Today While The Sun Shines

One last site

2012-02-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

http://www.survivaltop50.com/

Here is one last site for now. They cover every topic of survival that is out there. Keep in mind they are not all LDS sites. But they have some very valuable information regardless of religious affiliations! Plan on spending some time browsing.

Another Excellent Site

2012-02-07T11:21:00.001-08:00

http://peaceofpreparedness.com/

Another excellent site with vast resources about preparedness. Plan to spend some time in her resource library.

Excellent Blog

2012-02-07T11:11:00.000-08:00

http://www.gottawannaneedagettaprepared.blogspot.com/

I found this excellent blog. Check out her great information.

GoFoods

2012-01-13T18:04:00.000-08:00

A bit of an update on my last post. GoFoods!! I have discovered this fabulous food storage company. You can check it out here..... www.davilyn.gofoods.biz ..... The food is really quite delicious and I highly recommend that you go to this site and order the free sample pack. You just need to pay for the shipping which is $9.95 in the States and $14.95 in Canada. The value of the food is just over $30. Pretty sweet deal.

And for any of you who might like to make a bit of money on the side, or become a wholesale customer, or make alot of money on the side, there is always that option too. Just go to the site I listed, read through the information, watch a few of the videos, and get in touch with me. You can email me at djatwood@shaw.ca

I don't very often like to promote things like this, however, the products are awesome, and it is putting easy to prepare food storage into lots of homes. These products are packaged such that they have a 25 year shelf life, so who doesn't like that? I strongly believe in the value of food storage, as anyone reading my blog will understand, and this stuff is so "user friendly", so to speak! It is nutritious and delicious. So check it out.... www.davilyn.gofoods.biz

Don't Get Caught With Your Pantry Down!

2012-01-13T12:44:00.000-08:00

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GOFOODS Global Opportunity- Serving, Saving, and Sharing food is what we do! GOFoods Global has pledged to become part of the solution. Come join us in this worthy effort to save the world one meal at a time with our go anywhere, do anything food. We are partnering with our Independent Business Owners at GoFoods to help get our nutritious, healthy, and affordable food to the many in need. The GOFoods Opportunity can generate an extra part-time paycheck or be the life-changing residual income you've dreamed of. It's up to you.

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davilyn.gofoods.biz

mailto:djatwood@shaw.ca?

Wheat Burgers

2011-11-05T16:21:00.000-07:00

Well a couple of days ago I made some awesome wheat burgers and they actually turned out pretty good. I took pictures this time, so I will go through with you what I did. I also will make some suggestions on what I think I will try different next time.

First I sprouted some wheat. Sprouting makes the wheat so much more nutritional and so good for you. It also makes it easier for those who have a hard time with gluten.

So here is my sprouted wheat. I used 3 cups dry wheat berries, put them into my 2 quart jar, and covered them with water. It took about 36 hours (ish) to get the sprouts like this. You can use the wheat sooner than this doing the same process, but I like it to be a little bit sprouted, especially for the burgers. But if you soak it for only 24 hours then you can do the same process as below, but the gluten won't be quite as developed and it won't be as sticky, but it fries up better like a ground beef. For sprouting it, I just soaked it in water for the first 24 hours, rinsing it twice. Then for the next 12 hours or so, I laid the jar on it's side with my screen on top, water all drained out and let it sprout. I rinsed it a couple of times in that period of time as well.

Once it was sprouted, I ran it through my hand crank wheat grinder. If you don't have one of these you can pick them up for fairly inexpensive. I paid $50 for mine. I actually found mine at Canadian Tire in the hunting section.

When I finished the grinding process, I put it into a bowl and added about 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup oil and some spices. The spices were 3 tbsp beef bouillon (with no msg), and some garlic seasonings and salt and pepper. The wheat actually absorbs the spices really well, so don't go too crazy on the spices because it will be pretty powerful if you do. I also cut up an onion into small pieces and added it. Now I think what I will do next time is add some or all of the following, some cooked rice, shredded cheese, cooked black beans, maybe some egg and crushed cracker. The reason I would experiment with adding some of these, is because even though the burgers I cooked tasted really great, the texture wasn't one that all of my family loved. When you fry them up, some of the wheat kernels that were not completely ground tend to be a bit crunchy and if the gluten isn't cooked all the way through, it will be a bit gummy.

Once in the bowl with all of the stuff added, (you could use your bosch if you have one, but I don't), use your beaters to beat the mixture until the gluten really forms well. It only takes a couple of minutes at the most and will be sticky and gooey feeling.

Next, spray your fry pan, or your griddle and form into nice thin patties. I think my patties were a bit too thick because in some spots the gluten is still a bit mushy. If they are thin enough they should cook all the way through quite quickly. They only need to cook for a few minutes on each side until they are cooked through.

They actually were pretty tasty and I have eaten them plain, on a toasted sandwich with tomato, lettuce and cheese, and in a wrap with tomato, lettuce, cheese, and salsa. In total I got 13 patties, but probably could have made a few more, because next time I will make them thinner, and add a few other things like I mentioned above. But all in all, they were a great burger and tasted really good.

I love to learn new ways to use my wheat. I figure if we are going to store it, then we better know what to do with it.

I also will add that I sprouted two gallon jars full of wheat, 6 cups dried wheat berries in each gallon and went through the sprouting process. Once they were sprouted so that they looked like the sprouts in the jars above here, I spread them out onto my dehydrator trays lined with parchment paper, and dried them. Now I am going to experiment this week with grinding them in my wheat grinder into sprouted wheat flour and making some things with it. It is a process to use the wheat like this, and is easier to just grind it up, but so much more nutritious to sprout it first. Yummm! I will take some pictures when I do it and post my results. So for now, go experiment and enjoy!

Videos of making wheat gluten

2011-10-16T08:28:00.000-07:00

Now the lady in these videos is making her gluten a bit different than what I described below, but if you watch these videos you will get the general idea of what I am talking about. In a couple of these videos the sound is really yucky, but follow along. I hope this helps.

2011-10-16T08:12:00.000-07:00

“The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat.” Brigham Young

I want to talk mostly today about Wheat Gluten. Gluten is the principal protein part of the wheat, just like eggs, meat, fish, milk, beans, tofu, etc. Gluten holds the carbon dioxide that is made from yeast, which enables the dough to rise. Gluten is such a versatile food and can be made into may things, most importantly it can be used as a meat replacement.

After wheat is ground into flour, gluten can be separated from other parts of the flour by adding water until it's very thick, mixing, kneading and pounding while washing the mixture in a bowl of water. The more the mixture is washed, the more elastic it will become. A hard winter wheat gives the best result because the protein content is the highest.

7 cups whole wheat flour yields 1 – 2 cups raw gluten

1 cup raw gluten – 72 grams protein

1 oz ground beef – 6 grams protein

How to make gluten:

Put 20 cups whole wheat flour and 12 cups warm water into heavy mixer or large bowl, and knead and mix well. Let stand for 10 minutes. The mixture shouldn't be too stiff or too loose, but a nice sticky batter.

Put gluten into a clean sink or large bowl with about 20 cups warm water and knead gently for about 3 minutes.

Finish with a final washing by rinsing in a colander with warm water. All milky starch needs to be washed out, but not all of the bran. It will be very gummy, but the water will be running clear. It actually takes awhile for this process so don't expect it to happen quickly.

Use well greased loaf pans, or cookie sheets. Flour well and place gluten in loaves or spread on cookie sheet. Bake in 350 oven for about 1 hour, until it sounds kind of hollow when tapped, it will kind of have a tough rubbery texture.

When it is done, cool and break into chunks. Simmer in beef broth or chicken broth for at least 1/2 hour and then leave it to soak for two hours.

At this point you can store in fridge. What I do is chop it up in my blender, but if you have a meat grinder, you could use that too. You can freeze it like this, just as you would hamburger, or dehydrate it and store on shelf, it has a pretty long shelf life after being dehydrated. Then use it in any recipe calling for ground beef or chicken. Be creative.

Hints for gluten:

In dishes using tomato products, such as sauce or paste, or chili sauce, use a small amount of cheese or meat mixed with gluten. It helps to hold it together better. But it isn't necessary. Egg would also work.
In using spices or herbs with gluten use only half the amount called for in a recipe because it can become easily over spiced. The spices tend to react stronger with gluten, as do strong acids such as pineapple juice or vinegar.
One tbsp of honey added to gluten with acid products will also help to neutralize the acid
After simmering gluten in broth, it will keep for 4 or 5 days in fridge, if is smells sour, it is bad
You can use the gluten water in other bread recipes but it will sour quickly if not refrigerated

Some of my favourite gluten recipes:

Basic Beef Burger recipe:

Grind through grinder or chop in blender

4 cups gluten

3 or 4 bouillon cubes

1/3 cup cheese (cheddar or Parmesan)

Grind in blender:

2 1/4 cups cooked soybeans (should be the consistency of dry bread crumbs)

Chop and add:

2 cloves of garlic finely chopped

1 med large onion diced fine

Add and mix well:

1/4 c powder milk

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp honey

2 1/2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 eggs (or substitution)

1/4 to 1/2 cub bread crumbs

Form into patties or as called for in any of the following recipes. (You can omit the cooked soybeans, but they give you more texture and nutrition.) I have omitted them if I don't have any cooked at the time. To cook soybeans soak overnight, drain and add fresh water, boil for 10 minutes. They can now be ground. Brown the mixture slowly on low heat, both sides.

Veal Parmesan – My family loves this recipe. They raved about it when I made it.

2 cups beef burger recipe formed into patties

Mix 3/4 cup crushed bread crumbs and 1/2 tsp salt

Beat 3 eggs

Dip patties into beaten eggs then into crumb mixture. Repeat to give a double coat. Brown in oil and place in a baking dish. Place 1 piece of parmesan cheese over each patty (I just sprinkled on generous amount from can)

Mix together:

1 can cream of tomato soup

1 tsp basil

1/2 tsp oregano

1/4 c sour cream

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp honey

Pour over steaks. Cover with lid or tinfoil and heat in oven at 375 for 15 min or on top of stove over low heat just until cheese is melted.

Salisbury Steak

Brown 2 cups Beef Burger recipe made into patties

Prepare 1 pkg brown gravy or make your own gravy. Add mushrooms if you like.

Add patties and heat through.

Enchilada Casserole

Combine:

1 cup beef gravy

1 can tomato soup

1 can tomato sauce

1 onion chopped

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

grate 1 lb cheddar cheese

Prepare 1 lb beef burger gluten, not formed into patties, by frying in a pan like you would hamburger. Dip 9 to 12 tortillas in the sauce. Place in the centre of each tortilla some of the gluten and cheese. Roll tortilla and place in a 9 x 13 pan. Sprinkle remaining sauce and cheese over. Bake until cheese melted and bubbly.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

Mix and form into 18 balls:

2 cups beef burger gluten

1/4 c bread crumbs

2 eggs

2 tbsp onion, chopped

Brown the meatballs in small amount of oil. Add and cook until it thickens:

1 20 oz can pineapple chunks

3 tbsp vinegar

6 tbsp water

3 tbsp cornstarch

3 tbsp soy sauce

1/4 c sugar

Add: 1 large green pepper cut into strips and 1 cup fresh mushrooms cut up. Heat through and serve over rice or steamed wheat or noodles.

Chicken and Cheese chili

Combine and heat:

2 cups chicken flavored (or beef) cut into cubes or ground

2 cans cream of chicken soup

1 medium onion diced

1 can chopped green chilies, mild

1/2 c water

Dip tortillas in sauce, then lay in pan, sprinkling each layer with chicken sauce and grated cheddar cheese. Layer 12 tortillas. Pour the rest of the sauce over top and sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake at 350 for 20 – 30 minutes.

Gluten Burgers

2 cups ground beef burger

2 tbsp beef bouillon

1 egg

1 med onion finely chopped

salt and pepper

whole wheat flour

1/2 c butter or margarine

Combine beef burger and bouillon. Stir in egg, onion and salt and pepper. Add enough flour to make patties. Fry in butter or margarine, browning both sides. Steam in covered saucepan 5 minutes. Serves 4.

I think you are starting to get the picture. Here is another way to do it, which is much less work. This may not taste much like the meat you are used to, however is does taste awesome. Try soaking your wheat until it sprouts, then rinse it off and put it through a grinder until it is the consistency of ground meat. It is totally healthy and delicious. You can then season the ground wheat to whatever flavor you want it to have and make it into patties, meat loaves, and other meat dishes. By using the sprouted wheat, you have increased your food value exponentially.

Experiment, because that is the only way that you will be able to do it and enjoy it, especially if the time comes that we actually need to use it. I personally love the gluten beef burger. My kids love it too. We don't eat it all the time, but I know they will eat it and we will eat pretty good with all those buckets of wheat we have. :) I'd love to hear of your adventures with making gluten.

Economic Crash - What will you do?

2011-10-13T19:24:00.000-07:00

Economic Crash – What will you do?

Have you ever thought of what you would do if tomorrow, out of the blue, the dollar value dropped right out and the whole economy collapsed. Banks closed. You lose your job because they don't have money to pay you. People start to panic. Rioting and looting. Disease starts to spread because many of the essential services are shut down. Okay, I think you are starting to get the picture.

It can take less than 3 hours for supermarkets to run completely out of food during a crisis....and up to 3 weeks to fill shelves again with any items, if you are lucky to be one of the first ones there to get some of it.

Well I seem to be hearing so much chatter going on throughout the world about unstable economies..........and if you are paying attention at all, I am sure you are hearing the same thing. There are a ton of varied opinions about the matter. There are videos, blogs, and news articles full of the possibility of a collapse. So I decided to really figure out what might happen if.......or should I say when, all of a sudden we find ourselves unable to pull out of the massive economic issues we are all facing. Now up here in Canada, we think we are sitting pretty and we are not in as much trouble as some.....but I guarantee you that if US dollar drops off the charts, it will most definitely affect us, and the picture won't be pretty for any of us.

There are definitely some things that we can do to prepare for a situation like this, even though I don't think we realize just how serious it might actually get.

Educate yourself and your family on what might happen. Educate yourselves on various survival skills like, first aid, food storage, basic camping skills, and first aid skills.
Find an area of interest that you can use to make money in rough times. Possibly food production, raising chickens and eggs, any small business that you can produce a good or service that can be sold, or bartered for what you need.
Learn now to minimize your expenses. Money might be tight for a short while, but if you can learn to spend less right now, it will help in two ways. First, you will be able to live on less when or if the time comes, and second, you could use some of that money saved to purchase tools, food supply, or other essentials to help prepare for what is ahead.
Get some food stored. Food will instantly become one of the most valuable commodities out there. Have at least a year of rations stored for each person in your family. I know that for some this might seem a bit overwhelming. You don't know where to start. But start somewhere. Here on this blog are many different ideas on food storage, and there are so many other sites that have great information. Start small and work your way into a years supply. And share with those around you the urgency of doing the same. The more you share your knowledge now, the less you might have to share when the time comes, if you get my meaning??
Get your preparedness and survival gear in order NOW. Learn what you need and how to use it all. Again do some searching and find out what your family will need. Our needs will all be a bit different, yet survival is still survival, and we all have basic needs, so find out what you will need in your family if the above situation happens, and get it ready as soon as possible. I have listed below a sample checklist of what you should have. Again, adjust it according to what you think you will need.
Do you have a plan in place for water for your family? If you can't get water out of the tap, what are you going to do? Is there a river, lake or stream near by? If so, do you have a filtration system ready in case you need to use it? Do you have water stored? Water purification tablets will be invaluable, they are inexpensive and small, so get lots.
Do you have any garden seeds stored? If you can't find any produce available, the stores are shut down, where are you going to find produce? You will have to grow it. Store some gardens seeds and know how to use them. Make sure that they are heirloom varieties as these will produce seed that will grow again next year. The new improved hybrid varieties are great, and produce abundant crops, but if you plant the seeds the next year, they will not grow.
Get in place an alternative source of power. It might be a solar power set up, or a generator, whatever is within your budget, but get it and know how to use it. Also know how to cook without power, heat without power, and wash and clean without power. It is quite likely that for short term situations, we may be without power.
Have you thought about defending yourself and family in case of rioting or looting. People tend to get a little crazy, when they are hungry or have hungry children. Think defence, and how you could best defend your family and put a plan into action.
Warm clothing and/or proper clothing for your weather situations is important. Winters can be harsh enough with proper clothing, don't be without them. You never know if you are going to always have heat in your home, or have to evacuate your home, so be prepared for anything. Snow, ice, rain, extreme heat, tornadoes, or whatever the situation might be, get prepared for it.
A good pair of shoes or hiking boots for each member in your family is essential. You may find yourselves in situations where you are walking everywhere and flip flops just won't cut it.
Communication will be important to all of us when things really go bad. You will want to communicate with family, friends, doctors, and emergency people. Cell phones may not work for long. The internet may or may not work – what will we do??? Have a plan, radio, walkie talkies, or other. Have a bike in good working condition in case you need to get around quickly.
Personal hygiene items, and medical items will be essential for you to have on hand. We won't want to be without any of these items, and we won't be able to get them from a store, so have them in your home. Remember herbal medicines also. They are invaluable if you know how to use them. Think of your prescription medications, and have on hand a 3 month supply of them in case of pharmacies being closed, which is likely.
Always have a backup plan. If someone steals your food – what will you do? If you can't drive where you need to go – how will you get there? If you have to leave your home – where will you go? Crisis' rarely happen just like we plan for. Always have a back up plan. Be flexible and be ready to do whatever it takes.

