Challenge update

Okay, I'm a late-comer to the Independence Days challenge so my update covers everything from May 1 to now.

Plant something- DH built us a 4x8 raised bed for the kitchen garden and prepped an existing bed for veggies. Planted two tomato plants, one rosemary, one chamomile. In pots waiting to be planted are another rosemary, 3 lavender (Grosso), two more tomatoes and a bay laurel seedling (in a container).

Harvest something- not yet. Does picking up our CSA basket count?

Preserve something- not yet but bought a pressure canner for when the time comes.

Prep something- Purchased a wheat grinder, a kit for making mixes with powdered dairy and 25 lbs of hard white wheat berries.

Cook something- Got some Tokyo white turnips from the CSA. Never cooked turnips before but these turned out well. The turnip greens not so much. But this variety is sweet and you don't have to peel them. Also made bread from freshly ground wheat berries. I can tell I'm going to have to adjust to using this whole wheat flour...loaves didn't rise very well...the result was edible and fairly tasty.

Manage your reserves- Started organizing pantry which is also a laundry room.

Work on local food systems- Joined a CSA and the local food co-op this spring. First time for both.

What is "peak oil" and why should I care?

While the concept of peak oil seems to be going mainstream lately there are still a lot of people who have either never heard of it or think those who are sounding the alarm about it are crying wolf a la Y2K. So instead of explaining why peak oil is different from Y2K, let me refer you to the inimitable Sharon Astyck of Casaubon’s Book. She says it way better than I ever could.
Go forth and read.

Coming Out

Today, I am coming out of the proverbial closet. No.. not THAT closet. It’s that green closet over there. The one that says “Peak Oil” and “Climate Change”. Yes, after many years with my head in the sand, last year I awoke to the very real possibility/probability that the world will deplete its reserves of petroleum in my lifetime....most certainly in my children’s lifetimes. And coinciding with this depletion will be climate change on a scale humans have never seen, caused mainly by our profligate use of the aforementioned oil reserves.
I have hesitated to open the closet door for several reasons but chiefly because I didn’t want people to think I was a crazy, gun-obsessed, loner suvivalist. I have no desire to move to a cave in the Ozarks. As much as I like to tell myself that I don’t care what other people think, the reality is that I DO care...a lot.

So why I am coming out now? Mainly because I have been convicted that I have a moral duty to do so. I am convinced that our society is headed for some very difficult times. Times for which we should all begin to prepare. If I, believing this, fail to also warn others then I am morally responsible for that failure and accountable to God for it.
Secondly, if we are to have any chance of heading off the disastrous climate changes that are headed straight toward our children like a runaway car, everyone of us is obliged to stand up and be counted by doing what we can individually and urging our government to make the necessary changes for all of us.
So we are taking the Independence days challenge from Sharon Astyck (see sidebar).

Some of the changes that have been happening around here:
Stocking the pantry- We’re beginning to organize our pantry for hard times by purchasing extra staples and supplies. We’ve also begun adding more whole foods to our diet as these are cheaper and easier to store.
Local food- We joined a CSA and a food co-op this spring as way of supporting our local farmers instead of Wal-Mart. The food is better too. I tried cooking turnips from this week’s CSA and they were fantastic. Never cooked turnips before!
Non-electric- We have a long way to go in this area but we have added oil lamps and batteries both of which came in very handy during last December’s ice storm. We will also be adding a fireplace to our house as a secondary heat source, another lesson learned from the ice storm.
Gardening- We’re putting in a small vegetable garden this year, more for the practice than anything else. We’ll grow some tomatoes and a few other veggies, also some herbs both culinary and medicinal.

That’s the short list but I have lots more to tell and some new links to share in the sidebar. Check them out.

Pascha

I can hardly believe that I went the whole of Lent without posting! Lent was amazing. I kept the fast for the most part which is nothing less than the grace of God. I loved the focus that Lent provided my ADD brain and not just for myself but for the whole church. Its wonderful to know that everyone else is struggling and praying and working toward the same thing you are. I tried to go to at least one weekday service each week during Lent and that helped a lot. And by the end of Lent I was noticing that my joints/fibromyalgia hurt much less too. After Pascha and the return to "normal" food I have discovered that I am allergic (or at least sensitive to) dairy products. Enough so that I am going to continue fasting from them just because I feel terrible when I eat them now.

Pascha was incredible. Daughter #2 went with me which was great. What a party! I've never been a part of such a celebration before!

Today is the Sunday of the Myrhh Bearing Women and is the liturgical anniversary of my first Divine Liturgy. I was remembering today how lost and overwhelmed I felt at first. So much has changed. I no longer feel lost but cradled.

Lent Approaches

Its been awhile since I posted. Bad blogger. No real reason for not posting other than life.
Lent is fast approaching ("fast" approaching, get it? ha ha) ...my first Lent as an Orthodox Christian. I want to make this time as spiritually fruitful as I can so I will be trying hard to observe the fast and increase my prayer and Bible reading. I will be writing about my efforts during the next few weeks. The fast will be particularly challenging for me so I plan to write out a menu each week and will post it here. There will likely be a lot of fast-related posts not because I think the fast is more important than the other Lenten observances but because I want to grow in this area and the whole subject of food is difficult for me.
Ready or not, here I go......

Thy Nativity O Christ Our God

Ice Ice Baby

This past week Oklahoma has been devastated by an ice storm that has caused a power outage covering most of the state. In my small town, the power went out about 5:00am last Sunday morning. Many states have sent utility crews to our rescue, God bless them, but currently there are still around 300,000 homes without electricity, including mine. I'll post more when I can get internet access but here is a picture of my garage.