The fall pantry

Last year at this time I posted about how important it is to prepare for winter, both literally (when there is little to no fresh, local food available), and figuratively (when a crisis, personal or environmental, may prevent you from buying or acquiring food).  This year, at almost the same time, I find myself thinking the same thoughts.  Deja vu?  Maybe a little.  We've been living without my paycheck for just about 4 months now.  We are solvent, but it's tight.  Really tight.  In spite of our simple lifestyle, it has still been an adjustment, and we have to watch every. single. penny that we spend.

In spite of our financial constraints (we spend less per week on groceries than a family of four could receive on food stamp benefits [$167, in case you're curious]), we've been able to really stock our pantry.  Please excuse the cruddy pic; our camera broke and I can only take pics with my phone now.

In contrast, here are the same shelves in January of 2011, when Shayne had just built them:

At first glance, the thing I notice most is that the shelves are much, MUCH more full in the first picture.  All canned/jarred goods are at least 5 jars deep (for quarts) or as many as 7 deep (for half pints).  That's really a lot of food we have stashed on those shelves.

The second thing I noticed is how much less processed food we now have.  Yes, there's storebought cereal - I'll get around to making my own granola one of these days - and crackers, noodles, and some soups.  But there are a lot more "staples" like dried beans, canned veggies and fruits, oats (in mylar bags in the kitty litter tub), wheat (in buckets, not shown), and flour (also not shown). 

I did a bit of an inventory the other day, and found that I have nearly 3 months of food stored up.  Here's what that looks like (items with an asterisk are things I preserved myself):

• 50 lbs of wheat
• 20 lbs various flours
• 2 jars of yeast
• 20 lbs oats
• 4 lbs of mixed beans for soup
• 3 lbs pinto beans
• 3 lbs navy beans
• 8 lbs kidney beans
• 8 lbs lentils
• 4 lbs split peas
• 3 lbs black beans
• 15 lbs brown and white rice
• 2 lbs wild rice
• 8 pints canned tomatoes*
• 5 quarts tomato juice*
• 12 quarts pasta sauce*
• 20 lbs pasta
• 8 pints applesauce*
• 6 pints pear sauce*
• 17 pints sliced pears*
• 7 20 oz cans of pineapple
• 10 pints peaches*
• 4 pints pickles*
• 9 pints corn*
• 2 pints maple syrup*
• 5 pints chicken*
•  Plus various canned soups, cereals, spices, flavorings, and cooking essentials (baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, olive oil, etc).  And coffee, which is certainly an essential.

And then there's the freezer...

• 25 lbs ground beef
• 7 lbs roasts
• 10 lb ham
• 5 lbs salmon
• 5 lbs green beans*
• 7 lbs corn*
• 5 lbs mixed veggies
• 10 Freedom Ranger chickens*
• strawberries*
• blueberries*
•  raspberries*
• orange, yellow, and red peppers*
• butter

And the "root cellar" in the garage...

• 50 lbs potatoes
• 50 lbs onions

 Hungry?  :)

So...  How did we amass all this food on such a limited budget?  The wheat, oats, potatoes, and onions were bought in bulk.  The wheat and oats came from Country Life Natural Foods, a co-op nearby with great prices.  A 50 lb bag of wheat was $25 (compare to King Arthur flour, which is $3.29/5 lb bag at Meijer - $.65/lb.  Which is actually still a great deal on premium flour, but wheat berries are cheaper and more versatile).  The potatoes and onions came from Shelton's Farm Market, which offers pretty amazing deals on in-season produce, especially when you buy in large quantities.

The frozen and canned produce were bought in-season from either the farmer's market or Shelton's.  Every time I've calculated the cost of my home preserved versus store bought, the home canned/frozen comes out cheaper.  It's obviously more work, but I love knowing where my food has come from and what is in it.  Plus, I enjoy it!  For me, it is worth my time.

