Your 3-Month Supply

Well, I am breathing again. I made my last call to the automated jury duty lady and was told I was not yet needed, so we will wait until my next summons...until then, let's talk about the ultimate 3-Month Supply...gardens!!

Remember this picture...

I was so excited because my sugar snap peas were finally holding onto the trellis! Unfortunately it was short lived because I think the next day the wind blew it off.

I ended up having to take matters into my own hands and tied a few of the vines to the trellis. After that they took off and they are growing like crazy! Here is the proof...

A future pea...the heavens are singing!!!

Beautiful aren't they. A mother's love.

Although it is too late to plant these beauties, why not consider these...(I am speaking directly to my sisters who need to get cracking on their gardens!)

A lovely yellow squash perhaps...grown vertically of course.

What about a cherry tomato plant in a "Topsy Turvy". I have always been curious about these things, so when I saw one at Home Depot I had to give it a try. As you can see my tomato plant is very confused and is desperately looking for the sun. I think it might have been too small of a plant, but we are going to give it a go. That is if it can ever straighten itself out.
To be continued...

A Brief Hiatus

I am taking a brief hiatus from blogging...I think. The reason for my indecision is...I have been confirmed for JURY DUTY this week! AAGGHH!! I am SO STRESSED! It is like my worst nightmare...my own Friday the 13th, Halloween 4, you name it, I am experiencing it! I have to call each night and listen to a lovely computerized voice tell me she "did not understand" me and could I repeat my juror number and then wait...wait for the dreaded words that I have been called up and I am supposed to meet someone named Eddie on the 2nd floor of the Justice Courts or something. I seriously cannot concentrate on anything. Not dinner, not cleaning, nothing! Am I a freak? Yes! But I have seriously been dreading this since I was 18 and a registered voter!

So, Provident Living is taking a bit of a back seat, just until I can pull myself together. That might be tomorrow, it might be Friday, it might be Monday (which is when my breathing will hopefully return to normal).

Until then...bake some bread...it is the Provident thing to do.

Your 3-Month Supply

Container Gardening

Introducing my new baby...my container herb garden! It sits right outside my kitchen on my very ugly patio. My trellis' have taken a bit of a back seat while I am waiting for things to grow, so in the meantime I am giving most of my time and attention to this beauty. I have always wanted to plant some sort of produce in a container, I just haven't gotten around to it. But this was my year! I chose herbs because 1. I like herbs and 2. I have heard that if you grow your herbs close to your kitchen you are more likely to actually use them in your cooking.

I have planted herbs every year, down in my grow box, and they just grow and grow all summer...that is it. Just grow. I never seem to use them, I guess I am just too lazy to walk down my back steps to get them. So, I thought I would try something new.

What I needed...

1 big container (I got a great wood one from Home Depot for under $25)

1 bag of potting soil ( I used one, 2 cubic foot, bag)

Plants (this year I planted basil, thyme, rosemary, Italian parsley, and a green pepper plant in the middle)

That's it!

If you are interested in a container herb garden I found some great information on the USU extension site. They talk about what herbs grow well in containers, what size of containers you will need, and the best way to plant and care for your herb garden. Click HERE to get to their site.

And I came across the most fantastic bread recipe the other day that uses herbs. Just wait until you see it! It is seriously the coolest looking loaf of bread I have ever seen! My rosemary will be spectacular in this thing! When you click the link, scroll down a bit to get to the bread.

Here is the link...http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/the-bread-in-his-words/

Enjoy!!

Baby Steps Part 3

Tip #3

You are not doing this alone.

Not only are you one of MANY who are trying diligently to build up their home storage, but there is One who not only wants you to succeed, but will help you succeed.

Big thanks to Julia who left a comment yesterday and included this verse of "How Firm A Foundation"

"Fear not, I am with thee

oh be not dismayed

for I am thy God

and will still give thee aid

I'll strengthen thee,

help thee,

and cause thee to stand,

Upheld by my righteous omnipotent hand."

There is nothing that brings more peace than the knowledge that the Lord is with us and will help us. There is nothing that cannot be accomplished.

Amen :)!

Baby Steps Part 2

Tip #2
Set Realistic Goals and Continue To Build On Those Goals

I have been reading a book entitled "Food Storage 101, Where Do I Begin?" by Peggy Layton. In it she discusses taking particular steps in a particular order when obtaining your food supply. It starts with just simply finding a place to store, then it moves on to creating shelving, then obtaining alternate cooking equipment...finally leading to a home grocery store. It is not done all at once, it is done step by step.

One thing I have done is take a good look at what I have and decide what areas make me feel vulnerable. I have a great space, I have some good shelving (although I need a few more shelves), I have a decent supply of food but I haven't stored "meals". That is something I need to work on. I also need to purchase some canning equipment that will help me convert my summer harvest into winter eats. I also need to store garden seeds.

