Stone Soup Survival

There is a natural law that requires paying a price for good things or reaping unpleasant consequences. Recently we have seen the natural results of greed. When many people want something now and are not willing to pay this minute but say they will pay later, we call it “going into debt”. There are many ways of going into debt.

One of my sons dislikes homework. He is not willing to pay the price for good grades. He refuses to pay the price of steady effort. He prefers to play now and pay for consequences later. I must say he hates to pay the price of his greed for recreation which is the loss of recreation when the poor report card shows up. Nevertheless the choices were made. One cannot afford paying a price. We pay for good stuff or unpleasant stuff, but we do pay.

There are other examples of going into debt. Take daily chores. Yes, my children say, take chores away. They learn early though the unpleasant results of putting off chores like dishes. Mess and filth pile up until there is a health hazard unless one is willing to pay with small, repeated clean ups. But some chores are not so easy for us to see or we choose not to see.

I recently heard there are 4,000 bridges in Idaho. Sixty percent of those bridges are 44 years old or older and the expected life time for a bridge is 50 years. I find it interesting that such a huge building process occurred in a short time 44 years ago. The problem now is the lack of steady infrastructure maintenance means we must pay the price. Apparently the same is true of the 67,000 miles of highway in the state. One of every five miles is in poor condition. The lack of continual expense means now a huge burden on the taxpayer or death and disaster.

The whole country is in the same condition. For years we wanted to save taxes and pay for infrastructure repairs later. Now is yesterday’s “later”. When political pundits promise tax breaks and rebates they are promising us “debt”. The debt of poor infrastructure, the debt of poor health, the debt of unprepared children to manage a future where they must pay for the excesses of their parents. These are natural laws. There is nothing we can do to avoid paying the price of a prosperous life. The debt must be paid-now or later. The responsible strategy is to pay now. The greedy and irresponsible way is to pay later.

The same is true with preparation. We go to school now to have a better job later, we learn to cook, and balance a budget in order to care for our families later. We exercise and eat right to live a quality life. All these things are done gradually, steadily over a long time. Protecting our families from unexpected problems by saving money, learning how to repair things ourselves, doing more with less resources, and putting away a few items now to use later requires the same small daily efforts. The results are being prepared for most of life’s events. Small, steady efforts win the prize.

The anticipation of Christmas is over and the children still have days before school begins. Unfortunately, mother needs to return to work. I have an office at home. What is a Mom to do?
Ideas?
I use several time worn strategies. What do you do?
• The house must be cleaned and finances organized before Jan 1, so reorganize your toys and drawers. Help put away Christmas decorations. This only lasts a couple hours in the am.
• Make New Year’s gifts for the neighbors missed. We make banana nut bread. Bananas are usually cheaper this time of year.
• Make educational gifts for children in orphanages. This is a fun one. We place stickers inside a file folder and then laminate it. We then place matching stickers on cardstock and laminate that. We place Velcro under each sticker. The orphans then match the stickers. This is a cheap way to help children learn. Since three of my children lived many years in an orphanage, they find this a rewarding activity. We were amazed when we took suitcases of learning gifts to the orphanage that the children were not allowed to play with any of the gifts. They were hustled away and put in a display room for others to see. The children didn’t know how to play with puzzles, board games, and could not read. They loved balloons. The children were experts at games that involved string or nothing at all.
• Snow shoveling and playing works best in the afternoons along with eating banana nut break and hot cocoa.
Our children find holidays stressful as they are all adopted and memories are not pleasant of their early years. This increases anxiety and bad behaviors. Tempers flare. During these times Mothering is a full time and often unpleasant task. Activities that use their whole bodies help. Using a trampoline (exercise type), lifting weights, Wii exercise, Guitar Hero, basketball, dancing, and exercising all help.
If your child has lived through a disaster of any type try giving them a color book that focuses on the issue. The Harrison’s Emergency Preparedness Plan is a book our family designed to help children prepare for and cope with unexpected disasters. Children love it and parents find a little peace. The book also contains oodles of games to play that don’t require electricity. You can find it at http://stonesoupsurvival.com.
You can find other parenting resources at http://www.webmd.com/parenting/

One of my favorite disaster preparedness sites is Play2Train. http://www.isu.edu/irh/IBAPP/play2trainnews.shtml. The second life site was developed by by Idaho Institute of Rural Health to train health care providers what to do during community emergencies. The site provides a frontier town with businesses, hospitals, and first responders. You can develop your own avatar and learn what to do during a terrorist attack, an outbreak of a communicable disease, or an explosion.

The play2train website shows videos of hospital exercises where people learn to work together. Check them out. I think the media offers excellent training opportunities for families.

