Self-Reliant Saturday-- Regrow Your Produce

This is a quick tip I learned several years ago.  There are several kinds of produce that can be regrown in your kitchen and garden.  They include green onions, celery, lettuces, and those funny roots that grow on your potatoes.  I have regrown green onions many times.  Click HERE to see how I have grown green onions in my kitchen.  It is beyond simple to regrow other foods as well and this week I decided to try celery and romaine lettuce.  

Simply cut off the bottoms of your celery and romaine and place them in a shallow bowl of water.  Literally in a day the romaine will start to regrow.  The celery is on the left in the picture and it takes a little while longer to sprout again.  I can now plant them in the garden and hopefully they will grow into a full size plant!  I can't wait!! Simple, fresh food storage!!

Self-Reliant Saturday-- Gardening

"Let every man who has a garden spot, garden it;  every man who owns a farm, farm it."  -J. Reuben Clark April Conference 1937

"We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your property.  Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees- plant them if your climate is right for their growth.  Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard." - Spencer W. Kimball Ensign May 1976

Gardening is definitely out of my comfort zone and I don't really know what I am doing, but my sweet husband built my boxes for me last weekend.  The dirt is coming this week and we will be ready to plant after the recommended Mother's Day planting date.  I live at almost 6000ft and we have a very short growing season, but the colder plants like spinach and beans love it up here.  Wish me luck!  How are your gardens coming along?  Do you plant in garden boxes or containers?  I would love to hear what you all plant.

Back-To-Basics: 3-Month Supply Part 2

Part one of the back-to-basics 3-month supply was all about WHY and HOW to begin a 3-month supply.  Click HERE if you missed that post.  Today we are going to learn....

So, how do you acquire all of this food storage??

After you have planned out your meals, made an ingredient list, and know how much to buy, you will need to go shopping.  

-Unless you have the budget, DO NOT go out and buy everything you need at once and put it on a credit card!  Slow and steady wins the race. But DO put aside a little every month for your food storage.  Or put off your wants until you have fulfilled your needs. Will that fancy vacation or fun new boat feed you in rough times? Priorities!

-Peruse the local grocery ads weekly and keep your eyes peeled for the items you need for your family.  Shopping when items are on sale will save you money!!  Purchase only the amount of items that your budget allows! Even if you only buy a couple of extra items each time you shop, you'll have food storage.  Remember.... "A Case of food is you can...A Can if you can't."  Coupons can also help tremendously, if you want to go that route.

-The grocery store sales cycle about every 3 months, so if  you missed a good deal this time, it will most likely be back in 3 months.  Plan ahead when to spend your money and save up for bigger purchases.

-In Utah we are lucky to have Case Lot sales at our local grocery stores.  Food is sold in cases at a discounted price. Check with your local grocery manager, they might be able to order cases for you if you don't have case lot sales.

-Group orders and buying in bulk.  Plan with friends, family, or neighbors and split the cost and bulk. Most food storage retailers have an online store.  Sign up for emails and you'll get a heads up on sales! Black Friday, last November, had some amazing online food storage deals.

-When buying dehydrated or freeze-dried food/meals, make sure you have tried them first before buying in bulk.  Every manufacturer is slightly different and you don't want a room full of dehydrated apples that no one wants to eat because the peeling is still on them. (guess how I know :) 

-Plant a garden to save money and also to learn.  Gardening is hard work and definitely has a learning curve.  Practice now while mistakes won't cause hunger. Store seeds!!

-Share and glean fruits and veggies from neighbors, family, and friends.  This is a great way to have extra food for canning and dehydrating.  And who doesn't love getting homemade jam from a friend!

 -Learn how to dehydrate and can.  Saving money sometimes requires buying something in bulk that may have an expiration date.  You can dehydrate almost anything and store it for use later. Click HERE to see how I store my dehydrated foods using a foodsaver. Canning also allows food such as meats and veggies a much longer shelf life in storage.

-The LDS Cannery is a great place to buy bulk items.  If you have a friend that is LDS they can go with you to purchase items.  There are also several staples that can be ordered online and shipped to your home for a very reasonable cost.  Check out lds.org for more info. 

