Halloween Bitches

While some of you are already snuggling under winter blankets to keep warm at night and putting heavy wraps over your Halloween costumes, I am still getting mosquito bites. This is ridiculous, folks. It's almost November, for cripes sake and the bitches are still at it.



These little buggers are small and fast. Several times I've seen them flying by or sitting on something (other than me) yet I can't kill them. In early summer, we have a different variety of mosquito. They are bigger and somewhat slow. I can nail those girls in mid-flight on the first try. This fall crop is wily and mean. I'm sitting here with three fresh new welts, wishing for snow.

Yeah, Happy Halloween. If I dress Angel up as a bat, do you think she'd eat all the mosquitos for me?

Photos by Kecko on flickr.com.

What to Eat, if not Meat

Often the first food someone thinks about giving up when they start down a vegetarian path is meat. Unlike animal products such as milk or eggs, meat requires the killing of the animal in question. This may be the reason it is often the first step on the path, especially for ethical vegetarians. There are, however, other reasons to consider giving up meat, such as the environmental impacts, health concerns, and the cost.

Once someone decides to eliminate meat from their diet, they often wonder what they should use as a replacement. One option is to simply not replace it at all. Spaghetti and meatballs would turn into spaghetti. The chicken dinner would become chickenless dinner with all the usual sides taking up the whole plate. Steak and potatoes would feature potatoes as the center of the meal with a nice vegetable side, maybe two, and a salad. Fish and chips? Well, fried food isn't that healthy so let's go for baked potato fries with some nice cole slaw and maybe some corn on the cob.

But what if the person really likes the flavor and texture of meat? The first thing to realize is that meat in and of itself does not really have all that much flavor. The flavor comes from the seasonings, marinades, and sauces, all of which can just as easily be used on foods other than meat. A grilled portabello mushroom with burger seasonings can taste just as good as a regular burger. Chili sans beef can be just as hot and spicy. Grilled potatoes and onions can enjoy the same bold barbecue sauce usually reserved for chicken.

How about the texture though? These plant foods obviously are not going to have the same characteristics as meat. With time, a person can get used to not having that familiar texture anymore. However, there are veg*n options, some with limited dairy and egg products, and others completely vegan.

There are many meat substitutes available in mainstream grocery and natural food stores these days. Bryanna Clark Grogan, who writes vegan cookbooks, has a very comprehensive list of vegan meat substitutes on her website. Some choices are healthier than others. Dr. McDougall recommends against depending on fake meats in a veg*n diet or consuming soy protein isolate which is frequently the main ingredient in meat analogs. There are some soy meat substitutes that do not depend on refining the soy down to a crystalline white powder first. Soy products made from tofu or tempeh can be found in some supermarkets and most natural food stores.

Some meat substitutes depend on wheat gluten which is the protein non-starchy portion of the wheat. These won't be an option for people with gluten sensitivity or celiac disease, but will work for folks that are allergic to soy. However, keep in mind that most soy and gluten meat analogs are processed foods lacking in the fiber and nutrition found in whole foods.

A few companies make grain-based meat substitutes using the whole grain. Gardenburger prides itself on making healthier burgers but do watch out for their versions which contain dairy products if you are vegan.

There are also many recipes online for making your own meat substitutes. If you are making gluten products, you can even purchase vital wheat gluten to make the process fast and easy. The variety of faux-meat recipes is huge, including tofu, tempeh, wheat gluten, grains, beans, and vegetables, with, of course, many combinations in-between. Here are some links for you to explore: FatFree Vegan Recipes - Meat Substitutes, VegWeb Recipes - Meat Alternatives, and Vegsource Recipes - Meat Substitutes.

For vegans who oppose the use of meat analogs because they are too similar to real meat, please understand that I agree with LindyLoo that anything that helps someone eliminate real meat from their diet is a good thing. Of course, since I eat a vegan diet primarily for health (and environmental) reasons, I personally prefer to choose the healthiest options among the faux-meats available.

And finally, let's deal with a few myths about protein and amino acids.

For those who think they absolutely must use more beans and/or tofu to get enough protein, relax. The body only needs 5% of its daily calories from protein. These needs are easily met with plant foods, and do not require the consumption of large amounts of beans. (You can skip beans altogether if you want!) To find the protein content of different foods, check the USDA nutrient database or the nutritional label.

Back to school: Protein contains 4 calories per gram so a little easy math will tell you the percent protein in a food. Multiply the # of grams protein by 4 to get the calories of protein in a serving. Divide this by the total number of calories per serving. Multiply this by 100 for the percentage of protein per serving. (For other calculations, remember that carbohydrates are also 4 calories per gram and fat is fattening at 9 calories per gram.)

Some folks think that it is impossible to get all their essential amino acids unless they eat meat. This is incorrect. A diet with a variety of plant-based foods will meet all of the body's amino acid needs.

If you are under the impression that you have to combine your grains and beans in order to get all the essential amino acids, please rest assured that this is also a myth. Francis Moore Lappe, in her book "Diet for a Small Planet", convinced many people that it was absolutely essential to eat beans and grains in the same meal to make a complete protein. Unfortunately, she did not base this theory on any scientific or medical evidence whatsoever. Despite her finally admitting her error in the 10th Anniversary edition of the book, the myth persists.

In conclusion, if you want to reduce or eliminate the amount of meat you are eating, there's no reason not to do so. Base your diet around whole plant foods, eating tasty grains, starchy vegetables, other vegetables, beans, and fruit. Bon appetit!

Halloween Caption Contest!

During these stressful times, the need for humor is great. Thankfully, the CSA often comes through for me with odd-looking vegetables. When I saw this pumpkin last Friday, I knew I had to have it.


Talk about cleavage!

I found a bikini at a thrift store and brought it home to dress my pumpkin. It took quite a bit of experimenting to come up with suitable photos to share here. Now I'd like you to suggest captions for them.

Pumpkin in a bikini bra


Pumpkin in a bikini bottom

Many captions come to my mind, but I want to know what you can come up with. Unlimited entries. Go wild.

The winner gets....nothing except praise for their incredible wit.

I Must Withdraw My Endorsement

It is with regret that I withdraw my recommendation for the Vortex hand-cranked blender. When I first got it, I thought it had great potential even though I had reservations about the Lexan material. There are potential health concerns with Lexan and contact with hot materials can degrade the plastic, causing premature wear and cracking. But, I vowed to only blend foods and liquids that were room temperature or cooler, and not let them sit for any length of time in the container.

As I began using it, though, I noticed some problems. The first one was that it did not blend and puree foods nearly as well as the Krups electric blender that I, unfortunately, impetuously sold on craigslist as soon as I'd purchased the Vortex. Oh well, I thought, I'm not a perfectionist. I can live with soup that is not perfectly smooth and silky.

The second problem is a design flaw that seems to be common for the manufacturer (GSI). The bottom of the blender twists into the base in a clockwise direction. The body of the blender screws into the bottom in a clockwise direction. When the blending is complete and it's time to remove the blender from the base, this has to be done carefully while holding the bottom. If I try to remove it by twisting the blender body (rotating it counterclockwise to remove it from the base), it simultaneously unscrews the body from the bottom. Not surprisingly, this results in a big mess. A better design would have been to have the bottom twist into the base in the opposite direction as the body screws onto the base.

This was also a problem with GSI's manual coffee grinder, which led me to return it to the store. I called the company and they were unsympathetic. Customer satisfaction did not seem to be high on their list of priorities. The store was not thrilled with the return either.

