Think of it like a savings account for when the car breaks down. Only this is for an emergency situation where money isn't the best resource when the actual "event" happens. Instead, the supplies you've stored and skills you've learned are your savings account.
And don't think that a little here and there isn't enough! Over time it adds up. Just like consistant small deposits into a savings account add up to something big after many months, so does your food storage, emergency survival gear, and even your sustainable resources and skills.
USA Emergency Supply has graciously sponsored a wonderful prize this month... a 3 book give-away! (Did you know they have books on their site? Check it out!) There's one book for each of the 3 categories in the Preparedness Challenge.
To help you with your food storage...
• The Beginner's Guide to Preserving Food at Home by Janet Chadwick
For emergency preparedness...
• Passport To Survival by Rita Bingham and Esther Dickey
And for sustainable living...
• Homegrown Whole Grains by Sara Pitzer
How I Met The Challenge!
Here's what I did this month in each category (see category definitions near bottom of the post)...
• Food Storage: I added extra chicken feed, coconut oil, essential oils, and dish soap along with supplies for making shampoo bars.
• Emergency Preparedness: I dropped the ball here... again! This is the hardest area for me. I did really well last month, but I need to be more consistant. On the other hand, I did keep track of our firewood usage this year, and seems like we need 3 cords to get through the entire winter. Knowing this will help us this summer as we cut and split wood. I added the information to my Tickler File so I won't forget and I have a deadline for gathering and splitting wood for next year.
• Sustainable Living: My favorite category... I had to rebreed the Kinder goat this month (but I think I timed it better this month), I got the bare root fruit trees planted, my husband is half way finished with a new coop run for chicks, and I ordered the spring chicks. Ten of which are White Rocks which will be for meat. When I decide on a breed I like, I might start hatching my own. And guess what else? Drum roll... I finally got two pick up truck loads of wood chips! Score! They are composting now in preparation for future use in my garden. I also started several cool weather plants indoors and some I directly seeded outdoors, so we should have some vegetables growing again soon.
Speaking of gardens... with such nice weather, we've been working outside a lot, so it's easy to forget to do any prepping. Make a list of items you need in each category and keep them in your purse or on a separate shopping list so you can refer to it when you're out and about. Pick up an item every now and then to add to your "savings" account!
For more information on Preparedness or to find out where I stand on all this "prepping", you'll find there is a Prepping Basics Index with all my posts on the subject (so you don't have to scroll down through every post, but you can jump to each one directly). Someone asked this past month if I plan on finishing the series on Prepping Basics. Yes, but I have no clue when! I'm in the throws of major gardening right now, so if I promised a date, I'd probably fail! But don't give up on me entirely!
Now it's your turn to join the Preparedness Challenge..
Join the Challenge & Enter The Give Away
To be entered in the drawing, leave a comment on something you did this week to be more prepared in terms of food storage, emergencies, or sustainable living (or all three areas!) OR link up your Preparedness Challenge blog post (you only need to comment or post, not both). Posts not related to at least one of the three areas of preparedness will not be counted toward the give-away. Please be sure to clearly state in your comment or post what you did this month to be more prepared (see my example above as one easy way to do this). Again, the three areas we are focusing on include:
• food storage for life's unexpected events whether related to long term effects from a disaster or a job loss and everything in between
• emergencies for times of power outages, natural disasters, and such
• sustainable living in order to be more independent, both physically and financially, and to live as close to the land as possible given each individual's situation
Please be respectful of our challenge and only add a post on one of these three preparedness topics ONLY in order to retain the integrity of the link up event. If your post is just a general homesteading post, please save it for the Monday Homestead Barn Hop.
NOTE: This challenge and give-away ends Friday, April 6, at 11:59 p.m. PST.
Be sure to take the Preparedness Challenge picture and add it to your blog so others know you're participating and hopefully they'll join up, too! THANK YOU!!
NOTE: This challenge and give-away ends Friday, April 6, at 11:59 p.m. PST.
Be sure to take the Preparedness Challenge picture and add it to your blog so others know you're participating and hopefully they'll join up, too! THANK YOU!!