-In the western United States there is a store called Winco.  They have amazing prices on food.  I especially love their bulk bin area for spices, cocoa powder, couscous, orzo, etc.  Spices are really affordable in bulk and I highly recommend checking this store out if you live near one.  

-Be on the lookout for stores that are closing.  There was a store this week in my town that was discounting everything 20-40% off.  I got medicine, feminine products, paper goods, trash bags, and deodorant for less than shopping with coupons!  There are also great savings at closeout stores, and dollar stores.  Just being aware of what is around me, I am able to save money and stock up!

 -Walking around the grocery store today I noticed many closeout prices on medicine and personal hygiene.  The stores don't like to keep inventory around when it isn't selling. Keep a look out for sales that aren't advertised. 

It really is quite easy to accomplish a goal of having food in your home that will last three months.  It will take a minute of your time to organize your recipes and shop but, if you commit to doing this, and do all you can, you will be blessed.

Chilling Food Without Electricity- The Zeer Pot

I just received my Every Needful Thing monthly newsletter, from the Global Sun Oven company, and this article really caught my interest.  Chilling Food Without Electricity by using a Zeer Pot.  A Zer Pot is a grouping of terra cotta pots and wet sand stacked together, and used to keep produce chilled.  It can help produce stay fresh, and edible, for up to 20 days longer than without a fridge.

Zeer Pot from Prepare Every Needful Thing

Click HERE to read the full article on how the Zeer Pot is made and why from the Global Sun Oven newsletter....Every Needful Thing.




Click HERE to sign up to receive the newsletter.  It's free and has so much information on preparedness.

And Click HERE for even more information from 4dtraveler.net. This link has great info on how much it cost to build a zeer pot and where to buy the materials. 

Recommended Reading- Backyard Winter Gardening by Caleb Warnock

While scrolling through facebook the other night, I came across a video by Caleb Warnock, all about winter gardening.  

I found it fascinating and I ordered both of his books, The Forgotten Skills of Self-Suffidiency and Backyard Winter Gardening, from amazon. I have actually attended a class that Caleb taught at Honeyville, and loved listening to him speak, but I never purchased his books.  The books are very interesting from a historical standpoint, but the information on gardening is why I bought them both. 

Just like in the video above, I really want to try using cold boxes to have fresh greens all winter long.  The books are full of colorful photographs and tons of information on gardening, chickens, history of the pioneers in Utah, etc.  There are even a few recipes included.  I felt these books were good enough for me to share with all of you!  I highly recommend adding both books to your preparedness library. 

My Food Storage Week In Review

I thought that I would share a few things that I did this week that either used my food storage, or added to my food storage.  

There was a situation this week in my neighborhood that was highly inconvenient, but also a great lesson for all of us.  Thursday night I received this note on my front porch.

 

What!?!?! No water!?!?! We got this notice at 8 p.m. the night before the water was going to be shut off for 8 hours.  I was really aggravated that I would not have water for that long with 5 kids, my sister, and her 2 children.  What a fun vacation for her! It was my sister's last day visiting at my home and she was planning on doing her laundry all day Friday before leaving.  Plans changed and she madly did her laundry that night.  My brilliant sister also suggested we fill up all the tubs with water so we would be able to flush the toilets the next day.  So we did this.....

All the kids took showers and we filled all the tubs.  My sister lived through Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and is a pro at not having water.  This experience also reminded me that I need to fill up my 55-gallon water barrels.  We emptied them to move and I haven't gotten around to filling them.  I see a project for this weekend!

While my sister was visiting we also did a little experiment.  My neighbor gave us an abundant supply of garden lettuce.  We couldn't eat it all and, using my foodsaver, sealed the extra in a mason jar.  I took a picture today of the jar in the fridge and as you can see, 2 weeks later, it is still edible.  I see only a small amount of browning starting on some of the white edges.

