December 2012

Hard to believe that December has come jingling in! Children everywhere have long anticipated this month and all the hope, anticipation, and excitement that the Christmas season brings with it. Of course, many of us are children at heart and also look forward to this season of giving. This year as we “deck the halls,” we can keep preparedness a part of our Christmas. Whether it is in the type of gifts we give or the “Provident Living” we use as we shop, we can make this a Christmas that is a “Back to Basics”. When pioneers first settled this land, a Christmas orange was a rare treat, and a rag doll was a true treasure. (In my mother’s childhood an orange was still a treat – so much that they ate peeling and all!)  May we keep the true meaning of Christmas foremost in our lives this year and keep our “basics” perspective as we celebrate the birth of our Savior!  Merry Christmas to all, and to the year 2012….Goodnight!

Included in this month's newsletter:

    In Review: a list of what our preparedness should include.

    Provident Living: shine up the house for pennies.

    Live Storage: animals, gardens, sprouts.

   Challenge: skills to be prepared with.

    In the Southern Utah Garden: till leaves, seed catalogs, planning, suggested varieties.

    Reader Tip: cereal bags, emails.

    Cooking with Food Storage: Hot Chocolate!

    Spiritual Preparedness: Christ the center of Christmas.

    Merry Christmas: Ideas for gifts of preparedness.

    Serving Safe Foods: what to watch for in spoilage.

    Resources: some great Oldy-Goldy books on preparedness. 

    

   

Click Here  to download a complete December 2012 Back To Basics Newsletter.

Emergency Preparedness and 72 hour kits

In light of the "Monster Storm" back east, I have had some inquiries concerning the booklet I have put together for Relief Society and Community presentations. In September our community held a preparedness fair and I presented one of the classes on 72 hour kits and emergency preparedness. If you would like a copy of the booklet I put together click on the link below.

Click here for a copy of the Emergency Preparedness booklet.

The booklet content includes: 
Emergency Preparedness; Make a Plan; Family Preparedness Survey; Family Contact Page; The 72 Hour Kit; 72 hour kit list; Custom Fit Your Kit (the Groover, Grab and Go Case, First Aid Kit, Sewing Kit, Car Kit, 24 hour pocket kit,small first aid kit, food pack recipes,  candle and wick recipe, Heat-in-a-can, newspaper logs, fir starter, energy candy and emergency bar recipe); the 72 hour kit vest; Levi Backpack instructions; youth backpack; MRE Info; Water storage and treatment guide; Heat; Other equipment; Earthquake proof gas and water heater; and Emergency Response to Six types of Disasters.

November 2012 Newsletter

November is the month of Thanksgiving.  Hopefully each of us has had a year full of many things to give thanks for.  Take time to “Count your many blessings – name them one by one.” Even if there have been trials this year, the simple act of seeking for things to be grateful for will help us to recognize our many blessings. This year we have enjoyed many things…rains that ended a drought, a bounteous harvest to fill our jars, a job, a home to protect us, our family, a great ward, a nearby temple, and our membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As we watch the disaster of a Monster Storm play out on the east coast we can find even more to be grateful for. Even in the midst of trials we can find blessings that the Lord sends our way. We show our gratitude to the Lord for all we have by obeying His commandments and by being a good steward over what we have. Let us show our gratitude this month by adding to our preparedness status in any way that we can.

Included in this month's newsletter:

     Cold Storage: expanded storage for the freezer or fridge.

     Hot Tips: November sales, Christmas gifts.

     Emergency: reverse 911.

     Disaster Prep: the 6 P's: have a plan.

     In the Garden: clear garden, water, tools.

     Spiritual Preparedness: Faith.

     Cooking with Food Storage: Bottled Turkey, Turkey Roll-up.

     Provident Living: keep appliances in good repair.

Click here to download a complete November 2012 Back To Basics newsletter.

October 2012 Newsletter

Autumn is here, and with it the season finale of one of the most bounteous harvest we have seen for a long time! Hopefully you were able to take advantage of the abundant blessings from our orchards and gardens and store some up for the winter. What a satisfying feeling it is to see the rows of jars lining a storage room shelf. The more prepared we become, the more we understand the meaning of the scripture, “If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear”. Let us try to be more prepared in all areas of our lives.  Preparedness truly does bring peace.

