The Future Will Belong To Those Who Prepare For It

(I thought I'd re-post a popular installment today that maybe some folks haven't seen. I'd love to know what you think, leave your thoughts in the comments!)

"Do your best to change the world, Do your best to be ready for changes in the world"

~Chinese proverb~

When was the last time you had a power outage that lasted for more than three hours? Has your neighborhood ever flooded or come through a landslide? Have you ever been laid off and unsure where grocery money was going to come from? Has wildfire ever threatened your home? Have you ever been suddenly thrust into an unsafe situation?

The world as we know it is different for everyone. The many ways our world can, and is, changing is staggering. So a radical change to our world as we know it can be anything to suddenly being without power for days (which happens to more people than you may realize), to a massive flood (been there, done that), to an unforeseen job loss, nearby chemical spill (which yours truly has lived through) ... you get the idea. Even in a minor power outage, we cannot pump gas, pay for anything electronically, and eating out if there's no power at home is likely not an option either. You will not be able to cool your home by either A/C or fan in a power outage, you won't want to be looking in the fridge every 15 min, and what about flushing the toilet? Let's not forget food shortages brought on by a massive snowstorm or being cut off without transportation after a flood or snowstorm (been there, done that too). So, the number of ways our world can change radically is staggering. But we don't have to wring our hands and moan, we can do something, lots in fact.

I am well known for having backup plans on top of backup plans. Once, it was only for childcare, but as the kids grew, having a Plan B, and Plan C, and so on, spread throughout my life. In these challenging times, we can plan for many life surprises, and not only end up in control of our lives but also change our mindset. Think about it, if you can plan for a sudden layoff, your attitude changes. Let's say one day, you and 150 of your co-workers are informed your factory is closing next month. This has happened to so many people, I can't count that high. So, how do you plan for this BEFORE it actually happens to you? Times are hard financially and you're only living two paychecks ahead of panic, so investing $200 in stocks isn't going to happen anytime soon. But let's set aside the investing, money security for a minute. Let's think about something more basic. Food.

If you're laid off and you have some food put by, your attitude towards this crisis will be different than the outlook of someone who has not planned for just such an occasion. It will still be a huge upset, but you won't have to wonder how you'll feed the spouse, two kids, and the family dog. I've been there, and I can tell you that visiting a pawn shop to trade in jewelry so I can feed the kids isn't fun. So, when you go grocery shopping, make a list. If your grocery list calls for three cans of kernel corn, buy four cans. If you were going to get two pounds of ground beef, and you can afford it, get three. I know you might not be able to do this all the time, very few people can. Every time you go shopping, look realistically at your list. One week get a couple extra cans of vegetables, the next shopping trip, get a bit of extra meat. The next shopping trip, consider getting a home first-aid kit or improving on one you may already have.

The next thing you need to do is keep track of these extras. I work in retail, and we have a system of rotation that is summarized by FIFO. "First In, First Out". If it's easier for your family, get a permanent black magic marker and write on the can or box the date you bought it. Meat can be wrapped and sealed in a freezer bag. Be sure and write the date purchased on the bag before the meat goes in. If someone in your house bakes, consider buying an extra bag of flour. (TIP: if you can, freeze it for a few days before putting it in a storage container. That way you won't be unpleasantly surprised by small, black, wriggling things. We found this out the hard way)

Using this method of buying a few extras as we could, we've been able to set aside large tubs of coffee, drink crystals, peanut butter, meats of all kinds, yeast for baked goods, pasta, a variety of sauces, and the list goes on. Now, I'm employed, but it's been less than a decade since I had to visit the pawn shop before the grocery store. I remember all too well that feeling of fear, depression and hopelessness. I also remember living in Northern Ontario and being snowed in with my spouse-at-the-time being gone already for a few days. I didn't drive, but I had a toddler to feed. Again, having food stores made all the difference in my attitude and outlook.

The wisdom of food storage cannot be overstated. Everyone, regardless of income level, tax bracket, location or age should consider doing what they can to put some food by. The more, the better. Give careful thought to storage, record keeping and how all that can be achieved cheaply. 

A Canadian Culinary Conundrum

While reading an essay this morning on food in the South, it occurred to me that I haven't spent much time exploring food here in the North. Do we even have what can be described as 'Northern Food'? With Southern food, it's easy. Grits, collard greens, okra, Creole, and the list goes on. For the record, the only item on that short list that I've not tried is collard greens, and I hope to rectify that as soon as the baby collards on my front porch are big enough. My Southern partner has educated me well in the ways of shrimp creole, handmade biscuits so soft you think they're a religious experience and proper sweet tea.

