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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Preparedness Challenge #40


Welcome to the Preparedness Challenge! Each month USA Emergency Supply hosts a give away to encourage families to set something aside to prepare for a time of emergency or the unexpected. Those who link up or leave a comment of something they did during the month to be prepared will be entered in the drawing (please take a moment to read the rules at the bottom of the post).


To Those Who Link Up Monthly...

Many of you have been faithful to the challenge, month after month... I congratulate you! Take a minute and consider all the prepping you've done that would have never happened if you hadn't taken the initiative to accept the challenge. Those little (and sometimes BIG) steps add up to quite a bit!

If you've been doing the Preparedness Challenge for over a year, you've probably developed a lifestyle of prepping at this point. This is the mindset that we want to adopt, because a one time purchase of emergency food really isn't going to meet your family's needs either in the immediate future or long term. As you know, there is so much more to prepping!

To Encourage You Further...

Not everyone has made it this far in the Challenge... at week #40, many have been overwhelmed. I get that! It's a daunting task at times, especially in our consumer oriented disposable society where nearly everything can be purchased at anytime if you have the money (or credit card!). To be both debt free and prepared... sometimes it's like swimming upstream with a 100 pound pack strapped on your back!

Preparing can happen no matter how small the steps. If you've fallen off the band wagon, time to make it a priority again and JUST DO IT. Here's how I'm going to help you...

1. For those who link up with a blog post and list something from ALL 3 CATEGORIES (see below), you'll be entered in the give-away twice!

2. After linking up or leaving a comment, anyone who shares the Challenge on ANY SOCIAL MEDIA, may leave a second comment telling me what they've done and they'll be entered in the drawing a second time.

3. I'm going to feature one of the blogs that links up each month. I'm looking for a post where someone adds something to encourage others to prepare, helps with preparedness ideas, or goes over and beyond by prepping in an unusual way.

October's Featured Prepper...
Lisa at The Way Grandmama Does It, wrote an outstanding post on gift ideas for those who want to promote a preparedness lifestyle and get family members on the right track. She definitely gets the idea behind our challenge and is ready to help others do the same... way to go, Lisa! Thanks for sharing your passion for prepping and your Christmas plan with the rest of us.



Today's Winner & Give-Away!


Last month's give-away from USA Emergency Supply was the Freeze Dried Vegetable Combo for food storage and emergencies. I'm pleased to announce the winner today...


Congratulations 
Mooberry Farmwife at


A New Give-Away!

Guess you've already noticed the photo to the right... Don't laugh! THIS is an item you might REALLY want to have on hand should the water to your home cease to exist for a week or more! Just think... a bucket style toilet can be relocated in any number of places in order to keep odors away from the main living area in a disaster. Isn't it amazing how many details there are to consider? We take so much for granted... like indoor plumbing. USA Emergency Supply is including the bucket, deodorant, and digester to the winner of our October Challenge. 


Be sure to take a minute to read over their Winter Storms information page. Now is the time to be prepared for blizzards, snow, and other weather situations that come with those cold north winds.


Coming Soon...

With Thanksgiving at the end of the month (and so many of us focused on family gatherings), I'm combining both November and December's Preparedness Challenge and moving it to the first Saturday in December, which is the 1st. And because it's the end of the year, USA Emergency Supply is going to offer an End-Of-The-Year Blast...

Wondermill Junior Deluxe
Value $219!
We'll talk more about that next month, but you might want to get busy on that prepping so you can enter for sure!

How I Met The Challenge!

• Food Storage:  I visited an Olive farm and purchased some outstanding bulk olive oil. Better yet, I established a source for future purchases! I also have located a source for organic walnuts (in state as well - sort of local).

• Emergency Preparedness: I ordered all the supplies I need to make emergency candles from soy wax. (Another post to follow with details). With winter and inclimate weather coming, I'm thinking I'd like to have several sources for back up lights.

• Sustainable Living: A Homestead Library is so important... I'm always looking for a good book to add. This month, I purchased Kat Drovdahl's book The Accessible Pet, Equine, and Livestock Herbal as a reference book for animal care using herbal remedies. Definitely an investment, but I believe it will be well used over the years, saving me much more than the cost of the book in vet fees. (I am not an anti-vet person; I just feel there is a lot that one can do before a problem gets out of hand). I also potted some herbs for winter, planted garlic, and just hours after this post goes live, I'm butchering a flock of meat birds. 



Just A Reminder...

Don't forget that part of being prepared is PRAYER! Please keep those in the path of Hurricane Sandy in your prayers! It could make landfall this week on the east coast.

Now it's your turn to join the Preparedness Challenge..

Join the Challenge & Enter The Give Away

To be entered in the drawing you must complete the following 2 steps:

1) Either leave a comment
(with your email info - this is required to contact you)
OR 
link up your Preparedness Challenge blog post
(you only need to comment or postnot both).

2) Your comment or link up MUST include something you did this week to be more prepared in terms of food storage, emergencies, or sustainable living. 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 

3) If you do something in all 3 areas, leave me a second comment and just say "I DID 3!"

4) If you share about the challenge on a social media site, leave me a new comment and say "Shared on ________."

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, November 2nd 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!!









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