No.858: Last Week at the Farmhouse // Use It or Lose It

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For the past few days, I’ve been online, watching the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene.  So many people have lost everything and millions will be without electricity for weeks.  It’s so sad and heartbreaking.  In times like these, I can’t help but think that just because we have abundant technology at our fingertips doesn’t mean we shouldn’t learn “the old ways” too.  If this situation were to happen to us, would we know how to survive without our daily luxuries?

I once heard someone explain that if a skill is never taught, a society will completely forget how to do that skill within three generations.  And this doesn’t have to apply to nineteenth century habits…it could simply be remembering how people lived in the 1940’s (like Grandma Donna likes to practice)!  This is a silly but poignant example: we have a backup camera on our car, but do we remember how to reverse without it?

Below is my working list of skills I’d like to learn, strengthen or pass on to my children.  What would be on yours?

• how to identify wild plants (which are poisonous and which are edible?)
• how to identify scat (important to know what kind of wild animal you’re dealing with!)
• basic carpentry and home repair
• reading a paper map
• sewing and mending clothing
• simple car repair
• how to grow food and then use or save that food intentionally (canning, drying, etc)
• writing and reading in cursive

Hoping to document the abundance around me all year long!

Around here, abundance looks like…

+ a week of RAIN.  We were thankfully too far north to feel the worst effects of the hurricane, but it’s still been a lot to handle.  No flooding, but there is mush and mud everywhere.

+ completing the last broiler processing of the season.  Due to weather and scheduling conflicts, we decided to get it done all in one day (vs. our usual two) and took up the offer from a farmer friend to use his covered shelter and machines.  (This was huge because we usually process in our backyard and it’s just a mess right now – see above!)  It took a bit of logistical planning to bring over our birds and supplies, but we got it done!  175 birds makes for a long day, but I’m so thankful for a sunny day, my hard-working family and a full chicken freezer.

+ trying a three week on/one week off grocery shopping experiment.  I’ve been consistently going over my weekly budget (despite my best intentions!) so hoping this will help.  We’ll still need milk and possibly produce, but I’m hoping I can make our pantry stretch during that fourth week.

+ another week plodding along with the Weather the Storm Challenge.  This week, I:

• used the weekly grocery store ad to buy apples, yogurt and tortillas on sale
• purchased five items to put back for winter (pasta and pizza sauce)
• made vanilla granola to eat with the yogurt above
• sold eggs to friends
• cooked dried pinto beans and used those to make refried beans
• paid two bills by check to avoid the online convenience fees
• made english muffin bread twice
• restocked my “bag to hold all the bags” to remind myself to use them
• made beef stew using my homemade beef broth and various veggies in the fridge
• made elderberry syrup and froze into ice cubes (time to strengthen my immune system again)

+ selling four unneeded items for the Car Loan Payoff Plan: one shirt, a scarf and two books.  After shipping and fees, I made $7.46!  Reselling went on the back burner, so a really slow week.

Reading //

• The Flavors of Faux History: Preparing for the Collapse of Knowledge from Peco and Ruth Gaskovski at School of the Unconformed // Another thoughtful post from the Gaskovskis and another book list to chip away at!
• A Reflection on the Virtue of Perseverance from Rev. M. McDonnell at Saint Benedict Center // Great examples here.  I liked this story:

Timour, the celebrated Tartar warrior, after a series of the most brilliant victories, was at length conquered and made captive. Though confined in a prison, whose massive walls and thick iron bars discouraged every attempt to escape, he still strove at each chink and crevice to find some way of escape. At length weary and dispirited, he sat down in a corner of his gloomy prison and almost gave himself up to despair. While brooding over his sorrows, an ant with a piece of wood twice as large as itself attracted his attention; the insect seemed determined to ascend the perpendicular face of the wall and made several attempts to affect it. But after reaching a little elevation it came to the jutting angle of a stone and fell backward to the floor. But again, again and again the attempt was renewed; the prisoner watched the struggles of the insect, and in the interest he forgot his own condition. The ant persevered and at the sixteenth trial surmounted the obstacle. Timour sprang to his feet, exclaiming: “I will never despair, perseverance conquers!”

• How We Built A-Frame Chicken Tractors To Protect Our Hens from Green Willow Homestead // Always planning and preparing for next year.

New Additions to The List // 

• The Natural World of Winnie-The-Pooh: A Walk Through the Forest That Inspired the Hundred Acre Wood by Kathryn Aalto
• Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant (the first in an eleven-book series)
• A Bitter Truth (Bess Crawford #3) by Charles Todd

Watching/Listening //

• MASSIVE Meal Prep for a Senior! A New Mix & Match Menu to Stock Her Freezer with Easy Meals! from Dollar Tree Dinners // This got me thinking about ways I could stock my fridge and freezers too.
• Fr. Tom Shepanzyk | The Effects of Communism from Christendom College // Excellent.
• How To Reverse a Cavity at Home | Cure Tooth Decay from Dr. Ellie Phillips // This video randomly appeared on my Youtube recommendations…very interesting.

Loving //

• Ghirardelli White Chocolate Caramel // An impulse buy from last week’s birthday shopping spree.  A yummy treat.
• this idea for homemade vanilla extract // Now to find a source for vanilla beans!