But back to Northern food...do we have any food that we can point to and say is a good representative of our Northern experience? If you ask my sons, they will tell you that bacon is the quintessential Northern food. If you ask any "good" Ontarian, they'll likely tell you that the most Canadian food is the humble butter tart. (It was invented here in Ontario, you know) Some folks will tell you that Beaver meat is a Northern food, others will point to poutine. You know what poutine is, don't you? A plate of french fries (cut from russet potatoes if you're looking for quality fries), smothered in beef gravy, salted and peppered and covered in cheese curds. Not grated cheese. Cheese curds.

Certainly maple syrup is a proper Canadian food. We produce some of the best here in Ontario, and I'm not talking about the weak-tea coloured stuff you buy in a plastic bottle! No, I'm talking about the dark, sweet liquid that can only be produced after someone has trekked through the bush for hours collecting sap buckets under dripping taps hammered into trees, and then spent many more hours boiling the stuff down over a smokey fire, slapping away the earliest bugs. There's a reason entire tractor trailers loaded with Grade A maple syrup have been stolen away. Good maple syrup has a certain quality...it's the taste of all that time and smoke and dedication.

Other folks will argue that Canadian cuisine is a collection of foods that were brought to our great land from its first immigrants. The Dutch, the Mennonite, the Ukrainians, the displaced Creole, the French, the Japanese, the Germans, and let's not forget the Jewish influences on Montreal Smoked meat!

You know, it occurs to me now, that I eat just as 'Northern' as I do 'Southern'. Perogies, Rueben Sandwiches, heaping plates of Poutine, I've had venison a number of times and enjoy it greatly, and I've even tried bear meat sausages. I can appreciate a fine bottle of Northern Ontario maple syrup, and I've frequently made enough Perogies to feed a branch of our Canadian Armed Forces.

I guess I'm safe in my culinary Canadian-ness after all.

What food does your home region point to proudly?

McBride on Medium!

I'm pleased as punch to let you all know that I'm writing on Medium now! I'll be writing more often about preparedness, increasing self-sufficiency, gardening and relying less on the grocery stores.
I plan on branching out into some less discussed topics as well.

I invite you all to come and visit me there. I look forward to engaging and productive discussions on how we can all increase our self-sufficiency.

(P.S: I'll still be updating here as well, I just wanted to let everyone know where else I can be found online)

McBride On Self-Sufficiency at Medium

What Next After People, Part 2

Previously, we engaged in a little thought experiment (Brought on by sleeplessness via the dog laying on my arm. Thank you, Harley)

In my ‘what-if’ scenario, I lived in a world with a much-reduced population. One where there weren’t enough people left to keep the power and internet on, and priorities were food, water and shelter. Once all the food in my nearby city was gone, there was nothing to hold me there and I had left the concrete for the bears, rats and coyotes. In my thought experiment, I retreated to the woods north of the city and began to build a refuge there.

I imagine that while I walked, I would desperately try and remember the Survival Rule of threes.

• You can survive for 3 minutes without air
• You can survive for 3 hours in a harsh environment without shelter
• You can survive for 3 days without water
• You can survive for 3 weeks without food

(All of these assume you’re not in icy water)

So let’s assume I have a backpack containing a wool sweater I found somewhere, a 2 layer weatherproof jacket scrounged from the back of a truck (the dead man at the wheel wasn’t going to be needing it anymore) and enough food for a week. In the pocket of the coat, I found a lighter, a bottle of water, a bandana, a battery operated flashlight, a 6” folding knife, and the dead man’s keys. On that keychain is a small strike-a-light thing that create sparks when you scrape it. From a survival standpoint, this is a potentially life-saving discovery!

Ever vigilant for wild animals, I suspect it would take me a couple of days to reach my destination. I’m in fairly decent shape for a walk of that length, but I don’t consider myself fit. I’m conscious of where I put my feet, because a sprained ankle would seriously limit my safety. I stay warm at night in the sweater and weatherproof jacket, and I’ve been lucky enough to find safe places to sleep at night, albeit fitfully. Let’s assume I made it out of town without incident.

I come across a small village seemingly uninhabited. I stay in the bush waiting and watching for as long as I can. Yes, it might be nice to have someone to talk to, but I can’t assume only the good people survived. So I’m cautious. I finally decide to approach one of the houses that looks in good condition. I can see a few crab apple trees in the yard and what looks like an overgrown garden nearby the house. I see no signs that anyone has been there in some time, so after a whole lot of internal debate with myself, I finally decide to check the house out.