I found this possible scenario of what might happen the first week or so after a financial collapse happens. Of course this is just a scenario, not for sure, but it might help us to think through our situation at home and help to put together a plan.

Day One – reports of the dollar collapsing, people start to get mad. Most stores taking cash only since bank machines might be down. No credit cards either. So if you want food or gas, or other supplies, you will need cash.
Day Two – Grocery stores will sell out of food. People will be stocking up on everything that they have cash for. Mobs at the grocery stores, and possible looting in other areas.
Day Three – Banks will all be closed. If they are opened, they will be limiting the amount of money you can withdrawl. The stock market will fall drastically and possibly close. Most stores will be closed and prices will sky rocket. Cash, gold, or silver will be the only form of currency. Barter will take place.
Day Four – Panic will be in full force. Things will be out of control. Hyper-inflation out of control
Day Five – Families will start to group together for support. Pension funds and other funds failing. Many work stoppages and emergency services halt.
Day Six – World wide mass demonstrations as the world economy collapses all over. Power outages, and other such events
Day Seven – Army / National Guards are sent out to attempt to restore order. Cash is totally worthless at this point. Gold and silver will be accepted, barter society begins
Day Eight – No power still and essential services limited. Radio perhaps still broadcasting as the only form of communication
Day Nine – No water as services have stopped. Real panic sets in
No emergency services – no police, no firemen, no medical responders, they are all staying home to protect families. Neighborhoods start to organize group protection. Government falls. Breakdown of society, armed gangs, looting. Martial Law is declared.

And then of course you can imagine the scenario to continue from there. Are you MENTALLY and PHYSICALLY prepared for this? If not how can you get there?

We don't know all of the possibilities that could arise. We don't know if there will be disease, pandemic, natural disaster, war, or economic disaster. What we do know is that there are some tough times ahead and we had better get prepared. I don't want to get caught unprepared for anything, and yet, I don't know all of the things that lie ahead, so I can only prepare according to what I know and feel is right. Mentally and physically we all need to get ready! I want to be in the situation of helping, not being a burden. Prepare, prepare, and prepare some more!!

Natural Medicines and First Aid

2011-10-06T17:45:00.000-07:00

I have been thinking much lately about what we would do we would do in certain situations where there were no doctors, or no medications available. And the more I think about it, the more I realize that I need to learn more about natural kinds of medications, herbs, oils, and natural cures. I do use essential oils on a regular basis, and I love them, and I believe strongly in natural medicines, but I don’t know and understand a lot about them. So I have done some research.

For many years people used plants / herbs to cure all kinds of things. Throughout the Bible and other scriptures, throughout history, herbs have been the norm for medicines. Then we all of a sudden jump to modern science and we now use both natural and man-made medications, some of which have nasty side effects and some which just are simply not good for us. When a virus strikes us, the first thing we do is run to the doctor to get a prescription. While in reality, that prescription is not going to do us any good. The thing that will help us most is to treat the symptoms and get lots of rest. Now I am not knocking modern science, but I think there are some things that we miss out on by not using our natural sources first. Natural antiviral treatments can be very powerful for treating a virus. They are known to reduce the healing time, and the side effects are practically non – existent compared to the nasty side effects from the prescription medications. Some of the best antivirals include garlic, oregano, Astragalus, Echinacea, mullein, elderberry, green tea, and licorice.

We should have a variety of these essential oils and herbs in our emergency first aid kits. I also think that it is important to carry with us in the first aid kit a guide to herbs for first aid. Whether this is one that we make up ourselves, or one that we purchase,(such as the one here), make sure you have one and read it, and know how to use it. For your first aid kit, how about purchasing a simple lunch box of some kind and pack it with your herbal remedies so that it is always ready to use.

I must put in my disclaimer – I really don’t claim to know a lot about these herbs listed here in this article. I have done a lot of research to find this information, but please use common sense also. Don’t take anything I have said and expect it to be the “gospel truth”. Some things might work great for one person and not another. And, this list is in no way a comprehensive list. Do your own research, and consult your physician if you have any concerns. Also a great resource would be to check with your local natural medical doctor. They do much research into these things and could be of great help. However – in an emergency situation where there are no doctors available, it would be great to have on hand the following things, and know how to use them well.

Okay first a few great sites that I have found:

Essential Oils for medicine - lists the top five essential oils for emergency preparedness that you should have.

The Vinegar of Four Thieves - making your own four thieves vinegar

Ten medicinal herbs - Ten medicinal herbs you should know

Herbal First Aid Kit - Making an herbal first aid kit. Definitely one of my goals is to make a first aid kit with herbs and spices, complete with a guide on what to do with each of the items in it.

Medicinal herb and spice cabinet - Preparing your medicinal herb and spice cabinet

30 popular herbs - 30 most popular herbs for natural medicine

Now for some of the natural meds:

Aloe – is of course fabulous for burns, and will also help to soothe and heal cuts. This plant will easily grow in your house and all you have to do is cut a piece of the leaf off, open it up, and place it directly onto the cut. You can find aloe gel in most stores and it is fairly inexpensive. Use it on any burns including sunburns, and use on cuts or wounds to aid the healing process.

Lavender - is a wonderful multipurpose herb. The essential oil basically is an all-purpose remedy. It can be helpful for anxiety, insomnia, headaches, wounds, and burns. It can be applied directly to the skin, unless you have very sensitive skin.

Echinacea – helps boost the immune system, the liquid extract is versatile and can be used internally or externally. But if all you have are the tablets, you can also break them open and use the oil for skin irritations. It can also be used as a great herbal tea. Echinacea helps to stimulate the white blood cell production to help fight more effectively against viruses. It is best taken early in the viral illness to be most effective, and is recommended only for short term use. A gargling solution can also be made with the tea to use with a sore throat. For cases that are not strep throat related: add 10-16 drops to water or to sage or ginger tea and use as a gargling agent. If a person is fighting strep throat: every two hours, gargle with the above mentioned teas to which you add a drop of Echinacea extract. If only tablet or capsules are available, take then every two hours during the acute stage

Ginger root – when dried and made into ginger tea is great for pain. 1 tsp of dried ginger in 1 cup of boiling water. You can also add sweetener. This can be drank several times a day to help relieve pain or stomach upset, and to shorten the illness. It is an excellent remedy for nausea and diarrhea. It is also has antioxidant effects, which are important for preventing free radical damage, and strengthening the immune system.

Oregano – can be used as ginger root. 1 tsp of dried to 1 cup boiling water. This will also help to relieve pain. The oil of oregano is an excellent antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal oil. It has been used for hundreds of years to fight infections. It can be applied to minor cuts. It can be dropped one or two drops of oil, into ear for ear infection. Take caution though because it is very strong and can burn if skin is sensitive or too much is used.

Cloves – clove oil will deaden toothache pain almost immediately. Carefully rub the oil on the gum surrounding the tooth and even put a drop into the cavity.

Mint – spearmint or peppermint are all very useful to help open stuffy nose and throat. You can chew the raw leaves, or brew a tea, or use the essential oils. Peppermint will sooth an upset stomach, and help relieve itching from insect bites. It will help clear sinuses. If you have sensitive skin, dilute it before applying. Use it to treat headaches, colic, heartburn, gas and nausea. It also has properties that will help improve circulation. Drinking a fresh tea will help relieve these symptoms. It is great for helping relieve morning sickness.

Garlic – a natural antibiotic. Garlic dates back to ancient Egyptians. It offers antiviral, antimicrobial, antifungal, and antibacterial benefits. It has been effective in clearing up the common cold and flu, as well as Bacillus, Strep, and Staph infections. During WWI and WWII it became known as the Russian Penicillin. It is most effective when used fresh. Eat it whole, dice it, or juice it. Garlic capsules can also be used if you don’t like the taste or the after taste. Garlic draws out the pain from joints, toothaches, and earaches. Place a crushed raw piece of garlic in some gauze and place the gauze over the area of pain. For the joints, use a garlic paste. For the ear, use slivers in gauze. It takes about 5 days to cure the ear infection.

Arnica – this has great anti-inflammatory properties and will stimulate circulation. It is excellent for sore muscles, sprains, and bruises. Not good to apply to broken skin.

Calendula – comfrey salve – great healing properties. Antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory properties. Calendula stimulates the growth of new tissue and helps heal wounds.

Shepherds Purse – The juice from this plant will stop bleeding and is perfect for minor scrapes and cuts. You can crust the plant and place it directly onto the cut or scrape.

Thyme – is great for treating whooping cough. Make a syrup of thyme tea and honey to treat a strong cough. It can also help relax the nervous system and relieve headaches. It has also been used to help get rid of internal parasites.

Cinnamon – it has been proven that 99.9% of viruses and bacteria cannot live in the presence of cinnamon. Cinnamon capsules are available, as well as it can be added to teas of many kinds to make a great tasting tea.

Sage – a tea made from the common garden sage has been known to help with depression. Ginseng can also be added to this to help lift and energize. The American Indians were known to use sage tea rub downs and baths to bring down a fever. Adding apple cider vinegar to the tea can be very effective in reducing fever. Sage leaves can be wrapped around a wound like a band aid to help heal it faster.

Chamomile - Works as a mild sedative, helps promote relaxation, relieve indigestion and can soothe skin irritations when applied to skin. It can also be used as a warm compress on ear infections or eye problems. It can also aid indigestion, morning sickness, and nervousness.

Elderberry – this is essential for stopping a cold or flu. This can be used as a good preventive and if you already have a cold, it can be used to hasten your recovery time. Studies show that it is effective against all strains of the flu virus and can also help prevent the spread of viruses.

Elderberry tincture - information on making your own elderberry tincture

Eucalyptus essential oil – potent antibiotic and antiviral – excellent for treating colds lus and sinus infections when steam inhaled. Dilute with carrier oil before applying to skin, and this oil should not be taken internally. Can be used as a massage oil or rubbed into pulse points to be most effective. Can be added to a warm bath.

Astragalus –a powerful antiviral herb that helps strengthen the immune system. It is very effective against the cold or common flu. It has a warming effect which helps sooth the body. It is probably best taken in capsule form or made into a tea.

Astragalus - a great article on how Astragalus can help to boost the immune system and help fight a number of illnesses including cancer

Mullein – properties include, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, calming, expectorant, antihistamine, and emollient. For viruses with congestion it is an excellent choice. It is available as a tea, syrup, infusion, tincture and decoction

Mullein - A great article about Mullein

Green Tea – you can buy this one decaf so it is better for you. There are a couple of things in green tea called catechins that are known to be very effective at inhibiting the replication of the flu virus. It can be taken in tea form, but can also be taken in capsule form. It definitely has caffeine in it, so precautions should be taken if this is something that you want to avoid.

Licorice – a great antimicrobial that is effective against yeast, fungi, bacteria and viruses. However it can raise blood pressure, so if you have high blood pressure already, you should avoid eating it.

Tea Tree Oil – a great oil that is known to treat a wide variety of problems. It can be applied full strength to any affected area up to three times a day. It can be mixed with warm water and gargled. It can be used as a shampoo to keep away lice or other unwanted bugs, add drops of oil to a fine tooth comb and comb through hair to catch lice eggs and remove adult lice. It can be used as an insect repellent and rubbed on your skin to keep away bites. Tea tree oil is also great in healing warts, cold sores, athlete’s foot, and yeast infections.

Juniper Oil – is a potent antiviral. It is found to be effective against both the herpes virus and flu viruses. It can be used in a diffuser, as a massage oil, in a bath, in lotion form, or applied as a compress. It is not recommended during pregnancy as it can stimulate the uterus.

Lemon Balm Oil – has many uses. When used on cold sores and other herpes sores, is has helped to heal them and prevent them from spreading. It can soothe the digestive system and help relieve gas and bloating.

Lemon Balm - a great article on Lemon Balm

Cayenne Pepper – a few grains in hot tea will aid in sluggish digestion. It is an excellent source of Vitamin C. An anti-flu drink might include 2 tsp of cayenne pepper, 1 ½ tsp salt, 1 cup boiling water, 1 c apple cider vinegar. Mix this together and take 1 tsp to 1 tbsp every half hour (adult dose). This will help cure the cold or prevent the cold from coming on. This can also be gargled to help control a sore throat.

Dandelion – yes the nasty little weed – gather the flowers and a few leaves and make a tea that will treat the acids in the blood. It will help treat gastric disorder that can be caused by liver or gall bladder. A tea can be used to cleanse the liver, pancreas, spleen and female organs. Dandelion has been known to lower high cholesterol levels and normalize blood sugar levels in diabetics.

Alternate Cooking Sources

2011-09-18T20:18:00.001-07:00

Alternate Sources for cooking without power, or using little power, that's what I want to share with you today. I have done a bit of research on some of these different ideas, because even though I know and understand them, my actual hands on experience with some of them is limited. I use my Wonder-box all of the time, and I use my dutch ovens once in awhile. I have buddy burners, and camp stoves, and all that stuff, but I realized that I need some more practice and experience with some of these others. Therefore, I have listed lots of links with great ideas and I have decided to incorporate some of these projects into our home school this year. Once a week we do a project and my theme this year is to teach my kids survival skills and other useful skills they will need some day, and these alternate cooking forms definitely fall into that category. So.........here we go!

A side note, most of these things that I have listed links for, can totally be built with very little money. You can surely purchase a nice solar oven for three or four hundred dollars of you want, and they will work great, but if you are like me, that just isn't in my budget, so lets figure out other ways to save money and power, and also to cook without power.

Wonder Cookers – what a great little invention. I use mine often,(I actually have three) but probably should use them more, and as I have been doing some looking into recipes and what not, I am inspired to experiment with them more. I know that we can use them for cooking OR keeping things cold. I have used it to bring home a frozen turkey from my dad's once and then I forgot about it in my jeep for about 30 hours, and when I went to get it, the darn thing was still frozen!!! Pretty cool hey? I use mine every time we have a family dinner and we have to travel because it will keep things hot or cold for several hours. We have taken freezies and popsicles to soccer games on a hot day and they stay nice and frozen. If you put something hot in it, the food will continue to cook, but it never seems to burn or over cook. As I use it more over the next little bit, I will post some of my thoughts and recipes of what I do.

Heat Retention Cooking A great site that talks about cooking with heat retention, basically bringing your food up to temp using some form of heat, and then using hay box or wonder-box to cook it from there on

Wonder Box Cooker A really good site with step by step instructions on making one and cooking with it

Wonder Box Cooking Step by step instructions again for cooking meat in the wonder-box

Making a wonder box cooker Step by step instructions for making a wonder-box

Wonder Box Patter pdf

Cooking Without Power Recipe Book An excellent pdf recipe book for cooking without power, using wonder-box, apple box oven, and dutch oven

I have never made an apple box oven or a solar funnel cooker, but they are projects that are at the top of my list. I will keep you posted as I do them. But follow the links for some great sites.

BYU PDF A great pdf about making an apple box cooker, a hay cooker, paper box oven, solar funnel cooker

Cooking without power If you follow this link and look on the left hand side of the page, you will find a wealth of information on cooking without power using all different kinds of methods

Solar Cooker Plans to build your own solar funnel cooker and what to do with it

I love dutch oven cooking!

I love camping too and that is usually when I do this kind of cooking. There is something about the taste of it that is just fabulous. I really should do it more often, but of course time is a factor, because it is something that you do have to watch a bit closer to not burn it or burn something else. Check out these sites with great info and great great recipes

Dutch Oven Cooking Really good site and info about dutch oven cooking.

Dutch Oven Dude Tons of dutch oven recipes. Really good

Hope these ideas all help to inspire you to get creative and experiment with some alternate cooking sources. Really, I think we should have it all figured out before the time comes when we HAVE TO use it, then it won't be a hardship at all, we will just move calmly into that mode. Good luck and I would love to hear your stories.

Famines and Food Storage

2011-09-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

This is the Current Horn of Africa Famine 2011

FAMINES!! I want to talk about famines today. I have a deep abiding passion for food storage . and many people think that I am kind of crazy about it. In fact I have been called worse than that, haha. And, unfortunately, anyone reading this article is likely right there with me, you probably aren't the ones that need to read it, but if you are, I hope it will open your eyes to the scary reality of famines.

If you follow this link List of Famines and I think you all should, you will be shocked at the amount of famines that have happened in history. Also take note of the causes listed for most of the famines – war and drought. This list takes us from 400 BC right up to 2011 and the current famine in the Horn of Africa. It is quite extensive and if you want to take a look at more information on the various famines, just follow the links.

