Apparently some of the farmers had noticed at the party that many of the town people looked bad from lack of proper diets. So they had gotten together and with one of the local preachers and came up with a food pantry using the produce the farmers had not been able to trade or use themselves. The farmers were going to bring loads of produce to the church every Saturday morning as long as the produce lasted and the members of the church would hand it out to those who came. Everyone would be given so much per the number of members in their households. Some of the members of the church walked door to door letting every one know about the new food pantry and taking names and counts of people in each household to make sure every one got their fair share. We didn't need the food so we opted out.
Little did any of us know that Steve had come up with the idea and made a deal to help two of the farmers pick their produce for the food pantry in exchange for 5 bushels of potatoes, 4 bushels of apples and 3 bushels of acorn squash. So for three days before the first food give away Steve, Mike and Jr went and picked the produce and helped the farmers load it up for the food pantry. Once they had finished working for the farmers they brought home the fresh produce they worked for and started working on digging a root celler under the garage. They got it done just a week before Thanksgiving. It's tall enough that most of us women can stand up straight in in but the guys have to bend over to go it. They are all 6 ft or taller. At the junk yard they had found an old semi trailer and they took the doors off it, brought them back and used them to make doors for the root celler. Now we will be able to have fresh produce through the winter. They put 3 bushels of the apples, most of the squash and all but one bushel of the potatoes in the root celler. Its good thing they did it because we are out of empty canning jars. We used them all canning meats and some of the produce we were able to grow in the garden.
The guys are going hunting today. They are going to try and get a turkey for Thanksgiving plus what ever else they can get for the winter meat supply. Mike smoked some bacon a month ago and that it the best bacon we have ever had. He is really getting to be an expert with the smoker. He has smoked hams, bacon, deer strips, salmon and pheasant. The rest of us have started working on Christmas gifts now that the garden has been put to bed for the winter and all the canning and dehydrating is done for the year.
We are ahead of the game this winter. The guys cut wood and stacked it through out the spring, sumnmer and fall so we would have enough. They have over a 1000 gallons of water stored in the basement. We have twice the amount of food in storage then we did the night the lights went out. We have plenty of propane for cooking on the grill and plenty of gas for the truck. Mike switched my natural gas stove over to propane and got 8 big propane tanks full of propane from our neighbor. I can use the stove top but not the oven. We can run the generator long enough to use the two Nesco roaster ovens I have when we need to bake bread. It's going to be nice to be able to cook more than one pot meals in the warmth of the house.
Steve and Mike went to Steve's boss's house and got premission to get 100 gallons of kerosene from the tank at the station where he worked until the power went out. They used 5 gallon kerosene cans to get it with then transferred it to the two 55 gallon drums that Mike got some where. The neighbors have come back to stay through the winter. And we are all looking forward to Christmas and what the New Year may bring.
It's been peaceful all round town since early spring. Some of the towns men got together and using a front end loader buried all the dead bodies that had been piled up in the cemetery in a mass grave that a farmer had donated the land for. The men had also went door to door checking on people and burying those they found dead. All the town folks who had died where given proper burials. All the bodies that had been hung from the over pass and other roads into town are still hanging. They serve as a notice to any gangs that even think about trying to come in and take what we have.
The town is becoming more of a real community then ever before. People are looking out for each other, helping each other and becoming true friends. Not just friends is passing. Nikki met a nice young guy at the Halloween party and he comes and sees her quite often. He is good to Nikki and he treats Maci like she is his little girl. Maci adores him. I have not seen Nikki this happy since before she met her loser hubby. This young man is a farmer's son. His family seems to love Nikki and Maci almost as much as we do. They are taking their relationship slow but I think he is the one for her but I am keeping that to myself. I don't want to push Nikki into a relationship she is not ready for. I just hope loser boy never shows back up.
Little did any of us know that Steve had come up with the idea and made a deal to help two of the farmers pick their produce for the food pantry in exchange for 5 bushels of potatoes, 4 bushels of apples and 3 bushels of acorn squash. So for three days before the first food give away Steve, Mike and Jr went and picked the produce and helped the farmers load it up for the food pantry. Once they had finished working for the farmers they brought home the fresh produce they worked for and started working on digging a root celler under the garage. They got it done just a week before Thanksgiving. It's tall enough that most of us women can stand up straight in in but the guys have to bend over to go it. They are all 6 ft or taller. At the junk yard they had found an old semi trailer and they took the doors off it, brought them back and used them to make doors for the root celler. Now we will be able to have fresh produce through the winter. They put 3 bushels of the apples, most of the squash and all but one bushel of the potatoes in the root celler. Its good thing they did it because we are out of empty canning jars. We used them all canning meats and some of the produce we were able to grow in the garden.
The guys are going hunting today. They are going to try and get a turkey for Thanksgiving plus what ever else they can get for the winter meat supply. Mike smoked some bacon a month ago and that it the best bacon we have ever had. He is really getting to be an expert with the smoker. He has smoked hams, bacon, deer strips, salmon and pheasant. The rest of us have started working on Christmas gifts now that the garden has been put to bed for the winter and all the canning and dehydrating is done for the year.
We are ahead of the game this winter. The guys cut wood and stacked it through out the spring, sumnmer and fall so we would have enough. They have over a 1000 gallons of water stored in the basement. We have twice the amount of food in storage then we did the night the lights went out. We have plenty of propane for cooking on the grill and plenty of gas for the truck. Mike switched my natural gas stove over to propane and got 8 big propane tanks full of propane from our neighbor. I can use the stove top but not the oven. We can run the generator long enough to use the two Nesco roaster ovens I have when we need to bake bread. It's going to be nice to be able to cook more than one pot meals in the warmth of the house.
Steve and Mike went to Steve's boss's house and got premission to get 100 gallons of kerosene from the tank at the station where he worked until the power went out. They used 5 gallon kerosene cans to get it with then transferred it to the two 55 gallon drums that Mike got some where. The neighbors have come back to stay through the winter. And we are all looking forward to Christmas and what the New Year may bring.
It's been peaceful all round town since early spring. Some of the towns men got together and using a front end loader buried all the dead bodies that had been piled up in the cemetery in a mass grave that a farmer had donated the land for. The men had also went door to door checking on people and burying those they found dead. All the town folks who had died where given proper burials. All the bodies that had been hung from the over pass and other roads into town are still hanging. They serve as a notice to any gangs that even think about trying to come in and take what we have.
The town is becoming more of a real community then ever before. People are looking out for each other, helping each other and becoming true friends. Not just friends is passing. Nikki met a nice young guy at the Halloween party and he comes and sees her quite often. He is good to Nikki and he treats Maci like she is his little girl. Maci adores him. I have not seen Nikki this happy since before she met her loser hubby. This young man is a farmer's son. His family seems to love Nikki and Maci almost as much as we do. They are taking their relationship slow but I think he is the one for her but I am keeping that to myself. I don't want to push Nikki into a relationship she is not ready for. I just hope loser boy never shows back up.