Close inspection shows all the windows and doors intact and not a single human print in the dirt driveway. I look in all the windows I can reach, half expecting to hear a shout of alarm or warning. There’s no one inside and I find the backdoor unlocked. With a whispered apology to whoever owns the house, I quietly slip inside and explore. There are two levels, a basement with a walk-in pantry, a cold-room and various appliances. Knowing how long the power has been off, there’s no point in looking inside the freezer. Its contents would have thawed and rotted long ago. But the cold room is situated in such a way that it is kept cool by the earth itself, and the heavy door that protects it. My flashlight shows built in shelving stocked with all sorts of cans and jars of food, and I breathe a sigh of relief. On the floor are crocks and bottles. The crocks are full of sand that holds potatoes, carrots and apples. The bottles are all labelled ALE. It looks as if the previous occupants knew a thing or two about preserving and home brewing. The walk-in pantry holds a variety of buckets. They’re all labelled according to their contents, and if the labels are all correct, the house is well stocked with rice, flour, dried beans, bottles of spices and dried fruit. Leaving the basement, I return my attention upstairs.

There is a kitchen, whose cupboards are well-stocked with dry goods in large glass jars. Dishes still rest nestled inside each other in another cupboard. Down a long hallway I find a bathroom and two bedrooms, all empty of people. There are no bodies of the dead, no signs of panic or violence. It looks like the people who lived here just vanished. Curious, I explore further. Back in the kitchen, I take a close look at the table and find my answer. A notice of mandatory evacuation.

****

Next time: What would I find out in the barn that might help me stay alive?

I’d love to hear your impressions of my little thought experiment. Let me know in the comment section!

What Next After People?

I have just finished reading a novel that focuses on surviving in a future ripped apart by war. It's never made explicitly clear how long after the war, but I got the idea that it was a couple of generations at least. It was an entertaining book, and there were a couple of parts that nearly made me put the book down. I was impressed with the level of editing the book had received, only finding one mistake in a novel these days is pretty remarkable. My copy of Harry Potter has more than one typo! Anyway, I stuck with the book until the end and only have one niggling little quibble with it. 
The setting is New York City, specifically a greatly expanded Central Park. Now, even 25 years after a population-altering event, the underground pumps would have stopped working, and New York would be very, very wet. New York is actually already very wet. A team of men and 753 pumps struggle every day to keep the underground river from rising, and their efforts become even more focused and determined when it rains hard. Even as little as 2".

According to Alan Weisman, a man long considered an expert in what might happen to our world without us, 650 gallons of water rush not too far below ground in Brooklyn.  One supervisor of Hydraulics Emergency Response has been quoted as saying that without electricity those pumps would shut off and stay off. In a half hour, the subway tunnels would become so flooded, trains could no longer run. Within 20 years, Lexington Avenue would be a river.
Trees change faces too. The Chinese ailanthus tree would take over, as would weeds and native greenery. Seeds of weeds would blow in from various parks and take root. With no one to maintain the weeds and grasses, New York would not remain a sterile, concrete world. There would be more than just herds of zebra, bears and wolves for any remaining humans to deal with.

So while I recognize that the novel I finished yesterday is only fiction, and meant to be entertaining, I do wonder if the setting might have been better researched.

Regardless, all of this got me thinking while I couldn't sleep at 2 A.M.

Let's say for the sake of conversation that something horrible happened and mankind was not completely wiped out, but our numbers were dramatically reduced. Life has become day-to-day survival. Due to that same reduced population, there is no more power grid, no one to keep the internet running, not enough people to man the oil refineries, or make steel, or cigarettes or music, or any of the other dozens of things we've become accustomed to living with. Because I live in Northern Ontario, I, of course, turned my pre-dawn thoughts to how such a scenario would play out up here.

The closest city to me, an hour away by vehicle, would be taken over by the woods that surround it. The city was originally carved from the bush (as we Canadians call it), and a substantial wood-lot still resides at its heart today for educational purposes. (It is owned by a local college) It isn't unusual to see bears in town, or fox, cougars have been known to come calling, coyotes and even a lynx has been spotted. So the local wildlife isn't waiting around for human-kind to relinquish our grasp on the city. They're already staking their claim. There is already a rat problem, and while some theorize that without our trash, the rats would die off due to an altered diet and hungrier predators...I'm not so sure.

I think the city would quickly become wild and while there is a river on one side, there's not a lot of farms. Some, yes, but even if we had a well-established agricultural presence, those farms need people to till and plant and water and harvest. With a reduced population, farming would become subsistence-driven. Every survivor for themselves, as it were. For the sake of this mental exercise, I imagined I would survive (somehow), and then further tried to imagine exactly how I'd live.

Day-to-day existence would become a constant search for water, food, shelter, and safety. No more coffee, no more bananas or avocado. Once the trucks had ceased bringing food in, there would be no more shipments to the grocery stores and quite likely no one to run the stores anyway. After a while, there would be no more need of town and I would quite likely attempt to establish a refuge in the woods north of the city.

****

What comes next?

What do you think would happen with a drastically reduced population? Let us know in the comments!

