Preparedness # 10

OK, I have been saying some fairly preposterous things about food lately to see if any of you were actually reading this insert and I guess it may have backfired since a few of you have thought that maybe we were eating weenie and sauekraut cookies! Well, just for that I just may try it. Seriously, it is important that we store what we are going to eat. In this regard, it is important if you have children living at home, that kids participate in this preparedness project. It is important on many levels not the least of which is emotional readiness. As these little ones hear us talking about ‘disaster’ planning, they can get a real sense of uneasiness unless they are carefully included in the planning and process of preparation. I have given you an Internet site for ‘kids’ that is sponsored by FEMA which gives kids a form to fill out and actually become certified as a ‘Disaster Action Kid.’ FEMA even sends out regular emails to the kids. Just in case you didn’t see it before, here it is the link again: http://www.fema.gov/kids/dizkid1.htm

Some announcements:

There are some emails going around that talk about Dr. Susan Puls and the Church Pandemic preparedness. I cannot verify the validity of the email but this link will take you to the official statement of the church on family preparedness having to do with a pandemic. A pandemic is a world wide epidemic. One of the diseases being watched now is the ‘Asian Bird Flu.’ It is all discussed in the church internet site which is listed here: http://www.providentliving.org/pfw/multimedia/files/pfw/pdf/112086_PPHomeFamilyPrepardness_pdf.pdf The link also has links to the World Health Organization and other sites.

We intend to start the garden next Saturday Feb 28th. Listen to the announcements today for a meeting to lay out the plots and answer questions.

DON’T FORGET – TOMORROW MORNING 8 AM DRY PACK CANNING!
By the way, to tag onto last weeks information on drying fruit and vegetables, there are a lot of internet sites that give additional and informative techniques that you might find profitable. One thing that I suggest is that you keep plastic food container like the ones that have Mayo or salted nuts or even large jars with cookies and have a sturdy structure with a lid that fits tightly, save them for storage of dried stuff. It is even good to have them for storage of smaller items in zip loc bags as double protection.

Lin’s Grocery Store is having a case lot sale including a good price on 55 gallon storage tanks. It runs from March 4th to 17th.

I have been asked to provide a list for a 72 hour kit. I don’t know where these names and designations get started. But, 72 hours is a start. The kit needs to be available in a place near the door of the house or garage (if it can be kept from getting too hot). This does not substitute for the car kit given earlier because it will not be kept in the car. It can be a part of the year supply however, and just needs to be ready to travel if that is the instruction. The church does not publish such a list that I am aware of since they do not want that to be a ‘stopping’ place. Here is a list from a few sources though, that are very good. Not every person or family needs all of the items on each list and may need thing not on any list. Make your own and follow or modify it for yourselves.
http://www.fema.gov/pdf/areyouready/appendix_b.pdf
http://dola.colorado.gov/dem/public_information/emergency_kit.htm
http://www.avertdisasters.org/html/72_hour2.html

And now, some more reasons people don’t have their years supply:
I have a year's supply...and the bullets to go with it! I've heard time and again, "How dumb is that to go to all the time and expense of getting food...just to have some guy with a gun come and shoot my family to take it away?" Here's a better question. Are you afraid of the guy with the gun? Or are you more afraid of BECOMING the guy with the gun? What would you do if your children were starving to death? Would you lie? Cheat? Steal? Would you shoot your neighbor for his food? I guarantee....if you were watching your child starving to death, you would do anything you had to to keep them alive. If you don't have your year's supply, you are putting yourself in danger of losing not only your temporal salvation, but your spiritual salvation as well.

So far, all the reasons we don't have our food storage involve eating someone else's food. Please, don't put your family's temporal salvation in other people's hands. No one is storing food for you. Not your neighbors, not the government...not even the church.

gv3grant@gmail.com 628-2739