The Multi-Person Rural “Get Home EDC Kit”
Prepping

The Multi-Person Rural “Get Home EDC Kit”

Sarah

This past summer, Kirk and I sold our car back to the Ford car company after a prolonged issue with the battery array that Ford couldn’t repair. We had been driving a plug-in hybrid since the fall of 2019, and it was long paid off. The issue had come that we were not supposed to plug it in, nor park it near or in buildings…in case of fire. Good times. Eventually, we found that we could petition Ford to repurchase it, which they agreed to do. We were given the total price for it. It was odd saying goodbye to the car, but I knew we had made the right choice.

But that meant I had no car anymore. And we live in rural. It’s a mile+ walk to the transit stop (we are fortunate to have a robust, tax-supported transit system here). That is one of the downsides of living on an island, especially a very large island. You have a much easier life if you have a car to get around in.

We poked around and looked at new cars. The prices for new vehicles have jumped so much since 2019 that I could not say it was worth going into debt to have a car. Then, I injured my arm at the end of June and couldn’t drive until late August. But with the boys going back to school, I needed a car quickly.

Now that they are in middle and high school, they wanted to return to school and are enjoying it. But due to districts (how an island needs 3 school districts is beyond me), they are 16 miles from school. The school bus is 5 miles away because we are going out of the district. They can take the transit bus right to school, but I drive them home every day (because the transit system decided to change pickup times to 2 minutes before school lets out…in their words, they don’t think it was stupid to change the times).

So I bought a car that wasn’t new but wasn’t completely ancient. I paid cash for it. It’s had some learning curves (no backup camera) but seems to be doing fine after getting new tires, bearings, and brakes. And I have no debt. A little steering fluid here and there, and boujie premium gas, and she hums.

The car has trunk space. My previous car (a Ford Fusion) had nearly no trunk due to the many EV batteries. It also heated up during charging and got very toasty. I could only carry one suitcase in it. My trunk doesn’t get hot in this car.

But Raven The Land Yacht?

This car has a vast trunk space. The car is great for teen boys; no one is cramped for leg space.

So it got me thinking: What should I carry there for everyday use? I needed to update my EDC. When we homeschooled, we barely drove. But what if an earthquake happened and we needed to leave the car and start walking home? At 16 miles to home, it would most likely take 1½ to 2 days to get home with the boys. Their feet would get tired, and they’d need breaks. Myself? I could force myself to keep going and make it in one day, but I can’t do that to the kids.

So, I started working on updating what I carry and how I can take it with me if I need to abandon my car. I happen to have the room now to bring a few extra items!

Do people need all of this? No. Water, food, and a way to stay warm in the off-season are high priorities.

The EDC Car Get Home Kit:

Trolly Dolly

Pair of walking socks (good-fitting, quality socks)

Gloves (for winter and also disposable gloves in case of blood)

First Aid Kit (sized for carrying, not a big one)

Plastic grocery sacks (multiple uses – carrying items, waterproofing, garbage)

Water (both in a 1-gallon and water bottles)

Foldable lightweight dog bowl

Dog food/dog snacks (they need food as well)

Dog poop bags (if trying to avoid being seen while traveling, tossing dog poop far away is essential – and not letting them poop while walking and leaving it)

Shelf stable/freeze-dried food (Add boiled water and wait 15 minutes)

Drink mixes (I carry a box of my favorite sugar-free drink mix sticks)

Backpacking stove (small and easy to carry)

Fuel for the stove (I carry an extra canister of fuel always)

Lighter (and waterproof matches)

Pot for boiling water (a 1.2 to 2-liter size)

Cups to drink out of (I have ones that fit into my pot)

Spoons (While I carry plastic, I also have bamboo reusable ones for my work always in the car, along with matching forks, knives, and chopsticks)

Garbage bags (see above about grocery bags)

Paper Towels (multi-purpose: both for cleaning, clean work surface, and for bathroom use)

Lysol hand wipes in travel-size packs

Blankets (lightweight fleece for dog, lightweight Merino wool for me)

Golf Umbrella (don’t discount it in the off-season – as long as it isn’t super windy, it gives you rain and sun protection and shelter to cook a meal under)

Trekking poles. (I have them in my car, but that is because one never knows when a hike might happen!) They can help you walk safer and longer, and be used to probe the ground for safety. With a tarp, they can also make a shelter if needed.

Take Away Thoughts:

My main view has been that if we need to leave the car behind, we would gut the boys’ backpacks of anything school-related and put things into them from the car if needed. They do not have too much weight, but they can carry water bottles, snacks, and such.

