Prep Genrl Weekly Prep Thread: March 19 - 25, 2023

[summerthyme]

The only reason I know of, is that it has to be stored carefully. If it molds, it causes a severe reaction known as Saint Anthony's Fire resulting in hallucinations, seizures, and commonly death.

Ergot | Definition, Symptoms, & Ergotism

Ergot, fungal disease of cereal grasses, especially rye.

www.britannica.com

It was a factor in the Salem Witch Trials and other frentic activities.

Well... not really. The ergot producing molds are found on the grain heads, during the growing season. Any mold that might contaminate the stored flour won't be good for you, but it won't cause ergot poisoning.

(I should clarify that I don't mean ergot isn't very dangerous! It's just that the ergot bodies, as they are called, are very visible... black, swollen and much larger than the seed they took over. Even 8f there wasn't testing at the flour mill level, no farmer is ever going to sell ergot infected rye. It's pretty rare these days with fungicides, etc,,but it's also recognized by any farmer who grows grain)


Rye flour is simply a specialty flour from a very minor (compared to wheat or corn) grain crop. Wholesale price of rye per bushel a about 50% higher than wheat.

Rye production totals in the US last year was @12.3 million bushels... winter wheat alone was 1.2 BILLION bushels!

I haven't bought rye flour in years, but it's always been expensive. I bought several pails of whole white rye for the preps, and grind it for flour as needed. No issues with rancidity and its truly delicious when freshly ground.

I could probably send you some rye flour... shipping would probably run around $10 for up to 8#.

Summerthyme

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I'm going to save myself the hassle of looking everywhere for it, again, and just order from King A. I've heard a lot of good stuff about their flour, so I'm going to give them a try.

I really appreciate the offer, Summerthyme! Thank You.

 

[ioujc]

Well... not really. The ergot producing molds are found on the grain heads, during the growing season. Any mold that might contaminate the stored flour won't be good for you, but it won't cause ergot poisoning.

Rye flour is simply a specialty flour from a very minor (compared to wheat or corn) grain crop. Wholesale price of rye per bushel a about 50% higher than wheat.

Rye production totals in the US last year was @12.3 million bushels... winter wheat alone was 1.2 BILLION bushels!

I haven't bought rye flour in years, but it's always been expensive. I bought several pails of whole white rye for the preps, and grind it for flour as needed. No issues with rancidity and its truly delicious when freshly ground.

I could probably send you some rye flour... shipping would probably run around $10 for up to 8#.

Summerthyme

Oh. OK.

 

[nomifyle]

I finally got the meat loaf cooked, but in the oven, doesn't take all that long. It is quite good, I'm stuffed and DH said he likes it and wanted to know why its been so long since I made it. I told him that when I made it before he couldn't stop comparing it to his deceased wife that put boiled eggs in the middle of it. He kind of looked ashamed. I'm generally very patient with him when he talks about his deceased wife, she died from colon cancer and it was pretty awful. But I got tired of the cooking comparisons. Glad to be able to add meat loaf back to our regular foods, we both like it. I mixed venison and home grown pork.

I made two very large loaves, part of one may need to go in the freezer.

Its now hot, 84 here at my desk but cooler outside. Too early in the year to turn on the ac, but if it gets much hotter I may turn it on for an hour or so.

Dh told me the license plate on my van expired in January, so now I have to get it renewed in town, maybe tomorrow. I've scheduled a grocery pick up at walmart, but I could reschedule it for another day. I'm so wishey washey when it comes to going to town, this one is a 60 mile round trip, but not really a big deal.

 

[etdeb]

Cary's checkup went well, yesterday. Doc told him to just keep doing what he has been doing, because everything looked good. We didn't have to wait long at all, before Cary got in to see him.

We went to Lowe's to get new drip pans for my stove, finally. Also bought more termite treatment for the house. He treats the house every Spring, so he wanted to get more to put back in storage. He doesn't ever want to run out.

We had to make a stop at our credit union to pick up the title to his Jeep. They failed to send it to him, once the Jeep was paid off.

