GUESTPOST: Lessons learned from primitive river camping

DS17 went primitive river camping for a week. His prepper mother volunteered to outfit the group with two Kelly Kettles (one large one for the group, one small one for her son), Meals in Mylar (MIMs) for the group (packaged individually and group size) using ThriveLife freeze dried and dehydrated ingredients. For the three days they would be on river, they efficiently packed fire sticks (Kelly Kettles only need tinder to create a roaring flame). PM had DS17 bring a thermos so "his" individual meals (lunches) would be ready ahead of time vs waiting for the cooking...plus she packed group cooking utensils, instructions written on each MIM, pot for the group meals.

It was a really good reality check that 'preparing' is a lifestyle, not just something you buy and stick in a closet until "you need it in the day." Because needing it "in the day" happened on the river, and it didn't go so well. Here's DS17's story.

***
So my group arrived at the place of embarkation. We had each brought two buckets (those big supply kind you store wheat in), but found out that "two was too many." Everyone had to condense their supplies down to one bucket, and this is where the chaos began.

In the ensuing chaos, I forgot to take my personal Kelly Kettle with me in my 1 remaining bucket. This turned out to be a real problem as you'll see. Fortunately I was smart enough to bring my collapsible Coghlan camp stove and fire tablets which helped. It taught me that the saying "two is one and one is none" is definitely a real thing.

Despite the fact that my mom packed the large Kelly Kettle (green bag), fire sticks, cooking utensils in a self contained, bright orange bucket 

we managed to forget the contents of the bucket for the duration of the trip. We brought the bucket, but forgot what was in there, until literally the last day when one of the adults opened the bucket to see "what was in it." We honestly just thought with all the chaos of downsizing that somehow it had gotten left behind (the MIMs were in self contained blue buckets.)

Fortunately because my mom had packed everything in Mylar, we were able to "cook" in the mylar bags. UNfortunately, even though she had used a lot of freeze dried meals, they still required 'heat', or at least hot water, to 'cook' well. So, it was edible, and we're grateful we had them, but unheated water + freeze dried or dehydrated food = just wet food.  When we told her, my mom said, "well duh. DS17, you knew that from our living in a tent. That's why we bought the electric kettle back in the day."

We had my emergency fire tablets, and we had two small propane bottles which we managed to make last the week, but it resulted in just "barely warm" water to cook with, as you had to boil the water in a little pot, dump it in to the mylar meal, then wait to boil more water, dump that in, etc etc. Then we had to let it "steep" forever. We made a meal with the Kelly Kettle (and mylar) on the very last day....WOW. As my leader said, "we were able to accomplish in 5 minutes what it took us 1-2 hours to do each meal...and it even tasted like real food !"

Basically, that's the takeaway: you can use "just water" and rehydrate/eat freeze dried meals, but you're going to want hot water and it's going to work better by induction too.

Food issues notwithstanding, I had the opportunity to use new prep items and learn the importance of a lot of them. For example: we got solar 'pillows' last Christmas. They are the best thing ever! My mom was worried about boiled water being cooled down enough to put into a flask or camelback, so she bought me a Berkey sport bottle which worked phenomenally!

We purchased a hammock and mosquito net for this trip. The hammock was awesome, but the mosquito netting was "generic" so it was way too big for the hammock. It worked, just could have been better. I chose to bring a bivvy sack and emergency blanket (those thin silver ones) vs a sleeping bag, which turned out to be a good thing. The bivvy sack would have worked well on its own, but when the wind kicked up at night it was nice to have the emergency blanket as a wind 'barrier.'

I learned there are two absolutes in being prepared (1) check your equipment/supplies three times and (2) two is one, one is none. I also learned that adapting and applying the fruits of the Spirit stated in the Bible are vital in (what could be) an emergency situation, and in our daily lives as well. I camped all week with a boy who didn't speak English and had never done this type of camping before. 