The rest was bought through watching sales.  Meijer really has some good sales on staples, so when I see them, I stock up.  Recently all olive oil was 25% off, so I bought a gallon jug.  Their brand of pasta goes on sale for $.89 per 1 lb box.  And strawberries (though I much prefer local, we didn't freeze enough in June) can be gotten for $1/lb. 

Our fall preparations have also included storing more water and fuel.  Especially with little ones, if our power should go out for an extended period of time, I don't want to be too uncomfortable.  We still need some oil lamps and lamp oil, but I feel we could be reasonably comfortable in an emergency.  And considering that the average American doesn't have any sort of preparations or much of a pantry, I feel like we're a bit ahead of the game!

Pretty Boy meets The Girls

Last night we took a trip to a friend's farm to go get Pretty Boy, the rooster.  Ethan was ecstatic to go see cows, and was even more excited when he found not just one, but three tractors in the barn.  This child is obsessed with machinery.  Sue got Pretty Boy into the kitty carrier with a minimum of fuss, and he rode quietly all the way home.  I set the carrier in the coop, still closed, and planned to wait til dark to let him out.

At around 7 pm, Shayne heard Pretty Boy squawking quite a bit, so I went out to check.  As then hens were trying to come home, Pretty Boy was bk-AWWWWK-ing at them loudly and scaring them away.  I moved the carrier out of the coop, and peace was restored. 

And then it was dark.  I was worried, as last time I introduced new chickens to an existing flock, there was a lot of picking and pecking before they sorted it all out.  But this time, nothing happened.  Pretty Boy went to roost on the ladder to the chicken house, and the girls cooed sleepily at him before going back to sleep.

But I was still worried.  I woke up at about 3 am and was unable to get back to sleep.  All I could think about was whether or not there would be bloodshed in the coop when I went out in the morning.  Was it too small of a space to introduce a lone bird to my flock?  If they fought, would the picked-on bird be able to find somewhere to hide?  Maybe I should go out at 6 am and open the door, so they could all go straight outside when they woke up?  Yeesh.  It was a long night.

I actually slept later than I expected, probably as a result of being up half the night worrying...  So at 8:30, I ran out to the coop, expecting much chicken misery.  Pffft.  As if.  Pretty Boy was in the house, and the girls were on the floor.  As I opened the door, Pretty Boy emerged and started bRRRRkk-ing at me.  The girls all hopped out the door, and Pretty Boy followed.  He followed them around, making chiding-sounding noises at them, then did his little wing-dragging mating dance.  Oh my.  My little adolescent hens went crazy.

First the girls would all cluster together, making little chicken noises that reminded me of nothing so much as a bunch of teenage girls giggling.  Then one would get brave and run up to Pretty Boy.  She'd circle around him, acting shy.  He'd dance some more, and she'd get even closer.

 

He'd decide the moment was ripe, and he'd jump on her back.  "Sqaaaawwwk!" went the surprised hen, as she ran back to the other girls.  They'd giggle and gossip some more, then another one would go to tease Pretty Boy.

The light was horrible (which is obvious from the picture I took), otherwise I'd have taken a video.  They were hilarious.  I think Pretty Boy was flattered by all the attention; he came from a flock of 70, with several other roosters.  I'm really looking forward to seeing the results, now that he has his own, very appreciative, harem.

Winter is coming

Being poor sucks.  Obviously, we're not destitute.  We have a roof over our heads, food to eat, and plenty to be thankful for.  But our saving account has been just about exhausted, and I have $300 in our checking to last us til next payday.  That doesn't include paying the NIPSCO bill, our IRA contribution, groceries, or gas.  Or the toilet repair that is happening tomorrow.  Basically, we have no disposable income and barely enough to cover the necessities.

I haven't been this broke since college.  My last paycheck was $285.  I didn't have enough sick time to cover the time I took off after the miscarriage, so I got docked for 8 or 9 days.

Times like this make me so glad that I store food.  I have lots of flour, sugar, and yeast for bread.  TONS of pasta and sauce.  Canned fruits and soups.  Broth.  A freezer full of meat and veggies.

