I Made the Buffalo Paper

and no it wasn't the Police blotter ... I had a phone interview with Tim Graham, a staff reporter for The Buffalo News both an online & hard copy newspaper. He wanted the low down from real life local preppers . 

Actually acknowledging to myself that I am a prepper has never been easy. 

I along with most of America has always thought of preppers as a gun toting fringe group hold up in the boonies. Cast members from the remake of Deliverance ... cue the banjos. 

Because to me in my mind the way I live my life wasn't prepping ... it was being prepared & being ghetto fugal ghetto Amish ... cue the boom box. 

As much as I'd like to say that I feel the need to use non-electric tools because I am green to the core or I worry about EMP issues the real truth is I'm cheap. In the past the cheaper I could be the less I needed to work outside the home when my babies were small. Now, well it's about hard economic times & saving for our old age.

I really didn't didn't expect to make the final cut of the article because to tell you the truth I was expecting a sensational over the top piece about the local preparedness movement here in Western New York ala Nat Geo's Doomsday Preppers. I had hopes that the subsection of preppers who prepare for lifes trails & tribulations like hubby's recent & ongoing unemployment wouldn't be excluded. 

I was pleasantly surprised ! Thank you Tim.

Here's the link - I'm mentioned under the heading Canned Goods not Zombies 

Some old homes have bats we have TP & old fans

The toilet paper was free thanks to Swagbucks which had $5 YaySave gift cards last month. Unforgivably the gc are no more which is a real heart break 'cause they were cheaper than the $5 Amazon gift cards. I bought the max allowed in March & April which was a total of ten = $50. Last year Swagbucks had the premium membership a $19.99 (free shipping & extra discount) value so I bought that with my swagbucks points. So yeah I got free Charmin no cost shipping. In fact the 4 roll Charmin packs also got me swagbucks so it was a double win win.

Now if I could only get Woods, to sell that finger tip slicing fan ! He said no, you never know when you'll have to slice up zombies with it.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Cheaper Than Dirt

Last week I got an email from Casey, whoever he or she may be, passing along a widget for a site that did a post on making a raised garden bed for $50. 

Five Zero. 

Fifty Washingtons. 

One third of a month of groceries.

Half a yard can buy allot in my world so I kinda was put out that this site was holding out their example as a cost effective fugal gardening method. It's a cool looking graphic that breaks down the cost of constructing a garden bed from scratch. 

I'd be impressed if it didn't cost so much.

Think of this as just a box spring.

This is a bed Woodsrunner built me four years ago out of old fence material I had saved from the but-ugly fence that surrounded my city lot. I didn't save much of that old fence but it's been enough so far. Woodsrunner had odds & ends (screws) laying around his workshop. I think we did actually spend some greenbacks on dirt but knowing myself I'd lay even money down that it wasn't more than $5 for bagged topsoil. 

Bed Me Baby

This year Hubby added a second frame or as I like to say a mattress to the box spring using a few more of those old fence boards tucked up in the rafters of his man cave. Only this time he was outta hardware so he came up with a tight MacGyver move ...

Metal Biscuits 

Those shinny circles are aluminium lids & bottoms from assorted nut cans used to join the fence boards. He's a good man to steal from his scrap metal stash - estimated cost/scrap metal value < 1¢

Like before I'll fill this level up with bunny poop, compost materials, egg shells, wood ash, alternating with bagged top soil that I scored last Autumn for a buck a bag. If you click on this blog post  the second pic is of this exact same bed using the direct compost method. Slick way to say no middle man a.k.a. no compost bin.

On a side note I love my free mulch courtesy of the city who had tree stumps ground the next street over last month. Thank you to hubby for snagging a few cart fulls.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Gone-Not-Gone-Winter

YNNBuffalo 

On Friday I was pedaling around my part of the city in what else - pedal pushers & a tank top, wind in my hair, smile on my face. Life was good, very good I had one paycheck in my pocket and only two days to go to my only day off for the week on my second job.
I even got a bit of a burn on my forearms.
Life was good as pedaled my way to the next neighborhood for my last shift of the day.

That was Friday.

Today we dug out the snow shovels that I had placed behind the garage just two days ago. Today we stood in the kitchen looking out the window @ the back yard ... speechless.
I have a pang of guilt in the pit of my stomach. If I hadn't put away the shovels that late unusually hot April Friday, this sleet/snow fall wouldn't be happening now.
I apologize.
I know better.
I have no idea what I was thinking. I wouldn't have taken down storm windows nor put up snow parkas in favor of light jackets & flip flops.
I am soo sorry!

There's nothing to say.
There's nothing to do.
Or is there ?

My area is slated to have under 10" much more than plastic tarps can fend off. The plan for the cold frames is to just go old school & scrape off the accumulated flakes. The fruit trees ... I plan to shake. Yeah just shake them. Shake the wet snow off so the branches won't be weighted down & snap.
No snapping allowed.

Woods has vowed to snap a pic of me standing sentry in our urban orchard shaking trees.

On the home front we have a bit of cured firewood for tonight & Monday night. If the grid goes down due to tree branches on power lines we also have the back up of a small heater powered by propane along with a small supply but I don't see us really needing it. Instead we can just have the wood stove lit for a few hours to heat soap stone bed warmers then turn in for the night.

If this were really the dead of Winter then we'd break out the two person tents to sleep in. It's easier to body heat a small tent than a whole bedroom.

