June Newsletter

No Cannery Date Until September

Spiritual Goal: Add journaling to your daily personal devotions. "A man is saved no faster than he gets knowledge; for if he does not get knowledge, he will be brought into captivity by some evil power...as evil spirits will have more knowledge...than men who are on the earth." Joseph Smith; "Women who can hear the voice of the Lord and who respond to these promptings become valuable instruments in His hands." M. Russel Ballard, Ensign April 2002

Financial Goal: Invest for retirement and your family’s well being after your passing. Begin saving an additional 5% or more for this purpose. "In spite of the teachings of the Church from its earliest days until today, members sometimes fall victim to many unwise and foolish financial practices. Some continue to spend, thinking that somehow the money will become available. Somehow they will survive. Far too often, the money hoped for does not appear. Remember this: debt is a form of bondage. It is a financial termite. When we make purchases on credit, they give us only an illusion of prosperity. We think we own things, but the reality is, our things own us...Never should we enter into financial bondage through consumer debt without carefully weighing the costs." Joseph B. Wirthlin, April 2004

Physical Goal: Continue walking, stretching, breathing, and strengthening your body. Add gardening. "The condition of the body limits, largely, the expression of the spirit." John A. Widtsoe, A Rational Theology, p. 17

Provident Living Goal: Learn to sew a simple skirt. If you need help, ask Ginger to teach you. On the first of June, plant tomato seedlings along a trellis. Install empty 1 gallon water bottles buried up to their shoulders between plants with a pinhole in the side facing each plant to consistently fertilize with compost tea or kelp water. Place a tall stick in each jug, its top tied with a red bow, which will aid in finding the openings to the jugs once the foliage hides them from view. Fill this once a week. Once the jugs and plants are in place, make a collar of one or two sheets of wet newspaper, place it around the stem, and cover the paper with mulch. Also, plant asparagus roots, jicama, flowers, eggplant, hot peppers, and bell pepper seedlings as well as zucchini seeds. During the second week of June, plant melon, cucumber, sweet potato, and squash seedlings. Begin harvesting spinach and lettuce, replanting in the shade.  In those places, plant bush beans. Whenever one crop reaches maturity and is harvested, add compost, sand (or top soil), peat moss, Azomite, alfalfa meal, and kelp mixture and re-plant to that crop or a fall/winter one. Peas will be finished by June or July and are replaced by leeks. “We will see the day, when we will live on what we produce…” Marian G. Romney

Storage Goal: First Aid Kit and extra supplies, a case of candles, matches, and hurricane holders for safety

72 Hour Kit: Real backpack pack for each family member over 5. Day pack for littles

Pantry Box Goal: Rubbermaid containers with or without wheels 

Increase Self-Sufficiency: Ruth Stout’s no-work, deep-mulch potato planting technique is the ultimate goal. However, most soil is poor and unimproved, when the novice gardener begins working on it. Potatoes are heavy feeders, meaning they need good fertility and humus. The deep mulching technique grows the soil and conserves water at the same time it allows growing beautiful vegetables. However, until beautiful, fertile soil is achieved, adding compost, sand (or top soil), peat moss, Azomite, alfalfa meal, and kelp allows for success in growing potatoes Ruth's no-work way.

What is Ruth’s way? Instead of digging trenches, Ruth learned to lay the seed pieces on top of the ground and cover them gradually with mulch. Since most gardeners haven’t spent 30 years building soil like Ruth,  it is wise to cover the seed pieces with a 2-inch mixture of compost, sand, peat moss, Azomite, alfalfa meal, and kelp the first few years. Gradually build up deep mulch over the little sprouts, as they stick up their tiny heads. It is more work than Ruth advocates, but will result in a better yield. After a few years, the compost layer will be unnecessary. Also, remember to mulch lightly instead of packing mulch densely, allowing potato plants to reach sunlight. Add the light mulch an inch or so at a time until it is about 8 inches deep.
 

Companion planting is always a good idea. Surprisingly, buckwheat is a great companion to most vegetable and berry crops, including: strawberries, broccoli, potatoes and green beans. It attracts beneficial insects, feeds the world’s honeybees, suppresses weeds, and adds nicely to a growing compost pile or mulch. Additionally, to grow indoor greens in the winter, harvest triangular buckwheat seeds. 

In addition to attracting honeybees and other pollinators, research indicates growing buckwheat deters pests. How? Adult hover fly like buckwheat nectar, but their larvae eat aphids and other small, soft-bodied insects. If your potato patch is in the middle of your garden, and you sow buckwheat seeds among them, protective effects should be enough for anything within 20 feet. With an upright, shallow rooted habit and pretty little white flowers, buckwheat plants become the perfect mulch for all vegetables. Just yank and drop, where it stands. Additionally, it looks great in a mixed flowerbed that includes strawberries. Since it can go from seed to bloom in about a month, it is good to seed it every couple of weeks. 

If the heavy mulching method isn’t desired, buckwheat is a great cover crop for smothering weeds and building the green layer in the compost pile. Although plants need about 50 different minerals, phosphorous is among the most important. Similar to beans fixing nitrogen, buckwheat is a star at taking up phosphorus from the soil and making the phosphorus more easily absorbed by other plants. Whether buckwheat is growing next to a garden plant, left to make mulch, or decomposing in the compost pile, it will send its phosphorus gift.

On June 1, plant a square foot of buckwheat in the middle of the garden and interspersed among potatoes. It will do the job whether left to seed or pull up before then. If volunteer buckwheat is found in the garden, treat the tender shoots as bonus salad vegetables before the second set of leaves form. Otherwise, it can be left as a blessed, garden guardian.  

Buy organic buckwheat seeds (unhulled) at the health food store in the sprouting seed section or from most organic gardening or seed companies.

May Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Share a your testimony. "It is my testimony that we are facing difficult times. We must be courageously obedient. My witness is that we will be called upon to prove our spiritual stamina, for the days ahead will be filled with affliction and difficulty. But with the assuring comfort of a personal relationship with God, we will be given a calming courage. From Divine so near we will receive the quiet assurance," Boyd K. Packer, Ensign, Jan 1999.