I have seen lettuce stored this way, but I have never tried it myself, and I am sold on it!!  It is a great way to extend the life of your garden and have fresh salads all the time.  Think of all the combinations you could make for lunches at work or school.  Just take some dressing on the side and shake to mix before eating!  I would place carrots and other veggies on the bottom of the jar before the lettuce and then seal.  Fast, healthy lunch options!!

Here are a few other random things that I did this week:

I made "fruit" snacks out of some very large zucchinis that my sister gave me from her garden.  Click HERE to see the post and recipe on making fruit snacks out of zucchinis.

 

For the most part, I like to make my own household cleaners and I needed to make more of my granite/glass cleaner.  We clean almost everything with this solution.

 

Whenever I need spices I head to Winco and purchase them from the bulk section.  They are so affordable and I have never doubted the quality!  I spent $28 and refilled my garlic powder, cinnamon, onion powder, cumin, ginger, curry powder, huge bag of dutch processed cocoa powder, and chili powder. To keep them all fresh I used my foodsaver and sealed them in glass jars.  And since I had my foodsaver out I sealed my freeze dried cheese in jars as well.  I had opened the #10 can and I didn't want the cheese to spoil.

This is just a sampling of how a typical week at my house is.   I really wanted to cook in my sun oven for my sister, but we had crazy thunderstorms roll in almost every afternoon. There is always a small part of preparedness going on in my home. From small beginnings come great things. - Proverb

Gardening in July

Gardening 101, that is a class that I need to take.  I didn't pay close enough attention to my garden this past week and I had to throw away a whole bowl full of peas.  I was so bummed that we couldn't eat them.  They were huge and bitter.  Even my pea loving son spit them out.  Oh well, live and learn!! It has been really hot this July and I should have checked on them about a week ago.  Peas like the heat about as much as I do, which is not at all!!  I really don't know what I am doing :)

Here are my peas and they are ready to be done for the summer.  My kids picked a bunch of them and I tried to eat them, really really tried, but they were yucky!  

 See that big juicy pea, don't let it fool you, he's a bitter little guy.  Live and learn and I now know to keep watch on peas, they get ripe fast!  We did eat quite a few before we hit triple digits, so they all didn't go to waste, but I know for next year when to pick them all.

I also learned (quite the lesson) to keep up on the weeds. I can't believe how big they got in the last week and a half.  Holy cow, they were doing better than the plants!  I cleared those out and hopefully the plants will get more water and nutrients now.   Gardening has such a learning curve and just when it seems to be going smoothly there are bugs, or weeds, or watering issues.  But it is worth it!  I am saving money on our produce bill and also learning how to be self-reliant.   

Garden Update

Growing a garden is definitely a skill that needs to be perfected before any kind of an emergency.  I admit this is one area of preparedness that I find kind of difficult.  I try every year to plant a garden but it is in no way our sole source of food during the summer and fall, and I have a long way to go before we are self-sufficient and eating off of our land.  

Square foot gardening is what has worked for me so far and so I continue to try and grow a garden in the easy to use grids. 

This is how my garden looked at the beginning of May....

....and here it is on June 2nd.  It has actually grown quite a bit over the last week too.  The peas in the back have grown taller and so have the lettuces in the front.  The box on the left has strawberries and hopefully potatoes soon.  

 This is the view of my garden from my kitchen window.  The box on the far right has zucchini and cucumbers, the box second to the right has tomatoes, carrots, and a volunteer onion, the third box from the right has peas, several lettuces, spinach, and broccoli (that didn't grow), and the far left box has strawberries.  I tried potatoes in the black garbage can last year but they didn't grow and I think it was because they didn't get enough water all the time.  The potatoes I grew in the garden box grew great, so I may stick to planting them in with the strawberries again.  I really don't know what I am doing but I am planting and trying every year.

This year my husband got into the edible gardening and planted grapes and an artichoke.  It will be really exciting if we can get them to produce.

 He also planted raspberries.  I really hope these grow well, I love raspberries. 