Included in this month's newsletter:

      Winter Ready: storage items to be ready for winter

      Spiritual Preparedness - gardening our children's souls.

       Hot Tip: fire wood and heat value.

       Thought for the day

       In the Southern Utah Garden: fall chores.

       Apples..The Fall Harvest: tips to use your apple harvest.

       Cooking With Food Storage: Apple Peel Jelly, Applets Candy.

       Provident Living: Halloween Makeup.

Click here to download a complete October 2012 Back to Basics Newsletter.

       

September 2012 Newsletter

September is such a wonderful time of year. The harvest of summer is drawing to a close. If you have a fall garden you are enjoying the benefits of living in a climate with an extra-long growing season. This is the time of year we can “smell” fall in the air. It is often a favorite time of year for many people. It means the harvest and work is over and the weather is pleasant. Fall brings us apples and back to school. Soon wood stoves will be fired up for the brisk mornings, and the buzz of the chain saw will echo in the hills. Fall is a great time to enjoy the bounty of your summer work, and a great time to take stock of your “preparedness” you have added to. Satisfaction in a job well done brings great peace into our lives. May you feel that peace as you become prepared.

Included in this months newsletter:

     Making Preparedness a Way of Life

     Remember When: remembering Sept 11 - are you ready?

     Spiritual Preparedness: How to be safe.

     In the Southern Utah Garden: fall tips, spraying poisons.

     Canning Corner: Grandma's Red Sauce

     Disaster Prep: Emergency fuel and light.

     Why have a garden or fruit trees?

Click Here to download a complete September 2012 Back to Basics Newsletter.

August 2012 Newsletter

What a wonderful harvest we are enjoying this summer! The fruit trees are heavy with luscious, juicy fruit, the garden is providing buckets full of fresh vegetables, and the jars are filling up for the winter! August brings us bushels of delicious peaches. Dry some, make jams and butters, preserve them plain, and eat as many fresh as you can. (There is nothing better than a sun warmed peach fresh from the tree: you know - the kind that drips juice down your chin, no matter how sophisticated you may feel?) Corn will make its debut this month too, as well as all the tomatoes, squash, cucumbers and more that we are already enjoying. They all offer another great way to fill freezers and jars.  Be sure to show your gratitude to the Lord for the bounty of the summer by being a good steward over that which He has given.

Included in this month's newsletter:
     Food Storage Made To Fit: steps to fit your food storage to your family.
     Provident Living: Household items to save money - salt, vinegar, soda.
     Spiritual Preparedness : Things we need in our lives to be "wise virgins".
     In the Southern Utah Garden: Planting, tips for bugs, corn tips.
     Disaster Prep: Keeping water on hand.
     Canning Corner: Peach and Jello Jam, Pear Butter, Peach Cobbler, and Applesauce.
     Hot Tip: Saving peppers and tomatoes to make salsa.
     Correction: corrections for July's Salsa Recipe.

Click here to download a complete August 2012 Back to Basics Newsletter

July 2012 Newsletter

July brings with it holidays and celebrations for both our country and state. The Book of Mormon tells us this is a land of promise, a land choice above all others (1 Nephi 2:20). If we serve the Lord and keep the commandments it “shall be a land of liberty unto (us).” (2 Nephi 1:7) It is a commandment to “Be Prepared!” Let us honor and celebrate our liberty in state and country this month by continuing in our efforts to follow the prophet and be prepared both temporally and spiritually.


Included in this month's newsletter:
       Summer Canning: using produce from the orchard and garden.
       Spiritual Preparedness: four thought provoking quotes.
       Hot Tip: a variety of hot cereals to store and enjoy.
       Disaster Prep: Poisoning info and poison control info.
       In the July Garden: Planting, squash bugs, insecticide, tomato tips.
       Food Storage Recipes: Julies Salsa and Grandmas Pickled Beets.
       Provident Living: Recycling denim jeans: A Levi Backpack.


