a good time to make a smiley-faced steak and kidney pie - yummeh!
it kind of fell apart when i plated it, but trust me - it was deelish!!!
on tuesday night we got the scare of our lives - a call came over our pager about a fire in our sister community of fourchu!!! nothing is scarier here than fire! but our pager message was garbled so i called our friend S to get the details. then my friend C called and she sounded scared because she could see the fire from her house. we took 5 mins to get our fire gear and bag and then about 9 mins to drive to fourchu. we got to the address and the fire was already out.
THANK GOODNESS!
it was just a brush fire but the winds had picked up and the elderly man called 911 - which is always a good thing! our friends c, b, and k managed to get there and take care of it lickety-split! b and k just used shovels and shoveled dirt on the fire which put it out and also kept it from spreading. whenever we have a call, jambaloney runs to the shed and grabs some shovels and picks and whatnot.
but anyway, we got there - the fire is out and everyone is safe. thank goodness again! we stopped in to our friend c &b's house and chatted for a bit before coming home.
and then, to our horror - the very next day we had a test call come over our pager. again, we couldn't hear the message and started calling all of our friends, none of whom were home! we didn't know what to do?!?!?! we were terrified and ready to just go driving around when jambaloney said we should call dispatch - DUH! so we called in to dispatch and they told us it was just a test. WHEW!
here's a nice cup of fresh mint, clove basil and chamomile tea that we like to take outside when we watch the sunset - it's very calming and refreshing!
last night the power went out at about 3:30 am! we were expecting it to go out tho as we were having crazy winds of up to 100kms/hour! so we got up at about 4:30am...gathered all the flashlights, lit a bunch of candles and played cards. jambaloney had checked the generator the day before but we didn't need to turn it on and we didn't open the fridge or freezer. true to great form, nova scotia power had us up and running by about 10:30 even though their message said that we wouldn't get power until 6pm.
our experiences here with losing power is always the same - nova scotia power gets us up and running long before the message says they will. we love nova scotia power and can't believe how quickly they get our power back to us even in the middle of crazy wind/rain/snowstorms! we are very fortunate to live out in the middle of nowhere and have such reliable power!
of course, as preppers, we have backups for everything. the first is a cheat as our friends in fourchu are on a different power grid and will take us and our 3 cats at any time - bahahahah! next is our 7,500 W generator which has enough power to run most of our major appliances, including our freezer, fridge, pump, portable heater and a hot plate without any trouble. we also have a huge (23,000) kerosene heater which is always full and can heat the whole house after being on for only a short time. we have our propane bbq and a makeshift firepit if need be, as well as a burning barrel. soon, we will have our woodstove which will only add to being able to heat our home. we also have oil lamps, 84 million candles, tons of food - and then there's the fact that we can just drive over to fourchu to our friends' houses - we could go to anyone's house in fourchu and they would take us in. last but not least, the city is only an hour and a bit away - and we have friends there too that would take us in.
in the event of a full-down-grid TEOTWAWKI or SHTF situation - well, i guess we would have to live and work by daylight, like millions of people before us did quite successfully. and i guess we would have to grow our own food, fish and hunt which we already do. lobster season around here is only 2 months, same with crab season - but we live in an area where if that was the only protein we could get, well let's just say we wouldn't be hurting! we could also get clams, mussels, shrimp, trout, bass, snails, oysters - the ocean and all of the rivers and lakes around here could keep us in protein. but there are men here who pride themselves on getting a deer in the first week of hunting season. if we couldn't get a deer each year, i am sure a barter of extra zucchini and green beans wouldn't be too hard to finagle!
lastly, i will now stand up and admit to the group that i am a seed hoarder. yes, my name is kymber and i hoard seeds. i also know how to grow them. and i got a monster greenhouse in which to extend our growing season. another make-shift greenhouse will be built this spring, along with additional hotboxes. we aren't sure if the end of the world is coming....but we like to be prepared!
all of these things are things that we have learned since moving to such a remote area. if yer gonna live in the boonies like we are, then you have to be prepared!