Though the language barrier was significant, we were able to find a common avenue through cooperation and succeed where we might ordinarily have failed. We didn't communicate through words per se, but rather by example and action. Surprisingly, this proved to be more efficient than I would have expected. Memories were made, friendships were forged and trust was permanently established. 

On the Road: Meals in a "Jar"

Exciting times!

I have started making Meals in a "Jar." Both DH and DD need something quick, easy, nutritious that can be done on the go. DH does not have the ability to "cook" per se, and DD needs 100% vegan. Neither of them can have their meals in a "jar" (hence the quotes). This time around I double bagged them in sealable baggies as both of them will be going through all of it within two weeks; next time around I will do them in resealable Mylar.

Answer? Freeze dried THRIVE food to the rescue. Quick. Nutritious. Healthy. Easy to pack. Easy to store. Stays good for days/weeks/years without spoiling. DH is cooking his in a Thermos. DD on a stovetop.

Yes. I'd be happy to come to your place (if you live in NE Texas) and do a meals in a 'jar' class. How about a Meals in a Thermos class? Email me here, otherwise, bookmark this blog, and sooner or later I'll put up a youtube video on my channel.

Or you can experiment and make them yourself by buying the ingredients at TexasFreezeDried.com.

Here's what DH's looked like:

Totally nothing fancy, right? Sorry. Told you, this was last minute. You want pretty in a mason jar? Schedule a class, lol. DH was taking his on the road, in a suitcase, on a 31 hour greyhound bus ride to Indiana (not kidding.) 

I made up multiples of: beef stew, taco soup, curry chicken stew with butternut squash and peanut butter, and curried chicken with mixed vegetables and brown rice.  Because I l=o=v=e Mountain House freeze dried meals, I threw in a couple of those too.

DH called tonight to "give me a report on your meals vs Mountain House." Frankly, I was a little worried. He said he did Mountain House yesterday (after sitting in a bus for 31 hours) and mine today (after being outside in the cold all day.) The following words are his:

"Liked the MH, it was very good. Certainly like the convenience of the mylar bag. But it wasn't very filling. I looked on the back of the bag: only 200 calories! How am I supposed to survive on 200 calories? But it was good.

"I made up yours, I had the chicken with rice and vegetables. I put it in the Thermos, and put two cups of boiling water in it." (Kathryn's note: shake up the Thermos and 'cook' it on its side. That's the secret to Thermos cooking.) "I let it sit for 15 minutes. It was 'almost' done, but the chicken wasn't quite rehydrated. So I put another 1/3 cup of boiling water, shook it up a bit and let it sit for another 5 minutes...and PERFECTION! It was very filling and felt like a real meal rather than a backpacking meal" (well yeah DH, that's because it is a real homemade meal.)

"Then one of the guys saw what I was eating and wanted to know what it was so I told him and he wanted to know where he could get some and I invited him over to try some out and show him how to cook in a Thermos."

Ah, DH is becoming a prepper 😍😍and a freeze dried foodie! 

Now you might think that DH was just being "nice." Trust me, if it sucked he would have said so, not only that, but this would have become a "what I will do next time" blogpost.

But seriously, I know why he felt such a difference (or at least I have a theory.) As I said, for backpacking meals, I am brand-loyal to MH. Because I am so well acquainted with their food, I can safely assert that, when compared to the diced portions of Thrive, they are about 1/2 to 2/3 the size. Their freeze dried potato dices for example, are about 1/4 inch in diameter, whereas Thrive's is about 1/2 inch, etc etc. So it's going to 'feel' less filling because it is less filling. But I know why they do that: IMO it's because MH is focusing on getting it 'cooked through' by steeping it in a mylar pouch, whereas Thrive is focusing on feeding you real food. And cooking it in a Thermos makes that possible. In addition, Thrive's is flash frozen just after it is picked at its peak ripeness, you really can taste the difference. MH is (IMO) the best of the backpacking best...but I wouldn't say it tastes 'fresh off the vine' like Thrive's does.