So what are the major causes of famines?? Drought, or poor weather is the usual cause of famine, or at least it used to be. Now you mix in there war and civil unrest with no crops and you have the perfect storm to cause a famine. Check out some of these pictures of drought that have caused famine. A few of them are even from this year pretty close to home.

Texas drought and wheat crop damage 2011

On this website Kohm news you can find several articles that talk about severe drought issues now ocuring in the United States. Huffington post here is another article that is worth the read.

Okay so the internet and newspapers are full of these kinds of articles. Check some of them out below. But what I want to point out here is that there is a cycle that is associated with famines. Crop failures – which include drought or wet conditions, grasshoppers, or whatever the reason – for three to seven years in a row will often lead to a famine. Also throw in there a few natural disasters like hurricanes, wild fires, floods, earthquakes, and volcanoes, and you again have a perfect storm for what??? Right, a famine of huge proportions. Are these things happening close to home right now? Yep, they are!! Have they been happening close to home for a few years now? Yep, they have!! Are they increasing in intensity? Yep, they are!! Do we have political issues? Yep, we do!! Do we have economic issues? Yep, we do again!! So my BIG question to you is............If this continues for a couple or a few more years, can we see what we are headed for? It is history repeating itself over and over! The warning signs are all there. We are lining ourselves up for a serious crisis and most of us don't even see it coming. Put all of the factors together and see if you can see what I see, serious trouble ahead.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/extreme-exhausting-tornadoes-drought-flooding-hurricane-124800998.html

http://feww.wordpress.com/category/canada-flooding/

http://www.worldbank.org/foodcrisis/

http://www.wfp.org/global-food-crisis-in-depth

I have come across so many quotes from prophets, and so many scriptures that talk directly about famine in our day. I have decided not to post them at this point, just because some of my readers are not LDS. But even so, look at the facts around us, watch this perfect storm come into play, and if you are LDS, then start doing some research because it will awaken your spiritual reality to this whole storm as well.

So if we can see serious trouble ahead, what should we do about it? We should dang well be preparing in any way we possibly can, while we still can. Food storage, medical supplies, water treatment supplies and storage, survival skills, and so on. But the big one I want to emphasize today is food storage.

The LDS church says that we should have:

· 72 hour kits for every person in our family – in case of emergency evacuation, emergency sheltering in place, and unforeseen events

· 3 month supply of food – if you check on many government websites, church websites, and preparedness sites, you will find that they all recommend having a 3 month supply of easy to prepare, familiar foods for your family. This will be beneficial in case of sickness, short term crisis, pandemic quarantine or shelter in place. These items will be things that even your kids could prepare if mom or dad were sick. EASY to prepare and FAMILIAR to your family.

· Long Term Supply of Food – We should have a one year supply of longer term, life sustaining foods on hand for our entire family. These items will have a long shelf life and will sustain life for a long period of time.

· Water – we should have on hand at least a 2 week supply of water for each person. We should also store water purification supplies and water filters.

Here at the following links you will find more information on what the church says about it.

Family Resources at Provident Living

http://providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,1706-1,00.html

Now I have noticed that the church has come down to them saying that for one person, long term storage should include 25 lbs of grains, such as wheat, and 5 lbs of beans or legumes. Now I don’t know about you, but that is strictly survival and if that is all you have got, well have fun chewing that wheat and those beans. The church used to ask us to have a seven year supply of food. If you check out this post Food Storage Timeline you will find a timeline that shows how food storage has changed over the years. I personally think that right now, they just want us to survive, and if we don’t have it as of yet, we had just better get something before it is too late.

Here at this post I have stated why I believe is the minimum we should all have.

Basic Long Term Storage

And here are a couple of blogs that show what that basic amount would look like and what you could do with it – one loaf of bread per day and 1/3 cup of beans per day per person. Not very appealing to me.

http://modernmollymormon.blogspot.com/2009/04/what-does-basic-1-year-food-storage-for.html

http://schoolofgoodenough.blogspot.com/2009/03/what-years-food-storage-looks-like.html

Here is a food storage calculator that you can download and use to figure out just how much your family should have.

Food Storage Calculator

Be proactive. I thought I might actually show some pictures of people in famine, but I will only show one, because they are just way too graphic and disturbing, but if you want to see more, feel free to look here. Famine Pictures

I never want my own family to ever have to go through anything like that. I never want to have to tell my grandchildren that Grandma doesn’t have any food for them today. I don’t think I could bear that. I am preparing daily. I have lots and lots of food storage, but still feel like it isn’t enough and there is always more that I can do. I don’t believe I will ever be done, until there is simply no more food left to store.

Pandemic Preparedness

2011-09-13T22:51:00.000-07:00

“Contagin”….. An interesting movie! I went to see it tonight. It got my mind thinking once again about pandemics. Since the Swine Flu, I have kind of put Pandemic preparedness to the back burner, but I think it is time to revisit it. This movie of course is Hollywood’s version of what could happen “if”…… And you know it wasn’t far off on many of it’s ideas. It showed how things could escalate so quickly and what may happen as society breaks down and the government takes control of our lives, in an attempt to control the outbreak. It is worth the watch, but definitely doesn’t leave one with a happy feeling. I think it is worth the watch because it brings about many questions in one’s mind about “what if?”

I thought I might share a bit about pandemics. I have no doubt that at some point we will have to deal with something very serious. Whether it will be the “Bird Flu”, some other virus, or perhaps something that we haven't even heard of yet, who really knows? But I think we should all be aware and be prepared for whatever it might be.

I want to share just a bit about past pandemics we have had.

1918 – Spanish Influenza – killed approximately 100 million people.

1957 – 1958 – Asian Flu – approximately 2 million deaths

1968 – 1969 and 1970 – 1972 – killed approximately 33,800 people

2009 – Swine Flu – approximately 11,00 deaths

A Pandemic occurs when there is a new virus or disease that there is little or no immunity to, and then is spreads easily from person to person. It is global and effects global populations. It can be mild, moderate, or very severe causing death. Check out this site http://www.who.int/csr/disease/influenza/pandemic/en/ to see how they classify a pandemic and to learn more about what to prepare, and get a checklist.

Pandemics can last up to 2 years with the infection coming in several different waves, that will usually last up to 8 weeks at a time. This is where it is really important for everyone to have a 3 month supply of food and supplies in your home, and be prepared to shelter in place if and when need occurs. Your food should be easy to prepare meals and foods that are familiar to your family. This is not the time to start experimenting with long term food storage. And easy to prepare would be, so that any family member could prepare them if mom and / or dad happen to get sick.

Think of a worst case scenario such as trucks stop running because the truckers are sick, or the warehouses that stock the food for the truckers to carry to the store don't have the employees because they are sick. It wouldn't take long for the public works in your city to shut down if people are sick, and soon garbage would pile up, perhaps the water won't get treated because the only people that know what to do are sick or dead, and the maintenance on the other utilities will not be kept up since many people are too sick to maintain them. It wouldn't take very long for stores to run out of food, and even if they did have food, (which is a big if), they might not have the people to keep it up and running. Looting would be taking place. People tend to go a bit crazy. What if the hospital was overflowing with sick patients, but the nurses and doctors are short staffed because they are sick themselves, or they just plain refuse to work because they don’t want to get sick? Perhaps your city will enforce a quarantine, nobody in and nobody out. Believe me, they likely have plans in place to enforce just such a scenario.

Items and services that we take for granted will become nearly or completely unavailable. There are so many if's, and what if's in this kind of a situation, and the best thing to do, is to ask yourself and your family some of these what if's. Sit down with them and take a hard look at what would really happen, and then make a plan to prepare for that worst case scenario. Preparing for the worst case scenario, is just smart planning, and then no matter what hits, you will be able to deal with it.

Michael O. Leavitt, Secretary of Health and Human Services, 2006 – 2009 said, “Any community (or family) that fails to prepare and expects the federal government to come to the rescue is tragically wrong.”

So really how can we prepare for such a wide spread, crazy event? Here are a few ideas and links to follow.

1. Do your best to stay healthy and fit. This is not always a guarantee of safety, but is a good place to start.

2. Make sure to have a 3 month supply of prescription medications on hand, or any other types of medicines you think you will need. Don't count on running to the drug store to get them, because every other person in your local area will be thinking the same thing and if you aren't the first one there, well you just won't get it. Have pain relievers, cough syrup, cold and flu medicines, etc.

3. Learn how to prevent the spreading of germs. Proper hand washing, coughing, sneezing, social distancing, (avoid large groups, keep your distance – six feet – when you do have to communicate) are all things that you should be practicing right now so that in an emergency, it will just be common sense to do them. You can read more here on washing hands properly. Handwashing Hand sanitizers are so important. Carry them with you all the time. Use them when you are out in public. Carry wipes with you and clean buggy handles, door handles, and things like that before you touch them. Sanitize your hands after touching. Here Coughs and sneezes you can find information about proper sneezing and coughing.

4. Have on hand masks, gloves, flu medicines, and anything that your family would usually use when someone has the flu. Make sure you have enough of these things on hand to last you for several weeks. For example, if you like jello, or chicken noodle soup, or gingerale, now is the time to stock up on these things. Remember lots of toilet paper, cleaning supplies, paper towels, bleach and things like that. Take into consideration personal hygiene, sanitation, clothes washing, trash, cooking, power, heating, communication, and entertainment. At the following link you can find some planning helps Personal Pandemic Planning Prepare to quarantine yourself in your home, whether you might be sick or might just not want to get sick. You may have to stay in your home for quite some time, until it passes. Here are a couple of links to follow about sheltering in place Shelter in Place and here Shelter in Place

5. Think ahead about your home, and where you would be able to put a sick person to quarantine as much as possible from other members of the family. Easy access to a bathroom, some form of entertainment like a tv in the room, and least possibility of spreading the germs. Things you might want to have in a sick room: thermometers, rubbing alcohol, humidifiers, garbage bags, disinfectant wipes, sanitizers, and anything else that might help the situation. Here is a site that tells a bit about that here isolation and quarantine

There are so many different ways to prepare for something like this. Do some research. Check with your local government websites, most of them will have information for you.

Here is a great rehydration recipe for someone who is sick and in jeopardy of dehydration.

1 tsp salt

8 tsp sugar

5 cups clean drinking water. You can add flavoring such as Kool-Aid to make it taste a bit better. Sitr the mixture well until all dissolved. Give liberally to a sick patient as they can take it, to prevent dehydration.

An idea that I use to prepare for things such as pandemic, would be to place all items you might need that go together into a rubbermaid type bin and label it well. For example I have a bin called my flu bin. It has all my meds, masks, gloves, bed pads, straws for easy drinking, and things like that in it. I have a bin for activities, like coloring books, games, and crafts. Ideas for bins might be, 72 hour emergency bins, lighting bins, heating bins, a sanitation bin, sewing bin, birthing bin, disposable eating, first aid, bedding, communication bin, laundry bin, cold weather clothing, household tools, baby bin, wool blankets, and so on. I will do more posts on the different things you can have in these bins, but for now work on preparing a flu bin and a shelter in place bin.

Your shelter in place bin should include duct tape and sheets of plastic cut to fit over doors, windows, vents, cracks, and so forth of the room that you might need to shelter in place. You won’t likely use the ones over the doors and windows if someone is sick in the room, but you will want to cover the vents in and out of the room so the virus doesn’t spread. You could hang a plastic sheet over the door that would also help the spread of germs as the door is opened and closed when the caregiver comes in. This bin could also be used in case of chemical spills or dangerous goods, where a person or family needed to close themselves into a room for a short period of time. You would then duct tape the plastic over all possible air flow into or out of the room, until it is safe to remove. A radio would be beneficial in this situation so that you could monitor the situation in your area.

Here are a few links to check out which will give you much more information.

www.getpandemicready.org

http://pandemicflu.utah.gov/

http://www.pandemicflu.gov/

http://www.cdc.gov/flu/avian/

Good Home Treatment of Influenza by Grattan Woodson, MD – an excellent resource manual for every home.

Birdflu Manual

BACK INTO IT AGAIN!

2011-09-11T21:45:00.000-07:00

Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, fires, drought, famine, sickness, disease, financial issues, politics, wars, rioting, terrorism, job loss, flash mobs, food shortages, all manner of crimes, all manner of immorality, ..............hmmmm.........I think that might just begin to cover the world today. Yes there are great things also happening in the world, but our media doesn't cover many of these. They usually go unheard of, except by those whom are closely involved with them. So for the most part it is the gloom in the world that should awaken us to a sense of urgency to get prepared in so many different ways.

I haven't posted on this site since June, summer just came on so quickly and then my life gets really, really, busy. However, I definitely have not slowed down in my pace of preparedness! No way, on that one! I have been canning and dehydrating like crazy. I have also been sorting, cleaning and organizing my preparedness – sometimes mine gets a little chaotic and unorganized! I know, I know, I must admit I am not perfect either! I must thank all of those who follow along on this blog, and those who frequent it regularly, because I really am impressed at how far reaching around the world this information is going. I am sure that more people from afar read and are getting prepared than those who are close to home for me.

But as of recent, I have had several people ask me to once again get busy and get the information out there. I had a great chat with a dear friend last week, when I went to visit her house, and I feel inspired once again to get busy. I have been creating a list (which has reach almost three pages) of preparedness topics that I want to cover. I am getting brave with my video camera and new camera, so I hope to have lots of videos and pictures to go along with articles that I will be posting. I will also try to have a printout / handout for each article, that way you can create your own preparedness binders for ideas and recipes and information.

So what I would like from any of my readers...........is there anything YOU would like to hear about or learn about??? You can comment here and I will gladly get right on it. Otherwise I will just start going down my list and post a couple of times a week.

So keep watching, I have tons of things to share with you!

Thanks to those friends who have motivated me to get moving once again on my blog! You know who you are!

Dehydrating Adventures

2011-06-08T12:31:00.000-07:00

I have been having fun with my dehydrator lately. I love going to you tube and watching videos about dehydrating different things. There are some really great ones on there. Some of my favorite ones are found at http://www.youtube.com/user/Dehydrate2store . She has a series of dehydrating videos – I think 10 or so – and they are well worth watching each of them. They have inspired me to do some really nice stuff. I will keep posting as I experiment more with dehydrating. I have some fruit leather on right now, bottled applesauce blended with some bottled cherries – drop them into the food processor, then spread on trays. Yummm! Healthy fruit leather.

I bought a large bag of sweet potatoes (frozen). I cooked them, and then mashed them in my food processor. Then I spread them out on parchment paper and dried them until they were crisp. Then I chopped them up in my processor, and ran them through my wheat grinder. And I have a bag of instant baby food – sweet potatoes. Very healthy and very yummy!!!

I dehydrated a bunch of applesauce. This was applesauce that I had bottle in the past two years and we haven’t used it all up, so I decided to dry it and grind it up to make more instant baby food, or applesauce for baking. It actually rehydrated just as nice as it was originally. Here are a few of the pictures.

It rehydrates back to normal applesauce. Really nice!! One side note here, if you add sugar to your applesauce when you bottle it, then it doesn’t dehydrate as nice, and won’t powder because it kind of crystalizes. It still works though, just a stickier powder.

Then I also had some bottles sour cherries that we haven’t used up from last year, and I thought they would make really yummy craisin like cherries. And wow are they good. They are nice to eat plain, or in salads, or in muffins and baking. This year I don’t think I will even bottle the cherries, I am just going to pit them and dry them.

Pretty tart still, yet really yummy!!

Gardening with no garden space

2011-06-02T09:10:00.000-07:00

I was supposed to write a guest post about gardening a week ago, but never had the time. Sorry about that! But I did manage to take a few pictures of how I am doing my garden this year. Because I really don't have any garden space in my yard, unless I rip up my grass in the back yard, which I may do next year, but anyways.........I have planted a whole lot of stuff in pots this year. Here are a few pictures of some of the things that I have growing. First off here I have zucchini growing in pots. This was about 10 days ago.
These are what they look like today!
I am thinking that they are going to do great in pots! The only downside of pots is that they need water daily. But hey..........it rains here almost daily..........so that hasn't been an issue yet!

I have some squash and pumpkin that I have planted throughout my flower beds. I have never tried that but, I am thinking they will overtake the flowers, weeds, and everything else, and they should grow good. Maybe less weeding!! :) They got a bit of hail last week, but here is what they are looking like............and if we could just get some heat, they might really start to grow.

I have peppers, tomatoes, and beans also growing in pots. Here is what they look like................and again, when we get some heat, they will really take off.

And here is what my garden looks like along the south side of my house. So who says you have to have a garden to grow things. Just be creative. I also have basil in pots, and have a picture of my grape vine here too. It is just starting to come to life.
I also have at my Dad's farm a large crop of potatoes and carrots. You can grow both in pots, but I want lots and lots to dehydrate and store, so it isn't easy to grow that many in pots. If you want fresh then just google how to grow potatoes in pots, and you will be surprised, it is pretty easy.

