Book review: The Encyclopedia of Country Living

I’d like to introduce you to the Bible of homesteading and rural life, Carla Emery’s incomparable “The Encyclopedia of Country Living.” Carla Emery is something of a hero of mine because she encompassed so many of the achievements I strive for: pride in being a wife and mother, writer, speaker, and homesteader.

This phenomenal book is probably THE single best reference you could ever own on all things rural. It’s about two inches thick with densely-printed pages. It covers just about anything you could ever want to know about country life, including the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Table of Contents (besides all the usual “Intros” and “Who This Book is For” and stuff like that) reads as follows:

• Oddments
• Introduction to Plants
• Grasses, Grains, and Canes
• Garden Vegetables
• Herbs and Flavorings
• Tree, Vine, Bush, and Bramble
• Food Preservation
• Introduction to Animals
• Poultry
• Goats, Cows, and Home Dairying
• Bee, Rabbit, Sheep, and Pig

The Index in the back is exhaustively complete and can direct you to just about every page in the book.

There is a very interesting page way toward the back which has “Your Achievement Checklist” and “A Final Exam for You.” (We aren’t doing too badly.)

I have consulted this book over and over and over throughout the years. Very seldom do I need to look elsewhere for answers to my questions, though there has been an occasion or two (can’t remember what they are, though). How to scald and pluck a freshly-killed chicken? It’s right here. At what temperature should cream be before churning it to butter? You’ll find the answer within these pages. How to prune a pear tree? Ditto. You name it, you’ll find it.

Just to brag for a moment: Carla Emery gave a talk in Medford, Oregon (near where we used to live) back in 1999, when we were preparing for Y2K. I went to hear her speak and she was fabulous – funny, witty, homey, very unprepossessing. Naturally I toted my copy of her book, which she kindly autographed.

She did more than that, too. When she learned that I had something of a small consulting service to help folks prepare for Y2K, she gave me a whole bunch of tapes and literature that normally cost a lot of money, to help me in my consulting. She wouldn't accept a penny.  Truly a kind and gracious woman.

Sadly, Carla Emery died in 2005 from complications from low blood pressure. My signed copy of her book is therefore all the more valued.

If you want one of the single best books you’ll ever own that will help you in your efforts to learn country life, this is it.

Where there's smoke, there's fire

Older Daughter and I went into Coeur d'Alene today for a day of running errands. As we started to head for home, we saw a heavy plume of smoke over the mountains. Unlike the years we lived in Oregon, this didn't cause us heart-stopping fear because August is when the local farmers burn their fields.

Field burning has been banned - with justification - in many areas, but is still legal in our county.

We drove closer and closer to the smoke:

Here the smoke is mushrooming over a small town of about 200 we passed through...

Dramatic, ain't it?

We got to the point we were passing the spot they were burning, and on impulse I turned off the highway toward the burn.

In the foreground you can see the blackened ground, from which the crop residues have been burned away.

 
The smoke got thicker and thicker.

With the permission of one of the farmers supervising the burning, we turned onto a side road and plunged right into the smoke.  Oy!

Here's the sun shining through:

Suddenly the wind shifted and blew the smoke right over us.  Oh my goodness, we were completely blinded.  Charred bits of grass blew across the windshield.  I know field-burning has caused fatal multi-car pileups on highways in the past (which is why it's been banned in most places) and after this it was easy to see why.  We literally couldn't see more than five feet ahead of the car.  I had to turn around on a narrow gravel road (doing one of those "eighteen point turns") and hope no one was going to barrel through the smoke and broadside us.

It was a relief to drive out of it, that's for sure!

If you spend any time in the western half of the U.S., you live in constant fear of fire.  When we first moved to northern Idaho, it took me awhile to get over that jump-out-of-your-skin feeling upon first seeing smoke.  Here there may be fire, but thankfully it's tightly controlled.  Field burning rarely gets out of hand.

Finding dignity on your hands and knees

I’m going to get hammered for this, but I feel it’s something that needs to be said.

