Cukes
I love cucumbers. I had a pretty good crop last year, and hope to again this year. But they get a little boring just eating them raw as a snack. The middle part can also contribute to a little heartburn or indigestion.
My wife was cutting up some veggies yesterday to take to a family cookout, when she had a great idea for slicing them in strips.
I now present the first How To video on the IfItHitsTheFan YouTube channel
I'm going to slice some up and dehydrate them on the Excalibur to make some long term storageable and nutritious snack sticks. I'll let you know how that works out.
Popcorn Preps
After dinner tonight, we wanted some popcorn. My wife thought she had used up all that we had and we would have to resort to the microwave type. A quick trip out to the shop, and I came in with a 5 3/4 pound jug of Orville Redenbacher. A great example of eat what you store, store what you eat. I still have one more out there, and will add two more next trip we take to BJ's.
Water Harvesting
So long as you don't live in a state like Colorado, the water that hits your roof, driveway, and yard belongs to you. Being on a shallow well, I value every drop I can get extra. I have not yet invested in rain barrels to attach to the downspouts, but I have a smaller scale method. I have quite a few 5 gallon buckets that I use in gardening, digging up rocks in the yard, etc... This week, we are getting heavy rain storms every night. While that does my garden good this week, we'll be under bright sun by the weekend. By leaving my buckets out this week, I'll get a couple more days of "free" water after the rain stops. I just can't let them sit for too long, lest they become mosquito breeding grounds. I plan to get a true harvesting and storage system in this year, but this temporary measure helps out for the time being.
How about posting a link to your YouTube self? This way readers can easily subscribe.
ReplyDeleteSteelheart
Great video. I agree with you on the "Eat what you store,Store what you eat" method of rotating your food stores. Rain barrels are a great way to save on water usage. I live in an old fourplex apartment and have hooked rain barrels up to both down spouts on the back of the building and use it for my small little garden. Great post and video.
ReplyDeleteThanks, BVDD!
ReplyDeleteSteelheart, I'll put the link in today's post and add it somewhere permanently this weekend. Thanks for reminding me!
You probably already know this, but the City of Newport News has a series of Rain Barrel workshops, and my wife and kids attended last year. The cost was about $30. You can also get just the used barrels themselves for about $10 from the same company in Norfolk that the city gets them from, and then get the other stuff yourself from Home Depot.
ReplyDeleteLet me know if you're interested and need any additional info; I can send you the contact info with the City and also the "parts" list you'll need if you go solo.
By the way, I've got two barrels hooked together and filled by a single downspout, and 110 gallons comes along a LOT faster than you think... even with just a "little" rain. The garden is happy.
As a Christmas gift to the family last year, my wife bought a stainless steel popcorn popper. http://goo.gl/kIMBP. It works great; makes some of the best popcorn we've eaten.
ReplyDeleteAnd, we highly recommend keeping some "Morale Boosters" like this in your prepping supplies. It TEOTWAWKI ever hits, it'll be nice to have some popcorn or some cake to celebrate birthdays, etc.
Joe
Mike - Yes, I'd love to learn more about the class - please email me info on who puts it on etc... ifithitsthefan@gmail dot com
ReplyDeleteJoe - You are exactly right on those morale boosters playing an important role. Instant pudding and powdered milk, cake mixes, hard candies, popcorn, all can be great surprises or special rewards.