With the crazy weather and things happening in the world and even close to home for many of us, it is wise to plant whatever we can and learn how to use it and store it. My goal for my garden this year was to plant things that I want to put away like beans and squash, tomatoes and peppers. Kind of a staples garden.

I have been doing alot of dehydrating as well, and I am working on a post to show what I have been doing. It is pretty fun, and I love my dehydrator! So coming up next...............dehydrating all kinds of things!

Good Insurance

2011-05-18T08:27:00.000-07:00

Well, I had a dear friend give me a call this morning and due to her call, I decided to write this short note.

If you haven't heard about our own disaster, close to home, here is the article Slave Lake

Well my friend called her insurance company, to see what she needed to do to make sure she was covered if something like this were to happen to her. The advice she was given was to take a digital copy of everything, and I mean "everything" in her home. Details, because in an emergency situation, you will not remember all of the things you have. You will not remember most of the things you lost!

So in detail go through your home and make a digital copy with your camera or video camera, and then make several copies of it and keep them in various separate out of town locations, perhaps one in your vehicle too. While going through your home, actually lay out your clothing on your bed and itemize each one, how many shirts you own, how many socks, and so on. Go through each cupboard, closet, bathroom, and so on. And for those of us who have a rather large storage, well if we would want it replaced, then we must detail it all! And I would also suggest that after we have digitized it all, we also have it listed out in detail on paper. If you want to go even another step further, then write down the replacement value of each item. I know it sounds kind of like a daunting task, but well worth the time if it happens to be us in the crisis. I had another friend who had a small house fire in the past and if she would have done this, it would have saved her a ton of time after the fact. The insurance company will not make these lists for you, and they will not find the replacement costs for you, it is all up to you to do these things. So why not do them ahead of time, so that if the disaster happens to your home, and your family is dealing with shock and loss, you will not have the extra added stress of figuring out details of stuff!!

Just some food for thought here, but well worth the time to do it now.

52 Weeks

2011-05-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

Sorry for those who have requested that I send them the 52 weeks zipped, and you have not received it yet. My laptop has crashed, and I thought that I managed to save the information first, however, it isn't looking so good.

Please feel free to use whatever you find on this site, and hopefully I will be able to save my files and still send them onto you.

Thanks

Prepare Every Needful Thing

2011-05-01T18:27:00.001-07:00

I just attended a class this past week at Women's Conference in Provo and it was titled "Prepare Every Needful Thing". One of the speakers talked about some things to do to help motivate us or others to be preparing. I thought I would share a few of these with you. Also remembering that reading these things and learning about them, means nothing unless you apply the action to doing them.

1. Set realistic goals. Successful people are successful because they know where they are going / where they want to go. Set your goals for your 72 hour kits, 3 month supply and longer term supply. Set three realistic goals in each area and post them on your fridge where they are in your face all the time. Review them regularly and revise them as needed.

2. Create a team of like minded people. Teamwork will help us reach our goals sooner rather than later. Meet together regularly, buy things in bulk, build on each others strengths; teamwork can take us far.

3. Plan carefully. Lack of planning can usually be our worst disaster. Plan, plan, and plan, then go and prepare. Research and know what you want, and how much. Planning will promote focus and will also reveal possible roadblocks that might lie ahead.

4. Get enthused. Without enthusiasm, we will do nothing. Enthusiasm will bring success. Teamwork will help keep us enthused.

5. Stay focused. Keep your goals in sight. Change the way you think. Start thinking in everything and every place...........what would happen if.........?

6. Create your habit. A habit will change your perspective and drive you to action. Create the habit of preparedness...........again, change the way you think.

7. Do more than is expected. Know your city's emergency plan, share online your knowledge with others, use www.providentliving.org for help, keep small cash on hand (at least $1000 in small bills), learn to date every food item that comes into your house, keep your preparedness organized...........well you get the idea, do more than just what you HAVE to do.

8. Discipline yourself. Change your habits, your buying habits, your thinking. In an emergency there are no second chances. We get one shot to get it right, so discipline yourself right now so that when the time comes for us to use what we know, we will be prepared.

9. Family communication. Set a good example for your family and communicate to them the importance of preparedness. Do you have a family emergency calling tree, a family budget, a family utilities shut off plan? Do you have all of your vital family information in one book? Do you have pictures of your home, and serial numbers of big items? Think of things like this and make a family plan so they all know.

10. Faith! Strengthen your faith through prayer and preparedness. Faith combats fear. The truth is the truth whether or not you believe it, so prepare and then have faith that you will e okay. Don't be scared, just be prepared.

Great site to check out

2011-04-20T08:45:00.001-07:00

Just thought I would share with you guys a great site. I know lots of you already follow this site, but for those of you who haven't checked it out yet..........

http://blog.totallyready.com

Great info on preparedness and also she keeps up so much with the happenings in the world. Check it out.

Some of My Favorite Food Storage Mixes

2011-04-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Waffle / Pancake Mix

1 ½ cups white sugar

1 ½ cups ground white beans

1 cup powdered eggs

1 tbsp salt

1 tbsp baking soda

3 tbsp baking powder

1 2/3 cups non instant powder milk

10 cups freshly ground whole wheat flour or mix part white flour

All you need to do to this mix is add water until it is the consistency of pancakes, or whatever you want to make! It will make waffles, pancakes, crepes, fritters, and more.

Muffin Mix

8 cups flour

3 cups sugar

3 tbsp baking powder

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix well, put into a large airtight container. Label with date and contents. Store in a cool, dry place. Use within 6 - 8 months. Makes about 11 cups.

Muffins

This is so quick and easy, I use it for breakfast alot.

2 ¾ cup muffin mix (above)

1 egg beaten

1 cup milk

½ c butter melted or ½ c veg oil

Preheat oven to 400. Spray muffin pans with cooking spray, or line with muffin cups. Put muffin mix in bowl and combine egg, milk, and butter in small bowl. Add all at once to muffin mix. Stir until mix is just moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill muffin pans ¾ full. Bake 18 - 20 min. Add fruit, nuts, choc chips, for a variety of flavors.

Chili Dry Mix

Use to season chili, refried beans, taco meat, or spanish rice. Multiply by 4 and store in gallon container. I love this recipe and use it for so many things. It really is good. For the tomato powder, I made my own simply by using my dehydrated tomato chunks and chopping them up in my blender.

1 cup tomato powder

1 ½ c dried veggies (dehydrated onion, celery, and peppers, in equal portions, mixed and chopped in the blender and then add some garlic powder or dried garlic, yummy)

½ cup chili powder

3 tbsp cumin

1 tbsp salt

Chili Beans: Add ½ c mix to a quart jar of cooked beans topped up with water and ¼ cup beef tvp or taco tvp or hamburger

Taco Meat: Add ¼ c mix to burger or veggie meat and saute loosely in oil until brown.

Rice: Add ¼ c mix to cooked rice with ½ c water

Refried Beans: add ¼ c mix to 3 cups mashed beans

Salsa: Add ¼ c mix to 2 c homemade salsa

Cornmeal Mix Recipe

5 cups whole wheat flour

5 cups corn meal

1 1/3 c powdered margarine - or you can leave this out and add oil with your wet ingredients

¼ c powdered milk non instant

2 ½ tsp salt

½ c dehydrate egg whites

3 1/3 c white sugar

2 ½ tsp soda

1 ½ tsp baking powder

If you grind your own cornmeal (by grinding popcorn), grind a small bit of wheat after to clean your stones. This recipe will make about 15 cups. To use: 3 cups mix to 1 cup water and if you have to add oil, then add about 1/3 cup. Bake an 8 inch square greased, for 40 minutes or 10 muffins for 20 minutes at 350.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Master Mix (enough for eight batches) I totally love this one and use it all the time!!!

18 Cups flour - mix part whole wheat and part white

8 tsp. baking powder

4 tsp baking soda

8 tsp. salt

6 Cups granulated sugar

6 Cups packed brown sugar

14 Cups chocolate chips

8 Cups nuts - optional

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar and mix well. Stir in brown sugar until evenly combined. Add chocolate chips and nuts and toss until uniformly combined. Place in airtight container and store in cool, dark location. There is no need to refrigerate.

To prepare cookies:

Beat 1 cup butter with 2 large eggs and 1 tsp. vanilla. Add butter and egg mixture to 6 cups of dry mix with and beat until well blended. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Awesome!!

At the Cannery

2011-04-07T20:02:00.000-07:00

Well, with price increases and food shortages being shouted throughout the world right now, we decided that we would head to the LDS Cannery in Lethbridge, and add to our already growing food storage. We specifically wanted to add lots more beans to our supply. They only carry three types of beans there: black, white, and pinto. They were completely out of black beans, only had 7 bags of white beans left, and not very many pinto left also. Now a few months ago, when I was in this same building, they had palates full of them stacked high on their shelves. For them to be out, was kind of scary to me, so needless to say, I bought every bean they would sell me. My favorite beans are the black beans, and I didn't get any of them.............but I will when they get some more in. They said they were expecting a couple of truck loads in soon, but there has been such a huge demand of certain items, that they are having a tough time keeping up with it. Apparently it is a common theme throughout most of the LDS storehouses that they can't keep up with the demand. So perhaps people are starting to wake up to the importance of what is going on out there in this rough old world.

Another thought, I have had many people tell me that they aren't noticing the prices going up at the stores, so here is what I want to tell you, don't check the prices, but check the size of the box or package, because the prices are staying about the same, but the quantity is definitely not. I compared a box of cereal today, with one that was bought about six months ago. The price was the same for sure, but the size of the box today said 595 g of cereal, and the older one was 950 g. The exact same packaging, with the label "Family Size" and everything, but almost half of the amount in the box. They are pretty tricky! So watch what you are buying.......they are attempting to deceive us!

Prices go up at the Cannery

2011-04-02T19:34:00.001-07:00

I did some figuring tonight on some of the price increases that I have seen at the LDS Church Cannery here in Lethbridge, Alberta. I took the price list from six months ago, and then again in January, and the one that was updated as of Friday April 1st. I then figured out the percentage of each increase per item. It is quite scary to think that prices would increase this much over a six to nine month period of time.

I would strongly encourage you if you think you are in need of any of these things, perhaps now would be a good time to get them. If you continue to wait, you will find either more increases, or perhaps no products at all. This is something to put some serious thought into. The Cannery doesn't sell us these things to make money off of us. They are providing a service for us to get our food storage at the cheapest possible prices. Consider how much the increases must be at places that do want to make a profit off of us, and we happily and deliriously go about our daily lives not even realizing how drastically prices have gone up. Perhaps it is time to wake up!!!

Products	6 months	3 months	Now	Increase	Percent
Black Beans	$15.35	$13.50	$17.15	$3.65	23.00%
Pinto Beans	17.25	17.8	18.95	1.7	10.00%
White Beans	14.95	12.8	16.35	3.55	24.00%
Rice	8.95	10.2	14.15	5.2	58.00%
Wheat	5.6	7.15	7.15	1.55	28.00%
Apple Slices	58.05	61.7	74.05	16	28.00%
Carrots	55.35	58.8	67.75	12.4	22.00%
Macaroni	12.85	16.85	20.7	7.85	61.00%
Quick Oats	8.6	10.05	16.3	7.7	89.00%
Regular Oats	8.05	10.05	15.7	7.65	95.00%
Dry Onions	73.3	77.85	90	16.7	23.00%
Potato flakes	23.5	31.5	34	10.5	45.00%
Spaghetti	15.4	20.35	24.35	8.95	58.00%
Refried Beans	27.5	29.15	36.65	9.15	33.00%
Hot Chocolate	24.5	34.15	39.75	15.25	62.00%
Flour	9.9	10.05	13.6	3.7	37.00%
Fruit Juice	24.45	28.3	31.95	7.5	31.00%

Excellant Video

2011-03-26T10:24:00.001-07:00

A very thought provoking video. The thought is, which person are we? Are we one preparing and watching, or are we one that is too busy and ignoring? Hmmmmm........

Who, What, When, Where, and Why of Food Storage

2011-03-20T21:11:00.001-07:00

I have been planning my class for this week, "Love Your Food Storage." Been doing alot of thinking about it lately, and wondering how does one really learn to love their food storage and it all comes down to "Use It!" If you use it on a regular basis, you will learn to love it. I have really learned to love food storage. It is kind of like any other principle of the Gospel or of the Lord, if you put it into practise, you will gain a testimony of it and learn to love it.

I want to talk today about the 5 W's of food storage......who, what, when, where, and why!

WHO should store food? Absolutely all of us! If there is any doubt in your mind, just take a look around in the world today and the calamities, wars, and commotion that is going on is absolutely every place that you look. I think that the WHO of food storage, is each of us, and we have that responsibility to take care of ourselves and our families. Your neighbor down the street does not need to store food for you. Your government officials do not need to store food for you. Your church does not need to store food for you. YOU NEED TO STORE FOOD FOR YOU!!!

WHAT should we store? http://providentliving.org/channel/0,11677,1706-1,00.html This link will take you to our church site of provident living. If you follow the links it will give you alot of information on the W's of food storage. Here it talks about water storage, 3 month supply, long term storage, and links to other things like financial reserves and things like that. For our three month supply, it should be foods that we are familiar with and that are easy to prepare. Foods that will keep our normal diet as close to the same as possible. If we have a disaster of some sort, it is important to keep our routine as close to normal as possible. If in case of food shortages, pandemics, or other crisis situations, we will have the assurance that our families will have a normal diet of food in our homes, for at least three months. For longer term storage items, we should store at least a one year supply of foods that will sustain life. This will include things like wheat, beans, grains, other legumes, sugars, salt, powdered milk, and oil. These are the basics, and anything else added to it is bonus, and will only make the experience more pleasant. Again, go to the site to find out more details, or do a search on the blog here.

WHEN should we store it........well the prophets have been telling us to store food for longer term use, for over 100 years now. I think that it is about time that we start right NOW. I have a personal feeling that we have a short window of opportunity left to get our homes in order, including food storage, and that window is fast closing. With the natural disasters, famines, crop failures, economic uncertainties, and so on, I feel that we do not have a large window of opportunity to take our leisure time to do this. It is just my opinion and feelings, but I feel it keenly. Do it now and do it quick.

WHERE should we store it...........well, I think that we should store it in every available nook and cranny in our homes that is available. Buckets and boxes can fit nicely under beds, and in many cases can even replace a bed frame. There is alot of wasted space in closets that could be used for storing things. I think the reality of it is, if we have the desire to follow the prophets and store food, we will find places to put it. I read a quote once and unfortunately I cannot find it again, but it was by Wilford Woodruff who said that if we could see what he sees, we would pile our food storage in the middle of the room and walk around it. He was saying this in reference to those who say that they have no storage space available. I think it is rather important, and not having space to store it, will not be an excuse that will cut it in the end.

WHY do we need to store food.........well I think that should be fairly obvious. Really in our world today, how can one say that there is no need for food storage, and how can one think that our government or our church or family or friends will take care of us in any disaster situation. Because really our own salvation comes down to you and me, and we can rely on nobody but ourselves. Personally I never want to be in the situation that I have to tell one of my grandchildren, that Grandma has no food in the house, sorry. I never want to see the look in their eyes of hunger. If I can control that one thing, then I can feel like I can rely on the Lord to fill in the other gaps that I cannot fill in. We have been commanded to store it, we have been warned time and time again of the things that we will face, and we need to have faith that if we keep this commandment, we will be blessed because of it. FAITH!

I will post more about my class at the end of the week, and hopefully it will help you to learn to love your food storage too! We know all about it, so now we just need to learn to love everything about it.

52 weeks to preparedness

2011-03-16T08:18:00.000-07:00

I have had many requests for my 52 Weeks to Preparedness all in a zip file. I do have this available if anyone wants it. I must admit that I was passed these from someone else a few years ago, and changed and adapted them for my own ward use. I am willing to share. Email me if you would like me to send them to you.

djatwood@shaw.ca

What Can I Do?

2011-03-16T08:12:00.001-07:00

My heart has been going out to those who have been affected by the devastation in Japan. And I keep wondering what can be done? All I can think is that we learn from this. But then I have to say what can we learn? What is it that the Lord wants us to learn? And what should we do for ourselves?

Could we have disasters like this where we live? I believe we could! I have had people asking me what I think about where we live, and I have to say that perhaps the problems we might see here (locally - being Southern Alberta), are the ripple effects of these kinds of disasters. The shortages of certain kinds of foods, or the crazy high prices of certain kinds of food. We will definitely see the high prices of gasoline! The ripple effects will affect our standard of living and our economy, no doubt about it. Are we ready for that? Of course we could also have earthquakes here, we do have a few fault lines not too far from here, and we could see some flooding, but nothing like a tsunami, (we don't have water!). We have tornadoes, we have extreme weather, we could see pandemics, we could see biological warfare problems (due to the army base close by), we have a couple of big plants here that produce toxic goods so we could see possible problems there, and the list can go on. So could we have disasters where we live? You bet! Don't think we are exempt from these things!

