“We all need to build a personal ark . . . And we shouldn’t wait until it starts raining, but prepare in advance. This has been the message of all the prophets in this dispensation . . . as well as the prophets of old.
“Unfortunately we don’t always heed the clear warnings of our prophets. We coast complacently along until calamity strikes, and then we panic.
“When it starts raining, it is too late to begin building the ark. However, we do need to listen to the Lord’s spokesmen. We need to calmly continue to move ahead and prepare for what will surely come. We need not panic or fear, for if we are prepared, spiritually and temporally, we and our families will survive any flood. Our arks will float on a sea of faith if our works have been steadily and surely preparing for the future.” (W. Don Ladd, October 1994 General Conference)
http://foodstoragemoms.com/2016/01/why-you-need-food-storage-in-your-home/ - this has great info, I think anyone watching the news saw the snow storm hit the east coast. They showed pictures of store shelves being emptied. I hope you watched and took notes on what you need to improve on in your storage.
http://foodstoragemoms.com/2016/01/back-to-basics-what-you-need-in-your-pantry/ - great list, this will give you ideas.
One lady phoned into the news before the snow storm hit, she was telling people who had their own wells to remember electricity runs the pump to get the water to you. So she said just in case they should have buckets of water in the tub to use for flushing and other containers for drinking and they should have washing caught up and dishes too. Great advice.
One other guy said he was going to the store for peanut butter - a wise thing to have in your storage if you lose electricity and only have items to cook and no other way to cook. You will be hungry. If you have canned fruits, do you have a manual can opener??
We live in an area where we need to watch the weather at all times of the year. In NY they closed the businesses which was wise but people still went out expecting them to be open even though it said on TV that they were closed. Funny, I heard a reporter say they were not the snow hardened Midwest.
Part of being prepared is obeying when they say stay off the roads. We get that here, we get tow bans and as a native Iowan I can tell you that when you go to Mason City you will notice giant gates. Yep, when they close the interstates they close the gates to the entrance ramps.
When we were young and dumb we were going to Mason City from the Marshall Town area, for those of you in this area this was before I-35 went all the way like it does now. We were stuck in traffic because they closed the interstate. We could not afford to have stayed at a motel even if there would have been one open, and I doubt that there was any room as there were a lot of stuck people.
We were between two semi-trucks when we got word the interstate closed so we had to go forward and backward quite a few times to get out between those trucks. Once out we went ahead and got back on the interstate from another way… we were slow going when in front of us was an ambulance stuck drifted in under an overpass, they were in the center of the two lanes. We stopped and the truck behind us stopped. Remember, this was on the interstate and we got out of our vehicles and went and pushed the ambulance through and went RUNNING back to our vehicles to get through before it shut back up.
Well, we made it but the normal two hour trip took six hours. I cringe now to think of it. Now our whole trunk is packed with the winter car kit.
How long could you manage without power? Do you have some way to keep warm? Do you have a way too cook?
A lot can be learned from watching how others deal with these things. NY learned from the last storm, we too can learn.
I know money is tight, I am with you there, but as you can work on heat sources and a way to cook… be aware of things you should not do. Do not heat your house with oven or candles or space heaters that should not be used in house, like kerosene heaters. Do not run generators in your houses either.
I can tell you over many years we have slowly addressed these things, there is still more we need to do. We have a fireplace that is gas and the turn on switch is not dependent on electricity. We also have a wood burning cook stove that we have used to cook and heat when out of power.
Preparing is an ongoing thing - just like the quote at the top, you don’t start when things happen, do it before.
The stores cleared out of food. I was surprised to hear frozen pizza was the first to go. I hope they kept their power to be able to cook them.
In the first link she covers some of the reasons why to store food. A trucker’s strike hit when we lived in South Dakota and lots of food is trucked in there. I went into the store to see what they had and they had vanilla and dog food. It was incredible. When things out of our control happen it is best to be prepared.