Physical Goal: Learn and practice daily deep breathing exercises. "If each of our bodies is a temple, some of us have temples that look as if the maintenance crew retired three years ago; the noble spirits that inhabit them deserve a better place to dwell...we can make our lives better and teach our families valuable habits through regular exercise. We have ample reason to recognize the care of our physical bodies as a spiritual obligation," Ensign, Sept 1990.

Provident Living Goal: During the first week of May, plant peas, leeks, and onions starts outdooors. Start sweet potato slips. Plant soft neck garlic in groups of three to five cloves throughout the flower and vegetable beds for the positive effect garlic has against pests as well as medicinal and culinary delight. Begin to harden off brassicas. Plant fruit trees plus blackberries and raspberries. The second week of May, plant everlasting spinach, Swiss chard, spinach, kale, and turnip seeds plus brassica seedlings as well as potatoes. The third week of May, plant lettuce, beets, carrots, cucumber, melon, and winter squash seeds plus potato starts. Continue to succession plant carrots, spinach, kale, leeks, and lettuce. Be prepared to watch the weather and cover thing up.“Should evil times come, many might wish they had filled all their fruit bottles and cultivated a garden in their backyards and planted a few fruit trees and berry bushes and provided for their own commodity needs. The Lord planned that we would be independent of every creature, but we note many...home owners buy their garden vegetables from the store. And should the trucks fail to fill the shelves of the stores, many would go hungry,” Spencer W. Kimball, Conference Oct. 1974. 

Storage Goal: 100 grains per person, 1 #10 can apple slices per person, 1 #10 can raisins per person, 1 large container cinnamon, 24 rolls toilet paper per person, 2 rolls paper towels per person, canning jars, long-term storage, open pollinated garden seeds "...how many of us would have jeered at the sight of Noah building his ark. Presumably the laughter continued until it began to rain and kept raining! How wet some people must have been before Noah's ark suddenly seemed the only sane act," Elder Neal A. Maxwell, For the Power is in Them, p 20).

Emergency Kit Goal: Battery powered, solar, or hand cranked radio and flashlight, batteries, hurricane lantern and candles, matches“The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah…” Ezra Taft Benson

Increase Self-Sufficiency: "Yams" in North American grocery stores are usually sweet potatoes and belong to the morning glory family (Convolvulaceae). Yams are tropical plants that belong to the Dioscoreaceae family. Traditionally, 'yams' or sweet potatoes are reserved for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Made into a gagging-sweet concoction covered with burned miniature marshmallows, they rarely become culinary friends of the masses. Sweet potatoes can be used in a variety of delicious, savory dishes, which most people enjoy. Along with potatoes, sweet potatoes make a tasty, nourishing staple crops. Therefore, we should grow them. 

Six weeks before your last frost, start sweet potatoes from slips. Grown from a mature sweet potato, slips are easy to start if you have a sweet potato and a few jars. To start your slips, you need one or two healthy, clean, organic sweet potatoes from the health food store. Carefully wash and cut them in large sections or starts. Using toothpicks to hold the sweet potato start, suspend each section half in/half out of a jar of water. Put them on a window ledge or on  a heating pad set on low. Witness one of God’s miracles, as the start covers itself with leafy sprouts on top and roots on the bottom. 

Carefully, cut the slips from the remaining sweet potato and roots with a sharp knife. Compost the now spent sweet potato. Place a piece of plastic wrap or waxed paper tightly over a shallow dish of water. Make a hole for each sprout. Gently push a sprout through, allowing the bottom half of the stem to submerge in the water. Soon roots will emerge from the bottom of each sprout. Now you have sweet potato slips. Let the roots continue to grow until they are about an inch long, when the slips will be ready to plant. During this process, change the water and throw out any slip that doesn’t produce roots or looks unhealthy.

If your location isn’t known for its loose, well-drained soil, you will need to amend it with lots of compost. Since sweet potatoes don’t like to fight too much resistance, loose soil is critical for growing them successfully. If you are growing according to Ruth Stout’s mulch method or Patricia Lanza’s Lasagna method, move the mulch aside until you see the loose soil below. After the danger of frost has passed and soil has warmed up, plant slips 12 inches apart next to a trellis (trellising vines conserves space). With a trowel, push the soil aside, slip in the slip, and let the soil fall back down over the roots, leaving the new leaves is above ground.  Move the mulch back in without letting it actually touch the slip. This cuts down competing weeds and conserves moisture. Plant calendula between them to attract insects beneficial to the sweet potatoes. Also, don’t plant beets, carrots, or potatoes nearby.

Water your sweet potatoes, thoroughly soaking until all of the surrounding dirt is moist. For the first week, water everyday, then every other day during the second week. After that your usual once weekly irrigation should suffice. Since sweet potatoes produce less in dry weather, mulching and regular, weekly watering are insurance during the hottest part of the summer. Do not water during the last 3 to 4 weeks before harvest to protect the developing roots.

All through the growing season, young sweet potato greens can be steamed, sauteed, or stir fried. They are very popular in African and Asian cuisine. I read one study, where many children in Vietnam were dying or growing up mentally/physically impaired with their mono-diet of rice. Malnutrition is a problem, when no vegetables are present in the diet. Usually, a few children in these villages were healthier than the rest of the young population. Upon inquiry, researches found mothers of these children added sweet potato greens to their children's daily rice rations.

Below are only a few of our favorite sweet potato recipes.


Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Toss cubed sweet potatoes with other cut-up root vegetables, onions, garlic, and mushrooms with savory herbs, paprika, salt, and pepper. Roast at 400F for 40 min until tender. 20 minutes before the end of the roasting time, add asparagus or Brussels sprouts. It is not necessary or even desirable to use oil when roasting vegetables. We love to have this along side roasted portabello mushrooms, steamed cabbage, and roasted apples.