The third problem is the thin silicone gasket between the bottom and body of the blender. The hard silicone just doesn't form as good a seal as the traditional rubber gaskets usually used in blenders. I have had serious problem with leaking. It's very annoying to pour all of the ingredients in the blender and then notice liquid leaking out the bottom. This became such a persistant problem that I'd put a cup of water in it before using it just to test for leaks and make sure the gasket was seated well.

I did that this evening. It seemed fine. By the time I'd put all the ingredients in it for the fake (vegan) cheesy sauce I was making though, there was a drizzle of liquid coming out of the blender bottom. I hollered at my sweetie to get the food processor out and I dumped the contents in it.

"That's it!" I fumed, "I am not keeping this POS!" It did not help matters that the food processor leaked out half the liquid either. Whether it was overly full or one of the cracks in its Lexan body has finally given way is a matter for another day.

I now have to decide whether to replace the Vortex with a new electric blender or try to do everything in the food processor, which, as I mentioned, is wearing out. I prefer to use a blender for those things with a high liquid content, such as flax seed egg substitute, sauces, and pureed soups, and the food processor for blending thicker foods such as cooked pumpkin and occasionally for shredding larger quantities of food such as cabbage for sauerkraut.

Can I do these by hand? Mostly, but not as well and not very fast. The chopping takes far longer but can be done. Cooked pumpkin can be mashed with a potato masher, but may not be as smooth. Mixing the flax seed egg substitute, though, really works best at sustained high blender speed for several minutes. And forget making whole wheat berry pancakes by hand. (Actually, I haven't made these since I sold the electric blender. The berries would scratch the heck out of the Vortex and I don't think it would grind them up anyway, even if I could sustain a high speed for a full five minutes.)

So, right now I'm not quite sure what I'll do to blend foods. I am sure, though, that I will not be keeping the Vortex blender. I'll put it on craigslist. Perhaps some fraternity at the university will buy it so they can have fun making blended drinks at their parties. I'm very disappointed at I'd hoped this tool would help me keep moving towards a lower energy lifestyle.

Biking and Yard Sales

Our vehicle suffered a breakdown on Thursday and is taking a weekend vacation at the repair shop. This means we have to get around under our own power or not at all for a while. Considering that I've barely ridden my bike this summer, and walking was limited as well, it's been quite a shock to my muscles.

Take yesterday, for instance. I drove the vehicle to the repair shop and rode my bike home. Fridays are also my day for volunteering at the CSA and wouldn't you know that yesterday was Jack o' Lantern pumpkin day. Luckily, my sweetie volunteered to meet me at the end of my shift and carry that 15 pound bad boy home so I would have an easier ride. (To see a picture of this week's share, check today's post on my other blog.) By the end of the day, I'd logged over 12 miles on the bike.

This morning, my sweetie wanted to go to a yard sale held by the instructor from his Wilderness First Aid class; all proceeds were going to the American Red Cross for classes. On the way, we stopped by other yard sales. Once we finished shopping at the Red Cross sale, she directed us to a church rummage sale just up the street. This worked out well as it took us home by a different street, with additional yard sales. On the way, I mentioned that I'd seen a nice lead crystal decanter at the thrift store on Thursday but wasn't sure if we needed it. My sweetie wanted to take a look at it, so we rode past home to the store and checked to see if it was still for sale.

It was. Although it is not a Swarovski bottle as I'd hoped, he thinks it was probably made somewhere in Eastern Europe. It's very heavy and will look beautiful with one of my homemade liqueurs in it. By this time, we were getting pretty tired and the Xtracycle panniers were getting full, so we headed home.

Our total distance riding today was 13.6 miles. I've put over 25 miles on the bike in two days after minimal exercise for months. That would be kind of like running a 10K in the same week you decide maybe you ought to take up jogging again...

Here's our haul from the yard sales. The tarp will go in the vehicle for those times we have to change a tire or my sweetie has to crawl under it (like Thursday!) The boots fit me and will be handy for hiking. My sweetie wants to try using a shaving brush to lather up and this kit even came with soap. The cooking pot is a little bigger than my small enameled pot that I use for canning overflow (with a tiny jar rack I found at another yard sale). I'll be selling the enameled pot to keep the kitchen junk in check. If you click on the picture to enlarge in, you'll have a better view of the other glass decanter I found today. It has a pretty design and was made in Romania. I picked up a few books (dirt cheap) and movies, too. I expect movies are something that will be handy for sharing with friends, especially as more and more communities face budget problems and have to cut services (possibly eventually including libraries).

Total yard sale expenditures: $24.75.

Did you go yard saling today? What bargains did you find?

Do You Work Here?

For some odd reason, people frequently mistake me for an employee when I am shopping. They will walk up to me and ask where a particular item is - not the way that you'd ask another shopper, but the exasperated way you'd ask an employee where the heck to find the darn thing you've been looking for for the past ten minutes.

I have been approached in a wide variety of places: grocery stores, hardware stores, warehouse stores, thrift stores, etc. I'd say this happens 5-10% of the time I shop. It seems very strange to me because I am not wearing anything that resembles a uniform. My own personal uniform is usually t-shirt, jeans, and a good pair of athletic shoes, with my fanny pack (bum bag for you Brits) around my waist. I am usually pushing a shopping cart with items in it already.

A woman approached me just yesterday in a thrift store as I was looking for workout pants for the krav maga classes. She was an exception as she figured out I was not an employee just as she began to ask for help.

Two weeks ago, I was sitting on the floor in another thrift store, methodically checking the rims for nicks on jars from several boxes, when I heard "Excuse me." I didn't look up because I didn't think it was directed at me. After five more Excuse me's, which got progressively louder and testier, it occurred to me that I was once again being mistaken for an employee and this customer was getting pissed off at me. I looked up and made eye contact with her, at which point she realized her error and walked away. Sheesh.

Look, people, I try to be helpful but I am not your freakin' store guide. They don't pay me for that and not a single one of you has offered to tip me. So, just leave me alone and let me do my shopping in peace. Thank you.

By the way, the canned beans are over on Aisle 2.

Reducing Crime in Your Neighborhood

I went to an interesting workshop last night called "Street Smarts" hosted by two non-profit organizations in Tucson: Meth-Free Alliance and COPE Community Services. The workshops, held at each of the City's 6 Ward offices, are intended to educate community members.

One of the speakers was a police captain. He told us about a neighborhood project that had been highly successful in reducing drug-related crime. Several years ago, Tucson had the dubious distinction of having the worst property theft crime rate in the nation. Yes, worse than all the other big cities that you'd think of as high crime locations! What was, and still is, driving the high crime rate is meth addiction. It's a huge problem here.

So, two neighborhoods decided to do something about it. The long-term residents were tired of hiding out in their houses to avoid all the scary people and crime. They organized the community, worked with the police, and teamed up with people and organizations in the fields of behavioral health, education, communications, faith-based initiatives, and environmental sciences. The police force committed to a heavy presence in the neighborhoods for a year but the community was responsible for setting up ways to keep the project going at the end of the first year.

In that first year, they succeeded in reducing drug-related crime by 60%. That was a huge improvement. Everyone was a bit leery about what would happen when the police presence was reduced to normal levels. The captain reported that he had just finished the report on the second year of the project. They reduced the crime rate by 58%. No, I don't mean they just maintained their initial reduction in crime. They reduced it by an additional 58% in the second year!

The efforts have now expanded to eight neighborhoods in that area and the community meets monthly to address current problems. They pick the top three, assign everybody work for the month, and get them solved. The captain said they rarely have to work on the same problem for more than one month because they address them and resolve the issue.

So, big deal, you may think. How is this going to help you? Well, first of all, it should give you hope that the decline of a neighborhood does not have to be permanent. It's not easy, but it is possible to turn it around. It requires a coordinated effort and people willing to work on all aspects of the problem from drug addiction to the resulting social impacts. The efforts here resulted in a manual on how to reclaim a community from the negative effects of meth and other drugs.


