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Mother

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  1. Happy birthday, Wormie. You really are thought of often.
  2. Those ‘undies’ were considered healthy at the time. The Victorians considered the fresh air was good for the nether parts. Besides they were extremely convenient for women who wore long dresses and hooped skirts or lived in times of necessity like prairie travels. They were extremely convenient on the trail when no trees were available. The ‘can can’ however, took full advantage of the open crotch ‘pantaloons’ to add a little ‘spice’ to dancing!
  3. I hope your day is a super one!
  4. That IS good to know. I have a couple of old bottles.
  5. My Sis-in-law gave me a half gallon fermenter jar and DH and I love it. It is just the right size for just the two of us. We cut or dice the cabbage into a large bowl, mix in two tablespoons salt per medium to large head and pound it until the brine forms. We pack it into the jar so the brine comes up above the cabbage, leaving a good two inches of head space. We use the divided weights that came with the jar to hold the cabbage under the brine and put on the lid with the fermenter airlock in place and set it away (on a plate just in case.). It’s ready in seven days, more or less, depending on your taste. We store ours in the refrigerator because we like it fresh and because it is so easy to make. I do pickles in it as well. I also have fermenter nipples that fit on canning jars. They work too but I like the air lock better. I think the nipples would be good for making wine but haven’t tried them for that.
  6. Before making broth from them!!!! Sorry, couldn’t help myself but tease a little. I do get the texture thing. I don’t have it but others in the family do and it really is a problem for them. I am surprised you don’t make and can broth from the bones though. It is a wonderful addition to soups if for nothing else.
  7. That is beautiful, Annarchy! Thanks for sharing.
  8. Well said, Euphrasyne. 👍.
  9. I recognize that issue. My portable one definitely doesn’t work as it’s only about three inches off the ground. It doesn’t even take door sills well. My wheelchair supposedly can but that’s what catapulted me out. My OLD scooter is fairly good and what I use in the yard but don’t put a mole hole or soft ground in front of it. Thankfully my GS built the thirty foot deck with deck box planters and found some big long rubber mats (actually farm machinery belts) to lay down for paths. They work great for me to get to one section of the big plastic mineral tub planters. Momo, I sure hope your new one will get you out and about more.
  10. Euphrasyne, I understand. I also lost an Aunt this last week. She was 98 but that doesn’t make it any easier to handle the loss.
  11. I, too, have had her on my mind. I have been .
  12. Momo. At least you got the doctor’s signature. I can’t get one without seeing several different doctors and even more tests. And then a certain number of weeks of pt…. We pay for all scooters and etc. thank the Lord I have some handy family repairmen. I totally understand your frustration and depression. It’s hard, I know but try to hang in there. Do whatever it takes to get through this. When I’m really down or having a really tough patch I play music or even sing, I read a good book like LS said, or I figure out something to research, not anything related to my problems but something fun and different. I find short meditations or relaxation tapes to listen to, they really help with the pain and stress. When I have to be sedentary I make list of the things I am looking forward to doing, I even add a few work things. Or I ponder a few things I wish I could do and then I put my mind to trying to figure out ways I MIGHT be able to do them from the wheelchair even though I know I won’t. Lately I have been thinking of chickens. Not of having them again but about what the coop would have to be like to work from the wheel chair if I DID have them. You would not believe the impossible ideas I’ve had about that Momo, what I am trying to say I guess is that even though we are incapacitated we can still live through our thoughts, our dreams, through our memories, good ones that is. I’m not saying escapism, I am saying working on that new attitude you mention. You might not be able to change what is happening to you but you can change your attitude to it. I know, I know, it’s not easy. I fail at it too, but then, after I have a nice pity party I just start over. We care Momo,
  13. LS, have you tried Premie nipples yet? Sometimes they work because they are softer.
  14. Happy birthday, Momo. I’m so sorry your day was not great. Perhaps tomorrow will be lot better.
  15. I am sorry to hear she has passed away. In looking at her profile I see her last post seems to be 2014. Has it really been that long? She was the voice of reason for food safety. Having taken a few extension office food safety classes I understood the need for being careful and paid attention to what she said. Thankfully her voice will live on through her posts. Something we might all think about. As long as Mrs S is here and accessible to others, our own voices will live on through our posts. It makes me even more aware of the need to be careful of my words. Remember though, new info comes along from all over the world, more ways to do things come to light, and more accurate testing is possible compared to even ten years ago when Violet was with us. We need to be open to different ideas, be they antiquated or futuristic but we need to use good judgement in assessing those ideas. Some things we learn on Mrs S we would perhaps not use now but we might need that info in the desperate times we prepare for. RIP Violet.
  16. This makes sense when you couple it with keeping it in the refrigerator. This would be similar to the old fashioned ‘larding’ that is still used in places where home butchering is prominent. In the past, freshly butchered meat was fried until well done, then layered with lard in big crocks and stored in the unheated cellar. Before consuming the meat was refried again or boiled well. Cooking that meat with fatty pieces, three days in a row and then refrigerating, could give you a similar product. The fat would come to the top and seal the meat as well as the lid used. Thinking this through I believe I’d need more proof too or I’d use it only as a last resort if new lids were no longer available, like in a SHTF situation.
