I was noticing the candles in church today. The process is that the one on the right is lighted first, then the one on the left. The metal wand is laid to the side. After the service, the candle on the left is extinguished, then the one on the right. This goes on every week. I realized that the candle on the left is noticeable longer than the right hand candle. One would not think that the 10-15 seconds of extra time would make much of a difference but it clearly does.
Little and often. There is so much to do to get a store of food in place. Then there’s the extras, the lighting and the clothing and the toiletries. It’s easy to get overwhelmed and just not do anything. It’s also easy to say that, just this week, you won’t bother. Maybe funds are running low or time is short. I think it’s important to make the committment to do at least one thing each week. Maybe you can’t buy a case of beans but can you get a box of wooden matches. If you really don’t have the extra money, can you clean out that drawer or closet to make room for something next week? Can you check a book out from the library to peruse before deciding if it’s worth the spend? Maybe all you can do this week is refill the windshield washer fluid in your car before you run out or call to make that dentist appointment you’ve been putting off. You can always cook a meal from your stored food or teach your kid a skill. There is something that you can do. Preparedness is habit like any other and you have to practice it.
My new Tattler lids came in on Saturday. My goal next week is to can up a bunch of dried beans. I also got the So Easy To Preserve DVD’s and companion book form the University of Georgia and I need to finish watching those as well as finish reading the book. I ordered 8 new sheets of Paraflex for my Excalibur and I will use it as soon as it arrives to make a big batch of raspberry/applesauce fruit leather. I can’t believe it’s all gone. The dried apples are running low too. I need to double the amount I make next year. On the other hand, the vegetables are holding up really well. I don’t think I will run out before the first harvest of summer. That’s a first for us and one I’m pretty proud of. This post is going to be short tonight. I just returned from a Valentine’s Day chocolate tasting at our little grocery. It was fun but I totally overdid the chocolate and I’m feeling a bit sick. Moderation in all things. Words to live by.
February 14, 2011 at 12:17 am
We went to another town this week and got a starter set for bee keeping. And ordered the bees while there. Yesterday we bought a solar fence charger to help protect the above investment. Yes I live in a state with black bears. Also yesterday dh came home from work all excited. He had found a trellis he loved. But he couldn’t find a price on it yet. The one he was looking at was the display model. Today he came home with red roses for me. And he had gotten a price on the trellis. We now have the trellis. Once the snow and ice are gone we will be putting it together. And then moving our hops plants to climb on the trellis.
I had a friend call me a while back and she wanted to know how much she should store for 5 years. She has several children. We talked about how to figure it out. Then when I talked to her next she had done nothing. That is what is very upsetting to me. They do not even have a months worth of food in there house. And her dh drives truck delivering furniature. Which to me is a very scarey job about now.
So in the meantime I will just keep planning my projects. I need to be canning some pork again as well. And sorting seeds. I truley believe a preppers work is never done.
Oh and I do have rabbits. 12 cages of them.
February 14, 2011 at 6:09 am
I’m jealous, Carol. I could not get hops to grow. We also have black bears but they have never bothered the bees. We have a large corn patch near us and we think they have so much to eat that thtey don’t have to venture so close to humans. We’ve been thinking about rabbits.My BIL manages a very high-end furniture store and says that business is terrible.
February 14, 2011 at 7:55 am
I bought a really big bag of navy beans this week. Storing them dry is no problem but I’d rather can them for the convenience.
Can you share with us how you’ll can your beans? Do you use a water bath canner or a pressure canner? Do you put a sauce on the beans or just water? The water they cook in or fresh?
February 14, 2011 at 8:09 am
That’s going to be Wednesday’s post.
February 14, 2011 at 8:41 am
Hi Kathy, Do you use Paraflexx Premium or Paraflexx Ultra non-stick sheets? (I can’t figure out the difference) I have the old Teflex sheets, which I stopped using when I found out they were teflon. It looks like the Paraflexx are silicon, like a Silpat baking sheet (which are great). This is where I found the different sheets listed, but do you have a source you prefer? Thanks!
http://www.harvestessentials.com/exparac.html?gclid=CM2avLXTh6cCFUbf4Aodx2C4cw
February 14, 2011 at 8:50 am
How can I access the DVDs on preserving? Just ordered a 1/8 beef and chickens so need to read up/watch how to can them. Keep up the good work!
February 14, 2011 at 9:14 am
our bees have been ordered! I’ve got a big bag of beans coming at the end of the month, so I’ll be canning then too…I’m going to be doing a show on making (semi) convenient food from long term storage items so that people have an idea how to use them and use them easily.
February 14, 2011 at 9:28 am
Congradulations Emily! I want to hear more about the show. I got my sheets from the Excalibur catalog. You can order the DVD’s from the University Of Georgia Food preservation web site.
