ivyskeep

For the Fannish Fifty Challenge: With being a Pagan and my interests in prepping, I can't believe I've never read S.M. Stirling's Emberverse series. One of the ongoing themes in mainstream American online prepping media is the fantasy that a great reset will bring about a renewal of hardcore evangelical Christianity whose members will be the leaders of their communities.

Well, Stirling turns that idea on its head and envisions a time after what the books call "the Change" where Wiccans and Asatruar (and some Christians and New Agers, oh my!) will be at the forefront of the new civilization. He even throws in the Church Universal and Triumphant for those of you old enough to remember who many consider a libertarian, new-age, cult leader Elizabeth Clare Prophet. Heathen and fantasy author, Diana Paxson, lends a short story to the series according to the Emberverse wiki entry.

I'm only a few pages into the first novel, Dies the Fire, and I think the series will be great fun. Below is a quick interview with the author. You can learn more about him at his website.  

Whatever holiday you celebrate, I hope you had a good one.

Mom was afraid of the snomageddon that was being predicted, so she stayed one night with us when the storm was supposed to start. Thankfully, it didn't happen except for the cold and the roads being not so great. We don't have cable and I was showing her how to scroll a free channel called Tubi on the computer with a huge monitor we keep downstairs as our TV. I was being the dutiful daughter and showed her the religious section. Her first choice was "Left Behind" but she quickly changed her mind to "It's a Wonderful Life." Phew. I wouldn't have begrudged her watching whatever. I know "It's a Wonderful Life" has Christian elements, but I still watch it and it's not too obnoxious unlike Kirk Cameron. I think "Wonderful Life" has more universal appeal, and I'm a sucker for some classics.

We took her home the next day when we were sure there was power in the mobile home community she lives and and the pipes weren't frozen. This episode with mom staying over as well as me sleeping one night downstairs the first night after the dog's surgery really drove home the fact that we need a decent sofa bed. What we have isn't even a real futon. I can't flip the mattress, so it just keeps getting flatter on one side as time goes on.

We fantasized a bit about buying a gas fireplace but quickly realized that installation of a gas line and the accompanying renovation expenses would just be too much for us right now. Hubs has a gas space heater that he bought for tent camping a few years ago that's safe indoors for emergencies. I'm trying to find something similar for mom, but she's afraid of catching her house on fire. 

I'm still enjoying the oatmeal sausage I wrote about in this post as it froze well.

If I don't post before the new year, I hope you enjoy a safe, warm, and happy holiday.

I was this week years old when I learned about winter sowing. I've heard of cold frame gardening, but this is slightly different. Basically, you use milk/water jugs or a similar container, cut it at the halfway mark but leave a portion uncut so you have a flip-top jug. Also put slits in the bottom for drainage. Place moist soil in the bottom half and seeds on top and pat them down. tape the jug shut making sure the spout on top doesn't have its original cap on. Place the jugs outside and wait for spring germination. I found an excellent more in-depth explanation than I state here with pics and the pros and cons of this method at Home for the Harvest. We've saved some distilled water containers, and I plan on starting to use this method around January.