Staying cool on the 4th of July

There are a lot of people this 4th of July that are still without poser from a storm that blew through a number of Mid-Atlantic states. 



So, how are you keeping cool today? Add your ideas!


One of the first things we do in the winter, is try to keep the cold out of the house by covering the windows. Using the same principal, keep the hot out of your house the same way. Window coverings work ok, but an insulated curtain works wonders. I have taken 2 pieces of material, slipped a piece of fabric batting in between and sewn them up. I use this in the winter, but when you have not ac in the summer this also helps. Blankets will also work. Bubble wrap in a pillow case.  Cardboard with aluminum foil to reflect the sunlight out. 


Keeping direct sunlight out of the house is the goal. At night, when the temperatures drop a bit, open the windows and let the cool air in. In the morning, shut the coolness into the house by closing and covering the windows.

If you are lucky enough to live by water, go swimming. The best way to keep tempers in check is to cool off. It also gets rid of pent up energy.



Sometimes the cities will open fire hydrants.


If you have no way to go swim, wet a washcloth and place it on top of your head. This will cool your body down. Years ago, Jim and I went to the Indy 500 where it was sweltering. Putting the wet washcloth on our heads was a way to keep cool.  A spray bottle with some water in it to mist your face works well too. I remember seeing a spray bottle with a personal fan attached at the Dollar Store a few years back. That would work well too...

Ice in a small bag or ice pack in your hat. When I was in high school and would march in the band, the uniforms were extremely hot. The 4th of the day parade can be one of the hottest times to march. My mother would fill an ice pack and put it on top of my head under the band uniform hat (which was very similar to the British Guard uniforms!)






(Ice packs can be found on amazon.com)

   

If you can go to the mall, or shopping center that has ac. 

Drive in your car for a little bit. If you can find a road with a lot of trees, you will be amazed at the 10 degree difference that could make. 

If you have water, fill the tub with cool water and soak.

Place cooling sheets over the fuzzy material on your furniture.

If you have a basement, create a way to get the cool air up stairs. My grandmother had vents in the floor of her house. When we were upstairs, we could see through them and watch the adults downstairs. These floor vents can be opened and closed.

If all else fails, rent a room at a motel for a night... 

Are you prepared for the loss of electricity?

In light of the past few days where so many people in the Mid-Atlantic region lost power, I thought I'd address some issues. First of all, you CAN survive without taking a shower for a few days, You CAN live without air conditioning. You CAN live without t.v. or  lights. (Go to bed when the sun goes down and get up at dawn) 

Air conditioning was invented in 1902  by Willis Carrier  as a solution to keep muggy air in a printing plant from wrinkling magazine pages. As with the modern day computer, the air conditioning unit went through many stages before it became a common household machine. It was considered a luxury. As a child in the 60's I remember my best friend's mother taking us swimming in their car which had air conditioning. It was stifling inside because she insisted the windows be kept up until the ac had sufficient time to cool the air. We were glad to get out at the local pool as by then the sweat was rolling off of our faces. When she came back to pick us up, the card was frigid. We, of course had cooled off all afternoon at the community pool, and the car felt like it could snow at any moment!

We went to school without ac in the schools. After recess, our bodies dripping with sweat, our faces red, the teacher would keep the lights off, the windows open and we would lay our heads down on the desk for a cooling down period. I remember one teacher telling us that the quieter we were and the less we moved we would be able to feel the slight breeze coming in through the windows. To this day, if I am that hot, I often lay quietly near a window, and wait for the slight breeze to find me.



As Americans, we are quite spoiled when it comes to our comforts. And the least little thing to change that comfort throws us into a panic. Yet there are people all over the world without ac. In our own country, the Amish do not have air conditioning. Yet if you see their houses, you will notice deep porches, which keeps the summer sun from shining directly into the windows. There are also trees shading the house. The house that I grew up in had huge trees all around it and a wrap-around porch. I have to admit, though, that my Dad kept a fan in the window upstairs as a way of pulling out the days heat, then pulling in the night air.


Although on our homestead we do have electricity, we lived here for 8 years without any in the house. We found that when you live without electricity, going outside to work and do chores is not much of a problem. You simply don't notice the heat that as much - the outside temperature is pretty equal to the inside. But, if you have air conditioning,  you really notice when you are going from a cool house to the oven outside. Yes, you can actually survive without the air conditioner.