Ok, so here's the rough ingredients of the chicken curry with mixed vegetables and rice (hey, I threw it together...give me a break. Next time, I'll write it down.) FD=Freeze Dried, mine is from THRIVELIFE foods.

2/3 c. THRIVE instant brown rice

2/3 c. THRIVE seasoned FD chicken dices

1/3 c. THRIVE FD peas

1/3 c. THRIVE FD corn

1 T. curry powder

2 T. THRIVE tomato powder

1 t. THRIVE onion "powder" (this was actually FD onions which had turned to powder, lol)

I think one of those pouches has 1/3 c. of THRIVE FD zucchini too, just to use it up.

So money wise, the MH pouch was $4.88 at WalMart. Totally a good deal. But the homemade Freeze Dried meal with Thrive probably ran about $2, $3 worth of ingredients? And I still have food at home.

Or I did, until I made up a bunch of vegan meal fixins' for DD. 

But that is totally another blogpost. 

Real quick, before I go, non-vegans really ought to consider getting this month's THRIVELIFE special: Home Cookin' Ground Beef pack. At only $100 for 6 meals, it is a total steal. Stay tuned as I figure out how to down size them in to meals in a 'jar.'

As always, I welcome your comments, insights, thoughts. I love hearing about your experiences with FD food, cooking with alternative methods, and just life in general.

Until next time, Bon Appetit!

North Texas Preparedness Fair

We were excited and honored to be asked to participate in the largest preparedness fair in north Texas, hosted at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Plano Texas, on Saturday February 25th. It was exciting to see all the "new things," and see all of the 'old things' in action too.

We were blessed to be able to demonstrate a WonderOven, and two types of rocket stove technology: the Kelly Kettle and a homemade rocket stove made out of cinder blocks. A Kelly Kettle is awesome for boiling a gallon of water in 3-5 minutes. If you need a sustained flame for longer than that, you'll need something along the lines of the cinder block rocket stove.

So I have to tell you a story about the rocket stove made out of cinder blocks. Evidently, the Almighty knew there was SOMEONE attending that fair who really, really, really needed to see a rocket stove in action. It was miraculous that we had one. I first learned about building cinder block rocket stoves from this guy out in Arizona. If you click on that link, he's way smarter than I am and shows you how to run the blocks together. My video below just shows it after it's built. 

ANYWAY...the key middle cinder block the guy in Arizona uses, is a pretty common thing in California...so I figured Home Depot is Home Depot nation wide, right? It will be easy to come by in Texas. Yeah...not so much. By the time I'd been to like my fourth hardware place "the morning of.." and couldn't find one, I decided, 'oh well. Guess we won't be demo-ing a cinderblock rocket stove.'

Enter Gemie and Jerry M., the organizers of the event. Jerry woke up at 5 A.M. (!) with the thought that "he needed to get 4 cinder blocks, and knock a hole in the side of one of them so that Kathy can demo a rocket stove." I'm not kidding. This by the way, would be an hour before I even started looking for one, and no, I didn't call them and say "hey, not going to be able to demo."

Is that cool or WHAT?  (It's cool AND or WHAT!?!)

So here's the video of our display: https://youtu.be/BeGcIbcAJMA

I should have waited until my daughter the videographer showed up, sorry. Should have opened the lid so you could see the wonderful food we made. But I can give you the recipe! (below). I really prefer freeze dried or dehydrated food with a WonderOven because it's just  boil water, dump everything in, cover it up, and be done.

The WonderOven hyperlink in the first paragraph will take you to Joyce Pierce's website. If you buy a WonderOven from her and let her know "Kathryn" sent you, she'll give you a $5 discount. I don't make anything on the deal, but she couldn't figure out how to create a hyperlink for it directly. If you join our yahoogroup: RealFoodStorage, we have directions on how to make your own Wonderoven.

