Emergency Preparedness OR The Zombie Apocalypse

This is a 52 Week Preparedness Challenge that I'm going to attempt. I like the idea of being ready and not being dependent on the US Government or Wal-mart. I really think that if Wal-mart and the grocery stores went out of business, or if our country got to the point of rationing food and gave people a sack of flour and some shortening, most in my generation would literally starve. I know far less than many my age I've come across, but I am always trying to learn and pass things on to my children. I do think that at some point, we will need these skills again. If not in my lifetime, then at least my kids' kids will know something about providing for themselves. I will definitely tweak some things, and my goal is actually to see how far I get down this list, hahaha...its always been alarming to me that, just a generation before me, people would know what to do if things just shut down--and yet, so many today would be at an utter loss for survival if that ever happened. I'm not saying that I know "so much"--just enough to know what I don't know, and I want to make sure I could care for those around me! In my house, we refer to this as "Red Dawn-ing it someday". ;)

http://readynutrition.com/resources/52-weeks-to-preparedness-an-introduction_19072011/

Homesteading this Weekend

We had a lot of projects going on this weekend, what a wonderful way to spend the 68 degree days we've been having! I wanted to share my laundry system with everyone. My husband designed a system where all of our grey water (from washing laundry) empties in to this gallon container...

...and waters various plants that we have, like these grapevines...

...and this little apple tree we planted last spring. (It has a friend a few feet away, just didn't make the picture.)

Then to dry our clothes, we use the line! I love line drying my clothes! Its honestly therapeutic for me. I'm not usually an advocate of regulations and rules to govern peoples' personal choice (call me libertarian), but it seems to me that in the desert, the ONE resource we have is SUN!!! My clothes are dry in about an hour in the winter, about 20 minutes in the summer--and no wasted energy. Yay!

Now for the aforementioned announcement: we replaced our chickens this weekend! Hooray! We now have ten "laying" hens...the woman we purchased from said they had been born in April but weren't laying through the winter. In my experience, chickens do lay less during extreme climate changes--but I've never had a flock completely stop. We'll see what happens with these ladies! We're all very happy to have them--the coop had seemed rather lonely and forlorn after the autumn massacre.

This little girl, and her partner to the right, are super cute and rather funny looking! I think the kids have named the blonde one Nimrod. hahaha! They aren't supposed to be great layers, but I picked them up for my 6 year old--she loves animals and loves chickens (we call her the Chicken Whisperer), and I knew she would become immediately attached to the sheer cuteness (and strange-ness?) of these two. In a later post, I'll look up the name. 

Here is a picture of my recently rotated, full compost bin! Isn't it lovely!! I threw a layer of leaves on top and slapped a lid on for this batch to "cook"; and in the second bin, I am starting a new batch. Its crazy to me to watch this work!

Lastly, I received a few starts and seeds from a new neighbor! She just moved here from Darwin, where they have a sporadic community garden; she saved some vegetables that had been planted in the fall and survived there in the ground. These may just not make it, I don't know what to expect!  Hers were doing fine, so maybe they will just live through these cold months? We'll see!

 This one is spinach and kale. I also threw in some lettuce and more spinach seeds.

   This is wild garlic.

 These are beets!

 This terrible picture is of the little onion sprouts.

Whew! Happy Homesteading! Can't wait for Spring!

Vinegar!

This is awesome. I just recently made the switch to vinegar and water for 90% of my cleaning. Can't seem to give up Windex, though. Mavis at http://www.onehundreddollarsamonth.com/ has a glass-cleaner recipe that I WILL someday try! For now, though, its vinegar and Windex. ;)

Also, Janet over at Simple Home Craft (one of my all-time favorite blogs) has this post about making vegetable stock. Love this idea!

Summer Dreaming

Where the Cosners will be in July!

Monterey, California

Excuse the language! Found by my father-in-law :)

You can seriously rent this van!!! Someday...

Monterey

Over Christmas break, we dropped our oldest off to the Army Language Institute in Monterey, California. Its been a long time since I've been that far north in Cali, but I can't wait to go back! Right now we're planning a summer family trip for four or five days to see Cynthia :) I found an amazing "Marla Corner" : Papa John's, GoodWill and a fantastic used book store!! Aaaack!! We took our youngest Holly with us--in our family, we try and do a few trips here and there with just one or two of the kids in an effort to create some special and unique memories. We took her to the Monterey Aquarium, where Daniel and Mallory had been nearly ten years before! We stayed "on post" at army lodging, which was good on the price--but NO BATHTUB AND LUKEWARM WATER. I'm just saying. However, price trumps all, right??

Siblings

With my girl! Can't believe she's so big

Cannery Row: Don't worry, we totally ate Bubba Gump Shrimp

In line for the Aquarium

Petting the friendly Bat Ray

Cloth Napkins

This New Years I was able to fulfill a little vision I've had for a while! I found, on ebay from an estate sale, a "lot" of vintage and not-so-vintage (does 80s count?? far left, lol) CLOTH NAPKINS! No more paper napkins for us! I always feel terrible about the waste paper products generate, but was pretty particular about what I was looking for! Viola! Aren't they lovely?? They make this little homesteader's heart happy! :)

Stay tuned for tomorrow's post about our exciting "new" addition to the Cosner homestead! :)

Potato Storage Method

I am already garden-dreaming for the spring and summer, and I came across this neat comment in a post on my favorite blog One Hundred Dollars A Month (see sidebar, too lazy this morning to connect a link):

My grandmother always stored her potatoes in homemade sacks…..how u say??? Burlap “2.99 a yard” at my local fabric store and I got 8 yards for a dollar at a yard sale…..make a large sack with a drawstring top…..like the old horse feed etc. sacks of the 1950′s….they last forever…..Fill the sack with taters and hang it from the ceiling in your pantry or where ever you can…..I hang mine in our third garage….it’s dark and dry in there…..I store all my staple veggies this way…I grow alot….”I’ve got BOYS!!!” lol Onions and garlic too….I make sacks of all sizes….Now days burlap comes in colors!!! I’m a “natural fiber” liking person so dye near my food makes me shiver….But my mom likes the red burlap. Another way to make the sacks is to go to yard sales and buy old linen doilies or table cloths and sew them together….they are the cutest things!!! AND they hold up great…..Do the drawstring with ribbon…good quality….again, .99 cents a yard here in Mississippi…..I hope this gives u an idea or two….I’ve been growing my potatoes in barrels….I cut a door close to the bottom to harvest easily….I’m going to try the fence method along with my tried success this year….It looks better than my bright blue barrels!!! lol

Super cool. My potatoes in the ground were a total bust this year, but to be honest--I lost patience with them. This year, I am going to try two potato towers on the edges of my garden, and see what happens. :)

This year's current garden dream: Two potato towers, four tomato plants, pumpkins and watermelons, and green peppers in containers. Emphasis on the peppers--I really want to spend the time figuring out how to grow those suckers! $1.00 per pepper at the store, and my family are avid eaters!! Last year's pepper crop was also a failure. :(  Tomatoes and pumpkins were a success. I have heard that cantaloupes and watermelons grow well here. BUT...we are going to be out and about this summer, with a couple of longer-vacations planned to the mountains and to see our oldest daughter in Monterey--gotta find someone willing to take care of my garden! Summers are BRUTAL.

What are YOU planting??