How Prepared are You?

How many times have we heard about being prepared for an emergency?  Most of us listen to advice about having a few supplies on hand for an emergency with our eyes glazed over.  We think we personally won't have any reason to be concerned, or we think we ARE prepared to handle what ever comes our way.

We had a little wake up call here at Bountiful Acres, recently.  We live in the flood plain and we get flooded every year.  We know when it is coming and we buy supplies and get ready to ride it out.  We have never lost power during the floods or lost our water supply.  Well this year has been something different for sure!  First off we didn't get the flood during November/December like usual.  We thought we had been spared a flood.  We did get a big flood in late January.  Then we thought okay that is it for this season......  Wrong!  In March we had two more floods!  We had one day to drive out to re-supply between them.  We also had our water get mirky.  We had to use bottled water for drinking and cooking, of which we didn't have nearly enough.  During this last flood, (which we are still trapped by as I type,) we also lost power.  We ran out of chicken feed because of the length of this flood. As a result the chickens are eating my wheat and corn from the pantry.  Thank heavens I had those stocked up!

So why am I sharing all of this for?  So that you might think about being ready for some unexpected event in your life concerning you and your family.

Here are our notes from this experience. 

We are more humble now, we found out we weren't so prepared as we thought.  We had become so sure that things would always continue the way they had in the past.  We were a bit arrogant you could say.....

This is a list of things we learned:

1. We need a water purifier/filter.
2. We need some sort of alternate power for small appliances.
3. More animal feed stocked up.
4. A way to get our water without the electric pump if needed.  We do have one gravity flow spigot that we can use.
5. More firewood!
6. Buy more solar lights for night lights.
7. Keep the laundry always done up and the dishes done before bed.
8. Keep bread baked ahead.

When we lose power, we don't have water to the house as we have an electric pump. We can't use the oven on the propane cookstove.  I can use the burners by lighting them, but the oven has an electric digital control to run it. Of course we won't have power to run any appliances like my flour grinder or bread mixer. The girls won't have a night light without power. Obviously without power we can't wash clothes either. Using the machine anyway.  :) 

That is the reasoning behind our plans to get better prepared.  With the crazy weather patterns these days and everything else going on in our world it makes sense to be sure you can take care of your family and yourself for an extended period of time.  We are told to have at least 72 hours worth of food and water in case of emergency. 

 I would say at least a month would be best!  We are going into day 8 of being flooded in. We were prepared for a few days, but not for this long. 

What would you do if you lost power for a period of time, or your water supply was cut off or you couldn't get out to go to the store?  How would you and your family fare?  Something to think about.

We also are going to put a kit in our vehicles in case we get trapped by a disaster that prevented us from getting back home.  Things like water, a way to make fire, flashlights, food and blankets.  It is much better to be safe than sorry in that situation.

If you need some ideas for being more prepared click on the Emergency Essentials link at the right.  I don't usually go for advertising on my blog unless it is a personal friend, but after our recent experiences I thought this one would be a good idea. 

Enter the giveaway from Preparedness Pantry

Click on the button to the right and enter the giveaway from Preparedness Pantry.  Stocking up on things now is a wise decision.  We never know until after it happens when we might need to be a bit self sufficient.  Buying ahead not only helps out when you might have an emergency in your area, but also makes sure you won't pay higher prices for an item in the future.  The price of groceries and every thing else for that matter just keeps going up and up.  If you buy larger quantities of things when they are on sale you will save yourself a lot of money.  Plus you  have peace of mind that you have a well stocked pantry that you can feed yourself and your family from for a long period of time.

Those of you who read my blog know that this is just a way of life for my family.  We try to grow and raise as much of our own food as possible.  We like knowing where our food comes from and how it was grown.  We know that our animals we raise for meat are treated very well and always butchered in a humane way.  Our vegetables and fruits are grown without chemicals and pesticides.  We rotate our crops each year so we don't deplete the soil of one particular nutrient.  We also add compost and natural fertilizers to the ground each year.  The better you take care of God's creation, the better your food is.

We grow enough food to last until the next harvest season.  Some years we have an abundance of one vegetable or fruit over the others, but it usually is enough to keep us through.  One year we had a bumper crop of green beans, some years it is tomatoes, or beets.  Lord willing we get a good variety of veggies.  Some years we don't get many plums or cherries, but we always have apples and wild blackberries.  You just have to adapt to what is available and eat what is in season and preserve by one method or another your harvest so you can be sustained until the next harvest period.

