Laura has a delightful blog (“Choose Sarcasm“) in which she shares her discoveries about self-sufficiency, money, kids, and life.  I find her raw honesty very refreshing, and I hope that you do too. She immediately admitted to me that she is “new to preparedness” and I asked for her to share her journey with us.

I was raised in a religion where the congregation was counseled to be prepared for emergencies, to gather a year’s supply of food storage, to have 72 hour kits for your family, and to do all that could be done to be self-reliant. 

As I grew, for whatever reason, I developed a rather cynical view of these notions.  I envisioned the women of my church gathered together for meetings to discuss all of the things that a person could do with 500 #10 cans of wheat.  I found it old fashioned, overly cautious, and a bit ridiculous, and so I put it out of my mind.  Between that and growing up with a busy family who did not keep food storage or 72 hour kits, I just disregarded the ideas.

  I would not be one of those strange women who had fun with cans of wheat, for heaven’s sake.  That was just weird.  I would not “do” this wheat thing, or any of the rest of it, thankyouverymuch.

I married into a family who did all of these things, and I think it made me even more skeptical purely out of insecurity.  I never felt I could be all of those things, that it was too much work, and besides, like others of my peer group, I thought that credit cards were for emergencies (and furniture, and clothing, and trips, and eating out, and, and, and….)

And then, the economy crashed.  I thanked my lucky stars that, layoff after layoff, my husband managed to keep his job.  And then, I had two children.  I began to drown in frivolous consumer debt, thousands upon thousands of dollars of debt that I honestly couldn’t account for, nickeled and dimed away on the stupidest things. 

Then, we moved into a rural area and discovered that we were vulnerable to small emergencies like blizzards and lengthy power outages—maybe not the end of the world, but certainly eye-openers.

Suddenly, I realized those ladies at church who knew how to make bread from scratch, who made do with what they had, who had stacks of #10 cans of beans and rice, might actually know what they are talking about and might have something interesting going for them.  I began to get tired of stuff—do you know how aggravating it is to pick up hundreds of dollars of toys off of the floor of a small 1,000 square foot home day after day?  The toys seemed like a good idea at the time, but it was wasted money, time, space, and effort for too many toys that my son didn’t even play with all that much.  Toys that, might I add, were purchased on credit.  I realized that we lacked even the simplest of things—candles, flashlights, first aid kits, and the most basic survival supplies.  We were drowning in debt, and I began to lose sleep worrying about bill collectors and juggling what could be pushed off until when.  I began to joke that I wanted to convert and become Amish so they could churn, bake, and mend the spoiled brat out of me.  (And I mean no disrespect.  If I could spend a week with them, I would.) I wanted change. 

Change is what we are doing.  We are well on the way to putting together a 72 hour kit for our family.  We’d have the bare basics in an emergency.  We are storing water, slowly but surely. 

My estimation would be that we have a few months of food on hand in the event we would ever need it.  We buy most of our food in bulk.  My husband is getting his HAM radio license so we can pursue emergency communications if needed.  I’m attempting (and often failing) to learn skills that can enable me to make things from scratch, to mend, to make do.  We are trying to declutter, to get rid of what we don’t need, and to buy and spend less.

We are, by no means, perfect.  We still have way too much debt, and I am not good at putting the extra money aside to tackle it, much to my husband’s dismay (and I’m sure Dave Ramsey’s).  I’m an emotional spender.  I’ll spend money if given the chance—while better, I’m by no means healed.  I’m on first name terms with bill collectors (thinking about this, a lot of them are suspiciously named Lois).  While we are attempting to remove clutter and organize our home, I have had hampers upon hampers of unfolded laundry sitting in my living room for days on end.  I’m just not a good housekeeper.  My children can destroy, with tornado force, what cleanliness does occur.  I still can’t make a loaf of bread from scratch (they do make excellent paperweights, however).  It’s a work in progress—slow, often disheartening progress.  I keep telling myself that someday, it will all click, and an attitude of self-reliance will become a lifestyle of self-reliance.  I literally have to take it one day at a time.  I need to have patience, determination, and I also need to learn to not be so hard on myself as I work to accomplish these goals.