We need to stop looking to the government to bail us out, either individually or collectively, when times get tough. Doing so may save us in the short-term, but in the long-term we’re sacrificing our national and personal independence.

What do I mean by this?

I mean that a refusal to depend on one’s self and one’s circle of support (friends, family, etc.) and instead depending on government largess when times are tough inexorably leads down the road toward socialism and the forced redistribution of wealth and assets. Here’s a harsh but true column (the truth is often harsh) that discusses this further.

At a time when the difference between dependence and independence was literally life and death – such as when the early Pilgrims were struggling to stay alive in a harsh new land – the settlers tried the warm fuzzy strategy of socialism and learned it was a colossal flop that led towards starvation. (Here’s an essay on the subject.) The settlers only succeeded when it was mandated that it was every man for himself. Personal responsibility and private property were embraced, and Plymouth Colony subsequently flourished.

But now, when an unwillingness to work is rewarded and subsidized by a bloated and overspent government, socialism works just fine… until, as Margaret Thatcher so bitingly noted, we run out of other peoples’ money. And when that time comes, we will be left with millions of people who don’t know how to work. That time is rapidly approaching, if not already here.

Over the years this has become a serious annoyance to me – that people are unwilling to work, dammit.

We know some folks who, like so many others in this economy, lost their jobs. Naturally they’ve been diligently searching for new employment commensurate with their impressive experience and credentials. But in the meantime, to keep body and soul together, they’re pulling weeds.

Yes really. For several months, all throughout the summer, these people (in their 50’s) are on their hands and knees in other peoples’ yards and gardens, pulling weeds. “Where’s their dignity?” you might ask. I’ll tell you where their dignity is: it’s in their hands and knees, pulling weeds. These folks aren’t asking for a handout from the government. They are doing whatever it takes to keep aloft in a rotten economy. And I have far more respect for them because they’re willing to do “lowly” work. God bless them.

I know other unemployed people who would be horrified at the thought. Lower myself to pull weeds? Me? With my education, job skills, and experience? I’d rather collect government money and diligently search for a job that really reflects who I am.

Bull.

Look, I know unemployment benefits have saved a lot of peoples’ fannies. But it has also led (for many, not all) toward a careless attitude about employment. I know a man who dillied and dallied and went fishing and watched television for a year and a half while collecting unemployment and half-heartedly looking for a job. You would never catch him pulling weeds. Ever. It was only when his benefits were about to expire that he finally rallied himself and decided to really look for a job. Amazingly, even in this rural area rife with high unemployment, he found full-time work within a couple of weeks. Gee, go figure.

What most people don’t realize is the dangerous trend heralded by this government safety net. The dreaded condition of socialism doesn’t come in one blinding flash of lightening. No, it comes through creeping apathy, from a preference to go fishing rather than weed someone’s garden because, after all, there’s a safety net (unemployment benefits) to catch them. See my point? Government safety nets are fine and good for immediate help, but they also make people careless and indifferent. Creep creep.

My husband and I have been self-employed for seventeen years. We have no safety net beyond what we ourselves install. If our home business fails or reaches the point where it can no longer support us, we have no choice but to seek other sources of income. We cannot look to the government to help us because it won’t.

And therein, I believe, is the genesis of my passion on this topic. When you cannot look to the government to save your fanny, you have no choice but to sharpen your own skills and utilize your own resources in order to save your fanny. And – here’s a thought – most of the time your fanny gets saved through your own efforts. Gee, go figure.

Please don’t misinterpret this to mean I find no compassion for those who cannot work. There is a world of different between cannot and will not. That’s why the classic verse of 2 Thessalonians 3:10 was phrased the way it was: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat.” It doesn’t say cannot work, it says will not. (Here are other Bible verses that support a work ethic.)