Good post kymber!!
ReplyDeleteYou are on the ball. I would say though that in the case of survival long term I doubt you would have to worry about "seasons".
Why you would be able to go get my lobsters year round then :)
Happy Thanksgiving you two!!!
ya, PP - i think you understand that "seasons" would go right out the window if it really hit the fan! and hopefully, if it did hit the fan, there would still be a pony express or something and i could send you some lobsters!!!
DeleteHappy Thanksgiving right back at you - you know that we are celebrating again even though our Thanksgiving was last month. no matter though - it's our favourite holiday and we always celebrate it both months - you just can't have to many Thanksgivings! and we have much to be thankful for! thanks buddy!
Happy American Thanksgiving kymber! I am sorry I missed saying it on you Canadian day. You and jam are really prepared for almost anything. It makes me proud to read your post. Hugs to both of you and the Marine in his bunny pajamas sends a kiss!
ReplyDeleteMamma - tell that Marine that i received the kiss and thoroughly enjoyed it - and want more! especially if he is in his bunny pajamas - i have bunny pajamas too - bahahahahah! i am sure that The Marine will laugh over that!
Deletea very special Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours Mamma - your Tom turkey looked delicious and i am sure that you smothered your potatoes in a ton of gravy - bahahahahah!
we try to be prepared Mamma - it took us a while when we first got here - it's a lot different being prepared in the city and being prepared in the middle of nowhere - but we learned. and all of our prepping friends on the internet had much to teach us, too!
give that Marine a big hug and kiss from both of us eh? although he probably prefers my kisses - bahahahahahah! much love Mamma!
You are correct, wildfires are no fun to deal with. Glad it was only a brush fire. At least you both are not surprised nor panic when the power goes out. You are prepared.
ReplyDeleteSenior, buddy - you know it! brush fires happen often here and knowing how to handle them is half the battle! we keep a watchful eye on our weather patterns here and are never really surprised when the power goes out - we usually can tell when we will lose power. but we have a really great power company even out here in the middle of nowhere. however, we are set up to be able to take care of ourselves and if worse comes to worse, then we'll head over to our sister community. thanks for stopping in buddy! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your gorgeous wife, and 2 sweet boys! i hope you all enjoy some downtime at your estate! xox
DeleteGreat post. Fresh seafood...I'll bring the sweet cream butter oh yea!! Sam & Lisa came home yesterday, we was fussy last night, but that was because his new surroundings. Today he is fine. Love to you two from my family and I.
ReplyDeleteRob, buddy - i am so glad that Lisa and Sammy are home - woohoo! talk about a quick birth eh? and you all must be celebrating this weekend like mad! i am soooo happy for all of you. the little man just needed time to acclimatize...i am sure he is fit as a fiddle now. i am very thankful that everything worked out for you buddy...how fitting that it is Thanksgiving Day!!! all of our best to you and yours buddy! xox
DeleteThat pie looks delish! When our power goes out, we are out for over the time they tell us, as our house in the city is quite rural (I know that is contradictory(sp?)). But, we are usually last on their list because we have the fewest houses in our surrounding area. Generator power is always a priority for us. We share with our neighbors & can roll it over for a few hours at their place, then a few at the next neighbors, then back to us.
ReplyDeleteJustin sells them (along w/other small engine stuff like chainsaws) & we always have them available. Agree that you can never be too prepared!
DFW - i'm glad that you and your neighbours share the generator power - good neighbours and sharing are a must in rural or semi-rural areas. anytime you drop by i'll make you a meat pie of whatever variety you prefer! and it's so true - you really never can be too prepared!
DeleteI have a very small generator that I can use for work, and would also keep food from spoiling for a little while. But if the power went out and stayed out that unexpectedly, I have no doubt that mayhem would ensue sooner or later.