Rustic Gallette

1 onion, pureed

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 t. dried thyme (or 1 T. fresh) (or substitute 1/4 t. garam masala, cumin, and curry powder)
1/4 c. fresh parsley

1 t. powdered, dehydrated, salt-free, vegetable seasoning mix
1/2 c. white beans, pureed
1/2 c. unsweetened plant milk

Salt to taste

1/4 t. cayenne pepper

Paprika
Smoked Paprika

1 bunch kale, rinse well, remove large thick stems and finely chopped

2 medium sweet potato, thinly sliced (1/8 or thinner)

2 medium red potatoes, thinly sliced (1/8 or thinner)

8 oz. mushrooms, thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Cook onion, mushrooms, dehydrated vegetables, and garlic over lowest heat until mushrooms begin to turn golden. Meanwhile, puree white beans and plant milk. Add thyme, parsley, kale, and bean mixture to onions. Continue heating until just kale is wilted, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Arrange ½ of the thinly sliced potatoes on the bottom of a 9 inch round cake, overlapping so none of the pan is showing. Spread ½ of the kale mixture over the potatoes. Arrange sweet potatoes over the kale mixture, making sure to overlap. Spread the remaining kale mixture and top with the other ½ of thinly sliced potatoes shingles. Press galette down until compact. Sprinkle with paprika and smoked paprika. Bake in pre-heated oven for 45 minutes until potatoes are tender with crispy edges. Cut galette into wedges and serve with spinach raspberry salad and baked apples.

Chipotle Limas       

2 c. dried lima or butter beans (or black beans or lentils)
½  onions, chopped or puréed
2 cloves garlic, minced
16 oz. tomatoes, puréed
1 orange, zest and juice
1 ***chipotle chili in adobo sauce, puréed with onion
1 t. oregano
1 T. cumin
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper

1 sweet potato or yam, peeled and cubed
½ c. chopped cilantro, half for garnish reserved

*** Do not use the whole can. Use ¼ -2 chilies.

Soak beans for 24-48 hours. Drain and rinse. Cook on low with just enough distilled water to cover for 6-8 hours. 60 minutes before dinner, steam onion, chilies, and garlic in water until soft in a small sauce pan. Add the remaining ingredients, except reserve to pot. Cook for 40 minutes or until sweet potato is soft. Purée sauce. Stir into beans. Sprinkle with cilantro. Serve with a large romaine salad and poached pears.

April Newsletter

Cannery Date 25th at 7 PM  

Please, come 10 minutes early. Since the goal is 400 lbs. grains and 60 lbs. legumes per family member this year, going to the cannery each month can help you reach this without too much pain in the pocketbook. 

It's easy to eat an elephant, if you do it one bite at a time.      

 

Spiritual Goal:  Diligently, attend church meetings. "Sacrament meeting is the most important meeting of the week, the one the Lord has commanded us to attend. It’s a time to worship the Savior. What does that mean, to worship? It means to reverently show love and allegiance to him, to think about him, to honor him, to remember his sacrifice for each of us, and to thank him." W. Mack Lawrence, April 1991               

Physical Goal: To get adequate vitamin D and improve mental health spend time outdoors in the fresh air every day of the week. This is easy to do if you have been walking outdoors daily. If that has not been your chosen form of exercise, add 30 minutes of outdoor time to your daily schedule. It will do your spirit and body a tremendous amount of good. "And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good..." Genesis 1:3-4           

Financial Goal: Don’t follow the investment herd. If everyone is running toward a investment strategy, turn and walk the other way. Be a smart investor not a simple gambler. Research options like real estate, metals, stocks, and so forth. Buy when prices are low. "Wherefore, do not spend money for that which is of no worth, nor your labor for that which cannot satisfy. Hearken diligently unto me, and remember the words which I have spoken; and come unto the Holy One of Israel, and feast upon that which perisheth not, neither can be corrupted, and let your soul delight in fatness." 2 Nephi 9:51              

Provident Living Goal:  On Conference weekend, using heirloom, open-pollinated seed, plant tomatoes, bell peppers, herbs, hot peppers, eggplant, and annual flowers in large disposable cups filled with compost or potting mix. Put in front of a sunny window and don’t forget to water.  You can make each cup a tiny green house by putting a plastic bag over the cup. Two weeks later start brassicas, such as cabbages, Bok Choi, cauliflower, broccoli, etc. seeds similarly. Look through fruit catalogs like willisorchards.com, starkbros.com and raintreenursery.com, make a plan, and place your order to arrive by the 1st of May. (See article below.) "We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard" Spencer W. Kimball, April 1976                

Storage Goal: Spices, condiments, vanilla, 20 pounds peanut butter or nuts per person, deodorant, lotion, etc. Copy can=use pantry or sundry item, replace with two- “We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, ‘Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ [Luke 6:46.]  How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says” Spencer W. Kimball, April 1976, 171.                

Pantry Box Goal: Instant polenta and quick cook rice, flour, fettuccine, spaghetti, spiral pasta, dehydrated mushrooms, peppers, celery, and carrot for seasoning         

Emergency Kit Goal: 5-10 granola or energy bars per person, 5-10 sticks beef jerky or bags of nuts per person, butane                 

Increase Self-Sufficiency: Fruit and nut trees, berries, grape, asparagus, perennial everlasting spinach, and rhubarb are known as 100 year crops or self-sufficient food sources that generally outlive the planter with some care. Early settlers knew how to providing for their families. Simply put, 100 year crops includes planting such items as fruit and nut bearing trees, and asparagus, artichoke, perpetual spinach, Good King Henry, seakale, sorrel, Welsh onion, and rhubarb , along with various fruits and berries such as blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, and grapes.                  

Planting a small fruit orchard, you will have a good supply of fresh fruit for sauce, preserves, or dried fruit in a few years. Plan your orchard to have apples, peaches, pears, apricots, berries, cherries, and plums or other things your family enjoys that ripen all throughout the growing season and keepers for fresh eating all year round. We have all seen huge apple and pear trees with rotting fruit all around their base, because nobody wants to climb up to harvest the fruit. In about the same space as 1 or 2 full sized apple trees, consider a postage stamp orchard.  Plant 4-6 ft. tall espalier apple and pear trees around 6-8 ft. tall dwarf fruit trees planted 6-8 ft. apart. This tiny 14X24 orchard can accommodate 6 espaliers-2 pear and 4 apples plus 6 dwarfs-2 peach, 2 cherry, and 2 plum or apricot. With a ground cover of strawberries and lingdon berries, insect attractor bee balm, pest control garlic and calendula, and a nutrient accumulator yarrow, you will have a diminutive orchard guild of multifunctional plants that bring beauty to your yard and clean your air. Within a couple years, you will eat your own fruit. The yield will be larger and more varied than one or two full-sized trees. You might take it one step further with a picket fencing and grape strewn arbor-how cute is that! It's a lot more interesting than mowing and watering useless grass.                  

