Intro
This system really works for me and is a result of: being evacuated in the fires, being tired of throwing away old food storage, not liking the food in food storage, not liking the expense of the old way of being prepared. These are my own ideas and may not work for you. My hope is that from seeing different ways of being prepared and you will be more inspired to come up with what works for you!
Goals I wanted to achieve: foods that are the healthiest for me, easy and convenient, low cost, fun and tasty.
Be prepared
The big picture:
Spiritual – in a disaster, we may lose all of our food, homes, preparedness items. The MOST important preparedness item is being able to receive personal revelation constantly. (see Apr 09 Gen Conf)
Physical - get in shape and take care of needed medical and dental items.
Knowledge – knowing what may happen is part of preparedness. Our current presidency has stated that he will model FDR’s work. The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes, is a current, paper-turner history of that era.
Network – have friends of like mind you can rely on. One of my desires is to share extra food items with. An example---if I have a lot of apricots, I would like to share with someone who has something that I want and need, say Avocados? Meat?
Genealogy, docs, etc – I am the only one in my family that has all the family history materials. They are all hard copy. In a fire, they would be lost forever. I am going to the wonderful Family History Enrichment to learn how to be prepared in this area, as well as doing family Temple work.
72 hour kit
Preparedness can be daunting. How do you eat and elephant? One bite at a time. My first bite was my 72 hour kit because it was a small, definable project. 72 hour kit was too heavy to carry, so I put it in a piece of carryon luggage with wheels. Taught my dog to carry her own (her backpack is from Petsmart.) Everything is in zip lock or larger plastic bags, sorted by type. The bags make it easy to find things, keep them clean and dry and make them easy to transfer to my bicycle pannier (I have a mountain bike and put a rack on the back. I got the rack and panniers (saddle bags) at UC Cyclry near Ralphs across from the Temple). I can walk, ride or throw it in the car. I also have a car 72 hour kit and I have tools stuck in the “secret” compartments of my car and water and sleeping bag next to the car. Water in plastic in the heat gives off toxic chemicals you don’t want to drink.
Food
Overview: Although foodstuffs can technically be stored for many years, the nutritional value decreases over time. Some lose significant amounts, or become rancid rather quickly if stored at 70 degrees or above. Since I did not want to eat old, low value food or be throwing away food storage every year, I decided to make my food storage my current eats….meaning, I fill up my food storage and eat out of that every day. My plan is 2 years because I want everything to be fresh and since I am one person, if I have an opportunity to help the neighborhood, it will go farther. With this method, I get better quality, lower cost and more convenience. Also, I don’t eat wheat, sugar, white rice for health reasons. I found foods that work for me and provide optimum health (proteins, carbs, good fats, vitamins, enzymes, variety, etc.)
Question for me: If I had to live for a full month without anything from the outside, what would I want here?
Dry pack canning: I use vacuum packing of canning jars. Canning jars vs. #10 cans:
Pros:
size is better for a smaller family,
cost—they can be used over and over again (cans are 1 time use),
convenience—I can do it at home when I want and do not have to wait to borrow the cannery tool,
multi use—I can also the wide mouth quart canning jars for wet pack canning
glass is safer than metal for purity and is most impervious to contamination.
Negs:
Not big enough for large families,
They can break
Demo packing. Show storage.
I use the Vacupack http://www.vacupack.com/ It’s a quality machine and expensive. There may be others out there that will do the job as well.
Waffles made from beans and grains. Sample waffles.
Sprouts: are little nuggets of potential fresh foods. (I GOTTA have my fresh foods!!!!)
Pros: nutrition is MUCH higher than the item in its dormant state
It’s easy
It’s fun
It’s tasty
No cooking is required
It’s inexpensive
Demo how to make (Glad type box, soak overnight, thereafter, rinse 3x per day. These are little living things—If they dry out, they die. If they are underwater longer than overnight, they drown. If you do everything right, and they still don’t sprout, they may be dead already (depending on what the seed is). Sprouts can be any bean or grain. Some are easier and tastier than others. The sample I had was lentils + sunflower seeds + garbanzo beans. Eat as is or cover with Italian salad dressing…yum! After you all were gone, I ate the rest in one sitting!
Dry pack bottles: I have one of each bottle on display on my countertop in the kitchen. Very convenient! I have the rest in a bedroom closet on a 6-shelf metal shelf from Costco wedged in so it won’t go anywhere. Also convenient!
