Food close to home

Here’s a new video of my friend who runs a veggie coop.  I’m not a vegan or vegatarian, but I still love this coop.  The food is fabulous and the cause is worthy.  She is trying to increase the demand for local farmers to grow food close to home.  It tastes different.   A bell pepper tastes like the one my grandpa used to grow.

The food in the supermarket is just not the same as what used to come out of my grandparent’s garden.  I grew up in a small town in deep East Texas.  Back then, many people gardened, canned, hunted and fished for their food.  I could have cared less and couldn’t wait to get out of the “back woods.”  I hated picking green beans or pulling weeds in the hot Texas sun.  Now I would love to be back in that life.  I can remember running purple-hull peas through the sheller and the kitchen smelling like fresh peas and ham.  Yum. Yum.

Then I moved to the city and started a new life chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Married a wonderful man and have great kids.  When I went back home, my grandpa called the girls the concrete kids.  It is so true.  Most kids in Houston are concrete kids.  They have no idea how food is grown and how much work / skill it takes.

We’re in trouble because we’ve lost this good growing knowledge close to home and our country is a net importer of food.  Can you believe the United States of America does not grow enough food to feed its people?  That is a travesty.

Les Stroud – living off the grid

I just watched the “coolest” video.  Les Stroud’s (survivorman) family in Canada moved from their city home onto 150 acres.  And they set up a cabin off grid. I’ve seen stories of others doing this, but I enjoyed this one the most because this family has young kids about the same age as my older two.  They didn’t give up all modern conveniences, but definitely had to sacrifice.  I love these stories.

It is 7 parts on you tube:  first one here.

What about those who do not prepare for a disaster?

When I was a little girl, I remember reading about the grasshopper and ant.  It was summertime and at my grandmother’s house in the country… I can still hear my grandmother’s voice reading.  The theme was that the grasshopper enjoyed all summer.  He ate, wrote poetry, socialized and took long summer naps.  The ant worked all summer while the grasshopper watched and laughed.  Then, of course, winter came and the ant was ready.  The grasshopper died.  The end.  Very short story but tells everything.  It is the natural law, which we’ve changed in our society.

If there was such a book today, it would be as follows.  The grasshopper enjoyed all summer.  The grasshopper was entitled to this time because it was a green grasshopper and worshiped the sun god.  Its ancestors had also done the same thing and it was born that way…. to enjoy the summer.  So he should follow his heart.  The insect government borrowed money from the reptiles so they could build the grasshopper a home, because the grasshopper was entitled to a home.  Then all the other grasshoppers wanted their own homes, so pretty soon the grasshoppers all had new homes.  And the grasshopper didn’t like getting hot jumping through the fields, so he borrowed money from the birds and got an insectmobile.

The ant thought this was crazy, but could not stop the trend.  The ant had a really nice ant hill he’d worked generations to build.  But pretty soon he had a hard time keeping his hill because the insect gov’t taxed the nice hill.  It wasn’t fair that the ant hill was nicer than the grasshopper’s house.  But the ant was debt free and kept his head above water for a while.  In the meantime, the insect gov’t kept borrowing from others to build a wonderful kingdom.  All this time, the ant stored away food and survival items.  The ant did not get into credit card debt and tried to save a little money.

Then winter hit.  Many insect leaders had told the insects that winter would only be 72 hours and the gov’t would show up after that time.  But the winter went on for months.  The birds, reptiles and others refused to loan the insect kingdom any more money.  The insect currency collapsed and social chaos erupted.  The grasshoppers came after the ant for food and other items.  The ant pulled out its stinger and there was an internal insect conflict.   In the meantime, the other kingdoms where really mad at the insects for defaulting and decided to take action against them.  Things got really bad.  The end.

There was a wonderful post yesterday at preparednesspro about this subject:  A crisis of choice.    This is really worth a read.  I don’t see many on the preparedness blogs addressing this subject and she did an excellent job with this hot potato subject.

I’m trying to be an ant.  I used to think I was an ant, but after Ike I really got serious on this subject.  Obtaining preparedness knowledge does not happen overnight.  There are people out there who are really prepared for the uncertainties of life.  There are others who laugh or insult you.  Others encourage you but have no desire to do anything themselves.  Since I’ve started talking about this subject, I get…. “I’m coming to your house if…..”.   If all these people come, we’re good for about 48 hours.