Think how beneficial it would be for a family to practice fire escapes. The kids would love it. A family could practice what to do if the emergency happened while the family was separated. The kids and parents could learn more about how each other thought during an emergency. Children would see how Dad has to report to people that he is leaving and ask for permission to go to his family. They could see Mom try to reach the baby at the sitter’s. They could discuss the importance of following directions at school. They could play act staying with the teacher until parents came for them.

The mere act of seeing each other work in situations they can’t experience in real life would decrease the fear. Children who see their parents follow rules even though they would rather be with their children will gain trust and self-discipline. Children will understand that even though they are afraid, they must follow the safety rules until help comes. I think we should develop family places in second life for families to play act emotionally sensitive situations.

I watched health care providers gain confidence in scary situations using the simulation tool. Participants are taught skills and given the chance to practice them. After the experience they can sit down in a virtual auditorium and talk about what happened, how they felt, and what they could do better next time.

Confidence comes with practice. Confidence is a necessary “skill” for a health care provider. Providers need more than knowing what to do. A health care provider needs to know that he/she possesses the ability to perform correctly when stressed. I think children and parents need the same kind of confidence as well. I have watched strong women collapse in a puddle when confronted with a child’s illness. If we could teach parents how to behave and then let them behave during a sudden flood, or a chemical spill, they will more likely behave properly than they will do after only reading a brochure.

Letting parents practice for an evacuation is motivating toward preparing 72 hour kits. Letting children practice what to do if hurt during a hike will give them power to handle themselves during all sorts of stressful situations. How about teens practicing what to do and say during an agreesive/hostile situation. Kids love to manipulate the media. Teachers appreciate how the media takes the pain out of sensitive subjects. People behave more normally than they do in role play situations.

Recently I traveled from from rural Idaho to urban Washington, D. C. I was impressed by several “emergency survival” facts. The first was the difference in lifestyle. We build survival kits based on people’s preferences. Lifestyle impacts those preferences. For instance, urbanites all carried bags-usually a backpack or briefcase. This hampered their progress, required strength, and spoke to the demands on their lives. As we moved quickly from government building, to bus, to subway, to store, to restaurant I felt uncomfortable because I had forgotten a lot of the survival techniques I used in my youth.

An urbanite has a worksite, a home, and a long commute. My rural lifestyle enables me to keep a kit in the car, but the subway has no place for all the stuff I store in the car. I would need a soft package and less “stuff” in my commuter it. I was impressed by the inability to carry a knife in that kit because so many sites required security checks. Local information is so important to 72 hour kits.

During my long distance commute in rural Idaho, I can wear flimsy shoes because I can keep the sturdy ones under the seat. I also keep water, coats, food, heating supplies, flares, maps, and basic survival equipment. This is not possible in the city. A kit that fits in a briefcase side pocket and cash would be more helpful. I noticed the city dwellers ate out a lot, and used small family stores to get just enough food for the day. This would never do in my life where it is a long trip to the store.

What other lifestyle differences impact your 72 hour kit?

Eating habits a generation ago were different than they are now. My children enjoy ice cream regularly whereas in my parents day this was a once a year treat. Cakes, pies, donuts and other pastries are readily available in stores. This is so different from my parent’s childhood.

Homemade bread broken in a bowl with warm milk was served as a dinner. Adding sugar and home canned fruit made it a dessert. Dipping a green onion in salt and crunching it was a popular savory.

Cheryl talks about her parent’s favorite foods. “We ate the bread and milk like your family but only when the bread was older. When it was fresh, we loved to have a thick warm slice smeared with thick cream and sometimes sprinkled with sugar. Now that was a rich dessert. We ate a lot of bread in all sorts of ways.

Dad loved a piece of toast with canned tomatoes and an egg. Mom always crunched a whole tomato into small pieces and spooned them over the toast. When we were little she put juicy raspberries in a thermos for us to take to work. We drank the juice and used a spoon on the fruit. This was a real treat and I can almost taste it today.”

I remember every Friday night was chili beans at our table. Mother let us know that the end of the week meant less money and we should eat our beans. I suppose we enjoyed a fragrant weekend, but I know Dad loved his beans. We also enjoyed chicken on Sunday the dinner highlight of the week. A couple times a year we enjoyed lemon meringue pie. Pie was difficult to make so Mom didn’t do it often. These memories are part of my history as well as my body. We enjoyed the food and the conversation.

What are your food memories? How was food different for past generations? Are we losing their dietary technologies? How could we improve our tables with their recipes?

There are several definitions of technology and all of them pertain to “survival”. Families and community leaders are wise to consider all aspects of survival technology when planning to protect people and their belongings.

1. Technology is best known as objects like tools and machines. People debate the most important technological invention with the wheel, the printing press, and the computer considered leading changers of civilization.