This is what I am going to focus on for the next few months. There is A LOT more I need to do, but this is a good start and gives me the satisfaction of "moving forward." I believe these are realistic goals and when I have accomplished these ones, I will move on to the next.

Like I always say...two steps forward and one step back is still progress.

Such is life!!!

Baby Steps

I have been feeling a bit overwhelmed lately. Nothing specific...just a lot of little things that have left me emotionally tired. So it didn't help when I was watching "NIGHTLINE" the other night and watched a story on a "Doomsday Lady". This particular woman, by her own admission, believes that we are at the beginning of the end. She no longer drives a car because she doesn't want to be dependant on gas, she heats her home with one small wood burning stove, and she tries her best to live off her land so she is in control of her own food supply. She is an extremist. She knows it. I know it...but it got me all worked up and nervous.

Then, I went to the grocery store on Saturday and as I filled up my cart...thought of my own dependency on the grocery store and felt those twinges of panic. Unfortunately, I let those feelings fester through the night..."Can we truly store ALL we will need?", "I don't have an endless supply of money, I am limited in what I can purchase each month...what if I run out of time?", "When it really comes down to it...do I really know WHAT we need?", "THIS IS SO OVERWHELMING!!" Have any of you had these thoughts? Does "getting prepared" seem so overwhelming and impossible at times that you just do nothing? You are not alone...I feel that way at times. And it is at those times I have to take a step back and breathe...and come back to reality and remember that I can only do what I can do...and that is enough. Truly.

Due to the fact I am currently refocusing myself...I thought I would devote a few posts on how to get back on track when you become overwhelmed.

Tip#1
Keep reminding yourself of the goal. It is so easy to lose our focus. Our lives are busy and with all we have going on it is easy to get focused on other things and lose sight of the goals we have set for ourselves. If you set reasonable goals and keep those goals in the forefront of your mind (and maybe a post it note on your fridge) you will not only slowly be able to build up a supply, but will be filled with a sense of satisfaction each month as you accomplish what you set out to do.

Giveaway Winners!!!

Thanks to all that entered!! Let's get right to it!

Giveaway #1 Winner (the bread making products) is...

Comment #2

"Marianne said...
I am going to try and expand my garden this year!"

Giveaway #2 Winner (the all-in-one bung wrench)

Comment #10

"Suzanne said...
My goal is to try and become a regular bread maker! And I'm trying to build up the basics of my long-term food storage."

Giveaway #3 Winner (the garden trellis)

Comment #5
"Blue said...
oh, ps: i am already a MAJOR follower your blog. as you are aware. i'm also a MAJOR fan of that emma. as it turns out. ♥"

Oh goodness! I can't stand the thought of anyone not winning something, so...Superhey, Andrea and Danielle...you have all won a homemade batch of tasty whole wheat cinnamon rolls. Made with love by ME! They will be hot and ready Saturday morning! Email me with your Saturday schedule so we can coordinate! Except for Danielle of course, who will be dining on fine hospital food and looking at her new baby! I will bring yours over next week!

Seed Sale

With the weather warming, the window for planting lettuce, spinach, arugula, radishes, etc. is closing (until late summer), but there are still so many things you can plant...

Squash, Tomatoes, Beans, Peppers, Cucumbers, Pumpkins, Onions, etc. And whereas I like to transplant Tomatoes and Peppers already in their "plant" form, I have just within the last few days, planted the rest of my produce from seed.

The good news is, Smith's has ALL of their seeds on sale for 50% off until Saturday. I went and stocked up on a few last minute seeds today...namely, cucumbers and grabbed a few packs of lettuce, spinach and arugula that I will plant again come September. You also might want to consider getting some seed packs to store for a rainy day. Seeds stored in your freezer can last anywhere from 10-15 years.

That is peace of mind.

The Rocket Has Landed!!

I am not the type of person that tries something new and succeeds the first time around. My life seems to be a lot of trial and error...is your life like that sometimes?

It is for that reason I am singing at the tops of my lungs today because MY SNAP PEAS HAVE GRABBED ON TO THE TRELLIS!!! My maiden voyage with vertical gardening has seen a glimmer of success. Oh the possibilities!!

I thought you might want to see what is making me sing...

Beautiful isn't it!? I have sat there and stared all day at this amazing feat!

So the moral of this story is...if I can do it, you can do it!

GO VERTICAL GARDENING!!

Don't forget to enter the giveaway...we are giving away a Garden Trellis! Just think of all the singing you will be doing!

Tips From The Coop

How to Store 8 Tons of Water in a Little Box

Water Filters!!!

Many of you may have a water filter in your camping box that will filter up to 300 gallons of water. All you need is a creek or a rain storm and you have 2500 pounds of water in an 8 oz box.