So then what is our responsibility? Well, my favorite subject to talk about is food storage, water storage, and just basic preparedness and self reliance in our homes. In any disaster situation the immediate needs are usually shelter, water, food, and warmth, along with hygiene and medical supplies. As we see from some of the most recent disasters, and what is going on right now in Japan, those who have survived and are living in shelters, they need medical supplies, they need water, heat, and food. Those a little further out from the disaster areas are finding power shortages (due to controlled blackouts), they are finding empty shelves at the stores due to lack of available food, lack of transportation, due to shut down in dairies, loss of farms, factories that are not operating, and the list goes on. There is a lack of fuel, many cannot get gas at the pumps because it just is not there.

We have been warned, we have been prodded, we have been pleaded with, for many years now within our church, and even through the governments, to be prepared. Our church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), has asked us for well over 100 years now to prepare for any disaster by storing food, clothing and fuel where possible. Many government websites have disaster plans, and tell people to have at least a 72 hour emergency kit, and up to a 3 month supply of food in your homes. Our church asks us to have a one year supply of food and supplies in our homes.

So what can we do? Get prepared in our own homes, for whatever may come our way. Whether it is just high prices, or shortages, or disasters, or gas shortages, or whatever it might be................get prepared!!! Don't think for even one minute that we are safe and won't be affected by what is going on out there in the world. We will, we can, and we will!!!

Our church has Bishop Storehouses that sell basic food supplies in bulk, cheaper than anywhere else, because they want us to get prepared. Take advantage of these. From what I hear in many places that people who are not members of our church take advantage of these more than the members - who have been warned. So find out where the closest one is and head there. We are doing a ward dry pack canning day on April 9th and I am looking forward to that. It is always a great time to get together a group of people who want to get prepared and have a work day.

So again? Could it happen here? Definitely something could, and will at some time. What can we do? Get prepared for whatever may come. We don't know what it will be, but it will come, no doubt.

D&C 88: 88-91. "And after your testimony cometh wrath and indignation upon the people. For after your testimony cometh the testimony of earthquakes, that shall cause groanings in the midst of her, and men shall fall upon the ground and shall not be able to stand. And also cometh the testimony of the voice of thunderings, and the voice of lightnings, and the voice of tempests, and the voice of the waves of the sea heaving themselves beyond their bounds. And all things shall be in commotion; and surely, men's hearts shall fail them; for fear shall come upon all people."

In fact it wouldn't hurt to study out the whole section 88. Study, ponder and pray about it.

We have been warned! What are you going to do about it?

Three Classes

2011-03-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

I have three classes that I now have to teach within the next month. I will have help with the gardening class, so I am not too worried about that one. However, the other two have me thinking.

One is called "Frugal is Fun" and one is called "Using your food storage and loving it".

I have so many different ideas rolling around in my head, but the one that I am struggling with is, the FUN in Frugal. I know what Frugal is, and I live it.....most of the time. But I don't know how to really find the FUN in it. So if you have any ideas or suggestions, please feel free to share them. You can comment, or email me djatwood@shaw.ca that would be awesome.

I will most certainly be posting about both of these classes, as well as the garden class, as the planning goes forward! I always love to teach classes, because it makes me study and learn as well.
Looking forward to it!

Farmer's Almanac and Gardening

2011-03-02T18:33:00.001-08:00

I have been hearing mixed reports about the weather for the next couple of months. So I decided to look up the Farmer's Almanac for our region. You can find it below at this link. And if you are not in my region, then scroll up or down for your own region. http://www.almanac.com/weather/longrange/region/ca/4 Here is what it said for Southern and Central Alberta, Saskatchewan, and parts of Manitoba.

MARCH 2011: temperature 0 °C (2 °C above avg.); precipitation 5mm (15mm below avg.); Mar 1-7: Sunny, turning mild (yay!!!); Mar 8-14: Rain and snow showers, mild; Mar 15-19: Flurries, cold; Mar 20-23: Sunny, turning warm; Mar 24-27: Sprinkles, mild; Mar 28-31: Sunny, seasonable.

APRIL 2011: temperature 2 °C (4 °C below avg.); precipitation 30mm (avg.); Apr 1-6: Snow, then sunny east; snowy periods west; cold; Apr 7-10: Rainy periods east; sunny, cold west; Apr 11-13: Sunny, cold; Apr 14-18: Rain and snow showers, cool; Apr 19-26: Snowstorm, then sunny, cool; Apr 27-30: Sunny, warm.

So all in all it isn't looking to be wonderfully warm, but perhaps not quite so cold either! So now you may ask, why do we really care about all of this? Well, it is kind of important to farmers, thus Farmer's Almanac, because it will help them do some planning on when to plant and what kind of weather they can look forward to. And for us, well we should also be thinking the same kinds of things. We should have most of our seeds ordered if we are going to order from catalogues. If not, do it soon. And we should be planning what kinds of things we want to have in our gardens to have as fresh food for the table, and food to put away for the winter months. Really, because of all of the scares of increasing prices on these fresh items, IF we can get them at all, I think it should be at the top of most of our lists to be planning our gardens and what we want.

What if you don't have garden space? Did you know that you can do wonders growing vegetables in containers? If you have never done it, well just do a google search on container gardening, or small space gardening and the resources out there are limitless. You can also check out your local library on these subjects and I am positive that you will find a ton of books with lots of ideas. You may also want to check out square foot gardening http://www.squarefootgardening.com/ I know his books are at our local library. Amazing information for getting the most produce out of small spaces. This is one of my goals this year is to turn half of my back yard into a bunch of square foot gardens. More produce per square foot, less water usage, less weeds, and less bending. It is a win, win situation.

I do alot of container gardening. I plant all of my hot peppers (and that is usually alot) into gallon size pots and they grow awesome. The only thing with planting in pots is that if it gets really hot you have to water at least once a day, sometimes twice. The nice thing is if there is too much rain, well it will either drain out the bottom, or you can easily move the pots to a dryer location. When I go away camping or something, I just set up a sprinkler drip system and they seem to survive pretty well. If the weather turns too cold, I move my pots inside over night and out again in the morning. There is also alot less weeds this way. You can quite often find used pots, just ask around at greenhouses, farmers, or on freecycle, people are usually quite willing to give away their pots, but not me! :)

So your goals should be right now to be planning on what you want to have growing for fresh and for storage. Figure out the layout of your current garden space, or figure out which chunk of your lawn you are going to turn into garden. (Remember you can't eat grass, well you can but Yuck!!) Get your seeds soon so you can be starting the ones that need to be started indoors. My kitchen over the next week will turn into a partial greenhouse for about the next two months. I love it! Don't wait, just be proactive and have faith that if you get creative in your planting, you can only be blessed with a bountiful harvest.

Some of my Favorite Things

2011-03-01T21:35:00.000-08:00

It has been some time since I have posted here, but I feel like I need to get back into it. I thought I might share with you some of my favorite things that I have or have learned that have to do with preparedness.

My favorite books: Well there are quite a few, but I have recently aquired a couple of new ones that I am really enjoying.

One is called Marlene's Magic with Food Storage. It is not a newly released book or anything, but she has some great ideas and recipes in this book. I ordered it from www.marlenesmagic.com which is her website, so check it out. It really is worth having if you really want to know what to use your longer term food storage for. It contains things like cheese making from powdered milk, making tofu from soy milk which you make yourself, alot about sprouting, cooking with all the basic food storage items, and even making food for babies from food storage. Well worth the money.

Another one is called My Whole Foods Kitchen by Tere Foster. It can be found at www.3Dhealth.net It is also well worth the price that I paid for it, right around $25. She goes through a whole system of setting up your kitchen to be food storage friendly, using all of your longer term foods, and her whole point of the book is to be healthier because of it. She shares a system of rotating by following menus, and planning ahead, and I really love the way she does stuff. She has a channel on YouTube as well if you just do a search for 3Dhealth, she has quite a few great videos not only on food storage but on survival in the Latter Days, and quite a bit of her stuff is LDS related. I have made use of many of her videos to help me organize and set up my rotation system. They are great so check them out!

Some random things:

I love my soy milk maker that I purchased not long ago. You don't have to purchase the most expensive ones, but they are a little bit pricy. Try checking out ebay if you are interested, you might find them cheaper. Shop aroung. Anyways, I have been experimenting with making soy milk, which is surprisingly not too bad. There are a few of us in the house that have lactose problems, and it actually works for us. Of course I have also made it with my milk maker, but it takes way longer and is much more work. So if you have lactose problems, or just want to get your family healthier, I would suggest getting one. I just searched google and found one that I liked. I also am experimenting with making tofu from my fresh made milk. I love tofu, and eat alot of it, because I don't care for meat, and haven't eaten it for about 20 years. So tofu and beans are great. I am still trying to find the desirable tofu, but will keep at it until I find it.

I don't love my hand wheat grinder. I mean it works great for what it is, but if I want to get enough flour for a batch of bread, then I have to grind for about an hour or more, and that is just not fun! So on the top of my wish list of favorite things to get will be an electric mill. I am grateful I have my hand one and someday, I will really appreciate it, however, for now, I really want an electric one.

I love my Cabella's commercial dehydrator that I purchased. I have used it to dry pretty much every thing that can be dehydrated. I am learning to cook with these dehydrated foods and they are wonderful. When they are reconstituted, they are almost like fresh. What a blessing a dehydrator can be. It is worth getting a good quality one, or you will not love it.

I also love my food saver. I have made many of my own meals, "just add water" meals, and then seal them up with my food saver, and voila.........light weight nutritious easy to make meals that taste soooooooo much better than some of the store boughten ones I have tasted. A friend of mine had me try some her meals similar to this that she bought in a 5 gallon bucket, because she said they were just horrible and she needed some help to figure out how to make them more palatable. Well I tried them, and............they are pretty much horrible. Sorry for any of you who have purchased these buckets of survival food. My suggestion to you, try them out and figure out what you need to do ahead of time to make them taste better! In my case, I am so glad that I have the dehydrated foods, TVP, other food storage, and spices in my store room, with the food saver, and I make my own meals.

Well, enough random things for now. I will come back soon because I have so many thoughts on my mind. Things like Gardening - since we are facing such grave food shortages - I think we can and should still be creative in our gardening ways, so that we can still provide and put away garden produce for our families. I will get back to you more on this one soon. I have to teach a class about it, so you will be hearing from me. I am also prepping a class called "Using your long term storage and loving it" So you will hear from me on that one too.

Organizing and Doing Inventory

2010-10-31T12:49:00.000-07:00

One of our tasks for our stake preparedness week was to take inventory of our food storage and preparedness items. If you did it great!!! If you didn't then perhaps take some time over the next few days to consider some of the following and then put it to action.

Gather a small binder or notebook. You can either categorize it alphabetically or according to categories, which ever you feel will work best for you. The categories you will put into it will be the items you already have and then those that you need to have and those that you want to have. If you are unsure of these, then you should make a list before hand so that you have an idea of all of your categories.

Under each heading also make a small note about how to properly store this item, it's shelf life, and any other particulars that go with it.

Make sure to keep it all in pencil because this notebook / binder will change many times as you gather more information and your storage changes.

Under each category make a note for each one as to what your goals are. Write down the dates of the inventories you are taking and perhaps a date for the goals you have.

As you purchase items, update your notebook regularly.

Take a formal inventory every three months to keep on top of it so it doesn't become such a large task. Also this way you will always have in the back of your mind the things that you are needing and your goals.

Well that should keep you busy thinking this week. Have fun with it!!!

Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 18:111

There never was a generation of the inhabitants of the earth in any age of the world who had greater events awaiting them than the present. And an age fraught with greater interest to the children of men than the one in which we live never dawned since the creation of the world.

Ezra Taft Benson, The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 106-107. There is a real sifting going on in the Church, and it is going to become more pronounced with the passing of time. It will sift the wheat from the tares, because we face some difficult days, the like of which we have never experienced in our lives. And those days are going to require faith and testimony and family unity, the like of which we have never had. We must prepare for the great day of the Lord. This preparation must consist of more than just casual membership in the Church. We must be guided by personal revelation and the counsel of the living prophet so that we will not be deceived.

Gordon B. Hinckley, Gen conf, April 1995. This is a time to be strong. It is a time to move forward without hesitation, knowing well the meaning, the breadth and the importance of our mission. It is a time to do what is right regardless of the consequences that might follow. It is a time to be found keeping the commandments.

"Being a little bit prepared is a whole lot better than not being prepared at all. Being well prepared is better then being a little bit prepared." Barbara Salsbury author of Preparedness Principles

2010-10-27T17:50:00.000-07:00

“In mercy the Lord warns and forewarns. He sees the coming storm, knows the forces operating to produce it, and calls aloud through His prophets, advises, counsels, exhorts, even commands – that we prepare for what is about to befall and take shelter while yet there is time. But we go our several ways, feasting and making merry, consoling conscience with the easy fancy of “time enough” and in idle hope that the tempest will pass us by, or that, when it begins to gather thick and black about us we can turn back and find shelter.” James E Talmage, The Parables of James E. Talmage, p. 50

A Soup Project – An Idea to think about
I came across an awesome idea to think about and perhaps incorporate into your family's preparedness plan in whatever way it suits you. For Christmas, or another family gathering, prepare and vaccum seal enough soups for one hearty meal a day for one year for each family. Use 6 of your favorite soup recipes, x 60 for 360 meals. Make the dry meals, and seal them with the instructions either on the front of the bag or on a recipe card tucked inside the bag. Then you know you and your families will have at least one healthy hearty meal a day set aside for one year.
Soup ideas could include:
minestrone soup, bean soup, lentil soup, vegetable soup, taco soup, potato / corn chowder, split pea soup, beef barley, etc. Be creative!

September 26

2010-09-26T17:54:00.001-07:00

Basic Long Term Storage
Per adult for one year

Grains: 400 lbs.
Legumes*: 60 lbs.
Powdered Milk: 16 lbs.
Cooking oil: 10 qts.
Sugar or honey: 60 lbs.
Salt: 8 lbs.
Water (2 wks) 15 gal.

*Legumes include dry beans, split peas, lentils, etc.
Source: First Presidency Letter, 2002

March 2009 Ensign:

Gradually build a small supply of food that is part of your normal daily diet until it is sufficient for three months
Store drinking water
Establish a financial reserve by setting aside a little money each week, and gradually increase it to a reasonable amount.
Once families have achieved the first three objectives, they are counseled to expand their efforts, as circumstances allow, into a supply of long-term basic foods such as grains, legumes, and other staples.

"This new program is within everyone's grasp," explains Bishop Burton. "The first step is to begin. The second is to continue. It doesn't matter how fast we get there so much as that we begin and continue according to our abilities."

Self Reliance Tips

#1. Find an out of area contact. If there is a local emergency, your family should have a contact that each person knows the number to. This way no matter where you are, everyone knows that this is the person to contact to let them know how and where you are and to also find out about the others in your family.

#2. Gather maps for your area, and any other areas you may go in an emergency or on a daily basis. This way you will be able to review any alternate routes should you have to evacuate the city, or skirt around a disaster that might have happened. Highlight the routes you may take, and share these routes with your family.

#3. Gather all of your flashlights and check the batteries. Make sure they are fresh, and instead of keeping them in the flashlight, maybe keep them in a ziploc in the same location as the flashlight. Make sure the flashlights are easily accessible and in places where you might need them if the power is out.

#4. General Conference time of the year is a great time to check the batteries in your fire alarms, and recycle your water storage. Use up your water that has been sitting. Water your plants, inside and out, and fill up the jugs with frresh clean water.

#5. Post important phone numbers close to your phone. Also put your own phone number and address close for a quick reference for your children, babysitter, or visitors if they need to know it in case of an emergency.

September 19

2010-09-20T08:27:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have had lots of people ask me how I get by on such a small food budget in a month. I will share some thoughts. First off you need to learn to buy things in bulk. For example: if you like pasta, and it goes on a great sale, and you would normally buy 2 packages, instead buy 20 packages or 40. Whatever your budget will allow you to buy, do it. For example, this week
I just purchased 100 lbs of brown sugar, and 75 lbs of pasta. Now I don't have to buy pasta again until it comes on sale the next time, or my store starts running low. If you get into the habit of doing this, pretty soon you will have yourself a grocery store in your storage room and you will never have to purchase things (except fresh stuff), unless it goes on sale. And if it doesn't go on sale, then only purchase it in bulk, like a 50 lb bag instead of a 1 kg bag. When I first started on this way of purchasing we ate alot of pasta and rice in the beginning until we built up a supply of other things, but now we do not HAVE TO buy anything unless it is on sale or in bulk.

Sometimes we still impulse buy, and that is soooooo not good, but we are getting better! So start changing your mind set on how to smart shop, you will be amazed at how fast it can build up. And if you have any questions, please call me because I would love to tell you more about it, and how to store it, and all that jazz!

