Sorry to have to do it, but I eliminated the ‘do follow’ links because I was getting a lot of comments from people who didn’t have names… who instead used the name section for posting keywords like “cheap ugg boots” and “topical pain reliever.” I finally realized that letting people use my blog for advertising isn’t in the best interests of the blog. So, I decided to delete all those older comments that are from advertisers. I’d prefer to hear from real people with names who enjoy reading the blog.

This is my blog for food and herb related musings. I’m not trying to have the greatest blog on the internet. I just want a place to sound off about things that frustrate me, and to talk about herbs and my vegetarian cooking experiences.

I was surprised when I looked at my stats today and saw that this site now gets about 150 visits daily. Now I feel a need to make the site more useful - and I’m going to do that by installing a section for linking to current news articles.

I come across health and food news daily but normally I add those links to my Delicious account. Instead, I’ll post them here so that site visitors will find a resource for learning about the latest news in food, natural healing and health.

This month we’re busy getting our garden soil ready. We’re planning a big garden - flowers, herbs and vegetables. That’s keeping me busy.

How about you? With the world economy in shambles are you planning to grow your own food this year? Will you be canning? Are you storing food just in case the stores no longer can supply our needs? Do you even believe that’s possible?

You know me… I believe in preparing for the future, and even though it seems unnecessary now, food storage is an important part of my life.

Wow! Mombu Cuisine - a cooking forum - recommended this site and gave it an 8.4 rating. I’m happy with that.

Thanks Tager!

Country Kitchen Pantry Recommendation.

Should I, or shouldn’t I?

I think I should.

I’ve noticed that even though I haven’t posted here since September ::blush:: I’m still getting lots of wonderful comments, especially on the Cinnamon and Honey Weight Loss Tea article. And yesterday someone from Cheshire Kitchens left a heart-warming comment on my Lentil Tacos - Tortillas Made From Rice Flour recipe article.

Thank you, comment-writers! You make me so very happy!

So I took another look at this blog. I love the topic. I love sharing my recipes. The reason I quit writing is that I was feeling overwhelmed with responsibilities, work on other websites, and writing aspirations. So I thought maybe cutting down on the number of blogs I had might help — but I see this blog continues to grow and inspire people despite my absence, so I’m going to come back and give you more of my attention and time.

Yes, I am the sleeping giant of this blog. The woman behind the words…. and I am delighted to know that there are people out there finding gems of value in the postings I’ve left here.

May there be many more postings, visitors, and comments in the days to come!

Friday, July 13 was my birthday. To celebrate, my boyfriend, Bob, and I went to the coast. It was great to get out of the Klamath River Valley for a few days. I had a great time, bought a bunch of stuff, won money at a casino that gave me play money for my birthday, and slept overnight in a motel.

When we returned on Saturday night at 11:30pm we were appalled to see a bright red mass of forest fire flames on the hill right next to the forested hill I live on. When we left on Friday, that wasn’t there. The lightning that started all the fires hit the Wednesday before. There are dozens of fires burning all through this forest, but this particular fire ignited two days later and came way too close to our little town of Happy Camp.

So my last few days have been occupied with packing for evacuation, storing valuables elsewhere, attending community fire information meetings, writing articles about the fires for Happy Camp News, being elated when it rained heavily on Tuesday night, and in general, feeling like I was misplaced.

Here’s something you never want to see happening less than a mile from your home. This is what it looked like last Tuesday. We had a lot of people praying for us and God sent rain on Tuesday night. Now there are only a few white wisps of smoke coming up in various places from the forest. I pray it doesn’t get this bad again before they get the entire fire under control. The fire is called the Little Grider Fire after Little Grider Creek, a creek that runs a mile southwest of here. The fire was between our town and the creek.

The map shows how close this fire got to my house.

I’ve been going to work every day. Yesterday at the pizza place where I work we were inundated by hungry fire fighters. I guess they had the day off because of the rain the night before. Guess what. Fire fighters like pizza. They kept us busy from noon to closing time, 9pm. Actually I heard that the night shift stayed open an extra hour to accommodate the famished. Seemed like almost everyone wanted their own personal sized mini pizzas, and we probably sold over a hundred, whereas we usually sell less than five of those in a day.

The good news is that the fire moved away from town and it looks like I won’t have to evacuate after all.

I’ll get back on my schedule again soon - I didn’t even have my computer in my home for a few days so I couldn’t do any blogging at all. For now I’ll file this with my thankfulness articles because I’m so grateful my house didn’t burn down.

Bob and I are heading out for our daily fire watch time. We go across the river every day to get a good look at fire suppression helicopters and to see where the smoke is coming from. See ya later!

[Update: since I wrote this I created a Squidoo lens on evacuation planning: Emergency Survival - Plan and Prepare NOW so if Something Terrible Happens, You'll Be Ready!.]