We have chickens and ducks, both of which lay plenty of eggs for us.  We use as many as we like and sell enough to pay for the feed we buy for them.  They are also good at keeping the bug population in control and also the weed seeds.  We recently bought some of that orange plastic fencing and have fenced off the main garden.  We let the chickens and ducks and the sheep and goat in there to clean up.  They eat bugs hiding and they eat a lot of the weeds and weed seeds that have grown there over the summer. They also add fertilizer to the ground to be tilled in later on.  : )

We have been praying for the Lord to provide us with a milk cow.  We are believing for a wonderful cow that will be just right for our family.  Then we will have plenty of fresh milk, butter, cream. Cheese making will become another weekly chore. There is a lot of whey that is left over from making cheese.  We might just raise another pig or two and use that whey to mix with grain for raising them on.  Of course selling any extra milk is an option too.  That is just another step closer in providing our own food.

Dad raises rabbits for meat.  We also butcher chicken and ducks and raise pigs once in awhile.  When we have our milk cow we might even raise our own beef with her offspring.  That all depends on how much hay we can buy.

My parents and us live together here on our 2 bountiful acres.  We work together to provide for ourselves and to put up as much food as we can.  We know that we are also preparing ahead  for others who haven't been preparing for difficult times.  Every since Ed and I have been together we have had the same vision and actually enjoy doing all the things we do.  Yes, it is hard work and we do get tired and weary at times, but when we think of not doing it, we just can't see living any other way.

One answered prayerswe have been blessed with recently is a wood stove!  Thank God for the blessing and provision of that.  Now we are relieved that we won't be without heat during a power outage.  We have also been blessed with several places to get free firewood.  We plan on making family outings of it.  Hard work and being outside in the sunshine enjoying God's creation is a wonderful way to spend time together as a family.  I will post some pictures of our wood cutting outings this summer.

Give some thought about how well your family would fare if you couldn't get to the grocery store for a couple of weeks.  Do you have enough food and paper goods to last that long? It hurts nothing to add some extra food and supplies to your pantry, but it could hurt if you don't.  Make sure you have water too.  Guidelines say you need a gallon of water per person/pet per day.

 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year everyone!  I don't know what the new year holds, but I do know who does.  :)  I put my trust in the Lord to guide me and take care of everything.  I just walk one day at a time and do what I know is right and good to do. 

We live in interesting times don't we?  I am looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us in the coming months.  The Bible tells me that all good things come from above.  (James 1:17) 

Today my family is starting back on the path of good nutrition.  Boy did we eat a lot of junk/sugar over the holidays!  We all feel so much better when we are eating foods that are as close to possible to the way God created them.

I thought I would share with you one way we use those canned vegetables we work so hard all Summer and Fall putting up. 

To start with we had roasted whole chicken for dinner night before last.  I saved the bones and left over meat to make soup.  I put this in a pot with enough water to cover the bones and meat.  Brought it to a boil, added some chopped onion and garlic.  Remove the bones from the broth and put any meat back into the pot.

This is what it looks like after deboning and adding the onions and garlic.





I chose a quart of green beans, a quart of carrots, a pint of corn and a pint of tomatoes from the pantry.  I opened these and added them to the pot, liquid and all.

Then I took a sweet potato I had in the fridge, a bunch of fresh parsley from the garden, and a bunch of kale from the garden.  These fresh vegetables boost the nutrition level of the soup.  Some nutrition is lost during the canning process, so I like to add what ever fresh ingredients I have to the soup.  Kale and parsley will grow all winter here in the Pacific Northwest.  Ed did have to cover the parsley with a sheet when the temperatures were down in the 20's awhile back.

I peeled and chopped the sweet potato and added it to the pot, then chopped the kale up and added it as well.  The parsley I just picked the leaves off the stems and toss them right in without chopping.  Next I tasted the broth, added a little sea salt, black pepper and a couple of shakes of Bragg's organic kelp seasoning (kind of like Mrs. Dash only better).  I also broke a few fetuccini noodles and put in.  Sometimes instead of the noodles I will put in  brown rice, or barley or even  soft white wheat. 
Soup's on!  This pot of soup will feed my family for two day's worth of lunches.  Thank you Lord for the bountiful harvest this last year. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

I want to wish everyone a blessed Christmas.  I pray the Lord blesses your family and keeps you safe in His care.  May you enjoy the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior.

 I am just going to share some pretty pictures with you I have collected over the years.  Consider it my Christmas card to you.


I am so thankful Jesus came to earth and lived and died for me, that I might have life eternal and spend it with Him.




Isn't this just a pretty scene?



I love snowmen!  And pretty birds created by God.

Audrey and Sally want to go caroling this year.  We will take them around to our neighbors and let them sing for them.