Challenge for you this week:
Whatever is at the top of your priority list for your storage, locate the best place to purchase it, figure out how much you need, and go for it. Start shopping smart! Start your own store. No more excuses!

Following is a brief outline of what the prophets through the years have couselled us concerning food storage. It is in no way a complete list, as much has been said, lots more recently that I have not included. Search the past few years of Ensigns and church articles on the lds.org website and you will find many more that are recent.

1856 – Brigham Young – store 3 to 5 years of wheat
1857 – Brigham Young and Heber kimball – store 7 years of wheat, pumpkin, squash, currents, apples, peaches, beans, peas and others
1864 – President Young – store 7 years of wheat
1867 – George Albert Smith – store 7 years of wheat
1868 – President Young – still 7 years of wheat, oats, barley, corn, vegetables, and fruit
1891 - George Q. Cannon – still 7 years of grains and fruits
1893 – George Q. Cannon – 1 to 2 years of grains and fruits
1916 – Charles Nibley – 1 year supply of food
1936 – President McKay – 1 year supply
1942 – First Presidency – 1 year supply
1954 – Bishop Buehner – 1 year supply
1958 – July Improvement Era – Counsel Regarding Food Storage - long term & short term storage – parable of the 10 virgins
1959 – September Improvement Era – Wheat 300 lbs, pwd milk 100 lbs, sugar 100 lbs, salt 5 lbs, vitamins 365, water – per adult
1966 – President Lee – 1 year – think what it would take to survive
1973 – President Benson – 1 year of leather and bolts of cloth
1973 – First Presidency – 300 lbs grains, 100 lbs sugar/honey, salt 5 lbs, first aid items, fuel, sewing stuffs
1973 – President Benson – clothes, and sewing stuff
1976 – President Kimball – 1 year supply
1978 – President Packer – 1 year
1980 – President Benson – 1 year supply and grow stuff and be self sufficient with fuels and sewing
1982 – Elder Busche – oils, honey, and pwd milk – 1 year
1988 – First Presidency – 1 year – clothing, fuel, grains, etc, etc,
1995 – Elder Perry – Life sustaining foods
1995 – Elder Perry – If ye are Prepared ye shall Not Fear
2007 – Bishop Keith B. McMullin – Lay up In Store
2007 – August Ensign – Are You Prepared?

2010-09-20T08:24:00.000-07:00

President Hinckley November 2005 Ensign
If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear
“If anyone has any doubt concering the terrible things that can and will afflict mankind, let him read the 24th chapter of Matthew. Among other things the Lord says: “Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars..... “For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. “All these are the beginning of sorrows.....
“For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
We can so live that we can call upon the Lord for His protection and guidance. This is a first priority. We cannot expect His help if we are unwilling to keep His commandments. We in this Church have evidence enough of the penalties of disobedience in the examples of both the Jaredite and the Nephite nations. Each went from glory to utter destruction because of wickedness.
......the best storehouse is the family storeroom.....”organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing. (D&C 109:8)
Now what I have said should not occasion a run on the grocery store or anything of that kind. I am saying nothing that has not been said for a very long time.
Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn, and the blasted ears; the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity.

Taking the Month of August Off!

2010-07-30T06:39:00.000-07:00

Sorry, but due to my holidays and the craziness of the next month..........I am taking the month of August off. I will however be back in September, because I have some great ideas, and will keep updated on the world happenings. See you all then!

7 Mistakes of food storage by Vicki Tate Issue #55

2010-07-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

7 Mistakes of food storage by Vicki Tate Issue #55

I found this article and it has some great advice in it. Worth the read. Follow the link. For a short overview, here are the seven mistakes she points out.

1. A variety of food is important
2. Extended staples
3. Vitamins
4. Quick, easy, and psychological foods are important
5. Balance, don't buy too much of one thing and not enough of others
6. Store in proper containers
7. Use your storage, don't let it sit and go to waste

Safety Tip - Is your home safe when you go on vacation?

2010-07-23T20:20:00.001-07:00

A good message from Get Prepared Canada

Is your home safe when you go on vacation?

For many people, summer means vacation and a vacation can mean leaving your home for a longer period of time than usual.

Many people who go on vacation wonder if their house will be safe while they are away. When you go on vacation, the last thing you want is a phone call telling you that your house was robbed- or even worse- coming back from vacation and discovering damage and loss. Here are some tips for securing your home.

Before you leave, check every door and window to make sure that everything is locked and sealed, including your garage door, shed, and basement windows. Also, make sure that you have no spare keys lying around that are "hidden" under a mat or under a rock. Burglars know where to look and a key gives them easy access. If you have a sliding window or door, put a piece of wood or a long metal rod on the track so that it can't be pushed open.

Set timers on lights outside of your house. The darker it is outside your house, the more appealing it is going to be for burglars because they cannot be seen. Also, timers help give the impression that someone is home.

Make sure that your newspapers and mail are picked up or put on hold. If papers and mail are piled up outside your house, it is obvious that someone has not been home for a while.

Leave some blinds or drapes open. If your house is completely closed off, it is going to look like no one is there. If you make it appear more normal, it is less obvious that you are away.

Arrange to have a trusted family member, neighbour or friend to check on your home. Even if it means having them going into the house to water the plants, they can take a peek around to make sure that everything is okay.

Going on a vacation is an excellent reminder to ensure you have an updated inventory of household goods which may include appliances, jewellery, firearms, and other valued items.

If you have any cash, jewellery, or any other valuables in your home, take them out and put them in a safety deposit box. It costs money for this service, but it is far better than if someone were to break into your home and find your valuables.

If you are a firearms owner, please ensure you secure and store all firearms in accordance with the Firearms Act and Regulations.

Set timers on electronics inside your house. Put one on a lamp or even a radio. If someone is watching your home and sees that there is no activity going on inside your house, it is a clear indicator that you are not home.

Make sure that your home security system is on. Don't forget to tell your friend or family member the code so that they do not set off the alarm when they check on your home.

A vacation is supposed to be a relaxing time. There is no reason why you should have to spend time worrying about the safety of your home, as long as you make sure to take the necessary precautions.

Assess Then Address

Assessing your home's security is an important initial step in crime prevention. Essentially, your home should look protected, well-maintained and appear to be occupied at all times. Visit the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation website and complete their checklist, most homeowners will find that there are many areas requiring attention.

This tip has been brought to you by Public Safety Canada and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, with information from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

To learn more about how to become better prepared to face a range of emergencies, visit www.GetPrepared.ca.

If you no longer wish to receive monthly tips, please reply to this email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line.

Some serious things to research and think about............

2010-07-18T22:09:00.001-07:00

I want to point your attention to a few different things..........which to me are reasons to keep on preparing. Sure I have a two to three year supply of most things, but the more I read........the more I listen........and the more I follow what is going on in the world today, the more I realize that what little bit I have............IS NOT ENOUGH! Because as I realize that ssoooooooooo very many people around me have nothing, it makes me want to prepare even more. Now many people think of me (and like minded me's) as fear mongers and a bit crazy............but over and over the prophets have told us to watch for the signs of the times, and be prepared so that we are not in the same situation as the 5 foolish virgins in the Parable of the Ten Virgins. So my question to you is which side are you on????.......the five foolish or the five who were prepared with oil in their lamps? I think I would rather go overboard on the preparedness end of it than be scrambling running and looking for the oil in my lamp when the time had already run out to get prepared. So on that note, I want to point you in the direction of a few things that I find of interest. Now take them for what they are worth and note that I don't point them to instill fear, but to instill the will to get prepared.

We have had the most crazy weather and seasons globally, this year. Flooding and drought in the same countries at the same time. Crops not being planted at unreal amounts of land. Grasshopper problems, crop plagues, etc. etc. All one has to do is to do a little research to find that we are on the brink of some serious stuff.

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2009/12/2010-food-crisis-for-dummies.html

Now what about the grasshopper problem?

http://www.marketskeptics.com/2010/04/day-of-grasshopper-looms.html

More articles to follow in the next few days......

New Blog to follow

2010-07-18T21:27:00.000-07:00

For those of you who have been faithful followers, and I haven't been a faithful blogger for the past couple of months, I would love to point you in the direction of a new blg we have going also. It is a food storage experiment blog. You can find it at the top right hand corner of this blog, the link, or click here www.foodstorageexperiment.blogspot.com

There are some great stories, recipes and pictures, and things to think about.

Fw: [Getprepared] Safety Tip - Eight ways to participate in Emergency Preparedness Week!

2010-05-04T13:06:00.001-07:00

Here is an email from Get Prepared Canada, as you all know that this week is Emergency Preparedness Week. Check out the links and see what else you can do in your homes to get just a bit more prepared.

Eight ways to participate in Emergency Preparedness Week!

Emergency Preparedness Week (EP Week) began 15 years ago as a way to raise awareness across the country about the importance of being prepared for an emergency. This year, EP Week is being celebrated May 2 8 and we're asking Canadians to take action!

A flood, extended power outage, hazardous material leak or other disaster could affect water supply, cut electricity and phone service for days or even weeks. Emergency responders will be on the scene, but they can't reach everyone right away.

Being prepared means being ready to cope for at least the first 72 hours of an emergency while those in urgent need are helped first. It can also make real situations less stressful for you and your family.

There are lots of quick, inexpensive things you can do to prepare your family (some of them take less than five minutes)!

1. Know the risks learn about local risks and plan for those that are more likely to occur. Is there spring flooding? Forest fires? Earthquakes? To find out more click here.

2. Make a family emergency plan since your family may not be together when an emergency happens, a plan will help you and your family know what to do and how to reach each other in an emergency. Click here to check out our NEW "Making a Family Emergency Plan" video.

3. Talk to your kids about emergencies. Teach them basic personal information so they can identify themselves if they become separated from you, and who to call like 9-1-1 or your local emergency number, to get help.

4. Get an emergency kit find out exactly what goes in a kit by watching our short video, "Preparing a Family Emergency Kit in Plain English," then share the link with friends or family.

5. Take part in a local event this year marks the 15th anniversary of EP Week, during which provinces and territories across the country join the Government of Canada and other partners in raising awareness about the importance of being prepared. To learn more about EP Week activities in your province or territory, please contact your emergency measures organization.

6. Download and read a publication or visit your local Service Canada Centre to pick up a copy of Your Emergency Preparedness Guide.

7. Take part in a contest from a "72 Hours" campaign supporter, Energizer, for a chance to win an emergency kit www.Energizer.ca/beprepared.

8. Participate on Facebook  select an emergency preparedness button and change your Facebook profile picture; write on your wall about how you have prepared for an emergency; or create your own emergency preparedness fan page. The button and lots of great information for your fan page can be found at GetPrepared.ca

So, do your part! Take time this Emergency Preparedness Week to get the whole family involved and have fun getting prepared!

P.S. Stay in the loop year-round and become part of the growing number of Canadians who want to share experiences and learn more about how to prepare for emergencies by following us on Twitter @Get_Prepared.

Cinnamon and Honey

2010-02-15T09:30:00.001-08:00

Some interesting facts about cinnamon and honey. I am not sure where this information originated, but was handed to me from someone, who got it from someone,.....well you all know how that goes. But I figured that I totally understand the healing properties of honey and cinnamon on their own, but never realized how effective they could be when combined together. It is worth the try, because they certainly won't do any harm. And so my recommendation............store lots of honey and cinnamon in your food storage!

The article.........

CINNAMON AND HONEY

Honey is the only food on the planet that will not spoil or rot. It will do what some call turning to sugar. In reality honey is always honey. However, when left in a cool dark place for a long time it will do what I rather call "crystallizing". when this happens you loosen the lid, boil some water, and sit the honey container in the hot water, turn off the heat and let it liquefy. It is then as good as it ever was. Never boil honey or put it in a microwave. To do so will kill the enzymes in the honey. Bet the drug companies won't like this one getting around: It is found that a mixture of honey and cinnamon cures most diseases. Honey is produced in most of the countries of the world. Scientists of today also accept honey as a "ram ban" (very effective) medicine for all kinds of diseases.

Honey can be used without any side effects for any kind of diseases. Science says that even though honey is sweet, if taken in the right dosage as a medicine, it does not harm diabetic patients. Weekly World News, in its issue dated 17 January, 1995 has given the following list of diseases that can be cured by honey and cinnamon as researched by western scientists:

ARTHRITIS: Arthritis patients may take daily, morning and night, one cup of hot water with two spoons of honey and one small teaspoon of cinnamon powder. If taken regularly even chronic arthritis can be cured. In a recent research conducted at the Copenhagen University, it was found that when the doctors treated their patients with a mixture of one tablespoon of Honey and half teaspoon Cinnamon powder before breakfast, they found that within a week, out of the 200 people so treated, practically 73 patients were totally relieved of pain, and within a month, mostly all the patients who could not walk or move around because of arthritis started walking without pain.

BAD BREATH: People of South America, first thing in the morning, gargle with one teaspoon of honey and cinnamon powder mixed in hot water, so their breath stays fresh throughout the day.

BLADDER INFECTIONS: Take two tablespoons of cinnamon powder and one teaspoon of honey in a glass of lukewarm water and drink it. It destroys the germs in the bladder.

CANCER: Recent research in Japan and Australia has revealed that advanced cancer of the stomach and bones have been cured successfully. Patients suffering from these kinds of cancer should daily take one tablespoon of honey with one teaspoon of cinnamon powder for one month three times a day.

CHOLESTEROL: Two tablespoons of honey and three teaspoons of Cinnamon Powder mixed in 16 ounces of tea water, given to a cholesterol patient has been found to reduce the level of cholesterol in the blood by 10 percent within two hours. As mentioned for arthritic patients, if taken three times a day, any chronic cholesterol is cured. According to information received in the said Journal, pure honey taken with food daily relieves complaints of cholesterol.

COLDS: Those suffering from common or severe colds should take one tablespoon lukewarm honey with 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon powder daily for three days. This process will cure most chronic cough, cold, and clear the sinuses.

DIABETES: Cinnamon has been shown to reduce blood sugar and stabilize A1C in diabetics. Blood sugar can go from 'pre-diabetic' to normal in six months of adding cinnamon to your morning oatmeal.

FATIGUE: Recent studies have shown that the sugar content of honey is more helpful rather than being detrimental to the strength of the body. Senior citizens, who take honey and cinnamon powder in equal parts, are more alert and flexible. Dr. Milton, who has done research, says that a half tablespoon of honey taken in a glass of water and sprinkled with cinnamon powder, taken daily after brushing your teeth and in the afternoon at about 3:00 pm when the vitality of the body starts to decrease, increases the vitality of the body within a week.

GAS: According to the studies done in India and Japan, it is revealed that if honey is taken with cinnamon powder the stomach is relieved of gas.

HEARING LOSS: Daily morning and night honey and cinnamon powder, taken in equal parts restores hearing.

HEART DISEASES: Make a paste of honey and cinnamon powder, apply on bread, instead of jelly and jam, and eat it regularly for breakfast. It reduces the cholesterol in the arteries and saves the patient from heart attack. Do this process daily and you will be kept miles away from the next heart attack. Regular use of the above process relieves loss of breath and strengthens the heart beat. In America and Canada, various nursing homes have treated patients sucessfully and have found that as you age, the arteries and veins lose their flexibility and get clogged; honey and cinnamon revitalize the arteries and veins.

IMMUNE SYSTEM: Daily use of honey and cinnamon powder strengthens the immune system and protects the body from bacteria and viral attacks. Scientists have found that honey has various vitamins and iron in large amounts. Constant use of honey strengthens the white blood corpuscles to fight bacterial and viral diseases.

Safe Multipurpose Cleaning Recipe

2010-02-15T09:03:00.000-08:00

A great recipe for cleaning. Thanks Judy. Save money, your health, and your environment too!

Safe Cleanser Recipe

Mix together

1 tbsp of Borax powder (find it in the laundry aisle of your supermarket)

3 tbsp of white vinegar

2 cups of water

1 tablespoon of dish soap

1 drop of essential oil such as peppermint for fragrance (optional)

Pour it into a spray bottle you bought at the hardware store, give it a shake, and you are ready to clean. For windows, use white vinegar wiped down with newspapers, and to disinfect toys and other kids' products fill a spray bottle with non-chlorine bleach (3% hydrogen peroxide) and wipe with a paper towel.

Bonus: Cleaning out harsh chemicals is not only better for your health, it's good for the environment, because you drastically cut back on your plastic use by eliminating all those bottles of mildew cleaner, window washer, bathtub scrub, and more.

Laundry Soap Recipe

2010-02-11T12:39:00.000-08:00

I have had a few requests for this recipe, so here it is.

Home made laundry soap

Here is what you need:

1 bar of soap - Whatever kind you like; I used Sunlight bar soap and it is found in the laundry aisle.
1 box of washing soda - Look for it in the laundry detergent aisle at your local department store - it comes in an Arm & Hammer box and will contain enough for six batches of this stuff.
1 box of Borax - This is not necessary, but I've found it really kicks the cleaning up a notch - one box of borax will contain more than enough for tons of batches of this homemade detergent.