Click here to download a complete July 2012 Back To Basics Newsletter.

June 2012 Newsletter

Summer is here at last! Hot summer days and warm evening, crickets and frogs singing in the night, a dip in the pool or river, and the smell of fresh cut hay. With all this balmy weather also come fresh fruits and vegetables. We are so blessed to have an abundance of fruit growing on the trees. What an opportunity to fill our shelves with home bottled food. Let us enjoy the work the gardens and orchards bring and pray for a bounteous harvest. Be sure to make the garden and bottling a family affair. There is a great sense of accomplishment that comes with being a part of producing and canning your own food! If you haven’t done so before, or for a long time, this is a great summer to give it a try. 

Have a happy summer!

Included in this newsletter:

    Expanded Storage - Items and amounts to include for a year.

    Hot Tip - Ball Blue Book.

    Spiritual Preparedness - Ezra Taft Benson.

    Disaster Prep - camping.

    Remember - canning supplies.

    In the June Garden - planing, harvest amounts, spraying, thinning.

    Where Do I Start? A bite at a time - 10 bites to be prepared.

    Cooking With Food Storage - Sprouts.

    Provident Living - Wheat.

Click here to download a complete June 2012 Back To Basics Newsletter.

May 2012 Newsletter

What a crazy spring we have enjoyed! We have gone from winter to summer and back again.  Mild weather may be here today, but the promise of hot summer days is in the air. Soon we will begin to reap the delicious fruit of our labors from our trees and gardens. Gardens and food storage require the same thing our eternal salvation does – and that is to endure to the end! It makes it a lot easier to “endure” if we keep up, not catch up. So keep in mind, as the summer begins, to try to keep in step with your preparedness plans instead of scrambling to catch up – whether it is weeds in the garden or empty shelves in the basement.  We need to “endure”, and - to coin a phrase from the 70’s – “keep on keeping on!”  Ultimately being prepared is not a goal we finally reach, but instead it is a way of life!   

                                                            

Included in this newsletter:

       The "Bare"Necessities: storing clothing and bedding.

       Disaster Prep: car repair, gas tank, 72 hour kit, thinking.

       Provident Living: Old adages

       Church Farm: hotline and service.

       In the May Garden: planting, weeds, poison, mulch, spray, bees, family.

       The "Egg-cellent" Egg: storing and freezing eggs, recipes to use and substitute.

       Hot Tip: Buckets

       Spiritual Preparedness: Law of the Harvest.

Click Here to download a complete May Back to Basics Newsletter

April 2012 Newsletter

Easter is almost here, and spring has sprung! How fitting that Easter comes in the spring, since both bring the promise of new life. Blossoms turn to tiny fruit, leaves appear and will soon provide shade, and the seeds in the garden perform their annual miracle and begin to grow. Let’s remember to express gratitude to the Lord for the blessings of spring. As another growing season commences, be sure to take stock of where you are in your preparedness, and where you would like to be. Self Sufficiency brings with it a great feeling of peace. Perhaps this spring we can all “spring” into action those wishes and dreams of being a little more prepared.

Included in this month's newsletter:

  Non-food storage: inexpensive soap, cleaning, other.

  Disaster Prep: Rotation of water and 72 hour kits.

  Provident Living: bacon grease, family sizes, using old jam, laundry soap and Fels Naptha.

  In the Garden: things to plant, tomatoes, bugs and pests (including toddlers!)

  Homemade Laundry Detergent: three basic items that store on a small shelf.

  Cooking with Food storage: No Fail Pie Crust, Pinto Bean Cream Pie.

  Spiritual Preparedness: Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy.

Click here to download a complete April 2012 Back to Basics Newsletter

March 2012 Newsletter

Spring is here - things are greening up and blossoms are beginning to pop!  The time for preparation for harvest is now! There will be no peas, carrots, green beans, tomatoes or any other vegetable in the summer and fall if we do not prepare and plant today. There will be no fruit, or a poor harvest, if fruit trees aren’t cared for. Just like our fall harvest depends on spring preparation, so does long term “harvest” of a home storage begin with the preparation we do today. As we add to our family’s preparedness, remember the “Six P’s”: “Proper Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance”.  Let us all plant those “P’s”!!