Now some perspective… we store food and water primarily to protect our family against things like job loss, or short term food shortages. If I was out of a job for 6 months, I may be using my food storage, but probably not heading down to the Mill creek every morning for water to filter.

Water filters would come into play during a much more serious disaster. A few years ago we ran into a deal on the internet to by a used British Berkefeld high capacity water filter. These filters are used by the Red Cross in ventures around the world and use gravity to filter over 2000 gallons or water…that is over 8 tons of water.

Though I don’t recommend every family having such a filter, it is something to think about as a group. Organizing water solutions at a neighborhood level is wisdom.

Finishing Up Our Giveaway...

I thought I would stretch this out over a few weeks, but in hopes that more people would enter...I figured I would just do it all at once!

So in an effort to promote bread making...
Giveaway #1

A 1 lb. container of SAF Yeast

One can of Dough Enhancer

One can of Vital Wheat Gluten

Now if you are telling yourself, "I don't make the same kind of bread you do and don't need Vital Wheat Gluten and Dough Enhancer." Don't worry, Dough Enhancer is a great addition to cookies and other baked goods and is a great shelf life extender. Dough Enhancer and Vital Wheat Gluten are not necessary bread making items, but add quality. All bread is great while hot, but often becomes crumbly the next day. Adding Dough Enhancer to your bread will allow you to make great sandwiches and even wrap bread around a hot dog for days after it is baked.

To help with water storage...
Giveaway #2

All-in-one Bung Wrench

A bung wrench is not big in size, but it has many uses...namely, opening those big blue water barrels and opening 5 and 6 gallon storage buckets. If you have purchased wheat commercially packaged in a bucket...you will need one of these.

To help with gardening...

Giveaway #3

A Ladder Trellis

This will be a great help if you are interested in growing vertically. It is made from treated wood, so it should last you a nice long time and is a great for growing produce in a small space.

You can enter in three different ways...

• Leave a post with your first and last name
• Leave a post with one goal you have set to live more providently.
• Become a public follower of this blog...if you are already a follower, still put your first and last name and then "follower".
  

Now I am counting on more entries than last time...so don't be shy...seriously!!

All winners will be posted on Friday, May 15th

Your 3-Month Supply

Vertical Gardening You are probably saying to yourself, "Why does she keep talking about gardening? Will she stop already!" The answer is probably not, but not to be disrespectful, just because I am currently obsessed with it myself. I suspect I have always felt a pull to dig my hands in the earth and miraculously watch something grow, but it is more than that for me now...I am dealing with a less than perfect gardening space and I WANT TO WIN!!! I want to figure it out, against all odds and be the MASTER of my yard! (I am trying to psyche myself up here).

No really, I have a strip of space by my back fence which has great sunlight, but TERRIBLE soil. I am trying to improve it, but it is a slow process. I am determined though to get maximum production out of a small space and one way of doing this is by growing things vertically on a trellis.

I currently have two trellis' up, one for snap peas and the other for cucumbers. I am hoping to put three more up and grow zucchini, yellow squash, and hopefully butternut squash. These are typically vegetables that require a great deal of space as they spread their viney arms, but I am just going to channel them a bit and make them grow my way :)!

The other nice thing about growing vertical, is you get great landscape design. My nice brown fence will be covered in green this season!

Trellis' can cost anywhere from $7- $25 depending on what you are looking for. Mine are rectangular in shape and are made from treated wood (and cost $9.99), but they have all sorts of fancy shapes and trellis' made from vinyl, metal, etc.

Learning to garden takes time, it takes time to get your soil just right, it takes time to learn what grows well in your yard, it takes time to acquire all of the tools you need to be able to cultivate and grow your own produce. If you have a little space...why not try your hand at vertical gardening...you just might get hooked.

Guest Post

Not all of us are motivated to get "prepared" for the same reason. What motivates one, may not motivate another. I think there is so much we can learn from each other which is why I asked my aunt and friend, Kay, to write a post about her recent preparation experience.

"Let me start out by saying I am a “Worrier.” Some people might think of me as “Paranoid,” but I prefer “cautious.”

Yes, I have had my fair share of sleepless nights. I stay up worrying about things that I shouldn’t. Like, worrying about what I am going to do when my 2 year old gets drafted in a war. When someone like me hears the words, “If you are prepared, ye shall not fear.” One can only imagine what that creates in my mind.

I have probably thought of every disaster in my mind multiple times. What will happen? Where will my family be when it does happen? Will my children be afraid? Will we be cold? Will I be prepared enough to have the means to provide for my family?

But amazingly I hadn’t thought about the disaster that we have been faced with the past two weeks. A pandemic. All the things I have thought about for years, heat, gas, electricity and water, are not even an issue with a pandemic. You will have all of those things. But still you must be prepared.