This Neighborhood Intervention Guide gives the case history mentioned above along with clear guidelines on how to set up a program in any neighborhood. This information is being made available locally but the Meth-Free Alliance is working on making it available nationally. I asked last night if I could take an extra book because I planned to blog about the meeting and wanted to offer one as a give-away. She urged me to take more than one.

I have 3 extra books that I will mail to first 3 readers who express an interest. Please, only ask for the book if you truly see yourself as someone willing to initiate this kind of effort. This would not be a casual commitment, but it would reap potential huge rewards.

The fine print on a sticky technical point: Since I do not typically make my email address public, please consider that I need a way to get in touch with you (by an email address listed on your blog or your willingness to post it in my comments.) If you really want it, are among the first 3 to ask, and don't want to put your email out publicly either, I can turn on Comment Moderation at your request. That way, you could post your private information in comments, and I would get it and be able to delete it instead of allowing it to post publicly. Make sense? Or have I just confused everybody?

The bulk of the workshop, however, was addressing personal safety. The owner of a local self-defense and martial arts studio gave a great presentation and demonstration of self-defense tactics. I will be writing more about this in another post. And I'm sure you'll also hear about my adventures, or misadventures, when I go check out their Krav Maga classes next week.

Living Without Eggs

Chickens have long been an integral part of the self-sufficient homestead. The birds are useful in pest control, turning the soil a little, leaving behind fertilizer, and providing food. However, as with all livestock animals, they require resources to keep them fed, watered, housed, healthy, and safe from predators. Some folks simply do not have the ability to provide these resources, often because they live in an urban environment. Limiting or eliminating the need to your own chickens will free up time and resources for other things.

Those unable, or unwilling, to keep their own chickens must get their eggs from others. I am going to assume that the majority of my readers do not buy regular supermarket eggs produced by chickens in terrible conditions. Organic and/or local eggs are not inexpensive; local prices here are up to $5 per dozen. Limiting or eliminating eggs in your diet will help your budget.

Regular egg consumption does not result in a healthy diet, despite what the American Egg Board would have you believe. They are high in cholesterol, protein, and the damaging sulfur-containing amino acid methionine. Methionine can contribute to bone loss (osteoporosis), increases in homocysteine (contributing factor to heart attacks and strokes), and create a positive growth environment for cancer cells. (Click to read more about these risks.) Limiting or eliminating eggs in your diet will lower disease risk factors.


Where do I start?

The challenge to limiting or eliminating eggs is that they are an extremely versatile food. They may be the main ingredient in a dish, such as scrambled eggs or quiche. They may provide leavening in light and fluffy baked goods, such as angel food cake. They may bind ingredients together, such as in casseroles and cookies. And, at the end of the meal, they may have been the thickening agent in the dessert, such as custard pie, pudding, and ice cream.

Many people have been working on the issue of substituting other ingredients for eggs and come up with plenty of solutions. Whether you choose to eliminate eggs from your diet altogether, or simply reduce the number that you eat, I want to share with you the multitude of options available. I must give fair warning, however, that I have not tried all of these and therefore cannot guarantee success in your kitchen.

When I first began eating a vegetarian diet, I relied strongly on EnerG Egg Replacer. This is a vegetable starch-based powder with leavening ingredients that works pretty well for baking. When I tried using flax seeds as an egg substitute, I was so impressed with the results that I switched to using it for all my baking needs, although some quick breads work fine with just a baking soda-vinegar combination. My puddings thicken with arrowroot or cornstarch rather than eggs. My soy ice cream tastes fine without any eggs in it. And I've even made the occasional egg-like breakfast that satisfies my rare craving for eggs.


Substituting for Eggs as the Main Ingredient

Tofu is the standard stand-in for eggs as a main ingredient. It is a bland food that can be seasoned to taste like many other foods. Before I developed an allergy to this soy product, I made an egg-free tofu salad sandwich and was quite satisfied with the results. Mustard, turmeric, and/or nutritional yeast can work wonders towards creating an egg-like flavor. Look online or in vegan cookbooks for specific recipes where not provided.

Egg Salad: use firm or extra-firm tofu in place of hard-boiled eggs. Use a soy mayonnaise to make the whole salad vegan.

Hard-boiled eggs: use firm tofu, cubed, in place of eggs in mixed green or spinach salads.

Scrambled eggs: make scrambled tofu instead of eggs. Many vegetarian cookbooks give recipes for scrambled tofu. The recipes usually include turmeric to give the tofu a yellow color similar to that of scrambled eggs. Some natural foods stores even stock "tofu scrambler" seasoning packets, which you may also find near the tofu in the produce section of your regular supermarket.

Scrambled eggs redux: omit eggs altogether but make a similar dish such as Katie's Chickpea Scramble, or my breakfast burrito featuring potatoes as the eggy stand-in.

Omelet: try one of these two tofu omelet recipes when you're craving a fancy breakfast.

Quiche – tofu again features as the egg substitute in this usually egg-heavy dish.


Thickening without Eggs

Eggs can thicken recipes while adding richness (from the fat) to them. You can tell this is the eggs' function if the recipe calls for no thickeners such as cornstarch or arrowroot.

Puddings, custard pies, and quiches: substitute 3 tablespoons pureed tofu + 2 teaspoons cornstarch (or arrowroot) per egg. The tofu provides fat and moisture while the cornstarch is a thickening agent.

To ensure recipe success, you may want to find a vegan recipe that has been specially developed to thicken and set up without eggs. You can always adjust the seasonings to match your favorite non-vegan recipe.

Chile's Butterscotch Pudding (tofu-free)
1/3 c dark brown sugar
3 tbs arrowroot
Pinch salt
2 c vanilla soy milk
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the brown sugar, arrowroot, and salt together in a saucepan.
Slowly add soy milk, stirring constantly to avoid lumps.
Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until pudding thickens. This will take longer than you think.
Cook for another two minutes, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat, and stir in the vanilla.
Let cool for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep surface from skinning over.
Eat warm or refrigerate for 2-3 hours for cold pudding.

Decadent variation: spoon warm pudding into bowls. Sprinkle with a few mini-chocolate chips. Serve when chips are melted.

Ice Cream: nondairy ice creams can be thickened with tofu, coconut milk, arrowroot, or nuts. There are hundreds of vegan ice cream recipes online to choose from.

Mayonnaise: buy a commercially made soy or tofu mayonnaise, or make your own.


Binding without Eggs

Casseroles & Burgers often rely on eggs to hold the ingredients together. Here are some alternative binders. When choosing which option to use, be sure to consider the flavor and texture it will add to the dish.

• Use 2 - 3 tablespoons of one of these for each egg in the recipe:
• Tomato paste
• Arrowroot powder, potato starch, or cornstarch
• Flour: whole-wheat, unbleached, oat, or soy
• Crumbs: finely crushed breadcrumbs, cracker meal, or matzo meal
• Oats: quick oats or cooked oatmeal
• Potatoes: mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, or instant potato flakes


• Ener-G egg replacer: mix 1 ½ teaspoons with 2 tablespoons water for each egg.


• Mix 1/4 cup tofu + 1 tablespoon flour for each egg.


• 2 - 3 tablespoons prepared binder per egg: Process 1 cup flour + 2 cups water in blender until thick. Cook in a double boiler for 45 – 60 minutes. Using a mixer, whip in 2 tablespoons oil + 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Coatings & Batters need binding to help them stick to whatever they are coating. Tofu, nut butters, fruit or vegetable puree, or a starch such as flour can work well in place of eggs. Check out these French toast recipes: tofu, banana, tahini, and basic for examples.