Also, went to Tupelo Hardware and ACE Hardware, but no "strike anywhere" matches. We didn't even know there was an ACE Hardware in Tupelo, but Cary googled it, and sure enough, there was one. We'll try the feed store in small town next time we go there. He has to stop in there anyway to get more rat poison for his workshop. He says he has a pack rat in there.

We ate at Cantina Del Sol for supper, and then drove on home.

The inflammation is down in both my finger and knee this morning. I'm walking without my cane so far, and I can use my finger without pain. It's still red and swollen, but movable.

It rained while we were in town, rained all night, and is still raining this morning. 72 for our high today and 84 for our high tomorrow. At least, it's warming up. More rain and storms moving back in on Friday.

Not to compare human to pup but my Shitzu had a ruptured bladder from stones after 7k emergency surgery to save her the vet told me to make sure she had vit c everyday to help stop them from forming. That was 8 years ago.

 

[hd5574]

I'm going to save myself the hassle of looking everywhere for it, again, and just order from King A. I've heard a lot of good stuff about their flour, so I'm going to give them a try.

I really appreciate the offer, Summerthyme! Thank You.

Try vitacost...about $3.00 per 20 oz bag....may have to a min of 2 bags

 

[anna43]

Today was mobile food pantry and I'll provide a list of what we received.

Six double packages of a mint/chocolate Hersery dessert. It expired 3/16/23. Anyway, I tried one and it was good without the dark chocolate which I do not like, but the absolute pits to get the package opened. I'm going to need weapons for the next package. I've never seen this product before.
Bag of 12 oranges of which 6 were rotten and the other 6 questionable.
5# bag of frozen chicken drumsticks
16 oz. jar of peanut butter
Grape fruit spread -- is this jelly or jam or what? I don't care for grape jelly so maybe will pass it on or save it for birds.
Gluten free fettuccine -- several people at senior complex need gluten free so I'll pass it on
15 oz. raisins
#1 white rice
32 oz. bag of almonds
Vegan Indian Coconut Squash Dal expired 12/22. I'll pass it on to a lady at senior center who is vegan. Never seen this product before.
2 boxes of mac & cheese
2 cans tuna
2 cans green beans
2 cans peaches
1# margarine -- already passed that on as I don't use margarine. It's butter or nothing.

Nice pantry addition but nothing that was on my grocery list.

My Betty Crocker cookbook has a recipe for peach cobbler using canned peaches. While I was putting the new cans into rotation, I noticed a large can that needs to be used so I'm thinking cobbler tomorrow.

We had a half inch of snow last night, but temps were in upper 30's today so most is gone. Temps are forecast to be in 40's through Monday with a few days approaching 50º. Nighttime temps still in the 20's. I'm so so ready for 70º!!

 

[SouthernBreeze]

We have very severe storms moving in this afternoon and overnight. The tornado threat is bad. They are saying F-2 or greater for our area. We're also under a wind advisory with up to 75 mph wind gusts throughout the day. The sun is shining, and wind is calm right now, but it's sure to change by this afternoon. I'm going out and gathering all the lawn furniture and anything else that can be blown around and put it away.

In light of this bad weather coming, I'm doing a lot of laundry this morning, and I'm going ahead and get supper started, too. I always cook my bacon in the oven, and that's what I'm going ahead to do. Everything else can be cooked on my small butane camp stove, if need be, later if the power goes out. Bacon, eggs, hash browns, plus biscuits, unless the power goes out. I don't want to bring out the camp oven just to cook biscuits. We'll have toast, instead.

My knee is bothering me a bit again this morning. Finger is all healed up. My rheumatologist won't give me another RX for the Prednisone without me seeing him, so I hope this round will eventually heal up everything.

 

[nomifyle]

Anna43, your list made me realize that we did not get peanut butter this month, we don't need any but we usually get some, not this time. and no raisins in awhile either. We use to get two juices and two shelf stable milk, but now we get one each. We are in good shape though, just remarking.