The dog always has a bed and blankets in the car. If we had to leave the car behind, I would load up the Trolly Dolly with everything we needed to take, then put her bed in at the top. While she is a strong animal, I know she will eventually tire, and her paws could get hurt, so having an area she could sit in would be essential. We would have her sit on the top of the dolly, safely tucked in. It would also work if it was windy/rainy or cold, as she would be more protected.

I would also stay with the car if it is safer, but if the reasons are bad, it is best to get moving as soon as possible before things get worse. That would be, say, the event happened during a storm, but you know it will pass in “x” hours, then maybe hold on. But otherwise, every mile under your feet is best. The faster you get to safety (home for example) the better.

~Sarah

Removing Toxins: Why I Quit Dying My Hair
Clean Living · Herbalism · Homesteading · MAHA

Removing Toxins: Why I Quit Dying My Hair

Sarah

I loved dying my hair. The first time I did it, I was maybe 13, and I always had loud, proud hair through high school. Bright hair wasn’t as standard in the late 80s and early 90s as it is today, so I stood out. Just getting the hair dyes was hard enough. Not like today, where you can walk into Wal-Mart and pick up all the neon colors you could want, or go to a salon and get even more options. (Or go to a beauty supply store if you know what you are doing.)

If you read my post on why I quit using nail polish, you might be interested in why I stopped dying my hair a few years ago. I recently angered a few people by saying I prefer natural color now, and they were highly offended. If they want to dye their hair, their decision is their body. But I will continue to question how safe it is and that there are real reasons to stop. And embrace being natural.

If you want rainbow hair, that is your decision. Just know that it doesn’t come without side effects.

One other oddity to mention? The darker the color, the higher the apparent risk.

Hair dye, in general, is barely regulated in the United States. Only rarely is it forced to be removed from the shelves or its ingredients shaken up. For example, lead acetate was only banned in 2023. Lead. Let that sink in! It took years for the FDA ban to be fully enacted, and manufacturers fought back hard.

So, in true Wild West fashion, you have no idea if anything you use is safe for your skin—this is true for ALL cosmetics.

I was 16 in this photo, and I was wearing orange hair. I had pink, orange, blue, green, white, and many other colors.

In my 20s, I went to reds and was often auburn. In my 30s, I kept my hair brown or deep red, sometimes burgundy.

But during those times, I often ignored the warning signs I was seeing and feeling. Whether I dyed my hair or went to a salon didn’t matter.

The scariest encounter was my roommate when I was maybe 19 or 20. She would often dye her hair jet black. One day, she dyed her hair and started having an allergic reaction. She was having anaphylaxis, but we didn’t know what that was back then. She ended up in the ER on steroids. Her entire face swelled up, her eyebrow area was so swollen that it drooped over her eyes! She had to sleep sitting up, and it took a week before she looked somewhat normal. She was told not to come to work (she was a waitress) because “you will scare customers.” Good times, then.

A few years later, at 24, when I was pregnant with my oldest, I dyed my hair. My entire scalp felt on fire, and I had hives there. It itched for days, and I’d think now I had a chemical reaction, and my scalp got a good chemical burn. My skin was weeping even.

After that, I stopped dying my hair for a few years, but I started again once my son was about 3. I did the “allergic reaction” test on my arm and passed it, so I decided I was okay.

Usually, it didn’t bother me too much. The most common side effects were eye-watering ammonia and similar, which made you feel like your lungs were on fire. If I were doing my hair, I’d often go outside to apply the dyes so I could breathe.

You might think that would be a wake-up call, but I have to think that, like most people, I was — it was the cost of beauty in our minds. Somehow, people used to flock in to get perms, which were horrible compared to hair dye!

As a teen, I remember bleaching my hair and then coloring it. The bleach stung and choked my lungs. But then dyeing my hair after? My scalp just ached. And my hair would feel like plastic after. While the color would pop, it wasn’t worth the feeling. But in 1989, no one really talked about wether these chemicals were safe.

I mean…I loved burgundy shades in 2017.

But homesteading started to change me. As with my nails, I started noticing a trend. My head started feeling off every time I had my hair done. My scalp would be tender to the touch – even brushing was painful to do, for a few days every dye session. I would get miagraines after. The smell of the dyes got stronger, no matter the brand I used. My hair is thick and absorbs like a sponge. I often have had to use 2 boxes to get full coverage. Salons would ignore when I’d tell them this, then halfway through, would run back to make more.

I was soaking my skin in strong chemicals and feeling the effects.

Somewhere around the start of the pandemic, I quit dying my hair. I had no idea if I had grey or silver hair. I just let it grow, trimming it here and there, until one day, it was nothing but my natural color.