Snowy Mendelssohn

I'm spending a quiet Saturday morning watching the snow fall outside and listening to Mendelssohn's Symphony no. 3 "Scottish". On today's to-do knitting pile is my Searchmont Meets Hudson Bay throw (which is taking on blanket status!) and my Shelter Snuggle.


Searchmont Meets Hudson Bay

Shelter Snuggle

It was worth getting up before the sun on a day I could have slept in.

How do you like to spend your Saturday mornings?

Knitting Along With EZ & Julia Child

I've been away from the blog lately with good reason. I've been knitting a lot more. There's a long story behind it all that has to do with joining a group...but I'll spare you all the details. Needless to say, there's been a big uptick in my knitting productivity lately.
Well, let me rephrase that. There will be.

See, I've got two blankets in production, a pair of mitts that really need to get finished, a pair of socks...you get the idea. Once it all gets done, it'll be great! Right now, it's a bunch of well-intentioned yarn. But I'll be able to share pictures with you later today!

While I've been knitting, I've been planning ahead. Even though I already have a large throw on the needles, I've been considering a winter project. Have you read the book, Julie & Julia? Or perhaps seen the movie? In a nutshell, a young woman decides to break up the boredom of her life by cooking every recipe of 524 recipes in Julia Child's book, "Mastering The Art of French Cooking", and blogs about it as she cooks her way through the book. Lately, I've been toying with the idea of giving the concept a knitterly twist. Could it be done? What would the best approach? The knitters out there will know the Julia Child of knitting is the brilliant Elizabeth Zimmerman, author of numerous knitting books, patterns, and more. So I've decided to knit along with EZ, as best I can, and blog about the process, the experience, and the patterns once considered ground-breaking. Mrs. Zimmerman was as well known for her wit, pithy commentary and no-holds-barred approach to knitting, and seems like someone I might have enjoyed knowing. So I'll get to know her as best I can through her books and patterns, some of which are as hard to procure as unicorn hair.

The first pattern will be her Mocassin Socks.

Stay tuned for more details and forthcoming pictures of my WIP-pile!

How To Plan For A Life Turned Upside Down

"Do your best to change the world, Do your best to be ready for changes in the world"

~Chinese proverb~

When was the last time you had a power outage that lasted for more than three hours? Has your neighborhood ever flooded or come through a landslide? Have you ever been laid off and unsure where grocery money was going to come from? Has wildfire ever threatened your home? Have you ever been suddenly thrust into an unsafe situation?

The world as we know it is different for everyone. The many ways our world can, and is, changing is staggering. So a radical change to our world as we know it can be anything to suddenly being without power for days (which happens to more people than you may realize), to a massive flood (been there, done that), to an unforeseen job loss, nearby chemical spill (which yours truly has lived through) ... you get the idea. Even in a minor power outage, we cannot pump gas, pay for anything electronically, and eating out if there's no power at home is not an option either. You will not be able to cool your home by either A/C or fan in a power outage, you won't want to be looking in the fridge every 15 min, and what about flushing the toilet? Let's not forget food shortages brought on by a massive snowstorm or being cut off without transportation after a flood or snowstorm (been there, done that too). So, the number of ways our world can change radically is staggering. But we don't have to wring our hands and moan, we can do something, lots in fact.

I am well known for having backup plans on top of backup plans. Once, it was only for childcare, but as the kids grew, having a Plan B, and Plan C, and so on, spread throughout my life. In these challenging times, we can plan for many life surprises, and not only end up in control of our lives but also change our mindset. Think about it, if you can plan for a sudden layoff, your attitude changes. Let's say one day, you and 150 of your co-workers are informed your factory is closing next month. This has happened to so many people, I can't count that high. So, how do you plan for this BEFORE it actually happens to you? Times are hard financially and you're only living two paychecks ahead of panic, so investing $200 in stocks isn't going to happen anytime soon. But let's set aside the investing, money security for a minute. Let's think about something more basic. Food.

If you're laid off and you have some food put by, your attitude towards this crisis will be different than the outlook of someone who has not planned for just such an occasion. It will still be a huge upset, but you won't have to wonder how you'll feed the spouse, two kids and the family dog. I've been there, and I can tell you that visiting a pawn shop to trade in jewelry so I can feed the kids isn't fun. So, when you go grocery shopping, make a list. If your grocery list calls for three cans of kernel corn, buy four cans. If you were going to get two pounds of ground beef, and you can afford it, get three. I know you might not be able to do this all the time, very few people can. Every time you go shopping, look realistically at your list. One week get a couple extra cans of vegetables, the next shopping trip, get a bit of extra meat. The next shopping trip, consider getting a home first-aid kit, or improving on one you may already have.

