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Where I live, there was a fertile area called Pepperwood. It was a large area near a large river with unusually good growing ground so a lot of truck farmers sprung up with accomanying little towns. This lasted for about 70 years. Then there was one "hundred" year flood in 1957 which took...

With one thing or another, it's been awhile since I used any of my preserved produce. In fact this year, I did not dry any apples at all- just ate fresh. But I decided to make oatmeal raisin dried-apple cookies. So I ground some of my stored grain for flour and cut up the dried apple from the...

There are three kinds of scenarios for problems here. One is the short term, week or two power outage. I think I have that pretty well organized. Wood stove and water stored with food supplies. Second is the widespread damage to roads and infrastructure. No power and no way to drive to...

I feel so in touch with my ancestors. I went around my place for a couple of months picking up redwood and alder branches and twigs to use for kindling. Why have burn piles to clean up debris, putting carbon and ash into the air for no purpose? I simply cut up the branches into the right...

Went to the library to check out books instead of buying some. I now have 6 books to read sitting on my side table. The thing that finally made me do it was not the saving of money but the headache of having a bazillion books piled everywhere. These library books will go back to their home in...

It occurs to me that I simply spend money as it becomes available without much of a plan. I like to think that I buy usefull and neccessary things but I don't think that I am as directed as I should be. Do you have a "five year plan" so to speak? How to decide what to do and how?

Reading another post about differences in expectations of SS, I got to thinking about how I got here. When I was very young, my Mom had an expectation that "ladies" did not do manual labor. That changed a great deal then my father went away on a tour of duty for two years at a point where they...

I have been pleasantly surprised at how popular the gift of my two varieties of garlic has been. One type has a bit of a bite and the other is milder. One is purple striped the other snow white. They make a pretty presentation even though I don't braid them (hard necks.) More people doing their...

I am fairly paranoid about getting the flu as I have an immune system disease. So when I couldn't get the H1N1 vaccine, I decided to do the old fashioned thing that my Mom enforced on us as a child. I wear gloves while shopping or going to the doctor's, etc. As I had gloves left over from my...

I just got a call from the lady who owns the buck that my doe Dottie is visiting. She was just dropped off yesterday and it appears that Dotti (that little hussy) is chasing the poor buck all over the place. I hope she realizes that this is not likely to work well- although the lady did say...

CDC has received reports of fraudulent emails (phishing) referencing a CDC sponsored State Vaccination Program. The messages request that users must create a personal H1N1 (swine flu) Vaccination Profile on the cdc.gov website. The message then states that anyone that has reached the age of 18...

It just occured to me that my main change during my non-shopping period was that I ate what I had- no giving in to cravings. If you have lots of pasta, rice or beans, you can have variety by adding stuff as sauce. I made a lot of different sauces to go over pasta and rice- most sauces had meat...

Today I went to Costco- bought lots of things to bulk up the supplies I used up. It's amazing how few things can total up to so much. Almost all food. Still, it seems that the one shopping trip still was wel under how much I would spend if I went shopping in three months. I did not replace a...

I had two recipes that I loved but have not made in over 30 (yes, children, thirty) years because I lost the recipes. The first was a Sesame Fried Chicken. It was a Family Circle or Good Housekeeping recipe that my Mom made. Basically a fried chicken coating that was made of flour, a bunch...

I can't believe I didn't read this previously but I am now down to the dregs of my sister's books I inhertited from her estate. In them was The Good Earth by Pearl Buck. It has the best and, seems to me, the most realistic discription of survival in an awful situation. A Chinese family has been...

Every November, the vet's office offers free fecals. Normally they cost $15 apiece so you can see it's a good deal. I actually stood with my remaining doeling on a lead for about an hour or more because I wanted uncontaminated berries to give the vet. Dang it if everyone around pooped at...

All my various insurances have now provided notice that they are increasing rates, one up 25% ,another up 17%, etc effective January. The state has raised fees for vehicle registrations and misc other things. Sales taxes already went up this year. So my income, which is down, will have to...

I had been saving those carboard tubes since I read about using them as firestarters but never did anything because most suggestions said to fill them with wax or paraffin which I found a bit un-earth friendly. But I did think to try something else - I stuffed paper in one end, put wood pellets...

My next door neighbor has a renter who thought that the empty chicken coop was crying for chickens to lay eggs for her. She is a real city girl but blythly went off and bought 5 "hens" as chicks. Of course, two of the now 5 month olds are roosters, two of the hens seem to be banties. And the...

For the last couple of weeks AT&T crews have been working on the trees and wires on the road coming up the hill to my place. I finally asked ibe if guys working if it was DSL coming- he said YES. :ya I know it has nothing to do with self-sufficiency but imagine moving in to the twentieth...