Why? Because I refuse to die first. That's why.

A year ago, I had little-to-no want to have any sort of food prep or real domestic knowledge whatsoever. A few things happened this fall and winter that made me a bit more concerned about taking care of my family if something were too happen. For instance we had a once a century type snowstorm this year, followed immediately by nasty floods. Luckily the power stayed up and running, or things might have gotten desperate pretty fast. But as it were, people were stranded at their homes, grocers ran out of food. I went to a local grocery store and felt like I was in Mother Russia. No eggs, long lines, cash only. I couldn't believe how quickly some of the basic social systems lagged.

This experience made me quite a bit more aware of how I did things on a day by day basis. I had no idea how survive outside of the normal everyday realm. Just about everything we ate was created with things only purchased at the grocery store. I didn't make a single thing by hand, and beyond that I didn't have the foggiest idea where to start if I wanted too. So I took it upon myself to learn. I had help from friends, and did a lot of research. I spent the money and bought a couple books, and started on the road to self-reliance.

Luckily for me, my family has taken my sudden domestic 'insanity' pretty well in stride. My father is LDS, so he's all for it. My mom is a little taken back, but she's very supportive. My sister thinks I've completely lost my marbles, but since I'm giving her some of my canned fruit she's managed to keep her thoughts more or less to herself. I'm not saying I could survive all on my own should something happen, but I sure wouldn't be the first to die.

Now, I also have some amazing friends that need specific mentioning. Ryan the 2L and Theotherryan (or TOR) and TOR's Wifey. You might have heard of them (okay, chances are you have) as they run the amazing Total Survivalist Libertarian Rantfest. I've known the Ryan's since I was knee high to a duck, and although TOR's Wifey is a more recent addition, she is equally amazing. The Ryan's have introduced me to the scope of the 'survivalist' world (although I still swear I'm a hippie) and helped ease me into it, while still letting me take my own way. I'm very excited to be their sister blog, and hope I can do them justice.

Praise be to the Bread Gods!

I made my first ever batch of bread last night! It turned out perfectly, I was so impressed with the recipe. Most the times I can remember having homemade bread, it just doesn't have the level of put-togetherness at store bought bread. You end up having to chuck big chucks, and then it falls apart anyway. This bread is solid but not dense, and just sweet enough taste great without being practically dessert.

I have to give credit where credit is due, this recipe isn't something I came up with, not even close. Wifey (aka TOR's wife) on TSLRF gave it to me, and I'm eternally grateful. As I said, I've never been overly impressed with homemade bread in general, and I usually screw up a recipe (at least in the baking category) once before I get it right, or even close. This one I'm 95% sure I screwed up somehow and it still turned out just fine. The only thing I noticed was that I didn't seem to get a full rise the second time, but maybe I'm just using bigger loaf pans, I don't know. I'll throw the recipe in the comments section.

The Boy and I got through an alright amount of bread a week, but we really don't use that much so I'm pawning my second loaf off on our neighbors. They are a newly-wed couple and I've known the man of the new two-some for many, many moons. They also received the first 3 pints of jam I gave anyone. Apparently May (the wife) was a bit worried that I'm giving them all these spoils and they don't have anything to give in return. I assured David (the hubby) that if nothing else, they were my guinea pigs so it wasn't a big deal.