So, if you are already used to it, and the power goes off, what can you do? I am sure a lot of you have already read preparedness information and simply didn't think it would apply. Now is the best time to access what you need to do if this happens again.
 
First of all, be sure to have water. Water, water, water is a huge key to survival. When the power is off, the pump will not bring water to you to drink, or to use for cleaning the dishes, flushing the toilet. So, you will need a supply of water for drinking and some for the other things. Washing your dishes by hand is easy. Using paper plates temporarily may be a better option.  Flush the toilet only when needed. Take the tank lid off of the back and fill it with water, then flush. 


Matches and a lamp filled with lamp oil will help keep the rooms lit when it is dark. Don't use these to light your way through the house as the possibility of dropping them and starting a fire is too risky. The lamps can be placed in a room, maybe in front of a mirror and light the area. Flashlights should have plenty of fresh batteries.


Sleeping can be a big issue. Move your beds to the lowest level of your house. Sleep near a window that may let the night air in. Sleep on your porch or even in the yard. The night air is cooler so get as close to being outside as possible. 



The hardest part is keeping your food refrigerated and frozen. Not always something that you can accomplish. Don't open the freezer. The longer the power is out the less likely you will be able to save your food if you keep opening it. Keep your windows covered to keep the sunlight out if there are windows near the unit.  You can also put ice in a cooler and keep your refrigerated food in there. We used a cooler for many years as a fridge without any problems. We did have to purchase ice, so be sure to have enough coolers to hold the ice you think you will need. 

When the big black out on Nov. 9, 1965 came and took out power to 7 states and parts of Canada,  my mother told me then to always cook with a gas stove. And I have always had a gas stove. Without power, you can at least have a hot meal (although this isn't a blessing in the heat of the summer). The new stoves now  have an electric ignition that won't let you  light them (all for our safety, you know). In that case, a camp stove with those little propane cannisters will do in a pinch. Cooking outside on the grill is an option. And for those adventurous, use a solar cooker. The first one we had  was made out of boxes, but Jim made me a wooden one last year. There are also sites you can get ready-made solar cookers.

My great aunt was without power in the middle of winter for 3 weeks. She was in her 90's at that time. She put blankets over all the doors that led out of the kitchen and brought in her small love seat. She stayed in the kitchen with her oven on for warmth. Not that I would recommend this to anyone, but desperate times called for desperate measures.




A generator is a huge help. This time when the power went out, my husband, Jim, ran the generator 2 hours at a time, then let it sit for a couple of hours before running it again. This was to keep the 2 refrigerators, one freezer and our incubators running. That was all the load the generator could take, and with the run-on gas that we experienced, (the lines were so long)  we didn't want to run out of gas and not be able to use the generator at all. It is a noisy, annoying thing to have, but it saved all of our food (although we do not know if what was in the incubators survived yet). 


And last, but not least, if you can find a lake, pond, river, creek with good water to take a dip in, this is a great way to relieve the tension of being hot all the time! 

Hatching your own chicken eggs

There is something about hatching your own chickens that keeps me doing it year after year. My husband is the best at it. We have a small styrofoam incubator that we bought many years ago for about $40. (I believe they are $60 now.) I have never been very diligent in keeping track of the temperature and humidity, but have still managed to hatch out a few chicks.

  

 This year, Jim and I decided to go for it. He took over the task of watching the temperature and humidity. We put a total of 36 eggs in and hatched out 28. Here is a picture of the same one we have that Stromberg's is selling:

http://www.strombergschickens.com/product/1602-School-Observation-Incubator-Hovabator/basic-incubators

We also bought a small thermometer/hygrometer that sits inside with the eggs. It takes about 28 days for the eggs to hatch.
The temperature to hatch out chicks needs to be about 99.5* from day 1 - 18. And the humidity should be 50%. The eggs need to be turned, as if the mother hen was adjusting herself on the nest. Jim would simply roll his hands over the top of the eggs and move them slightly.
From day 19 - 21 you no longer have to roll the eggs around. The temperature should be 99.5* but the humidity should be at 70 - 80%. Sometimes a spray bottle with warm water works. This helps keep the chick moist and not dry out as it is hatching.

It was so much fun watching the first egg start to crack open.

After they hatched out, we placed them in a bin with food and a heat lamp. You can find out what the next step is by checking out my blog on it http://wwwhighlonesomeranch.blogspot.com/2012/04/getting-started-with-new-chicks.html

Before you start with the next batch of eggs, thoroughly wash and sanitize the incubator. 