The next thing you need to do is keep track of these extras. I used to work in retail, and we had a system of rotation that is summarized by FIFO.

"First In, First Out".

If it's easier for your family, get a permanent black magic marker and write on the can or box the date you bought it. Meat can be wrapped and sealed in a freezer bag. Be sure and write the date purchased on the bag before the meat goes in. If someone in your house bakes, consider buying an extra bag of flour. (TIP: if you can freeze it for a few days before putting it in a storage container. That way you won't be unpleasantly surprised by small, black, wriggling things. We found this out the hard way)

Using this method of buying a few extras as we could, we've been able to set aside large tubs of coffee, drink crystals, peanut butter, meats of all kinds, yeast for baked goods, pasta, a variety of sauces, and the list goes on. I remember having to visit the pawn shop before the grocery store. I recall all too well that feeling of fear, depression, and hopelessness. I also remember living in Northern Ontario and being snowed in with my spouse-at-the-time being gone already for a few days. I didn't drive, but I had a toddler to feed. Again, having food stores made all the difference in my attitude and outlook.

The wisdom of food storage cannot be overstated. Everyone, regardless of income level, tax bracket, location or age should consider doing what they can to put some food by. The more, the better. Give careful thought to storage, record keeping and how all that can be achieved cheaply.

What Do Wasps And Hot Peppers Have In Common?

Welcome back!

I hope you've had a productive and peaceful couple of weeks. It's hard to believe that we're already zipping through the first week of August. Pretty soon my youngest will be getting back on the school bus and the day-to-day focus will change. But for now, we enjoy the nights we can stay up a little later.

There's been a lot of activity around our house lately, most of it can't be witnessed in the normal way. I go out back to the garden every morning to check on things, and I might notice a large cucumber that didn't seem to be there the day before. Or the tomato that has quite suddenly turned red. This past week, while taking out one of the rare weeds in my garden, I glanced up at the back of the house to notice a grey paper wasp nest under the eaves.

I was not impressed.
Because it hangs over the stairs to the basement (my only access to the basement where we do laundry), I was even less impressed than you'd expect.
After a couple of days, a can of wasp spray was located, and I waited until full-on dark to spray the nest as best I could from the ground. It was quite nerve-wracking, but for two days, I was relieved to not see any waspish activity. Until yesterday.

So another can was purchased, and this time the woman I rent the house from climbed up on a step ladder for a better shot and sprayed the hell out of the nest. Also at full dark. Let me just add in here that I think RAID wasp spray might be my favorite wasp killer on the market right now. Normally, I try and have a live and let live attitude, except for rodents. And wasps. Neither has any place in or on my home.

The garden seems to be settling into the maturation phase. The tomatoes are all in various stages of girth-building and reddening.

I'm confident we'll have lots to can, although I think we'll be doing them all up in small batches. More on that later. My two blueberry plants started to fruit before I could plant them back in the spring, so they've been living in the containers they came home in. I'm happy to report we got about twenty fat, tasty, dark blue berries from them! The last three were snacked on just yesterday. I think it's safe to plant them into their containers now. They're not headed for the garden because I want to be able to control how they over-winter and how their soil is managed. So for this year, and next, they'll live in planters.

The two hot pepper plants have exploded with peppers.

I didn't expect much from them initially, so it's safe to say I'm quite pleased with them. The bell peppers...nothing. They have the beginnings of flowers, wonderful leaves, but nothing else. The kale has been eaten down to the stem by something that has proven to be elusive, although I know there's no slugs in the garden. Out of the five plants I put in, only one looks like it might possibly live to mature. Disappointing for obvious reasons, but I was really looking forward to making my own kale chips this fall. The cucumbers are in various stages of maturation as well. There is one that I really should harvest it's getting rather large.


 The rest of the cucumber and the zucchini are all following the large one's example. My compost bin is coming along nicely too. I worried I was overloading it with scraps and peelings, but I've also added (mostly) dry grass clippings and leaves last fall. I haven't had to stir the things yet, the layers seem to be doing pretty well so far. There's no obnoxious smell, and as I understand it, that's a good sign.

Harley (our German Shepherd cross) and I saw a yearling black bear just the other morning not more than 50 feet from our house. He was coming up from the pond, and seemed as startled to see us as we were to see him. He took off and we headed rather briskly back to the house in case he was younger than I assumed and still hanging out with his mother. We haven't seen him before, so I think he was just traveling through and got thirsty. I've kept a close eye on the compost bin and my garden. Neither has been touched. an acquaintance down the road reports his compost bin was turned over, and I wonder if it's the same bear looking to fatten up as our days get shorter. The white-tailed deer I saw before with her then brand new fawn hasn't made an appearance lately and I can't help but wonder if they were only resting in the area until the fawn grew strong enough to relocate to a less populated area. I haven't seen the rabbits lately either. I got used to watching them watch us every time I took the dog out. I'd love to see an increased owl and hawk population, but not at their expense.

