Buckets of Preparedness Ideas: Self Reliance and Gardening

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Self Reliance and Gardening

It seems like people are thinking about things a lot differently in today's economy than they have in the past. Self reliance has become a hot topic all of a sudden. Instinctively people know that we can't depend on the government or any other organization to just 'take care of us'. We must take the initiative to provide for our families and be prepared to provide for them NO MATTER what happens in our communities. One of the most important ways to be self reliant is to be able to grow your own food.

Shocking was the response of a 3rd grade girl to the question her teacher asked her, 'Where do vegetables come from?' She replied, 'The store'. There are many children who don't even know the plants that vegetables and fruits come from!

Education is the first step, but there is another relevant problem: The Growing Season.

I live in Idaho which means our last frost happens about Memorial Day and our first one in the fall is about Labor Day - that gives me 3 months to garden. Depending on your climate zone, most likely you won't always be able to grow food whenever you want. So we must go to battle with Mother Nature! The solution to be able to grow food year round is simple: a greenhouse. A greenhouse is something I am adding to my supplies this summer. I am so excited about it. I am learning about "greenhouse gardening" and add this to my preparedness skills.

As I have done the research and studied I have found there are so many benefits of owning a greenhouse, here are a few:
1. Grow food year round. No matter what your zone is you can produce year round. Many greenhouse owners have extended their growing season from just July and August to March - November without any heat supplement. What a huge difference!

2. Grow in any climate conditions. In a greenhouse YOU control the environment, not Mother Nature.

3. Added benefit for your family. A family who works and plays together stays together. Teaching, working and having fun in a greenhouse provides for added stability in your children. It also teaches them that vegetables do not come from the store. This is a video about greenhouse gardener's talking about the benefits to their families HERE
4. Basic Skills. Being self reliant also means that you have the skills necessary to survive in various situations. Knowing you have a method to provide food for your family, no matter the current conditions, decreases your stress level.

5 - Decrease in stress. Let's get real, digging in the dirt while in a warm greenhouse, even if the temperatures outsid are cold, heals anyone's stress level!

So next Christmas when I get to go out to my greenhouse and pick tomatoes and lettuce for our dinner, just wave at me as you drive by - well really slide by - I live in Idaho!

For more info on the greenhouse I am using you can e-mail brent@tuffgreenhouses.com

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About Me

My husband and I have been married 38 years - amazing to me that he still loves me! He is a trooper. We have 5 children, 4 somin law's and 11 grandchildren. (7 of them born in the past 2 1/2 years. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I have traveled alot and lived in several places. Grateful now that we have sunk our roots back home.

I have been doing the mom thing for so long, I feel like a fish out of water. One of my new activities has been to join the blogging world. There are so many wonderful people and I have made some great friends. I hope I can help someone else, as much as so many have helped me.

Please come and visit me in my little blogging rooms that are centered around my interests:
Family
Preparedness
Holiday Decorating and Fun
Gardening

Pretend we are sharing lemonade if it is summer and a hot chocolate if it is winter!

What Preparedness Means To Me

I have studied this for 35 years and am constantly amazed at how much I don't know. I love to experiment with all kinds or preparedness preparation. (WOW - say that 10 times fast!)

I am fascinated by the entire study of preparedness. Not sure if that makes me a little wierd or what? But I love learning about all the in's and out of this subject. It truly is a science that has many tenticles.There are many people who know a lot about preparedness. I love to learn from them, hear all of their ideas and glean tips from what they have learned.

I hope this blog can help someone feel motivated to learn more about this important subject and take action in their own life to become better prepared.

