Food Storage and Gardening are the best of companions

Photo by Shannon at Moments Captured

It's become my habit due to short amounts of available time to share most things on Facebook instead of on the blog.  So when I saw this post by Apartment Prepper and wanted to share it, I immediately started typing on Facebook.  After the first paragraph, I asked myself why I wasn't just typing it on the blog, and then sharing my blog post.  So here we go, my first "real" post since before our move.


This is the first year in a while that we have not had a garden - it just wasn't feasible knowing that we would be moving in the summer.  And because we didn't have a garden to share pictures of, I'm sharing a picture of the harvest my friend Shannon at Moments Captured is enjoying this year.  Our new house doesn't even have a garden bed but that will be changing by Spring.

I really enjoyed Why You Still Need Food Storage Even Though You Have a Garden.  Most of the years that I've had a garden, it has not been successful.  It almost seems that the more organized I am and the more effort I give it, the less successful the garden is.  But each year, I learn a little more.  And to me, that's the point of the post by Apartment Prepper... you can't depend solely on a fresh garden for all your food supply because it may be destroyed (or as we experienced last year, stolen by squirrels - whole tomatoes at a time disappeared without a trace).  You need to have food with a long shelf life stored.  Obviously my preference is Thrive Foods.  With the great variety of freeze dried and dehydrated delicious foods, my family can eat our favorite foods, make our favorite recipes.

I find the two, food storage and gardening, are great companions.  They supplement and support each other.  I especially like that as I develop my gardening skills (it's not something that comes naturally to me), I have Thrive Foods to rely on and enjoy.

Last Light inspires me

A few years ago I read Last Light by Terri Blackstock and as I started this blog and thinking more and more about preparedness, it came to mind so much, I re-read it (after checking it out of our local library).  I'm realizing why my daughter does not like book reports - they're harder than you think!

Last Light tells the story of one family's experiences when earth is hit by continual EMPs (electromagnetic pulses).  The EMPs knock out all electronic components, including vehicles, phones, and power.  Deni is a recent college graduate focused on starting her career in Washington DC and how to get back there.  Doug and Kay, Deni's parents, discover that their family's focus has been too much on the conveniences of the world and now they are forced to find new ways to provide for their family in a world without electricity.  The whole family must face the nasty side of people looking out for their own families and they must make the decision of what's worth risking your life to defend.  This book is awesome for inspiring us to be better prepared and remembering what is truly important - family, not things!

Each time I've read this book, it makes me think about the skills I would need to survive in this situation.  How would my family handle this situation?  Would we be prepared?  What can we learn now that would be essential skills if we were facing this situation or something similar?  If we wait until we're facing a NEED for these skills, they'll be hard to learn in the time available and we'll definitely have an advantage if we've practiced them beforehand.

Here are some skills that I've identified:

Source: The Garden Central

Gardening,   Gardening always sounded easy to me.  You put seeds in the ground, water them, and you grow food.  But it's not so easy.  I've done a garden of some kind almost every year for the past 10-15 years and every year I learn something new and realize how much more I need to learn.  In addition to knowing how to prep the garden and plant the seeds correctly, it's also helpful to know when to harvest the foods.

Source: Home-Canning.com

Food Preservation.  In addition to growing our own food, we need to know how to preserve.  I have a dehydrator but I'm not thrilled with my dehydrating results, except for my beef jerky.  My previous attempts have all turned out either too soft, or burnt.  I have friends who know how to can and I really need to learn how but first I need to get my garden to product enough to can.

Hunting,   My husband has volunteered to learn this skill for our family.  Without him, I would probably have to become a vegetarian or rely on the skills of others.  So far, my husband has gone deer hunting several times without success.  It's not so easy to find the deer and then make the shot.  I guess that means I should say that you need to have a rifle and/or gun plus ammunition, plus a knife you can use to prepare the meat.

Source: chicagofree.info

Fishing.  As we learned on our camping/fishing trip, you have to have the right equipment for where you're fishing.  This is our second time at this river famous for it's trout with NO success!  We finally attended a How to Fish this river class in the afternoon and confirmed we were using the right bait - but too big a line.  The fish could see our line and wouldn't bite.  Now we'll be better prepared on our next trip.  And we need to learn the best way to clean the fish and cook it in such a way that all of us like it.  Put fishing gear on your list of items to have.

Defense.  In the story, the characters have to use their shooting skills not only to hunt, but also to defend themselves.  In addition to hunting, my husband also works on his shooting skills by heading to the range.  This is another area that I have little interest in but my husband, and my 9 y/o, really enjoy this as a hobby. 

Source: Compost Junkie

Composting.   Having your own compost pile is a great way to help your garden grow AND to reduce the amount of waste generated by your family.  In Last Light, the trash builds up without trash service, until someone teaches them how to reuse many items and how to compost.

Source: Mother Earth News

How to wash and dry clothes without electricity, A few years ago we put up a clothesline because I didn't like that the dryer heated up our house during the summer.  Last year, I used the clothesline almost exclusively from April until October because our dryer was not working correctly (it made the laundry smell nasty).  Fortunately, by practicing over the previous summers, I'm pretty good at hanging out clothes in a way that doesn't make them stiff as a board.  I didn't realize there were so many tricks to using a clothesline. As for washing, that's a skill I need to develop.

Source: Sports We Play

Cycling.  In Last Light, the EMPs take out all vehicles that use a semi-conductor, which is most vehicles on the road today.   Many people turn to cycling as their primary mode of transportation since this is a suburban area without horses.  My husband is a pretty good cyclist (his favorite Saturday involves a 40-50 mile bike ride).  I am not.  I need to build up my endurance and strength on the bike and my daughters need to learn to ride without training wheels.  We also need a way to haul cargo.