In part-shade to full-sun, plant a perennial flower/vegetable guild with asparagus, garlic, everlasting spinach, rhubarb, and edible flowers. Guilds mimic the beneficial qualities that ecological diversity and symbiosis have in natural ecosystems. Hire a nice young man with an empty wallet and a strong back to build two 4X8X2 ft. raised bed planters (with drip irrigation if you can afford it). Alternately, ask your strong worker to dig two 2 ft. deep 4X8 beds. After the soil has warmed up to about 50 degrees F, place 24 3-year-old asparagus crowns in the bottom rear 2 ft. of each planter 8 inches apart in two rows and layer peat moss, sand, alfalfa meal, azomite minerals, compost, and dried, shredded leaves for mulch. Plant a few elephant garlic and calendula along the edge of the asparagus to discourage pests. One or two each yarrow and lupine in the asparagus fern attract insects and accumulate nutrients. Carefully, plant a couple compact,  determinant, cherry tomato plants among the ferns for symbiotic protection of both plants: asparagus from asparagus beetle and tomatoes from nematode. In the front 2 ft, alternate everlasting spinach and rhubarb interspersed with edible flowers like johnny jump-ups, bachelor button, primrose, nasturtium, or pansy. The asparagus will be easy to reach, when it comes up next spring and will make an attractive, ferny backdrop for the 'flowers' throughout the summer. In the fall, the ferns and other spent plants except the tomatoes make a great mulch over the perennials. Speaking of mulch; keeping a deep mulch on all beds saves water, and eliminates most weeding as does close planting.                 

Various nut trees, including walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, butternuts, filberts, and chestnuts provide vitamins, minerals, protein, and fat. Although most are too large to grow on a suburban lot, filberts (hazelnuts) can be maintained at 10 ft. and are hardy enough for zone 5/6.  They make a nice privacy hedge to block the neighbor's porch light from your bedroom window, too.                 

Although many places have small trees, vines, and berry plants, such as local feed stores, greenhouses, Walmart, Home Depot and so forth, they are not often careful to sell varieties hardy or appropriate for OUR zone. Instead many reputable catalog sources sell and guarantee plants suitable for various climates. Using a catalog resource, you can spend time researching the qualities of dozens of varieties before you choose a few favorites. When you learn about ripening times, zone hardiness, size, taste and so forth, you are more likely to be happy and successful. Some excellent choices for small sized fruit trees, espaliers, berries and grapes are willisorchards.com, starkbros.com and raintreenursery.com.

successful sprouting

March Newsletter

March Cannery Date: March 28, 5 PM

Please, arrive 10 minutes early. 

“For the righteous the gospel provides a warning before a calamity, a program for the crises, a refuge for each disaster. The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to prophets and stored at least a year's supply of survival food…”  Ezra Taft Benson

Spiritual Goal: Daily personal devotions "The scriptures were one of the ways God spoke to me—even when I was a child—about my needs, my situation, and my life. They still are. Since our needs change over a lifetime, God has different things to tell us at different times...The only way you can be sure that a busy schedule doesn’t crowd out scripture study is to establish a regular time to study the scriptures... In time, if you truly begin to feast upon the scriptures, you will find that they become a part of you." Henry B. Eyring

Physical Goal: Add weight training This is easy to do with a couple light weight dumbells and easily found internet instructions. Walking with or without a weighted vest is also a weight baring exercise. We need weight baring exercises to strengthen our bones and increase muscle strength not to build bulky man-muscles. "“There is a close relationship between physical health and spiritual development. When one’s physical health is impaired by disobedience to God’s eternal laws, spiritual development will also suffer...We ought now to concentrate on developing and improving our present physical house, which tabernacles a spirit child of God, and prepare it for eternal glory.” Delbert L. Stapley

Financial Goal: After building up some savings, begin to pay off debt. When your smallest debt is paid, apply that amount of money to the next smallest debt. Do this until no more debt remains including your mortgage. “Once in debt, interest is your companion every minute of the day and night; you cannot shun it or slip away from it; you cannot dismiss it; it yields neither to entreaties, demands, or orders; and whenever you get in its way or cross its course or fail to meet its demands, it crushes you” J. Reuben Clark, Apr. 1938, 103.

Provident Living Goal: Learn to sew a simple apron, plant a windowsill garden, plan your summer garden on paper, and read a classic book pertaining to finances, like The Richest Man in Babylon. On a sunny day, clean up your garden spot. "Man cannot be an agent unto himself if he is not self-reliant. Herein we see that independence and self-reliance are critical keys to our spiritual growth. Whenever we get into a situation which threatens our self-reliance, we will find our freedom threatened as well. If we increase our dependence, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act." Marion G. Romney

Storage Goal: 50 cans soup, stew or chili per person, Paper products, storage bags, etc., At least 5 gallons water per person “For the righteous the gospel provides a warning before a calamity, a program for the crises, a refuge for each disaster. The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to prophets and stored at least a year's supply of survival food…”  Ezra Taft Benson

Emergency Kit Goal: 1 pound dried fruit with nuts per person, 1 box crackers per person, 1 can bean or cheese dip per person, butane, Half full is the new EMPTY-ALL vehicles should be filled to at least half full.

Pantry Box Goal: 2 cans pineapple,  2 cans mandarin oranges, 2 cans peaches, 2 cans pears, 2 cans fruit cocktail, 4 cans stir fry veggies, 2 cans peas, 2 cans green beans, 2 jars pimentos

Have you noticed how much lettuce costs in the store in our little town. Far from the sunny locals, where it was grown, our lettuce greens are often well over a week old. Tired, limp greens are not the makings for an inviting dish. Why not grow your own?

What? No green house? Don't despair, you do have a green house if you heat your home and have a window or two. So many things can be grown in a narrow container. Imagine baby bok choi, dinosaur kale, spinach, lettuce, chives, parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, and basil growing in your cozy kitchen. If you get even more brave, you might try container varieties of cherry tomato, beet, radish, pepper, and eggplant.  


