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.

December 2011 Newsletter

 It has been one year since the “Back to Basics” newsletters began. We have had one year of ideas and suggestions to hopefully help us all become more prepared. How is your family’s personal preparedness status coming along? Have you found any ideas you meant to try, or items you planned to purchase that you just never did. Maybe at this Christmas time a gift we can give to ourselves (and to the lord as we “Follow the Prophet”) is to really get ourselves prepared! Use food storage as a gift to others also! May we have a peaceful holiday season this Christmas time as we celebrate the birth of Christ. And may some of the peace come from knowing each of us is a little more prepared.

Included in this month's newsletter:
       Containers: buckets, cans, mylar bags, other
       Disaster Prep: bedding for cold weather
       In The Garden: take a break, garden books, seed catalogs
       Christmas Gifts: a Preparedness Christmas
       Hot Tip: hot cocoa
       Cooking With Food Storage: Ground Beef Jerky, Grandma's Molasses Candy
       Provident Living: seasonal cost cutters




Click here to download a complete December 2011 Back To Basics Newsletter.

November 2011 Newsletter

 November brings with it the Thanksgiving season.  What a wonderful time to reflect on the many things we have to be thankful for. Remember to also be thankful for your preparedness!  Being able to stock our shelves and prepare for the coming year gives us much to be grateful for.  What a feeling of peace to know you have followed the prophet to “Be Prepared”, but also to know that your family will be taken care of in times of trouble.  If you are not as prepared as you want to be, do not give up.  Keep adding a little here and there. Remember, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” either.  Just like the gospel, our preparedness is established “line upon line, precept on precept.” Be thankful for what we do have!  As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “This time, like all times, is a very good one if we but know what to do with it.”

Included in this month's newsletter:

     Rotation Rotation Rotation

     Disaster Prep: gas tanks, propane, money, baby diapers

     Hot tip: Spiff-e-whip

     In the Garden: clean garden, leaves, winter water, seed catalogs

     Cooking with food storage: flour tortillas, fruit cake

     November Challenge: Thanksgiving storage

     Thoughts on Being Prepared: four incentive quotes

Click here to download a complete November 2011 Back to Basics Newsletter.
(Note: After the google docs comes up you can download an original by clicking on a "download original" box in the top right of the screen. This may help when printing a copy to share with your ward.) 

How to Download

For those who are downloading this to print for use in their wards, this will hopefully help.  There has been some question as to the process to get the same document I use to print for my own ward.  Here is how: if you click on the link (click where it says "click here") it will take you to google docs.  To get the original document you must then click on the download link.  This should be on the top right hand side of your screen. When you click "download" it will download to your computer the same document I have on my computer. (Sometimes when you click the download link, you may still have to tell your computer to download it.  A message in the lower left of the screen will appear and you can click it to open.) When the document is downloaded and pulled up you can print it.  If you have trouble printing, you may need to click "enable editing" at the top of the page. (But you should be able to just print)  SO basically - in order to get the printable document I have on my computer, you have to go one more step after getting the google docs.  Good luck.  I hope this is not as "clear as mud".  But if it is and you have any trouble, PLEASE ask questions and I'll try to help!
Happy Downloading!