The Steep Price of Manpower

Lately, I've been looking into non-electric household items. When living in an earthquake zone, planning for lights-out situations isn't just for the alarmist end-of-days types. Admittedly, as someone who makes her living assisting clients who build power plants and operate the electricity grid, there is a bit of irony in my preparations for power loss. At any rate, I'm thinking we need, at minimum, a solar power radio. I've even found one that can connect an ipod; no earthquake is going to halt my dance party. As for appliances, I'd like a hand-crank mixer and maybe a butter churn. 

I'd read that Lehmans, which has a large Amish following, is a good source for non-electric appliances. Prior to perusing Lehmans' website, I perceived manpowered appliances as not only being helpful during a power outage and better for the environment than their electric counterparts, but also as being economical alternatives to conventional appliances. Well, sticker shock killed that idea. A countertop-sized butter churn runs about $130! I guess I will stick with the shake-cream-in-a-Tupperware-container method. An apple cider press can be had for the low, low price of...$799. A hand-crank ice cream maker would set me back almost $400. I'm not too devastated--after all, I'm not sure why I'd be making a lot of apple cider and ice cream just hours after the Big One sends part of California into the Pacific. But I'm sorely disappointed that my dual-speed hand-crank mixer is $650. The mixer is something I'd use all the time. 

One the bright side, the yogurt incubator is only $52.95. It may or may not look suspiciously like a simple plastic container. Nonetheless, the order has been placed, and I'm on my way to disaster-preparedness. Homemade yogurt for all!