A Great "Hy-Bread" Recipe!

Through the years many people who were involved in food storage saved mainly the basics: rice, oats, beans, and of course, wheat. Wheat is a great staple, but only if you know what to do with it. The "Gan"-"Green Thumb" and I are not especially experienced with baking bread. That makes the bread machine that my mother-in-law gave me several years ago even more valuable. There truly is nothing better than home-made bread, and with today's bread machines doing the work for us, even the busiest family can have some.

The Old Coot who married me comes from a family who actually makes the real deal, but even his aunt had a recipe for a bread machine. The reason that I like this recipe so much is that it allows you to incorporate some of the wheat that you have been storing into this recipe, without it being too much. The wheat that I add is a little coarser than most people would probably use. This is mainly because I don't have an electric wheat grinder, and running it through the manual grinder ONCE is enough for me. If you don't want coarse wheat flour, by all means, feel free to run it through the mill another time or two (or invest in an electric grinder). Either way, this bread is great! ("Gan"-"Green Thumb" told me that it wished it had a nose so that it could smell it baking!)

White/Wheat Hybrid Bread for Bread Machine
1-1/3 cup ice water
1/3 cup oatmeal
1 cup wheat flour
2 cups white flour (you can use regular flour, but flour for bread machines gives a lighter loaf)
2 Tablespoons powdered milk
1½ teaspoon yeast (rapid rise works best)
¼ cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1½ Tablespoon butter or margarine
Mix the dry ingredients (except for margarine) in a mixing bowl. Put ice water into the bread machine first, add the dry ingredients, and add butter last on top. Use the “rapid rise” setting (or whatever setting on your machine is closest to 3:20).

In Case of Emergency: Put Your Cell Phone on "ICE"

This was a tip that I saw on a local news broadcast. If you were in an accident of some kind and were unable to speak for yourself, who would you want to have notified? This news story offered that your cell phone could be a tool that emergency responders might use to reach the one person who needs to know most if you are incapacitated. By having an entry labeled "ICE" ("In Case of Emergency"), you are able to designate who you want to have notified first in case of emergency. This is an especially good idea if you have teenagers out there, driving around on their own. Of course, it's not a surefire thing: if you have your phone password protected, it might take emergency assistance personnel/healthcare providers awhile to figure out how to get into your phone, and phones are sometimes thrown clear of an accident scene. So it's a good idea to have other emergency information on you in other forms. But if you have a simple, ancient, no frills phone like this old lady has, and if you keep that phone in a purse, etc., it is another tool that offers some measure of help!

Things I've Learned About Gardening:

1. It can actually be too hot for things to grow. Depending on what you want in your garden, if you live in Texas, find a way to plant early.
2. Organic gardening is hard! At my house, insects and fungi thought many of those organic tonics were snacks. Next year: DDT or a flame thrower! (Just kidding!)
3. Squirrels and birds can eat even more fruit than people do.
4. Don't plant vine-type plants in a "square-foot" garden without a trellis. They take over everything!
5. It takes four blueberry bushes to get one pint of blueberries.
6. If you have a bald spot in your yard, plant a vegetable there. The grass will grow like crazy as soon as you do!
7. If you use popsicle sticks as plant markers, squirrels and dogs will steal them out of your garden and use them for chew sticks.
8. If you figure out the price per pound for home-grown food (for those with a toxic thumb), it's probably about $30 a pound. But the experience you gain toward being self-sufficient: priceless!

Let Me Introduce Us!

I would like to take this opportunity to introduce you to my thumb. At the beginning of my venture into gardening (summer of 2008), I was praying that I would have what is commonly called a "green thumb" (even though it is short and stubby, and distinctly unmanicured). After two summers of gardening, I have come to the sad realization that my thumb is not "green", but alas, it is actually "gangrene". It is tainted, diseased, and toxic to all plant life. Whether it's planting too late in the season, or attracting every pest and fungus in the state, I don't seem to be on top of the gardening thing. But, I want to keep trying! I feel it's important.

I first realized that gardening, and self-reliance in general, are important after Hurricane Katrina. Seeing what the people there went through after the hurricane made me realize that sometimes the most reliable help is yourself. I truly think that the difference between being a victim and being okay can often be the knowledge and skills that you acquire before an emergency strikes.

The second motivation came when I was called to be the "Emergency Preparedness Specialist" at my church. It is my job to teach our church members about food storage and general emergency preparedness. I'm pretty sure that the local church leaders picked me after a discussion that went like this:

"Is there some knit-wit that we know who has never made bread, done gardening, does not know how to sew, and knows nothing about emergency preparedness?" our Bishop asked.

"I think I know someone," came the reply.

"Good," came the answer. "Let's call her to this position."

So I have had to learn as I have gone along. I am the first to tell you that I AM NOT AN EXPERT IN ANYTHING! The only thing that I have going for me is that I have found some really good sources of information, which I would like to share with as many people as possible. Oh, and there's the fact that I actually am enjoying learning about all of these things. There are things that I didn't know that I didn't know. I even enjoy my feeble attempts at gardening. When you are not very good at it, it makes every tomato and pepper that you harvest even more of a treasure.

The main thing is that I believe that the time to learn is NOW. I figure that I can learn what works and what doesn't during this early time, and hopefully by the time I really need to know what I'm doing, I will have it all worked out. I can honestly say that this year's garden was much better than last year's, and the things I learned this year will help me be more successful next year.

If learning about self-reliance and being prepared appeals to you, and if you are not faint of heart, then I invite you to follow the adventures of my thumb and me as we wreak havoc with nature and try to survive. Check in with us often (we plan to post items frequently). We need all the cheer leaders that we can get!