People used to put up food for winter, because no fresh food was available outside of the growing season.  With modern transportation, that's no longer strictly necessary.  Even when it's winter in Indiana, it's summer in Chile, and we have the luxury of (fairly) fresh produce year-round.  It's also no longer necessary to butcher meat in the fall so that we don't have to feed it through the winter.

But what about a figurative winter?  A time when you don't have the means to buy food?  Or you may have to choose between buying food and keeping the electricity on?  Our situation is nowhere near that dire; I'll have a normal-sized paycheck next week, and we'll start to rebuild our savings.  But if we hadn't had that savings, it very well could have come to that.

I look at my food storage as an insurance policy against the lean times in our life.  Winter is always coming, literal and figurative, and we should do everything in our power to ensure that we are prepared.

Ready? Or not?

Having my best friend living in Japan, just about 150 miles southeast of Tokyo, has made the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor event in Japan just a little bit personal for me.  The area she is in hasn't been badly affected by the disaster, though there are rolling blackouts, possibly contaminated water, continuing earthquakes and aftershocks, as well as the potential of a nuclear disaster fairly close by.  For me, it would be like all of this is happening in Chicago.

And I don't know about you, but that seems just a little too close for comfort.

I look at my supplies in the basement, the shelves of food, mylar bags of water, stacks of batteries, canisters of propane, and my camping supplies, and I feel deeply that it just isn't enough.  Granted, we are better prepared than many.  Some folks, through necessity, ignorance, or complacence, have only enough food for a few days or a week.  Others have built fallout shelters in their backyards.

How much is enough?  Is it a year's supply of food?  Raising your own meat?  Living off the grid?  I don't really know what level of preparedness would make me feel "ready".  Maybe I never will.  Lord knows, I have no plans to build a bunker!  If things got that bad, I'd be ready to meet my Maker and be done with life here.  But there's a middle ground, somewhere between tin-foil-hat-crazy and la-de-da-oblivious, that I'm searching for.

And so we slowly build up supplies, buy ammo, grow veggies, can food, and learn new skills.  I may not ever be "ready", but I'm doing what I can.  And in the meantime, those shelves of food and bags of water might just come in handy.

Do yourselves a favor, folks: Prepare.  Have a plan.  Don't just be another victim waiting on FEMA to come save you.  We all know how well that works out.  Be prepared.  You just never know.

New basement storage shelves

Shayne built me these wonderful shelves this afternoon.  They're obviously not fancy, just plywood on wall-mounted shelf brackets.  But I can store all the food on these that I previously had stored on 2 5-shelf units.  So we've freed up a bit of space in the basement, and we can rearrange so that things we use often are closer to the door to the storage area.

I eventually want to expand our food storage, so we'll need more space some day.  For now this is plenty, though, and it will help me stay organized.

This year's harvest and next year's plans

Since I started my journey last year to become more self-sufficient, I've learned a lot about how to process and store various foods.  Learning almost completely from internet sources, I froze beans, peas, corn, carrots, peppers, and broccoli and canned peaches, applesauce, and spaghetti sauce.  The produce put up in the summer and fall lasted nearly til the next growing season, and I had to buy very few veggies from Meijer or other stores. 

This year I did even more.  While I am in no way close to being as food self-sufficient as I eventually want to be, I've made a lot of progress (especially considering that I was pregnant).  Starting in the spring, I planted a small 4x8' garden with broccoli, two types of tomatoes, and yellow peppers.  Some of the broccoli I started from seeds, but the rest were started plants from a local nursery.  I've never had a vegetable garden before, and I am amazed at how well everything grew with very little care.  I had a decent broccoli harvest, LOADS of tomatoes, and a few peppers. 

I also learned how to make jam.  I bought strawberries from the farmers market, but harvested my own mulberries (from my backyard, no less) and raspberries.  All of the jams turned out well, but raspberry was everyone's favorite.  That one was made kind of spur of the moment, after a friend mentioned that he had a bunch of wild black raspberry bushes on his property.  He let my mom and I pick (and brought me a big container that he had picked himself), and I made the jam with the last berries of the season. 