My "little" update has grown a fair bit longer than I intended. I'll set this aside for now and go see if the fog has burned off enough for me to get a few photos out in the garden.

Do you have a garden? Do you have a collection of herbs on the windowsill?

A Fibery Revelation

I apologize for neglecting the blog. I think I've found why there are so many months that the blog gets ignored. There have been months where I have no inspiration to prattle on about the latest in self-sufficiency, and these are usually the months that get no update. So I'll be widening the scope of the blog a little. As much as self-sufficiency still interests me, I can't justify making the blog about that and nothing else. So if you're one of the ones who follow by email, or you check in from time to time, you'll see a bit of a change around here. Nothing radical, just more about fiber arts. That way, there's something here to keep my interest!

So, update time...

The last time we visited, I told you about the Hudson Bay-type throw I was working on. I'm still working on it, but I've gotten a lot done!

And my eldest son's 'Kerbal Socks' got finished as well!

I've also got two other pairs of socks on the needles, I expect I'll be able to show those off next week.

I'm also looking forward to showing you my first efforts at dyeing wool with kool-ade! Perhaps then I'll show off the drop spindle I seem to have inherited, and share a bit about alpacas.

So, if you're a returning reader, thank you for sticking with me. If you're a new reader...welcome!

I'll see you next week with more fibery news and some new pictures as well!

Of Sticks And Strings

After a little time away from the blog, I decided I wanted to talk about knitting this morning. There are a few reasons for that. One of them is that if I listen too closely to the news, I get depressed, and it takes me days to snap out of it. So I try to balance that out with knitting, which is therapeutic for me. So lately I've been on the hunt for a knitting podcast I could enjoy. I have found one in 'Grocery Girls'. Sisters that are in my age range, are funny and smart and generous...and they drink tea too! So I've been bingeing their podcast lately, starting from #1. I have a year's worth of episodes to go!

As part of an effort to do something different, I started a group on Ravelry called the 'HBC Knit-along'. The basic premise is that everyone finds a Hudson-Bay-inspired project and we all knit on our chosen item at the same time, checking in for support from time to time. I chose to knit a throw for my sofa, which will look like a miniature version of an iconic Hudson Bay Blanket when it's complete. Here's how far along it was as of last week.

I've also decided to commit to making blankets for our 'local' abused women's shelter in town. Simple construction; knit a bunch of strips, sew them together and repeat until the blanket is the correct width for a single bed. Then repeat.  (I thought I had a shot of one of the strips in the computer, but it turns out I don't)


I've also recently picked up sock knitting again, thanks to the enabling-ways of the Grocery Girls! Last night I dug out my eldest son's 'Kerbal Socks', made from Loops & Threads 'Woolike'. Hopefully I'll be finished these soon and I'll be able to show you a picture of the pair being modelled!

While I don't remember the exact colourways, these socks, 'To The Journey' were made on order from the same yarn. The recipient still gushes about them!

So, short of rambling on about the cardigan I think I want to start soon, that's it for my knitting news.
So tell me, dear reader, is there a knitter in your life?

First He Came...

I found this on the web today, and I thought it was absolutely perfect since I was seeking the original poem.
I did not write this, credit is given at the end.
Obviously, a couple of these apply to me but ignore that. The point I want to make is that we should ALL stand up for each other. Because one day, it will be YOUR rights that are taken away.
It is irrelevant which country you call home, this fight belongs to ALL of us, because what happens in the U.S.A affects us ALL. 

***

First Trump came for the women
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a woman.
Then Trump came for the people with disabilities
And I did not speak out
Because I did not have a disability.
Then Trump came for the African Americans
And I did not speak out
Because I was not African American.

Then Trump came for the Mexicans

And I did not speak out
Because I was not Mexican.
Then Trump came for the Muslims
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Muslim.
Then Trump came for the gay, bi, and trans people
And I did not speak out
Because I was not gay, bi or trans.
Then Trump came for the Jews
And I did not speak out 
Because I was not a Jew.

Then Trump came for the journalists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a journalist.
Then Trump came for the judges
and I did not speak out
Because I was not a judge.
And now Trump is coming for the Constitution of the United States
And if I do not speak out, what am I?

Written by Gideon Lichfield

Thoughtful Caring Against Chaos

One of my favourite design houses for knitting is Tin Can Knits, and this year, they’re focusing more on what they call thoughtful knitting. There must be something in the air, or maybe it’s a reaction to all the negativity and chaos around us, because they aren’t alone.

After many months, I’ve stepped away from a fun crafting competition on Ravelry called Nerdopolis.