F Enzio Bushe

4 - F. Enzio Busche, “How Beautiful to Live in These Times and Be Prepared!,”
Ensign, Jun 1982, 16
With the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in these latter days there continues to unfold the plan of how the temporal affairs of this earth should be governed. With the gospel restoration, the Lord’s ways have been revealed to help mankind eventually build Zion. Thus, how beautiful is the revelation of the welfare plan, presently established in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a preparatory step toward living the law of consecration.
The magnitude of the idea of serving the many needs of people through Social Services, employment centers, and Deseret Industries causes me to rejoice. But what excites me more is the idea of having work projects and farms in order to produce goods for filling storehouses, for distributing commodities, and for giving work and service opportunities to the needy without any commercial or selfish interest.
Let me tell you why this has such personal meaning for me. With a European heritage and educational background, one readily develops a perspective of how in the last 250 years people have fought, struggled, and hoped for a just society that would overcome the destructiveness of slavery, poverty, and injustice so prevalent through the history of mankind. For example, the doctrines and philosophies of Voltaire and Jean Jacques Rousseau, forerunners of the French Revolution, envisioned establishing a just society founded on their understanding of the principles of liberty, equality, and the brotherhood of man. Similarly, many other philosophers, teachers, poets, and dreamers, mainly from England and Germany, stirred up the minds and expectations of the people. Even Karl Marx, who was the intellectual offspring of Hegel and the constructing architect of communism, had as an initial vision the elimination of poverty and the establishment of a just and free society, developing restless expectations among many people of the world.
No man, however, will ever be able to achieve Zion unless he becomes an instrument in the hands of the Almighty; for only God can reveal the whole picture and process of attaining Zion. Through Joseph Smith this was again given to man, and with the restoration of the priesthood there have been revealed organizational details, necessary steps, and true principles upon which God’s Zion will be established.
To me, the Lord’s plan to bring peace and justice is overwhelming and stirs up hope in the hearts of righteous people throughout the world who hear of it. Evidence of this was just recently given again by a prominent European visitor who toured Salt Lake City’s Welfare Square with me. After learning of the dimensions of the Church’s welfare services today, he said with evidence of deep emotion, “I hope you know what you have. It seems to me that this is the only hope of mankind to master the future.”
Now that I have shared my feelings regarding the overall picture of the Lord’s revealed plan of welfare, let me approach one portion of the plan in which we as individuals are directly involved—the personal and family preparedness plan whereby we are to obtain a year’s supply of food and necessary supplies. May I share with you some experiences that I, along with millions of other Europeans, had in the days of devastation, total destruction, and starvation that became a reality for so many survivors of World War II. These experiences helped me to recognize and appreciate the basic necessities of life and to separate true needs from false wants. Since my conversion and because of my World War II experiences, I now have a deep appreciation for the revealed plan of a year’s supply for each member.
Frequently I am asked, “What were the most valuable items in the days of starvation in Germany?” The answer is difficult to believe, because some of the experiences we had seem to be totally illogical and contrary to human nature. The items of highest value were tobacco and alcohol, because people who live in fear and despair, who have not learned principles of self-control, tend to need in times of panic some drug to escape the dreadful awareness of reality. I have seen people give their last loaf of bread and their last meager supply of potatoes just to obtain a bottle of brandy. How fortunate we are as members of the Church that we learn to develop a feeling for the true values of life and the necessity of self-control, so that in times of need there will be no panic, but we will be prepared.
As for what we needed, the food item we relied on most was vegetable oil. With a bottle of vegetable oil, one could acquire nearly every other desirable item. It had such value that with a quart of vegetable oil one could probably trade for three bushels of apples or three hundred pounds of potatoes. Vegetable oil has a high calorie content, is easy to transport, and in cooking can give a tasty flavor to all kinds of food items that one would not normally consider as food—wild flowers, wild plants, and roots from shrubs and trees. For me and my family, a high-quality vegetable oil has the highest priority in our food storage, both in times of daily use and for emergency usage. When vegetable oil is well-packed and stored appropriately, it has a long storage life without the necessity of refrigeration. We found ours to be in very good condition after twenty years of storage, but circumstances may vary in different countries and with different supplies.
The second highest priority item for me and my family is grain in all its forms, preferably wheat and rye. When grain is well-packed and well-preserved, it too is easy to transport, easy to store, and will last for generations.
A third priority item is honey. Its value in daily usage is immeasurable. My family prefers honey rather than sugar because our experience supports some of the research findings regarding the preeminence of honey. Another reason I prefer honey is because during the starvation period in postwar Germany, honey could be traded for three times as much as sugar; its value was considered that much greater.
A fourth important food storage product is powdered milk.
These four basic items—oil, wheat, honey, and milk (or their equivalents in other cultures)—together with water, salt, and renewable basic foods such as potatoes and other vegetables, can satisfy nutritional requirements in times of emergency and also are valuable and usable in normal daily life.
