Queen's Edge Farm: If this happened in my area.....

Saturday, January 31, 2009

If this happened in my area.....

First of all, it is really hard to imagine this happening in South Texas, though we did get an ice storm that lasted a couple of days for the past two years. But nothing of this magnitude.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_re_us/winter_storm

I am confident that my immediate family would be fine without the power, but it would probably entail my sister's and their families coming to stay with me. Well, one of them anyway. The other sister lives next to her in laws and they have a wood stove.

It seems as if this winter more areas are being hit from the west coast, the Dakotas, the Appalachias and the east coast. It's a sad state of affairs to see how many people are not prepared to take care of themselves, and are actually waiting and expecting FEMA to come help them.

I am getting worried about the lack of preparation that I am reading about, it seems to be wide scale. In my area, I only know of myself and three other people with enough food. And only one person with an alternate way to heat their house. We have two wood stoves (one here, one at the cabin). One has a fire place, and everyone else, including my Depression era in laws do not have another way to heat their house. They are totally dependent upon electricity, to the point that my mother in law has THREE freezers full of food. She prefers to freeze her food stores, rather than dehydrate or can. This is a big and costly mistake. If the power went out here, she'd lose her food. Maybe not for a while, but the weather here never stays cold for very long, so everything would be okay while it was cold, but once it warms up, that's it.

In an article I read online this morning, one of the state troopers in Kentucky said that too many people were trying to ride out the storm at home. Well, duh?! that's what you are supposed to do. I conducted a poll recently here on the blog, and for those that answered (all 11), 10 out of the 11 stated they were prepared and wouldn't have to leave home. It would be nice if this poll was truly indicative of the country, but I fear that those that took the poll are in a minority, though I congratulate them on being ready, for anything.

Please, please, please....for those reading this, if you are not prepared in the areas of Food, Water and Shelter (this includes heating and cooking) get prepared now. Consider this, if you live in a major metro area, and the water service stops due to electrical outages on the main pump, how will you have water to cook and for drinking (bathing is optional at this point, I hope you know). Also, what about toilet flushing? If the water goes out, please do not even use the toilet in your home, make a 5 gallon bucket toilet and use that, burying any waste in the back yard....it may sound gross, but believe me it's better than having a backed up toilet inside the house, where you are living.

Well, we are off to church. I will be praying for those affected in this area, and be praying that they wake up in order to get better prepared for the next time, and for every day living in general

We talked about evangelism at church today, and the reasons behind "our" (meaning Christians) unwillingness to evangelize in today's world. Many ideas were tossed around from fear of rejection to laziness. In Matthew, Jesus instructs us to have compassion for those around us, so while the status of their eternal destination is very important, their physical needs here on earth are also.

A lot of my recent rantings of people being unprepared for life's disasters, I realize may sound too critical, but it is out of concern that I encourage others to get prepared. I now know that I need to also develop relationships with those around me to help address their spiritual needs, as well as, their physical needs. I do struggle with feeling compassion for those around me, especially, when I see that the mess they are in, is from their own making. So, please bear with me as I continue to struggle with showing others active compassion, while attempting to teach them how to be prepared for the struggles that daily life brings.

I will be praying that God brings opportunities into my life that will allow me to be a good Christian witness, as well as, opportunities to teach about preparedness and self sufficiency.

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Grandma's Yummy Cinnamon Rolls

2 pkgs active dry yeast or 5 tsps if using bulk yeast
1/2 cup warm water (not too hot)
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening, butter, margarine
2 tsps salt
2 cups milk, scalded
1 1/2 cups cold water
10 to 12 cups flour (white or whole wheat)

Yield: 4 loaves

Soften yeast in warm water, springkle in a tsp of the sugar
In LARGE mixing bowl blend sugar, shortening, salt and milk until shortening is melted. Add cold water, cool to luke-warm. Stir in yeast. Gradually add flour to form a stiff dough. Knead on floured surface until smooth and satiny, 5 to 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning dough to grease all sides. Cover with foil or damp towel. Let rise in warm place (85 to 90 deg) until light and doubled in volume about two hours. Punch dough down by plunging fist in center. Knead dough for about 5 minutes.