When we discuss survival technologies, the LED lights are much in the news. The lower energy requirements allow them to work longer, brighter and cheaper. Lanterns withstand more jostling and trauma older technologies. This year increased production permits stores to sell them for less than in the past.

Technologies can save millions of people like the Tsunami detectors off the Pacific coast. Whole towns appreciate the latest in avalanche technology again in warning systems. Individuals appreciate GIS technologies, artificial air pocket devices, the avalanche air bag system, and the Avalanche Ball.

Families and organizations usually budget and plan for the “stuff” needed. There are lists of emergency supplies like water, food, clothing, and shelter. There are companies that sell the supplies. People may bemoan the lack of technology, but basically people understand this type of technology requires money and infrastructure.

2. Technology is knowledge. Technology is the knowledge behind devices. The lack of knowledge can prevent success even when opportunity and access to equipment is available. For instance, capitalism is a technology. When democracy, money, and equipment were delivered to countries used to communism, capitalism did not flourish. One reason was the lack of knowledge of how to operate the new system. The people lacked an understanding of the philosophy, determinism to make the many sub systems work. Another example, is the knowledge professionals use when operating machinery. Health care providers know how to interpret PET scans and diagnose cancer from X-Rays.

This kind of technology can be lost. For instance, the technology of making soap over an open fire in the backyard is pretty much extinct. Most people don’t understand the technology of the manual saw. There are many saw types for different purposes. How about endangered cooking technologies? So much food is partially prepared when it enters the home. Who knows how to raise and prepare poultry for the table?

3. Technology is activity. These are the actions of the people to accomplish certain goals: systems, skills, methods, procedures, and routines. EMTs perform assessments in various ways depending on the conditions of the patients. After a disaster, the health systems use particular strategies to care for the population. Hospitals switch gears and implement a different set of rules during a crisis. Health care providers practice disaster preparedness to manage these unusual conditions. Triage is one such system. Families so the same thing. They put aside normal rules when they practice fire drills. Children are allowed to run outside without their shoes and coats. Families teach alternate communication systems for crisis management as well.

4. Processes can be technology. The way situations are managed. How graphics are developed in software from input, to throughput and then to output and marketing all require technical processes. We often must read the manual in order to learn the processes. And sometimes the processes are hard to understand.

The process technology begins with a need or purpose and ends with a solution. In this way technology is much like research. There are specific processes one uses from the beginning to the end of the task in order to achieve success. For instance, the government is expected to use its expertise to come to the aid of a community after a disaster. The leaders apply every technology possible to bring food, water, energy, health and safety to the disrupted community. When the systems work, all is well, but when they do not, someone is blamed. The media use processes to get the news out before their competitors. Parents use processes of ever increasing distance circles to find a lost child.

6. Objects and people are used in combination to make sociotechnical systems. Sociotechnical refers to the interrelatedness of social and technical aspects of an organisation. The term indicates complex systems and recognizes the importance of people working in harmony with machines to accomplish tasks. In a sense, the community itself is a complex sociotechnical system. Work designs, ergonomic science, and organizational behavior are examples. In order to improve these systems, leaders employ process technologies like need assessment, evaluation research, task analysis, motivation, and process improvement.

Families can combine technologies like cell phones, escape ladders, decision trees, medical records, transportation systems, identification cards, block houses, babysitters, family councils, and 72 hour kits to prepare their families for common “disasters”.

The market is always looking for new technology tools. Inventors improve temporary housing. Some provide sturdier tent structures, others have rigid walls like mobile homes. Some think the government will soon support inventors of cheaper solar, wind, and water power. These are examples of object technologies. The combination of government processes to provide support for inventors, who provide products for people who buy them and pressure the government for other supports is a sociotechnical system.

Inventors of objects find it easier than inventors of system technologies to become popular. There is less money for most system technologies, but then again…. Stephen Covey produced a time management system that made him wealthy.

Not everyone jumps on the technology band wagon. Consider the green movement. The movement began with a few outlawed research reports more than forty years ago. Warnings of global warming were ridiculed and ignored. Systems technologies work differently than tangible ones. System technologies require people to stop doing something one way and to begin a new habit; whereas, society will implement innovative objects while still using the old technology in tandem with the old. For instance, hospitals often keep their paper charts while instituting electronic charts. System changes require an evaluation of the old system, an admission of some degree of failure, the invention of a new system and then its application testing. These types of technologies require a longer turnaround time.

Research into health care systems states the fastest expectations of implementing research for patient care is 17 years. This is nearly the whole of one person’s career. Changing survival systems takes time and a lot of marketing. Right now medicine is working to shorten the time it takes for basic research advances to save lives. But this in itself is another type of system technology.
Survival systems experience similar problems. Take for instance, the government warning for every person to have a 72 hour survival kit. The Red Cross’s advice to store an additional 2 weeks of water and food in the home is another example. According to the Red Cross less than 7% of the population has heeded the warnings. In other words, the life saving technology systems are missing.

