Sunday, May 8th, 2011

You should be known for the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God. ~ 1Peter 3:4

I hope all my “Mama” friends and family members have a wonderful and blessed Mother’s Day!

Love you Mom!

Preparedness Challenge week #7

This week, for the Preparedness Challenge, I will just continue to do what I am doing. I ordered 3 crank flashlights and read a couple of books on food storage, i.g., root cellars, freezing and canning.

One of the books, How to Store your Home Grown Produce, was written by a couple in England, (John and Val Harrison). They talk about storing in root cellars, freezing, canning (bottling) even salting their home grown foods. They converted measurements and adjusted for the difference between the US and England measuring. It was a good book and I recommend it. :) I got it at the library but I am definitely going to add it to my library. J I loved everything in this book. Not only is it helpful, it gives you a little history lesson on how people actually did store their food 'back in the day'.

This is my first year at growing potatoes and I am really hopeful for a good harvest so I was looking for a way to store them here in Florida. I would love a root cellar but we can’t dig down more than 5 feet without hitting water (it seems, lol). Since I don’t know my yield yet, I guess I have time to investigate.

I was able to get a couple of food grade buckets from my grocery store. They had frosting in them (just need to be washed out) and they are the smaller ones, but they are usable and FREE! Every little bit helps!

To join the Preparedness Challenge, go here.

Tubing down the river

This weekend we decided to take a little break and go tubing down the Itchetucknee River. It was a great day with family and we all had such a relaxing time. The air was warm and the water was a cool 72 degrees (all year long). We weren't able to start at the beginning, where the springs are, because they are letting the plants grow back and they need to let the area get back to the natural state. Our trek down the river was a nice cool relaxing hour and a half and it was awesome. We are definitely going back and soon! I have an Olympus underwater camera so some of the pictures were taken under the water as we drifted along. Enjoy.

a clear spot with some water logged trees

bubbles!

the pretty bank

Daughter dear!

out 'lead' tuber

the pretty grass sparkling from the sunlight

Hollywood!

tubers! and not the eating kind, lol

pretty water! crystal clear & refreshing!

So nice, come on in!

Preparedness Challenge - week #6

To join the Preparedness Challenge or read all the great posts, go here.

This week seemed to be as hectic as last week! However, I did manage to buy...a Berkey Water system! YAY! I can't wait for it to get here. I got the Blue LED light model. It will be handy during hurricane season and it will filter pond & lake water. I can't tell you how much more secure I feel knowing we have a source for water now in case we need it.

This week I am going to read up on radiation and water. ;)

I am also looking into the Excalibur dehydrator's. I like the idea and want to dehydrate some food, but not sure I really need to purchase an item to do this if I can do it in the oven. Any thoughts to the differences?

I am also still reading my book from PC #3 (I think, lol). I was hoping to finish but didn't.

Food storage is going well as there were lots of excellent sales and  I also bought a Mini FoodSaver sealer system. Not sure if it qualifies for a preparedness item, but it helps keep foods longer in the freezer. I can buy bulk food and split it into smaller packages. It is a money saver to say the least.

B.O.Bag is going well too. I stuck about 4 days of medications for everyone in the house, OTC medicines and some hygeine items. Still need a change of clothes and a few more items.

Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!