09:32 – I’m back up and running after losing several hours to a computer problem yesterday. Barbara got four dozen more small parts bags for chemistry kits built yesterday, among other things. We now have five dozen chemistry small parts bags and two dozen SPB’s for biology, so the next step is to build regulated and unregulated chemical bags for both and then get more kits built. That and related tasks will occupy us the rest of this week.
Email from Brittany overnight. They did a Marathon repackaging session over the weekend, and now have more than a year’s worth of bulk staples packaged for long-term storage, as well as a boatload of canned vegetables, meats, sauces, and so on, plenty of herbs and spices, and a bunch of Augason Farms dehydrated stuff. Brittany says that after they finish building the shelving and getting everything organized and put away, they’re going to take a break from prepping. And who can blame them? Like Jen, Brittany went from a pitiful state of preparedness to pretty much fully prepared in a matter of a few weeks. She’s planning to prepare a decent-size garden plot this autumn for planting next spring. She’s also considering getting set up to do pressure canning for preserving garden produce. I suggested she instead look into dehydrating. I’m not a big fan of home canning. It’s expensive to get set up, in terms of equipment and consumables as well as time and effort. For the same money, one can buy a ton of canned fruits and vegetables, literally, and the safety and shelf life of commercially-canned products is significantly better than that of home-canned products.