Many containers were designed to sit right on a windowsill for this very purpose. Some of these are self watering, too. Filled with potting soil, azomite, and powdered alfalfa, watered with liquid kelp, you'll have a wonderful, local, organic, baby vegetables in a few weeks without ever venturing out into the wind and ice. Plus, growing things is a wonderful stress reduction technique. It'll keep you well fed and happy until you can get outdoors.

home storage plan for those with gluten, soy, dairy, and egg allergies

It's no secret; I'm a preparedness junky. I've written books about it and practiced what I preach.

Then I discovered many food allergies to things I produced, stored, and used on a regular basis: Wheat-Dairy-Eggs-Oats-Barley-Rye-Soy---Sigh.

Back to the drawing board. How can someone sensitive to these things possibly keep the commandment to store a year's supply of food? What grains are possible? What other things will fill in nutritional requirements that store easily?

Legumes and grains of all kinds are the staple of our storage. I tried out many specialty grains with two coming out on top for long term storage, millet and dried non-gmo corn for polenta. We also store some whole grain rice, but know it goes rancid and requires frequent rotation. Sprouts are a great way to boost vitamin C in addition to many other vitamins and minerals. Finally, we store dehydrated and canned fruits and vegetables, along with garden seeds and plans to enlarge our garden and home orchard. In my planning, I considered the possibility that no markets in the future would provide any food. Also, organic, non-gmo foods offer the safest choices to guard against more food sensitivities. Each adult would need a minimum calorie count between 1600-2000 daily. Can my storage plan provide this ideal?

Researching dried beans I learned that there is between 100-320 calories per 1/4 lb. uncooked legumes depending on which variety eaten. My favorites are small white (120), garbanzo(130), pinto(130), small red(310), and various lentils(360). 1/4 lb. uncooked millet has 328 calories, while intact rice has 412 and polenta has 404. The majority of calories comes from legumes and grains.

My plan therefore includes 1/2 lb. various legumes (with lots more long term storage of lentils and small red beans) and 1 lbs. millet, rice, or corn (one person here has a corn allergy, so this is stored in limited quantities) per day per person. Currently, I can't imagine eating that much food. 20 lbs. nuts and nut butter per person can provide quick energy and extra fat/calories for stressful times. Although vegetables add negligible calories, they provide oodles of vitamins and minerals lacking in legumes and grains. Fruits provide more calories than vegetables as well as vital vitamins and minerals. It's really hard to predict the amount of sprouting seeds I might need, but about 20 lbs buckwheat, 15 lbs. sunflower seeds, and 10 lbs small seeds per person seems generously right. Considering 1 lb fresh green vegetables, 1 lbs other vegetables and 1 lb. fruit per person are eaten around here each day, the dehydrated fruit/vegetable count should be about 80 lbs. For insurance about 350 cans of beans, fruits, and vegetables per person, herbs, nutritional yeast, spices, honey, and maple syrup that rounds everything out. Yes, I realize my fruit/veggie storage is redundant times 3 but this gives me comfort. This plan provides 2000+ calories per day.

Storage per adult:

153 lbs. legumes

356 lbs. grain

20 lbs. nuts

80 lbs. dehydrated vegetables/fruit

356 cans of beans, fruits, and vegetables

45 lbs. sprouting seeds

This food must be cooked somehow, making wood stoves, solar ovens, thermal cookers, and butane stoves a primary storage consideration. Food prep involves water, making water a primary storage consideration. Sprouting requires warm temps and can be done in a cold house in the oven with a small heat source. 1 votive candle per day provides enough heat. Then comes the question how a person can make something edible from this list.

We like green smoothies, which can be made from powdered dehydrated greens and fruits or sprouts and canned fruits. We like rice pudding made with nut milk and honey or maple syrup. We like seasoned legumes over millet, rice, or polenta with sprouts or greens. We like lentil (or other legume) soup with greens and grains topped with sprouts. We like polenta with maple syrup or honey as breakfast mush or dessert. We like all sorts of dried, canned, and fresh fruits for snacks and dessert.

I'll share my newest storage recipe to paint a picture. It is delicious BTW.

Pantry Lentil Soup with Millet and Sprouts

1/2 lb. french lentils (soaked for 24 hours-they don't cook to tenderness as quickly as brown lentils.)

1 c. dehydrated soup mix (carrots, onions, tomatoes, peas, celery, green bell peppers, green beans, and parsley)

4-6 c. water

1 t. oregano

1 t. cumin

1/2 t. red pepper flakes

1/4 c. dehydrated cabbage or kale soaked for 30 min.

Salt and Pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients except cabbage and heat in solar oven for several hours until lentils are tender. Add cabbage or kale during last bit of cooking to heat through. Serve over rice or seasoned millet with small seed sprouts on top. I never add salt for health reasons. Those that use salt add it at the table. This causes my heavy salters to use less.

Seasoned Millet

1 c. millet (soak for 24 hours and sprout for 24 hours)

1/4 c. soup mix, powdered

1 t. rubbed sage

1/4 t. red pepper flakes

Bring millet and 2 c. water to a boil. Immediately remove from heat, cover tightly, and set aside. After 40 minutes millet is nicely cooked. Sometimes the low-heating process must be repeated.

A last note, French lentils sound elegant but are a hassle. The main reason to store lentils is their reputation for quick cooking. French lentils take as long to cook as regular dried beans. For now I have lots of French lentils in my pantry. Eventually, these will be eaten and replaced with less expensive, fast cooking brown lentils.

How many times do we need to be told?

I did not compile this list but found it on some nameless internet site. 

Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, April 1965)

“Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church ... a famine in this land of one year's duration could wipe out a large percentage of sloughful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned.”

Full Quote: Ezra Taft Benson, (“Not Commanded In All Things!”, Council Of The Twelve GC April 6, 1965)

"For years we have been counseled to have on hand a year’s supply of food. Yet there are some today who will not start storing until the Church comes out with a detailed monthly home storage program. Now suppose that never happens. We still cannot say we have not been told. Should the Lord decide at this time to cleanse the Church— and the need for that cleansing seems to be increasing— a famine in this land of one year’s duration could wipe out a large percentage of slothful members, including some ward and stake officers. Yet we cannot say we have not been warned."