Roll out one fourth of dough to a 16 X 12 inch rectangle. Brush with 2 TBSP of melted butter. Combine 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/3 cup sugar and 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon (or more to taste). Sprinkle mixture over dough. Starting with 16 inch side, roll jellyroll fashion. Either cut into 16 1 inch slices or leave as a whole loaf. Place on a greased pan, cover and let rise in warm place until light, about 30 to 45 minutes. Bake at 375 degrees about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Mix one box 10X sugar with 2 tbsps water. If too stiff, add more water until icing consistency, add a drop of vanilla too. Spread on baked bread while bread is still warm.

2010 Homestead Stats

Laundry Soap

Homemade Laundry Soap:
1/3 bar Fels Naptha or other type of soap, as listed above
½ cup washing soda
½ cup borax powder
~You will also need a small washpan or bowl that holds about 2 gallons.

Grate the soap and put it in a sauce pan. Add 6 cups water and heat it until the soap melts. Add the washing soda and the borax and stir until it is dissolved. Remove from heat. Pour 4 cups hot water into the washpan. Now add your soap mixture and stir. Now add 1 gallon plus 6 cups of water and stir. Transfer soap (using a funnel if necessary) into empty plastic laundry holders, milk containers (I use my empty glass milk bottles and old Fab containers) Let the soap sit for about 24 hours and it will gel. You use ½ cup per load.

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

Wild Mustang Grape Jelly

5 cups grape juice (about 3 1/2 pounds of ripe grapes)1 (1 3/4 ounce) box of sure-jel pectin7 cups sugarBefore getting started it is best to clean the entire kitchen, making sure the sink is empty. Bleach the sink and all utensils used in making jelly (I do this as I sell my grape jelly as part of my homesteading business.)

Wash the canning jars in warm soapy water, and rinse well. Set off to side.

Place a large pan of water on the stove to heat. Once it starts steaming, place lids and rings in the bottom, and 2-3 jars (depending on if you use actual jelly jars or pints) to sterilize.

Next make the grape juice using clean washed grapes (make sure you use rubber gloves when picking or washing wild grapes)To 3 1/2 pounds of clean grapes (6 cups of grapes) add 1 1/2 cups water.Bring to a boil and simmer covered for 10 minutes.Strain and squeeze out all of the juice with cheese cloth (see paragraph below)
I didn't have cheese cloth, so I poured the grape mixture into a large spaghetti strainer with a large pan underneath. I had to stir it around some as the skins and seeds would sink to the bottom, and clog the colander up. Stirring allowed the liquid to drain out. I then used a large metal spoon and squished it some to get more of the juice out.

In a very big pan, put 5 cups of the juice (it’s okay to add no more than ½ cup water to even out amount)Add the fruit pectin to the juice.Mix well.On high heat, bring to a full rolling boil, and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.Stir in sugar all at once, and bring back to a full rolling boil, again boil hard for 1 minute stirring constantly.
Remove jelly from heat, skim off foam
Use a large spoon inserted inside the jar to lift CAREFULLY out of the water. DO NOT TOUCH THE INSIDE OF THE JAR OR THE RIM WITH YOUR HANDS.
Ladle jelly into hot jars, place a lid and ring onto jar (do not tighten yet).
Set jars to the side. After a while you should start hearing “pings” as the jar seals.
When jars are completely cool, tighten rings and store on pantry shelf.**SIDE NOTE: Wild Mustang Grapes are normally ready the end of June, so be prepared. Keep an eye open for vines on the side of the road, or any that friends and family may have growing in their yard. Many people just let them grow and don’t do anything with them, so it shouldn’t be hard to find a good supply. Also, the more you pick off the vine, the more the vine produces new grapes, so you probably won’t EVER run out of grapes to use until the vine dies or you get sick of making jelly. Good luck and feel free to contact me at queensedgefarm@yahoo.com for questions.