"Something Extraordinaire" in Review

Last Saturday's Stake Relief Society Mini-Conference was a great success. So many excellent ideas were taught and shared; unfortunately we couldn't all attend every class. Here are some useful reviews and insights from the instructors and attendees, including handouts from many of the presenters.

Gardening

by Barb Williams

Sister Williams reviewed tons of useful information for starting seeds, choosing soil, and container gardening. (Here's her informative handout on container gardening.) For advice on gardening, you can always use the Dr. Phipps Greenline online (through email) or by calling the Greenline at 412–665–2364. Barb is also willing to offer her personal assistance—you can email her at bwilliams@ccac.edu.

Barb’s tips for planting garlic:

If you are going to plant garlic this year consider this.  Garlic does better if it is planted during the dark phase of the moon.  You should plant in April to harvest in October and plant in October to harvest in April. This year the dark phases of the moon fall on April 1-2 and 28-30, and October 22-24.

Also take note, garlic is amazing.  No matter how deep you plant it—4inches, 7 inches—when the bulbs are harvested they are always found 6 inches deep!

Phipps has a Tomato and Garlic Festival every year toward the end of August.  It is usually free admission with a donation to the Pittsburgh Food Bank.

Here is a recipe for tapenade to try:

Ingredients

  *   1 medium clove of garlic

  *   2tbsp capers (optional)

  *   4 oz black olives

  *   2tbsp fresh parsley

  *   1tbsp fresh lemon juice

  *   2tbsp extra virgin olive oil

  *   Salt

  *   Black pepper

Instructions

  1.  Combine all ingredients in a food processor, and blitz until a paste is formed (I like to keep mine fairly coarse). Season to taste.

  2.  Serve on bread or toast, pita chips, crackers,  with pasta, in soup, or however else you fancy it.

Insights from those who attended:

• It’s easy to start seedlings using egg cartons and plastic bread bags (Madelyn Roehrig)
• Plant flowers in odd numbers to make more interesting arrangements (Madelyn Roehrig)
• I was amazed by the sheer variety of items that can be used as containers. The old boots, pair of denim cutoffs. I could have listened a lot longer. Thanks for the inspiration and info. (Bonnie Frederick, McKeesport Branch)
• Water from the bottom—water on the top is heavy for the plants/seeds (Jaqueline Haines, Pgh 5^th Ward)
• When vegetable gardening, don’t overplant to avoid depriving plants of nutrients. (Jaqueline Haines, Pgh 5^th Ward)
• To start seeds, use egg cartons. Put in 1–2 Tbsp soil (don’t tamp down), add a few seeds, sprinkle some more soil, water from bottom. (Lindsey, Pgh 7^th Ward)
• If a container you want to plant in doesn’t provide drainage, throw something in the bottom, like a handful of gravel. (Lindsey, Pgh 7^th Ward)

Family Home Evening

by Mandy Roos

Sister Roos shared her 8 practical steps to make Family Home Evening more practical and powerful. See her handout for details!

Insights from those who attended:

• FHE is about teaching your children the importance of the gospel through meeting the individual needs of the family, spouse, and kids. (Sam, Oakland YSA Ward)
• Begin with the end in mind and guide your family to the end by meeting their specific needs. (Katie, Pgh 1^st Ward)

Photography & Journaling

by Tracy Bernard

Learn how to preserve memories of the day-to-day, especially using blogging.

Insights from those who attended:

• Very informative and inspiring (Ashley Clark, Pgh 1^st Ward)
• Loved the video—Keep me, protect me, share me . . . we all have family photos to share. (Susan Malone, Pgh 5^th Ward)
• Write down stories and take pictures of the every-day (Florida Garr, Wintersville Ward)
• Keep in mind what you wish you could see and hear about your ancestors (Florida Garr, Wintersville Ward)

Techy Tips

by Adam Dyal

The Church has provided us with incredible amounts of resources online. These resources, especially the Gospel Library, can enhance our personal scripture study and our preparation for Sunday lessons. You don’t have to try out everything, but you might want to incorporate some more technology into your own scripture study. See his handout for links and ideas.