Powerless food preparation.  I grew up in Girl Scouts learning lots of outdoor cooking methods but I haven't used them much since.   I can cook in a dutch oven and that's one of our backup methods in case of a power outage in the winter - dutch oven in the coals of the fireplace.  I can also use our barbecue grill and our camp stove.  Things I'd like to learn/have:  a fire pit in our backyard with a cooking grate, a sun oven, pie irons (like we used camping with my mom).

 Food Storage (you knew that was coming, right?).  In Last Light, stores ran out of supplies quickly and without transportation, they did not get re-stocked.  So having a well stocked home store would be a life saver in the situation presented in Last Light.  But make sure you have a non-electric can opener :)  Yes, I think a garden is essential too but if the situation started in the winter, starting a garden is not so practical living in the Midwest.

Water storage and purification.  Having a supply of water is a great emergency preparedness supply.  But eventually it will run out and I can't use the tap.  So having a way to purify water, and knowing how to do it correctly, comes in handy, especially if we're having to relocate during the emergency.  In Last Light, they learned how to turn everything that would work into ways to transport water so that having a bucket or two needs to be on the list of supplies.

Each year, Food Storage Made Easy does a 7 day challenge and each day is a different situation.  I've enjoyed reading the experiences that others share as they participate.  Maybe this year, I'll take the challenge and see other areas I need to work on since I KNOW this list is not complete!

Do I believe an EMP is going to happen?  I don't know.  I've read another series of books where an EMP is deliberately caused as an attack against our country.  I literally pray that these situations don't happen but in my ideal world, I'll be prepared if they do.  And in many other less drastic situations, like a prolonged power outage due to natural disaster, these skills can all come in handy.

Are you a prepper?

When I attended the USA Prepares Get Prepared Expo in April, one of the other exhibitors asked me if I was a "prepper"?  My immediate response was I don't think of myself as a prepper but I like being prepared.  My primary preparedness scenario is job loss/unemployment.  What can we do now to be prepared in the case of my husband losing his job?  I'm also trying to be prepared for natural disasters like a tornado, major ice storm, or even an earthquake.

For some reason this question hasn't left me.  And I have though many times about it.  Am I a prepper?  And why did I immediately think No.  The reason I think I immediately thought No is a stereotype that is portrayed so much of a prepper being an extremist.  But what is a real prepper?  I don't think a real prepper is someone who is plotting ways to overthrow our government as is sometimes portrayed in the media.  I think a real prepper is someone who is trying to be prepared for a variety of scenarios, whether it be a natural disaster, economic issues, public dangers, etc.  They care about their family and want to provide for them at all times.

No matter my political beliefs, I know that public riots are possible whever we live.  We have been blessed to not have them in our area but I've seen a little bit on the news where they've happened.  They may not have been big or widespread but for those in that immediate area, it definitely impacted their lives - and how comforting it would be to be able to take refuge in our home if that happened where we live.

A few years ago, there was lots of talk of a bird flu epidemic where we would be expected to hole up in our homes for several weeks to prevent the spread of disease.  Does that seem a likely scenario today?  Maybe not.  But I'd like to be prepared if something like that happened.

Living in the Midwest, I'm not worried about a tsunami or hurricane.  But you might have this in your potential scenarios.  When Japan was hit with the tsunami and the stories came of just moments to evacuate to higher ground and so many escaped with nothing but the clothes on their back, I had the immediate thought of THAT is why it is essential to have a 72 hr kit that you can grab in seconds as you head out the door.

There are so many scenarios that we can come up with that we would need to be self-reliant for food, household supplies, power, etc.  Some are more likely to happen than others but being prepared for one tends to make us better prepared for the others.

What brought these thoughts on today?  I'm planning my garden.  I grow a garden to eat fresh fruits and vegetables.  I grow a garden to have that skill in time of need in the future.  Each year, I become a better gardener which means that if I ever HAVE to provide for my family from the garden, we're likely to have a pretty good garden compared to if I'd never gardened.

I have lettuce and spinach growing and ready to eat.  But I haven't been eating them.  I NEED to eat them!  I NEED to plan my menus around what I'm growing and what I'm storing!  Why?  If my family isn't used to eating the things I grow, in a time of need, they still won't eat it and it won't be very helpful to us.  That doesn't only apply to my garden.  It also applies to any food I store in my home.  If I set it on the shelf to eat ONLY in time of need but my family isn't used to it, they're going to say "Ew!  Gross!" when I put it on the table and that's only going to add to any stress at that time.  And what if it really is gross?  I don't want to invest in a 1 year supply of something only to discover that it truly tastes horrible OR I don't know how to use it.

So go experiment!  Try growing a garden!  Incorporate your food storage into your regualr menus.  Learn how to use the different foods you're storing.  Learn how to cook without electricity (I'm putting this on my list of posts to write and of things to learn more about).  Learn how to dry clothes on the clothesline without having them be able to stand up on their own.

I'm so grateful for the little promptings I've had over the years and for the skills I've developed.  I don't think of myself as an expert in any of these but I'm working to move beyond Novice and definitely beyond "No Experience or Knowledge".  I'll share what I've learned and what I continue to learn here.

What types of preparedness would you like posts for?  What scenarios are you preparing for in your family?

As you ponder how you want to get prepared, don't forget to sign up for my Dreaming Big Giveaway today!