  17. I’m not advocating this method. It seems risky to me but I do know that a Lot of countries use traditional preservation methods and have a lot less food poisoning from all sectors than we have here. Most of these methods are for their local produce though and might be different in this country. I would want some info on honsafe, in general, this is. Actually, there is very little food poisoning from home canned foods in this country than from commercial products so we must be doing something right. I, personally would err on the safe side. Some of what I’m reading about it says it’s not as effective as an autoclave but then, neither is our canners. It does seem this method is purposely allowing the spores to grow so they can turn into the bacteria so in turn be killed in subsequent boiling. It might be something we could use for sanitation or sterilization purposes in a survival situation though. That’s why I said it was interesting .
  18. We have tried the frozen root vegetables that are meant to be roasted. Pic Sweet brand I believe??? Some have parsnips in the mix, some beets but mostly they are sweet potato, winter squash, regular potatoes, and carrots. They are pricey unless on sale but we like them and they are easy to dump on a sheet pan and roast with a little olive oil. I routinely freeze root veggies though. I partially cook or steam them before hand as that makes them faster to prepare. I freeze winter squash, sweet potatoes, turnips, rutabagas, beets, parsnips, and etc. I don’t think they freeze as long as other veggies but they are a quick addition to a meal without the work at that time. I usually prep extra fresh roots when I do cook them and put them in the freezer but I have been known to take a couple hours and do a bigger freeze session. I’ve even started to cut them in smaller sizes and make up my own sheet pan veggies for the freezer. Much cheaper. That said, root veggies keep months in the refrigerator and I prefer them over the frozen ones. Plus, if we lose electricity they will still keep a long time unlike the frozen ones.
  19. I had to look this up. I’ve read about and even tried some of the preserving processes from other countries and a lot of the old time means but I had not heard of tyndallization. The description I read says to boil (100°c = 212°f) the product for various times, (mostly 20 minutes to 45 minutes, it seems to vary depending on who’s describing it) once a day for three days, and holding the product at 37°c (98.6°f) in between. I haven’t taken time to find particulars, such as is that IN the jars? The process seems to be aimed at killing the bacteria and also the spores that would multiply in the cooler temps. The bacteria would be killed with the first boiling and I’m guessing by the time the third boiling is done the spores are also wiped out. That does sound logical to me. I wonder why particularly in India. Something you might have to take into account is the same things we do here, the amount of acid in a food, is this done with meat and dense vegetables? Are they doing something specific besides that we might not do? They are probably not preserving beef as isn’t that considered sacred there so what meat might they be using if it IS used for meat that is. I find this very interesting.
  20. I have used a couple different apps to track our finances. Years ago I used Money. My online banking gives me the ability to go through and give my spending different categories. I use them all for a while, long enough to set a reasonable budget if I factor in price raises but they do get time consuming. My monthly household supply budget includes food and supplies from the grocery stores, what household supplies and foods I get from Amazon and a few other online places I order. I try to exclude home furnishings, repairs, and other one time buys as they go into a different category of spending. This does, however contain any daily, weekly, or monthly items we use on an ongoing basis so includes replenishing our preps. I roughly add those things up each month, three months, six months, and a year. As our income comes in monthly I make the budget for that. When I raised a large percentage of our own food the ‘daily life’ budget was very low. It was easy to see the budget raise as I was able to do less and less. I compensated somewhat by producing more easily grown foods like microgreens and sprouts. Before the pandemic I was able to keep our daily life budget less than $350. That included paper products, cleaning supplies, office supplies,, seeds and garden supplies, and etc. as well as food. During the pandemic that cost raised to closer to $500 but that price also included the money for gas I gave to DD for shopping for us. During that time both DH and myself became more disabled and unable to drive or do many of the things we used to and had to hire others to do things we no longer could but I put that cost in a separate classification too. Now, with the higher cost of almost everything from medications to insurance premiums and especially food, we are using our pantry, freezer, and other foods at an alarming rate and feel the need to replace them. Most of what we get now comes shipped or delivered and I’m finding it difficult to shop the local sales, which I always did in the past. Being unable to grow and can foods and not having access to bulk foods as I used to, I’m trying to find ways to save on the budget every where I can. This month I started to tabulate the costs of food separately from the other supplies. I’ve also been taking a close look at what we do eat and assessing them individually for ways I CAN save on them. I actually have been able to save through frugality and our overall daily life budget has been staying under $400 a month but there are many things not being replaced that should be. I know because of my allergies and restricted diet it won’t be easy but there must be a way, even for a wheelchair bound disabled senior citizen and a cognitively and physically impaired senior citizen husband. I like a challenge but I find I am constantly having to do a reality check on our abilities. MT3B, thanks for posting this challenge. It has given me the impetus to challenge myself and your assessment helps me to be cautious in my own solutions.
  21. I know people who make award winning chili with chocolate in it. That seems almost as unlikely as having it with Spam. I am seriously allergic to chocolate and would be I. Serious trouble if someone hid chocolate in a food. At least this is visible! My family loves chocolate covered bacon.
  22. MT3B, do you have an estimate of the cost per week if you include the staples you used? And what about the raise in price for those staples since you bought them? Besides learning about food fatigue do you have a dollar figure for the real cost of food for the two of you each week? Your challenge made me think about our own costs. I’m having difficulties separating the food costs from the other supply costs to figure out strictly what it costs us to eat. We get venison from the GS and the occasional rabbit, squirrel, and etc and have no idea how to price those. Also some of the veggies and fruit in the freezer were from our garden or land or were sprouts and microgreens we grew inside. Replacement of staples is also difficult to figure the cost.
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