Baking without Eggs

Cookies & Muffins need eggs or a substitute to bind the ingredients together. Leavening is usually provided by baking powder or baking soda in the recipe ingredients.

Cakes & Quick Breads are light and fluffy due to the leavening they get partly from the eggs. It will be difficult to use egg substitutes if the recipe calls for more than 3-4 eggs. There are a few recipes for vegan angel food cake online but most admit they are not light and fluffy like the original.

Here is a long list of substitutes you can try. Some substitutes may yield a denser product and may be gummy. Experiment to find what works best for you. Amounts given are for each egg.

• Prepared flax seed egg substitute: 3 tablespoons. To make, grind 1/3 cup flax seeds into meal in a blender or spice grinder. In a blender, process meal with 1 cup water on high speed until mixture thickens. Stores for a week in the refrigerator in a closed jar. This is my favorite and highly recommended. Note: chia seeds are supposed to work equally well.


• Instant flax seed egg substitute: Whip together 1 tablespoon ground flax seed + 1/4 cup water for each egg. If additional leavening is needed, add 1/2 teaspoon EnerG Egg Replacer.


• Baking soda/vinegar combination: an easy way to make cakes and quick breads rise. Since the ingredients required are basic, cheap, and shelf-stable, these cakes and breads can be whipped up at any time. With an alternate method of baking, such as a wood stove or solar oven, your family could still have comfort food during a natural disaster or prolonged power outage.


• Silken tofu: 1/4 cup. Blend with the liquid ingredients in the recipe. This is what the local vegan restaurant uses to make their desserts...from Betty Crocker recipes!


• Soy milk: 1/4 cup. Can add 1 tablespoon lemon juice or vinegar. The acid will react with the leavening ingredients in the recipe and help it rise. Add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch to the dry ingredients for better texture.


• Fruit or vegetable puree: 3 tablespoons puree (applesauce, banana, pureed prunes, cooked pumpkin or winter squash). Optional: add 1/2 teaspoon baking powder to lighten the bread.


• Ener-G Egg Replacer: mix 1 1/2 teaspoons with 2 tablespoons water. This mix is made with tapioca and potato starch with leavening ingredients. It works well in most baked goods and can be found in natural foods stores. Whisk the powder and water together until frothy for the best results.


• Cornstarch: beat 2 tablespoons with 2 tablespoons water.


• Soy flour: mix 1 heaping tablespoon with 1-2 tablespoons water. (I was not thrilled with the results in pancakes. They were denser and more doughy than my usual ones made with flax seed.)


• Baking powder: stir together 2 teaspoons with 2 tablespoons water. Add 1 tablespoon oil, if desired for richness.
  
• Dry yeast: dissolve 1 teaspoon in 1/4 cup warm water


• Starch 'n soda: sift together 1/2 tablespoon tapioca or corn starch, 1/2 tablespoon potato starch, 1/8 teaspoon baking powder, + pinch xanthan gum (if you have it). Whisk with 3 tablespoons water + 1 teaspoon oil until somewhat frothy.


• Starch 'n baking powder: mix 2 tablespoons tepid water or nondairy milk + 1 tablespoon potato or tapioca starch + 1 /2 tablespoon shortening + 3 /4 teaspoon baking powder.


• Agar: whisk together 1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon agar powder + 1/4 cup lukewarm water + 1 teaspoon baking powder.


• Xanthan gum: mix 1/4 teaspoon with 1/4 cup water. Let stand until thickened. (Whip to substitute for egg white.)

Report Your Successes & Failures

For those who are giving up all eggs, please try out the substitutes that appeal to you and then let me know which ones worked best. Even if you have no intention of giving up your eggs (or your chickens), I hope you will experiment a little. If you're short on eggs one day, one of these substitutes may just save your recipe.

Back on the Bike Seat

It seems like forever since I've been on the bike for more than a slow spin around the block. I've gotten terribly out of shape over the summer. There are, of course, lots of excuses: the dizziness (which is far better but still occasionally rears its ugly head), a chronic foot blister and callous that developed from wearing a pair of shoes that didn't quite fit right, an aggravating shoulder pain that I'm still dealing with, and the sweltering summer heat.

Have you noticed that once you get out of the habit of exercise, it seems easy to stay out of the habit? Your body feels sluggish and your time is, as always, limited so it becomes easier to just blow off the errands that need to be done or wait until they pile up so you can justify driving. This can lead to feeling bad about these choices and eating far too much homemade soy ice cream to try to smooth away those feelings (and try to keep cool in the summer heat).

Today, I got on the bike and took my mail to the post office. It's not a terribly long ride, but the slight incline on the way was enough to inform my leg muscles of their neglectful summer. The ride home was wonderful. The temperatures here are finally starting to cool off, my shoulder is improving, I have shoes that fit now, and I'm only rarely dizzy so I hope to choose the bike more often.


I was reminded on my ride today how much I enjoy the dozen stickers adorning my bike. You can enlarge this photo to see them in more detail. The one on the fork is the result of a bored afternoon last year when I cut up a bumpersticker to make a message of my own. My sweetie thinks it implies I'm single and lookin' for love. What I meant to convey was that too few people bother to recycle. It is said that you can tell a lot about a person by their bumperstickers. What do you think?

Making Liqueurs

Along with my other food preservation adventures over the past year, I've done a bit of experimenting with alcohol preservation. I've preserved Calamondine limes in brandy, candied Calamondine limes in Merlot, steeped homemade orange and lemon extracts, and made delicious limoncello and intense ginger liqueur. Alcohol is an easy way to preserve food, the results are tasty, and the uses versatile. Liqueurs can be sipped before or after dinner, used as glaze on roasted vegetables (or meat, for those so inclined), added to soups and dressings, mixed into bread and cake batters, or drizzled over the top of desserts such as cake and ice cream. Serving homemade liqueurs to your guests is a sure way to impress without blowing your budget.

You might think with this glowing review that I'm a raging alcoholic. Hardly. We drink very rarely here, actually, but do enjoy a sip of limoncello every month or so. And I'm just beginning to experiment with using the liqueurs in cooking and baking.


How did I get started on this crazy adventure? I suppose the real beginning was many years ago when I made my own vanilla extract from vanilla beans steeped in vodka. That's as far as I went for years, although I often considered making my own coffee liqueur (but never got around to it). Sometime last year, I stumbled across this interesting book in the used bookstore. It intrigued me and I began more serious experimenting. Then in May, I noticed a link to a Danish Schnapps recipe site that was filled with intriguing recipes. Here are two of my latest boozy adventures.


Remember the summer splurge on cherries and berries? I put some of those cherries in a quart jar, poured a whole bunch of sugar over them, and then filled the jar with vodka to make Cherry Wishniak. That has been sitting in my closet, relatively undisturbed, until today when I took this picture. I'll be straining it and putting it in a pretty bottle. I've already dipped into the jar a couple of times for different recipes. A tablespoon added to some homemade soy ice cream last week was divine.

As an added bonus, the book has suggestions for limiting waste. You know how I hate wasting food. Well, after straining the cherry liqueur, I can save the cherry meat in a crock. (The recipe says the cherry meat will be dissolved after the 3 month steeping, but it is not. It's still quite firm.) I just need to add a little sugar and a little vodka, and keep it in the refrigerator. Any time I strain fruit from making a liqueur, I can add it to this crock with a little more sugar and vodka. This can be added to cakes, puddings, and ice cream.


Another recent experiment with making liqueur involved the chunky bits of the pomegranate seeds leftover after juicing them for jelly, drying them and sifting them for anadana (an Indian spice). I filled a quart jar half-full with those chunky dried bits of seed and covered them with vodka to steep for a while. While retrieving the Wishniak today, I saw that the vodka had turned pink in the pomegranate jar.


