resurrection

1. The act of rising from the dead or returning to life.                                                               
2. The state of one who has returned to life.
3. The act of bringing back to practice, to revive.                         

resurrection

1. The act of rising from the dead or returning to life.                                                               
2. The state of one who has returned to life.
3. The act of bringing back to practice, to revive.                         

focus.....

Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.-Dietrich Bonhoeffer

get ready......

I'm........ a rebel. I'm not consistent with my blog posts because.....I don't want to!

The truth is I'm busy, but with the world in disarray I've decided it's time to post, AND because my "Farm Girls" club has inspired me. I've been busy planning my garden, expanding the farm, reading :), coaching, mothering, wifing?, saving, couponing, researching and praying. Blogging seemed....not so important.....I guess. But I woke this morning excited to up-date. I won't have any pictures to keep you stimulated, just.....words;)

I have felt an urgency in my soul (for those of you who know me personally I'm sure you are rolling your eyes, but you love me anyway) Urgency to prepare. For what? I don't know exactly, so many things are hanging by a thread right now and if your an informed person you already know.

Self-reliance has been a passion of mine for many years now. Learning skills that have been put to sleep. Standing on my soap box and sharing with like minded people. We are so disconnected, with people, the earth, our food, and most importantly our God.

So now the real reason for this post, you guessed it...FOOD STORAGE! I've been researching and researching some more! Everyone should have some form of food storage. The average American has 3 days worth of food in their home, that's pathetic! I know it can be overwhelming but I have put together some helpful tips to get you started.

There is something thing called "The Mormon 4" I'm not Mormon however they have the food storage thing down!

*The Mormon 4*

Wheat
Milk
Honey
Salt


1. VARIETY...is the key to successful food storage and storing what you eat. So you have 200lbs of wheat don't you think your family will get sick of it? What if you have an allergy to wheat and you don't know it until your forced to eat it as a main staple several times a day. Eat what you store, store what you eat. A large variety of spices will help make anything taste different or better. Eating plain beans and rice for a month would be taxing on mind, body and spirit in a stressful situation, however if you had some spices it could be different every meal.

2. EXTENDED STAPLES....don't put all your eggs in one basket...so you have 200lbs of wheat, what are you going to make with it? Don't wait for a disaster to learn how to cook with what you have stored. It will add stress to an already stressful situation if you don't know how to prepare what you've stored. Stock up on store bought freeze dried and dehydrated foods, home canned and store bought canned goods. Cooking oil, baking soda and powder, yeast and powdered eggs (if you don't have a flock of hens) You cant make a basic recipe with out these.

3.VITAMINS....my hub is nervous about scurvy... I know it sounds funny, but we live in Oregon if gas is done for or it's 10.00 a gal how much do you think an orange will cost? Good quality vitamins are a must!

4.BALANCE.......stock up in balance, you never know when your going to need that storage. Don't buy 200lbs of wheat this month then wait till next month to add something else. Try to buy a little in each category at a time. Buying 25lbs of wheat, 5 lbs of sugar and oil, 25 cans of green beans, corn, tomatoes and fruit is a better buying plan then just the wheat.

5.FOOD CONTAINERS......never store in bags. Use food grade buckets, cans or barrels. All food stored will store a very long time if stored below 70 degrees in a dry place, longer if it's colder. Also make sure your storing your food with oxygen absorbers. Oxygen turns food rancid.

I'm about 6 month out with my food storage, this IS NOT where I want to be, I would like to have at least 5 years stored.

RICE- brown rice is better for you and packed with amino acids, however these acids go rancid if not store properly. Brown rice stored in "normal" conditions will keep for 6 months. If it's air tight and stored below 70 degrees it will keep for 2-4 years maybe longer. White rice has had much of the "good stuff" stripped out of it so it will store much longer, 8-10 years in airtight container below 70 degrees.

BEANS-10-12 years in airtight container below 70 degrees.

GARDEN SEEDS- 4 years in the fridge or a cool dry place.

HONEY, SALT, SUGAR-indefinitely

OATS- 8-10 years in an airtight container below 70 degrees.

You should have everything in an airtight food grade container with oxygen absorbers in it and stored below 70 degrees. If you have a colder place the food will last longer.
Canned goods stored in the proper temperature can last 10 years. Just remember cool, dry and little if no oxygen for everything.

Hopefully this will help you get started. I have only just scratched the surface. I know this task can be VERY overwhelming but what would be more overwhelming, facing a disaster without being ready or being somewhat prepared for whatever is waiting around the corner weather it be job loss, sickness, the fall of the dollar or world war 3-blessings

update

I'm so happy to have my computer back! The sound doesn't work because "someone" spilt coffee on it and fried the "mother board". Who could have done that? ;) I'm okay with no sound......for now. I WILL NOT go into debt for a new computer. Hope your New Year is off to a good start. I'm coaching 6th grade girls basketball right now and we are in the home stretch with our home addition (4 years later)

It has been raining soooo much this winter in Oregon. The sky finally parted and this BIG yellow ball appeared!! I thought for a moment it might be the second coming but then I remembered..... THE SUN! I spent all day in the garden on Saturday, spreading compost and old wet hay, dreaming about what to plant this spring.