A five gallon bucket with a lid or a bucket that will hold more than 15 liters - ask around - these aren't too tough to acquire.
Three gallons of hot tap water.
A big spoon to stir the mixture with.
A measuring cup.
A knife.

Put about four cups of water into a pan on your stove and turn the heat up on high until it's almost boiling. While you're waiting, whip out a knife and start shaving strips off of the bar of soap into the water, or grate it with a grater. Keep the heat below a boil and keep shaving the soap. Eventually, you'll shave up the whole bar, then stir the hot water until the soap is dissolved and you have some highly soapy water.

Put three gallons of hot tap water into the five gallon bucket - the easiest way is to fill up three 1-gallon milk jugs. Then mix in the hot soapy water from step one, stir it for a while, then add a cup of the washing soda. Keep stirring it for another minute or two, then add a half cup of borax if you are using borax. Stir for another couple of minutes, then let the stuff sit overnight to cool. You could also add some essential oils at this time if you want to have a nice scent - like lemon, orange, peppermint, or your favorite

You're done! It will go kind of slimy, or gel a bit, that is normal and good. You just scoop out about 1 cup of the gel and use it in your wash. I figured that you will get about 48 loads out of three gallons, and if you do up six batches of this, you will do about 288 loads of laundry and you will save about $60+ dollars from buying other laundry soap. It just makes sense $$$.

Have fun!

10 MORE THINGS

2010-02-11T10:41:00.000-08:00

10 Things to Know About Food Storage

Learn from others mistakes and others wisdom. That is always the best possible way. Why do we always think we know better? This article comes from www.preparednesspro.wordpress.com I am summarizing the article and also adding my own wisdom and learning curves. Don't make our mistakes, do better!!

Yeast does last indefinitely if stored in the freezer. On the shelf, it doesn't have much longer than a one year life, but in the freezer........forever!
Food storage is out there to get for really cheap or free even if you look around. Don't be afraid to ask people for those apples falling off the tree, or for excess produce in their garden. Most are more than willing to share. Be willing to work for food. I have had many opportunities to work for food. Offer to weed for a day at a market garden in exchange for produce. Offer to barter whatever services you have for food. You will be surprised how well this can work for you. Look for opportunities to glean food, they are out there always.
Learn to can with a pressure canner. I am always surprised how many people are afraid to use them. But once you get the knack of it, you will find that it is your best friend. Ask someone to show you how. You will love it. You can can meats, beans, and absolutely anything if you just cross this bridge and learn how. You can put up all of those free foods that you have worked so hard to gather. One of my favorite things that I have canned it potatoes and carrots together. They are so nice to just dump into a batch of cooked hamburger, or beans, or chicken or whatever, and you have an instant very tasty meal. And the potatoes and carrots can be free!
Learn to make your own things like cheese! There are so many things that can be made from your own basic food storage items, you just need to learn how. Food storage doesn't have to be yucky stuff, it can and should be delicious.
Learn how to use your food saver! If you don't have one, you might want to get one. It is a great investment. You can preserve all of the short term storage items, like chocolate, for many years, if you ahve them sealed in a jar or in a sealed bag. I have many ready made meals in jars and sealed bags, as well as spices, and things sealed in jars, that will have an 8 10 year shelf life instead of a one year life, simply because they are vaccum packed and sealed. Awesome invention!
I know they say ONLY store what you eat but my theory is this definitely store what you eat and learn to eat and use what you should be storing. Learn how to use the survival foods. Just learn it and do it practise it and make it a way of life for you. Then when time comes to live off of it for survival you will already be doing it. There is a real thing called appetite fatigue and it can kill people who are not used to eating certain foods and then are forced to eat them. JUST LEARN IT AND USE IT! You may think that you would never eat wheat anyways, but reality is.....if that is all there is to eat, you will eat it, and you will get sick off it, because you didn't learn to eat it when you should have.
Make your preparations now for your easy meals, your easy recipes, and make things readily accessible so that you can rotate and use what you store. Get a binder or notebook and put your favorite food storage recipes in it, and make it readily accessible. Also add to it, possible food storage substitutions, and other information. The use it!!
Food storage tools like, solar ovens, wheat grinders, food savers, pressure canners and the like are worth every penny we invest in them. And in these situations, for these tools, cheaper is not always better. Buy quality, and you will never disappointed. Buy cheap things, thinking you are getting a great deal, and you will likely be frustrated and disappointed.
Your food storage containers are so important. If you can't keep out the bugs, rodents, and moisture, you will lose alot of your food. These are your worst enemies. Keep your food dry. Keep is sealed. Don't spend thousands of dollars on food storage and then not take the proper measures to store it. You can find free or cheap buckets at restaurants or ice cream shops or other places like this. People are often more than willing to give them away. Just do a little foot work and you can be assured your storage is safe.
Don't be afraid to ask for help. Ask friends and neighbors. Ask people who have knowledge. And most importantly ask Heavenly Father to help you. I have a firm testimony that if you ask HIM, you will see miracles happen that you would never have dreamed of. Are you brave enough to ask..........and then act?

10 Areas of Preparedness

2010-02-10T06:31:00.001-08:00

Ten Areas of Emergency Preparedness

There are 10 basic areas of being prepared. It is much more than "food storage", so here is a list of some of the other ways we can be prepared. Take these ideas and see how you can implement them in the life of your family.

Spiritual The very first area of preparedness that we should all focus on is our Spiritual Self Preparedness. We simply cannot ignore this area, thinking that if we have our food, then we will be okay. There is no chance of us making it through the tough times, unless we have a spiritual foundation to draw from. It is our spiritual strength that will help us, and others, have an understanding and strength to get through anything, whether it be natural disaster, famine, war, financial colapse, or what have you.
Mental / Emotional This area carries with it a few different dimensions. We can actively be gaining education to strengthen our knowledge of emergency preparedness, survival skills, and whatever else is needed to prepare ourselves. This will help to give us a peace of mind that we have knowledge and skills for survival. It will emotionally strengthen us and others that depend on us. Read books, watch movies, take classes, involve yourself in study / prep groups, do whatever you need to do, to get the valuable information you need.
Physical How is your physical ability to survive if you had to? Could you push or pull wagons, hike long distances, carry a pack on your back, camp out in the wilderness, and do whatever is necessary to keep you and your family alive? Do you know something about nutrition and diet, so that you can keep healthy now and then? Exercise is important for your physical preparedness. You just never know what will be required of you. Take the steps now, to be prepared for when you need.
Medical First aid supplies and sanitation supplies are so vital to survival. Study up on alternative medicine options and procedures as well as the modern day ones. There are lots of options available. If you are actively working on your physical health as well, you might want to work on getting rid of any prescription meds that you have and could possibly do with out. Many of these meds, can be eliminated with healthy eating, physical exercise, and alternate herbs, vitamins, minerals, and others such things. For sanitation, think this one through and how you would help your family through a crisis situation with no sanitation facilities. There are alot of "what if's" to consider in this, so go through the scenarios and decide what will work best, and put the plan into action. Get prepared!
Shelter clothing also goes along with this area. Shelter and proper clothing are what will keep you alive. You can have all the food you want, but if you freeze or cook, you will still die. There are many possible reasons as to why you may have to evacuate your home. Could you do it quickly? Do you have shelter that will be quick and easy to transport and put up? Will your clothing and shelter keep you alive if the weather is really cold? Make sure you have clothing for all ages that are in your family. Have them ready in your go bags, so you don't have to hunt for the survival clothing. Hats, gloves, for both warm and cold weather, sturdy shoes, or boots, all necessary for survival in different temperatures. Think of what you will need to reinforce your shelter, even if it is in your own home, things like: duct tape, nails, plastic sheeting, and so on.
Water I want to stress the fact that I feel very strongly that a two week supply of water, is bare minimum, survival amount, and it is not enough! You will have no cleaning, washing, bathing, or any other water than just to drink and survive, if you only store your minimum two weeks amount. Water is the ONLY thing that will keep your organs functioning properly. You will need it whether it is cold or hot out. You just NEED water. I can't stress this one enough. You need water, NOT juice or milk or other fluids, it really needs to be WATER. And in addition to storing water, store a few really good quality water filters. Store paper eating products, because then you don't have to waste your water with washing dishes. Store Chlorox Bleach, unscented for water purification. Even stale water is better than no water, but stale water can be aerated by a simple process of pouring it back and forth in containers.
Food Know how to use the food you store. Know how to cook it without power. Make sure the food you store has high nutritional value, because under stress you will need all of the strength and energy you can maintain. 90 days of food storage, is short term and is for emergency disaster survival. This has a totally different purpose than the one year supply of long term survival foods. That one year supply is a minimum, and don't stop there. Keep on going, the more you have the longer you and your loved ones around you will live. But I stress, know how to live off the food you have and the tools you have to cook it or use it. Don't wait until the crisis hits and then try to figure it out. You won't have the patience or energy to even care to figure it out at that point.
Fuel Collect as much fuel for as many as the tools you have as possible. Make sure that every family member knows how to use these tools and their proper maintenance. Know the proper methods of storing the various fuels you will need. Also charcoal and wood are always a good thing to have on hand because they are so versatile with cooking and heating. Think of cooking, lighting, and heating. Make a plan and act on that plan of how you will do these three things for an extended period of time.
Financial Being out of debt is important, but not always feasible for all of us. We should all be working as hard as possible for this, but there is even more to it. Pay your bills and taxes on time. Be honest in your dealings. Also have some goods that you would be willing to trade / barter, such as wheat, sugar and other staples of food. Have small amounts of cash on hand, but large amounts aren't going to be a lot of good, because soon money will have no value in certain long term situations. You will not be able to buy things because there will be nothing to buy.
Communication Comminicating to others serves a couple of purposes. You should have a communication plan for your family in case you are ever seperated in a disaster. There should be a specific gathering point that all of your family knows. And they should all have the emergency contact numbers in our emergency kits. How will you communicate to make sure that your friends and family out of area are safe? Do you have an out of area contact that you will all call or reach as a home base? Think through the different scenarios and decide what will work for your family, and then make it happen.

Another 10 Things

2010-02-08T06:10:00.001-08:00

10 Ways to Stretch Your Grocery Dollars

Buy produce in season and can or freeze your own for the year. Or even better yet, grow your own garden and put away your vegetables and fruits for the coming year. Local farmer's markets, and local growers are a great source to purchase fresh produce, if you don't have the space to grow your own.
Shop the sales. I can't stress this one enough. This is the best way to build up your food supply and actually save a whole lot of money. Look through your fliers each week, and when you find something that is a great deal, buy several of them. Don't just buy one or two cans, especially if you know that it is something that you use often, because two weeks from now you will just have to buy another one at full price. Buy a case of them or two, then you know you will make it without buying that item again until it is on sale again. After you do this for a few months, you will amazed at how quickly your shelves will fill at home, and then pretty soon you will find you only shop for things when they are on sale.
Buy and cook in bulk. Take advantage of bulk shopping. If you participate in bulk buying clubs, it can save you money. Buy items by the case lots. For example, don't spend $6 on a small bag of rice, when you can purchase a 25lb box for $8. It just makes sense to purchase food this way. Cooking in bulk and freezing or dehydrating meals, can also save money and make life easier as well.
Save on protein foods. There are a lot of meat substitutes that are way less expensive than always eating meat. Beans and legumes are the most common ones and are readily available almost anywhere. There are also things like eggs, tofu, textured vegetable protein, wheat meat, and grains. If you will substitute any of these for meat at least a few times a week, you will find that you will save money on your meat bill.
Go generic. Most often buying generic brand products will save you money too. Yes, there are certain things that the "brand" might make a difference in the taste, however for most things, a generic or store specific brand is just as good and over the long run, they will save you a ton of money. Often companies will purchase brand name products and simply put their own labels on it.
Make things from scratch. If an item is on a great sale, then by all means by a whole whack of them, but if you are buying a package of "Hamburger Helper" for example, when you could make it at home for 1/8 of the price, then it just makes sense to make it yourself. Another example is cake mixes or ready made cookies and things like this. They all cost far more to purchase them ready made than to make from scratch. Find your favorite scratch recipes and keep them in a binder where it is easy to find the recipes and then you will save both time and money, and nutrition to avoid the preservatives and chemicals.
Waste Not. Before you are filling up your shopping cart with perishables, go through the process of knowing how you will use these things. Americans / Canadians generate approximately 30 million tons of food waste each year. Food wasted, is money wasted. Take note on these things and how you can stop the waste of money and food in your home. Also as you are making meals, learn how to be creative with leftovers. Make sandwiches, soups, casseroles, etc.
Plant a Garden. I mentioned this briefly in #1. There are so many benefits that go far beyond the fact of saving money, when you plant your own garden. There is nothing better than fresh produce from you own garden. There is nothing better than getting your hands and feet dirty and communicating with the Earth. I always feel this is my best therapy. If you don't have space for a garden, try growing things in containers. There is a whole lot of information you can find on this, out there on the internet. Plus don't forget the fact that you can freeze, can, or dehydrate your own preservative free, healthy foods.
Make a menu plan. Make a menu plan for the week or month, then go through your recipes and write out a grocery list. Stick to the list! Too often we go shopping and the biggest problem is our impulse buying. We walk down an isle and something looks good so in the cart it goes. We don't have a list or any idea of what we really need, so we just fill up the cart. This is the worst thing that we could do. We waste so much money this way, and often end up spending more than we had planned. And to top it off we have no idea why we have purchased half of the stuff in our cart.
Don't go shopping hungry. Never go grocery shopping when you are hungry or craving something. This is shopping suicide. You will impulse shop, spend way too much money, and get home to find that you have nothing of any nutritional value in your cart and nothing that will last for any length of time. You will then have to go shopping again too soon to get the things that you never got the first time around.

10 Things

2010-02-08T06:08:00.001-08:00

Okay, so i got sidetracked temporarily from the water storage...........but only for a moment, because I have decided to write a few lists of 10 things each! A great friend of mine is good at lists, and so am I, but I tend to lose my lists, because I am not organized.......so if I share them with you, I won't loose them!! :)

So here goes..........

10 Food Storage Staples

Rice is the most versatile staple in your pantry! Rice can be used for hot or cold dishes, all flavors and varieties of ethnic dishes, and combined with another protein, it will make a complete protein. It will sustain life for a long time compared with a variety of other proteins or vegetables.
Pasta is definitely one of the cheapest meals you can make. Much like rice, the the options for mix and match are almost endless. It also offers the carbohydrates that we all need and crave to keep us going!
Beans are really a powerhouse of nutrition. And when combined with another protein such as rice or grains, they form a complete protein needed by the body. They are relatively inexpensive to purchase, and really easy to use, once one practises just a bit. They are a great substitute for meat if you have issues with eating meat. And they are really nutritious, especially if you learn to sprout them.
Rolled Oats is another grain that is so versatile. It can be used as cooked or cold cereal, mixed into cooking like meatloaf and hamburger, or used greatly in baking. It can be ground into flour and replace wheat flour in any recipe. It is very inexpensive and very nutritious, and has a long shelf life.
Canned meats are fairly inexpensive, especially if you buy them in bulk when they are on sale. The are a cheap source of protein and can be used in sandwiches, casseroles, salads, and a variety of other foods. They have a fairly good shelf life and a great variety, such as tuna, ham, chicken, turkey, salmon, and others. You can can your own meats, dehydrate meats, or use other meat substitutes as well.
Sugar is a must. I know some of us think we can get by without much sugar, however it is necessary in our diets, especially if we are doing our own baking and cooking from scratch. We need the calories, and we need the SWEET! It is an essential food for cooking and for comfort. Don't underestimate the power that a variety of sugars could have. White, browns, powdered, syrups, honeys, among others are the options available out there for sugars
Seasonings are important, because let's face it, rice and beans with no flavor are going to get pretty boring after awhile. They will keep you alive, but you won't be enjoying the journey. Dried or powdered garlic is probably one of the best and most versatile flavorings to have. Then remember some dried onions, oregano, salts, and peppers, and whatever your family's favorites are, have a supply of them so your family can stay happy!
Oil is another staple. We are always told to have this in our food storage supply. And until you do alot of baking and cooking yourself, and you all of a sudden run out, you don't realize the value of it. It doesn't have a really long shelf life, but is so important. It also carries the valuable fats that your body will need when in survival mode.
Powdered Milk is another essential that will offer important viatmins and nutrition, especially if you have small children. It is something that can be used as a drink, but also in so much of your baking and cooking. It is easy to hide in recipes, because when combined with other foods, people can't "taste" it. But speaking from experience, when you use it often enough, you will get used to the taste, even the kids will drink it.
Wheat is my final, but not least important item. Wheat is vital to sustaining life for a long period of time if you are actually in that type of situation. It can be used in so many ways. We think that we can only grind it into flour, but it can be used as a great meat substitute in so many ways. Wheat when sprouted is a powerhouse full of nutrition and contains all of the essential vitamins and minerals needed to survive, including being packed with vitamin C! Wheat is definitely a grain that will sustain life for a long period of time.

