From My Home to Yours
1/24/25
~ we got snow (a really rare event for our area) ...
and really, really cold temps! ~
I'm so glad we stacked all this wood on our porch ... it really was a blessing not to have to trek out to the wood pile to bring in wood for our woodstove risking 'life and limb' trying to stay upright on the snow!
Stacking wood on the porch is just one thing we did to prepare for this kind of weather. We have a list of things we do to make events like this one easier to get through ...
make sure back up lighting is ready to go into play if needed ...
make sure electronics are fully charged ...
cook meals ahead ...
and make sure back-up water supply is ready to use if needed.
Having these basics in place and ready to use, should they be needed, makes getting through major weather events easier.
I measured the depth of the snow in 4 different areas and got readings from 6 inches deep to 7 1/2 inches deep ... so we're calling it 6 inches of snow!
Hubby got in the kitchen and made a buttermilk pie ... every good 'rare' snow fall deserves to be celebrated ... and that's what we did!
I made up 3 quarts of milk kefir. Here's how I make kefir milk ...
Put about a heaping tablespoon of kefir grains into a quart jar ...
fill the jar with 2% milk up to the shoulder of the jar ...
stir well ...
cover the jar with double coffee filters held on by a rubber band ...
let sit out on the kitchen table or a counter at room temperature for 24 hours ...
move jar to refrigerator until ready to strain and repeat the process.
This process for me makes a creamy kefir that is delicious in a smoothie!
I also started another jar of kombucha! With this jar I will try my hand at flavoring when it gets to that stage. I am enjoying learning how to master this skill.
I cooked the thinly sliced beef strips in a skillet.
While they were cooking, I sliced peppers and onions.
When the beef was done cooking, I removed it from the skillet, added the peppers and onions and cooked them to desired doneness.
While the peppers and onions were cooking, I mixed up the sauce using chicken broth, seasonings, a little honey and cornstarch in a quart jar, put a lid on it and shook it until it was all mixed well.
When the peppers and onions were done, I added the beef back in and poured the liquid mixture into the skillet, stirring until it reached the consistency I wanted.
We served it over a bed of basmati rice.
I cooked enough for us to have it for a meal the day I prepared it and for later in the week. If we had lost power, this would have been an easy meal to heat up on our woodstove.
I posted lesson 4 in our ladies Bible class on Rahab over on my other blog, From This Heart of Mine. Click HERE to be taken to it!
Being 'snowed in' the biggest part of the week gave me some extra time to do some sewing, and I took advantage of it. I have about 10 items in various forms of being completed that I hope to finish in the next few days, but I did get these notebook pen holders done. You can read more about how I made them over on Grandma's Got a Sewing Machine HERE.
I also gathered materials for a gardening project that I'll share more about next week. Our weather is supposed to get back up into the 60's and that will feel so good after the frigid temperatures we've had this week! Gardening season is quickly approaching, it seems hard to believe that we'll be planting potatoes next month as well as things like spring peas, onions, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, radishes and more!
That's it for this week! What did your week look like in your home? How did you look well to the ways of your household?
mrs. patsi @ A Working Pantry
She looketh well to the ways of her household … Proverbs 31:27
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So much you have going on! I was not snowed in this week as much as frozen here, with temperatures in the negative numbers here. One thing I worked on, was my car emergency kit. I hadn't really put one together this year but though about it once driving in a white out a week ago.
ReplyDeleteWe had thought about getting a generator for the house but couldn't see the cost being worth it as we rarely lose power, but I did buy some high-capacity power banks for our phones. They're part of the car emergency kit.
I was feeling rather productive until I read all you had done. I guess I was actually taking it a bit easy!
Mrs. Murphy, it sounds like you had quite the productive week. Some weeks we do more planning than implementing, which is what it looks like you did. Without those times of planning, we can really waste time, resources and money. A productive week comes in different forms!
DeleteI was feeling better this week, but still had a pretty quiet week. I caught up on a few jobs, prepped and froze some chillies, lemons and veg that my husband was given in return for helping a friend in her shop and then decided to look at some online first aid videos as there are no courses run in my area. The series of short films were made by Saint John's Ambulance and were very clear and informative. We spent yesterday hunkering down as we had a big wind storm. The lights flickered a few times, but we did not lose power. It is estimated that 1 million people in Britain and in Ireland lost electricity, so we are counting ourselves lucky.
ReplyDeleteTracy, I'm glad you didn't lose power and I'm sorry that so many others did. Is this online first aid course you mentioned available to everyone? This is an area that I never feel like I'm prepared enough in and am always on the lookout for resources to help me grow in my knowledge.
DeleteYes. I found the films on Youtube. There were lots of them and they were all short e.g. 2, 3 or 4 minutes. They are listed under All First Aid Advice & First Aid Training by St John Ambulance. I particularly liked that they have a clear bullet point summary at the end of each film - very useful for note taking. I just watched the ones covering adult 1st aid, but there are lots covering first aid for babies and small children too. They are well worth a watch.
DeleteWe keep wood on the front porch and in house. In house covers about 3 day of really cold (windchill was -20 for 3 days this week) and porch will hold a week. Then we have more in the barn, should take us through most of next winter. We had everything ready to lose electric including solar cube charged, solar deep well pump charged and mineral oil 5 gallon can filled and all oil lamps filled. OF COURSE we didn't lose electric because we were ready LOL
ReplyDeleteThat snow storm was amazing and blessed so many. I am glad you got to enjoy it, too! We only had a dusting and slippery roads here but we did not need to go out so it was okay. Firewood on the porch is the way to go! I'm with you on prepping ahead.
ReplyDeleteWell we had our expensive three and hopefully that is it for awhile. Our heat pump was down again Monday morning but our guy was coming anyway to replace the breaker and fixed the blower that time too. $$ Root canal on Tuesday. $$ Meds deductible for Hubby but it is paid for the year. $$ Blessed to have the funds to pay for it all. HVAC is a budget category that I add to every month so that we can keep up with maintenance and have funds available for repairs because they happen. I was glad to have that in place and not have to worry about it.
We put our heads together and planned our times and reserved our weeks at the lake for the year except Fall. That way we will be sure to take time to rest this year. I paid our fees for the year from what we put aside every month during the year before. As always we are blessed and thankful for our getaway place.