I water, trim my tomato plants, water the compost, all in about 15 minutes.
Pretty soon, all of my radishes will be picked, and I'll have to plant more radishes. To solve the bird problem, I put a spinning decoration up so it distracts the birds. I also put up a scarecrow that was left over from Halloween. I had a holder for potted plants, and I hung 2 wind chimes from it on the other side of the little patch that I planted for another distraction. The movement seems to be keeping the birds away.
We shall see as more matures in my garden.
As far as the stock pile goes, I'm putting away as space allows. I've pretty much run out of room above my washer and dryer. Unless I find more room, I'll have to stop. If I can plant enough to get a crop in, I may dehydrate and save in containers outside.
Lori Ann Smith
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