Remember to work on your skills…
http://www.granny-miller.com/101-basic-homesteading-skills/ while most of us are not homesteaders this list is still useful. Pick things off the list you need to know to help your family because if you wait when the crisis hits you will be so busy it will not be the time to learn, you just won’t be able too.
While it might seem old fashioned to know these things but it isn't. While you might not need to know or do things now, it is an arrow in your quiver.
Okay, read the list. There are things non-homesteaders would not do but she has a lot on the list we can do.
While the limit to feeding live stock is my feeding and watering cats and policing their litter boxes…
I love this lady's blog. I can tell you there are things I do not like to do... construction work, gardening with a passion - I hate it, but they are important. For example, no one likes to clean the toilet but what if it did not get done?? Exactly.
Number 89 I really like… Learn when it is more economical to buy something ready-made or when to make it yourself. I would add to that knowing how to find cheap resources to do it more economical.
It is huge to be able to mend your own clothes. I was sitting in my sewing room as I have been sewing Mckenzie’s baptism dress…but I looked at my supplies again it has been years and 99% of it used or free... why did I store such supplies?? Well I can tell you I was touched deeply by a story of one of our Prophets going to worn torn nations. When they went they would take suitcases of oranges to give and one by one the people would go up to get an orange. One woman noticed a sewing kit in the suitcase, she asked if she might have that instead of the orange and they gave it to her and the other women said they hoped she would share. Can you imagine clothes torn and no way to mend them? That is awful. So when I would go to yard sales I would gather sewing supplies.
The week I am typing this we had a Relief Society service project at Meals from the Heartland. We filled pouches with a vitamin packet, a scoop of dried veggies, a cup of soy and a cup of rice. We did enough to make ten thousand meals. While I am still in pain due to fibromyalgia it is a very rewarding and humbling thing. As I made bread the next day I thought of the people who would eat that food and thought they probably had no way to make bread… I was grateful I could make bread.
http://www.craftstylish.com/item/47762/how-to-make-your-own-underwear - When I was in 12th grade the sewing teacher showed me how to sew underwear. I had asked her to show me things that would be important to know. She chose that and when my girls were little I could make them underwear… granted this is something you could buy but what if you couldn’t??? I like this site as she uses old t-shirts. Being frugal is good, it is an easy thing to learn plus little boxers for boys are easy too. An arrow in your quiver.
I have a goal to learn to sew a bra. I know I can buy it cheap but I want to learn how. I have been collecting the items over the years, pattern and things to make it, it is a skill I want to learn.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAomYjHzUQk this gal shows how to make pillowcases, she has a great video.
http://www.granny-miller.com/treadle-sewing-machine-advice/ this shows how to use a treadle. It is kind of like rubbing your tummy and patting your head at the same time but could you if you had to? I think there has been so many years since they were a staple in every home that you may not know how. The one pictured at top of blog I have been fixing it up. I only need to add the rope, it is in the drawer waiting.
Yes, I love my electric machines best, my favorite is a thirty year-old Kenmore but I like having a back up such as treadle.
Years ago I went to Utah and visited the Relief Society building and they had a display set up of food storage. They had a treadle machine and a basket of threads and notions. There were barrels of food items and then the barrels were turned into end tables and covered with a table cloth. You wouldn’t know food was under there. They had a table in front of the couch which was a day bed and inside the table was their first aide kit. They made bolsters and stuffed them with blankets, all things you would need. Clever idea.
So look through the granny miller list in that last link. Lots we don’t have to do and I can tell you I would be a vegetarian if it meant some of that like skinning and eating things. Nope, it really is an encouragement to have my meat canned. Not gonna kill or skin anything for me but it is an interesting list. Granny Miller lives on a farm….look at different things she has on her site.
Keep working on the most important skills your family would need if it were needed. I know for me just regular living requires that my skills need to be kept up and added upon.
Keep working on your storage… you are doing great!
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