Self Reliance Tip #65- A Few Lessons Learned - July 31

Good Mornin'! What a crazy storm we had last night! It reminds me of my camping trip a few weeks ago. We were in northern Arizona near Springerville. It rained every day we were out there. If you ever want experience doing "preparedness laundry", go camping during monsoons in Arizona! What a mess! 

Here are a few lessons I learned:

#1 The hard part wasn't actually the laundry. The hard part was keeping my 4 year old out of the 6 inches of mud! I wish I would have had something like this with me:

http://www.lnt.com/product/clothes-drying/240997-34602/household-essentials-indoor-folding-drying-rack.html?utm_source=googleproductads&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term={keyword} 

#2 Our potty situation had to change, so I had to come up with a Plan C potty. With the rain it was again quite a challenge. As long as we kept sprinkling baking soda after we were done, the smell wasn't terrible. One of my friends purchased one of these and she LOVED it. It has a place for fresh water to help "flush".There was no smell, emptying it was a snap and there was no left over bag to try and hide somewhere:

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Century-Portable-Toilet-with-5-Gallon-Capacity-Holding-Tank/10966280 

#3 We were able to harvest water from the rain that really helped with the laundry. It is easy to run out of water fast. For most of the laundry I used one of these...and my soap nuts of course :) :

http://www.laundry-alternative.com/products/Wonderwash.html 

#4 I had never seen a solar oven like this before. Man it was awesome. This in my friend Norman, the Mormon, who's Stormin', and wants to be Foreman (that is how he introduced himself to me...he's a trip :) ). He made the BEST solar oven chicken...scratch that...the BEST CHICKEN I'VE EVER HAD! It was awesome! Here he tells you how to use this solar oven. Even with all the clouds, there were times he had enough sun to cook. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=GU3rEMDkVc8 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpVoWcea6ls&feature=player_embedded 

Here is his blog:

http://simplesolarcooking.blogspot.com/ 

#5 I learned in one of my classes that if you suffer from acid reflux, try taking 2 capsules of rosemary (you know...one of the herbs hiding in your spice cabinet) 15 minutes before each meal. See what happens...you may spell RELIEF...and not from ROLAIDS

Well, hopefully you've been able to glean something from my adventures. 

And another thing....

 

Do you have vitamins stored? I found this website with really good prices for high quality vitamins. You want to look for "whole food" vitamins. The synthethesized vitamins are not made from natural sources and your body doesn't metabolize them the same way food is. These are the kind I get (the sugar free is made with xylitol and not aspartame):

http://www.vitacost.com/natures-plus-source-of-life-animal-parade-sugar-free-multi-vitamin-and-mineral-supplement