Simple times.  That is what we are doing this year.  Simple, thankful, and joyful time celebrating Jesus' birthday.  We have made our gifts and decorated with what we have.  Baking and listening to our Christmas songs.

What a cute snow family!

What a lovely time! Pretty clothes, elegant furnishings and a tree that might burst into flames at any moment!  LOL!  Seriously it all looks so lovely doesn't it?

Can you tell I really like snowmen/families?  : )

Another pretty Christmas scene.

What a festive mailbox!

Merry Christmas from the Swinson family.

Homemade Christmas gift idea

Here it is December already.  This year has just zipped by! The photo on the top of my blog is a shot I took looking off my front porch down the valley this morning.  It was 20 degrees when we got up.  A bit chilly, but the good thing is the sun shines during the day and it is beautiful and dry.

We are doing  homemade gifts for Christmas this year.  I made something today that is really inexpensive to make.  Made from recycled items we probably all have in our homes.  They are fire starters.  They make some nice gifts for those who have fireplaces or wood stoves, or for camp fires or putting in your emergency kit.

The things you need are:
Cardboard egg cartons
Old candles
Dryer lint



I saved my dryer lint for about a week. Depending on how much laundry you do and how much lint comes off each load determines how long you need to save it.

Take the lint and fill each hole of the egg carton. Isn't it amazing the different colors you get from each load?  LOL!

Take your old candles and chop them up a bit and put them in a double boiler over medium heat. The first ones I used were a purple color and then I added this old white pillar candle.  Make sure to remove the wicks from the candles before putting in the pan to melt down.

Here you can see I have a pan inside of another pan.  I put water in the lower pan to keep the wax from getting too hot.  Be very careful while doing this!  DO NOT WALK AWAY WHILE THE WAX IS MELTING!!   It is flammable and will catch on fire easily.  So use extreme caution while working with the melting wax.  As soon as it has melted, turn off the heat.

Next pour the melted wax over your lint, filling each cup.  I used a small measuring cup to dip the wax out of the larger pot.  Be very careful not to spill it on yourself.  I put the carton in the freezer for about 15 minutes to set the wax. You can just let it sit out at room temperature and it will harden in time.

After they are hardened up, take some shears and cut apart the cups.  To use them put them on the bottom of your fireplace/wood stove and put your kindling on top just like you would build your fire using other fire starters or paper.  I am putting these in tins for gifts.  Simple, frugal and useful! 

Sewing again!

I finally got to spend some time in my sewing room.  I made this valance for the dining room window. I am making another to match in the kitchen window hopefully before Thanksgiving.  Thanks for the idea from my friend Lisa who showed me a photo of one in a different color that she likes.  I got the idea from it.  Thanks again Lisa for the green check fabric, it worked so well with my green toile print.  : )



Close up



Cranberry Season

It is cranberry season again on the Southern Oregon coast.  So we went to visit our friends Marci and Dave down near Bandon.  Remember last years post about the cranberry bog?  We love visiting with Marci and Dave.  We took some of our garden produce and apples and traded for buckets of cranberries.  This is such a blessing to us to have fresh cranberries!  We feel so spoiled.  : )

The girls each got to dip cranberries out of the bog into a bucket with a rake.  They thought that was pretty cool.

We also learned something new about cranberries.  Last year we got to pick some cranberries from Marci and Dave's baby bog.  That is where they grow the plants for making a new bog.  This year they planted a new bog.  I had envisioned them hand planting every little vine.  Well Marci told me that Dave mows the dry baby bog.  Then they take the clippings and scatter them on the prepared bog area and then they get tilled in.  The amazing thing is those clippings take root and start new plants.  How cool is that? 

So we came home with three buckets of cranberries.  They need to be cleaned because they have cranberry leaves and other little twigs and grass and such in them.  Anyone ever picked wild huckleberries?  Then you will have an idea of what I am talking about cleaning the berries.

Ed, on the way home comes up with an ingenious plan of how to clean them fast.  I am so blessed to have a husband that God has gifted in figuring out ways to do things easier!  Take a look at the process in the photos below.







Bucket of uncleaned cranberries. See all the leaves and grass?





Ed took half inch square wire and made a ramp.




Then we used the hose to wash the leaves and other debris off the berries.




We slowly let them roll down the wire ramp and picked out any big stuff.




Then they went into a clean tote!

  We only lost about a quart of small berries that fell through the holes.  They didn't go to waste as the chickens loved them!


Here are some of the cleaned berries in the jelly kettle.





Here they have been made into whole cranberry sauce.  Ready for any meal.

 I will post another time about making juice and fruit leather from some of the other berries.