I canceled my wm pick up because we are supposed to get rain this afternoon and DH has a VA appointment and I don't want to go by myself. So I'm doing laundry too.

 

[ReneeT]

Getting ready to head out to the pool with the neighbor lady - after picking up trash in the yard yesterday, I need a 'gentle' way to stretch out the hamstrings. I'm a little off on day/date since Hubby is home today, so I keep thinking that it is the weekend - maybe I'll get my head on straight after I finish this cup of coffee After years of me having weird rotating schedules, you wouldn't think it would be so hard for me to get used to Hubby having them.

It's been raining off and on, and is supposed to continue all day, so yard work is out; guess that means I'll have time to go through the grandsons' clothes I keep here - I swear I just did that, but they've both had a growth spurt. I need to get them new undies and shirts; their shorts still fit, and middle grandson's pants will fit the younger one so I only need to buy pants for one at least.

I need to do some filing as well - way behind on that (because I don't like to file I just know my Mama is looking down at me and shaking her head...)

Hubby and I had planned to do some target practice today, but if we do, it will have to be a the range at the gun shop. Not sure if I'll be able to talk him in to going or not. Yeah, I know - wifey wants to go to the gun shop and Hubby wants to stay home - what's wrong with this picture

Well, I hear neighbor lady's truck coming down the road; better pull my jacket on and head out!

Take care all; stay safe out there!

 

[prudentwatcher]

Not to compare human to pup but my Shitzu had a ruptured bladder from stones after 7k emergency surgery to save her the vet told me to make sure she had vit c everyday to help stop them from forming. That was 8 years ago.

When our dog had bladder stones our vet said to put her on distilled water for drinking. She lived until almost 17 years. We switched all of our animals to distilled water at that time and they all have been on it since, and that has been over 20 years. No bladder or kidney problems with any of the dogs or cats. Sometimes hard to find distilled water, but we keep at least a 10 gallon reserve.

 

[philkar]

When our dog had bladder stones our vet said to put her on distilled water for drinking. She lived until almost 17 years. We switched all of our animals to distilled water at that time and they all have been on it since, and that has been over 20 years. No bladder or kidney problems with any of the dogs or cats. Sometimes hard to find distilled water, but we keep at least a 10 gallon reserve.

Hadn’t ever heard of the distilled water trtmt. My 8 pound ‘guard dog’ help me plant bulbs this morning, drank a ton of water, and begged me for an apple. Tuck makes me laugh all the time!

 

[philkar]

Thought I would share some good news…unfortunately not on the worldwide stage though! For several years I have tried to plant cup and saucer flowers. I am sure they have another name but that’s what I know them by. A vine that grows about 15-20 ft in a year with purple flowers that look like…wait for it…a cup and a saucer! Well I started a ton of them in the greenhouse. 30% germination rate! At least I will have a few vines to plant! Number 2 good news. The oak leaf hydrangeas that I transplanted last Fall are leafing out. I basically moved them from the woods to the edge of a naturalized area. And 3rd is my great find for the week. After finding flower bulbs at hubs dads old home place I got the night idea to look further. I found lots of irises and day Lillies. I have no idea what color or type. But the big find was surprise Lillies and daffodils. I found literally 2-5 gallon buckets of nothing but bulbs which were huge. No flower stalks I think because they were too crowded and shaded. I spent 1 1/2 hours dividing them and today I spent a couple of hours planting them. I am not sure they are daffodils but they would be a variety that is over 125 years old so maybe just an old variety. And yes I know they won’t feed us but they will give us untold hours of entertainment next spring!
Sherree and others be safe. Our bad weather will start in the middle of the night.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Thought I would share some good news…unfortunately not on the worldwide stage though! For several years I have tried to plant cup and saucer flowers. I am sure they have another name but that’s what I know them by. A vine that grows about 15-20 ft in a year with purple flowers that look like…wait for it…a cup and a saucer! Well I started a ton of them in the greenhouse. 30% germination rate! At least I will have a few vines to plant! Number 2 good news. The oak leaf hydrangeas that I transplanted last Fall are leafing out. I basically moved them from the woods to the edge of a naturalized area. And 3rd is my great find for the week. After finding flower bulbs at hubs dads old home place I got the night idea to look further. I found lots of irises and day Lillies. I have no idea what color or type. But the big find was surprise Lillies and daffodils. I found literally 2-5 gallon buckets of nothing but bulbs which were huge. No flower stalks I think because they were too crowded and shaded. I spent 1 1/2 hours dividing them and today I spent a couple of hours planting them. I am not sure they are daffodils but they would be a variety that is over 125 years old so maybe just an old variety. And yes I know they won’t feed us but they will give us untold hours of entertainment next spring!
Sherree and others be safe. Our bad weather will start in the middle of the night.