You might ask, “What about the many other food items and desserts that play an important role in our eating habits?” I shall always treasure the great experience I had in those hard times, when I learned to appreciate food with the most balanced nutrients. When a person is very hungry, the taste of food will change for him. In times of emergency, the Lord seems to provide a way to help our bodies adapt. For instance, I remember well that when I was a child I did not like to eat bacon. I argued with my mother whenever she prepared potatoes fried with bacon instead of fried with vegetable oil or butter, not recognizing in my youth that sometimes this was the only way she could provide fat in our diet. Several years later when we were suffering from the severe food shortage, I remember that after days of being without food, the first edible item I could obtain, ironically, was a piece of bacon. I looked upon it as the best treasure I had ever achieved. I placed the pieces of the bacon between my teeth and my cheek and did not dare to chew it, simply because I wanted to savor and appreciate longer the wonderful taste of bacon. At that moment I could not understand how I could have ever disliked bacon.
In times of real hunger the human body seems to develop a natural craving for the things it needs most. An athlete who is preparing for a marathon has the same experience as he daily runs his ten miles in training. He will eventually develop a feeling for the real needs of his body; he will develop an appetite for the food that his body requires, and he will be repulsed by food items that do not add to his body’s strength. In times of affluence this instinct seems to diminish, and this is one of the reasons for much malnutrition in our modern world. It might also be of interest to know that there seemed to be much less sickness during those hard times. The rapid rise and frequency of heart disease, diseases of the vascular system, and diabetes began after the times of shortage in Germany. In spite of billions of dollars invested in medicines and hospitals for improving medical service, life expectancy rates in Germany are not rising—due, I think, to our modern poor eating habits.
When we think in terms of our own year’s supply of those foods and materials we use on a regular basis, we may feel that every family will have to store everything. This, of course, is not easy and seems to make storage difficult. However, let me offer this comforting idea based on past experience. We need to take into consideration that in difficult times, so long as there survives more than one family, there will be trading of valuable items. A free market will begin immediately to satisfy the needs of people, and items in greatest demand will set the price, bypassing the use of money. The ingeniousness of mankind becomes evident in times of need. When man is presented with a problem or challenge, if he is in a healthy spirit—which hopefully we are—he will find solutions that he never dreamed of. When a person has a good, healthy spirit, is able to adjust and is not afraid to use his imagination, he will find ways to survive.
There is a long way from the point of hunger to actual starvation, and there is much that one can do to stay alive in hard times, especially when one is mentally and physically prepared. A garden, even as small as a window box, is of great value, as is the skill to be able to plant and to grow things. Following the war, in addition to having a small garden, my family was able to obtain the milk we needed by keeping a milk sheep, which gave enough milk for our family for the greater part of the year. (I have not seen this species in America, but it was very common in Germany.) Besides milk, our sheep supplied us with wool to trade or to use for knitting items. During the spring of the year it would give birth to one or two lambs which could also be used for food or trade. Some of our neighbors had goats, but we preferred the sheep because of the wool and because sheep seemed easier to tolerate and to work with. They required very little extra care and were easy to satisfy. Also, all over the country, even the large cities, people began to keep rabbits in small pens, and children had the task of looking for grass, dandelions, and leaves in order to feed their rabbits. In addition, people kept hens, and chicken coops were prevalent in all places. Because grain was too valuable to feed to chickens, other sources of chicken feed had to be found. Children found ways of breeding worms, beetles, and flies to be used for this purpose. People also built small, wooden handcarts which could be used to transport items used for trading, which took place wherever people met.
There are some other observations one could also make: The true nature of people becomes obvious in times of real need. Good people become better; they get close to one another; they learn to share and become united. The strength that develops out of unity of the many good people becomes a real survival factor. On the other hand, people who lack emotional stability become cruel and ruthless under trying circumstances; however, they do not seem to become an overbearing threat because of the closeness and unity of the majority of the people. Therefore, strangely enough, those who have survived hardships look back with fond memories to the awful period of pain and destruction because they recall the closeness that developed as they united themselves to survive by sharing whatever they had.
How blessed we are to be taught in these times of plenty that we might prepare for times of need without undue haste. Even more wonderful is the realization that we can prepare ourselves without fear because we know that God lives, that He knows and loves each one of us, and that He is giving us direction in these latter days through a living prophet.
God loves us so much that He allows us to come to Him at any time with our personal requests for help and direction—that our eyes will be opened and we will learn to live with wisdom and patience in times of austerity, that we might learn by the Lord’s influence to identify our real needs.
What a comfort it is to read His revelation to the Prophet Joseph Smith, “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear.” (D&C 38:30.)
The Lord wants us to be prepared.