This is a great concern. The need for self-care has increased. The frequency of weather related disasters may not be more than in previous years but the severity of storms has increased. Government and volunteer resources diminish. Compassion fatigue is a real problem for those not experiencing the disaster first hand. So much pain is hard to imagine time and time again. Companies selling emergency supplies and survival equipment state sales have not increased significantly. People still do not associate someone else’s disaster with themselves.

In fact, one still hears terms like “food hoarding” to describe people who set aside resources for their families. In other words, a stigma is attached to people who change their behavior from government dependent to self-sufficient. They are considered crackpots, the same as the early researchers of global warming.

Some say if the public moved to wind and solar power 30 years ago, we would not need to hear the “doom sayers” today. But since families pay anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 to convert one home to alternative energy sources, where is the motivation to change? Some states give tax credits, but mine does not. The cost is prohibitive and the government fails to support; therefore, society is slow to change.

Families are small societies and need not wait for the larger communities to change. The larger community cannot support the family during and after a disaster so why wait. Only those groups that consider the 5 different types of technology will be prepared for unexpected adversity.

“Hello, my name is Malton Eaton, the scientific brains, behind the naturally good food found on Let’s Get Cookin’. Last week we explored the wheat berry. Today we grow violent. We are going to kick it up a notch and rid ourselves of frustration at the same time. Let’s get crackin’.

“Wheat, a source of fiber and vitamins, is an ancient grain. Romans called bulgar wheat cerealis. Biblical scholars believe the grain was used for the first course of the meal. In some ways wheat will remain a secret ingredient because we continue to find so many different ways to use the grain.
Last week we cooked with the whole wheat berry. Just slightly altering the grain and we get different textures and a wide variety of resulting dishes. Today we will investigate cracked wheat and bulgar.

1. Cracked wheat is crushing whole wheat berries to various degrees of coarseness: fine, medium and coarse. Because it is milled when raw, it requires cooking when put in recipes.

2. Bulgar is partially hulled and processed wheat. The wheat berry is steamed, dried and then crushed. Because it is cooked, it can be used raw in various recipes. Bulgar wheat costs more because it requires more labor. Cooks usually soak the grain then use it in salads, but when they add broth and a short cooking time, the grain becomes part of a casserole. The processing gives bulgar a longer shelf life than cracked wheat.

“In America sometimes the term Bulgar or Bulghur is used for cracked wheat, but they are different. Anyone can make their own cracked and bulgar wheat.

“One needs a mallet, a colander, a steamer, water for the steamer, good quality wheat berries, and a pillow case. The pillow case is not for sleeping. Just watch the process.

“Cracked wheat calls for you to slip the cleaned wheat in a pillow case and then hammer it-thus cracking the wheat.

“Deana, we are waiting for your talented dainty fingers to turn these wheat berries into a great salad or casserole. Here is your full body ruffled apron. Are you ready? What in the world are you doing anyway?

“I know it is in here somewhere,” Deana mumbles. “Malton, did you see my wheat mill?”

“No, I haven’t. Don’t tell me you are still looking for that thing. And you call yourself a cook.”

“That is just it, I am a cook. I don’t bake often enough to keep track of the mill.”

“Well, you don’t need the mill today either. Let’s get cracking,” said Malton.

“Hello folks,” greets Deana. “Welcome to our wonderful homemade kitchen, even if it is slightly disorganized. I mortared those bricks myself one night after work. They tell me the uneven look is artistic. Hmmm back to the topic. Today I will make Taboli from scratch. Yummm. This is not a dainty salad. This is a robust, hearty salad with a little tang.

• The first thing we do is place the partially hulled wheat in a colander and wash it. I remove anything that doesn’t look like wheat. Including this rubber boat. I guess the children have been playing again. Wheat feels so good between the fingers, doesn’t it. The young children love to play in it.
• Second: I cover the wheat with about 2 inches extra of water. I let this soak while I am at work.
• Next we need the steamer. We place the wheat above water and steam until the berry is soft when pinched between fingers. One can cook the wheat in a covered pot with 2 parts water to 1 part wheat until soft. This way works faster but still takes a few hours.
• When soft, spread the wheat thinly on cookie sheets so they can dry thoroughly. The sun or a low over can speed this process.
• Now fill the pillow case with the dry wheat. Use the mallet or rolling pin to hit the grain. Do not use a blender. One can use a grain mill, if you can find it.
• Sift the results 3 times. You want to separate fine, medium and larger pieces. Different dishes prefer different sizes. We will use the fine bulgar for tabuleh. Pilaf enjoys a medium grade and the larger sized grain is suitable for casseroles.