Which, honestly? I like my natural color, varying shades of brown (it’s lighter now than it was as a child when it was almost black).

Do I have grey? Yes. And I am OK with that. I don’t feel the need to dye my hair anymore.

Once I stopped doing it, my scalp felt so much better. My hair is strong and often vibrant on its own. I am not exposing my skin to strong chemicals through my scalp or inhaling them.

I have had to adjust my perception of what is cool, pretty, and such, but now I prefer natural-colored hair to others. When I look at brightly colored hair, I can only think, “What damage are they doing to their bodies?” And that is something we cannot say is safe. Hair dye isn’t safe by any means.

But, it is your decision to make. You might want to still pop with color.

~Sarah

Clean Living Changes That Add Up
Bioengineered Foods · Clean Living

Clean Living Changes That Add Up

Sarah

As we approach the new year, it is so easy to think up a massive list of “New Year’s Resolutions” that will overwhelm us—and by the first of February, it is done. Maybe what is better and more sustainable is to make simple changes in our lives that we can keep doing. That will become a habit quickly. I see changes in Kirk and me as we work on our second month of changes.

Before the pandemic, I had a goal and made that first goal. I was pushing an 18-20 size in misses, and I worked out to get to a 14 in pants. Our middle son was in 4th grade that year, and we were going on walking field trips. I didn’t want to embarrass him, so I worked on myself, so I could keep up with the class. I have kept that weight off, but while I had lost so much, I still had so far to go. I went through the pandemic years muddling. I wasn’t eating clean, and my body felt it. I felt like I was aging and aging fast—that feeling where you might need a cane soon. I was also skirting the start of menopause, and it just exhausted me.

I wouldn’t say I liked that feeling. It’s like looking in the mirror at my Mom’s memory.

Maybe vanity isn’t a bad thing.

The past year, I felt it in my muscles and bones, and just standing hurt.

Kirk asked if we could change how we ate. I protested and argued, and when I ran out of excuses, I started trying to do what he wanted.

As we changed how we ate, I could feel a difference rapidly within weeks.

Finally, seeing change matters even if no one else sees it but yourself. It helps confirm in your mind that it is worth it. The journey to cleaner living, while hard, is very worth it.

Waking up to less physical pain, seeing my perimenopause symptoms lessening, my pants less tight: this all matters. Can I prove it has changed me? How I feel is enough for me. It is the thing I hold on to when all I want is junk food. Or to not work out. I ask myself if I want to hurt the next day when my legs will ache.

These are what I keep telling myself:

Clean Living Changes That Add Up

  • Give yourself the grace to be human. You may fail one day but return to your commitments the next day. You didn’t fail permanently.
  • Convert to more natural cleaning products for dishes, laundry, and home.
  • Quit putting nail polish, makeup, perfume, and similar products on your body. They are toxic—all of them. Our skin needs to be able to breathe and function.
  • Quit dying your hair. It may look cool, or cover grey, but even the semi-permanent ones are so bad for us. Even “natural” dyes sold at natural food stores still carry warnings.
  • Quit adding more tattoos. I have a number of them—I don’t regret the artwork, but I wish I had known how ink injected into my skin would affect me over time. So I haven’t added any in years.
  • Use as few OTC medications as you can. It’s not the worst thing if you have a bad headache or are sick, but the key is to use it only when needed, not daily. Some OTC meds our bodies get so used to that you have to wean off them (for example, pain meds and ones for keeping you “regular”).
  • Start working out, even if you can only do one or two weekly sessions. Just get moving.
  • Use an app to track steps, sleep, and workouts if it helps you remember. I do.
  • Go outside daily. Even if it is raining and dreary, natural light will reset your body daily. It would help if you had it, especially in the winter months.
  • Start or maintain a garden. Even in an apartment, you can have a small one in windows and on a patio/deck.
  • Learn how to forage for seasonal berries, nuts, and more in your area. Get outside and enjoy in-season foods!
  • Learn to preserve food, whether through dehydration, freeze-drying, or canning. Unlike commercially prepared foods, you know what goes into the food.
  • Stop drinking pop/soda, even the “healthier” probiotic ones. Your skin, stomach, and body will thank you—as will your wallet.
  • Swap to water if you can. I know how hard this is, but your body will thank you.
  • Stop eating out at fast food unless it’s the only choice. Even then, you can make it work (don’t eat fries, buns, salad dressing, and so on).
  • Commit to leaving the Ultra-Processed way of life. You will feel left out. I can guarantee that. But eventually, you feel better internally, and this makes it all worth it.
  • Commit to not consuming seed oils. Use only quality oil (extra virgin olive oil, avocado, tallow, lard, butter).
  • Start shopping only for raw ingredients—base ingredients. Start in the produce section, eggs, dairy, and meat. Only go into the core aisles if you need rice, flour, or canned unsalted tomatoes – that kind of thing. Otherwise, avoid those aisles so you are not tempted.
  • When you buy base ingredients, read the packaging. Look for US-made over imported ones. Look at things like yogurt to see what it contains. Avoid adding thickeners (pectin, gelatin), gums, and seed oils.
  • Try to buy in season and from US producers first.
  • Avoid artificial coloring, flavors, “natural” flavors, preservatives, nitrites, and heavily added sodium.
  • Accept that you can eat what you want – IF you make it from scratch with real ingredients. Chances are, you will be lazy, and it won’t happen. And if it gets made, you put in a lot of work and can enjoy it. It’s that. It would help if you were more connected to your food.