I love having a beautiful yard, and yeah, it won't feed us, but we enjoy it.

You be safe, too. It's beginning to cloud up, and the wind is getting a bit on the gusty side. There is a feeling of storms in the air, and nothing is stirring outside. Not a single bird singing or chirping. We got everything battened down, so we're as ready as we can be. Laundry all done, and bacon is cooked.

 

[kyrsyan]

So while I'm listening to angels bowl overhead, I'm going to try to distract myself some.

I got banned from FB just before the storms started. Not put on hold, completely booted. No idea why. Truly about to say f' it and tell family to connect with me elsewhere. Or not.

On the good news side, I listened to my gut and brought in the new plants. The blueberries are having the most horrid time. The rest are doing well. Did get 5 nice size pots of white strawberry plants. Someone advertised on marketplace and I grabbed them.

Also found out that there are now purple strawberries. Going to have to find the plants. The are from Burpee. Not gmo. Just the results of a breeding program.

 

[West]

Going mushroom shopping this morning. Mostly for Morels. Usually no traffic and no other peoples. The squirrels, turkey's and deer eat them too I think. Usually see them while shopping in the woods.

 

[kyrsyan]

Looked out all the windows and went out on the porch. The body is too exhausted for much more than that at the moment. Yard debris to clean up but nothing major that I can see. I haven't looked at the roof yet. Family is coming to deal with that today so I'm just leaving it alone.

Bloody, fragging headache this morning. Weird dreams last night. And then I just t completely jolted awake.

Doing laundry. Cleaning. Just moving. Breakfast will be soon because the body wants fuel to replace lack of sleep.

Lots and lots and lots of trains being routed through town today. Normally I hear one or two a day. Today, it's been about one an hour so far. And long ones, much longer than normal.

Helicopters, more than normal, flying over. And lower than normal. Sounds like military and grid pattern, so I'm guessing they are looking for high damage areas. Dang. Low enough to rattle the house.

And I'd be wrong. That's med flight landing at the local church. Praying for whoever they are having to transport.

 

[philkar]

Hoping to hear from Sherree soon

 

[SouthernBreeze]

Hoping to hear from Sherree soon

I posted in the MS tornado thread on main. We're trying to dig out all around us this morning. We are ok, though, but with some damage to 2 trees in our front yard.

 

[ReneeT]

Good Morning, All! It's a grey, drizzly day here - temp of 32*f and windchill of 24*f - which makes it a perfect day to stay inside and get a start on spring cleaning (bleah ) Of course, that also makes it a perfect day to curl up in my comfy chair and read - anyone wanna take bets on which I choose to do??

Of course, my choice may be determined by whether or not I have a grandson or two visiting - but they may not want to come out if they are going to be stuck inside all day (although their Mama may need the peace and quiet )

I wish that it was morel season here, but it's a bit early yet - and the weather definitely isn't cooperating - brrr!!

I'm getting ready to drag myself out of the house in order to make a run in to town to pick up some diapers for a baby shower that is being held tomorrow. I can probably take care of that at the local Dollar General - I even have a $5 off $25 coupon I can use.

