Search Results for: blog storing water

How to Water Your Plants During a Drought

Water, water. Sometimes it’s not everywhere. Sometimes there is no rain to be found, not for days and weeks. This is scary for farmers and deeply frustrating for gardeners. In a drought, plants die, and if you rely on these plants for food and shade, this can be very difficult. How can you weather drought and plan for future dry times as well? Let some of your plants go dormant. Lawns and moss will go brown. This is fine. Keep your lawn a little longer before the dry season begins so that it will make as much shade and conserve … Continue reading →

Where’s My Water?

Playing computer games and helping others: how can the two possibly intersect? Thanks to the internet they have; several games exist online now that by playing, users can donate funds to various worthy causes. The most famous is freerice.com, a site that offers various educational games in subjects such as vocabulary, geography, literature, math, and chemistry. For every correct answer, 10 grains of rice are donated to the World Food Program, to help feed the hungry. Now Disney’s getting in on the game. Disney Friends for Change, the company’s arm that tries to get kids involved in volunteer work, has … Continue reading →

Storing Emergency Water Supplies

We’re mostly water. Water is essential to people, both for drinking and for cleaning. As the winter approaches it is good to be prepared with extra supplies in our home and at work. While you only need to drink 2 quarts of water per day, we often forget about the water that we use for cleaning ourselves, washing our hands, and cleaning our pots and pans. Even in an emergency you still need to keep clean. This is why emergency preparation organizations recommend that you store a gallon of water per person per day. Store at least a 3 day … Continue reading →

Restoring Wood Floors

There’s not a lot of love for commercial wood floor cleaners these days. A quick scan of cleaning forums on the Internet reveals a huge rift between people who despise non-eco-friendly wood cleaners and those who don’t mind cleaning their floors with products made with a few toxic chemicals. Regardless of where you stand on the issue, there is no denying that all-natural wood cleaners are all the rage right now. I spent about an hour researching homemade wood floor cleaners and found no less than two dozens recipes using pantry staples. Vinegar is the king of natural cleaning products, … Continue reading →

Storing Books – Part 2

When it comes to storing books, some people have them arranged by genre as we do. Others have them arranged alphabetically by author. Still others find the shelf height dictates how books will be stored, so they are sorted by size. For this reason a bookcase with adjustable shelves is ideal. Most of our bookcases, and we have a number, have one middle shelf which is fixed and the others are adjustable. It saves the problem of having a large book and nowhere to put it. In our home, books are housed in the family room, lounge room, spare bedroom … Continue reading →

Ask a Food Blogger: Better Leftover Gravy

Question: I like to make homemade gravy and it comes out smooth and tasty when I cook it. However, after I refrigerate it, when I take it out it is covered with gel. I cannot sell my family on gel gravy. Help! What can I do? I wouldn’t be able to sell my family on jelly gravy either. No doubt, gravy is meant to be smooth, evenly browned and perfectly seasoned. Unlike some dishes, gravy is not forgiving. I cannot promise you that doing the following will completely eliminate the gel, but I can promise you that storing and re-heating … Continue reading →

Organizing and Storing Homeschooling Materials

In Setting Up a Space for Homeschooling, Valorie discusses having a room specifically for homeschooling. I agree with her that having a room specifically for homeschooling would be a wonderful option, if you have room in the house for it. Sadly I don’t, and neither do a lot of other people including her. As she said, just because you have a room designated for homeschooling doesn’t mean you have to do all of your homeschooling in that room. If I had a room for homeschooling, its main purpose would be to have all of our homeschooling items in one place. … Continue reading →

Keeping Your Photos Safe: Water Damage

Recently, I had the opportunity to teach a scrapbooking class about photo preservation. The hot topic of the night seemed to be protecting your photographs. Almost every question asked was about how to properly store your photos, how to protect them when putting them into your albums, and what to place near and not place near the photographs on a layout. All good questions, as well as ultimately important to the longevity of your scrapbooks and memories. Although it seems obvious that someone would not store their photographs near water, you’d be surprised at how many people do not realize … Continue reading →

Storing and Using Frozen Breast Milk

Someone recently pointed out to me that out of all the blogs on breastfeeding that I’ve done here at Families.com, I haven’t written anything about how to store breast milk! All I can say is: “What was I thinking?” Many mothers pump and store their milk in case of emergency, to help continue breastfeeding once mom goes back to work, or even because baby never took to the breast. In any case, for all you moms who pump or will be pumping here are guidelines that you can use for safely storing your breast milk. I have taken the following … Continue reading →

Water Storage Containers

Water can be a difficult item to include in your food storage. It is heavy and will take up a lot of room to store. However it is an important item in your food storage and should not be overlooked. You should have a two-week supply of water on hand at all times. The recommended amount of water is a gallon per person per day. If you have pets you will want to include additional water for them as well. If you have included a large amount of dehydrated or freeze-dried food in your food storage you will need to … Continue reading →