We are still waiting but I’ve been keeping busy.
The first tiny transplants are doing well in the greenhouse. I got some major cleaning and organizing finished. I did a big bulk order of rice, peanut butter, a soup bean mix and some other, often used staples. Now I have to bite the bullet and order some more buckets. I’m not finding anybody willing to part with their buckets. I can’t afford to buy gamma lids for all of the buckets I need without cutting into my storage food budget so I’ll continue to use gamma lids for the buckets I use every day and regular lids for the rest.
I’ve been doing a lot of public speaking which means doing a lot of writing. I spoke at UMass yesterday on how teachers can respond to the needs of children impacted by foster care and, on Saturday, will be giving a short presentation on food resiliency at an Earth Day event here in town. I actually wrote this up a few weeks ago but I’ve changed that in light of recent events. I thought what I had written was pretty academic when I think people are far more interested in concrete information. I’ll be focusing more on how families created resiliency historically. We have a lot to learn from our ancestors which is why I so love historical books that examine family life. I’m reading Home Life In Colonial Days by Alice Morse Earle just now. It’s a fun read and gives some insight that is particular to the East coast.
I did want to mention that I have not been approving some comments. I don’t approve comments that are links to political or religious sites. I want this to be a place for a free exchange of information and not a place that veers off into places that incite heated debate on politics. I’m happy to debate the safety of canning butter but not left vs right, tea party vs liberal vs conservative. Whatever our political leanings, we are all rowing this boat together and I want everybody on board to concentrate on getting to shore.
I appreciate all of the good wishes on my upcoming grandmahood. I’m already a grammy several times over but that doesn’t lessen the joy of anticipation of heading there again. For many years Bruce and I provided foster care and we always loved it when we had a baby. I never minded the diapers or the lack of sleep. I always felt as if I was holding a little miracle. It is a sad and sorry world sometimes but it is also a world where good people do heroic things and where beauty abounds.
March 25, 2011 at 7:31 am
we have our first seedlings, but they are under grow lights. I’ve been using buckets from Home Depot and Tractor Supply, the lids at home depot have the gaskets. They are about half of what I’ve found on line. I only have one or two gamma lids, those things are more than the buckets two times over! lol
March 25, 2011 at 8:26 am
Greenfield didn’t have any food grade buckets. Did the one in Pittsfield have them?
March 25, 2011 at 8:56 am
I’ve purchased food-grade buckets with stout lids at Tractor Supply, but often I have to request that the store special order them because they’re not always in stock. Best wishes to you, Grammy.
March 25, 2011 at 8:58 am
I can’t find gamma lids where I am so I use painter’s tape around the top of my buckets. It’s easier to get off, doesn’t leave a sticky residue and because it’s green I can tell right away which pails are full and which are empty.
Grandbabies are a joy! Congrats, Kathy!
March 25, 2011 at 9:00 am
Am I understanding that you put the tape under the lid rather than around the edge?
March 25, 2011 at 10:09 am
My dh is teasing me this year. I was raised in MO. But we now live in MT. There are some things that I grew up with that I really miss. Like home grown peanuts, poke, and sassafrass. Well I have the peanuts growing in the house right now. And I have boughten poke seeds on eBay. I need to get those planted. As far as the sassafrass, well I am trying to get my cousin to send me some young roots. It says on line that if they are fresh young roots you can get them to sprout. So dh is teasing me saying me that I am raising a redneck garden. Then I just answer him that may be so but even when we were broke we had food to eat that grew in the wild. I sure would like to be able to have what some call a redneck garden. But then we had a lot of wild nut trees there as well that can not take the cold here. And us living there is not an option. Dh gets super sick when we are where the weather is that hot and humid.
I did get 20 jars of pork cubed, cooked and canned up yesterday. So that was a good feeling.
I have plans for tomarrow that some may find as funny. But I read on a website a while back about what would you do if you had children or even a baby left on your doorstep as things get worse. I do have clothing patterns, I have flannel that could be made into diapers if need be. But I didn’t have a baby bottle any more. Long time since we needed one around here. But will also pick up some diaper pins. Yes I know that they may never be needed. But all prepping is that way we never know for sure. And what I will get is not that much money. It is just insurance that I wouldn’t have to panic if it were to happen. So those are my plans for tomarrow when dh is gone fishing. But then again if he doesn’t go fishing those could change.
March 25, 2011 at 10:24 am
I do like you…only use Gamma lids on stuff I open/use all the time. In a way this is good ’cause my family knows if there isn’t a Gamma lid don’t open without asking me first. I keep gallon jars of most used items in the house filled. Helps to see what’s on hand and I tend to make better meal plans,too. DEE who lives on a farm and has to guard her food grade buckets–they are not for watering the calf!
March 25, 2011 at 10:29 am
Mama gets mighty annoyed to find her food grade buckets outside. I keep diaper pins and a couple of baby bottles around too. You never know.
March 25, 2011 at 6:43 pm
Kathy…sorry, I didn’t get back to you sooner. I put the tape around the outside of the pail where the lid and top meet. My pails are square and don’t have the rubber seal that some of your’s seem to so the tape is my protection against bugs crawling inside.
March 26, 2011 at 2:51 am
It’s interesting you say that about the historical perspective, Kathy.
I’ve just started as a volunteer at a Tudor living history farm near me. It’s interesting how much is how I live anyway, although I don’t live in a half timbered cottage with an open fire in the hearth. (The Head Maid said you’ll soon start bringing back sticks for the fire or greens for the chickens every time you go for a walk. Yes…)
There are also some really useful skills I’m looking forward to learning, such as making lye from wood ash and baking in a cob oven.
The population of the farmhouse would have been fairly fluid, with different people in service or escaping the plague in the nearby town at various times; I think they were pretty efficient at prepping!
March 26, 2011 at 8:29 am
I enjoyed Hazel’s post (and of course all of the others) as just this past week I started volunteering at Ft. Roberdeau, a Revolutionary lead mine fort. When I put on those simple clothes I feel right at home. And I also hope to learn more basic skills. They put on dinners (the veggies come from their nice garden that someone volunteers to plant and all take care of), re-enactments, and tours for visitors, and especially school groups. One day a week for the next 7 months I’ll get to go back in time. I can’t wait.
March 26, 2011 at 9:26 am
For several years in the late 70′s Bruce and I lived at the William Cullen Bryant Homestead in Cummington. This was when I fell in love with life in the 1800′s. We still live close to both Hancock Shaker Village and Stubridge Village and visis often.
March 27, 2011 at 6:24 pm
Thanks for saying where you’ve found your food grade buckets. I’ll have to check Home Depot and Tractor Supply. I think someone once mentioned used frosting buckets from the grocery store are often free if you ask, but I keep forgetting to ask. I should put that on my list so I remember.