Couponing

by Danette Brown

Insights from those who attended:

• Resources: couponmom.com; southernsavers.com has a free coupon class—watch it! It’s 1 hour long, but has lots of info (Pgh 7^th ward)
• Target price matches with online retailers like Amazon.com. (Stacee Burrow, Pgh 7^th Ward)
• Watch out for fake sales and try and get items at their true lowest price of 50% off. (Stacee Burrow, Pgh 7^th Ward)

Getting Organized

by Kim Behling

There are so many ways to get organized, whether it’s creating a home management binder, making a cleaning schedule, or finding a new way to stay on top of laundry. Ideas were compiled and shared during this class.

In particular, one stake member shared her recipe for homemade laundry soap, which she swears by, and other homemade cleaners. See her blog at http://krusetalk.blogspot.com/.

Insights from those who attended:

• Great tips! Lots of ways to adapt to your individual situation (Heather McArthur, Wheeling Ward)
• Declutter often, create a cleaning schedule that works for you, and work with your children—teach them to work!
• Never leave a room empty-handed. (Casey Giles, Uniontown Branch)

First Aid Kits

by Pam Virgi

Make mini first aid kits to carry around, and you’ll always be prepared! Here’s the handout detailing the contents of these kits.

Pressure Cooking

by Sharonlea Bayles

Pressure cooking is a great way to save time and to use energy more efficiently. Sister Bayles provided some very useful handouts on the basics of pressure cooking, including cooking times for beans, meats, and vegetables, as well as some recipes for beginners.

Pressure Cooking Time table for a roast = 15 minutes per pound thawed meat, 25 minutes per pound frozen meat.

Insights from those who attended:

• Pressure cooking—I can do this! What a great way to cook quick and healthy meals! Can’t wait to try a roast. (Courtney Banton)

Power Outage Preparedness

by Phil Conklin

Brother Conklin reviewed specific ways to prepare for electrical outages and simple ways to do the best with what you have. One of the first things you should do is identify the problem, so you know approximately how long the power may be off. As a source for heat inside the house, one class member recommended fuel cells, which are inexpensive and can burn safely indoors for up to nine hours.

Useful links:

http://www.ready.gov/blackouts

http://www.redcross.org/images/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m4340121_PowerOutage.pdf

Insights from those who attended:

• Taking care of human waste is important—totally forgot about that! (Margie Pruitt, Uniontown Branch)
• Fill up leftover space in your freezer with milk jugs filled with water. They can keep your freezer cold for longer, or you can use the water as needed. (Margie Pruitt, Uniontown Branch)
• Concerns in summer: we want to keep food good. Concerns in winter: we want to keep ourselves warm. (Washington Ward)
• Lack of anything is a state of mind (Washington Ward)
• For winter power outage—kerosene heaters are an alternative to a power generator. (Molly Peterson, Pgh 1^st Ward)

Indexing

by Bonnie Kerry, Judy Baker, Laura Macbeth, and Ken Britten

Here’s a thorough handout on how to get started indexing.

Insights from those who attended:

• I’ve never done indexing before. I really appreciated having someone walk me through it! (Anne-Marie Crawford, Pgh 2^nd Ward)
• This renewed my interest and desire to index again. (Elaine Steffenauer, Pgh 2^nd Ward)

Activities
Some women spent time working on the quilts in the overflow, while others made white bracelets with clips to use for temple names.

Informational Posters
One classroom included posters with ideas for 72-hour kits and resources for enjoying the community more fully.

Finally, Sister Ginger Hollander gave the keynote address on seeing our worth as daughters of God, and how we can see it more clearly. Here's her handout. 

Together we enjoyed a soup lunch and some sisterly conversation, and then went our separate ways. Thanks to everyone who attended, to the presenters, and especially to our stake leaders who carefully organized this event!