When it rains...

You get tornadoes. Sometimes you get a lot of them. I have lived in Oklahoma for a total of 11 years and I have to admit the last couple of weeks have been trying. Now don't get me wrong, I love living here and storm season can be exciting but I like it much better from a distance. We were fortunate and were not hit by any of the tornadoes but we did have some close calls. 

On Sunday the 19th a tornado was headed for our area so we packed up the bug out bags and headed down the road to our neighbor who has a storm shelter. The next day, the day Moore was hit by the EF5, we had to make a run for the shelter again. I had hoped the worst was over but unfortunately we had another week of severe weather. Friday Oklahoma City and El Reno took the brunt of those storms and to add insult to injury we had flooding after that. All we need now is an eathquake. I'd better not say anything because knowing my luck we'll have one!

After the F5 many people were asking the question, why would anyone want to live where you can have such powerful storms? Why doesn't everyone have storm shelters or basements? Why were the kids in school if we knew there was a chance for severe weather? Well, I will give you the answer to those questions as well as my own reasons for living here.

First, let's look at why more people don't have some sort of storm shelter. To put in an in ground shelter costs about $3, 000. An above ground safe room costs about $5, 000. Most homes in Oklahoma don't have basements simply because it can add considerably to the cost of a house. In many cases you need to have someone who knows how to properly build a basement so you don't have leakage problems as well as other issues. Because our frost line is only about 18 inches deep, we don't have to dig that deep to put in a foundation for a house. Because of the added cost to dig deeper to put in a basement, it just doesn't make a lot of financial sense for many people to add that to their house plan. For many people, the cost of a shelter is simply too expensive and so they have to do without.

Why were the kids in school? Because it was a school day and it's just stupid to think we are going to stop everything every time there is the threat of severe weather. If we did that then no one would leave their homes from April through May. Now I will admit that a lot of businesses closed early Friday because of the threat of severe weather but that is unusual.

Now, why do people live here? Well, why do you live where you live? Because you were born there? Because it's home? Because your family is there? You like your job? You like the climate? There are numerous reasons why we live anywhere but it usually comes down to one thing. Because you like it there. Believe it or not, most people really like living here. We have seasons, it's pretty country, and the people are nice. The tornadoes are just a part of life and you learn to deal with them.

Why do I live here? Well, I wasn't born here. I chose to live here. I love the open country, the people are great, and this is a state that believes in our rights. This state was founded by people who were looking for opportunities, who weren't afraid to take on a challenge, and knew that they couldn't count on anyone to come to their rescue except for themselves and their neighbors. After the F5 tornado we were flooded with reporters who were amazed at how strong the people were and how people were pouring out of the woodwork to help. They call it the Oklahoma Standard, we call it being a good neighbor. By the time FEMA got here and the Red Cross could get established, churches and other groups were already setting up shelters and taking donations. We don't wait on the government to come in and rescue us. When we see something needs to be done, we do it, especially in a crisis. After the Red Cross got the shelters set up the comment was made on TV that they were a little surprised that there weren't more people staying in them. I wasn't.  I had heard that same statement by a Red Cross volunteer after the May 3, 1999 tornado. People are taken in by friends, family, and sometimes even strangers. There are disasters no matter where you live so don't be so judgemental because you don't like our brand of disaster.

So why do I live here? Because I like it here. We may not be as sophisticated as folks out on the east coast, and we may not be as liberal as folks out on the west coast but you know what? We've got some pretty good folks right here and if you get scared by a little wind and rain, well maybe we don't want you anyway.  

I won't make any apologies for making anyone mad. I was more than a little irritated by all the armchair quarter backing going on after the storm by people who have never even been here. Oklahoma is a good state with good people so to all of the nay sayers I'll just tell you in the polite Southern way...kiss my grits. 

Greenhouse

One of our long awaited projects if finally done! Last weekend we finally got our greenhouse up. This isn't what I originally had in mind but it was more affordable and it will work for the short term. The greenhouse is 11'x15'. We were going to make it 12 feet wide but my husband decided he wanted more bow to the arches to allow for water runoff. It took him about a day to build the ends for the greenhouse.Overall it took about 2 days to build.

We hammered pieces of rebar into the ground to hold the ribs in place.

I helped him to stretch the plastic over the end pieces. This is 6 mm UV resistant greenhouse plastic that I ordered online. The company I ordered it from has the plastic in a couple of different widths and will cut it to whatever length you specify. The plastic we ordered was 24' wide.

This is a picture of one of the completed end pieces. Let me just say that trying to move these things into place on a windy day proved interesting.

Now that the ends were in place, all we had to do was pull the plastic over the body of the greenhouse. It wasn't too hard and the wind actually helped by picking it up so we could pull it over the top.

And here is the completed project. To anchor the sides, we rolled 2x4's in the plastic and then placed the concrete blocks on them. We used 3/4" pipe for the ribs and a 2" pipe along the top of the ribs to add stability. With the plastic simply being rolled, we can roll up the sides if needed for ventilation. If you look closely, you'll notice there are dark white spots along the first arch. Those are greenhouse clips that we used to hold the plastic to the frame.

As you can see, this is a picture of the inside of the greenhouse. We haven't built a door yet so we simply cut the plastic so we can get in and out. The plan is to cut off the plastic and use it to stretch across the door. We used 2x4's that were cut in half to brace the ribs. We used zip ties to help hold them in place and then they were screwed to the plastic pipe. On either side of the door are 8' T posts that give additional stability to the ends.