And now, the recipe. Vegan DD says she would figure out some extra spices to load into it. Maybe up the Italian seasoning or the dehydrated bell peppers or something.

Vegetable, Barley and Bean Casserole

1 c. Thrive instant red beans
2 tsp. chicken or vegetable bouillon powder
1 c. Thrive freeze dried corn
1/4 c. dehydrated onion
1/4 c. dehydrated mixed bell peppers
1/2 c. dehydrated celery, or 1 c. Thrive freeze dried celery
1/2 c. pearled barley (I used quick barley cuz that's all I had)
1/2 c. Thrive freeze dried zucchini
1/4 c. Thrive tomato powder
2 tsp. Italian seasoning

All of this will fit in a wide mouth mason jar. In a large saucepan, combine contents of the jar with 6-7 cups of water and let simmer on low heat. If using pearl barley, simmer for 35-45 minutes until barley is tender. If using quick barley, simmer for 10 minutes. If using a WonderOven, bring the water to boil. After it comes to a rolling boil, place in WonderOven, cover up and leave set for about 10-15 minutes. Most WO recipes will tell you you need to keep it boiling for 10 minutes before you off-load into the WO. I've found that not to be the case when you use freeze dried or dehydrated food.

View My Relationship

It's been an interesting few weeks. 

There's a tool on FamilySearch called "View My Relationship." You can access it on any person's main page, located about the center-top, just underneath their name and ID number.

If you click on it, you'll get one of two answers. You may get a pop up window that says "we can't find a relationship within 15 generations or you are not related to this person." This might be true, or, it's possible that no one has linked the two people together. For example, if I enter my deceased parent as an individual and don't link him to his parents, and his grandparents etc etc., there's no way for the system to know we are "related."

Most likely you're going to flip out to find the person you think is a random stranger is actually your 8th or 9th generation cousin, meaning, you share a common great grandparent, X generations back. It will also show you if you tie in via marriage.

I helped a few people at work these past few weeks do some family history. As a lark, since I was also showing them how to use FamilySearch, I hit the "View My Relationship" button, something I'd never done before. I was shocked to discover Kay and my ex were cousins (making us technically cousins-in-law), that Randall and my ex were cousins, and that I was his cousin via his mother's line, and I was also his wife's cousin.

I was flabbergasted to uncover my former boss (the job I had to quit because the guy was a jerk) and I are 10th cousins. 

Or finding out that my adopted (and deceased) daughter and I are 9th cousins through her bio-Mom's line. 

The biggest amazement of all involves my DD20. She was walking through a random cemetery one day and "heard" the name Cassie Murphy. No gravestone with that name, just "heard" the name, over and over, along with "her daughter Mamie." So she called me to ask 'how to do genealogy.' Kind of a big question, but with some detective work in census records, birth and marriage records, were actually able to find "the" Cassie Murphy she had felt impressed to find. Along with Cassie's husband Felix Lane, and her daughter Mamie.

Just completely random folk, right? 

Out of curiosity, I tapped the View My Relationship button.

You could have knocked me over with a feather to see that Felix and I are 8th cousins on my mother's side, and Cassie, a cousin in law by marriage to Felix. 

That's spooky even for me, and I'm accustomed to genealogy spooky.

It brings a whole new awesome meaning to the phrase "blessings to me and my posterity" (Gen. 17:7, Gen. 22:18 and (for those who are LDS remarks by Heber C. Kimball.))

It's starting to get anti-climactic. Now, I'm just expecting to find that I'm related to you, somehow. Like my BFF Wendi. I am of course not surprised anymore, to find out we are 6th cousins (ok, technically, my mother and her are, I'm therefore 6th cousin 1 generation down (called removed.))

It will be exciting for me to find out I'm related to you! So you should contact me and we'll find out!? And no, even if we find out we're related, you're not off the hook for doing your own family research! <grin>

Black Friday Food Storage Sale

UPDATE: I just placed my food storage order, and saved 40% overall. I'm VERY VERY happy.