ReplyDeleteRussell, buddy, we have heard of power outages happening years ago that lasted for 4-5 days but we have never experienced more than a full day, and that was only one time. mostly we are out for a few hours or up to about 6 hours. if we were out of power for several days or a week, we would use our generator wisely and could keep our freezer and fridge and hotplate going for at a least a week. one good thing for us is that there are old timers here who grew up without power, running water or freezers. we learn much about storing food and whatnot from them every chance we get!
DeleteIt's always funny that some how by losing electricity for a bit seems to make folks think we will go back to the dark ages or the stone age and not to the late 1800's at worst.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I complain about Idaho power I have to say they are really super at getting the power back on whenever an outage happens.
I am so looking forward to you guys getting a wood stove at the "manor". I knew I why I wanted my stove but it has done even better than all my forecasts.
I was good this year and did not bring up prepping of any sort or even brag on my stove. Kind of weird holding back and it actually worked out. But my family is weird like most folks! We just have our own brand of weirdness!
jamie - like i said to Russell above, we are really lucky to have old-timers here who grew up without freezers or running water or toilets - it is always good to talk to them about how they did things back then. it seems that during the winter, they built ice boxes and filled them with snow and froze a lot of their food and then in the summers, they either had springs or wells or rivers where they put food to keep it for a while. and always canning food! i am glad that you have a good power company too...people tend to whine when the power goes out, but it's usually for a reason like a hurricane, tornado, high winds or snowstorm. people don't seem to remember that the linemen have to go out there in those storms to fix power lines in order for others to have their power restored.
Deletejamie, our friend G has a wood stove that he is holding onto for us. we need to move some stuff around in our crappy basement, which we can't do until we have a proper shed and then we can set up the woodstove. it will go a long way in heating the manor as the manor is pretty tiny (and crappy - bahahahahah!). i am glad that you are enjoying all of the benefits from having your stove!!! and ya - all families have their own brand of weirdness. and people either listen to ideas about prepping and being prepared or they go all "deer-in-the-headlights" and at that point you are just wasting your breath. we try to share as much as we have learned here about prepping and we love being able to go to blogs like yours where we can see what other people are doing and get ideas!
Fire scares me too. A forest fire is the only thing that could do me in unless we have something like an Asteroid come by! That's why I don't have a bug out plan, I figure no matter what happens if things go bad I will be safer here than anywhere else. But if we get burned out, it's all over but the crying...
ReplyDeleteI have a scanner and I listen to it . The Sheriff is on one freq, the fire and rescue on another. They have different teams, and each team has it's own little group of notes, so before a message they play these notes and that way people know which group it is for.
I liked the looks of that steak and kidney pie but I never ate kidneys, are there really kidneys in there or is that just an off the wall name?
Harry - fire scares the heck out of us too! they have a saying around here that by the time the "real" firefighters (versus our Volunteer Fire Department) arrive at a fire, the only thing they can save is the basement and chimney! our VFD is very good but we don't have super large trucks and it usually takes the city fire department over an hour to get out here. but our friend G gave us a 1,000 litre caged water tank and we have a pump to go with it and old firehose that jambaloney scavenged from the fire hall. in the event of fire, we will start to put it ourselves, wait for our volunteers to get here with the trucks and then wait the city fire department. the 1,000 litre water tank gives us some of peace of mind!
Deleteas we are members of the VFD, we have our pager which alerts us to medical emergencies, domestic violence situations, fires, other kinds of crap and we are also the ground search and rescue team for our county.
as for the pie - yes, it is beef kidney. it is delicious but for some an acquired taste - but so very good for you! organ meat (kidney, liver, heart) is packed with nutrients and vitamins that you just can't get from other meats. my preference is beef kidney and beef liver pie - i love my organ meat. kidney, liver and heart are very cheap and like i said, loaded with nutrients and vitamins. if you like liver, chances are you will like kidney. go out and try some, my good friend!