Speaking of goals, I totally want to learn how to grind/mill my own flour, and have been researching grain mills so I know what to save for when I at last am ready to purchase one.  After all, I have all of these #10 cans of wheat on hand, and I need to know what to do with them.  I have a feeling I know where to go to find some ladies who can tell me….

A note to Laura—

You are right, it does not happen overnight.  It is better that it doesn’t—slow changes are long-lasting ones!  You are creating a new home environment, developing a sense of confident self-reliance within your children, and you are sending an unspoken message to your husband that his hard work day-in/day-out is enough for his family (read: you’re speaking his love language!).  It’s a beautiful thing you are doing for your family, and we all want to encourage you to keep going.  Not every skill is for every one—that’s why I hope that we will all be “neighbors”—maybe I can barter my bread for someone else’s soap!

                                                                           —-Chaya

Photo Credits:

Wheat

Shopping on credit

Ice Storm

Crisis

Storing Water

Cutting credit cards

Thanks to my blue collar upbringing I am pretty thrifty by nature, so when I have the opportunity to get a good deal on an item for the kitchen I am going to check it out.   Sometimes things are not placed categorically where you might expect to find them, like a garlic press in with the hardware tools or something, but it is still worth the look.  Generally I am always looking for durable, or name brand or obvious features that make it quality.  

Durable: Items like these Pyrex® bowls are going to be good whether you bought it new at the department store or in good condition marked down at the thrift store.   Since we still use Pyrex items in our kitchen that Chaya’s mother or my mother gave to us when we were married, I always look for these on the shelves because of their long service life.  Cast iron—generally if I find anything cast iron, it is coming home with me.  Check out Sepp Holzer’s recipe for bone sauce—yeah, you are not going to want to use those cast iron pots for anything else except bone sauce.

Name Brand: Chaya is running at optimal level when she starts off the morning with a cup of coffee (or two).  Her old coffee pot was just not holding it together anymore, so when I spotted this Mr. Coffee® gem for $4.50 it was in the cart.  I can preprogram it to aromafy the kitchen for her in the morning without even having to press a button—double bonus points.  Other personal favorites are routinely on my list to search for—you probably know what yours are already. 

Quality features: I also like kitchen knives, so when searching the knife bins I rarely come across chef grade knives, but I do still check!  What kind of knives pass my test?  I look only for stainless steel knives that are stamped with their countries of origin as being US, Japan or European nations (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, etc).  In my experience, the quality of steel used by these manufactures (and you will start to recognize their stamps) are better and hold their edge.  All of the knives that we use for slaughter or butchering are thrift store finds that have been sharpened to suit the job.  Check for full tang (where the steel that makes up the blade goes through to the end of the handle) blades if you can find them and solid rivets.  I also insist that the handles be made of wood.  The plastic handles always crack and are never full tang—even if it is priced at $.50, it is too expensive it when it breaks in my hand causing an injury when I am cutting meat. 

Basic rule is to be observant and have some fun with it.  These hot chocolate mugs will be a hit with the kids.  You may find a napkin holder set that will inspire you to eat more meals outside in the backyard this summer, which might lead to perfecting a new recipe, to which you invite an old friend (or make a new one) over to share . . . you get the idea. 

Have you found any great scores recently?  Post a comment below, let us know about them. 

 The kids and I were “roughing it” with mattresses on the floor on the first night we stayed at the new house.  After the kids went to bed, I read the manual for the pellet stove.  Where I’m from, you turn a knob on the wall to heat the house.  I was excited about the efficiency of the pellet stove but had apprehensions (I think it goes back to not earning my “camping badge” because I was scared of starting a fire).  I spent an hour trying to figure out the pellet stove (and it really couldn’t be easier), and then I spent the next hour convinced that I was going to burn the house down. 

It was in this state of “I really don’t know what I’m doing” anxiety, that I discovered Lisa Bedford’s book “Survival Mom” had arrived in the mail that very day.  I decided that it would be the perfect diversion while I stayed up awhile to ensure the fire was safe. 

The humor, the common sense, and Lisa’s charming storytelling served as a beautiful distraction to me.  No longer was I staying up to call 9-1-1 when the house blew up—I was staying up because I simply could not put the book down.