(In a nutshell, the crafter competes in a specific set of challenges for both personal points and team points, and prizes along the way. There’s more to it, but I’ll stop there so you don’t get confused, okay?) Anyway, as much fun as I was having with that, I decided to step away from it so that I could focus on more important things than just fun. There is a local shelter for abused women and their children that I want to knit for (there’s a long story behind it), as well as knitting for family and friends. Churning out little things as much as I could every month just wasn’t allowing me to do that, so something had to give. So Nerdopolis went.

I’ve cast on a throw for my sofa, not out of a selfish need (although my living room is the coldest room in the house), but more from a desire to try out a new idea. If this one goes well, I’ll reproduce it, only in double knitting, for the shelter. The throw is modeled after the historic Hudson’s Bay Blanket, and it’s even more fitting that I knit this since Canada is 150 years old this year! That’s a butt-ton of history! As I’ve knit the first few rows tonight, I’ve been thinking about all that we’ve been through as a country, all that those women and kids in that shelter have been through, what they have yet to struggle through before they’re free to feel safe outside the shelter. It’s a lot to ponder.

To make a very long story short, I know what those folks in the shelter are facing, and I want to make it a little easier on them. They deserve to know someone, even a stranger, cares. So I’ll knit for them. I’ll knit blankets for their beds, socks to keep their feet warm, and mittens, hats and scarves to cut the cold wind, even though I can’t do anything for the coldness in their abuser’s heart.

While I knit, I’ll reflect back on their struggles, their courage and their long, long road they have yet to travel. While I knit, I’ll pray to anyone listening  that the current chaos abates and that peace and common sense prevail again.

We could all use some more peace.

Now if you excuse me, I have to ponder that while I knit a blanket for someone.

Spread peace, my friend.

How To Take Back Your Power

While the world falls to hell around us, think about this today, and ponder how you can apply this wisdom at your house.

"To let people arrange their own food, energy and shelter is to lose economic and political control over them."
Bill Mollison

A Renewed And Urgent Need

The current state of affairs in the United States has me concerned about the potential for economic collapse, so with that in mind, I've begun to examine how that might affect those of us up here in Canada, and more specifically, my own household. Now before you think I'm being selfish, I see this as a part of being self-reliant. Examine all the potential threats to the safety of my home and family, and plan acccordingly.

Because I know that preparing for something so frightening can be overwhelming, and I'm aware I'm not alone in this endeavor, I'll be documenting my efforts here. I'll share the inexpensive, the successful, the failures and the concepts that deserve further examination.

This blog has focused on things parallel to this idea before, but I feel there is a renewed and urgent need for this kind of informaton and experience.
In the short time since the presidency has changed hands, the United States has been pulled backwards, and as been said here before, when the United States catches a cold, Canada sneezes.
It behooves us all to learn how to do more, creatively, with less.

How do you think upheaval in the States might affect your household?

What Food Challenge Are You Facing?

Food instability is everywhere.
I don't know what challenges you're facing this year, but up here in the north, one of ours will be to deal with the growing cost of groceries.
Not just fresh fruit and vegetables either...all groceries. It seems that the healthier a food is, the more expensive it is! So many folks reach for items with empty calories, rather than veggies. As convenient as it is to grab a box of Kraft Dinner, how many of us have the time and budget to think about making that same dish from scratch? Sure, there's less chemicals and crap in it, but how many of us reach for a brick of cheese, a little milk and a package of elbow noodles instead? Is it worth it to buy four loaves of bread and trust that it's not mostly filler, when we can make our own?

I'm fortunate to be able to make that choice.

But what about the food items we can't make? Like peanut butter? The price on that comfort food jumped a few years ago, and of course, it's never come down. Coffee is outrageous, and to counteract how much we were spending on it, I started drinking tea.
Fresh veggies are mind-blowingly expensive. I need to get off my arse and plant lettuce and spinach again, to grow inside. No, I won't be able to grow a massive head of romaine, or a large bag of spinach, but it's better than going without because we can't afford that big bag of greens.

So, what food challenges do you have to contend with this year? Any ideas how to ease the pinch?

Let There Be Peace, And Let It Begin With Me

When I was still young, I thought I understood what peace was. I was convinced my world was a pretty safe place. In my early twenties, I used to work in an area of downtown Toronto I didn't know was dangerous. I just walked around like I owned the whole neighborhood. No one ever hassled me on my short walk to the subway, or on the train either. I thought it was a peaceful commute. And it was.

But these days, there are a rising number of unsafe places. And far less peace than I remember. But maybe my understanding of peace has changed? Let's check...

peace

pēs/

noun

1. 1.

   freedom from disturbance; quiet and tranquility.

   • 
     

     
     
2. 2.

   freedom from or the cessation of war or violence.