I strained the ground seeds through a permanent gold coffee filter. The resulting liquid is cloudy so I'm going to let it sit for a couple of days until I can carefully pour off the clear liquid. Then I'll add a sugar syrup made with twice as much sugar as water. The book recommends using 1 part sugar syrup to 3 parts flavored vodka. Then the liqueur is set back in the dark closet to age for a week or two. (Waste avoidance tip: save cloudy "sludge" left at the bottom of the bottle for cooking.)

Yes, making liqueurs requires patience. It is, however, a fun and useful way to preserve food. Liqueurs can be made with fruit, nuts, herbs, and spices right from your own garden. You can start with given recipes and then branch out into experimenting with your own combinations. And, like other home preserved food, they make lovely Christmas gifts. You still have time for this holiday season if you start now.

Bonus tip: The adventurous might try making their own vodka, too.

Poverty Garden - Blog Action Day

When designing a garden to feed your family throughout the year, consider what is required to live and thrive. I know some of my readers do not agree that a strict vegetarian (vegan) diet can meet human nutritional needs. However, I've listened carefully to what Dr. T. Colin Campbell, Dr. John McDougall, and Dr. Neal Barnard from Physicans Committee for Responsible Medicine say about the subject and I've read their books as well as numerous others. I'm personally convinced the science is sound and that I won't fall over dead from a lack of animal bits and pieces in my diet.

Eliminating livestock from the homestead saves time, energy, and resources usually diverted to their care, feeding, and "harvesting". Yes, livestock can graze on less arable land, control pests, and produce manure. However, soil can be built up even on top of bedrock, hills can be terraced, and saline soils can be improved by good management. Integrated Pest Management techniques can help control pests. And manure doesn't have to come from livestock.

What are the necessary building blocks for health? Carbohydrates, protein, and fat, in that order. "But what about all the micronutrients"?, you may ask. If you eat a varied plant-based diet, you'll meet all those needs. Wait, that's not quite correct. In this article, Dr. McDougall mentions a study from 1925 where a healthy adult couple lived on a diet of white potatoes with minor additions of oil, a few fruits, coffee, and tea for six months. They were active during this time and did not suffer nutritional deficiencies.

Plan a Poverty Garden to meet your nutritional needs. To figure out what plants will grow in your area, start with a climate zone map for local conditions. Then, tap into the experience already present through local farmers and gardeners, cooperative extension services, and local guides. Select plants to give you carbohydrates, protein, and fat.

Filling carbohydrates are available from grains, and starchy vegetables such as tubers, winter squash, and corn. Grains take quite a bit of space and can take more energy to process, but they store well and are very versatile in their uses. Familiar tubers include potatoes and sweet potatoes. Potatoes can be grown vertically with a relatively small footprint and can be stored for up to six months in a root cellar. Winter squash plants spread out tremendously but can produce quite a lot of pumpkins and squash. (In addition, the blossoms and seeds are also edible.) Corn also takes space but has the advantage of drying very well for long term storage and is versatile in its uses.

Other non-starchy vegetables provide phytonutrients and variation in flavor. Use intensive gardening techniques to maximize production in the space you have available. Fruits provide phytonutrients as well as simpler carbohydrates good for quick energy. The edible seeds of some, such as watermelons, also provide protein and fat. In a poverty garden, all edible parts of the harvest should be utilized.

Humans can easily meet their protein needs from plant foods. Plant different types of legumes in your Poverty Garden to provide variety in your diet. All beans and lentils store very well when dried. Some nitrogen-fixing trees also have edible pods, making them doubly beneficial in the garden.

Nuts and seeds provide fats as well as protein. By eating them in their whole form, rather than as free oil, you get all the fiber and nutrients packed into the kernel. Growing nut trees will provide you with shade, leaves for compost, wood (from pruning), and food. If you're lucky, you live in a zone where homegrown avocados or olives are a possibility.

For seasoning, plant some herbs appropriate for your climate zone. Some culinary herbs also have medicinal uses, which gives you more bang for the buck in your poverty garden.

When you sit down to plan your garden, spend a little time figuring out how to grow the most nutrition, and flavor, for the last amount of money and effort. This will help ensure you continue to have food even during times of poverty.

How to Make Vegetarian Sushi

In the CSA share this week, I got a Japanese cucumber, mizuna, roasted chiles, and basil (among other things). Mizuna is a wonderful mild green I first encountered at a local sushi restaurant where it was used raw in a delicious vegetable sushi roll as well as in a bountiful salad topped with ginger dressing. Perhaps it was those memories that made me think "sushi" when I picked up my share.

You may be wondering how roasted chiles and basil fit into a sushi theme. Some of the chiles were red; roasting turns these into tender sweet morsels when the chile's heat level is mild. Basil is used in Thai cooking, so I thought I'd try it in my usual Thai sushi roll. To really cue in on the ethnicity, I also made a quick Thai dipping sauce.

The result was wonderful, with a mixture of flavors that I just adore. I was going to apologize for the lack of photos, but decided to spend a little time this morning staging a sushi lesson for you. Last night, though, we dug in right away before I even thought about taking a picture. The ingredient amounts in the photos here are more sparse than I have at the beginning of a normal sushi session.

I am going to use last night's Thai sushi rolls as the base for today's cooking lesson. You can, however, substitute any vegetables you'd like in your own roll. Typical selections for me include avocado, cucumber, green onion, carrot, red pepper, and alfalfa or spicy sprouts. Some other vegetables you might like are Asian sauteed mushrooms, steamed asparagus, and steamed spinach. Roasted peanuts or toasted sesame seeds add a nice little crunch. Wasabi or Sriracha sauce can be included in the roll as well, or you can make a non-vegetarian masago-mayonnaise mixture with sugar, soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil.

Traditionally, sushi is dipped in soy sauce, with or without wasabi mixed in. Rolls may be dressed with other sauces, too, such as ponzu or teriyaki sauce. You, of course, will want to serve your sushi with the traditional gari, or sushi ginger. It is available in many grocery stores and Asian stores or you can make your own.

Chile's Thai Sushi Roll with Dipping Sauce

Sushi Rice

• 3 cups sushi rice - I use white because it tastes so much better in a roll than brown. I usually purchase a California-grown brand.


• 4 cups water


• 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar*

Rinse rice well three to four times. Drain thoroughly, catching the water to use on your plants.

Place rice and clean water in rice cooker. Let sit for at least 5 minutes, or up to half an hour.

Turn on the rice cooker and work on preparing your fillings while it cooks.**

Let rice steam an additional 5 minutes, off the heat, when it is finished cooking.

Turn cooked rice out into a hangiri or a large wide bowl. Sprinkle with seasoned rice vinegar. Do not mix or stir the rice as this will make it gummy.


To cool the rice, fan it continuously. You can use a nice fan such as the one pictured here, a file folder, or even an electric fan. Cut through the rice gently without smashing the kernels every 30 seconds or so. When the surface is no longer radiating heat, gently fold the rice over. There will probably be some warm rice still from the bottom. Fan and cool this until all of the rice is at room temperature.

Cover the bowl with a damp dish towel to keep the rice from drying out as you assemble your sushi.

*If you don't have seasoned rice vinegar on hand, make your own by heating 1/2 cup plain rice vinegar, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon salt together, stirring, just until sugar and salt dissolve. Let cool before using.

**If you don't have a rice cooker, place rice and clean water in a cooking pot on the stove. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for one minute. Cover, reduce heat to low, and cook for 22 minutes. Let steam, off the heat, for 5 minutes when done.