Like the early Pilgrims who discovered that starvation was an excellent motivator, the only thing that will save this nation is if millions of people who are waiting for the government to save them will get off their butts and start weeding gardens. Or waiting tables. Or scrubbing toilets. Or mopping floors. Or delivering pizzas. Or doing whatever it takes to be able to lift their chins with dignity and say, “I refuse to let someone else save my fanny.”

Okay, I’ll get off my soapbox now.

Incubating eggs

Younger Daughter and her friend Miss Calamity found a small el-cheapo egg incubator we've had for years but never used.  We have two (possibly three) setting hens who may or may not successfully hatch chicks.  Nonetheless the girls decided they wanted to try out the incubator.

They found some fresh eggs and began setting it up.

Adding some water to the bottom to keep the humidity high.

All set up.  As I said, it's tiny and only holds three eggs.

The instructions that came with it are pretty comical.  These two country girls - well familiar with the Farm Facts of Life - got a huge kick out of reading the directions out loud to each other: "Chickens have fathers and mothers just as people do.  The father chickens are called roosters.  Mother chickens are called hens.  Eggs are laid by hens." "Before it can produce a baby chick, an egg must be fertile... In order to produce a fertile egg, a hen must have a husband."  Et cetera.

Speaking of chicken husbands, we'll test our rooster's libido by seeing if these eggs are fertile in three weeks.  Standby.

Back it up!

It's been three months since I got my new laptop and we still haven't transitioned over to it. It's been one thing after another. My external mouse didn't work and I needed to get a different cable. It wouldn't connect to the internet. It wouldn't accept my email program. Blah blah blah.

So I'm still working on my old laptop and just dealing with the 30-second-warning shutdowns and other weird quirks it's still prone to.

But this afternoon...oooh, that scared me. I was copying over some complicated Word files when Word froze up. No biggee, it's done that before, so I shifted over to something else and waited for it to unfreeze.  But then the  computer just...stopped. Turned off cold. I couldn't restart it.

Crap.

This was Sunday afternoon, and for the first time in months I had forgotten to do a full-scale backup Sunday morning before leaving for church. I don't know why. I simply forgot. That meant it had been nearly two weeks since I'd done a full backup. I was in trouble.

Thankfully, after a few minutes of cooling down, my old laptop started up again and I immediately ran a backup. Don worked on the new computer somewhat this afternoon, but he's putting in insane hours on our business and didn't have time to get it figured out. So I'm still on my old laptop.

From now on, I'm doing bi-weekly full backups of my files, and daily backups on the thumb drive.

This is serious stuff, folks. For God's sake, back up your computer.

Mice messes

I came stumbling downstairs the other morning, still half asleep. The kitchen was dark, lit only by a nightlight. I started the kettle for tea, then took off my glasses and turned on the water in the sink to splash my face.

UP popped a distressed (and wet) mouse.

Bleary-eyed, I switched the running water to the other sink (we have a double sink) and continued to splash my face.

UP popped another distressed (and wet) mouse.

I went into the bathroom to finish splashing my face. Then I picked up a large plastic cup and scooped both mice - they were only half-grown - and put them outside.

Yesterday morning I came downstairs and found that Don had left a cup with some pills he's taking on the counter.

Evidently a mouse got curious during the night because the cup was tipped over, and one of the pills had been taken out and chewed on:

Great.  Now we'll have healthy mice.  I think it's time to revert back to traps, since the poison doesn't seem to be working.

Meanwhile, this is my usual habit at night just before going to bed: put out my tea things with the tea already in the mug, so all I have to do is pour boiling water.  Why do I cover my mug like this?  Because many years ago when I got up in the morning and poured boiling water into my mug, a shrieking mouse jumped out. Old habits die hard.

Meanwhile some neighbors got a new kitten.  They have the right idea.  Unfortunately our dog Major is a cat-killer, so a cat is out of the question for the time being.

Big dog

For those needing a Lydia fix...

Yep, spoiled.

Like the plague?

Here's a sobering little clip which shows the unemployment rate by county across the United States. We go from a cheery yellow (overall) to a depressing black in very little time.  Like a plague?