In Survival Mom: How to prepare your family for everyday disasters and worst-case scenarios, Lisa makes it quite clear that you do not prepare because you live in constant fear—you do it so that you will not have to live in fear.  I appreciated her emphasis on this point.  She faced the common stereotypes head-on of words like “survivalist” and she gave an extremely calm, reasonable line of logic to explain why drinking water or a flashlight in the car is a “good idea”.  Perhaps my favorite aspect of the book are the quotes in the margins because they underscore the prudence of preparedness by showing that some of the greatest minds in history spoke directly to the subject.  Take this one for instance:

Although the philosophy of prudent planning is an underlying theme, it really is a how-to manual.  You could very easily read this in bite-sized pieces or even just the parts that appeal to you.  There are worksheets in every section to help you plan for your specific situation, and she clearly explains that a prepared home is not one-size-fits-all.

And speaking of one-size-fits-all, the singular wish I had for this book would be that she give greater emphasis to whole (real) foods.  Let’s face it, if the economy melts down, we’ll all be rendering our own lard (or bartering for it from someone who does).  She did not leave us “foodies” out either, but if you are in that camp, you will likely find yourself skimming over a few sentences about canned or prepackaged foods.  So Lisa, if you are reading this, that would be my only suggestion for the next edition!

Okay, I lied about my favorite part.  This is my favorite part: every chapter has a section called “The Prepared Family”.  This move towards self-sufficiency is not a solo act and her tips to prepare the entire family are excellent bonding/teaching activities for everyone.  What a wonderful gift to give our children, the confidence and self-reliance to face difficult situations. 

Occasionally, she featured a real mom who has implemented these preparations in a life-saving way.  You hear from hurricane and tornado survivors, and from a mom who protected her baby from an intruder.  There is the low-income, single mom who can provide good nutrition for her family because she and the children grown their own food. 

You can either pretend that these situations will never touch you or you can empower yourself (and your family) to face them so that you can release the unspoken fear. 

Woman to woman, she spoke my language.  I can highly recommend other preparedness books out there (and I do) but this book from a woman’s perspective was long overdue! 

I will not lie to you—I’m not a newbie at this preparedness thing but I still have “growth areas” (as a boss in my former life would say).  I really thought for all of the books I have read and seminars that I have attended that I would be bored with the basics.  Not at all!  I was so motivated that I have already implemented a few changes around here with more to come. 

I want to share with you some of the changes I have personally implemented in my home since reading this book:

1)     I shored up (no pun intended) my water storage.

2)     I realized that I am too cluttered.  She suggested the used bakery buckets to store non-food items that are not weather-sensitive in outside storage spaces.  Wilson collects these buckets like trading cards but my use of them had been limited.  After reading Lisa’s section on organization, I tore through all of our extras in the house.  Do I really need 10 spare toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet?  I clearly packed and labeled them, and then got them out of the house.  My problem is not lack of storage space—it is too much stuff!

3)     I installed a good old fashioned corded phone that plugs straight into the wall without electricity or batteries.  Everyone knows this already—but I had to be reminded I guess.

4)     I took inventory of the emergency supplies in my car. 

Even those of us who have been doing this awhile need to go back to the basics, and review our level of preparedness with a fresh set of eyes. 

If you are new to the idea of being prepared, start with this book.  She covers everything you need to know and she covers it well. 

 –Chaya

Note:  I did not get paid to review this book and I do not currently sell it–although I think we will start soon!

 Photo Credits:

Pellet Stove: Breckwell

Tornado sign

Telephone

Nancy Falster, Chef, Weston A. Price chapter leader, and farmer’s wife.

It started out as a customer calling with a question.  It ended with a friendship.

Nancy is personable, funny, and honest.  She had timely homeschooling wisdom, a few “honey, I’ve been there” comforts from a mother’s perspective, and she provided a wealth of knowledge on everything from pastured poultry, to sustainable agricultural practices, to culinary arts. 

We had the opportunity to meet Chef Nancy and her husband Karl in person recently in Dallas. 

We offered to leave a few brochures out for Falster Farm, and although their farm is located a few hours away from Dallas, we had numerous people offer positive feedback:  “Falster Farm!  They have good stuff”. 

 I could talk to Nancy for hours and be selfish and keep her all to myself.  But I decided to share her with you, and she pleasantly agreed. 

