SkyeLight

It started in Texas, and it picked up a helluva lot of water in the Gulf.

I don’t have to go out until Tuesday (and I can cancel that if I absolutely have to, but I’d really prefer not to). The HOA will take care of the sidewalks, and I pre-paid the kid next door to dig my car out for me (my back got injured recently). I filled up my gas tank and got some cash out of the bank. I was already fine on food and didn’t bother shopping this week (I have several weeks worth of food in the house), but I’ll pick up a pizza before the storm starts.

Pulled out my deep weather winter gear (heavy duty jacket, gloves, mittens, those Canadian hats with the built-in ear muffs, yaktrax, etc). Stuck a bunch of audiobooks on my phone.

Double-checked that our heated mattress pads and electric blankets work, so we don’t have to worry about heating the whole house. Put towels across the bottom cracks of the doors in the rooms we’re not using. Made sure the utility room door is open - that’s not very well insulated and our pipes come in there. Opened the cabinet doors under the kitchen sink. Changed the furnace filter. Took a shower and did the laundry and dishes. Took the garbage and recycling out to the community bins. I’ve been putting out extra food for the birds and wildlife for a few days now, and I put out an extra serving this morning.

My main concern is losing power: with this being such a large storm, we won’t be able to borrow power crews from other areas, and I live in a smaller exurb area so we’re not high on the “restore power” list.

I’ve verified the location of my candles and matches (you can seal yourself in a room, bundle up and light a couple candles and stay surprisingly warm-ish), some large plates to prevent accidental candle fires, and rotated my fire extinguisher to make sure the powder’s still loose. Pulled two camping coolers out of the shed and stuck them by the back door in case I need to store food outside.

Charged up my power packs so I’ll still have my phone, and verified the location of my little solar-charger for camping in case I need it. Verified the location of my sterno and mini-propane stove. Retrieved my headlamps from storage and put in fresh batteries.

Filled up a few extra bottles of water and stored them in the fridge. Made sure I have the power company’s phone number and my account number stored in my phone so I can quickly report any power loss. (In smaller storms, my power company slightly prioritizes earlier reported outages, so quicker can be better.)

Brought out extra blankets and throws and placed them around the house. I have friends I can evacuate to if I need to, but I’d rather not drive in the weather - and I’m uncertain if they’ll still have power too. I’ve entered the phone numbers of the three nearest hotels into my phone, just in case.

GenX has never held any type of power, nor will they ever - not political, not economic, not financial. The Boomers were always like “Wait your turn”, but they never bothered turning anything over regardless of what we fought for, or how hard.

And now the Millennials have come up on the other side. And I’m just so tired of fighting to make things happen, or even just to try to preserve things, that that’s okay. I did what I could to make things better, and I’m happy for a less weary cohort to take over.

Has anyone told him that US Law Enforcement lacks authority outside the US? 'cause that seems kinda an important “detail” here.

Where’s the “rest of the world” image from? I know it but I can’t remember and it’s really bugging me :(

Yeah, it’s just me now as well. I split a share with a friend for a few years, which was nice, we could pawn off anything we didn’t particularly care for on the other person. Mostly, it worked well - she loved beets, I hate them; I love garlic, she only wants like 2 bulbs a year.

Then my farmers retired during the pandemic and I had to find a new farm. My new place offers 10 week shares: any ten weeks during the growing season, I can go and pick up a box, I don’t even have to notify them ahead of time. I cook as much as I can and freeze about half of it, then eat my way out over the winter.

evil cackling intensifies

Fall is cool, you get all the hardy stuff that takes the year to grow - potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins - plus the late summer crops - tomatoes, peppers, squash. Many CSAs have calendars of what crops usually come in when; you might check to see what theirs looks like for next fall. Or ask to be added to the notification list for when shares become available next December (or add it to your own calendar). :)

It’s generally called Community Supported Agriculture [CSA]; you should be able to Google “CSA near me” for results. You can also check localharvest.org , but sometimes their info is out of date or takes searching through. Like, a number of CSAs have drop-off points outside the farm that may be closer to you than the farm itself, or they may be willing to bring shares to a local farmers market that they’re selling at, etc, and Local Harvest tells you where their main farm is :(

Each CSA makes their own rules. Some places will give you a pre-filled box; others will let you pack your own box and choose between options (“Take any combination of 2: eggplant, zucchini, squash”). Some offer different size shares, others offer shares for half-seasons, or for 10-12 weeks and you choose the weeks. Some offer work-shares: you volunteer at the farm for a few hours each week, and you get a box of vegetables in return.

Many will also let you do some pick-your-own each week: often these are either excess vegetables (extra PYO tomatoes and peppers are common); are more labor intensive (blackberries); are things that not everyone wants (okra); are specialty items grown in smaller quantities (ground cherries); or are items where personal choice really matters (flowers); etc.

Most farms include some fruits with their vegetables; I’ve had three local CSAs (one couple retired, another was a bad fit for me) and I’ve gotten raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, cantaloupe, honeydew, pumpkins, watermelon, apples, figs, pawpaw, and Asian pears.

They may also partner with other local farms to offer other local goods: locally grown grains, honey, eggs, meats, mushrooms, etc. They may have an end-of-season gleaning. Many will have some kind of (paid) community meal during the season, and many also provide produce to local [food banks / shelters / community kitchens / etc].

I will say that it’s a commitment, especially if you get the full season and full box share. The first month can be hard, as it’s a lot of leafy green vegetables, and eating half a bushel of green leaves every week for a month is a challenge. Over time, I’ve developed a set of recipes that let me cook whatever’s in season and preserve a bunch of stuff for the winter; and methods to deal with stuff that I get too much of too quickly.

So in June I make lettuce soup; it’s decent enough (not great), but it’s a fantastic way to use up lots of leafy green stuff when I get tired of salads and stir fries and frittatas, and I can freeze it. Bunches of onions here made into French onion soup and frozen; excess hot pepper gets made into pepper flakes or my own hot sauce; tomatoes become marinara or tomato paste and frozen, or salsa and canned.

I usually sit in front of the tv watching stuff for an hour or two while I slice and dice and chop; and then I spend a couple hours cooking. Half of whatever’s cooked goes into the fridge for the week, the other half gets frozen for winter meals. Anything not used in a dish either gets put into a salad for the week, bagged up for snacks, or frozen to be used as ingredients for later meals.

My freezer currently contains: French onion soup; eggplant Parmesan; pizza; seven-layer casserole; vegetable pot pies; lasagna; stuffed tomatoes and stuffed peppers; zucchini boats; pumpkin pie filling and sweet potato pie filling (just the filling, the pies are too bulky); zucchini bread; butternut squash bread; butternut squash soup; marinara; pesto; garlic confit; blueberry pancakes; strawberry muffins; raspberry jam; quiche; burritos; etc. My goal during the season is to do something with all the food that comes in (my starving Irish ancestors would never forgive me for wasting food!), and my goal during the winter and spring is to eat through my freezer so that it’s empty when the next season starts.

Every year, I buy a farm share. My farmer gets his money for the year up front; he doesn’t have to borrow from the bank and he doesn’t have to worry about losing the farm if it’s a bad harvest. He gets to focus on growing stuff.

In exchange, every week during the growing season, I get 3/4’s of a bushel of just-picked vegetables. Some are rare heirloom varieties you generally don’t see; some are items you don’t see much of at all; and everything is fresh and lasts much longer than store-bought would’ve.

I’m American and I don’t want this for you, either!