Beans and rice, folks...

The bare necessities

I have a new post up at the RegularGuy.com site called "The Bare Necessities."  Warning, it contains some yucky photos.

ILLEGAL to have more than two weeks of food in the house...???

I received many fine comments on my last blog post on hoarding, but this one stopped me in my tracks:

My sister was visited by Childrens Social Services several years ago. An aquaintence had reported that she was hoarding food. CSS claimed it was illegal for her to have more than 2 wks of food in the house, or it would cause the children to have fear that a disaster and starvation was going to happen. Also, it was a symptom that my sister was mentally ill.

She contacted a lawyer. Storing (any amount) of shelf-stable food was NOT illegal where she was. Once CSS knew she had a lawyer involved they backed off, but the aquaintence still tells anyone they both know that she is a "hoarder" and mentally unstable. 

For many years I've felt a deep and abiding loathing for Child Protective Services.  While of course they do rescue some children from horrible conditions, many other times they rip apart happy families for no better excuse than a vague "tip."  But to call anyone with "more than two weeks of food in the house" mentally ill or unstable is beyond ridiculous - it's EVIL.

My $0.02.

Hoarding

I have a pet peeve. I hate the word “hoarding.”

Let me be more specific: I hate the term “hoarding” as applied toward Preppers.

Hoarding implies that by buying some extra bottles of shampoo, we are doing so at the expense of others. It implies that we are somehow wrong to store rice and beans to feed our families during hard times. That by storing food, we are literally taking it out of the mouths of others. It implies that there are already shortages, and we are taking more than our fair share. That by ramping up our own food storage, we are causing others to go hungry.

I'm sure you'll agree that none of these implications are true. We who are preparing are, by definition, doing so during "easy" times. Right now food and other resources are abundant and relatively cheap. Virtually everyone can do something to prepare for future shortages. Most just choose not to. And make no mistake, lack of preparedness is, for most people in this country, a choice.

Hoarding is an ugly word and, I believe, profoundly untrue as it applies toward those who are concerned enough about the current and future economic situation in our country that we are laying in supplies of food and other resources.

How many people, when they hear a rumor about a shortage of sugar, will go stock up on hundreds of pounds of sugar to the point that rumor becomes truth? I clearly remember such an incident from my childhood. Also toilet paper. Also coffee. Also (my husband remembers this from his early boyhood) vacuum tubes. (As in, for televisions.)

But Preppers have no need to engage in a run on sugar or toilet paper or any other resource…because they already have adequate stores, thank you. This is because they had the foresight to stock up on necessities long before anyone ever dreamed a shortage could happen. This is because they believe only by having adequate stores of resources can they avoid becoming one of the stampeding crowd, one of the desperate horde, one of the victims of violence because someone else wants the same bag of sugar or package of toilet paper.

It’s well documented that a resource doesn’t become “valuable” until it becomes scarce. How much does a pound of salt cost at the grocery store? $0.59? Imagine if salt was suddenly scarce. How much would that pound cost?

It’s a simple matter of supply and demand. By definition, Preppers are people who accumulate – “hoard,” if you will – resources when supplies are high and demand (and prices) are low.

What makes me furious is the reaction and attitude toward Preppers when these resources suddenly becomes scarce. How easy is it to blame someone who has a room full of toilet paper when there is none to be had at the store? Why won’t they share, dammit? It doesn’t matter that the Preppers bought TP when it was $5 for a 24-pack and no one else wanted it. I WANT SOME TOILET PAPER. IT’S NOT FAIR (kicking heels) THAT YOU WON’T GIVE ME SOME!!!

Why? Why isn't it FAIR? What's "fair" about trying to force me to share my resources with you when all you did was pooh-pooh my "hoarding" when you could have been doing the same thing? Can you see the childishness of this reaction?