“Now assemble two great dishes: Tabuleh (Tabooli) with bulgar wheat and a cracked wheat casserole.”

Tabuleh Salad

The great winter salad comes from the Middle East. The salad is rich in color-green, red and brown with white highlights. The salad is refreshing and high in fiber. I love to pick the parsley, mint, and tomatoes from the garden. I feel rich. My children fight for second helpings even though I try to convince them, they do not like the flavor. More for me, if I can convince them they don’t like it. So far-no luck. I must share. This salad stores well, is great in lunches and on picnics. I love it at BBQs. It is a great salad to take to pot lucks.

½ c fine bulger wheat
Just over 1 cup warm water or chicken broth
1 large ripe tomato finely chopped
8 T. finely chopped curled or flat parsley leaves
4 T. finely chopped fresh mint leaves
4-5 finely chopped green onions, 1 medium onion, or equivalent dried onion
1 ounce olive oil
3-4 T. lemon juice (I like more. I want it to have a sharp taste. Some people like to add tobacco for a bigger kick)
1 to 2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste

Rinse the bulghur wheat and drain quickly. Place in a deep bowl and pour over the warm broth or water. Allow to absorb the liquid while preparing and adding the vegetables . Toss and mix evenly then add the oil and lemon juice Toss again. Cover and let chill. I think the salad tastes better the longer the flavors mix, making it a perfect salad for large gatherings. It can be made ahead of time.

Serve: Place the salad on a lettuce leaf. Some like it rolled in lettuce leaf and others place the salad in pita bread and eat it like a sandwich.

Cracked Wheat and Garbonzo Bean Casserole

Oven 425 degrees
Sautee in 2 tsp oil 1 cup thinkly sliced celery, ½ cup chopped onion, ½ cup chopped green pepper. Add 2 crushed garlic cloves. Mince 8 oz. white or brown mushrooms for about 5 minutes.
Add 6 oz. tomato paste with 3 1/3 cups water and t tsp unsulfured molasses, 1 tsp salt, and ¾ c. cracked wheat. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer, cover for 25 minutes. To prevent burning, occasionally stir to clean the bottom of the skillet with spatula. Add15 oz can of baked beans and 15 oz can of drained garbanzo beans. Simmer while preparing the topping.
Topping: In medium bowl combine 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 3 TBS toasted wheat germ, 1TBs baking powder, 1 TBs sugar and ½ tsp salt. Stir with whisk to mix. In measuring cup, add 3 TBS vegetable oil to 2/3 cup buttermilk. Add liquid to the flour mixture. Stir with fork until mixture leaves sides of bowl.
Turn topping mixture onto the floured board. Knead briefly. Roll into 12- by 8-inch rectangle, sprinkling with flour to prevent sticking. Transfer the vegetable filling to a casserole dish that measures at least 12- by 8-inches. Place the topping mixture on top.
Bake 30 minutes.
Makes 8 servings.
*You may substitute l pound of sauteed ground beef for garbanzo beans.

A site for kids to prepare to care of their animals during natural disasters is available. The colorful and easy to navigate site contains a video, what to do if the family evacuates, developing a pet disaster plan, and information about horses, lizards and birds.

Animals are part of the family and a responsibility. Animals can’t go into Red Cross shelters and many motels will not accept them. Yet the best plan for pets is to go with the family. Animals have special health needs. FEMAhas suggestions for keeping birds hydrated and snakes calm. FEMA also has a site for adults to learn how to care for animals.
FEMA suggests an animal survival kit to go along with the family’s survival kit. Stone Soup Survival has several from which to choose. Animals need food, bottled water, medications, identification tags, carriers, leashes, a current photo, veterinary records, cat litter/pan, can opener, portable food dishes, first aid kit and other supplies with you in case they’re not available later, and cleaning wipes for their owners.

FEMA also has a livestock owners video. Livestock are members of the family and valuable commodities. Their care and welfare is vital so owners will want to prepare ahead of time. FEMA also provides standards for owners to use when boarding their animals.
The Red Cross also provides information to help families know what to do during emergencies.
So does the humane society.