SO EXCITED ! The shelving systems are 50% and the rest of the sales are great too !!!

I'm excited about the freeze dried Kale as well (found a new vegan quinoa/sweet potato/kale patty recipe  :)

http://texfreezedried.thrivelife.com/pc/event/view/id/164468

It's Election Day!

What an historic day, regardless of outcome.

Today (likely) will see the election of the first woman as President of the United States. How I wish it was a different woman, but the ayes had it. I also would have preferred the first hispanic President of the United States compared to the possibility of the first citizen-candidate (non-governing/experienced person) to become elected to the Presidency since...oh say, the founding of the Republic. But the nays carried that one too.

It would have been wonderful to elect, the first black female as President of the USA (Condeleeza Rice) but we beat her up too bad previously for her to even have considered a run. And we were too bigoted last time around to elect the first non-scandal-ed President (Romney) since....yeah, basically the founding of the Republic or this one too (Santorum.)

Whether you are for or against the particular candidates, I hope the results of apathy have taught us all a huge lesson. Far too many stayed home during the primaries on all sides, thinking their vote wouldn't matter. Florida (Bush v Gore, 537 vote delta) should have taught us that it did. Far too many will stay home today thinking all is lost.

A little levity about voting here in Texas vs California. 

So in California, home of "regulate every aspect of your life", we get a booklet courtesy of the state government, of all the candidates: national, state, county, local. Plus the propositions (proposed laws). Plus arguments for and against each of the laws. Plus candidate statements (local anyway.) Since my Pandora account is still linked to my 92647 (soCal) zip code, I've been getting bombarded with Pandora ads about the bazillion propositions on the California ballot.

Assuming that every state operates similarly, I've been asking for a "voter's guide" in my county since like, September. Everyone has looked at me like I am completely crazy and don't know what I'm talking about. At best, I finally got in front of a live body at the county registrar's office and she said, "oh we don't do that here."

I wrote it off to "I live in small county Texas."

NOPE. That would be, "I live in SMART county Texas." 

I voted early. (We don't have Vote By Mail ballots here unless you are elderly, handicapped or infirm--that part IS small county Texas). I got a paper ballot because of all the fraud stuff that's going around. In California, a national election (= higher voter turnout) sends the proposition people into hyperdrive...there's a million more props than usual.

Yeah....I'm in Texas now.

Home of:

• No statewide Props (aka, we prefer you use Common Sense to run your life, not regulations)
• TWO county propositions (junior college tax, and a road bond issue),
• Presidential candidates with multiple party candidates (four parties BTW)
• Local county candidates (about a handful with multiple parties listed)
• And the vast majority of local candidates running unopposed.

It was hilarious. No wonder everyone acted like I was nuts. Oh, and that college tax? It's doomed to failure since the wrong tax rate was printed on the ballot, but it still was allowed to proceed anyway. Not the only reason it is doomed to fail, but in CA, candidates and Prop-masters have taken wording all the way to the California Supreme Court for spelling and minor typographical errors for crying out loud, and holding up the process to boot.

Here it's like: eh. Figure it out. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions.

What a frigging concept.

Go vote.

Day 13: What We've Learned

Well, the challenge is over. Unlike the one woman who just kept going, we are ending our challenge at the official two week mark, mostly because I want to be able to add to our food and home stores. Here's what we've learned:

1. We are our own worst enemy. Our habits good and bad, do not have to define us. They are simply habits. We can change them if we want to, or we will change them because we have to. I asked DS16 what he has learned from these past two weeks. He said he's learned that he doesn't have to indulge in weakness, he can chose to forego something X, for something better Y. His example was eggs: at 3pm he would have a craving for eggs. He decided he would rather forego satisfying a 3pm craving for eggs in order to be able to have them every morning after his workout. 

Then he said, I realized it's not just physical. It's spiritual too, kind of like putting off the natural man. I can choose to not indulge in weakness or vice X in order to obtain a better Y. I may not make it every time, but I can make the right decision enough times to make a difference. That's my 16 year old, people! Yeah, I'm proud.