Most Preppers are not rich. God knows we're not. We’re just ordinary folks who see the gathering storm clouds on the horizon and are doing what we can to provide for our families if hard times hit. Naturally we’re viewed with condescending tolerance and not a little laughter at our expense…until TSHTF.

Suddenly that tolerance and humor becomes frustration, outrage, and even violence if Preppers don’t share their store of resources. When asked to explain the logic behind the outrage, the Unprepared generally fall back upon the indignant accusation that the Preppers are “hoarding.”

I see. So why didn’t the Unprepared “hoard” when they, too, had the chance?

What follows is a stuttering list of excuses. Lack of money. Lack of storage. Lack of interest. Lack of foresight. Lack lack lack.

What it translates to, folks, is denial. The Unprepared refuse to become Preppers because they simply cannot, or will not, grasp the idea that anything could interrupt their comfortable lives. Even those who have lived through hardship and deprivation – the aftermath of hurricanes, violent urban riots, war, acts of terrorism – cannot extrapolate into the future and see that deprivation can happen again. And again and again and again. At any time. Totally without warning.

So why do, say, homeowners in Florida not keep plywood, food, water, duct tape, and other resources in their garage for the inevitable hurricane? Denial. Maybe they don’t think bad things could ever happen to them. (It always happens to someone else, right?) Maybe they think someone else will protect them. (The government. Natch.) Maybe they think God will look after them. (It was J.G. Holland who said, “God gives every bird its food but does not throw it into the nest.”) Whatever their excuse, the fact remains that when a tragedy strikes, the Unprepared are caught with their drawers down – and then they’re angry at those who aren’t. The Unprepared line up at Home Depot for plywood and then get angry with their neighbors who knew enough to keep plywood in the garage between hurricanes. Oh, and food and water too.

This isn’t to imply Preppers can’t be affected by tragedies. Of course they can. I know someone with a serious interest in preparedness whose wife died of cancer. He wasn’t “prepared” for that. The rain falls on the just and the unjust, and as with anyone affected by a loss, all he could do was pick himself up, grieve, and get on with life.

But Preppers are doing their best to mitigate disaster. It’s all any of us can do.

No one objects to Preppers “hoarding” food during easy times. We’re viewed with tolerant amusement at our hobby of bucketing beans and rice, at canning every vegetable that comes our way, at buying a few extra tubes of toothpaste. Folks usually view us as a little quirky but otherwise harmless. After all, we’re spending our own money and not asking anyone else to provide those resources for us.

It’s only post-TSHTF that our efforts are suddenly viewed with hostility as “hoarding” because, gee whiz, we’re reluctant to distribute our “hoard” to every grasshopper who demands a share.

“The time to gather emergency supplies,” as a reader pointed out, “is when there isn't an emergency. There will be more supplies available for everybody that way.” In fact, who knows? If there’s enough of a demand for resources, the supplies may ramp up their production to meet the demand, thus assuring plenty of resources for everyone. (Until the bleep hits the fan, of course.)

Hope this clears up any misconception on “hoarding.”

Our busy season continues...

The clock is ticking down toward the opening weekend of the Kansas City Renaissance Festival, where we own a booth.  It is without question our single biggest event of the year for our business so we're making tankards as fast as we can. We have the world's most awesome husband-wife team of booth managers who sell for us.  If you're in the area, stop in at booth #400 (we're called Tri Canis Nox - now figure out what that means) and say hello to them!

But meanwhile back at the ranch, we're frantically working on a production run of 500 pieces to get to KC before the doors open on Labor Day weekend.  All four of us have been involved in the production.

And this is part of the result.  Here's what our upstairs work room looked like this afternoon.  In other words, a mess.

While the girls and I are upstairs working on various aspects of the production, my poor husband was in the shop cutting 500 handles.  Oh my.  Tedious at best.

We'll get it done.  We always do.  These pieces will be shipped in time for the opening weekend.  Then it's constant 150 to 200 piece production runs with weekly shipments to KC until mid-October, when the Festival ends.  After that - we collapse!