Included in this month's newsletter:

     Fuel Storage: How will I keep warm and cook?

     Disaster Prep: Earthquake and the bedroom

     Spiritual Preparedness: a preparation that cannot be bought, borrowed or stored well.

     In the Southern Utah Garden: March planting, and tips for the month.

     March Challenge: Avoiding appetite fatigue.

     Basic one year food storage: a list to remind us of amounts to store.

     Hot Tip: Utilizing the Home Storage Center and a list of what is available.

     Cooking with Food Storage: Using wheat in many dishes.

     Provident Living: Croutons!

     A Voice from the Past: Bruce R McKonkie.

Click here to download a complete March 2012 Back To Basics Newsletter.

February 2012 Newsletter

We may not know exactly why or when we will need a food storage or emergency supplies, but we should remember that “when the time for performance arrives, the time for preparation is past!”  Some may think being prepared is for a big disaster or the “end of the world”.  But “Being Prepared” should just be a way of life. People seem to go in spurts of “preparedness”. The Y2K scare spurred many into action - but that was 12 years ago!  The fall of the twin towers gave another boost to preparedness. When a war begins, new interest surges.  And always when news of a hurricane is spread, stores in those areas empty their shelves. Hopefully we will “Be Prepared” with our food storage and a 72 hour kit not because of a pending disaster, but because a prophet of God has told us to do so.  And because it just makes good sense!  Hopefully you have a good start on your storage – now keep in mind that it is easier to keep up, than to catch up! Let’s not wait for a surprise disaster to make us wish we were ready to care for ourselves and our families.

   Included in this month's newsletter:

      Inventory: part of a good home storage is your inventory system

      Provident Living: Five Principles of Economic Constancy

      Hot Tip:  buying trees and shrubs in bulk from seed catalogs and online

      In the Southern Utah Garden: prep and planting tips; pruning hints

      Cooking with food storage: old beans, burritos, Easy Cheesecake, Danish Dessert

     Spiritual Preparedness: Commitment to Christ

 Click here to download a complete February 2012 Back to Basics Newsletter

January 2012 Newsletter

               Welcome to 2012! With this new year comes a myriad of 2012 doomsday predictions which have ignited songs with lyrics such as: “we’re gonna party like its 2012…like it’s the end of the world”, or plain old fear inducing theories that abound on the media, and references to the Mayan Calendar ending. However, we know that life goes on and we can only do our best, which should include following the counsel to “Be Prepared”. We are so blessed to have a living prophet to “guide us in these Latter Days.” We have been given the tools we need to be happy and to not fear.  “The Lord has told us to prepare ourselves individually in our homes; to see to it that we have reserves of food and clothing; and it wouldn’t hurt to have some reserves of cash on hand. One has said: ‘Where preparations are being made there will be little difficulty, but where no preparation has been made, suffering and difficulties will come.’ ” (Welfare Conf. April 1970) We have seen the different consequences splashed across the evening news from all over the world as disasters have been met with varying degrees of preparedness. Whatever the 2012 year holds in store for us, if we follow the admonition “If ye are prepared ye shall not fear”, we will be okay! We can do as Elder Joseph B. Worthlin advises us: “Come what may, and love it.” So bring on the new 2012 year, and let’s use the time wisely as we practice provident living and “Be Prepared”.

Included in this month's newsletter:

     A Place For Everything and Everything in its place: storage "how and where" guidelines and creative ideas.

     Disaster Prep: fire extinguishers.

     Hot Tip: Farmers Almanac.

     In the Garden: January "to do list".

     Spiritual Preparedness: monthly thought or quote.

     Provident Living: uses for old pantyhose.

     Food Storage recipes: Easy Kid Peanut Butter Cookies; Parched Wheat.

     Basic Food Storage: a list of amounts for different ages and gender.

Click Here to download a complete January 2012 Back to Basics Newsletter.