Jason and I want to expand the garden this year, that makes my heart happy:) I hope y'all are busy planning your gardens.

We are getting 2 pigs this week, I'm so excited! I'm not a big pork eater (unclean meat) but it's nice to have on occasion and I can sell it for 2.50 a pound. We just butchered our BIG red Angus last week, we've been out of hamburger for 2 months, I've had to buy it out of desperation, can I just say that store bought meat SUCKS! It's so fatty even the so called "good" stuff. One of our freezers is full of chicken, Jason and I have raised Cornish cross meat chickens for a few
years now, but we always brought them to the processing plant.
They come back nice and clean, in there perfectly sealed bags. We decided we were
paying someone to do a job that we're capable of doing ourselves. I'm the kind of person that has to see someone do something before I can do it.
I don't have a mentor, I've always wanted one. ;( Most things I've had to teach myself and I knew it would be the same with home butchering. Thanks to you-tube and one of my farm heroes
Stella at mcguirehomested@blogspot.com We have butchered lots of birds, 4 turkeys, over 40 chickens and a few ducks. Thanks Stella! More to come in the next few days. The sun is out and I must go get my hands dirty-blessings

back

My computer broke..but now I'm back. I missed my blog and being....connected... not a good thing when you think your a back to the basics kind of Gal. I have so much to share but all that goodness has to wait! Soon very soon-blessings

Truth

I know I've been missing for a few months......School and sports started for the kids and that's all consuming in my house. I coach the older girls volleyball team and we had a very busy/successful season, also buttoning up the farm and getting it " winter ready" I had no time to blog or really read any blogs. However, now with the short days of winter approaching and the Oregon rain pouring down I have more time:)

New subject Heavy on my heart......

Have you noticed how far 100.00 goes at the grocery store?

Have you noticed gas eking up?

My child's lunch got stolen at school yesterday.

I'm starting to get a little nervous...

I'm sad for the kid that stole her lunch....breaks my heart...In the news (of course not the mainstream) they say major food and beverage company's are raising their prices come the new year. But it has already started to happen. Also the "Fed" made a statement yesterday saying, "There is going to be some inflation to counter the deflation"? WHAT?

If you haven't started food storage start today PLEASE! If not for yourself for your kids, grand kids, grandparents, neighbors. Start small, start now.....don't be foolish.

Rice, beans and pasta store well. Canned goods and condiments.......ahhhh the list goes on.

Speaking of list...Make one!

When making your list remember toiletries, Meds and water.

People make fun of me for being a food "hoarder" I'm okay with that, it's kind of the joke now.

DO THIS before prices get any higher.

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE....your money ( not that the dollar is going to be worth much soon)

Look for sales, use coupons.

Meal plan... this saves BIG at the market. My sister got me started on this and it saves hundreds of dollars a month, NO JOKE! I make my meal plan according to what is on sale and when I go to the market I stay focused on ONLY what is on my list. Some weeks I get distracted, but for the most part I do good.

Stop eating out....eating out in my family is such a luxury. I HATE spending money on food that tastes nasty. I cook so much better and it costs so much less and it's WAY better for you. When we treat are family and go out the kids get so excited.....it's actually pretty funny. WE NEVER EVER go though the drive through. Why do people still eat that CRAP. It amazes me!

Stop taking endless trips to town....do all your errands in one or two days...then you have more time to be busy in your home, being a homemaker...some people don't like that title....I LOVE IT!

Simplify this Christmas....get out of debt.

Have a "Homespun" Christmas!

Give this season....find a family in need and help them.

Stop.... be still...listen to your gut......what does it tell you? Are you so disconected that you don't hear it anymore?

Prepare for the worst HOPE for the best.

blessings

Think

Y'all know how much I LOVE Greens Bridge. Jason (the farmer) is a family man, his wife Julie is a stay at home farm mom, she always has a bunch of blond kids with her (like myself) Last week when I went to get corn I checked to see if they had any old produce that I could bring home to my animals. This is what I found-

They had a huge tote full of beautiful produce!

I dug through the tote and 80% was fine, maybe a blemish here and there but not bad at all!

Tomatoes!

Yellow squash and Lemon cucumbers!

Egg plant!

3 beautiful cantaloupes!

Some of you, I'm sure, are reading this in disbelief. YES I dug though the cast offs, and yes I washed them up and ate, canned, and dried all I could.

If this freaks you out your probably in the "pre packaged" club, sure you can't pronounce any of the ingredients on the box of crap you just put in your microwave but at least you didn't dig though some farmers compost for a meal...right!

Lots of people won't buy produce if it's not perfect!

So the farm throws away anything that there is no demand for and blemished produce falls in that category. I can't stand to see produce go to waist! When I see apples falling on the ground and rotting I think of all the folks that could benefit from eating them, and with Oregon being in the top 5 states with the highest unemployment why are people not lining up for all this free produce? I'll tell you one of the reasons- It doesn't come in a box.

Back in the depression people would have KILLED for that and I'm sure some did. Sad that we have become so wasteful and food stupid. - blessings