Preparedness and My Own Observations

Well mother nature has decided to make gardening a bad idea right now. We are getting a little snow and it is cold so putting soil in the cold frame and building potato towers will have to wait. We don't usually get much snow but any snow will keep me out of the garden. Instead I spent a couple hours this morning tidying up the coup, mixing and adding the wood shavings with lime, freshening everyone's waters and fixing the goose's "bedroom" so they would have a place out of the wind and rain tonight. Ducks can handle the colder wetter weather but because Sebastapol geese have feathers that don't lay flat the wind lifts their feathers giving them less insulation against the wind and rain. So today I think I will make some homemade chicken and noodles and bake a pie. Yes home made noodles. Recipe will be at the end of this post. 

I have been hearing people on the street talking about the doomsday machine. 2012 the end of the Mayan calendar, Nostradamus, civil unrest, end of life as we know it- ya da ya da ya da........... Even going to the grocery store you hear people talk about it to the cashiers or other customers. Sometimes they are laughing like they think it's a joke. Sometimes I get the feeling they are just feeling out other people to see what they think but don't want to look like a weirdo. Instinctively people know something is wrong with our world these days but can't quite put their finger on it. Or choose to ignore it. Or they really are just completely unaware. No matter what you believe preparing for an emergency or something as simple as a snow storm is a good idea. Living on an island you have to be prepared for emergencies to a certain degree. Sometimes help just can't get there when it's needed and you have to have some degree of self sufficiency. So you put up extra groceries, medicines, batteries and flashlights, get a generator and stock the freezer. The worse that can happen is you will have to use it rotating it out of your inventory while replacing what you use. The best is you have something for those "challenging" times and your family will be more comfortable and you'll be less stressed when you aren't fighting the crowd at the store (possibly an empty store) during an emergency. Today I had to go to the store to get just two items for a new recipe I wanted to try. The store was packed because it was suppose to snow. Come on people. Surely you have enough groceries in the house for a day or two. The cashier made some comment to me about how busy they were because people had heard it was going to snow. I said "can you imagine what this place would be like if there were a real emergency?" Without hesitating for a second she said "the shelves in this place would be cleared out in minutes". Makes me wonder what it was like here when Mt. Saint Helen erupted. There is nothing wrong with preparing for a catastrophe no matter what it might be. Earthquake, flood, mother nature pitching a fit. She certainly has plenty of reason. Red Cross wants you to be prepared. I think most people can prepare for those sorts of things but they have to choose to do so. If they choose not to I guess that is one of those things that controls the population in the animal (and human) world. 


But how about an economic meltdown.  Economics is a subject most people know very little about. (or choose to ignore)  History has a way of repeating itself so with just a little reading and observation you can gain some insight into where the country may be going. This isn't the first time our economy has hit the skids and the Great Depression that everyone is always pointing a finger at isn't the first nor the only time this has happened. It's just the one that our still living ancestors tell stories about.  For those who want or need a little history lesson on this subject here is a link. You can start here to educate yourself or like most people stick your head in the sand and hope it goes away.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panic_of_1819 but this is just the beginning.


So what's the big deal you say. We've done this before and eventually most of us have come out fine. This is true however our world is not the same as it was 80 plus years ago.  The next blog I will write will address some of these differences. 
Now how about that recipe. For those who would like to be able to make their own egg noodles and learn a new skill. Here it is.


Egg Noodles
2 cups of all purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
two eggs, lightly beaten


Place flour and salt in a bowl and mix. In a small dish  lightly beat the eggs with a fork. Make a well in the flour and pour in the eggs. Mix with the fork until the eggs are fully mixed. Add enough water a little at a time to make a stiff dough. (stiffer than pie crust) When the dough is fully mixed  take the ball of dough out and knead for about 2 minutes or so. Place dough on a floured surface and start rolling with a rolling pin. Sprinkle more flour as you go to keep it from sticking, flipping the dough and flouring until you have a circle about 24 x 18 inches (or as thin as you can). This will be hard to do. Flour the rolled dough and starting from one side, roll up jelly roll fashion. Take a sharp knife or pizza cutter and slice 1/2 inch circles. Unroll each circle and toss to fluff up the pile of noodles. Place on a wire rack and allow to dry at least an hour before using.