u/Mule_Wagon_777

We're packing up for a trip in the morning, getting all the last stuff ready. The power goes out briefly; I sigh and pull out the LED headlamps and an LED lantern. It comes back on and I continue packing.

Then with another big crash the power goes out decisively. My very elderly mother had just gotten up for something and I can hear her fumbling in the dark. I'm bellowing "DON'T MOVE!" as I feel for her headlamp, and she's calling "What did you say?" I get the headlamp on her and get her back to bed before she pitches over anything. Whew!

Grab Mom's phone, use its light to find the lantern, then my phone. My phone is low so I pull out a charger and get it going. Roll a spare battery into my room to power my CPAP. Continue packing. Mother Nature will not ruin my early start tomorrow!

Notes: Only one of the three battery-powered light bulbs came on. Great idea, alas not reliable. Mom's headlamp is dim. Need to check mine and change batteries as needed.

I'm reading about the history of the potato. Apparently it's a near perfect food and you can survive healthily on just potatoes and milk. (Yay, think I'll plant some!)

BUT the potatoes we grow in North America and Europe are part of monocultures continuously threatened by ever-evolving potato blight and beetles. Farmers have to treat their fields with a variety of strong pesticides every year and the pests still jump over to gardens and wipe them out. (Ooops.)

Looked around and found a source of heirloom potatoes, both modern and Andean adapted for North America. They're sold as seeds rather than tuber pieces, but the variety ought to offer more pest resistance.

https://www.cultivariable.com/product/potato/potato-varieties/tps-broad-tetraploid-mix/

Detailed info on potato seeds and how to grow them:

https://www.cultivariable.com/instructions/potatoes/how-to-grow-true-potato-seeds-tps/#planting

Also found that sweet potatoes and yams are two different kinds of tubers that are unrelated to potatoes, but also highly nutritious. People have called sweet potatoes "yams" but they're different. So more genetic variety.