I've got plenty of cooked chicken in the fridge, and set out a pound of ground beef to thaw; I'll cook the ground beef with some seasoning; and then use the chicken and beef along with some from the pantry to make enchiladas for supper - we haven't had those in a while. Neither Hubby nor I have large appetites, so what I make will be enough that I can put a pan in the freezer for later. I'll grab a bag of salad - and see if I can remember to pick up a couple packets of lettuce seed; I'll plant them around the edges of one or two of the raised beds, assuming I don't sink up to my knees in the mud, that is Maybe I'll text Hubby and ask him to bring home some cardboard from work...

Well, I'm not getting anything done sitting here so I reckon I'd better get at it.

Take care all - have a great weekend!

 

[Digger]

Hubby's dr got his stone broke up. He goes back in 2 weeks for a follow up. I really liked his dr. Today though hubby is having hiccups from the steroids they gave him during the procedure. We hope his primary dr will call in something to stop them.

We drove in rain and storms all the way to the hospital. There were 3-4 vehicles off the interstate near Alma. All single car issues. Hydroplaning probably. But when we left the hospital the rain was ahead of us. When I started driving back into the rain, we got off to eat and let the rain get ahead again. We had heard the truck stop restaurant had good food. But maybe not on Fridays. Hubby ordered a loaded baked potato. It wasn't even warm enough to melt butter. My fish was ok, but the oil it was fried in was old. But we were still blessed. As we traveled on we came across a couple of semitrucks that had been in a wreck. One was in the median being pulled out as we got there. The other was on the right shoulder with light front end damage. I was glad we missed that happening. Then coming the last 20 miles home, there was water over the road in a few places. None was over 2-3 inches. We made it home ok but the day was a long one.

All of our ponds over topped. Water was coming in faster than it could go out the outlet. We have gotten a lot of water. I wish we could save it for July

 

[SouthernBreeze]

After Cary went out and looked around this morning, only those 2 trees are the only damage we have on our property. All around us have trees down. They came very close to falling on our wood fence out at the road. It's going to be a mess to clean up, but I'm not complaining seeing how all the communities around have it much harder than we do here at home.

The small town, Amory, where we do most of our shopping is devastated. It's going to be a long time before it recovers. We'll have to make arrangements to shop in Big town for a while, even though, it was hit hard, too, by another tornado. Not as much destruction there, though. Tupelo is a very Big town.

We didn't get in bed til after midnight, and both of us are dead tired this morning. I don't think either of us are up to doing much today. We had to get up early this morning, because both our phones were going off with family calling to check on us. Others calling updating us on all the damage round about.

 

[kyrsyan]

Family today. I don't know where it came from, but I managed to contain my mother and politely set her back. Several times. Back roof is repaired. Asphalt shingle is replaced and we found out why it had come down. A branch blew up under the shingle, and with the wind force, push it out.

Friend replaced 2 light fixtures for me. And put the new backing up for the exterior fixture. And his presence, and those things happening, helped to settle Mom. And our "bickering" actually got her laughing at one point.

She started asking why I was doing different things. And we had good discussions about it. About the only thing that she kept harping on, in a way that hit my nerves, was the now dead and gone microwave. She seems to think it was only a few years old and that I had blown it up. Didn't want to believe that it was 15+ years old and had died after a long life. I managed to redirect her. Once that happened she stopped complaining and just focused on looking to see what type of vent hood should go there. I could live with that.

I activated my Truth profile. And reactivated the Gab and Parler profiles. I don't know which one I'll be using yet but I'm about done with FB. As brother and I discussed, we're not in kindergarten anymore. We don't need a classroom monitor.

Migraine finally broke about a half hour ago. Oh, and the state that was holding my return hostage, finally sent me the money.

Oh, and brother finally admitted that he was not coming to get the dryer. So we are finding it a new home or putting it curbside this week. Basically, something always came up. And he finally admitted that it was likely that something would continue to "come up" unless his current one actually broke. And I reminded him that I am not a storage facility and I am actively trying to clear out the garage. So new home or curbside this week. It won't last long curbside.

