Diaster Prep Update

Life, Rescheduled....

Well, we found another oil lamp at the thrift store. It's being cleaned now. That makes 4 table-style oil lamps. We need kits for them (extra wicks and such) but I think we may be ok with those now. I do want a Alladin lamp or two, and a reflective lantern.

Our next planned prep order is a multi-fuel camping stove. One of the reasons we chose that one is that we can use gathered fuel. We won't be dependent on what the stores have stocked, or if they are open in the first place! I want to see if I can cook on that when it's in the fireplace - that would give us a good place to cook with inclement weather. I do expect to use it more on the patio, though.

We've ordered the hand-powered washer and are waiting for it to arrive. We will need to do something for line-drying, but the retractable line was out of stock so I still need to get that. One collapsible rack doesn't hold as much as I'd like, although it will do the job.

Independence Day - 25 May

It's been a quiet week. Mostly I've just been catching up around the house with different projects and the piles of books that are always around.

1. Plant something: nothing.

2. Harvest something: nothing.

3. Preserved something: Nothing.

4. Waste not: the usual

6. Build community: went to farmers market.

7. Eat the food: Strawberries, roast beef, salads.
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8. Crafting: Finished my mossy shawl. Nearly finished a tank top from the sewing basket, and picked up items to make a pair of linen dress pants.

Independance Day 17 May 2010

1. Plant something: Rosemary seedling from the farmer's market.

2. Harvest something: nothing big enough. The chard is growing decently, so I'm happy there.

3. Preserved something: Nothing.

4. Waste not: leftovers. Also, cleaning/re-organizing areas for ease of use and reducing what we keep. The knife drawer shrank by 2/3, my shoes by half, and I've just started.

6. Build community: went to farmers market, first one for the season. Reminded co-workers about it. Hugged my farmers =) Brought DFH this time, too, since he had the day off.

7. Eat the food: Salads, homemade cake & frosting, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh strawberries in everything - Yum!

Re-organized the pantry and cleaned the fridge. Being less boxed in about meals, to better use food. And, admittedly, to make it less work for me to cook so much from scratch!

8. Crafting: Working on my mossy shawl. Went through the sewing-project basket.

Disaster Preperations

We live in hurricane country. We may not get a lot of big ones, but even Isabel, at Level 1, left me without power for 9 days and my mom for 14 days. The hurricane hit on Tuesday, and I went back to work Monday. Leaving work early the night before the hurricane, we were told, would result in immediate dismissal. I was unable to prep that night, so I had to have it all done in advance (didn't quite happen).

While I was able to stay at a place with a generator that time, I can't count on that again.

DFH and I were talking this past weekend about what we need to be prepared. Prepared right where we are, and using Isabel as one of the guidelines. I used basic Areas and we'll list what we'd need to fill those areas without electric:

Areas (no order):
Food, and the ability to cook it
Water, potable
Shelter
Light source
Communications
Sanitation
First Aid
Activities

Now, the biggest needs are water, sanitation, first aid, shelter, food. You can live 3 days without water, 2 weeks without food, and lack of sanitation can really mess with you (infections & illness). Communications are important, and activities are sanity-saving. Especially if you have kids! Official recommendations were once to be able to take care of your family for three days; now it says 3-7 days. Two weeks may be better - remember Katrina!

I'll post later on what we discussed for those areas. Have you talked about it with your family? Have you made plans?

Independance Day - 4-19-10

1. Plant something: nothing this week.

2. Harvest something: nothing.

3. Preserved something: Nothing.

4. Waste not: leftovers.

6. Build community: nothing.

7. Eat the food: I'm learning to cook with sourdough. Still. Tonight I'll make new starter as I apparently destroyed the last one. Learning to eat from the pantry better - I think the last 2 weeks have been dairy-and-salad grocery lists.

8. Crafting: Worked on a gift afghan. Cleared out the 'repairs' sewing basket. Finished a lap blanket for me.

Independance Day 4-12-2010

1. Plant something: Radish, spinach, red chard. Germination on the previous planting wasn't as good as I'd like other than the lettuces.

2. Harvest something: nothing.

3. Preserved something: bone broths, chicken & ham.

4. Waste not: leftovers, broths. Made trail mix for DFH from items already in the pantry.

6. Build community: nothing.

7. Eat the food: I'm learning to cook with sourdough. Still. Tonight I'll see if that latest experiment produces edible bread.

8. Crafting: Nothing. Yesterday was spent outside, walking. Lovely weather and I survived the pollen.

Preparation: General disaster preparedness, especially given this year's hurricane forecast. Yesterday we brainstormed a list of items we don't have that we think we'd need. I'll do a separate post on the plan layout later.

Independance Day 3-30-2010

1. Plant something: nothing. However - I have seedlings!

I did, at least mentally, figure out which planting pots to keep and which to re-home. They aren't very useful when I don't have room to store them all, let alone use them.... and several are too small for the likely uses. I'll get it down to what will actually get used.

2. Harvest something: nothing.

3. Preserved something: nothing.

4. Waste not: Added meat pies to my skill set, for using of leftovers. Yum!

6. Build community: Monthly order from local farmer.

7. Eat the food: I'm learning to cook with sourdough. I'm also trying to quit going to the store so often; it's costing ALOT to do that. Getting "just one thing" has annihilated my grocery budget. Yes, it's that bad.

8. Crafting: Frogged two items. One didn't work, the other I used the wrong yarn and that killed the project. I'm working on spinning more often, and also re-starting DFH's wool mittens - amazing how one can screw up when one has put it down for a month. I put a massive dent in the sewing repair pile as well.