If you own an exotic pet you might want to consult:
http://exoticpets.about.com/cs/resourcesgeneral/a/disasters.htm
Other sites with disaster planning information for pets.
• AVMA Disaster Preparedness
American Veterinary Medical Association
• AVMA Disaster Preparedness and Response Collections of Journal Articles
American Veterinary Medical Association
• The Merck Veterinary Manual - 9th Edition Online
Merck & Co.
• NIOSH Interim Guidance on Health and Safety Hazards When Working with Displaced Domestic Animals
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
• Preparing Pets for Natural Disasters/Emergencies
• Post disaster Vaccination Guidelines (PDF, 20 KB)
American Veterinary Medical Association
• Protect Your Pets in an Emergency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Saving the Whole Family (PDF, 490 KB)
American Veterinary Medical Association

What should families do to prepare for emergencies when children have health care needs? This is a challenge for already concerned parents. Children with special health care needs are those who are at risk for or already have a chronic physical, developmental, behavioral, or emotional condition. These children often have more than one health challenge and require services not usually required by typically developing children. Foster children, those suffering from grief, newly moved children, or children with a chronically ill sibling are at risk during natural disasters and evacuation. They will find these events more traumatic than other children.

I can’t tell you how to prepare for your special needs child but I can tell you what we did in our home. I have parented 57 children, most had chronic health care issues. With some, moving from one room to another was a struggle, I didn’t know whether to develop a plan for natural disasters or to admit I had too little energy to worry about what might not happen when I had so much to do today. The children had heart problems, diabetes, mental retardation, schizophrenia, manic depressions, asthma, limb deformities, cerebral palsy, blindness, ADD or ADHD, learning disabilities, and hearing deficiencies. Most were scared and abused suffering from reactive attachment disorder and or post traumatic stress disorder.

The most important thing I could do for my family was to build trust. So we worked on strengthening our relationships. Meeting their needs as often as I could, playing, praising, and being a mom was the best I could do on a continual basis. We also talked our way through lots of problem solving issues. The children participated in family councils. Some focused on emergency preparedness. Everyone shared planning power and shared feelings. We conducted fire drills, wrote lists, made food together, stored supplies, camped, took walks to build our muscles, and in general lived the good life.

Let me give you some examples of our efforts. Aaron had muscular dystrophy and lived in a motorized wheelchair. We sewed side bags and put a backpack on his chair so he could keep the equivalency of a 72 hour kit with him. He felt just as prepared as anyone else in the house. As his single mother, I knew we would have a difficult time carrying him down stairs if the electricity was off. The elevator wouldn’t work. We struggled through moving the chair down a flight of stairs a couple times and prayed that would never happen. He couldn’t sit in a regular fold up chair due to the lack of head and torso control. We were all trained in how to care for his needs so that we had back up caregivers at all times.

Now B. experienced more health challenges but was easier to plan for. He was blind, had spastic quadriplegic CP, was severely retarded, had a complicated seizure disorder and was autistic. He propelled himself in the chair and could stand with assistance. He couldn’t talk so that strangers understood. So moving him out the door would take time but 3 people could manage it without much sweat. B. did not transition well. He liked knowing what was going to happen before it happened. He didn’t want to be moved fast or have his schedule changed. An emergency meant we must deal with a screaming and very angry person. Brian also had a backpack on his light weight wheelchair. Brian’s challenge would be fitting into an uncertain context. We played games that involved going to strange places and doing strange (to him) activities. Gradually he learned to trust family members more than a schedule and his transitions grew easier. We sang songs that provided security while we did the unexpected actions that would upset him. We sang a lot in those days. One can always take a song with them. “You are My Sunshine” was the relaxation song. Distraction worked with B. What works with your autistic child?

Most children are movable but can have other concerns like the need for oxygen, tube feeding, special equipment, medications, special food, or behavior management. Each one requires special attention when it comes to emergency preparation. Children depend on their parents for safety so parents must try to think ahead. I find those with mental health disorders the most difficult to prepare for. Why? Because their issues are less defined. For instance, one daughter with a generalized anxiety disorder finds the discussions too much to deal with. She fears kidnapping, being away from the family during a natural disaster. We need to repeat the plans and build up her self-care skills. Even when we think she will be OK, I am not sure she agrees. Another child looks normal but is cognitively challenged and suffers a severe form of schizo-affective disorder. People don’t know she is attending to stimulus they can’t see, that she doesn’t perceive the world the same way they do, and is terrified of normal things and doesn’t see the risk of dangers. I greatly worry about her if she is away from us.

What plans have you made? Share with us by commenting. Do you use a duffel with emergency supplies? Where do you put the back up prescriptions? I remember needing prescriptions in emergencies that weren’t natural disasters. There was the time the doctor had an emergency and couldn’t call in the refill. Another time we lost the meds while on vacation. These are emergencies, just not disasters.

We decided a list of telephone numbers, provider names, health stuff supplier numbers, and relative numbers was important. We put our insurance numbers on the page and then decided we really needed to put this in our medical book which included the diagnoses, latest hospitalizations, treatments, times, and appointment schedules. It sounds like we were organized but the book was forever out of date. I wish we were better at doing this, but we weren’t’. Somehow the child’s immediate needs came before our record keeping. We try to keep the children identified, but it is difficult as they make their own decisions now.