Fillings

• Sriracha sauce - available in many grocery stores (in the Asian food section) and Asian groceries. Or, try making your own. I haven't done this but here are two recipes.


• Roasted peanuts - chopping optional


• Basil leaves, slivered


• Cilantro leaves


• Green onion, chopped - white and green parts


• Avocado - one medium avocado will make 4 - 6 sushi rolls


• Red pepper, thinly sliced - fresh or roasted


• Mizuna leaves - ribs removed


• Cucumber, peeled, seeded, and thinly sliced lengthwise


• Nori - thin sheets of dried seaweed are needed for sushi rolls. There are many different brands and grades of nori. My advice is to try various brands until you find one that you really like.

Dipping Sauce

• 2 teaspoons brown sugar


• 1 tablespoon boiling water


• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice


• 3 tablespoons vegetarian fish sauce (Nuoc Mam Chay)*


• 2 teaspoons grated ginger**


• 1/2 teaspoon dried red pepper flakes

Dissolve brown sugar in hot water. Stir in remaining ingredients. Serve at room temperature.

*Large Asian grocery stores should have fish sauce, or Nuoc Mam, as well as the vegetarian version, called Nuoc Mam Chay. There are a number of homemade recipes online but I've never tried making my own as I can easily find this and like the brand.

**I store my ginger in the freezer. It's very easy to scrape off the peel and then grate as needed while frozen. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap to keep from getting freezer burn. (If anyone has ideas on a non-plastic alternative, let me know.)

Assembly


When your rice is cool, your ingredients are prepped, and your dipping sauce is made, you are ready to start assembling your sushi rolls. Almost. You still need a few more items for the job.

• Sushi mat - it is far easier to roll sushi if you wrap your sushi mat in plastic wrap. Yes, I know it's using plastic, but otherwise, the rice grains get embedded in the mat and are extremely difficult to remove. (Did you know rice can be made into a glue? You will learn that lesson the hard way if you don't clean up your sushi-making supplies immediately after use.)


• Damp terry cloth towel - you will use this to get excess water off your hands and to clean your knife while slicing the sushi roll.


• Bowl of water with a tablespoon or two of seasoned rice vinegar - for wetting your hands so the sushi rice does not stick to them.

Make sure all your supplies are easily within reach. Once you spread the rice on the nori, the seaweed will start absorbing moisture. If left too long, it will get chewy. This is why sushi is generally made to order, rather than in advance.

Place your plastic-covered bamboo mat on the counter with the slats running horizontally. Lay your sheet of nori shiny side down on the mat, with the lines on it running the same direction as the bamboo mat. Wet your hands and gather up a ball of rice. Carefully spread it out over the sheet of nori, leaving about 1" uncovered along the top edge.

Run a line of Sriracha sauce along the rice in the bottom third of the sheet.


If using ingredients that are in small pieces, add them to the roll next. For the Thai roll, this includes a single row of roasted peanuts, a single row of basil leaf slivers, a generous sprinkling of green onion and cilantro leaves.


Next, add the larger ingredients. Place the avocado slices near the base and then add the red pepper, mizuna leaves, and cucumber.


With the bottom of the nori lined up with the bottom of the bamboo mat, begin to roll it up away from you. Use your fingers to hold the ingredients in place as shown in these pictures of the rolling process at Eden Foods. Roll firmly but not so tightly that ingredients are squeezed out of the ends of the roll, although you are free to nibble on any avocado chunks that come shooting out.


Place the roll on the cutting board and, with a very sharp knife, gently slice through the roll in the middle. Use the wet terrycloth towel to clean the rice from your knife between slices. Cut your roll in 8-10 pieces for easy eating.


Serve on a plate with dipping sauce. Not pictured are the usual piles of wasabi and pickled ginger as they don't pair as well with this Thai roll as with other vegetable rolls.

I hope this inspires you to attempt making your own sushi. In my pre-vegetarian days, I used to frequent sushi restaurants often until learning to make my own rolls from the Eden Foods website. I then took two sushi classes at a Japanese store and learned hands-on how to make about 10 different rolls. (Yes, including raw fish.) When I went to sushi restaurants, I'd sit at the bar and watch the sushi chefs work. I learned additional skills that way and began to make more kinds of rolls. After becoming vegan, I simply omitted the mayonnaise sauce, fish eggs, and seafood from my rolls and now make delicious vegetable-based rolls. Even a simple avocado and cucumber roll is a tasty treat with wasabi, soy sauce, and pickled ginger.

The Sorghum Experiment

My sweetie planted a few sorghum seeds this year as an experiment. Would they grow? Would they produce seeds? What would the sweet stalks taste like?

The seeds germinated and the plants grew. They looked a little like corn stalks at first. A while ago, I noticed they were starting to produce the seeds. We waited patiently to see if they would mature and whether the birds would discover them. We pondered when to harvest them, and I began to do a little bit of research online to figure out possible ways to use the plant.


Finally the seeds matured and we saw that this was a red variety of sorghum. My brief Internet research indicated that the red sorghum grain is usually used as livestock feed. Moo. It is also used for brewing beer, but we've opted not to get into the home-brewing business so I hoped it might be edible as a grain. If I wanted to do this, though, it had to be this week as we discovered that ants were farming aphids on the plants. I cut off the seeds and rinsed them thoroughly in a wide sieve to get rid of the ants and aphids.


I put the wet seeds in the Tulsi solar oven to dry them out and hopefully toast any remaining insects, especially after a few of the ants decided biting me was appropriate retaliation for shutting down their farming operation.

This bright photo demonstrates why sunglasses are recommended when using a solar oven. Unfortunately, I generally forget to wear them. I also occasionally forget to use hotpads, another bad idea since the solar ovens get very hot.

Sweet sorghum is also grown for sorghum syrup. The proper way to make the syrup is to strip the stalks and pass them through rollers which crush them and squeeze out the juice. The juice is clarified and boiled down to the sticky sweet syrup sold in stores as sorghum syrup. Here are some pictures from a family mill in the US. There are no sorghum mills in the desert southwest that I am aware of, and I seem to have mislaid my mule and rollers, so I had to think of some other way that I might extract the sweetness from the stalks.


I cut some of the stalk and confirmed that it had a sweet taste. Then I stripped the leaves, leaving only the cane stalk. I chopped part of one stalk into two inch segments and realized the sweetness came from the softer center portion. I used a vegetable peeler on the remaining stalks to remove the tough outer portion, making it far easier to chop into pieces. I put all of the pieces in a pot of water and stuck that out in the Sun Oven for a few hours.

After it cooled in the morning, I ground up the slightly softened stalk pieces in the food processor. I tried pressing the juice out with my Chinois food mill but it was simply too bulky and tough to press out the liquid. I ended up squeezing a fistful at a time over a strainer into a bowl with the cooking water.


I boiled the liquid down to reduce it by half. The result is sweet, like diluted honey, but still far from the thick, sticky stage of proper sorghum syrup. My sweetie tasted it and thinks it's gross. (Failure #1)

I think it tastes okay, so perhaps I'll use some with a cooked grain for a sweet breakfast treat. I could cook some apples in it for applesauce. Or, use it to make gingerbread. It took so much effort to make that I hate to just toss it out.



Back to the grain part of this experiment. Once the seeds were dry, I stripped them off their stems and rubbed them vigorously to remove the chaff. After sifting and winnowing, the grains were ready for some edibility trials.

I ground half of them in my little spice grinder. Rather, I tried to grind them. These are tough little seeds! I should have set up the grain mill but didn't think about it at the time. After sifting, I was left with about 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup chunky parts.