Water

2010-02-03T07:12:00.001-08:00

WATER! WATER! DO YOU HAVE WATER?

"You are the generation that must be prepared! You live in the midst of economic, political, and spiritual instability. When you see these signs, unmistakable evidences that His coming is nigh, be not troubled, but Stand in Holy Places and be not moved until the day of the Lord comes." - President Ezra Taft Benson

Without water, life would cease to exist. Yet today, nearly one billion people, approximately 1 in 8, lack access to clean water. More than twice that many don't have access to a toilet.

Hopefully, (wishful thinking) we will never find ourselves in a similar situation to some that I will talk about this week. I have decided to put together some information this week on the water crisis facing our world, in hopes to spur those of us who can prepare, to prepare......so that hopefully we will not find ourselves in a water crisis situation. Keep checking back for more updates as I find more info throughout the week or so. The updates will be here at www.todaywhilethesunshines.blogspot.com . I have also found some great school curriculum to help teach us about water and the water crisis in our world, at http://water.org/learn-about-the-water-crisis/lessonplan/ Check it out if you are looking for ideas to teach your kids, yourself, or great Family Home Evening lessons on the importance of water.

Then take the time to ACT in whatever ways you can.....whether preparing your family......or helping someone else. There are many charitable organizations out there that help to build wells in underdeveloping countries, and lots of opportunities like that, but even if we look around us, we will find that we have ample opportunities right in our own communities to help out.

A few water statistics (taken from water.org)

1. Without food a person can live for weeks, but without water you expect to live only a few days.

2. The daily requirement for sanitation, bathing, and cooking needs, as well as for assuring survival, is about 13.2 gallons per person.

3. More than 3.5 million people die each year from water-related disease; 85 percent are children, ages 0-14. 43% of the water related deaths in all ages, are due to diarrhea, which 90% of these are children under 5 years of age, mostly in developing countries . Nearly all deaths, 98 percent, occur in the developing world. Children in poor environments often carry 1000 parasitic worms in their bodies at any time. 1.4 million children die as a result of diarrhea each year.

4. 884 million people, lack access to safe water supplies. Approximately one in eight people. Lack of access to clean water and sanitation kills children at a rate equivalent of a jumbo jet crashing ever four hours. The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

5. Lack of sanitation is the world's biggest cause of infection. At any given time, half of the world's hospital beds are occupied by patients suffering from a water related disease.

6. Millions of women and children spend several hours each day collecting water from distant, often polluted sources. This is time not spent working at an income-generating job, caring for family members, or attending school.

5. An American/Canadian taking a five-minute shower uses more water than the typical person living in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.

5. 443 million school days are lost each year due to water related illness.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1953379_1953494_1954584,00.html Post earthquake water crisis in Haiti. A good article that talks a small bit about the crisis that Haiti faces with water right now.

Water Storage And Purification Author Unknown

In Honduras 9,000 people died in the hurricane. In the 5 weeks following, 35,000 people died from bad water. A good water filter or chlorine to purify water can mean the difference in life or death. Without this, you only have a couple of days. Drinking "bad" water can be fatal and usually is fatal if the Medical system is down. Lack of water will kill in three days... and after 36 hours, your judgment is seriously impaired.

The Church has set guidelines to store one gallon/per person/per day for two weeks. This means you need to store 14 gallons for each member of your family. Folks, this is not enough water to meet the needs of most families in crisis. We use more water than that. The average person uses 72 gallons per day for all their needs including cooking, drinking, and cleaning.

You must also have the ability to purify water after your initial supply has been exhausted. This can be as simple as chlorine and a simple pool testing kit. This is inexpensive and very effective. Be sure to store your water supply in a cool dark area on pieces of wood (not directly on concrete or dirt) [see Issue #13]. Be sure to use the correct storage container. A good water container is airtight, breakage resistant (no glass), and is made of material that won't rust or affect flavor. Bacteria growth will be discouraged if the container is both airtight and opaque, as bacteria needs both air and light to grow. Algae is green, but isn't harmful, just unsightly.

Remember that water weighs approximately 8 lbs. per gallon. Do not store more than 15 gallons of water (about 125 lbs) in any container that is meant to be portable. Rotate water storage every year. The water does not go bad; it just gets flat and tastes bad. It can get green algae, and makes the water a "hard sell" to children and even some husbands. Green Kool-Aid will disguise it.

This storage is of course a band-aid on the big problem. After your storage is used up, you will need to replenish the supply. A good filter or chlorine to purify water can mean the difference in life or death.

Storage methods: 55 gallon plastic barrels are a great way to store water because they store the most water in the least space and require the least effort for rotation. You need a hose or siphon pump to get the water out, and these barrels are great to collect new water such as rainwater from your roof downspout. Use only brand new barrels. Used barrels will continue to leak out the product that was first put into those barrels.

Water purification methods: Clorox Bleach - Please do not use; unless you have nothing else! At best - it will cause diarrhea, vomiting, cramps, and on the worst side, bleeding ulcers. Your great, great grandmother might have had to use this product because it was all they had to make water pure, but this is not true today. The part of Clorox Bleach they sought was Chlorine. That is the part we want. But there are so many other ingredients in this product that hurt and do not heal.

Boiling - minimum of 10 minutes, and up to 20 minutes; so you must have stored a lot of fuel. It requires 20 minutes or more to kill giardia. Water tastes very flat after this kind of boiling. Very effective if done long enough. Needs a huge storage of fuel. Store flavoring for your water: tang, powder drink,etc.

Iodine - bad side effects such as thyroid storm in some women. It has a peculiar odor and taste that some people cannot tolerate. Never use for more than 72 hours at any one time. During a nuclear crisis, iodine may provide the added benefit of preventing the thyroid gland from radioactive disruption.

Purifiers - cost lots of money and are very slow. The filter should be a maximum size of .02 microns or it will be no good for giardia. A Porcelain type is used by the Red Cross to the Green Berets. This will take out types of Radiation (Alpha and Beta).

Chlorine - this is the way almost all cities do it - very cheap and it works - available at any spa & pool store. In the "Joint Chief of Staff Anti-Terrorism report of October 2002", put out at the start of the war, February 2003; this is what they report works and is what they recommend. You must buy a measuring kit as well. It is very slow acting, so time is needed to allow it to work. It needs about 24 hours to work and repeated if there is no measurable free-floating chlorine. To remove the chlorine taste, cover loosely, and let stand for another 24 hours and the chlorine evaporates. Be sure to measure the chlorine before you allow it to evaporate. If there is no measurable chlorine, there may still be bacteria in the water. Store flavoring for your water: tang, powdered drink, powdered milk, Kool-Aid --- Something!

Colloidal Silver - The Micro Silver Bullet of the past AND the future. History: In the milking industry they often use a silver milk pail on a warm day; the milk will not spoil quickly. Plagues in Europe: Wealthy families gave their children silver spoons to eat with and they did not catch the "Black Death". Pioneers used to put silver dollars in canteens and water containers. Pioneers used to suck on silver dollars when they felt ill. Proven that it works with water purification, as well and against many diseases.

52 Weeks, Week 52

2010-01-24T14:42:00.001-08:00

Our ward preparedness blogs:

www.todaywhilethesunshines.blogspot.com

www.1stpreparedness.blogspot.com

We are finished our 52 weeks to preparedness. I hope that it has been helpful for at least some of you to help build your storage through this last year of 2009. During 2010 I will continue on with a weekly bulletin insert and a monthly newsletter. It won't be quite the same thing, but will still give suggestions on preparation weekly and monthly. Keep up the great work, preparedness never ends, it is an ongoing process!

Remember my motto for 2010 is D&C 88:118,119 - Prepare Every Needful Thing - Establishing a House of Order!

52 Weeks to Family Preparedness for Two

Week 52

President Brigham Young "My faith does not lead me, to think the Lord will provide us with roast pigs, bread already buttered, etc.; He will give us the ability to raise the grain, to obtain the fruits of the earth, to make habitations, to procure a few boards to make a box, and when harvest comes, giving us the grain, it is for us to preserve it-to save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years' provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety. Ye Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves."

Food Storage and Preparedness Challenge Of The Week:

Food Storage Purchase 5 Quarts of cooking oil in small containers

Extra Item Purchase 2 Quarts of Peanut Butter also in small containers

Family Prep: Have you thought about what your children might need in case of an emergency when your not around? If it's beginning to get dark, are the flashlights in an accessible location? Are fresh batteries with them? Did you check the light bulb and store a spare? Do you have snacks ready to grab for them? Do you have bedding in a location that can be used if the house is locked up? Have you discussed with the older children where emergency supplies: phone numbers, money (phone), and shut offs are in case they are home alone with the younger kids are? Do you have meeting place pre-picked to go to? If not, now is the time to get these things done. Don't put it off, knowledge now could save lives and heartache. It also helps eliminate fear, and give you peace of mind knowing that the kids are taken care of.

Spiritual Preparedness: Put your lives in order and all else seems to take it's proper order....D&C 88:118,119

A Houston Member's Experience With Hurricane Ike

....Just to let you know that we are doing well. We have a 6'x6' hole in our roof, no electricity, or running water, Trees down everywhere. However, because we listened to the counsel of our Prophet, we were prepared. In fact, it seems to me that it's only the members of the church who seem to be calm, prepared, and helping one another with trees on roofs, flooding, etc.

There is a Point of Distribution in Tomball, TX where we live (slightly northwest of Houston). There, you get water and ice IF you have enough fuel to wait in the 3-hour lines. We don't have to do that because we have 3 full water barrels, 75 juice bottles filled with water, and our pool, which is dirty but we use it to flush.

I am grateful that we have a generator. We run it 4 hours a day to keep our fridge running and to give us light. I am grateful that we have had fuel for it. You can't even buy gas containers as they are rationed. We can only buy bread once a week and are limited to 2 loaves at a time. Water is rationed by the case at the grocery store; 3 cases per family.

The ATM machines do not have power. For the past 6 months I had stashed small bills away because I have had such a feeling of foreboding. We have cash because of that. LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT! Get cash in small bills because the stores can't make change, and credit and debit cards often don't work. I had to pay 5 dollars more for an item because they couldn't make change for me, and . . . PHONES ONLY WORK OCCASIONALLY.

Believe it or not...I have not had a bath in 4 days. Today was the first day I got to wash my hair with pool water. I haven't fixed my hair in a week!!! It just doesn't matter anymore. We

can not do laundry because we don't have water. So, we wear our clothes until they are literally disgusting. When we do finally get water, we will have to boil it since it is contaminated.

Please get your generators, 5 gas cans full of gas, canned goods, baby items, baby wipes to bathe, and all the water you can store...even if you have to trip on it in your home. Have your lanterns, crank flashlights, tarps, rope, etc., ready to go because you never know when it will be your turn to endure the test.

52 Weeks, Week 51

2010-01-17T20:56:00.001-08:00

www.1stpreparedness.blogspot.com

www.todaywhilethesunshines.blogspot.com

52 Weeks to Family Preparedness for Two

Week 51

"Economic and social conditions appear most ominous worldwide today. With revelation and prophecy as our guide, I think it is not extreme for me to say that when all is written about our present generation, it may truly be said that we had hardly enough time to prepare to meet the impending crisis. I venture to say that all our spiritual and emporal resources will be taxed to the very limit. The Lord has declared: If ye are prepared ye shall not fear." Ezra Taft Benson, "Ministering to Needs through the Lord's Storehouse System"

Food Storage and Preparedness Challenge Of The Week:

Food Storage Purchase 8 Cans of Tomato Sauce

Extra Item Purchase 8 Rolls of Toilet Paper

Family Prep: It is important for every member of the family to know where important utility valves and shut-offs are located in the house. It is also important to know where important papers, emergency supplies and other important resources are stored. A simple floor plan of each floor of your home drawn on graph paper will be of great assistance. Include in the plan primary and alternate routes of evacuation from all locations in the house.

Spiritual Preparedness: Read - Helaman 5:12, Check your foundation and see where there may be cracks, and do what is necessary to repair and strengthen them.

Rice should be part of your family's long term storage. It falls in the grain category.

Store Times: White Long-Grain (20 yrs +) Parboiled (10 yrs) Brown Rice (3 yrs)

If your family are big rice eaters you will probably want to increase the amount you store. If you don't want to store pasta or barley you will double the amount you would store. Rice is cheap right now so store lots and get it soon.

Rice Facts:

- Rice is the staple that nourishes two-thirds of the world's population

- Rice is a complex carbohydrate source that is low in fat and calories

- Rice contributes over 15 essential nutrients to the diet, rich in B-vitamins, potassium, magnesium and iron

- Most white rice has been enriched do not rinse it before cooking

- At 103-108 calories per ½ cup serving, rice is a low-calorie food

- Over 85% of rice's calories come from energy-providing complex carbohydrates

- Less than one percent of rice's calories come from fat

- Rice is naturally sodium and cholesterol free

- A ½ cup of brown rice counts as one serving of whole grains

- Research reveals that in Asia 132 pounds of rice is consumed per person each year (23 % of daily calories)

- Americans obtain only 1 percent of their daily calories from rice

- Approximately 90% of the rice consumed in the United States is grown in the United States

- Nearly half of the U.S. rice crop is exported to over 100 countries

- When paired with beans, can provide all essential amino-acids for a complete source of protein

One cup rice yields about 3-4 cups cooked rice

A House of Order - January 2010 Newsletter

2010-01-10T13:14:00.001-08:00

Happy New Year!!

Can you believe it is 2010??? As I have pondered what to do for the year 2010 - I have felt the Spirit of the Lord guiding me. This scripture - D&C 88:119 - is one of my favorite scriptures. I use it as my home motto - even though some things I am great at and others..I have a long way to go. The time for each of us to establish "A House of Order" is long overdue, and is needed so desperately in our lives today. I am making it my goal, to work really hard to make my house A House of Order this year.

D&C 88:119 Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God.

D&C 33:17&18 "Wherefore, be faithful, praying always, having your lamps trimmed and burning, and oil with you, that you maybe ready at the coming of the Bridegroom - For behold, verily, verily, I say unto you, that I come quickly, Even so, Amen."

72 Hour and Emergency Evacuation Kits

Once again we will be working on building up our various kits. We are going to focus first on our Emergency Evac Kits - as we will be having a great adventure later this year, in which we will get a chance to test them out. So let's work on getting them up to the task.

For this month, make sure you have:

Emergency blankets for everyone

Water purification tablets and canteens

Several plastic tarps, enough to cover your tents, and / or make shelters if needed

Gather all your medical / immunization records for the family and put them into your evacuation binder.

Stock up by the Week

Throughout the month, purchase the following items to help build your supplies. Buy the largest amount possible within your budget and store it. Date it, and rotate it. If you miss something, keep going.

Medicines, and first aid supplies

Laundry detergent, bleach, and cleaning supplies

Personal supplies like feminine products, and toothpaste

Family Home Evening Ideas

Water Storage

Songs: The Wise and the Foolish Man

Give Said the Little Stream

The Iron Rod

Book of Mormon Story: Lehi and Nephi's visions of the Tree of Life

Read 1 Nephi 8: 5-38 and 1 Nephi 12:16-18

Discussion: What ran along next to the rod of iron and the strait and narrow path? What body of water did the strait and narrow path go past, where many were drowned? What was the water like in the fountain?

Objectives: Lehi and Nephi saw filthy water as a symbol of the filthiness in the world that can drown our spirits and keep us from following the path to eternal life with our families. Just as clean water is essential to the healthy life of our bodies, clean living is essential to the healthy life of our spirits.

We should prepare for emergencies by storing clean water and equipment to purify water. We can also learn how to purify water.

Activity Ideas:

Choose purification methods your family will use. Purify some root beer and see what happens.

Fill or refill your water storage containers

Find the water intake for your house and learn how to turn it off. Find other sources for water within your home.

Store water in your 72 hour kits, for two weeks, and for longer term, if possible.

Treat ideas:

Root beer floats

Smoothies

Things We Can Learn From Noah's Ark

Speed isn't always an advantage. The turtles, were on board with the cheetahs. Just do what you can do, and be consistent and persistent. J

A Thought:

"Reading habits vary widely. There are rapid readers and slow readers, some who read only small snatches at a time and others who persist without stopping until the book is finished. Those who delve into the scriptural library, however, find that to understand requires more than casual reading or perusal - there must be concentrated study. It is certain that one who studies the scriptures every day accomplishes far more than one who devotes considerable time one day and then lets days go by before continuing. Not only should we study each day, but there should be a regular time set aside when we can concentrate without interference..Perhaps what is more important than the hour of the day is that a regular time be set aside for study. It would be ideal if an hour could be spent each day; but if that much cannot be had, a half hour on a regular basis would result in substantial accomplishment. A quarter of an hour is little time, but it is surprising how much enlightenment and knowledge can be acquired in a subject so meaningful. The important thing is to allow nothing else to ever interfere with our study." President Howard W. Hunter