Overall we are very pleased with it. We have moved everything inside that we need to make the soil cubes. We have a small table that we will be using until my husband can build a larger one. Now we can finally get started on our seeds! This fall we will add a bed inside that we can use to grow some things in over the winter. Even though we didn't have this done as early as I would have liked, at least I know I can look forward to getting my plants started a lot earlier next year!

Firearms

Recently I talked about the 13 Skills challenge set out by Jack Spirko on The Survival Podcast. One of the Skills I set for myself was to learn about firearms. Well today I took a step toward completing that goal by taking a gun class with my husband.

He is more familiar with guns than I am but his dad never taught him how to clean a gun. He also just wanted to increase his basic knowledge. I came across a guy through our local survivalist store that teaches conceal carry classes, private instruction etc. He was kind enough to do a class with just me and my husband for about 2 1/2 hours. Overall I have to say it was really helpful. We went over gun safety and how to clean the guns as well as some other tidbits of information. Our next goal is to get our gun permits so that we can carry handguns. Oklahoma is now an open carry state so it's no longer called a conceal carry permit.

Now I just need to get to work on all of the other skills I've set for myself!

Holidays at the homestead

Well, it is that time of year again! Thanksgiving has come and gone and the shopping frenzy has started. We have been on our homestead for 2 1/2 years and although things have not progressed as fast as I would like, we are slowly making progress.

We have made do with a small tree the last couple of years and this year I decided I wanted a better tree for Yule. Micheal's ran a sale on a 4 ft pre-lit tree for $20 which is a good size for our limited space. Of course getting a new tree meant getting new ornaments. I decided I wanted to do a country theme so I ended up making most of the ornaments for the tree.

I bought these pine cones last year because they were scented but now they have a new purpose. Of course if you have access to some pine trees you can pick some up for free. For these I used a paint brush to paint the tips with Mod Podge which is a type of glue. Then I sprinkled glitter on them and hot glued a loop of red cord so they could be hung on the tree.

 As we all know, cinnamon is used in many Yule treats and in decorating. At the craft store I found cinnamon sticks that were sold in bundles. I bought some of these and put them in groups of three. I took some red raffia and wrapped it around the bundles and tied a simple bow on top and then used the ends to make the loop. I thought they turned out pretty well!

Bells are an integral part of Yule decorations and this time of year you can find them in many colors. I bought a container of the brown rustic looking bells and simply used some gold cord to tie them together. I found the red bows with all of the mini Christmas tree decorations and they were the perfect size to use with the bells.

I found the idea for the last set of decorations on Pinterest. I found the wooden spools in the wood craft section of the craft store. I found some country looking Christmas ribbon that fit the spools and cut off just enough to wrap around them. The hot glue gun came in handy for this part too. I hot glued these together and added the red cord. All of these decorations were pretty simple to make and thought the tree turned out really well.

Here is the finished product. I even made the tree topper bow thanks to a tutorial I found online. I hope you guys enjoy the pictures and have a Happy Yule!

Scrapbook of Shadows

Like many Pagans, I have always liked the idea of having a Book of Shadows but I have never been able to settle on a way of collecting information that I liked. Even though I am a major techno rat, collecting and storing info on the computer just didn't seem right. I tried using a three ring binder and that just didn't seem right either. I liked the idea of hand writing everything but I could never find a book that I liked to place this info in.

I had started scrapbooking several years ago and I had thought about using this method to create a Book of Shadows but I wasn't sure how I would like it and I had not seen examples of other BOS's using this method. Recently I saw a blog post by Mrs. B on Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom where she had created a Book of Seasons in a scrapbook. When I saw the pictures, I absolutely loved it! I thought, I have all this scrapbook stuff so why not use it?

Despite the elaborate pictures you see in magazine and online, scrapbooking can actually be very simple. I learned how to scrapbook from Creative Memories and I still hold with their philosophy of keeping things simple so you can focus on the subject and not on all the stuff around it. I have started to adapt some of the other scrapbooking techniques that are out there but I don't want the pages to become too cluttered.

I created a cover page for each holiday. Behind each page I am adding information about that holiday, poems, recipes, chants, etc. Whatever seems appropriate. Obviously this page is for Halloween.

The page on the left is about Ancestral Altars. I left the space at the bottom open so I can add a picture later of our altar. As you can see, the pages are pretty simple but I think they still look nice.There are some details on the Jack-o-Lantern page that you can't see well. These are just some swirls and spirals that I hand drew in.

I have to admit, these are two of my favorite pages so far. These are a couple of recipes that I wanted to include. As I come across more information or I think of new things I want to add, I hope to add more pages. This book is 8 1/2 by 11. I decided to go with a standard book size because it is easier to hold but one of the drawbacks is you don't have as much room per page. Most scrapbooks are 12x12 so you can place more information on each page. I had thought about adding additional sections to this one but I may get a 12x12 book for additional info and keep this one just for info about the sabbats.

I want to create a book with the natural remedies I have collected as well as info about various herbs. I might also put into this book the various recipes I have found for replacing the chemicals that we use in our homes. This will likely be a separate scrapbook from whatever I put together with more magical and spiritual information.

You can find all sorts of scrapbook papers and stickers and craft stores or if you have limited access to these stores you can order stuff from online. I'm hoping to put together a crop day for Pagans who like to scrapbook. I think it would be a lot of fun and a great way to network. I hope some of you like this idea and will give it a try for your own Book of Shadows.