Marjorie

Thanks

Yes, it is a concern, but it's not necessarily (rarely) fatal. In humans, it affects the lungs, like a bad cough or cold. Then we usually get over it and are fine. Very rarely a human will need further treatment or even hospitalization. Most people don't even know that they had it. For dogs, it doesn't affect (just) the lungs but the bones. It is the biggest cause of lameness in the area. That's how we found out our dog had it -- he had a growing lump on his paw, then wouldn't put any pressure on it. We took him in and that's what the vet said it was. He's been on fluconazole for several years now. He had no pulmonary symptoms at all, no cough, nothing. Just the lameness and general lethargy. Many dogs only require a few months of treatment, some require lifelong treatment. Inside dogs are less likely to get it than outside dogs, because it is a spore in the dust. Ours was an outside dog in the desert (pretty much dirt) for several years until he was diagnosed, at which point we brought him inside. Not all dogs get it. One issue though is that if they do, only vets in the Southwest know how to treat and manage it. My vet up here in Wisconsin was perfectly willing to prescribe whatever I needed and order any tests that I needed to manage it, but had no idea what to do on her own. My vet in AZ did tell me that when we moved and got one up here, to feel free to have the vet up here call her down there for treatment advise. Here's a link: https://www.vfce.arizona.edu/ValleyFeverInPets/Default.aspx

I lived for 10 years outside Phoenix, moved away a year and a half ago, and will be moving back shortly. Gardening there is different than gardening in most of the US. I had mixed results with raised beds. When I had a soaker hose set up, I had a pretty good harvest. When I didn't, I didn't. They don't hold the water as well as basins. Most parts of the country you want water to drain away easily. In the desert, you want to conserve as much water as possible. I did use Mel's Mix (the Square Foot Gardening recipe) so had good drainage. A few things to keep in mind -- there are 2 short growing seasons rather than one longer growings season, at least for most plants. Melons and squash can go over the summer, but most plants will die in the heat. The summer in Phoenix is like the rest of the country's winter -- it's the barren season. Tomatoes won't set fruit because it doesn't drop low enough at night and the daytime temps are too high and kill the pollen. You'll be lucky to get fruit in July. Plants that are labeled "full sun" don't mean full sun in Phoenix. Full sun means 8 hours of sunlight per day, not 12-15 hours of scorching sunlight per day. You have to provide some shade, whether it's by trees, walls, vines, or shade cloth. Some native plants won't need it, but if you're going to grow conventional garden plants, they will. You also need to mulch and mulch well, because the hot dry air sucks the water right out of the soil. Native gardeners planted in basins and used rocks as mulch. When looking for varieties, you want to look for not only drought and heat tolerant, but also fast maturing. the best place to find desert adapted, drought and heat tolerant varieties is from Native Seeds/SEARCH out of Tucson. http://www.nativeseeds.org/ Also, check out the Urban Farm if you haven't already. They do classes on desert gardening (I took a few from them) http://www.urbanfarm.org/events . He grows a *lot* of food on his 1/4 acre lot in Phoenix proper. Also, you can see his planting calendar on the website, which is slightly different from the UofA extension one.

We are on GAPS to heal our guts, especially for my two kids (one teen and one toddler). It's also helped us so that we're not as sensitive to gluten as we were in the past. GAPS is a starch free, nutrient dense diet. It's like a cross between Weston Price traditional foods and Primal. Our biggest issue has been long term storage, because that generally concentrates on grains and GAPS is grain-free. Even if we weren't GAPS, we are all sensitive to wheat so that throw a wrench in the works. To get around this, I buy only gluten-free or very low gluten grains. I also have a good stock of millet. It's the most easily digested, and is the first grain reintroduced when transitioning off of GAPS. I figure if we ever are in a long-term situation where we are going into our stores, we'll start with the millet and then slowly introduce the other grains, fermenting or sprouting what we can to make it as easily digestible as possible. The other things haven't been as much of an issue. We buy local humanely raised beef by the 1/4 from a co-worker of dh's (not totally grass-fed, but pastured and anti-biotics only when absolutely necessary). We do the same with pork, buy by the 1/4 or 1/2, and we have a large freezer. I buy most veges from our farmer's markets. For oil, I buy coconut oil once per year, in a 5 gallon pail. Not only is it a very healthy oil for paleo/traditional foods/GAPS diets, but it's a great oil for long term storage. I don't buy any dehydrated meals because not only do they often have TVP, but almost all are loaded with gluten or other grains. I do buy powdered milk and powdered eggs but those are two things that I hope to never have to use, and plan to only use them in a long-term emergency. They do not get rotated. I buy our grains and such in bulk from Azure Standard. It's a co-op that serves the western US, up to about the Mississippi. I can buy most things organic through them, and I order monthly. I order our coconut oil from Wilderness Family Naturals. The shipping to me in Wisconsin is tiny, and the price is about equal to a really good Tropical Traditions sale.