I picked blueberries for the first time, which is loads of fun when you're gigantically pregnant...!  I ended up with almost 10 lbs.  I dehydrated some and they turned out like little blueberry rocks, but they softened up after being in storage for a little while.  The rest are in the freezer for pancakes, muffins, bread, and maybe pie.

I dehydrated cherries from the market to use in my homemade granola bars or in salad.

I froze the same veggies as last year, minus carrots which are always available locally, but refined my technique a bit.  I've learned to let broccoli dry a bit so that it doesn't get soggy, plus I steamed it instead of blanching.  Last year's was only suitable for stir-fry since it was so mushy.  I bought a Reynolds Handi-Vac system, which is basically a cheap vacuum sealer, and used it for all my freezer veggies.  Hopefully it will work to prevent freezer burn, since last year's veggies ended up very frosty after a few months.

I canned corn and peaches.  Peaches are a major pain in the butt to can, but they taste like a little bit of summer when you open a jar in the middle of winter.  The corn was because the frozen corn starts to taste like the freezer after about 6 months...  So hopefully that canned corn will get us through once the frozen runs out.

I learned how to make basil pesto and froze some of that for later. 

My spaghetti sauce turned out WAY better this year than last year's.  I found a great recipe online, then tweaked it to my taste.  Even my mom likes it.  :)  Most of the tomatoes were bought from the market, but I got about 5-7 lbs off my plants that were tossed in as well.  There's really nothing better than making something edible from something you grew!

Then came applesauce...  I bought mixed seconds from the market instead of using just golden delicious and fuji.  I don't know that it tastes any better, but it was loads cheaper.  I also bought an apple peeler/corer/slicer which sped things up a lot.

On Saturday I bought another half-bushel of seconds and made apple butter.  It turned out well, but not seasoned enough, so this morning I dumped out my jars, added more spices, and cooked it more.  I ended up with 8 oz less than I had, but the flavor is much improved.  Thankfully apples don't require a long processing time, otherwise I would have just had to live with it.

As an experiment I boiled a chicken, froze the stock, and canned the meat.  I haven't yet tried the canned chicken, but it'll be very convenient to have on hand for stir-fry and other recipes.

In addition to learning to store more foods, I also learned how to cook more.  I've found awesome recipes for beef stew, chicken pot pie, roasted red pepper cream sauce, basil cream sauce, no-knead bread, and quite a few others.  It may not sound like much, but until a few years ago I never really bothered with cooking from scratch.  I had a few staples that I'd make (sloppy joes, some crockpot meals, steak, stir-fry), but wasn't interested in learning more. I still don't have as much time to cook as I would like, but I'm getting there.

Next year we are definitely going to have a bigger garden.  Shayne is going to make me more raised beds, and we'll remake the existing one so that it's deeper (and nicer looking!).  I'm going to stick to the 4x8' size, since it makes organization easy and I can reach across the beds without having to step onto the soil.  I'm going to plant a full bed of roma tomatoes (16 plants), red and yellow peppers, broccoli, potatoes, onions, and maybe some corn, squash, and carrots.

We're also going to build more shelves in the basement for more storage space.  As I learn more about canning and storing food, I'm finding that our existing pantry and shelving just aren't cutting it.  Plus, most ready-made shelving has a large area between shelves.  If I'm storing canned goods, I only need a 12 to 16" between shelves.  So I'm wasting a lot of space.

And, I'd really like to get those chickens.  We've been taking about it for 2 years.  I bought coop plans last spring.  Maybe next spring or summer we can get 2 or 3 hens and see how it goes.

