August is a wonderful time of year to focus on putting aside fruits and vegetables in your food storage. Many of you bottle or dry your own foods, but lots of you don’t. Any way you do it, stock up on fruits and vegetables this month. For those of you living in Utah, you will find some great deals at case lot sales starting next week. However, no matter where you live you can still focus on fruits and vegetables.
August 2012
Eager to know how our pioneer ancestors survived after journeying to the Salt Lake Valley, I’ve been reading a book called, “
The Forgotten Skills of Self-Sufficiency Used by the Mormon Pioneers,” written by Caleb Warnock. It is amazing to see how self-reliant early pioneers were as they learned to live year-round by gathering seeds, planting, harvesting, and putting aside food in cellars.
Even though I am the great-great-granddaughter of
William Clayton, author of the hymn “Come, Come, Ye Saints,” I am a latter-day pioneer who buys much of my food storage at the grocery store. However, I owe much to my pioneer ancestors. Their faith in God and desire to help their brothers and sisters is infectious.
This month, we will be adding shelter equipment (sleeping bag, tent, etc.) and light items (flashlight, lantern, etc.) to our emergency supplies. You will find many of my suggested items for your 72-hour kits and auto emergency kits on sale during August. My plan is to help you complete them by September.
Stores are now filled with back-to-school supplies, so many of us have that on our minds. Have you ever learned about the emergency plan at your child’s school? Many of us don’t know exactly what that is. This month I suggest you put together
a small emergency kit your child can take to school including a personal note from you.
Even though food storage can help us during disasters, it shouldn’t be our only focus. Many of us have, or will, lose our jobs for an average of 6 months to a year. Food storage can supplement our groceries during these difficult times. I’ve actually made some changes in my diet and now eat oatmeal 5 days a week. I don’t have to, but I want to. However, all of my children do not like oatmeal. So we have breakfast cereal in our food storage as well.
But I truly believe that paying tithing to our church has opened the windows of heaven for our family. (Malachi 3:10). Recently we paid off all our cars, and have a good emergency fund established. True, working on food storage helps us become more self-reliant, but putting God first in our lives humbles us and brings us the greatest happiness.
May you each be blessed with a desire to take care of what God has made you stewardship over. And put Him first.
Best wishes,
Valerie
If you are just getting connected with me, you may want to check out my other monthly shopping lists to see if there are items you would like to gather. Or check out my recently updated About Me page.
Yes, I’m still working on the book. It’s moving slower than I wanted, but it will get done. To help me with it go here.
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