February 14, 2011 at 10:06 am
Kathy,
I loved your post encouraging everyone that small steps have value and eventually pay off. I am limited in what I can do to prepare for the hard times that I believe are coming but I have committed to doing something every week no matter how small. Last week I
1. Added 10 gallons of water to my storage.
2. Bough a year’s worth of toothpaste (25 tubes)
3. Ordered and received 6 pounds of yeast. The yeast came in vacuum packed bricks. However, one of the packages had lost the vacuum seal. I did not see any evidence that the package was open but clearly it was not vacuum sealed. I ordered through amazon and contacted them but have not heard back. Do you think the yeast is okay to use?
February 14, 2011 at 10:06 am
Happy Valentine’s Day, Kathy!
February 14, 2011 at 10:53 am
I have been buying something each week to be stocking up and am so enjoying the fact that I have it! It gives me more of a comfortable feeling in these tenuous times. I am needing to buy shelving and find a source for foodgrade buckets now. Thanks for your encouragement to DO something!
Blessings!
CottonLady
February 14, 2011 at 10:59 am
Mostly right now I’m going through boxes of stuff from when we moved a few years ago, sorting, re-organizing, and giving/recycling/throwing away some things. I had shoulder surgery a month after we’d moved, plus the packing was over a very short time span (opportunities don’t always come with lots of notice), so now it is a slow process going through things. But this year I really want to have a visual difference in the amount of stuff we have, so something’s getting sorted each week.
Meantime, have been finding all the foods with gluten in them and giving them away, and slowly finding replacement foods.
We went to a chocolate tasting too, last Friday at Nan Parati’s B&B (Norton Hill). Definitely an evening of decadence, but it was fun running into various neighbors and chatting with the chocolatier.
February 14, 2011 at 11:36 am
Kathy, the first couple of times that I planted hops they didn’t grow either. So I got mine at a local nursery. And still they were slow. But now they are going wild. So you might want to try it again. After all I live in MT and we have some pretty bad winters here as well.
Most of our neighbors do not raise gardens. One of the reasons we worry about the bears and the bees. That and we are out of town up towards the mountains. A couple of years ago my dh was half way to work on the highway at 3:30am. And a bear ran into the side of our car even.
February 14, 2011 at 12:17 pm
Probably safe but they owe you an unopened package. Who knows when or how it failed. I wouldn’t use it.
February 14, 2011 at 2:35 pm
Thanks Kathy…I’ll look forward to it.
February 14, 2011 at 8:41 pm
I am enjoying your site and trying to think about employing some things to become more prepared. My question is why can dried beans? I thought that them being dried is what made them a good storage item.
February 14, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Dried beans are a great storage item but they take a lot of time and energy, both of which might be in short supply during an emergency, to prepare. By canning them, I have the convenience of a prepared canned bean.
February 15, 2011 at 10:16 am
What a great, encouraging post, Kathy. Little and often is a great way to go about prepping.
My little bit of prepping this week was a tube of free toothpaste, 25 qts of home-canned beans and a super-sturdy storage rack that a local carryout had set out to the trash! We cleaned it up and set it in an unused area under the stairs to hold toiletries, candles, light-bulbs, school supplies, etc. It looks so much like a general store it makes me giggle!!!!
February 15, 2011 at 10:36 am
That’s so cool, Andrea!
February 15, 2011 at 1:28 pm
I understand,I thought you were canning the dry beans! so you are cooking then canning the cooked beans.
February 15, 2011 at 5:14 pm
Thank you for this post, Kathy!
I’m new to all of this, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed. This has certainly helped me to break down my preparation tasks instead of everything at once!
February 17, 2011 at 1:04 am
Carol, I have friends who said well, if TSHTF I’ll just go here, they have food. I have to shake my head. Maybe your friend needs help in taking the actual first step. Point her to some sites (like Kathy’s) for information. She can see that others are doing this too. Give her the website http://www.foodstoragemadeeasy.net
They have a set up of “BABY STEPS” to get one started on food storage. I think Kathy now has one of their binders – All the information is FREE – the baby steps will be sent out at regular intervals, or she could purchase the download and print them out at her leisure. It’s not expensive.
WHen my friends with kids at home say oh, nothing will happen…I say ok, look at the signs currently in our grocery store about lack of vegetables, prices rising, wheat crops flooded, etc. I’m point blank and ask them if they want to watch their children starve. Usually grabs their attention. Because that will be their reality, unfortunately, if the worst scenarios happen.
Appeal to her practical side of ending the “rush to get dinner on the table because I forgot the hamburger, or…” If you have it at home in your pantry, you’re good to go and no tears, anger, frustration at the lack of organization.
The web site above also has lots of links to other food storage sites, people who, like Kathy, live it every day.
ON the beans, Crystal at everydayfoodstorage.net (link also through FSME) has some great ways to use your dried beans. Using them to make your own cream of soups, added protein in brownies, etc.
Kathy, I read your bean post, and they sound yummy. Thank you again for all that you do.
Carol, I hope you can get your friend started. Jenn