Suburban self-reliance

I've read a few books and articles over the past year about people who live on small plots of land, yet are able to produce most of their own food.  I'm still trying to decide whether these stories make me feel envious or overwhelmed...  Since I'm just learning about gardening and animal husbandry, it seems like a huge time and energy commitment.  Not to mention the steep learning curve...  I want to do it all, but the idea of slaughtering a chicken is very intimidating for me.  I wouldn't have a problem eating a chicken I raised, but I'm not sure how I feel about actually killing and butchering it myself.  An attitude like this points to what I feel is one of the biggest problems in today's society: people want things, but they don't want to do it themselves or do the "dirty work" to achieve things.

I'm determined to change this attitude in myself, especially as it pertains to food.  In the society we've evolved into, the average person is far removed from the processes that sustain us.  Some people don't even know how to make a meal unless it comes out of a box, much less how to preserve home-grown produce to last through the winter.  Personally, I don't like to live like this.  It makes me feel very insecure, as I'm relying on so many other people just to have the basics to survive.  I don't think that I'm an extremist; I'm not going to become a hermit who completely withdraws from society to live off the land in some ramshackle cottage in the woods.  But I do want to do what I can to make myself less reliant on others for the basics (water, food, energy), and I want my children to also have these skills. 

I don't think people realize how fragile society really is.  After a disaster or major social disruption of some sort, it takes only 72 hours without strong governmental intervention for the social order to start to disintegrate.  Anyone remember all the looting after hurricaine Katrina?  Or the effects of the widespread "Northeast Blackout" of 2003?  I was visiting family near Detroit that weekend, and stores immediately sold out of bottled water, ice, gasoline, and other emergency supplies.  It doesn't take long at all for fights to start over the last remaining supplies, and it seems much more prudent to have supplies on-hand instead of trying to beat the rush to the grocery store.  Personally, I don't think stealing food from a grocery store after a natural disaster is truly "looting", it's just people doing what they need to do to survive and feed themselves.  But would you want to be in the way of people who are that desperate?

Especially in light of the fact that we plan to bring children into this world, I feel very obligated to be able to provide for ourselves under most any circumstances.  I'm not worried we're all going to die from swine flu, or that the nuclear holocaust is right around the corner.  But I do believe that I cannot (and should not!) rely on the government to rescue me from a disaster or emergency situation.

So, today I'm going to really go through my stored food and figure out what I really have and what I really need.  There's no reason to have 10 lbs of flour if I don't have anything to make it edible...!  Throughout the month of May, I'd like to make sure I have a true 1 month supply of food and fuel that is organized and accessible.  I'm also going to build a small raised garden bed for the seeds I started a few days ago.  Then I can concentrate of building up the 3-month supply that was supposed to be last year's resolution!

Emergency preparedness, swine flu, and random thoughts

Firstly, I feel obligated to say that I've not gone into "freak-out" mode regarding the swine flu epidemic.  I don't believe this will turn into an end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it scenario.  But it has gotten me thinking...

Can we handle it if our city/county/state shuts down for 5 days like Mexico did?  Easily.  Our freezer still has plenty of meat and veggies in it, plus we have dry goods like flour, pasta, and rice.  Also we have about 30 gallons of water stored.  Realistically, I'd say we have more than 3 weeks but less than a full month's worth of food.

How do I feel about our level of preparedness? I'm not sure.  On one hand, I know we're better prepared than the average American.  On the other hand, there's still a lot of things I wish we had, like an emergency power source.  Still, I believe we are well-equipped for a short-term disruption of normal life.

Long term disruption?  Not so much. 

This is where I start wishing we lived farther away from the city.  South Bend isn't big, but there are enough people close-by that we might still be victims of rioting/looting/civil unrest.  I wish we had goats and chickens for a sustainable supply of eggs, meat, and dairy.  Shayne was kind enough to give in to my desire to have laying hens, but in return, I promised we'd finish the projects we had going before I started another.  So, no chickens yet.  I'd even been contemplating not getting chickens at all until we move, but I think I'd feel much better knowing we had some kind of self-sustaining food source.  Note to self: finish upstairs, buy hens.