We have a gallon and a half of milk left out of the four we started with. Remember: DS and DH blew through two gallons the first three days of the challenge. So we had a family meeting where everyone got on the same page: when it's gone, it's gone and you'll either use a substitute, or you'll do without. I noticed after that DH modified his behavior. Heretofore he would pour 20 ounces of milk and drink maybe 2/3rds of it, and the rest would be wasted. During these past two weeks he'd pour about 8-10 ounces and drink it all. He didn't have to "do without" he simply had to change how much. DH said the same thing: that he chose to modify his behavior, and after a week, when he saw how much was left, the scarcity feelings went away and he was fine.

2. Start now. People look at all those who have been putting food and supplies by for years and think, I'm never going to be that person. I'll never have a stockpile like they do, why even try.

You're right. You may not be like "that person." Guess what? You don't have to be. Cheryl Driggs of Simplyprepared.com, has forgotten more about food and home storage than I'll ever learn in my lifetime. She and I have different views on what kinds of food to store, and that's ok. It's unlikely that I'll ever have the kinds of redundancies that my friend Richard King has (he's like, 4 of every type.) Or have a mini farm like my friend Wendi. 

So what? Does that mean I can't start now doing my own thing? Only my attitude can keep me from building up a food storage. And do not tell me lack of money is why one doesn't do it. It's a factor on how much how fast, yes. But it does not keep you from building up a storage....we were fortunate to be on food stamps for 9 months when DH was out of work for a year, and still built up a food storage by purchasing for example, 50# of rice at a time or 40# of chicken when it was on sale for .99/pound. Is that a year's supply? No, but it's at least a month's worth.

BTW, in case you don't follow me regularly: Classico pasta sauce jars with the green banded lids are the same mouth size as regular mouth canning jars. If you're spending $2-3 on pasta sauce anyway, you might want to get some canning jars out of the deal (especially if you're on food stamps and can't buy plain jars.) Would I can with them? Not sure. Would I dehydrate food and store dehydrated foods or rice in them? Yep, and do.

3. Our food storage needs to evolve. We started out like most people do: buying a bunch of wheat. Sat there for at least a decade unused. Then we bought a year's supply of food from Ready Reserve. Sat there for at least a decade also (it was mostly wheat, some rice, sugar, dehydrated corn, peas, carrots.) Then because I had access to an LDS cannery/home storage center, I added a lot of oatmeal in #10 cans. That actually got used. One reason was it was something we already knew how to use. I saved up and bought an electric wheat mill, the kind which actually makes real flour. In hindsight, I should have gotten the drawer model, but at least I have one that I use, and yes, it took me months to save up for it. 

I decided I'd rather store a bunch of rice which we actually eat, versus wheat which we don't, so we began buying rice. Learning from my father, I opted to not depend solely on a bowl of rice a day, so I added cans of "cream of's" and cans of vegetables for casseroles. Then I started couponing, and our food storage exploded. Couponing allowed me to add variety and non-food items at or near free.

It has been almost a decade since the LDS church switched gears and published All is Safely Gathered In: A guide to Family Home Storage and All is Safely Gathered In: A guide to Family Finances (Getting out of Debt.) Concurrent with that, I "met" people online who encouraged me to can chicken and were getting out of debt. It made me envision ways to expand my food storage and find ways to build a solid storage of things we normally eat vs "stuff to eat in an emergency."

Then last year my daughter had to go vegetarian for health reasons, and is now vegan. Changing to a food storage which is 100% plant based, non-animal products is a really big shift. Honestly, it's not something I can easily do on my own: I don't have the land to grow, so I am grateful for Thrive freeze dried foods which aids in building a long term plant based storage, and dehydrating (see Day 6: Meals in a Jar.) We've learned to grow Quinoa and Amaranth in containers and incorporated those into our diet. 