     

Yup, that's pretty much what my definition is as well.

So why is there less of it? Is it, as a friend on the phone last night suggested, because fewer people care about the effect their words and actions have on others? Perhaps.

There is more violence today, more war, more judgement and more hatred. Using the definition above and physics, when there is more violence on the opposite scale, there must be less peace. Like a glass that's filled with water. More water -- less air space. 

My phone call with a friend last night was enlightening. At some point in the conversation, my friend said, "It comes down to one thing -- is that person's choice to do what they want with their body harming me in any way? Will it impact my life if a woman chooses to have her baby even if that baby is a product of rape? Will it impact my life if you choose to love someone of the same gender?" So why aren't more people asking themselves these kinds of questions before they judge others? Maybe it's too much work. Maybe it's easier for them to judge before trying to understand? I don't have the answers. But I'm mighty glad that I and my family are out here in the bush!

Some of you might remember that I can go on for hours about Ravelry, the knitting/crocheting/weaving/fiber website. Today, one of the hot discussions was the upcoming world-wide knit-in for peace. The event was born from one simple comment about the potential for peace if a few hundred knitters all decided to knit for peace. From the concept creator, Christina Campbell,

"Last year after conducting the first “peace-along” I jokingly said “if we could get knitters around the globe to focus on peace for 21 days we might create world peace.” At this point I say, no joking, what have we got to lose?

I’ve created a cowl pattern that has a bit of a soothing stitch pattern. It’s a 4-row repeat. Knit 1 repeat per day and at the end of 21 days (or close to it) you’ll have a peaceful cowl. Optional i-cord edging."

What’s a peace-along? There will be a daily tip on how to infuse more peace into your life. These tips will be available on my blog each day from December 1-21. They’ll be simple things, some from me and others from a few guests.  

So obviously, the idea spoke to me as a knitter. And who knows if we'll change the minds of angry people afraid of those who look or act, or pray differently. But in the 21 days that we'll be knitting that cowl, we will be thinking and talking about peace. And if the teachings of Buddha are correct, we'll cast peaceful ripples out into the world around us. And that's not a bad goal!

Each of us needs to do what we can to promote peace, no matter if that's knitting, writing poetry, peaceful protests, letter writing, feeding the homeless...we can all do a little something to reduce the mistrust and judgement and hatred in our world.

Maybe it won't start with a flower, or a stitch, or a knitted cowl...but it might.

Here's some music to help get you in a peaceful frame of mind.

"Let there be peace, and let it start with me."

                                                    ~

Nipples On a Breastplate, Or A Pickle?

While I work on a post chronicling pickles from hell, I wanted to share this little tidbit with you. It nearly made me spit my coffee across the room. I hope the rest of your day is laced with equal amounts of humor!

"The man is as useless as nipples on a breastplate."

George R. R. Martin

Go Off World!

Hot Off The Press!

I can hardly believe it, but my short story ‘If It’s Easy’ is now available at Inktera and Tolino Books, as well as Amazon, of course! Who is Tolino Books, I can hear you asking? They are Germany’s online bookstore answer (recently expanded to Belgium) to the Amazon behemoth, and the third largest english language market for e-books in the world. Inktera claims over a million books in their catalogue. And, literally just in, ‘If It’s Easy’ is now also available at Scribd, and Page Foundry, as well as Kobo and Apple iBooks!

This is great news for readers looking for markets outside of the Amazon bubble!

If It's Easy

I am thrilled to report that my speculative fiction short story has finally been born! I'd shout it from the treetops, but I have a thing about heights.

The story is a bit of romance, a bit of speculative fiction and a bit of an adventure. Here's the synopsis,

When a Djinn is discovered inside a popular author's computer, it's only the beginning of the strange twist Coriander's life has taken. Now she's on the cusp of an out-of-this-world adventure with a woman that's stolen her heart, and is offering much, much more than the moon.

I’m very  proud of it, but I’m biased, and absolutely captured by these characters.  Coriander Wolf is a popular science fiction author who falls head over heels for Devi Aradesta, who is everything Cori is not. Where Cori is a shy, blonde introvert, Devi is exotic, forward, crisp and alluring with a gentle voice with a hint of a mysterious accent. They are about to tumble into an adventure neither of them saw coming.

The thing about short fiction is that you don’t need to set aside hours to read. It’s cheaper. Instead of laying out $18 like so many bookstores ask, short fiction is an inexpensive investment, and it offers up more choice in the literary landscape.

‘If It’s Easy’ can be found on Amazon right now for a mere .99 cents USD I hope you’re intrigued enough to go buy a copy, read it and then come back here and tell me what you thought.

I hope you enjoy it, I'm off to go work on the sequel now. Cheers!