Recently we developed a coloring/activity book for children to use during crises periods or even to prepare for crises. As we were developing the book, we gave the draft pages to our cognitively challenged children as they love to color. They loved coloring the same picture over and over. We discussed what the animal characters were doing and how our family could do the same thing. We also developed an activity kit so children would have something to do when kept still for a long time. The boy and girl loved teaching others how to do string figures. Now that the kits are put away in inventory, they beg to play. Our last children are definitely better off than the first children. Strange thing though, their medical records aren’t much better organized. I guess I am a bit slow.

So that you won’t be stuck without the right numbers, I am going to include the emergency preparedness sheet from the American Pediatrics Association. Keep that in your wallet, or on the wheelchair . I would add insurance info and supplier contacts on the back. Those back up prescriptions are vitally important as well.

Now that most of the children are grown, my parents need similar attention. The issue is a little more touchy though as they don’t like preparing for negative events for fear it will draw the negativity towards them. We also live in different states. Any suggestions?

Where is the Emeril of natural or long term storage foods? May I suggest there is a wide open niche for some enterprising chef to grow rich?! Old cookbooks hold technologies long forgotten today. Bring them back! We need a charismatic figure to lead the way back to the past charm of home cookin’. I have a cookbook from the 1800s that was used by a grandfather in his restaurant. Where is the translator of old recipes?

I can see a TV detective food show that asks, “Did this recipe taste good?” A history show that investigates old recipes and ingredients. Listen Food Channel! There is money here! The economics are right for people to get back to the basics. The political environment of protecting the family from dangerous additives is present. See the green cast to cooking. Home chefs seek out fresh herbs and homegrown vegetables. Take them to their gardens.

I can see a star with a homespun apron standing in front of a brick background holding a clever above a butcher block counter. The menu is gourmet - from scratch. I don’t mean those dishes where a small lump of exotic stuff is topped by a spring of unrecognizable vegetation. When you finish the four bites you long for dessert. No, I am talking about food that is so packed with nutrition, you only need a small portion to satisfy your hunger.

Today’s home cook is dependent on prepared ingredients. Most don’t know what to do with a corn kernel, a cow, or a wheat berry. Scratch begins in the field-not the grocery. Families have been denied the experience of rearing their own poultry and grain by shrinking land and time. In fact, those that do raise food are considered “less prosperous” than those who are dependent of growers, millers, transporters, food researchers, factories, middle men, and grocers, who all take something from the consumers pocket book. The public is food poor and nutrition poor. Poor babies!

Most families don’t know what a natural meat or flour tastes like. “Real” meat is lean, firm, and full of taste. The same goes for the grains. Even the fruits and vegetables taste different. People hear about organic marketing thanks to the green movement. Most TV chefs preach the richness of naturally grown produce. But this movement is for the common cook, not the rich one. Anyone can grow a cherry tomato plant, or a bag of potatoes in their apartment. What a treat!

Did you know wheat flour is not white? My grandchildren are shocked! They prefer fluff substitutes that mash between the tongue and roof of the mouth. They don’t know that “real bread” texture allows the mouth to mix bread with the sandwich filling. One shouldn’t have to insert a tool to scrap the dough from the roof on one’s mouth. A TV show could bring back the pleasures of home baked pastries and breads.

Most home cooks work outside the kitchen these days. This means less time for food preparation and less energy for domestic work. It also means fewer childhood nourishing food memories. What we need is the ability to have our wheat and eat it too.

There is a way. We need a Babbie Flay to show us where to buy the ingredients, a Puppigang Puck for selling cooking equipment, and an Cast Iron Chef contest for experts. Sal Roeker could move us past grilling to the fire pit and Dutch ovens masters. Just think of the beautiful locations viewers could visit. We need popular characters to bring the popularity back to home cooking from scratch.

Well, I suppose if a writer suggests it, then a writer ought to step up to the oven and produce it. Therefore, I will tie on my homemade full body ruffled apron, wash my hands and set to work. Please join my first cooking blog now in progress.

The secret ingredient for today is Montana Wheat. Malton, will tell you all about the grain while I locate my mill. Teach them the science, Malton! (Much banging and throwing of pots and pans showing only the unruffled cook’s fanny. Gee, I guess I really need to tone that part down. Oh well, too late. Where is that mill?)