In addition, I have an inventory of Canned meats and other products from TJ etc. stored elsewhere. I look forward to learning how to bottle meats!
Ways to cook: Dutch oven (low cost and easy), solar oven (may not work at my house depending on the weather), BBQ with briquets and/or propane, what if I needed to do without? What would I do? Would I be able to eat?
Water: This is the biggest issue: I have yet to fully resolve. I have a small backpacker filter but I understand that they are hard to use. I drink a ½ gallon a day and don’t want to be working the whole time to create drinkable water. We recently were told not to drink the water here in Del Mar for 3 days. A wonderful wake up call! I have water barrels filled with rainwater that can be used to water the garden or for drinking if I clean it and filter it. I have clorine beach on hand. There is one neighbor who has a swimming pool that I might be able to access if it is still intact, and share the purified water with. Salt water is no good (filters don’t work) unless you have a de-salinization plant. The Berkey water filters (Google it for more info) are the best I have found so far, but they are very expensive. I am looking for a less expensive alternative because I just want to use it in emergencies.
Tree Cultivation
Prune to maximize fruit production. Prune before flowers and leaves come out, when dormant. Stone fruits (apricots, nectarines, etc.) and apples, etc need pruning every year. Citrus does not but can be for shaping and strength of scaffolding. Best book I have found is: How to Prune Fruit Trees by R. Sanford Martin available at Armstrong $6.99.
To control aphids, control the ants (they milk the aphids and protect them from natural predators like lady bugs). Use Glad wrap around the trunk and TangleFoot on top of the wrap. It works like fly paper and stops the ants. The plastic protects the tree and stretches for growth. The healthier the tree, the more the fruit and fewer the bugs. I now use “E. B. Stone’s Organic Citrus and Fruit Tree Fertilizer”. It takes a while for it to show results because it is not a powerful drug but the trees are MUCH healthier and produce more. Need to be careful of home-made remedies. I sprayed oil and soap on my lemon and lime trees because of bugs. No problem for the lemon but it nearly killed the lime. With the above fertilizer and washing it every week, it is coming back, slowly. Water (not too much or too little) is very important. Sun also.
What to plant? I plant things I like to eat, are versatile and bear at different times so I enjoy fresh food year-round. I have enough to do, so I find out what is easy to grow and plant only that. Micro climates are very different—even from one side of the freeway to the other. Easy to grow trees: Lemon, Navel orange, mandarins, apricots (vigorous grower), figs (Brown Turkey is a small variety). Also, smaller tomatoes, squash, beans. Not broccoli (attracts aphids and takes a long time till picking because of the coolness of where I live.)
Sometimes, no matter what you do, the plants don’t produce. Sometimes it is the atmosphere. My brothers, both gardeners too, have similar issues to me and at the same time..and they live in Los Angeles and Portland OR!!! So, food storage is important…live gardens can be iffy.
Gardening in a Medium Sized Place
I use a drip system with auto timer that I turn on and off depending on the weather. Cages bring sprawling plants (squash, cukes, melons, etc.) up and keep the fruit off the ground. I don’t plant the same thing in the same place year the next year to rest the soil .
I use a soil test kit if I am having problems growing in a particular area. If things are growing fine, I don’t bother. Tests for pH, P, N, K. Booklet that comes with kit explains how to and tells how to amend and what each type of plant needs. A test kit: Rapidtest Soil Test Kit. Sold many places, you can Google for it. It’s about $15 and is good for several tests. There are at least 3 other reasons for poor growth: 1. not enough sun (that’s huge) 2. too much/ too little water (huge too), 3. bugs (such as nematodes that attach to the roots or aphids).
Integrate multi-purpose plants into your landscape—pick items of similar water, pH, light requirements and plug in with the ornamental plants. Consider deciduous nature. Strawberries are a good ground cover, lavender is fragrant, citrus trees are attractive and everbearing (you can get dwarfs too), blueberries, herbs, lettuce, guavas, loquats, etc work well too. You can get fun plants like scarlet runner beans…a pretty color and are good to eat! There are lots to choose from!
Gardening is not a precise hobby like quilting, knitting or woodworking. If you are not familiar with how to do it, start with something easy and learn, little by little. There is only so much you can learn from books. You just have to do it and there are no consequences for not getting it “right!” I love to garden, I feel wonderfully restored after being out in the fresh air and sunlight. And my little plant buddies and always glad to see me. :o)
Conclusion
I hope this helps, that we will all be inspired as to what to do for each of us to be prepared. I look forward to learning from all of you!
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