Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Birthday Resolutions

Instead of New Year's Resolutions, we usually make Birthday Resolutions. My birthday seems to be a natural time for me to take stock, and I am more optimistic in the summer than I am at New Year. But I forgot to make any in June. Belatedly, here they are, all themed around planning for an uncertain economic future with high energy costs:

1. Build a solar cooker and learn to use it
2. Learn to can a range of food
3. Start baking bread regularly
4. Prepare for short-term energy outages
5. Store 6 months of food staples

I have lots of other goals, but achieving these 5 would make me feel very good next birthday. All of these also have intermediate steps, so I expect they will keep me busy for the year. I think I can do all of them whether we move or not.

2 comments:

Peak Oil Hausfrau said...

Birthday resolutions - that's a cool idea! I like your goals. What will you be storing for 6 months? I have about 3 months and that's a LOT of wheat berries :).

Matriarchy said...

I am working on 3 months now - that's 400 pounds of grain! Not all wheat - we also have rice, spelt, cornmeal, and oats.

Then we want to practice eating out of our reserves. Then, go for 6 months of stores, which I thought we could get to within a year. I am using Sharon Astyk's 3-month list, adapted to our tastes. I doubled the sugar, for instance, since I am canning jelly. I also increased the dried milk, because we are dairy lovers and make yogurt, quiche, and bread pudding regularly.

I am sure to run out of room, especially for grain and water. Storage space is one of the issues I will have to resolve. I hope to clear space at my mother's house - I have included her in our food calculations.