I’ve finally come to a conclusion. We are somewhat prepared for a short-term emergency, but we are not prepared enough for a life beyond that. Most preppers will tell you that prepping is never ever done. It’s a lifetime process because there are always new things to grow, new things to get, and new things…

The final lesson from “The Long Winter,” by Laura Ingalls Wilder is that food security is very important. In the story, the families of De Smet, South Dakota begin to run out of food when the trains stop running. It’s only a very dangerous 20-mile trip that saves the town from certain starvation. Here’s how…

Here are some more lessons from “The Long Winter.” The final part of this series is coming next.

History has always fascinated me. I especially love stories of resilience, creativity, and good, old fashioned hard work. That’s what draws me to Laura’s book “The Long Winter.” I read it every year usually during the height of winter. This year I read it with an eye toward preparedness. There are many lessons in this…

If you are wondering what the starving time or hungry gap is, it’s the period of time between when fresh foods have been eaten and gardens and crops have begun to grow. Where I live, it’s the period between February and June. Sometimes it’s shorter. Sometimes it’s longer. It doesn’t mean that there isn’t food.…

In the past few weeks, we’ve learned many lessons. Here are some of them: Those are a few of the things we have learned so far. I am sure there will be more as this experiment unfolds. By the way, I have changed the rules for this challenge just slightly. I am going to allow…

Yes, I know that it should be several days later in the challenge, but we’ve been attending to some family matters and haven’t had time to do the challenge. I realize that if this were a real challenge that we wouldn’t have that option. Many lessons have been learned. Here’s what we are planning to…

No, there is no day 14. It’s a long story that I will keep to myself for now. Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with spinach, tomatoes, and red onion, Parmesan cheese; Wheat Toast with peanut butter Lunch: Taco Bell (Yes I know we are eating out too frequently, but we had an appointment and it was lunchtime.)…

Breakfast: cup of herbal tea Lunch: glass of milk and a sourdough blueberry muffin, leftover roasted sweet potatoes Dinner: Chicken Taco Soup (Can of Chicken, 2 can kidney beans, 1 can black beans, 1 large can tomatoes, 1 can corn, spices) In the Kitchen: DD 18 made sourdough blueberry muffins

So I wrote another post about quitting soda and stated that I would follow up later with how I’m doing it. I am happy to report that today is day 12 and I’m still soda free. I feel so happy and proud (in a good way) that I’ve been able to do this. I couldn’t…