Preparedness is mental and physical.  For me, the mental part is about God.  I want to be in His will first and foremost.  I don’t know the future and any plans I make can be tossed aside in seconds by events in this world.    That does not mean I do nothing.  The Bible is full of stories about people getting ready for the future.  Sometimes He didn’t allow them to store food so they would be totally dependent on Him…..  Jews in the desert eating manna.  However, there are more examples about God’s people being prepared.  God told Joseph to store grain.

Being prepared is not just about food.  It will be different for each family. Housing, age, health, etc.  all play a role in what each individual can do.  And each will get prepared to varying degrees.  One basic strategy is debt.  Debt kills.  Another is knowledge.  What do you need in your area?  I’m in Houston, so I need to be ready for a hurricane or 9/11 type event.

In today’s culture, I think this translates to observing our world and doing our best to prepare for what may be ahead.  The proverbs 31 woman did exactly this.  When I look at our world, I see the potential for hyperinflation, increased natural disasters, pandemics, famines, increased crime and global war.  That sounds depressing, but it is realistic.  Much of our country doesn’t choose to think about these things.  But if we did, our society would be a better place.

So if this has peaked your interest… head on over to preparednessedpro and read more.

What does it mean to be a Survivalist???

Most of my friends and some of my family already think I’m weird, so I don’t have much to lose with this post.  In fact, some of my friends have decided they want to be “weird” too.  Sometimes you have thoughts about life that are not the norm.  One of mine is that of a “survivalist”.  There are varying degrees of this mentality.  I’m probably somewhere in the middle.   For example, we do not have a compost toilet, but I did get face filter masks that I found on clearance at HEB  (just in case the bird flu hits:) ).  I can hear you laughing….

I’ve been debating whether to share this with you, but it is just so good I’m willing to go for it.  There is a podcast I’ve been listening to:  http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/.  I like this guy b/c he doesn’t tell you what to do, but gives his opinion about being prepared and you can take it to whatever degree works for your family.  I also like his stance on what are the highest risks we might face – he is one of the more realistic “survivalists” I’ve ran across.  For example,  he suggests have a higher chance of facing a job loss than the bird flu, and need to prioritize our preps accordingly.  But preparing for the first might also help you with the latter.

The survivalist mentality is not about living in fear that something might happen.  It is actually the opposite.  It is living knowing you’ve done your best to prepare your family for uncertainities in life.  No different than putting money into your 401K, life insurance or other “normal” things our society does to prepare for the future.

Emergency Preparedness – Water

Hurricane season is right around the corner.  The last few years have been rough on the Gulf Coast.  I’m still stinging from the Ike experience.  I thought I was prepared, but I was not.  One thing that I needed was a water purifier.  We had stocked up on bottled water, but with 5 kids, 2 adults and 2 dogs in the house… we were going through water very quickly.   If our situation had to continued for much longer we would have run out.  I had a gas stove so I could boil water to use in cooking.  We were concerned our water system had been compromised, so we didn’t want to drink from the tap.  But folks with an electric range had no electricity and were in FEMA lines.

Standing in a FEMA line sounds like hell on earth to me.  I am not counting on our goverment at all during an emergency.

One thing you can do for water is to buy a water filtration system and they are not that expensive.  You can get a decent Berkey system for under $300.  Here’s a site with some general info about these.  We purchased ours using Microsoft Live’s new search engine which give dollars back on certain Ebay purchases.  Each day the microsoft live % changes.  That’s the best deal we found on these systems.  I don’t care where you get one b/c I get no $$$$ from this blog or referrals.  I just want my friends and family prepared.

Off the grid property in Texas

I few days ago, I posted on being off the grid.  I received a huge amount of hits on this subject.  Apparently it is something a lot of people are searching for info on right now.   This is not something that we’re going to do, but I am interested in the subject.  I’d love to visit someone who actually does this.

 This weekend I visited my parents who live near Lake Conroe, Texas.  Just for fun, I was looking at the acreage for sale.  I think I found a really good spot for someone looking to get off the grid in Texas.  It is 12 acres listed at $36,000.  It is a little over one hour from a major medical center and has shopping near.  It is also close to two major lakes and National Forest.   It is down a dirt road and very rural.  It has a creek that runs in the back of the property.