I also wish I had a veggie garden.  I know it's not yet too late to plant one, but we're trying so hard to finish our current projects before starting new ones.  I don't know what to do here...  I suppose I could plant a small garden, with plans to expand it next year.  That makes the most sense.  I have a feeling if I just jumped in with a big garden, I'd be overwhelmed pretty quickly!  I guess I should start looking at how much space I'll need for a small garden of broccoli, carrots, peas, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes, and corn.

Well, we're not going to starve...

Today, Shayne and I picked up a bulk package of meat from Jaworski's, a local meat market.  Unfortunately, not all their meat is from local farms, but it's fresher and of significantly higher quality than, say, Meijer's meat.  I guess that's not really a good comparison, so suffice it to say they are one of the best butcher shops in our area.  The package we bought contained ~43 lbs of various meats.  There are whole chickens, boneless skinless chicken breasts, sausage, bacon, pork chops, steaks (sirloin and new york strip), stew beef, ground beef, roasts, and more.  Dividing the cost by weight, it comes out to $3 per pound.  This is definitely the way to buy your meat.

In addition to the meat, our little freezer is stuffed with frozen veggies.  I froze my own broccoli, corn, sugar snap peas, green beans, carrots, and peaches.  There might be some blueberries in there too.  Next year I'll make a chart of what I have and how much.  It'll make things a little easier to keep track of when it gets crowded in there!

I also have extra canned goods (veggies, fruits, tomato sauce, soups, and some pouches of chicken), pastas, rice, baking mix, cereals, instant puddings, and a few cans of freeze dried entrees (mostly for backpacking, but I'd obviously eat them in an emergency too).  I also have the staples: flour, sugar, brown sugar, oil, and other baking essentials.  Out in the garage I have a half-bushel of apples, and I plan to add potatoes and onions. 

I don't think I realized how much food I had until I just listed it.

Once I buy my onions and potatoes, I won't really need to shop this winter except for lettuce/spinach greens (which I'll buy out-of-season for the sake of variety and nutrition), dairy products, eggs, lunch meat, and crackers.  Seriously. 

It's a strange feeling.  I almost feel like I'm going to hibernate this year, since we have most everything we need already bought and ready to go.  It's also an adjustment in my way of thinking.  I'm used to planning out a meal, then going to the store to buy what I need.  Now it has to be the opposite.  The "store" is in my basement now.  And I'll be looking at what's available before deciding what to make.  It's certainly a different approach than most people today use.

In addition to the food, we also have about 15 gallons of drinking water, kerosene for the portable heater we currently use in the garage, propane for the grill and camp stove, and all my backpacking gear (tent, sleeping bags, water filter, headlamps).  If we were to be without power for an extended period, we would still be able to stay in our home, eat decent meals, and sleep in relative comfort - even in the dead of winter.  The only major lack I see is a large light source.  Without going overboard into the land of paranoia, I feel that we have prepared reasonably for the disasters that may threaten us in our area. 

We could probably live for a minimum of 60 days off of the supplies we have in our home, excepting water.  I had originally wanted to have 3 month's worth of food on hand, but I didn't realize the space it would take up.  Plus, I know that if I'm going to rotate it properly, I have to use it.  In the summer, I don't want to have to eat frozen broccoli when I can buy it fresh.  By having about 2 month's worth of food we actually eat and use, I don't think any will go to waste, and by next summer, my freezer will be empty again for the next round of food storage.  The shelved items are a little easier, and I'll just replace what I use. 

Wish me luck!  This winter will be a big experiment...!

Farmer's Market: Putting up summer's harvest

I've been shopping almost exclusively at our local farmer's market for nearly 2 months now and loving it. We're fortunate that the South Bend Farmers Market is open year-round and has many offerings that a temporary, tent market doesn't. For example, there are 2 permanant meat and cheese vendors, plus some dry goods vendors that have rice, flour, soaps, leather moccasins and gloves, etc. It's very well-rounded, and I'm grateful for the diversity. Even if not all the goods are local, I'm still supporting local businesses instead of corporate giants.

