Monday Message

"Every father and mother are the family’s storekeepers. They should store whatever their own family would like to have in the case of an emergency. . . . Some have said, “We have followed this counsel in the past and have never had need to use our year’s supply, so we have difficulty keeping this in mind as a major priority.” Perhaps following this counsel could be the reason why they have not needed to use their reserve. By continued rotation of the supply it can be kept usable with no waste" (James E. Faust, in Conference Report, Apr. 1986, 26; or Ensign, May 1986, 22). 

"A year's supply of food storage is beneficial in several ways: 

1. It provides peace of mind as we obey the counsel to store. 

2. It helps ensure survival in case of personal or natural disaster. 

3. It strengthens skills in preparing and using basic foods" ("Home Storage: Build on the Basics," Ensign, June 1989, 40).

"The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to prophets and stored at least a year’s supply of survival food" (Ezra Taft Benson, in Conference Report, Oct. 1973, 90; or Ensign; Jan. 1974, 80). 

"Consider the important (food storage) program which we must never forget nor put in the background. As we become more affluent and our bank accounts enlarge, there comes a feeling of security, and we feel sometimes that we do not need the supply that has been suggested by the Brethren. . . . We must remember that conditions could change and a year’s supply of basic commodities could be very much appreciated by us or others. So we would do well to listen to what we have been told and to follow it explicitly" (Spencer W. Kimball, in Conference Report, Apr. 1976, 170; or Ensign, May 1976, 124).

I wanted to put several of these quotes in this week to emphasize you could be the wealthiest person or the poorest, things can change in a second. Even people who live righteously. Even us, we have a shift which will require us to once again live without replacing our storage for a time but we have done it before and can do it again, so follow along to see how we get through it.

But most of all know that whoever you are, no matter how secure you feel, it can change rapidly. Though our income is very low, I tried to get one thing at least to stick in storage and you can do it too, but hopefully you can get more.

So I have as of April 16 hit my three month mark for being sick. It has not been fun but we all push through fun or not. I have improved from the worst of it, I hope.

We followed advice from our Prophets and planted fruit trees and rhubarb and raspberries which are now a blessing.

Because having this long time with respiratory problems I cannot feel good enough to garden but I shall try some container gardening.

Remember, May 15 is the frost date in Iowa so wait to plant but it is coming, so it's time to think on what you want to plant and make a plan.

Also, if you have a yard and can plant trees, make them fruit trees.

Please don’t ignore your skill building. Encourage your kids to learn skills as well. You can do them together, do them for family night, do them during the summer.

Teach them how to make bread. I know a family that had a very very large family. She taught them all to make bread. Littler children partnered with older siblings... they all had a skill right there to take with them.

Teach them how to cook from scratch. It is to hard later if you have to learn it and make a wage. Teach them how to do laundry from start to finish. We had two sets of twins in my family when I was eight years-old. Diaper folding is the only thing I knew about laundry. When I got married I was fortunate I ran into a friend at the laundry mat and she taught me.

Teach them and teach yourself skills too.

http://tipnut.com/turkey-leftover-recipes/ - great list on here and tips.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmID9YjOKbg - these people are the best with food storage.

The first thing I worked on was vacuum sealing my pantry items to have them last longer. I did cake flour that I use in Bakers Flower by Kaye Manning.

It is a book all on one mix that is a baking mix. I also mixed more of that mix up.

I did barley, you know things you add to soup dry spinach that I dried for throwing into soup. I did hot cereals, even baking chocolate, popcorn, macaroni... things you have probably in your pantry in boxes etc. So I vacuumed sealed all the things I could find. Once I vacuum seal the jars of food I leave them out on the table for twenty four hours so that if any unseal I can change the lid and do it again before putting them away.

NOTE...a reminder when vacuum sealing flours and powders - use the jar lid as a template and cut it out of a coffee filter. Place the filter inside the jar on top of the product before sealing. This keeps the fine particles from going into the vacuum sealing machine and killing it.

Vacuum sealing will extend my pantry items' shelf life and help with our tight budget.

I am still working on several skills - knitting socks without using a pattern and weaving. My sister sent me a kit to make a table runner that is like a sampler where I can learn different weaving patterns. It is a huge learning project. As I think I have made and corrected so many errors.

In prepping to learn a skill sometimes it takes time to gather tools and supplies. Haunt yard sales and thrift stores. 

I got this bobbin winder at a yard sale for 25 cents.  

The same one new is $142, impressive right? I did look on ebay. They had one for sixty dollars and the bidding isn’t over. So gather as you find supplies. If you never find them frugally then plan them into your budget as you can but collecting needed items are assets.

I cannot be well enough to do the garden from being sick so long, so I have my planters all gathered to plant things like lettuce and spinach. We shall see what I can do. I still have compost so we will see. This too will help us with fresh things. We have an apple tree, plum tree, two peach trees, and we have grapes and raspberries.

So what you do is take account of your assets, see how you can stretch what you have.

I check our local libraries for free cozy mysteries - found one of a bookmobile cat mystery so I am reading that.

I also check www.freereadfeed.com everyday for free books on knitting and sewing, even a weaving book, budget cookbook, and books on how to be frugal and cozy mysteries. So I have built quite a good library of free books.

We gave up cable years ago and bought Roku, one box is in our bedroom for TV and one in living room. No cable bills. We did get Netflix which covers both TV's. So we get news and shows when we want to watch. The best thing of all on the Roku is that we get BYUtv so we can watch conferences at home and can see the spoken word.

So no bill there but the Netflix. We have a cell phone, not a smart phone, that is on our daughter Sarah and her husband Daniel's line, no bill, and we have magic jack for our phone which is $35 a year.

We had already done that but if you find yourself in tight times we recommend these to you.

If you have debt, work hard to get out of debt.

Having food storage helps to get where things will hopefully get better.

Dick is a painter and sometime sells paintings and sometimes gets small jobs with old clients but it is sporadic at best. We pay our tithing which brings blessings, as they come I will let you know. You will get to go with us through this and maybe our ideas will help you.

We drink water and use powdered milk. I cook from scratch and make our bread and rolls and hamburger buns, etc.

So buckle up. Going along with us will be an experience and might get bumpy now and then but we have each other. We are blessed with a great marriage. I also, over many years, gathered things I needed like fabric and yarn and basket supplies and tatting, stuff I saved as people gave me theirs when they quit tatting and basket supplies and fabric from people thinning their stash and lots was gotten freecycle. So I have no need to purchase anything. Being content with what you have is huge and I am content. I have books to read and books to learn with.

I hope you will learn from our experiences.

Ask questions or offer ideas that we can use and share, email me at bshook@huxcomm.net. 

We all just do the best we can.