Here’s the link to the property.  I hope it helps one of my new off grid friends!  http://search.har.com/engine/dispSearch.cfm?mlnum=9975792&backButton=Y

Living off the Grid

Check out this site:  http://www.coyotecottage.com/why/why.htm.  This couple built a 500 sq foot rustic cabin in Washington State and are living off the grid.  I’ve never known a person to actually do this but the concept FASCINATES me.  I would love not to be tied to a utility company and still have power. They don’t use much water, and I’d have a hard time getting adjusted to that.  I run the dishwasher at least twice a day and our family of five has lots of flushes.

I love their cabin and how they didn’t do fancy trim.  It is very functional.  The older I get, the more appealing that becomes.  When I first got married, I was all into china, crystal and the niceties of life.  Maybe it will swing back around, but now I appreciate the simple.  That came after chasing the pot of gold and burnout.  This couple only has a cell phone bill, car ins and property tax.  I wonder what they do about health ins?

I really love their bedroom and the windows looking out onto the mountains.  You can really see God’s hand in this type of nature.  It is harder to see God’s beauty in concrete, but it is still there if we look.  Back to the cabin… I cannot imagine seeing stars at night.  What a concept.   Yes, I have cabin envy.  I tried talking Dave into a double wide in Lufkin Texas, but he looked at me like I had two noses on my face.  This morning I suggested a 500 sq ft rustic cabin.  Hmmm.

Ryan, there is an apple orchard for sale down the road from this place.  There are lots of unreached people groups on Washington State.  I know Julie would love to live off the grid.  Especially the part where you use the potty bucket outside!

I would love to live like this for a few months.  I don’t know how I’d do long term, but it sounds like a really nice break from the city.  I think I’d miss being around people.  But you’d be very busy just doing everyday life.  But I’m in the city and need to bloom where I’m planted.  Even so, it doesn’t hurt to long for the stars every now and then.

Enjoy!

Urban Homestead – food revolution

When I think about how much grass we take care of in the city, we could really be producing a ton of food.  There’s a family in California who transformed their tiny yard into a garden of food.  And they live close to a freeway.

Here’s their video

Bethany bakes Bread

Today Bethany made her first loaf of wheat bread.  We’re having fresh bread regularly in our Urban Homestead.  It costs between $.25 and $.50 a loaf. It contains no chemicals, pesticides or preservatives.  It does contain the bran, germ and fiber from the wheat.

We milled the wheat and she did the rest.  She even kneaded the dough by hand.  We watched several youtubes videos on kneading so she hardly needed my help.  After 5 minutes of kneading she commented, “This sure did look easier in the movie The Little Women.”  Cooking in movies or on cooking shows rarely show the really hard work or the cleanup after.   This will be the most memorable loaf she’ll ever eat.

Peak Oil Problem – What are you doing?

A friend of mine forwarded this article on peak oil. Pretty timely with my Urban Homestead “phase. ” Check out the article here: Peak Oil

The peak oil theory makes sense to me. What we cannot predict is when it will happen or the scientific progress at the time of this “peak” and decline. I’ve recently heard that half the population of the world now lives in the city. If we lose electricity in the city for a long period of time, I cannot see how you survive. I got a taste of no power during Ike. No power equals no water pressure. No pressure means no sewer. Even if you have food, the disease from lack of sanitation will kill many. And garbage will be huge. People will have to burn it, so we’ll have a lot more house and apt fires.

I’ve read about people who are moving to remote locations and developing a self staining lifestyle because they believe today’s lifestyle will be over and they want to be ready. But that would not be fun either. Most in your country could be dying and you’d be in your pocket holding down until a vast number of people perish. And you’d need lots of ammo to protect your pocket. Will you shoot a mom who comes to your property begging for food for her baby? What will life be like after that? And what if the next pandemic hits during all this……WOW. We’re up for a serious strain of flu. Cheered you up yet?

For us, they answer is not buying a farm, a goat and a gun. I’m trying to do all I can to be as self sufficient in our little plot of land near downtown Houston. We’re going to even plant a garden this Spring. We’re trying to cut back on processed stuff and live more frugally than we have in the past. Even so, we still rely on the system for our livelihood. The city provides water, elect, nat gas and garbage pickup. Our groc store provides food and a corporation provides a job.

I don’t think we stick our head in the sand, rather we must be aware of the real threats in our world so we can prepare as much as possible within our current circumstance.

What are you doing???