Prepped Living Blog

We had a couple of weeks in the spring, when we had unusually warm weather, followed by a cold spell that came close to damaging some of the more tender plants in the garden. Now that the weather is turning warm again, we have begun to make some of our favorite healthy summertime drinks.  We all know the importance of staying well hydrated in the heat, but our family quickly tires of drinking plain water. We never kept soda on hand, even when the kids were young.  We used to buy bottled fruit juice, but so many juices have such an unnaturally high sugar content we quit drinking that as well. These days, we usually only drink fruit juice if we make it ourselves. However, we do like to keep at least one low- or no-sugar healthy drink option in the refrigerator during the summer months to help us stay hydrated. Many, but not all, of our favorite summertime drinks involve some type of citrus. Here are some of our favorites: Rose Lemonade - I mentioned rose lemonade in a previous post. Sinc

We had a lot of rain last week, which "dampened" my forays into the woods to forage, so I spent some time on the website better organizing it and adding another article.  We now have a DIY project section and an article on jean quilts. Click here to see what is new! In spite of the damp weather, I spent a bit of time outside and picked enough to fill the dehydrator.  While I collected several kinds of plants, here are the ones I focused on this past week:   Oxeye Daisies I collected oxeye daisies mainly to dry for tea, but they are also wonderful to eat.  They can be battered and fried, much like fried mushrooms.  We have tried both a sweet and a savory batter for these and have enjoyed both. As with any new food, be careful to avoid these if you have an allergy to other plants in the asteraceae (daisy) family.  One of its many uses in tea is for coughs accompanied by an excess of mucous. Oxeye daisy is said to decrease mucosal secretions and calm inflamed tissues. It reporte

This past week our youngest daughter and I went to a local berry field to pick strawberries. We found a local farmer that does not spray the fields and hasn't fertilized in a couple of years. It was as close to organic as we could find. After spending some time visiting while we picked, we returned to her house to clean and de-hull the berries. The next day I made two batches of freezer jam and froze the rest to use in mixed berry jam later in the season. Freezer jam is a favorite at our house - we have already consumed one and a half containers. It is easy to go through jam quickly when you have homemade sourdough bread, homemade scones, and homemade French toast casserole at the house. Thank you to our two boys for furnishing us with homemade baked goods this week!   We make our own low-tox laundry soap and we were almost out, so in addition to jam, we made another batch of laundry soap. We make this soap once every couple of months or so for a family of six. I put the instructio

We drink a lot of tea in our family. The girls and I often drink it in the evening as we relax at the end of the day, but even the men in the family enjoy a cup now and then.  During winter cold season, it is a must-have at our house and we will often blend different herbs to help with different symptoms.  We like to grow our own herbs and forage wild herbs for tea. That way we know that there are no chemicals or pesticides on our tea ingredients. Each year I try to add a few more plants to my knowledge base for teas, cooking, and medicinals. One of earliest plants I read about and also one of my favorites to forage are wild rose petals.  Since the wild roses in our area are blooming, the girls and I took the opportunity to pick petals to dry for tea.  We spent a bit of time picking and visiting, then returned to the house to prepare the petals for drying. Our oldest daughter wanted to make rose lemonade, so our youngest daughter and I washed, dried, and spread the petals out on dehydr