Cara Campbell

I often find unused souvenir 100% linen kitchen towels at thrift stores and estate sales. People buy them on their travels and then, I suppose, they feel they're too nice to use. Or perhaps they received them as gifts and didn't use them. Anyway, they last forever and  have only starch, no softeners.

We just bought used silicone bags and I'm using them to store veggie scraps (for stock) in the freezer. We got tired of the paper bags we were using because they'd rip. So far, so good.

Almost anything can be found used on ebay and you avoid consuming new and especially the evil Amazon.

If your glass containers have a sharp chip, just file with a fine metal file, or you can use sandpaper so you don't get cut.

I've frozen semi-liquids and liquids not past the shoulder in quart Mason jars, and they've cracked.

When you all say you have a land line, do you mean a true, wired lanline, or a VOIP line?
We have one VOIP line that goes out when we lose electricity, and a real landline that ATT has warned us they'll probably stop supporting. We need the landline so that in a hurricane, when electricity is lost, our families can reach us.

ATT charges so much for a landline that, to keep costs down, we only have the line, no extras such as call waiting, or even a long distance option.

We have cell-phones that we keep in RFID blocking bags when not in use (for privacy as well as EMF concerns). I think I may have made 2 calls in 5 years. Gary uses his almost exclusively when he visits his mother in another state.

We decided to eschew cell phones when we saw the rudeness, self-absorbtion, and addiction they were encouraging.

I think they're a scourge on civilization, no matter their convenience.

To deter mosquitos from breeding there, I use coffee grounds in the cups of bromeliads  (of which I have many). It sees to work but in the rainy season repetition is necessary.
I also add it to compost in the dry season.

I would avoid any seed oils. They're full of poly unsaturated fatty acids which  we're learning are really bad for us. https://millersbiofarm.com/blog/the-pufa-predicament-a-look-into-healthy-fats

The main problem with avocado and olive is that they're often adulterated in order to lessen the cost. We use Coconut oil and MCT oil, with a small bit of olive oil (all organic,  but I still don't feel confident about the olive oil not being adulterated).

I went to a boat supply store and bought metal cable covered with some sort of plastic and it's lasted at least 30 years with negligible breakdown of the covering. The ends fit through an aluminum (I think) piece with 2 slots–you make a loop, feeding  the wire out one and back through the other and tighten  the two screws to hold it in place . Then I just screwed hooks into a tree and wooden posts of an existing garden structure. Back when copper was cheaper, I bought a 2" piece and sank it into concrete and screwed a hook into it and capped it. I bought copper because it wouldn't rot and looks nice. Too expensive now, unfortunately!

When we have to take the wires down for hurricane prep or tree-trimming, we just pull the loops off the hooks.

For cleaning, you can buy hydrogen peroxide at beauty supply store.  It comes in a thick or regular formula and I find the thick is good for vertical surfaces, like shower tile grout.
It's NOT safe for consumption because of additives,  I used to buy it by the gallon at Sally Beauty, but haven't lately because my neighbor is a sales rep for some beauty company and she gave me a case of the  thick that hasn't yet run out.

I also have bought the  food grade 35% from Pure Health,  and I think Azure Standard now carries it.

I find vegetable broths, especially if they contain mushroom stems, provide a lot of flavour. Usually ours also has celery ends, carrot tops (including sometimes the green parts), onion tops & bottoms, sweet potato ends, ginger peelings, garlic ends and some frozen stems from herbs I've dehydrated and taken leaves off. I add a bit of olive or coconut oil, a bay leaf and let it all simmer. It's the base for all our soups, we use it to cook beans & grains and it's delicious. I don't agree that it's "water."

Deane,
I want to add that although we haven't been hit by a REALLY bad hurricane here recently, we've had some strong ones. A very old abandoned house nearby with a tin roof  survived with its roof intact while many newer houses had blue tarps on them for MONTHS.
The detached garage of our older house had a corrugated metal roof and it survived. Weird.

When we had our metal roof put on, the contractor added hurricane strapping. Our house  (1947) is on an almost continuous concrete block foundation with a crawl space and  the walls are anchored to the block. We had our contractor check it out because when we bought the neighboring house (it was moved there in the 30s), he had to fix some bending floor joists.  That house also has a crawl space, but has many more openings in the foundations, and when Luke was down there he noticed the house was not attached. He told us, "That house is only held down by gravity." He anchored the joists with Tapcons and strapping, also pouring more concrete columns to hold up the floors.  

When we had that house re-roofed in metal, they also added hurricane straps.

You all have me very nervous because our house has an attached carport...