I cooked the chunky parts in water for 25 minutes. This mush was inedible. The red seed coating seems to have a tendency to stick to the throat. After drinking lots of water and coughing to try to dislodge the bits and pieces, the mush went into the compost. (Failure #2)


There was still flour, however. I made my usual pancake recipe, substituting sorghum flour for a little bit of the wheat flour, and served up our usual Sunday breakfast. After eating a couple, my sweetie said his mouth felt "tingly". Uh oh. That is not a good thing. Tingly usually indicates a food sensitivity or allergy, and is nothing to mess around with. I made him take a benadryl tablet while I composted the remaining pancake batter and cleaned up the dishes. (Failure #3)

I made a fresh batch of whole wheat pancakes that caused no further problems.

I still have some grain left that I had intended to try cooking as a whole grain. Given my sweetie's allergic reaction, however, I think I will just give these to my friend with several lovely backyard chickens. I'm sure they'll enjoy the treat.

Sorghum may still find a place in our garden, but not in our diet. Why grow it? Well, if we decide to keep chickens or guineas for tick control, we can feed them the grain. Or we can give it to others in the community with poultry. We can compost the leaves. If the stalks dry out nicely, they might go through our cheap yardsale-purchased chipper shredder to make mulch or perhaps cover for a composting toilet. Since most parts of the plant are good for livestock feed, another option would be to give it to someone that raises their own animals. (I'm sure Angel wouldn't say no to a bone or two in return.)

On the other hand, given the scarcity of water in the desert, perhaps we should just cross sorghum off our seed list entirely.

Be Nice to Your Mailman

Are you one of the lucky ones? Do you have a great mailman that is personable, efficient, and does more than required? If you do, be nice to him (or her). It's so very easy to take mail delivery for granted and it's also easy to resent the mailman when he delivers nothing but bills and junk mail. But, if you have a quality mailman, you can count on him (or her) to keep an eye out for you.

We had a great mailman when we moved here. Over the first couple of years, I spoke with him a few times but only about superficial stuff. When he learned that we were staying, he began to sort out junk mail addressed to previous residents so we didn't get it. He followed 'Hold Mail' orders to the letter* and always had a smile, even when it was evident he was tired.

Then one day, he was gone. Poof. Just like that. At first, I thought he was on vacation but it soon became obvious he was not coming back. I asked one of the many different people delivering our mail and learned he had retired. I also learned something else I didn't know. Mail routes are, I think this was the term he used, 'contracted' out. When a senior mailman retires, that delivery route is up for grabs and it does not get picked up by another senior mailman.

In our case, our neighborhood got split up three ways and we ended up on an 'auxilary route'. That means we don't have one regular delivery person. We have a parade of different folks that deliver the mail. Different people, different times of day, different quality. We get all the junk mail for everyone who's ever lived here. Mail holds are iffy, so I now arrange for a friend to check the mail even if we put in a hold order.

While gone for this past weekend, I was relieved to hear that no mail was delivered. However, I grew concerned as this week progressed because the closing papers for the sale were supposed to be mailed on Monday. When I still hadn't received them today, I went to the Post Office to inquire. Perhaps they had somehow been mixed up with the hold order, even though our other mail had been delivered as scheduled on Monday. The clerk looked doubtful but I convinced him to go check in the back for me. Then I stood and waited. And waited. And waited. And started wondering if he'd gone on break and forgotten about me. There was not even any good entertainment.

Finally, he returned carrying my big envelope. He apologized for taking so long but he'd checked every carrier's hold box for it. After not finding it there, he thought to check other places. He found my mail mixed up in the bin for mail that is expected to need forwarding. Huh? We don't know why it ended up there but I was extremely grateful he'd been thorough enough to find it.

I can't help wondering if I'd been a little nicer to my mailman, and encouraged others to do the same, maybe he would have put off retirement a little longer. I bake a mean chocolate chip cookie. I would postpone retirement for that. Wouldn't you?

*Our worst 'Hold Mail' experience happened years ago when I scheduled - ahead of its time - a staycation. I stopped the mail, unplugged the phone, and told everyone we were going out of town. We had a lovely quiet week all to ourselves, disturbed only by the mail delivery Every. Single. Day. When we got back from our 'vacation', our mail delivery stopped. After a week of no mail, I went to the Post Office to find out why we got mail when we weren't supposed to and now weren't getting it when we were. No explanation for the mix-up but at least they gave me my mail. I've never entirely trusted the 'Hold Mail' system again.

Maybe This Time

This is a collage I made years ago. While the final result was pretty interesting, it was a long and rocky road getting to it. I started out with some soy crayons I'd received as a sampler, trying a variation on that old childhood trick of melting crayon bits onto paper with wax paper and a hot iron. Instead of using shavings, I scribbled on the paper, hoping the iron would melt it into a smoother surface. It didn't work. It looked like crap.

So, I got out the acrylic craft paints and did some painting. The crayon repelled the paint so it ended up with a weird splotchy look that still looked like crap. Next, I collaged various bits of colored paper randomly on the sheet. It was boring, but I noticed the circle in the center was a little interesting so I added some numbers to suggest a clock. Then I tried adding wax paper over it for interest. That really looked like crap.

Disgusted at this collage that simply wasn't working, I tossed it in a bucket of hot water with some oxyclean. I let it soak for a bit and scrubbed it with scrub brush to remove most of the wax paper. Surprisingly, this helped. But, now it looked like it had been through the wringer. Might as well go with the distressed look, I thought, and pulled out a candle and match. I carefully burned the damp paper in a few places. After re-wetting the sheet, I molded it over some pipes for a wave effect.

After drying, I added the single clock hand to serve as a central focus point. The finished collage sat around for a couple of years while I decided whether to spend any money on a frame. I wanted a deep shadow box for it but didn't have the skills to make one and couldn't find one at a reasonable price, so I finally just mounted it on smoky mat board with a basic black frame. This now lives in my mother-in-law's house because she actually likes it.

I have mixed feelings when I see this on her wall. On the one hand, it shows that persistence can lead to a good result. On the other hand, it reminds me how very hard I had to work to create something decent out of a series of bad steps.

Right now, my life feels like this. We have been researching options for relocation for about a year. All we want (Ha!) is a small home, with a modest garage or shop, and a little bit of land where we can grow much of our food. Oh, and a mother-in-law house out back since she's aging and we agreed it would be best if she was able to move with us. Being able to get this place hinged on selling the house my sweetie's mother was living in. The kicker there was we really hoped it wouldn't sell until her own mother had passed and that ended up being a long and difficult journey. It turned out not to matter as the market is so bad that it took almost 10 months to sell. A huge windstorm that badly damaged the roof in late spring didn't help.

In the meantime, my sweetie researched options all over the country but the downsides always outweighed the potential. Climate change means coastlines are not a good bet with rising ocean levels, hurricane-prone areas are apt to be harder hit, northern zones are losing their pest-killing freezes, and the western states are predicted to get hotter and drier. Peak oil means rising energy costs will make northern winters expensive and may lead to deforestation, all coal and oil reserves are likely to be tapped in a desperate bid to keep things 'normal', nearby resources for food will be even more important, and the cost of a cross country move would be high. Human nature, faced with shortages, makes us want to avoid huge population centers, opting instead for a smaller community.

And then the personal limitations enter the equation. Limited personal funds mean many otherwise ideal places are simply out of our reach. Among the three of us, health issues preclude regions that are too cold in the winter and too humid in the summer. The collapsing economy means jobs are harder to come by and it would be ill-advised to leave a stable situation.

