To participate, all you need to do is leave a comment or write a blog post and link up telling us one thing you did this week in order to be prepared (or two or three...). It's our way of holding each other accountable. Be sure to add the canning jar photo to your blog and link back here so others can participate as well. It encourages us all when others are joining in, don't you think?
This week for the Preparedness Challenge, I cleared out a store room, sold the stuff, and bought windows for a cold frame and made plans to buy blocks for retaining walls for my garden so I could extend the terraces for more plants. I really need to do more next week in terms of my pantry and 72 hour kit, but it was a really difficult homesteading week (I'll share more Monday on the Barn Hop - perhaps by then I'll be ready to talk about it.). But getting the garden in tip top shape in terms of hardscape will really make a difference long term. I think it's a good investment.
How about you? Ready to share how you prepared?
This week I added wheat, chocolate and sugar to my food storage, planted beans, peas, peppers, cukes, cabbage, brussel sprouts to the garden and played around with a Victorio saucer that a friend found at a tag sale. Not bad for a rainy week!
ReplyDeleteWe haven't done too much towards preparedness this week. We are finally able to plant the seeds in our vegetable garden this weekend. We plan to plant the plants after we get the fence up sometime this next week (that is if we don't have too much rain the early part of this week).
ReplyDeleteAmy,
ReplyDeleteI was able to finally order some food storage containers (5 gallon) which I haven't rec'd yet.
I've meant to do that forever! I've got a #20 bag of wheat berries waiting for one of them.
Last summer I noticed that it takes a long time to get hot water to the front bathroom in our old farmhouse. I decided to measure it - 2/3 of a gallon of water! The back bathroom - 1/2,
ReplyDeletekitchen -1/3. I set jugs in each room for collecting that water to use on potted plants and fill the dogs water buckets. This summer we are going to fill every fourth jug for emergencies. (Sometimes the fire ants cause the emergency by getting into the well house.)
No other preps this week. We got the stunning news that my husband has prostate cancer. We are waiting on CT and bone scans for the whole story. In the meantime, the body of Christ has been amazing and wrapped us in a snug blanket of prayer. We have had no fear! God is good!!!
Sara, I'm so sorry to hear about your husband having cancer! Never something any of us wants to go through, but God will see you both through this! So glad to hear that the body of Christ is already ministering to you and that you're sensing God's presence even in the valley. Sending up a prayer for you both right now!
ReplyDeleteWell, today I will be attending an ethical chicken processing workshop at a small homestead about an hour from my home. I have someone that processes my chickens for me, but the more I thought about it, the more I knew it was important for me to learn this skill. So, wish me luck...this is one of the few preparedness things I'm not anxious to do.
ReplyDeleteLynda, I understand. But once you learn, it's better because you know you're doing it in the most humane way possible. And if things ever got super bad, you might have to do it yourself and you don't want to have an unpleasant experience at that point! You'll do fine, I'm sure!
ReplyDeleteI have more canned foods in my pantry, that could be eaten cold if I didn't have access to food. That was actually unintentional. I stocked up on some basic canned goods, to have things on hand for cooking meals at home.
ReplyDeleteHave a lovely weekend. Love and hugs from Oregon, Heather :)
Thanks for hosting, Amy!
ReplyDeleteSara - saying an extra prayer for you and your family in this challenging time.
Lynda - it's an unpleasant but good skill to have. I asked my neighbor who we get our chickens from to give me a call when they buthcer next so my boys can learn how.
I finally made some significant headway in the garden this week. Two beds of greens and onions, one of tomatoes, a patch of pumpkins and squash. Much, much more to do, but it's nice to see some progress. I got a little too much sun, but the coconut oil works wonders.
From our buying club, I ordered more wheatberries, flour, a couple cases of soup and a few other odds and ends.
I went through the boys clothes and boxed everything they've grown out of to give to friends. I've tried to stock up on some clothes, guessing what size they might be, but they grow so fast they don't always hit the right clothes at the right season. Thank goodness for thrift stores!
We haven't had any organized preparedness plan just things that made sense to start doing. I can see that being organized and challenged, like you are doing, is a better plan and will cover most of the needs.
ReplyDeleteWe have added fruit trees and vines every year. Yesterday I planted a large male Kiwi to replace a new one that didn't make it through the winter.
We finished our GOODY bags this week and hung them downstairs out of the way. They are easy to grab but not under-foot. :-) All we lack are water purification drops, but we have to go to the "big city" to get those.....will add later.
ReplyDeleteThis week I received my new Excalibur Food Dehydrator. On Thursday's, in Lawrence, one of our grocery store's has banana's 19 cents/lb. So, I purchased a ridiculous amount of bananas and tried out the dehydrator. For a few bucks, I got 50 banana's dehydrated. I put them in a couple of quart-sized freezer bags for later use.
ReplyDeleteWe were also given three 50 gallon barrels that were used in a food packaging plant. We converted them into rain barrels and put them out by our garden.
I stocked my basement pantry with a weeks worth of food and water just to get me started. I also worked on our 72 hour kits. I'm so glad you started this Amy, sometimes you just need to see other people doing things that seem hard to get your own ball rolling.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I'll be linking up this time...I've been slacking since we've all been sick with the stomach bug. But I did get some of the garden weeded, and will continue as the week goes on! I will DEFINITELY be back next time!!
ReplyDeleteOhhhh, so sorry Amanda! Take care and get well soon!
ReplyDelete