My goals for gardening are:

• grow only non-GMO or heirloom plants and save seeds (a must for self-sufficiency)
• grow more food every year to limit our dependency on the grocery store
• learn what plants grow well in my area and how to keep bugs away organically
• winter gardening using cold frames

Gardening is an adventure and you never know what you'll get at the end of the season but it is a fun learning experience.  Get outside and try...."We learn a lot more from our own experiences than any book could ever teach us." - Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

How Much Should You Grow??

Early spring garden is planted!!

Spring is here, the snow is behind us (fingers crossed) and that means it's time to get out in the dirt and plant a garden.  I am relatively new at the whole gardening thing, so I am not an expert, but I have had some success in my square foot garden.  (If you don't know what square foot gardening is click HERE for more info)  Gardening is just like everything else in the preparedness world, you need to try it before the emergency.  You need to have seeds properly stored and also know how to grow the seeds in your area. 

There are companies selling seeds that have been sealed in #10 cans, and that is a great option if you want a backup plan.  But you need to be purchasing non-hybrid seeds and using them.  You need non-hybrid, or heirloom, seeds or else you won't be able to extract the seeds for the next year's garden.  Storing your seeds in a Mylar bag in the freezer will extend the life of your seeds for years!!!!

Have you ever thought about how much food our ancestors of past had to grow to sustain their families?  They worked to live everyday.  If the day comes when we don't have grocery stores and farms we may need to grow the food our family eats.  No matter how much food storage you may have, it will eventually run out and you'll need to grow your food.  Supplementing my current food storage with fresh garden food is important for learning how to garden, saving money, and eating healthy food. Gardening is food storage and we have been counseled to grow a garden.  I found a great chart on the Amounts of Vegetables To Be Grown & Preserved to feed a family of 4 for 300 days.  (the other 65 days it is assumed you'll be eating fresh food out of the garden and not need a canned option)

The blog where I found this chart is no longer available and I found the information so valuable that I printed it out last year and I am so glad that I did because I wouldn't be able to do that now that it's gone.  

Amounts of Vegetables To Be Grown & Preserved
(For a Family Of 4 Persons)
The information is a starting point for garden planning with home preservation and cooking from scratch 3x's a day. Food preservation needs are individual and no one can determine your family's specific requirements except for you.  The estimates below are based on a 1/2 C serving 4x's a day for 300 days.  The other 65 days the family will eat fresh produce from the garden.  Canning, freezing, dehydration, salting, fermenting, and pickling are all ways to preserve your food.

Type of Veg.      Pounds to Raise      Quarts/Pints to Preserve
Beets                      30lbs                           12 q/24 p
Broccoli                 75lbs                           48 q/96 p
Cabbage                 150lbs                         40 q/80 p
Celery                    75lbs                            30 q/60 p (dehydrate too)
Carrots                   120lbs                          30 q/60 p
Cauliflower            30lbs                            10 q/20 p
Green Beans             175lbs                         85 q/170 p
Green Peas             100lbs                          25 q/50 p
Green Peppers        50lbs                           25 q/ 50p 
Lima Beans            90lbs                           24 q/48 p
Onions                    125lbs                         25 q/50 p
Potatoes                 500lbs                          400lbs dry storage
Pumpkin                40lbs                            16 q/32 p
Spinach                  90lbs                            35 q/70 p
Summer Squash     200lbs                         40 q/80 p
Sweet Corn            150lbs                          40 q/80 p
Tomatoes/whole     250lbs                         100 q/200 p
Winter Squash       200lbs                          40 q/80 p
{Katherine Grossman Granny Miller}

This information really opened my eyes to amount of food I would have to grow to sustain my family.  It is a great starting point but I really hope the time never comes where I will have to grow that much food.  I always romanticized the life of Little House On The Prairie and I wanted to live with Laura Ingalls on her farm, but actually living it would be a reality I don't think I really want to do.
 
I mentioned above that I use the square foot garden system and so far it has been relatively simple and the harvest last year was a great start for me.  

 You can find this book almost anywhere books are sold and it is my garden bible until I get my gardening legs and I know what I am doing. 

Gardening Link

 Emergency Essentials had the same idea that I did. Gardening must be on everyone's mind.

Click HERE To read their article on preservings seeds and gardening.