 One of your expertises is in menu-planning, and I know that others hire you for their meal preparations.  Some of us just feel weary, and then confused about what balance we should have to our meals.  What is your formula for a nutritional, balanced meal?

The main thought is make it whole food, not processed,  I try to add something fermented and not too many carbohydrates – or if there are carbs, I make sure there is fat to go with them. I also have fat to go with proteins – actually fat is the most important part of the meal planning when I think of it.   So that means butter for cooked veggies, or cream sauce, or sour cream.The USDA Food pyramid says, “Start with plenty of breads, cereals, rice, pasta…” this is Not the pattern we follow. We do a lot of physical labor so good meals are important, but good meals can be out of high quality homemade soup because if it’s made right, it is packed with nutrition. We  have an eclectic menu, totally different from my Chef jobs, where everything is planned and executed according to that plan. Karl asked me once why I do not cook like I do for customers.  I told him it is because I can make great dishes out of all sorts of food in my fridge on the fly and customers are paying for exact recipes and the time to prepare them.  At home, I use leftovers ALL the time. If I have bits and pieces, they go into a soup or are used in wraps, frittatas, or omelets. Broth is used for all sorts of wonderful beginnings. The crock pot is a great friend, as is the freezer. I’ll make a big pot of beans that have soaked for at least 8 hours (rinsed a couple of times if possible) then cooked in the crock pot. Usually I add bacon or lard, an onion, some garlic, salt and pepper. A couple of meals and I’m ready for a break, so the leftovers go in the freezer, labeled and ready for a fast meal. This time it will be chalupas- my beans will go on fresh tortillas (from organic corn) cooked in some lard, topped with veggies, add grated raw cheese and dinners is ready. Maybe dessert will be a fresh fruit cup tossed with whipped cream and some crispy nuts and you are done.

    You can get ideas for menus in cooking catalogs; recipe books like Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions give whole menu ideas. Don’t be afraid of using foods traditionally found at night in the morning and vice a versa. That way I’m open to finding what’s leftover in the fridge and I can get it to the table in a new suit before it gets too old to eat.

We need to be serving higher quality fats in every meal because I’m sure you know fats do not make you fat! The lies we’ve been fed are starving our brains, nerves and gut lining. We even have ice cream for breakfast because it is a high quality meal when it is homemade with raw cream, egg yolks from our hens, maple syrup and a bit of vanilla.

Some people do not know about the Weston A. Price Foundation.  What is your level of involvement, and what is the importance of their message to us as we feed our families?

The Weston A Price Foundation grows on you, at least it did me. We were already interested in nourishing food for healing.   Karl (my husband) is a combat Marine Veteran and has residual difficulties from chemical exposure and extreme duty in Vietnam; eating well is very important to us. Finding the Weston A Price Foundation was like finding a real treasure chest full of gold for the taking. I cannot stress enough how important the WAP message is to families, ESPECIALLY YOUNG FAMILIES.  You are our future, your children will be leaders one day. This organization does not sell products, they don’t mind promoting one they find that ‘fits the bill’ for nutritional content, but they do independent research, they fact find, they ask doctors and scientists what’s what. They offer book reviews and the latest reports on all sorts of important concerns!  Food matters– consider superfoods like cod liver oil and real butter.  There is a need for clean food, not modified or processed stuff. In fact, as a member, I receive quarterly journals that are full of so much information I feel like I need to keep every one of them because of all the good stuff that is in the publication. It is written for the average person as well as professionals. There is also a handy shopping guide that comes each year to members that fits right in your purse.  Until I learned what to look for and what not to shop for, I used it every time I went to the store– it is an invaluable tool. I am a Chapter Leader and as of yet, I do not hold monthly meetings but I will as soon as there is an interest in such.  Now, I offer cooking classes that utilize the WAP principles. Most of my recipes come from Nourishing Traditions. The most important job we have as leaders is to be a source for real food in our local area so that when folks call we can get them to good food options. It is a good investment for families to be involved with WAP.   If there is not a chapter leader in your area, find one or become that leader yourself. You’ll be glad you did.

If you live in Eastern Texas, please check out Chef Nancy’s chef and farm websites:

http://www.southerngrace.biz/

 www.falsterfarm.com

 Photo Credits:

fruit salad

butter