What I thought was Med Flight is actually a private helicopter that has been coming and going all day. They've marked out a temporary helipad in an empty lot.

 

[moldy]

Praying for my southern friends. We had a dusting of snow last night....just enough to make things slippery. I gave a talk at the library about herbs over the lunch hour. No one but the other presenter and my SIL showed up, but the library paid me anyway. No big deal, networking and practice are always good. Now on to chores at home.

I need to do some cleaning, cook up some squash, and work on a writing project.

 

[hd5574]

Praying for you in the south dealing with this mess.
Here in our part of central Virginia we received heavy rain but no damage. .we were under a very slight risk but it didn't materialize. ...we are lucky to have the Blue Ridge Mountains to our west...they seem to protect us and tear the bad storms apart

 

[anna43]

I am praying for the tornado victims. It's been 44 years since we were hit with an F4 or F5 (not rated back then) but when large houses vaporize and disappear and I beams in the gym are twisted like pretzels it on the higher end of the scale. Three people lost their lives that evening. I still cry when I hear of another place being hit because I know what they are dealing with attempting to rebuild over the next year.

Reminder for me to get my safe area cleaned and organized for this year. Actually, it's tornado safety week/month and sirens will be tested, and school drills held. I don't know if the reverse 911 calls will be made for a test, but guess I'll find out. For years after our tornado, schools had to deal with students (and teachers?) panicking whenever there was a warning.

 

[SouthernBreeze]

I am praying for the tornado victims. It's been 44 years since we were hit with an F4 or F5 (not rated back then) but when large houses vaporize and disappear and I beams in the gym are twisted like pretzels it on the higher end of the scale. Three people lost their lives that evening. I still cry when I hear of another place being hit because I know what they are dealing with attempting to rebuild over the next year.

Reminder for me to get my safe area cleaned and organized for this year. Actually, it's tornado safety week/month and sirens will be tested, and school drills held. I don't know if the reverse 911 calls will be made for a test, but guess I'll find out. For years after our tornado, schools had to deal with students (and teachers?) panicking whenever there was a warning.

What is so bad here is that most of these smaller towns don't have any tornado sirens. Tornadoes hit them without people knowing it's already on top of them. Most new or remodeled schools here in Mississippi are required to build the gymnasiums as tornado shelters now. The small town of Amory has 2 tornado sirens on opposite sides of town.

 

[nomifyle]

We were supposed to get bad weather here, but it went north and we didn't get a drop of rain. I lived in New Orleans so long that tornadoes were not an issue, just hurricanes. North or New Orleans in La Place did get them from time to time and they did terrible damage.

My cousin told me about her grandfather (my great grandfather) was terrified of them. There was a big culvert across the road and he would make everyone get in the culvert. I'm not sure if a tornado ever came right here though.

I'm praying for all in the paths. At least where tornadoes go people do gripe at the residnets that they should move away like they do when hurrricanes come New Orleans way.

 

[anna43]

We have a reverse 911 call system whereby you receive a robo call of warnings. We also receive those calls when a boil order is issued and most recently information on access to a hospital whose emergency entry was under construction. Tornado warnings are definitely included. We have sirens, but unless you're outside you're unlikely to hear them. There used to be one a couple blocks away that we ALWAYS heard, but it's no longer there for some reason. The robo calls are good because even in the middle of the night, you get the warning. One of the spookiest things that happened here was after power was restored several days after the tornado, the sirens went off because they'd never been turned off. Middle of the night panic time!!

My neighbor went into a culvert during our tornado and said he barely was able to hang on to keep from being sucked out. He came out with his hair all standing on end and covered in dirt. He immediately took off running towards Main Street where his wife was at work. Before the tornado we could not see more than across the street due to trees, but when we came out after the tornado, we could see clearly see to the elevators which were on the other side of Main Street so eight or so blocks. The department store where his wife worked was destroyed, but everyone had sheltered in the basement and were uninjured.