“Montana is just one of the northern states that produces clean, wholesome, fresh wheat. Some companies take organic farming one step further. Not only do they use no insecticides or chemical fertilizers, they test the grain for 125 chemicals before selling it. Farmers do not use genetically modified seed, irradiation or pasteurization. Only freshly home produced manure from the jazziest domestic herds found in America is applied to these wheat fields. The animals are not pampered and massaged like Kobe beef. These cows are American survivalists! Herefords and angus, Holsteins and Longhorns range the scientific collection fields. Corriente and Jersey enjoy wide open grazing and freezing winters to produce sturdy, nutrient enriched poop. Ahh! Nature’s bounty. Just smell… I mean just look at all that beauty.

“The outcome is a wheat berry with perfect moisture content of 9-10% and 15-16% protein, which is great for storing and baking. Depending on the farmer’s biorhythms and the lay of the land, Montana produces two types of wheat. The hard red winter wheat which produces a brown dense loaf of bread and the Hard white wheat which produces the milder, golden, traditional loaf of bread.

“Wheat is actually a grass called Triticum Linnaeus. It produces a fruit called a caryopsis or grain. Sometimes the caryopsis is called an “ear” of wheat. These ears grow spikelets that hold the wheat berry. But there is so much more to wheat than bread, isn’t there, cook Deana?” finishes Malton.

“ You bet your yeast there is, Malton. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Today we explore the magic of the wheat berry itself. Don’t miss baking and shaking in future segments of “Cooking from Scratch”.

“ Wheat is said to be the staff of life because so many different types of dishes are based on the grain. Several life saving nutrients are packed into each kernel: fiber, folic acid, protein, B-complex vitamins and vitamin E. You can buy a package of these seeds at your local store or from Stone Soup Survival who delivers fresh, powerful Montana wheat directly to your kitchen.

“Generations of independent, intelligent and hungry Americans have been nourished by the wheat berry. Since I couldn’t find my mill, let’s explore what we can do with just the berry itself. A 4 step process performed once or twice a week, harnesses the vitamins for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
“Time to wash you hands and let’s get cookin!”


Step 1
“Rinse one cup of Montana hard red wheat berries and remove anything unusual. Even cleaned wheat can contain a small unusual “wannabe”. Do you like my beat up colander? My mother gave it to me when she purchased a new one. She said it came from her mother. The colander has dents from toddlers, but it still has holes and manages the job quickly and efficiently. You will have to ransack your own mother’s kitchen for a look alike. Good luck.”

Step 2
“Cover the wheat with 2 inches of water in a medium sauce pan or if you want to be authentic-a cast iron pot. Let them soak while you go to work. What do you do, anyway? I am a nursing professor.”

Step 3
“Drain, rinse and cover the wheat with 3 cups of fresh ground juice, sometimes called water. Add a pinch of naturally dried sea salt. Simmer for 1 hour. (The water can be substituted with broth, depending on your hoity-toity level and the level of” gourmetness”. I prefer to use water at this stage and add the broth as needed to the specific dish the wheat will enrich.)

Step 4
“Test for readiness. The wheat is ready for use when the berry splits. The scratch part is over. The berry can now be included in salads, meat casseroles, or eaten as an oatmeal substitute. Keep the prepared wheat in a sealed container in the refrigerator. Use it in cereals like those that follow straight from my kitchen to yours. Salud!”

Wheat Cereal Varieties
A small dish of wheat in the morning exercises jaws to trim jowls. No enriched flour based cereal can give you that guarantee. The fiber content goes on to exercise the rest of the digestive system throughout the day thus reducing your susceptibility to colon cancer.

Straight Shooter’s Cereal
Dip two wooden spoonfuls of warm wheat berries into a small dish. Loop a rich golden circle of honey over the little mound. Some like to dash a bit of warm milk over the top before munching through the morning news.

Children who like cold cereal for breakfast as surprised by the nutty crunch of straight shooter’s cereal served cool. The nutrition produces sturdy bodies and inquiring minds. I have heard researchers claim increased grade levels, and more athlete staying power, but I am a different type of researcher and can’t make these claims.

Wheat Breakfast Dessert

1/3 cup cooked wheat berries
¼-1/3 cup canned apple pie mix (you can “can” apple pie mix in the fall or buy it at the grocery)
5-8 red hot candies

Mix to preferred gooeyness. Guard against thievery. Enjoy with or without warm milk or a touch of whip cream. When I serve this to skeptics, I go for the visual appeal. Therefore, I make a whole in the mound of wheat, insert the apple pie mix and sprinkle the candy on top. Orange wedges around the edge provide Vitamin C.

My children like to make their own breakfast dessert. Cherry pie mix, blueberry pie mix are often substituted.

These wonderful breakfast dishes are copyrighted by the Molinari clan. They are not to be used commercially and are meant only for home cookin’. Just ask my lawyer. I will sign your copy of “Back to the Past” recipes after my Disneyland cooking class the second Tuesday of next week. See you there!