The Bunker

I bought a variety of melon at Coleman's the other day that I had never seen before. I bought 2 of the largest melons. Most of them were softball size and white. They don't smell like anything. They have brown circular marks on one end and a stem at the other.

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The population is 440. There are usually no police employed by Freeport, the fire department is the last 100% volunteer department in the country (not paid), and the school closed in the 60's.

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Monday night, our car broke down on our way home from the grocery store. Steve had been telling me earlier that he thought the car was running rough, but we have a bad wheel bearing anyway and I didn't think it sounded any worse than the last time I drove it. Luckily, we were only a block from our apartment and I have 2 VW mechanics in my family.


Talked to my brother and he told us how to check the timing belt to see if it's broken. We were quickly able to confirm that it was. I had the car towed to dad's garage. He had our car on the road the next day, but in Freeport, MI.

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Steve and I like the freedom of camping without a cooler, but don't like to pay for expensive dehydrated food. Here are some things we make while in the woods that can be purchased at a regular grocery store.


Pasta Dinner Mixes with ham, chicken, turkey, or tuna in foil pouches - Betty Crocker "Helper" meals are incredibly cheap. I tape together the contents of the box, meat, and directions I cut out. I replace butter with oil and milk with reconstituted dry milk. The chicken and ham taste a little better if you saute them in the oil before adding the other things. I don't buy meals that require eggs to make. Zatarain's Pasta Dinner Mixes are also good. More expensive, but only require water to make.


Lipton Sides - The ones that cook in 15 minutes or less.


Couscous sides - Near East makes some good ones.


Breakfast Wraps with powdered eggs and dried refried beans. Easy because you can boil water for eggs, beans, and coffee all at once.


Potatoes baked in a tin foil packet with a little oil.


Applesauce, single-serving.


Pudding - Scary, but there is now non-dairy, no refrigeration required pudding.

Who was Ainsworth and why are so many streets named after him?

We bought some corn from the men's group. They had potatoes, green beans and cucumbers that looked good, but I thought we had all the vegetables we could eat in a week. Then I bought some baby zucchini and squash from the guy from Blissfield.


The fruit farmer was there with the first of this year's peaches and blueberries. His farm was hit hard by weather and he lost all his cherries and apricots to frost. His apples and plums have hail damage. I believe he said the west side of his orchard had been "devastated". I wanted to buy some cherries from him this year so that's disappointing, but hail damaged apples and plums will be 1/2 price and great for canning.


In other Ypsi food news, the Maple Raisin Crisp on sale at the co-op is disgusting. Even the raisins taste like cardboard!

We had to make our own fire starters this year as Alaskan Fire-Mite is no longer being produced. Alaskan Fire-Mite was essentially a roll of wax covered gauze with wooden matches rolled in every few inches. I don't have a way of rolling hot, wax covered gauze, but cardboard seems like a logical substitute.



Melt 2 blocks of paraffin canning wax in an aluminum can using the double boiler method.


Remove from heat.




Using metal tongs, coat 2" squares of scrap cardboard in the melted wax. Coat a second time if desired.


Let cool on parchment or wax paper.

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