We had so much fun with this, that we now have turkey and chick eggs in the small incubator. We also own 2 large cabinet style GQF incubators/hatchers (www.gqfmfg.com/) and have duck and quail eggs in one, and emu eggs in the other! 

Chickens

Chickens are one of the first animals people want to get when they are starting their homestead. They are  very easy to keep and raise. They eat very little if they are free ranging. They are great for bug control. In return they provide eggs, meat and feathers for fishing tackle. They are amusing to watch, a little violent in their breeding (for you first timers) and it is fun to hear the rooster crow and the girls talk. The rooster will call his girls over when he finds a tasty morsel. He will crow in the morning just to announce his domain. 

The girls gossip and chat to each other and will brag when they lay their eggs.

When the chicks are fully feathered and grown, you will see the "ear lobes" on the side of their head. The ones with the red ones will lay brown eggs, and the ones with the white will lay white eggs. After the first couple of eggs come, if you are observant, you will be able to tell which egg belongs to which hen as each egg is distinctive to that hen.

Each chicken will have their own personality. I have had a chicken that would always run to me and make her soft clucking sounds as if asking for a handout. She was always the first one to spot me coming out of the house.

    Interested in starting a small flock? In general, you can have 3 hens (no rooster or crowing involved) and easily get 14 eggs a week! That's 2 eggs a day! 

We have 15 hens and have eggs out the ears in the summer. What can you do with the eggs? You can have deviled eggs, quiche, custards,. You can pickle them, freeze them, add extras to cakes and other mixes. Have breakfast for supper at least once a week, and of course, sell them or give them to friends.

Advantages to chickens besides eggs: Chickens will eat ticks, fleas, mosquitoes, slugs, beetles, ants, maggots, grubs, caterpillars, grasshoppers, beetles, and even mice. This year I have heard the bugs may be overwhelming because the winter was so mild.

  

  

My favorite chickens are the Americana chickens - not to be confused with Araucanas. Americanas sold by hatcheries are  also called the Easter Egg Fowl. Most of the so-called Americanas in the US are mixes that carry some of the original genes and lay variously colored eggs: blue, green, or pinkish. These birds are sometimes (and more honestly) sold as Easter Egg chickens. The American Poultry Association recognizes a bird called the Ameraucana, which lays colored eggs and has muffs and a beard, not ear tufts, and comes in standardized color varieties, with slate colored shanks.

Easter Egger come in white  and vary  in a wide assortment of colors and types, black, buff, cinnamon, brown, red and white– along with various combinations of these colors. Some may have top knots, some have whiskers, and others have bunches of feathers growing from each side of the head near the ear region. They are good layers, with eggs medium to large in size. The colors vary in shade from pale to deep blue, green, pink, plus a few olive drab and an occasional antique gold. The Easter Egger is a hardy, vigorous fowl, resistant to disease and easy to raise. They seem to do well in all types of climate. A calm chicken, they are very easily tamed to become pets.


I'm sure my flock is a combination of the Easter Eggers and Ameracaunas. I also have White and Brown leghorns in the mix. And I'm excited to say I ordered Auracana eggs and will hopefully hatch out chickens with the ear tufts and blue eggs!

  

Brown eggs, blue eggs, white eggs and even some pink eggs are some of the fun of raising your chickens.

Here is an excellent page of a chicken breed chart to help get you started on choosing the chicken for you! click here

                       

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November's Bean Soup

Beautiful week here in WV. The temperatures today are in the 60's.

But last week we had a touch of snow.

So I made my favorite soup.

I use left over beans that I have been cooking in the slow cooker. Beans cooked in the slow cooker get better each day. By the end of the second or third day of cooking (and eating) they are thickened up.

Beans, pinto, 1 cup (I use left-over)

Beans, red kidney, 1 can

Potato, raw, 2 medium sliced (2-1/4" to 3-1/4" dia.)

Carrots, raw, 1 cup, baby

Hillshire Kielbasa

In your crock pot add 1 kielbasa (or polish sausage) that has been cut up. I try to cut it up in ½ and then in ½ again before slicing it into small chunks. I add chopped potatoes, and those small baby carrots you can now get at the grocery store. Cook until tender. Add some water to also extend the soup.

You can top the soup with cheese, sour cream, onions and even salsa...

For a more filling soup add – leftover vegetables, or add barley.. Sometimes I make rice and put the soup over the rice.