~Sarah

Bread Machine Rolls
Recipes

Bread Machine Rolls

Sarah

I am finding that the boys like rolls more than loaves of bread. Rolls freeze and thaw fast, so they’re a great way to have bread on hand for their school lunches, and anytime they want a carb treat.

They are also easy to make with a bread machine. You just add the ingredients, check on the dough in the first kneading cycle, and then form the rolls. Hands-on time is less than 15 minutes.

And children think you are a god because….warm rolls and butter are both peasant and royalty food. All at once.

Bread Machine Rolls

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup water
  • 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, sliced
  • 1 tsp fine sea salt
  • 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup dry milk powder
  • 390 grams of all-purpose flour*
  • 2¼ tsp or 1 packet dry active yeast

Also:

  • 1 large egg white
  • 2 Tbsp cool water

 Directions:

Add to a Zojirushi bread machine in the order listed, starting with water and ending with flour. Sprinkle the yeast on top, ensuring it doesn’t touch the liquid. Set the machine for the “Dough” setting. It will take 1 hour and 50 minutes in this machine.

If using other brands, follow the directions as called for and the temperature of water needed. If using a different brand of machine, melt the butter first.

See the notes section below and watch if the dough needs more flour during the first kneading cycle.

Set the dough on a lightly floured work area and divide it into 12 sections.

Roll each section gently into a ball.

Set the rolls on a large baking sheet that was lightly oiled. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap lightly misted with oil.

Let rise for 40 minutes. (In cool temperatures, use a heating pad set to medium under the tray.)

Preheat the oven to 350° for the final 10 minutes of rising time.

Whisk the egg white and water, and brush over the rolls.

Bake for about 15 minutes and check. The rolls will be lightly brown on top.

Transfer to a cooling rack.

Store in a plastic bag to keep it fresh once cooled.

Makes 12 rolls.

Notes:

*The flour you need depends on the type of flour used and the humidity. The brand can even play into it. This is why I weigh out rather than scoop flour.

Start with 390 grams and add more if needed during the kneading cycle. You want the dough not to be wet or sticky but tacky when pressing a finger against it.

~Sarah

Bread Machine Hearty Rolls
Recipes

Bread Machine Hearty Rolls

Sarah

I took the dough for my recent water bagels and decided to see how it would work as a simple roll, not a light dinner roll, but rather a hearty one for lunches to make a sandwich with.

The boys were quite happy with them, though I found them heavier than I like – but since I am not eating sandwiches, I was happy with the results if they liked them.

Bread Machine Hearty Rolls

Ingredients:

  • 1½ cups water
  • 2 tsp fine sea salt
  • 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
  • 510 grams of all-purpose flour*
  • 1 Tbsp dry active yeast

 Directions:

Add to a Zojirushi bread machine in the order listed, starting with water and ending with flour. Sprinkle the yeast on top, ensuring it doesn’t touch the liquid. Set the machine for the “Dough” setting. It will take 1 hour and 50 minutes in this machine.

If using other brands, follow the directions as called for and the temperature of water needed.

See the notes section below and watch if the dough needs more flour during the first kneading cycle.

Set the dough on a lightly floured work area and divide it into eight sections.

Roll each section gently into a ball.

Set the rolls on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the rolls with plastic wrap lightly misted with oil.

Let rise for 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425°.

Bake for about 14 minutes and check. The rolls will be nicely browned on top.

Transfer to a cooling rack.

Notes:

*The flour you need depends on the type of flour used and the humidity. The brand can even play into it. This is why I weigh out, rather than scoop flour.

Start with 510 grams and add a bit more if needed. You want the dough not to be wet or sticky but tacky when pressing a finger against it. Bagel dough is denser than regular bread dough.

Makes 8 rolls.

Store in a plastic bag to keep it fresh once cooled.

~Sarah