The fresh food tastes so much better. I didn't realize how much flavor food lost by being transported and refrigerated. And, instead of finding dead worms in your corn, you find live ones! How's that for fresh-picked?!

A few weeks ago, I found some of the largest, most perfect ears of corn I've ever seen.  the corn went all the way to the tip, and the flavor was excellent.  12 ears produced about 16 heaping cups of corn (average seems to be about 1 cup per ear or a little less) , which is now stored in my freezer.  We've used a little of the stored corn, just to try it out, and it beats canned hands-down.  It tasted as though I'd just bought and cooked the corn that day.  I'll be loving that in the middle of the winter!

I've also been buying and putting up, broccoli, green beans, peppers, tomatoes, and carrots.  The carrots are heirloom varieties and come in a multitude of colors:

It's a good thing we bought that freezer.  By the end of fall, it's going to be stuffed with produce...

It's currently home to the veggies, a chicken, a few miscellaneous cuts of meat, sausage, and venison.  I think on Friday I'm going to give canning peaches a try.  The market is open Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday in the summer, so I'll stop on Thirsday and load up.  I can always freeze some if the canning turns out to be a huge pain.  I also need to get some roma tomatoes to make pasta sauce.  I would have never thought buying and freezing food could be so much fun!  And, I'm satisfying my New Year's resolution by expanding our food storage at the same time.  By winter, we should barely need to go shopping at all.  How strange...

Emergency Preparedness

I had to take a little time off from both the house and the blog. For reasons both personal and professional, I've been extremely stressed lately. I haven't made much progress on anything, and I figured that it would be better to take a break than to get burned out.

Another source of stress has been very personal. About 3 weeks ago, Shayne fractured his C6 vertebrae in a fall. It was just a hairline crack, but he has to wear a neck brace for up to 8 weeks. The doctor said that the brace is basically a preventative measure against further damage, and at the last check-up the doc said Shayne's healing fast, but he's restricted to "light duty" at work until released by the doctor. Because the department he works for is so small, there isn't much as far as light duty. In the meantime, he's taken up dispatching and has begun training and taking classes. Thankfully this keeps his paycheck coming in, and we don't have to worry about depleting our savings. God has been very good to us, and I appreciate the prayers and support from all our family and friends.

All of this has gotten me thinking about what would have happened to us if Shayne hadn't been able to work. Or what would happen if I couldn't work. We have a savings account, but it wouldn't last forever. It wouldn't even cover a major repair on the house if there was a big problem or a disaster of some sort. I'm sure we have enough in the pantry and freezer to get us through a week, but we'd be SOL if the power was out. Our well pump wouldn't function, and we'd have no water besides what's in the tanks and hot water heater.

After talking with Shayne, we've decided to set aside an area under the stairs and dedicate it to an emergency preparedness kit. Some guides recommend having a 1 year supply of food, but we're not going to go that far. I'd feel more than comfortable with about a month's supply of canned goods and pouched, canned, or freeze-dried meat; staples like flour, sugar, and salt; extra water; first aid supplies and extra batteries; and a way to stay warm and dry. Some of these things I already have due to my backpacking habit. I have a stove that runs on denatured alcohol, and sleeping bags and tents that could keep us warm and sheltered in sub-zero conditions. I have a water filter, and we're close enough to the lake that I could conceivably use it as our water source. I even have a little heater that runs on 16 oz propane cylinders. The food and batteries are something I'll have to work on...

A part of me feels a little paranoid for even thinking about this, but my complacent attitude wouldn't help us much if there was a bad blizzard and we were snowed in for any length of time. Or if one of us was out of work and we couldn't afford to buy groceries... In any case, I'd rather err on the side of paranoia, considering the alternative.

Here are a few links that I've found to be helpful:
Emergency Essentials
The American Red Cross
The Prepared Pantry

I'll keep you all updated as this project progresses...