Ezra Taft Benson  (“Prepare Ye,” Ensign, Jan. 1974, 69)
“The revelation to store food may be as essential to our temporal salvation today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.”

- Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, October 1973)

 “For the righteous, the gospel provides a warning before calamity, a program for the crises, refuge for each disaster... The Lord has warned us of famines, but the righteous will have listened to the prophets and stored at least one year's supply of survival food...”

- Spencer W. Kimball (General Conference, April 1976, 171)

“We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where He says, ‘Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?’ [Luke 6:46.]  How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.”

- Spencer W. Kimball (Conference Report, Apr. 1977, 125)

“We have placed considerable emphasis on personal and family preparedness. I hope that each member of the Church is responding appropriately to this direction.”

 - Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, October 1980) (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p.265)

 “Too often we bask in our comfortable complacency and rationalize that the ravages of war, economic disaster, famine, and earthquake ... cannot happen here. Those who believe this are either not acquainted with the revelations of the Lord, or they do not believe them. Those who smugly think these calamities will not happen, that they will somehow be set aside because of the righteousness of the Saints, are deceived and will rue the day they harbored such a delusion. The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel through His servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?”

- Ezra Taft Benson (General Conference, October 1987)

 “I ask you earnestly, have you provided for your family a year's supply of food, clothing, and where possible, fuel? The revelation to produce and store food may be as essential to our temporal welfare today as boarding the ark was to the people in the days of Noah.”

- Gordon B. Hinckley (General Conference, October 1992)

 “The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God on the earth will be combined together at Christ's coming - and that time is not far distant. How I wish we could get the vision of this work, the genius of it, and realize the nearness of that great event. I am sure it would have a sobering effect upon us if we realized what is before us.”

- Gordon B. Hinckley (General Conference, October 1998)

 “I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order.”

George Q. Cannon

"The greatest events that have been spoken of by all the Holy Prophets will come along so naturally as the consequences of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests upon us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the Holy Prophets."

Full quote by Elder Cannon in 1879: Cannon, George Q. Journal of Discourses. 21:264-272

Now I would not, for the world, say one word to lessen in the minds of my brethren and sisters the importance of these events; I would not say one word to weaken your proper expectations; but my experience has taught me that the Lord works in the midst of this people by natural means, and that the greatest events that have been spoken of by the holy prophets will come along so naturally as the consequence of certain causes, that unless our eyes are enlightened by the Spirit of God, and the spirit of revelation rests us, we will fail to see that these are the events predicted by the holy prophets. 

You take two persons, one who has the Spirit of God, whose mind is enlightened by that Spirit – the spirit of revelations, the same spirit that rested upon the prophets who wrote the revelations and prophecies we have – you take a man of that kind, and then take another who has none of that spirit, and put the two together, and the one man’s eyes will be open to see the hand of God in all these events; he will notice his movements and his providence in everything connected with his work and they will be testimonies to him to strengthen his faith and to furnish his mind with continual reasons for giving thanks to and worshipping God; while the man, who has not the Spirit of God, will see nothing Godlike in the occurrences: nothing which he will view as supernatural (as many suppose everything which exhibits God’s power to be), or nothing which he will accept as a fulfillment of prophecies; his eyes will be closed, his heart will be hardened, and to all the evidences of the divinity of these things he will be impenetrable.¹

 Matt 7:21

Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven

Teachings of Brigham Young - The last days will be a period of great turmoil (DBY, 111–12)

All we have yet heard and we have experienced is scarcely a preface to the sermon that is going to be preached. When the testimony of the Elders ceases to be given, and the Lord says to them, “Come home; I will now preach my own sermons to the nations of the earth,” all you now know can scarcely be called a preface to the sermon that will be preached with fire and sword, tempests, earthquakes, hail, rain, thunders and lightnings, and fearful destruction. What matters the destruction of a few railway cars? You will hear of magnificent cities, now idolized by the people, sinking in the earth, entombing the inhabitants. The sea will heave itself beyond its bounds, engulfing mighty cities. Famine will spread over the nations and nation will rise up against nation, kingdom against kingdom and states against states, in our own country and in foreign lands; and they will destroy each other, caring not for the blood and lives of their neighbors, of their families, or for their own lives.

(D&C 38:28)

"Ye hear of wars in far countries, and you say that there will soon be great wars in far countries, but ye know not the hearts of men in your own land."

(D&C 38:30)

"...but if ye are prepared ye shall not fear."

("If Ye Are Prepared Ye Shall Not Fear," Ensign, Nov. 1995)

Our Prophet Gordon B Hinckley, said,

“In words of revelation the Lord has said, “Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing” (D&C 109:8). Our people for three-quarters of a century have been counseled and encouraged to make such preparation as will assure survival should a calamity come. We can set aside some water, basic food, medicine, and clothing to keep us warm. We ought to have a little money laid aside in case of a rainy day.”

From President Thomas S. Monson, First Counselor, we hear: “Many more people could ride out the storm-tossed waves in their economic lives if they had their year’s supply of food … and were debt-free. Today we find that many have followed this counsel in reverse: they have at least a year’s supply of debt and are food-free.”

Recently, Elder L. Tom Perry of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles taught: "Acquire and store a reserve of food and supplies that will sustain life. . . . As long as I can remember, we have been taught to prepare for the future and to obtain a year's supply of necessities. I would guess that the years of plenty have almost universally caused us to set aside this counsel. I believe the time to disregard this counsel is over. With events in the world today, it must be considered with all seriousness"

Bishop Keith B. McMullin, (Lay Up in Store, May 2007, Ensign) “Latter-day Prophets Speak on Preparedness,” Ensign, Aug. 2007, 33 - 2nd Counselor Presiding Bishopric
“A cardinal principle of the gospel is to prepare for the day of scarcity…  And, brethren, we lay up in store! Then, “through [the Lord’s] providence, notwithstanding the tribulation … the church [and its people will] stand independent.”..and ... we lay up in store! By doing these things, “the Lord shall have power over his saints, and shall reign in [our] midst.”