You must be prepared enough to not feel the urgency to run to the store the second they announce a pandemic. You need to have all the things that everyone wants, already on your shelves. Because as I learned from personal experience, after it is announced, you can drive to every store within a 30 mile radius and they will not have hand sanitizer.

You must stock pile your shelves enough to have everything you need for at least 3 weeks (in my opinion). So after my 24 hour “freak out” about the swine flu, I finally calmed down and decided to make the most of this pandemic. I have been making lists, of all the things that I wish I had stocked up on, when they announced that the Swine Flu was in Utah.

I personally feel that this Swine Flu scare was a test. A test that I failed, and I don’t intend on failing it again. Next time I will be ready. I know I will still feel anxious about my family’s safety and well being, but I will feel confident that we can stay home until the threat is gone.

Every list for each family is different, but I will just share the things that made mine. This is not a complete list, these are just the first things that came to my mind, but take some time to make your own list."

Hand Sanitizer (of course)

Masks

Latex gloves

Duct Tape

Plastic Sheeting

Comet

Dish Washer Detergent

Dish Soap

Laundry Detergent

Bleach

Disinfecting Wipes

Bars of Soap

Shampoo

Toothpaste

Toothbrushes

Medicine

Chicken (using 1 bag, have 2 more stocked up)

Chicken Nuggets (for my kids)

Peanut Butter

Fruit Snacks

Saltines

Graham Crackers

Cereal (Lots and lots)

Granola Bars

Canned Chicken/Tuna

Cases of Bottled Water

Trash Bags

Ziploc Bags

Milk (currently have 12 gallons)

Butter/Margarine

Bread and bread making ingredients

Vitamins

Giveaway Winner!!

And the winner is...

Comment #11

"Heather Fairbanks :)

(Looks like a GREAT book!!)"

Send me an email with your mailing address and I will get the book sent off to you asap.

Thank you to those who entered.

I have decided to just do one final giveaway...all of the rest of the items in one, so make sure and check out Monday's post to enter.

(I am not promising anything spectacular here, but hopefully useful).

Tips From The Coop

Water, Water Everywhere

Now that you have your 14 gallons or water per person stored, here are some tips about how to get to the water in the plumbing system of your home as a source of addition water storage.

Nearly every home has a hot water heater that stores between 40 and 80 gallon of water. Here is what you need to know…

The process of heating water forces out sediments that are naturally carried in water. As a result your water heater is gradually filling up with sediment. To flush out this sediment simply attach a hose to the faucet-looking valve located at the bottom of the water heater and open the valve using the hose to direct the water to a nearby drain or bucket. At first the water may be cloudy or even ‘muddy’ (these sediment are completely safe). Continue flushing until the water is clear…once a year ought to do.

Why? A clean water heater is more efficient (saves you money), stores more water (not sediment) and when you need to use the water as an emergency supply you will have clean, not muddy water.

Note… City water systems in the past have become contaminated for various reasons, usually for short periods of time (a few days), so storing water in separate containers is still crucial.

Second Note…You may have hear those advocating using water from the toilet tank in an emergency. First, there is a very large different between the tank and the bowl of the toilet. This water is potable, but do not use if you have ever put in your tank those “make my toilet smell better” chemicals. Last resort on this one!!!

Pandemic Prep

Talk of the "Swine Flu" is everywhere. There is a lot of uncertainty and with uncertainty can come panic. Thankfully, this particular flu outbreak seems to be fairly mild, but I think with this scare is a great opportunity to take inventory of what you would want to have on hand if a more severe pandemic were to strike our community.
So what things would you want to have on hand during a pandemic?

• disposable gloves
• lots of detergent (as you will probably be doing a lot of laundry)
• bleach
• garbage bags
• toilet paper
• Kleenex
• paper towel
• liquid hand soap
• hand sanitizer
• medicines for fever
• fluids with electrolytes
• N95 grade face masks

For a more detailed list of items to have on hand click HERE.

You would also want to have at least a 2 week supply of food on hand as grocery store shelves could easily be emptied in a panic. For example...one item that is flying off store shelves these days is hand sanitizer. It is nearly impossible to find. When I heard this I went to a store outside my area and all I could find was 5 bottles of Germ X ...in the whole store. All trial size were gone, all bottles of every other brand were gone. I say this not to cause alarm, just to illustrate that when there is panic...shelves can be emptied in no time. Preparing before hand will give you peace of mind during a time of stress.

Make a list today of things you would want to have on hand if you were largely confined to your home, specifically keep in mind items you would need if your family members were sick.

No need to panic today...just prepare for tomorrow.

Update: I was on CNN this morning and read a great article regarding keeping your hands free of the influenza virus. Click HERE if you are interested in reading it.