My point is: we store different things now than we did when I first started. When I first started, I had three kids in diapers. Trust that they eat different things than they did then. If I'd ended with what I stored then figuring "well I'm done," we'd have been in trouble these past two weeks.

4. The best food in life is free. I know I know. You live in an apartment so you can't grow a forest. You live in Texas where the soil sucks. You live in an HOA neighborhood in California that micromanages what angle you park your car, let alone what kinds of things you can grow in your own yard. There's a million reasons why you can't or haven't grown your own food.

But I was at the natural foods store a few weeks ago, and you know what I saw? An indoor mini mushroom 'farm.' Basil and a bunch of other herbs you can grow in a #5 can (soup can size.) Sprouters and lettuce/micro greens containers. Cherry tomatoes can be easily grown indoors or on a balcony. You know what you get when you put microgreens/lettuce and cherry tomatoes together? Dinner. Or lunch. And I hate lettuce, but it's way better than boiled wheat 365 days a year. And it's free. You don't have to be like my grandfather who grew 99% of everything they ate. But you can start to grow something....something that will provide food for your family and something the government can't control. First on our list this week is buying some compost and getting some seeds planted and starting some sprouts.

5. Establish a network. We saw early on that it will be helpful to have a group of barter-ees, and that we would be wise to include people outside our gene pool. 

6. Create a plan for "when I run out of X, then what?" DD19 is vegan largely for health, but mostly by choice. My go-to for sugar substitute is honey. Eventually I want to have a hive or two. My question to her is: what is your go-to for sugar if you are not going to modify your anti-honey stance (it's an "animal product" in the vegan world) ? That I know of (and I'm open to learning different) there's no great substitute which you can grow (stevia) in scale or if you can grow it in scale (sugar beets) how do you process it? We don't have an answer for her yet, but it's reflective of the core question: when you run out of X, then what?

7. Store comfort foods. Face it, we live in a junk food society. For us, not having on hand (or the ability to make) things like potato chips made a difference. Not a "we'll die if we don't have it", but being able to make cakes, chocolate chip cookies, no bake oatmeal peanut butter cookies, popcorn, Kraft mac & cheese, noodle ramen, was a big deal. It's the difference between feeling comfort-able and feeling deprived. There's probably a reason the Candy Bomber was such a big hero during WW2.

8. Get Organized!!! Seriously, I cannot emphasize this enough. Not being organized threw a spanner in the works Day 1 and we never really recovered from it. If we were living solely on food storage for real, hunting every day for something would really be a stressor. 

9. You can never have enough canning jars, but empty doesn't help you. I was really fortunate to buy a bunch of quart size wide mouth canning jars a few months ago for $5 a case. I am truly grateful I have them (I bought 20 cases.) But I've come to the same epiphany with canning jars that I did with toothpaste. I used to have like a five year supply of toothpaste. One day I looked at all that toothpaste and realized I could be doing something better with the space: something we needed more, like toilet paper, or canned vegetables. I look at canning jars the same way: an empty jar isn't going to feed my family. So I need to start a concerted effort to do more canning. Small whine here: I miss my Turkish farmer's market in Huntington Beach where produce was routinely .33/pound. 

10. Find someone who does what you can't. I met someone Saturday who bakes her own bread and sells it. I don't need her for bread. But you know what else she does? She raises her own cows and lambs and sells them once a year for slaughter. Hello! I'm making arrangements to buy half a cow...I may not be able to make it this year, but I can sure start saving up for next. And who knows, maybe someday I'll be able to have my own.


Miley Cyrus made famous a song entitled "The Climb." Really a great song, part of the lyrics are:

 "I can almost see it, that dream I'm dreaming, but there's a voice inside my head saying, 'you'll never reach it'....ain't about how fast I get there, 

ain't about what's waiting on the other side, it's about the climb."

It is about the climb. The journey of a thousand food storage miles starts with a single step.

Vaya con Dios.