Gordon B. Hinckley (“To Men of the Priesthood,” Ensign, Nov. 2002, 5)
“The best place to have some food set aside is within our homes, together with a little money in savings. The best welfare program is our own welfare program. Five or six cans of wheat in the home are better than a bushel in the welfare granary. … “We can begin with a one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs”

Spencer W. Kimball (“Family Preparedness,” Ensign, May 1976, 124).
“We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yard. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. … Make your garden as neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities”

Harold B. Lee (1899–1973) (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Harold B. Lee [2000], 171).
“We expect the individual to do all he can to help himself, whether it be an emergency for a single family or for a whole community, that the relatives will do all they can to help, then the Church steps in with commodities from the storehouse, with fast offerings to meet their needs that commodities from the storehouse will not supply, and finally, the Relief Society and the priesthood quorums will assist with rehabilitation”

Joseph Fielding Smith (1876–1972) (“The Pioneer Spirit,” Improvement Era, July 1970, 3).
“[The pioneers] were taught by their leaders to produce, as far as possible, all that they consumed, and to be frugal and not wasteful of their substance. This is still excellent counsel”

Wilford Woodruff  (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff [2004], 232–33).
“We feel led to caution the Latter-day Saints against forming the bad habit of incurring debt and taking upon themselves obligations which frequently burden them heavier than they can bear, and lead to the loss of their homes and other possessions. … Our business should be done, as much as possible, on the principle of paying for that which we purchase, and our needs should be brought within the limit of our resources”

George Albert Smith (1870–1951) (Deseret News, Mar. 4, 1868, 26).
“How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when instead of doing so he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family”

Brigham Young (1801–77) (Deseret News, July 18, 1860, 153).
“If you are without bread, how much wisdom can you boast and of what real utility are your talents, if you cannot procure for yourselves and save against a day of scarcity those substances designed to sustain your natural lives?” (JB interpretation – What good are you, or of what use are your talents, if you cannot provide for yourself and become a burden when a day of scarcity comes.)

Brigham Young: JD 9:169
“If we could only learn to be self-preserving and self-sustaining, we should then have learned what the Gods have learned before us, and what we must eventually learn before we can be exalted.”

James E. Faust: (Reach Up for Light pg 17)
“We should ask ourselves; What are the Brethren saying? The living prophets can open the visions of eternity; they give counsel on how to overcome the world. We cannot know that counsel if we do not listen. We cannot receive the blessings we are promised if we do not follow the counsel given”

Vaughn J. Featherstone (Ensign May 1976, pg. 116)
“I bear my humble witness to you that the great God of heaven will open doors and means in a way we never would have supposed, to help all those who truly want a years supply…
All we have to do is to decide, commit to it, and then keep the commitment. Miracles will take place…”

Spencer W. Kimball - Put away a 1 year supply of food (The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 375)
We encourage families to have on hand this year’s supply; and we say it over and over and over and repeat over and over the scripture of the Lord where he says, Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? (Luke 6:46) How empty it is as they put their spirituality, so-called, into action and call him by his important names, but fail to do the things which he says.

Spencer W. Kimball (Conference Report, Oct 1980)

I remember when the sisters used to say, “Well, but we could buy it at the store a lot cheaper than we can put it up.” But that isn’t quite the answer…Because there will come a time when there isn’t a store.

Bishop Keith B. McMullin (Oct 2005 General Conference) (Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric)

Faith, spirituality, and obedience produce a prepared and self-reliant people.  As we obey the covenant of tithing, we are shielded from want and the power of the destroyer.  Similar blessings come as we obey the counsel of the prophets and live within our means, avoid unnecessary debt, and set aside sufficient of life's necessities to sustain ourselves and our families for at least a year.

Gordon B. Hinckley - October Conference 1998 (Priesthood Session.)
 “I wish to speak to you about temporal matters. As a backdrop for what I wish to say, I read to you a few verses from the 41^st chapter of Genesis. Pharaoh, the ruler of Egypt, dreamed dreams which greatly troubled him. . . . ‘And I saw in my dream . . . seven ears came up in one stalk, full and good: And, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them: . . . (Joseph’s interpretation) Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt: And there shall arise after them seven years of famine. . . And god will shortly bring it to pass.’ (Gen. 41:20, 26, 30, 32) Now, brethren, . . . I am not predicting years of famine in the future. But I am suggesting that the time has come to get our houses in order. . . . There is a portent of stormy weather ahead to which we had better give heed.”

7 years later.....Gordon B. Hinckley - October Conference, 2005

 “Let us never lose sight of the dream of Pharaoh concerning the fat cattle and the lean, the full ears of corn and the blasted ears, the meaning of which was interpreted by Joseph to indicate years of plenty and years of scarcity.”

Gordon B. Hinckley - October Conference 2001

"As we have been continuously counseled for more than 60 years, let us have some food set aside that would sustain us for a time in case of need. But let us not panic nor go to extremes. Let us be prudent in every respect. And, above all, my brothers and sisters, let us move forward with faith in the Living God and His Beloved Son...

President Brigham Young: (President Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.298.)
"The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat."

". . .save the wheat until we have one, two, five, or seven years provisions on hand, until there is enough of the staff of life saved by the people to bread themselves and those who will come here seeking for safety." (Discourses of Brigham Young, pp.291-293)

Wilford Woodruff (Journal of Discourses, 18:121.)
"The Lord is not going to disappoint either Babylon or Zion, with regard to famine, pestilence, earthquake or storms. . . . Lay up your wheat and other provisions against a day of need, for the day will come when they will be wanted, and no mistake about it. We shall want bread, and the Gentiles will want bread, and if we are wise we shall have something to feed them and ourselves when famine comes."

Nephi: (2 Ne. 28:7, 21, 24)
"Yea, and there shall be many which shall say: Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die; and it shall be well with us."

"And others will he pacify, and lull them away into carnal security, that they will say: All is well in Zion; yea, Zion prospereth, all is well–and thus the devil cheateth their souls, and leadeth them away carefully down to hell."

"Therefore, wo be unto him that is at ease in Zion!"