I've done it twice in mason jars. One time it was fine, the next it molded. last year I made 40 lbs of raw sauerkraut in fido jars. It's kept perfectly in my basement (walkout basement) for over a year, and still tastes amazing. Here's an article on different methods to make raw sauerkraut, and how they stack up to each other: http://www.nourishingtreasures.com/index.php/2012/07/03/sauerkraut-survivor-final-report/ I buy my fido jars from Crate & Barrel, and wait for an outlet sale. http://www.crateandbarrel.com/fido-jars-with-clamp-lids/f33489

Most people buy more with credit than with cash because it's next month's money that they're spending. Whether or not they can pay it off has little bearing. For example, today I bought $125 worth of cotton broadcloth from Fabric.com. Even though we'll have no trouble paying it off next month, if i had had to use our debit card I wouldn't have spent so much because all of this month's money has already been budgeted (spoken for). Next month I'll include the $125 in our budget because I've already bought it, but if I hadn't I wouldn't set that much money aside for material, kwim? And that's how consumers spend on average 18% more by using credit cards rather than cash.

It costs the average consumer because most people, even if they pay off the card at the end of the month, tend to spend more on credit than they do if they use cash. Also, Discover charges higher fees than the other cards do, so the retailer marks everything up to cover the higher fees. dh and I refused to even take AmEx because the fees to us (the merchant) were so high that our profit margin wasn't high enough.

It sounds like you got picked for the American Community Survey. Yes, it is intrusive. It is also done more frequently than the decennial census. From the US Census Bureau website: What is the American Community Survey (ACS)? The ACS is a legitimate survey that is part of the Decennial Census Program. It is a survey sent to a small percentage of our population on a rotating basis. The ACS collects detailed information on the characteristics of our population and housing. These data were previously collected only in census years in conjunction with the decennial census. Since the ACS is conducted every year, rather than once every ten years, it provides more current estimates throughout the decade. Estimates from the ACS contribute to providing an important picture of America, and an accurate response to the ACS questionnaire is important. When used in conjunction with the most recently available decennial census counts, information from the ACS documents how we live as a nation, including our education, housing, jobs, and many other issues. Questions in the ACS are required to manage or evaluate federal and state government programs. For example, information on income is required for use by the Social Security Act, the National School Lunch Program, the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, and the U.S. Department of Education for grant allocation. Journey-to-work information is used by federal, state, and local transportation planning agencies in designing regional transportation systems. Information on language spoken at home is used under the Voting Rights Act to assess the fairness of voting practices in governmental subdivisions. https://ask.census.gov/faq.php?id=5000&faqId=7453

It was a small, private forum started after some conflict at this board. Several of us also were over there. It was only active for a year or so if I recall correctly, but it sure was fun while it lasted. Anyways, over there I was Little River. As I said, it was a LONG time ago -- '99? '00? I just happened to be using Oxyclean yesterday and remembered it. Add to that I saw a subforum here called The Front Porch and it all took me back Anyways, I've been hanging around over here for a few days now, reading up on all sorts of old posts. Went to Costco and got a membership today. Grabbed 2 huge packs of batteries, stocked up on organic peanut butter, bought 15 boxes of mac & cheese, and saw they have shelf stable milk. It's nice to be back around people who consider prepping to be more than grabbing a few extra cans of corn at the grocery store

We were on another (now defunct) forum together, too. I was under a different username there, though. You taught me how to use OxyClean to get my whites really white in a laundry thread. Funny the things we remember, isn't it?

Native Seeds/SEARCH (Southwest Endangered Aridlands Resource Clearing House) http://www.nativeseeds.org From the website: Native Seeds/SEARCH conserves, distributes and documents the adapted and diverse varieties of agricultural seeds, their wild relatives and the role these seeds play in cultures of the American Southwest and northwest Mexico. We promote the use of these ancient crops and their wild relatives by gathering, safeguarding, and distributing their seeds to farming and gardening communities. We also work to preserve knowledge about their uses. They are a non-profit conservation organization, not a commercial seed company. As such, they carry only desert/arid-lands adapted varieties, those grown for years by local or native peoples. They also carry only traditional seeds. While you'll find tomatillos, chiles, cotton, devil's claw, tomatoes, beans, watermelon, amaranth, squash, indigo, etc there (all grown for hundreds of years in the area), you won't find species that require large amounts of water or soil that isn't local. As examples, they don't carry egglplant, carrots, broccoli, beets, or asparagus. Seed packets are $3 each, shipping at this time is $3.50 for the first 5 packets, 35c for each additional packet. Seeds are adapted to Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. Seeds are suited for dry conditions, alkali soils, and short growing seasons.

Me too, except I came here in 98 I think originally. I left in 01? 02? When dh and I went on the road and lost our internet access. When we got access again, I just never came back what with working, going to nursing school, and homeschooling my dd. Things have settled down and I find that I'm pregnant again (VERY surprise pregnancy) and our youngest is 14. It looks like I actually registered here last year -- on our 15th anniversary no less-- and didn't post. Anyways, I left my homeschooling forum and since we're ramping up our preps again now that we're settled, I thought I'd peek in here and see if I knew anyone and how the site is now. I knew Eden, Lois, Darlene, remember MtnMommy, Cat ... those are the names I've run across at least so far. Haven't gotten to really dig deep as I'd like. So actually I'm here more for a safe place to discuss and people to bounce ideas off of. We're totally blessed that our neighbors are self-reliant people too and we're all good friends. One neighbor is retired Guard former Marine, our kids are best friends and we've discussed different scenarios.