We also have that old standby, a two burner Coleman Camping Stove for cooking and heating water for hot water bottles. Don't underestimate the benefits of curling up with even a small source of warmth when your cold. There's also our supply of oil lamps which we've been putting into practice as of late, along with flash lights & solar garden lights.

The majority of our food is shelf stable no need for refrigeration. What food items that are frozen would be pressure canned for long term shelf life on the Coleman Camp Stove.

We are to use a popular term, prepared ... for the most part minus the garden & orchard pretty well set for this coming Nor'easter that's headed our way.
Are you ?


~~ pelenaka ~~

Acting Squirrely

Frost Variety Peach Tree #1 

For the most part it has been any where from a hard frost to mild frost conditions most nights here on the urban homestead. These trees, wedding gifts from me to Woodsrunner, have been tenacious in the face of Winter's last hooray.
Every morning as I look out the back kitchen window the sight of them both bring a smile to my face. My Peach Orchard in the ghetto.

When I bought these trees I had hopes of our children playing underneath them. Now going on six years of marriage sans babies Woodsrunner, parents my children as if they are his own. No pitter patter of little Dutch feet playing underneath.
My hopes is that one day my ... our grandchildren will be asking when they can pick a peach fresh off the tree.

Frost Variety Peach Tree #2 & the mylar backdrop

The mylar garden mirror I installed last June has held up really good. The panels that show creases are potato chip bags, the ones without are mylar food storage bags.

Ever since our mini heat wave last month which sparked orchards including mine to sprout weeks a head of schedule I've been scrambling like a squirrel before Winter gathering nuts.
A really frenzied squirrel with empty pockets and pantry shelves to fill.
I'm pretty confident that our personal Peach orchard will pull through, however I think local Cherry orchards have been hard hit. Whatever Cherries make it to market will be beyond my economic reach.

Besides canning up Cherry Pie filling I also can jelly jars of Almond Cherries in lite syrup for Woodsrunner. Cherries are a good homeopathic anti-gout remedy to have in the house. They also are awesome on buckwheat pancakes.

I ordered Traverse Bay Fruit Co. Dried Cherries, 4-Pound Box on Amazon for $24.33 or 38¢ per oz (subscribe & save pricing free shipping) with a portion of this month's earnings from Swagbucks.

I figure instead of pie I'll make Woods Cherry Chocolate Whole Wheat Cake.
Yeah I know it's different when your walking the healthier side of the street.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Murphy's Law

Every Nightingale needs a lamp & coffee grinder 

If you have been a long time reader of my blog then you "heard" me mention how I try not to let the gods know I have dead presidents (federal tax return) least the hot water heater starts peeing like a drunk behind the dumpster of the corner club or the car needs a new battery.

Wait for it ... the car did need a new battery because of a short in the wiring. Woods fixed that but we lost the clock & radio.
No hardship there because in this pinch we just use my solar emergency weather radio  on the dash.

Next came a bearing job rod thingy followed by a wheel alignment followed by car insurance note. The money order went out to the great insurance fund in the sky. Our only chariot has been sitting idle in the driveway, transportation needs fulfilled by bicycle, shoe leather express, or carro de publica. No problema it's Spring and we need to burn off the Winter fat.

Then the mother of all creature comforts only overshadowed by indoor plumbing, broke.
In one tenth of a millisecond by the flip of a switch we lost power in roughly 70% of our house. One moment we were all sitting in my new old parlor watching the telly then we weren't. Woodrunner had gotten up to snag a snack from the kitchen and on flipping the switch set into motion yet another M. L. E. (Murphy's Law event) this Spring.

The second story of MOH (my old house) went black along with two of the first floor rooms; the living room & downstairs bedroom. NP, we are preppers we just pulled out some battery operated L.E.D. lanterns then ran an electrical cord to the t.v. Finished watching the movie because it was due back @ the library the next day. By the third day of no power we went old school pulling out Wood's oil lamps.
The upside is that none of the vital outlets that supply the Westinghouse or chest freezer were affected. Oh yeah wait for it ... $3 savings on the electrical bill so far.

So the plan for now is to take a chill pill yeah I wrote it, take a few to regroup. We're working the  bartering angle for electrical work. So far no takers.

No hurry.
We have heat & plenty of lamps; battery, solar, & oil.
Most importantly I have a means to grind & brew coffee.
I might even invite Mr. Murphy in for a cup.


~~ pelenaka ~~

Cow in the Cupboard

Free milk without buying the cow

When I think of a traditional homestead my pop culture inspired imagination often pictures dairy cows on lush green pastures contained within a perfectly picturesque white rail fence, Elsie the Borden Jersey Cow comes to mind.
Sweet smiling with her daisy chain necklace, the symbol of perfect dairy products.

But for those of us who don't have lush green pastures to keep a big doe eyed milker for our personal dairy there is always the more convenient alternative - non-fat powdered milk. Before you wrinkle your nose and mentally make whatever gag like remark that always represents forced Brussels sprouts consumption there are a few advantages of having a cow in the cupboard at your beck & call.

There's is the convenience factor which just can't be appreciated enough least there's a blizzard to remind you that you really don't want to make a midnight milk run.

I use non-fat milk for cooking and baking which frees up fresh milk for drinking, a cost savings. Then there's the added bonus of decreasing the calorie and fat content of a recipe by replacing the regular milk. I also use it to make Greek style yogurt.


I got a good deal on 8 pounds of non-fat milk in month on special offers on Amazon for $39.73 which qualified for free shipping. And as my other swagbucks rewards, this milk is free.


~~ pelenaka ~~