So, we've finally (?) decided to adapt in place. Not entirely, as we are renters in a city of over 1 million people, but in the southwest desert. The biggest disadvantage is this region is already in drought and it will get worse. We didn't want to stay here for that reason as we know it will make growing food more challenging, but we are running out of time and running out of choices. We searched this weekend for possibilities and were sorely disappointed with the options. We searched our souls over whether our plan to relocate while my sweetie retains his job, requiring a long commute is the right choice. I just have to keep hoping that, like the collage, it will all work out in the end.

Building a First Aid Kit

Learning first aid is just the first step towards being effective in a medical emergency. Having the materials you need is also an important step. Remember that you are protected legally by Good Samaritan laws only for rendering aid up to the level of your certification. People have unfortunately been sued for doing more than they are certified to do, even when it had a positive outcome.

In an emergency situation with our own family in a crisis situation, especially if TSHTF, I suspect each of us will use our own judgment as to our abilities, their injuries, and our access to emergency medical care. But definitely don’t take this statement as legal or medical advice as to what you should or should not do. I am neither a lawyer nor a doctor. There were some good suggestions in Verde's first aid post and in the comments regarding preparedness.

Once you've decided you need a first aid kit, you have to decide what you want. You can buy a ready-made first aid kit online or at a wide range of stores. The kits range in size and options from quite small for a pack to very complete for an office or industrial environment. (This might not be a bad investment for a group if you are forming strong community ties.) The other option is to assemble your own first aid kit using a prepared list of contents. Such lists can be found in any first aid book or on many websites.

If you build your own kit, you will have to find the supplies. Many of them are readily available in drugstores or the pharmacy section of the grocery store, as well as at the box stores. For some supplies, however, you may need to go to a medical supply store or order online from one of the many suppliers, or you may decide to omit those items.

You also need to decide if you want first aid supplies in multiple locations. We evaluated the times and places we might need supplies and assembled several kits.

1. Vehicle: our primary first aid kit contains the complete list below and stays in our vehicle. We found a handy container at a box store that holds all of it. In all kits, we made sure to put the gloves and CPR barrier on top for fast and easy access.


2. Bug-out bags: another complete kit in the bag.


3. Bike: a smaller and more basic kit, without the pet items, is packed to take when going out for a day of errands on the bike. This will be essential when we are in a more rural location.


4. Home: we organized our home supplies into a first aid kit so we can grab it easily in case a neighbor is injured. Because size is not an issue here, we were able to add full bottles of pills and tubes of ointment instead of buying the more expensive small packets.

Click to enlarge and see contents more clearly.
We came up with our first aid kit by combining lists and information learned from three first aid classes we took in the past month: Red Cross First Aid, Wilderness First Aid, and Pet First Aid. I printed out our list (shared below) and checked off the items we needed for each of the kits we wanted. We already had a couple of small first aid kits previously purchased for the vehicle and the bug-out bags, so we dumped those out on the bed and gathered up all of the medical supplies from our house. We started making piles for each kit and a list of the supplies still needed.

One big shopping trip later and we were done. I won't lie to you and say it did not cost a few bucks. It did. However, we see this as an investment in ourselves and our community. We have the supplies if we need them for ourselves and for others. It won't cost any additional money unless we use some up in an emergency. Everything other than the medicines, which should be checked annually for expiration, will keep just fine.

Whether you choose to have just one kit or several, and whether you buy one or make your own, be sure you know what's in each kit and how to use everything. Learn before you need to know.


First Aid Kit

• 6 pairs non-latex gloves (nitrile) – Latex allergies can be serious. Be sure to get the non-latex gloves.


• Breathing barrier (with one-way valve) – you can get a one-time use barrier or a permanent mask with a replaceable valve and filter.


• Safety shears – round-nosed for cutting off clothing without stabbing victim with scissor points.


• Oral thermometer (non-mercury/non-glass)


• Tweezers


• Flashlight – accidents can happen at night.


• Sharpie pen – useful if you need to write on a body part for emergency personnel.


• Instant cold compress


• Chemical heat pack


• Space blanket


• Biohazard or Ziploc bags


• First Aid instruction booklet


• Accident forms – particularly handy for wilderness situations. Sample


• Ballpoint pen


• 25 adhesive bandages (assorted sizes)


• 5 sterile gauze pads (3 x 3 inches)


• 5 sterile gauze pads (4 x 4 inches)


• 2 absorbent compress dressings – 5 x 9 inches


• Adhesive cloth tape (10 yds x 1 inch)


• 2 inch wide roller bandage


• 4 inch wide roller bandage


• Coban wrap aka Vet Wrap – available in drugstores. May be cheaper at feed stores or vet supply.


• 2 triangular bandages – you can make your own with a sheet like we did. Standard dimensions for the right angle triangle are 37" x 37" x 52". Size up if needed for large persons.


• 4 safety pins – to secure triangle bandages. Duct tape also works.


• Duct tape


• SAM splint - comes in a variety of sizes. We chose 36 inch. In an emergency, they can be cut down in size if necessary.


• Antiseptic wound wash or providine iodine


• 5 triple antibiotic ointment packets (~1 gram each)


• 5 antiseptic wipe packets


• 2 packets of aspirin (81 mg each)


• 4 packets of ibuprofen (200 mg each)


• 2 doses Benadryl (25 mg each) - may be safe for dogs, but check with your vet before using.


• 2 hydrocortisone ointment packets (~ 1 gram each)


• Glucose – to lessen shock in dogs. Can also help a diabetic. Liquid preferred for dogs as you rub a little on the gums - we got honey sticks. A sugar packet added to water is fine for a diabetic.


• Sunscreen - if on extended trip.



• Comb – used for cactus removal. Flick the cholla segment away with the comb to avoid getting spines stuck in the fingers! (Photo credit.)

For pet first aid, specifically dog in our case, there is a lot of overlap in supplies. These are the additional items we got that are just for Angel. The ASPCA has additional information on disaster preparedness for pets.


Additions for Pet First Aid

• Clean cloth


• Multi-tool with pliers - these are handy anyway.


• Forceps – for extracting something from the mouth without getting bitten.


• Baby dose syringe or non-glass eye dropper – for administering medicine.


• Leash


• Muzzle - buy one or make one on the spot, using a roller bandage or even a shoelace.


• CPR barrier – this is not essential. You can give mouth-to-snout CPR. Printable instructions here. (One caution: don't give a full human breath to a small animal; you can burst their lungs.)
  
  To make your own CPR barrier from a soda bottle, cut off the bottom two-thirds of the bottle and wrap the edge in duct tape. (My sweetie put a piece of insulating foam along the edge for more comfort.) To use, place over dog's mouth and nose, and breathe into the drinking end. This is for use only if the dog is unconscious. Do not try this with a conscious dog.


• Sterile saline eye wash – available in drug stores near contact eye solutions.


• Sterile eye lubricant


• Styptic powder or pencil – stops minor bleeding. Available in pet stores or online.


• Bach’s Rescue Remedy – helps calm your pet.


• Towel


• List of emergency phone numbers - include your vet, emergency vet/pet hospital, local Humane Society, and local animal shelter.) ASPCA has an Animal Poison Control Center you can call at (888) 426-4435 but there is a $60 fee per call. (The National Poison Control Center at (800) 222-1222 is for humans.)


• Water

Pet supplies in our home first aid kit only.

• Digital thermometer (ear or rectal – rectal is more accurate) – any digital thermometer can be purchased at drugstore, although you probably want to mark it in some way for pet use only.


• Rectal lubricant - petroleum jelly or water-based sterile lubricant


• 3% hydrogen peroxide - to induce vomiting.


• Rubbing alcohol


• Grooming clippers


• Epsom salts - for soaking.

I hope this list proves helpful to you. Remember, this is a really complete list. You do not necessarily need everything on it. Even a $20 kit from the store is better than nothing!