Living Life in Rural Iowa

(Sunday musings are my opinions and point of views of things going on in my head, my heart, and in the world. Right or wrong, they are how I feel. I hope to keep this up every week, but this is the first in the series.)

Interesting title, eh? I am feeling that right now.

This world is an interesting place right now. There is so much going on politically, socially, and economically that we don't even know where to focus on. Nevermind the weird weather patterns and "strange" events going on throughout the country with earthquakes, heavy snow, heat waves, and exceptional amounts of rain. I think they are attributing this to a solar minimum, but the theories abound.

I usually encourage people to be prepared for things that would naturally occur in their area as well as anything that could impact their lives. However, I am thinking we should take prepping another step further now. Why?

The world is a crazy place right now. Being a student of history, every generation and decade o…

Technology is a wonderful tool that can be used for the greater good as well as being used for less than honest intentions. We are using it or partaking of it every day and most of us use it almost every minute of the day. It has become a part of our lives whether we like it or not.

Technology can be used for reading and downloading documents and books that we wouldn't normally have access to even ten years ago. I remember in high school almost twenty-five years ago that the internet was just becoming a thing to use for research, but we still relied on periodical journals, indexes, card catalogs, and files kept by the librarians for research. We even used encyclopedias for research and basic data. To say that we didn't have all the options then that we do have nowadays is an understatement.

To say that was a bad thing is not true. We might have had more limited resources, but everything was on paper. Information could still be easily accessed. It was time-consuming to do the res…

Are you sending off a kid to college this fall? Or will be in a few years? This is a good time to get your kid sent off on a good foundation. If you are a prepper, you will add a few more things to their pile of things that need to go with them.

I have a tendency to go a little overboard sometimes, but I want to make sure that my kid has enough food as well as other emergency items while at college. My kids are used to my food storage at home and I want them to also have some food stored at college. You know, just in case.

You are probably thinking, "We have just paid or have gotten enough scholarships to pay for an overpriced meal plan. Why do they need more food?"

Well, why do you stockpile food?

Dorm rooms are not very big. They are about the size of an average bedroom and they manage to fit two kids, two beds, two closets, two desks, and two dressers in them. You still need to get their stuff in there too. Most colleges put the beds on lofts now when greatly improves floor s…

We talk a lot about what we need to acquire and purchase as people who live the various lifestyles of prepping, homesteading, and the combination of the two. We talk about what we shouldn't buy as frugal people and sustainability learners. Somewhere in the middle though, we need to understand that we need to get back the phrase that most of us should live by.

"Use it up, wear it out, make do, or do without."
That phrase hangs on the wall of my office in the form of a printable. I look at it almost every day and sometimes I still forget to apply it. However, the kids were gone for two and a half weeks on vacation with their father's side of the family this summer. I found myself unconsciously living that phrase.

I only bought groceries once while they were gone. I went back to the store the day they came back. Otherwise, I was going through our food stores and seeing what needed to be eaten. I would set those items on the kitchen counter in an effort to remember to make …

Many preppers have some kind of fuel as part of their short-term and long-term preps. For many short-term situations and crisis, fuel can be a good idea to include in your preps. A fuel like propane can last longer than other refined fuels due to its nature of being used a vapor in some applications and a liquid in other applications.

I deal with propane every day. I work for an agricultural cooperative, but my primary responsibility is dealing with propane and other refined fuels. We advise customers every day on uses of propane, safety procedures, and general maintenance. We set tanks, deliver fuel, service systems, perform leak checks, and install some heaters and small appliances. We all have to take classes on handling propane safely as well as being able to respond to emergencies. We are not only accountable to our customers, but insurance companies as well.

For this post, I am concentrating heavily on propane. However, this advice and information can be applied to other refined f…

This spring's weather conditions have been anything but ideal. The weather is too hot already in some areas, too cool in other areas, and the rain has been unrelenting. Many, many conventional crops are not being planted due to flooding and unworkable fields. Many experts are already predicting food shortages due to flooding, livestock lost, and crops not being planted.

While all of that is pretty bad, gardens are taking a hit this year too. The naysayers will say that gardens aren't as important as crops because you can just buy your food at the grocery store. However, many of us rely on our gardens for reducing our food bills, putting nutritious food on our tables, and providing food with no chemicals and bacteria. For most of us, gardening is not a hobby but part of our overall food plan to provide for ourselves and to know where our food comes from.

Therefore, what happens when you have a bad gardening year and how can you plan around that?

Bad gardening years can happen to a…

Cookbooks are invaluable. They teach us so much about cooking, baking, canning, butchering, and more. They give specific instructions on how to do anything with cooking and the kitchen. They can really help the experiences and the novice alike.

While nothing really replaces the experience you get by doing and learning, having resources like cookbooks and cooking manuals is very important. You should have a good variety of cookbooks and manuals. Whether you are a canner, a preserver, a carnivore, a vegetarian, a hunter, or a gardener, you need to be well-rounded about you keep on your shelf.

In a crisis or a disaster, you may like to eat meat but meat may be scarce. Having some vegetarian recipes may mean you can have a filling meal with what you have on hand. You may not be a hunter, but you may need to know how to butcher your own meat. You may have a lot of produce from the garden or from gleaning and need to preserve it in a variety of ways.

You will notice that not all of these are c…