3 - Keep Food and Water Save after a Natural Disaster or Power Outage

Keep Food and Water Safe after a Natural Disaster or Power Outage
Food may not be safe to eat during and after an emergency. Safe water for drinking, cooking, and personal hygiene includes bottled, boiled, or treated water. Your state or local health department can make specific recommendations for boiling or treating water in your area.
Identify and throw away food that may not be safe to eat:
• Throw away food that may have come in contact with flood or storm water.
• Throw away food that has an unusual odor, color, or texture
• Throw away perishable foods (including meat, poultry, fish, eggs and leftovers) that have been above 40 degrees Fahrenheit (F) for 2 hours or more.
• Thawed food that contains ice crystals or is 40 degrees F or below can be refrozen or cooked.
• Throw away canned foods that are bulging, opened, or damaged.
• Food containers with screw-caps, snap-lids, crimped caps (soda pop bottles), twist caps, flip tops, snap-open, and home canned foods should be discarded if they have come into contact with floodwater because they cannot be disinfected.
• If cans have come in contact with floodwater or storm water, remove the labels, wash the cans, and dip them in a solution of 1 cup of bleach in 5 gallons of water. Relabel the cans with a marker.
• Do not use contaminated water to wash dishes, brush your teeth, wash and prepare food, wash your hands, make ice, or make baby formula.Store food safely:
• While the power is out, keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible.
• Add block ice or dry ice to your refrigerator if the electricity is expected to be off longer than 4 hours. Wear heavy gloves when handling ice.Feeding Infants and Young Children:
• Breastfed infants should continue breastfeeding. For formula-fed infants, use ready-to-feed formula if possible. If using ready-to-feed formula is not possible, it is best to use bottled water to prepare powdered or concentrated formula. If bottled water is not available, use boiled water. Use treated water to prepare formula only if you do not have bottled or boiled water.
o If you prepare formula with boiled water, let the formula cool sufficiently before giving it toan infant.
o Clean feeding bottles and nipples with bottled, boiled, or treated water before each use.
o Wash your hands before preparing formula and before feeding an infant. You can usealcohol-based hand sanitizer for washing your hands if the water supply is limited.
Water
Water may not be safe to drink, clean with, or bathe in after an emergency such as a hurricane or flood. During and after a disaster, water can become contaminated with microorganisms, such as bacteria, sewage, agricultural or industrial waste, chemicals, and other substances that can cause illness or death.
This fact sheet offers the following guidance to help you make sure water is safe to use:
• Listen to and follow public announcements. Local authorities will tell you if tap water is safe to drink or to use for cooking or bathing. If the water is not safe to use, follow local instructions to use bottled water or to boil or disinfect water for cooking, cleaning, or bathing.
• Use only bottled, boiled, or treated water for drinking (however, see guidance in the Food section for infants), cooking or preparing food, washing dishes, cleaning, brushing your teeth, washing your hands, making ice, and bathing until your water supply is tested and found safe. If your water supply is limited, you can use alcohol-based hand sanitizer for washing your hands.
• If you use bottled water, be sure it came from a safe source. If you do not know that the water came from a safe source, you should boil or treat it before you use it.
• Boiling water, when practical, is the preferred way to kill harmful bacteria and parasites. Bringing water to a rolling boil for 1 minute will kill most organisms. Boiling will not remove chemical contaminants. If you suspect or are informed that water is contaminated with chemicals, seek another source of water, such as bottled water.
• If you can't boil water, you can treat water with chlorine tablets, iodine tablets, or unscented household chlorine bleach (5.25% sodium hypochlorite). If you use chlorine tablets or iodine tablets, follow the directions that come with the tablets. If you use household chlorine bleach, add 1/8 teaspoon (~0.75 milliliter [mL]) of bleach per gallon of water if the water is clear. For cloudy water, add 1/4 teaspoon (~1.50 mL) of bleach per gallon. Mix the solution thoroughly and let it stand for about 30 minutes before using it. Treating water with chlorine tablets, iodine tablets, or liquid bleach will not kill many parasitic organisms. Boiling is the best way to kill these organisms.
• Do not rely on water disinfection methods or devices that have not been recommended or approved by local health authorities. Contact your local health department for advice about water treatment products that are being advertised.• Use water storage tanks and other types of containers with caution. For example, fire truck storage tanks and previously used cans or bottles may be contaminated with microbes or chemicals. Water containers should be thoroughly cleaned, then rinsed with a bleach solution before use.o Mix soap and clean water in container. Shake or stir to clean inside of container, then rinse.o For gallon- or liter-sized containers, add approximately 1 teaspoon (4.9 mL) householdbleach (5.25%) with 1 cup (240 mL) water to make a bleach solution.o Cover the container and shake the bleach solution thoroughly, allowing it to contact all inside surfaces. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes, then rinse with clean water.
• Flooded, private water wells will need to be tested and disinfected after flood waters recede. If you suspect that your well may be contaminated, contact your local or state health department or agriculture extension agent for specific advice. See Disinfecting Wells After an Emergency (http://www.bt.cdc.gov/disasters/wellsdisinfect.asp) for general instructions.
• Practice basic hygiene. Wash your hands with soap and bottled water or water that has been boiled or disinfected. Wash your hands before preparing food or eating, after toilet use, after participating in clean-up activities, and after handling articles contaminated with floodwater or sewage. Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer to wash your hands if you have a limited supply of clean water.For questions, please contact 37 AMDS/Public Health Flight/671-9543/9622/Pager 594-1950

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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Self Reliance and Gardening

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F Enzio Bushe

3 - Keep Food and Water Save after a Natural Disaster or Power Outage