Ezra Taft Benson: (Ezra Taft Benson, Ensign, November 1980)
The Lord has warned and forewarned us against a day of great tribulation and given us counsel, through His Servants, on how we can be prepared for these difficult times. Have we heeded His counsel?"

Ezra Taft Benson: (The Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 264.)

"When the economies of nations fail, when famine and other disasters prevent people from buying food in stores, the Saints must be prepared to handle these emergencies."

Marion G. Romney
"We will see the day when we live on what we produce." (Marion G. Romney, Conference Report, Oct. 1998.)

Heber C.. Kimball (Deseret News, May 23, 1931.)
"A spirit of speculation and extravagance will take possession of the Saints [in the last days], and the results will be financial bondage.  Persecution comes next and all true Latter-day Saints will be tested to the limit." (JB comment – sounds like credit default swaps and derivates – are we not in bondage? )

Heber C. Kimball: J.D. 3:262
"I will tell you a dream which Brother Kesler had lately.  He dreamed that there was a sack of gold and a cat placed before him, and that he had the privilege of taking which he pleased, whereupon he took the cat and walked off with her. Why did he take the cat in preference to the gold? Because HE COULD EAT THE CAT, BUT COULD NOT EAT THE GOLD. You may see about such times before you die."

Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone: (Ensign, May 1976, p. 117.)
"Now what about those who would plunder and break in and take that which we have stored for our families' needs? Don't give this one more idle thought. There is a God in heaven whom we have obeyed. Do your suppose he would abandon those who have kept his commandment? He said, "If ye are prepared, ye need not fear." (D&C 38:30.) Prepare, O men of Zion, and fear Not.....Commit to have a year's supply of food."

Dallin H. Oaks: ( Oct. 2007 VT Message in Ensign)
“No one know the time of His coming, but the faithful are taught to study the signs of it and be prepared for it…We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparation for the events prophesied at the time of the Second Coming”

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. (April 1937 General Conference)
Speaking for the first Presidency, President J. Reuben Clark, Jr. exhorted the Saints to live within their means:

"Let us avoid debt as we would avoid a plague...Let every head of every household see to it that he has on hand enough food and clothing, and, where possible, fuel also, for at least a year ahead...Let every head of household aim to own his own home, free from mortgage. Let us again clothe ourselves with these proved and sterling virtues—honesty, truthfulness, chastity, sobriety, temperance, industry, and thrift; let us discard all covetousness and greed."

Ezra Taft Benson: (Journal of Discourses, Vol. 5, p. 17)
"For over 100 years we have been admonished to store up grain. ‘Remember the counsel that is given,’ said Elder Orson Hyde, ‘Store up all your grain, and take care of it!... And I tell you it is almost as necessary to have bread to sustain the body as it is to have food for the spirit.’

Ezra Taft Benson: (JD 2:207).

“There is more salvation and security in wheat, than in all the political schemes of the world...”

President Harold B. Lee: (Welfare conference address, October 1, 1966)
"Perhaps if we think not in terms of a year’s supply of what we ordinarily would use, and think more in terms of what it would take to keep us alive in case we didn’t have anything else to eat, that last would be very easy to put in storage for a year...just enough to keep us alive if we didn’t have anything else to eat. We wouldn’t get fat on it, but would live; and if you think in terms of that kind of annual storage rather than a whole year’s supply of everything that you are accustomed to eat which, in most cases, is utterly impossible for the average family, I think we will come nearer to what President Clark. advised us way back in 1937."

Elder George A. Smith: (JD 12:142)
..."How on the face of the earth could a man enjoy his religion when he had been told by the Lord how to prepare for a day of famine, when, instead of doing, so, he had fooled away that which would have sustained him and his family."

Vaughn J. Featherstone: (April Conference, 1976)
"...I should like to address a few remarks to those who ask, ‘Do I share with my neighbors who have not followed the counsel? And what about the non-members who do not have a year’s supply? Do we have to share with them? ‘No, we don’t have to share—we get to share! Let us not be concerned about silly thoughts of whether we would share or not. Of course we would share!"

Spencer W. Kimball: (“Family Preparedness,” Ensign, May 1976, 124).
..."We encourage you to grow all the food that you feasibly can on your own property. Berry bushes, grapevines, fruit trees—plant them if your climate is right for their growth. Grow vegetables and eat them from your own yards. Even those residing in apartments or condominiums can generally grow a little food in pots and planters. Study the best methods of providing your own foods. Make your garden neat and attractive as well as productive. If there are children in your home, involve them in the process with assigned responsibilities...Develop your skills in your home preservation and storage. We reaffirm the previous counsel the Church has always given, to acquire and maintain a year’s supply—a year’s supply of the basic commodities for us.

Provident Living Quote - President Gordon B. Hinckley, Priesthood Session, October 2002:
“Brethren, I wish to urge again the importance of self-reliance on the part of every individual Church member and family.  None of us knows when a catastrophe might strike. Sickness, injury, unemployment…I do not predict any impending disaster…yet prudence should govern our lives…We can begin with a one week’s food supply and gradually build it to a month, and then to three months. I am speaking now of food to cover basic needs….I fear that so many feel that a long-term supply is so far beyond their reach that they make no effort at all. Begin in a small way….gradually build toward a reasonable objective.”

(Kathleen H. Hughes, "Remembering the Lord's Love," Ensign, Nov. 2006, 112)

"Our families need the peace of God in their lives, and if we can't or won't invite the Lord into our lives, then our families become a reflection of our own turmoil. Women are asked to be nurturers to their families, but we must also be firm; we must be the hard rock footings on which our homes can stand. Our families need us to speak peace to them, just as the Lord speaks peace to us. Our homes need to be places where our families and friends want to be, where all who enter our homes can draw strength and courage to face the challenges of living in an increasingly wicked world. Our children need to hear us 'talk of Christ, . . .  rejoice in Christ, [and] preach of Christ' (2 Nephi 25:26) so that they may know to what source they can look for the peace that 'passeth all understanding' (Philippians 4:7)." Topics: peace, family, home, standards, Jesus Christ

From The Life of Heber C. Kimball by Orsen F. Whitney p. 442

Heber C. Kimball made a prophecy that "the time would come when the government would stop the Saints from holding meetings. When this was done the Lord would pour out his judgments."