Bookmarks for March.....

My thanks go out to those of you who are adding to your Long-term Food Storage...and keeping up with your 3 month supply as well. Several of you have stated that you are diligently working on each item each week, and I have even had requests for group orders on some items we have yet to focus on. Great work!

“Wives are instrumental in this work, but they need husbands who lead out in family preparedness. Children need parents who instill in them this righteous tradition. They will then do likewise with their children, and their stores will not fail.”      (Keith B. McMullin)

I love this quote....because it not only addresses the here and now, but the future generations of our families. 

These are pictures from Hurricane Hugo. These were typical scenes that we were presented with when our family opened our door the following morning. The previous night sounded like a freight-train had been trudging through our home for over 12 hours. Great pines exploded and broke under the pressure of the Hurricane-force winds.  They cut homes in our neighborhood in half or crushed them. We had lived through it (without damage to our home), but then a new challenge presented itself.

We were without power for nearly a week. Just prior to the Hurricane hitting Columbia SC where we lived at the time, I went to the local grocery store. I wasn't buying food as I thought we were okay in that department. I went to buy tape to put in a star-shape across our windows and to stock up on batteries. The tape was needed to hold the glass together in as few pieces as possible just in case they broke under the pressure of the fierce winds. The batteries were for our radio.

The scene at the store can most classically be described as the fury that you see when Wilma and Betty (of the Flintstones) go shopping at a big sale. Southern manners were being tested and tried, shelves were bare, and people also were becoming frightened.

Why am I telling you all of this? Well, because we learned a very expensive lesson. I had all of our meats, vegetables, and fruits essentially in our freezer. When the power went out.....we essentially lost it all. I had to laugh when we would get calls asking if we had a generator....and if we did....could they borrow it! Think about the logic and boldness of that question! We didn't have a generator at the time....but we sure do now.

We didn't lose our water. Many people in our neighborhood and the surrounding area came to our home to fill up their containers with water as they had none. We gave nearly all of our water storage away as well.

What was the lesson? Don't put all your eggs in one basket! I learned from that experience, and subsequent ones that you need to store your food by more than one method. Methods of preservation include freezing, canning, and dehydrating. All have pros and cons. This month, 2 of the focus items are dehydrated items. We will discuss them more during the weeks where they are the focus item.

Here is a preview of the items we will be gathering during March:

Week 1

Powdered Milk

Week 2

Dehydrated Vegetables

Week 3

Dehydrated Fruit

Week 4

Corn Syrup

So.....wallets ready.......on your mark......get set.....GO!