January Newsletter 2

If you are just beginning your preparedness journey, go back to the December 2011 newsletter and begin there.

Spiritual Goal: Incorporate the words of modern prophets into your everyday life. In this modern day of easy communication, conference talks are easily accessible on computers, phones, and other devices as well as old-fashioned CDs. While working in the kitchen, listen to a conference talk a week. Choose one talk each week to listen to over and again, while doing chores. Not only will your spirit be fed, but, suddenly, those chores won't seem like drudgery anymore. Plus, you will get very familiar with the calming voices of our leaders. At the end of each week, write your thoughts on that talk in your journal. "Embedded in the gospel of Jesus Christ there are eternal principles and truths...members of the Lord's true Church, have special access and insight into these eternal principles and truths, especially when we listen to the Spirit for individual guidance and hear the prophet's voice as he declares the will of God to the members of the Church. You and I both know how important these eternal principles and truths are in our lives." L. Tom Perry, October, 2009

Emotional Goal: Read and study President Bednar's talk, And Nothing Shall Offend Them. Whenever you catch yourself feeling offended or being offensive, STOP IT! Choose charity. Give the benefit of a doubt. Love your neighbor. "As sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father, we have been blessed with the gift of moral agency, the capacity for independent action and choice. Endowed with agency, you and I are agents, and we primarily are to act and not just be acted upon, To believe that someone or something can make us fee offended, angry, hurt or bitter diminishes our moral agency and transforms us into objects to be acted upon. As agents, however, you and I have the power to act and to choose how we will respond to an offensive or hurtful situation." David A. Bednar, October 2006

Physical Goal: Continue with daily exercise and all the other ideas we've explored over the last year. If you haven't yet begun, go back to the December 2011 newsletter and begin today. "Nutritious meals, regular exercise, and appropriate sleep are necessary for a strong body, just as consistent scripture study and prayer strengthen the mind and spirit." Thomas S. Monson, October 2008 

Financial Goal: Hopefully, you have been working on each goal over the last 13 months. If not go back  to the December 2011 newsletter and begin today. If so go back to the December 2011 newsletter and review through the goals of the last 13 months. Where is your debt? Are you about to hit a financial cliff? It's never too late to begin improving your financial situation; begin today. "Because Satan uses greed and the pursuit of possessions to sweep families off the celestial highway, Jesus advised, "Beware of covetousness. "Covetousness is restrained as we project our income, pay an honest tithe and generous fast offering, budget needed expenses, avoid unnecessary debt, save for future needs, and become temporally self-reliant. God's promise to us is, 'Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." Anthony D. Perkins, October 2012

Storage Goal: If you have not yet begun to store food or are just beginning, go back to the December 2011 newsletter and begin today. If you have been working right along with the goals or even if you haven't done anything yet, try your hand at live cultured vegetables, the original super food and sweet craving tamer. Have you heard of probiotics? They are an expensive vitamin like thing, which are so easy to create in your own kitchen. Think of the health you will build and the money you won't spend. Cultured raw vegetables (aka kraut) are full of probiotics plus inexpensive, easy, delicious, and fun to make; not to mention they preserve the natural enzymes, minerals, and vitamins (particularly vit C and calcium) of living vegetables for the benefit of the consumer. Cabbage, even organic cabbage, is always inexpensive at the store if you don't have any stored in your basement or root cellar from your own garden. You will need 1 or 2 purple or green cabbages (purple cultured cabbage is a beautiful color), sea salt (not iodized table salt), a knife or food processor, a baby food jar filled with water or stones, and wide mouth quart jars. Thinly slice cabbage (save 2-3 outer leaves) into a large non-metal bowl. Sprinkle 1 T. salt over and set aside for ten minutes. Meanwhile, excluding the reserved leaves, blend the core and scraps with a bit of distilled water and toss with cabbage in bowl. With a potato masher, gently squish veggies until very juicy. Pack into jar(s). Roll reserved leaves into a log and push this into the jar to allow juice to totally cover cabbage. Top with baby food jar to further compact shredded vegetables below. Put jar(s) into a glass baking pan, cover with cheese cloth, and set on top of the refrigerator or other warmish place for three to seven days (check sooner in warm weather). Carefully, pull out a tiny bit of cabbage. Does it taste krauty and to your liking? If yes, cap and put in fridge minus baby food jar. If not leave it out for a couple more days and test again. Cooling stops fermentation; refrigerate when as mellow or sharp as you like. Cultured vegetables keep for a very long time in the fridge or root cellar; that is if you can keep yourself from gobbling them all up. Modern heat processing kills all enzymes and probiotics. Botulism will not grown in cultured vegetables but may in sealed, heat processed ones. At our house we like cultured vegetables so much and use them in such varied ways, I can't keep them in the house. Eat a bit daily to improve digestion, increase immunity, and fight the flu if you are already sick. Culturing can be done with vegetables of all kinds and has been for thousands of years in every part of the world. Some cultures add spices and hot peppers to their traditional cultured vegetables; think Korean kim chi or caraway kraut, yummy. They are such a big part of history that Hypocrites wrote about the healing benefits cultured vegetables back in the time of the ancient Greeks. They also fed the builders of the Great Wall during the Ming Dynasty. "Relief Society stands for self-reliance. The best food storage is not in welfare grain elevators but in sealed cans and bottles in the homes of our people. What a gratifying thing it is to see cans of wheat and rice and beans under the beds or in the pantries of women who have taken welfare responsibility into their own hands." Gordon B. Hinckley, October 2006

Emergency Kit Goal: Check sizes of children's clothing in kits. Change things out if need be. Also, winter gear is on sale now. Fill out your kits or buy extra for storage.

Pantry Box: Check to make sure your inventory is topped off. Add a couple fun things for emotional support in an emergency.

Provident Living Goal: Learn to enjoy many different vegetables and fruits. While it is true that Latter-Day Saint women should grow as much of their family's diet as possible, we can learn to eat a variety of interesting things and perhaps discover new favorites to grow in our gardens. Did you know pie pumpkins are not only for pie? They are wonderful grated on salads, pureed for soups, and look exactly like grated cheddar cheese on top of a Mexican tostada salad. God put herbs of the field and fruits of the vine on this earth to increase the health of His earthly children. Let's learn to know and love many of these gifts; who knows they just might save your life. Many of the following ingredients can be grown indoors during winter or stored fresh from our gardens in the basement, refrigerator, or root cellar to increase the nutrition of your diet. 

December Newsletter 2

Spiritual Goal:  Decide as a family how focus less on stuff and more on Jesus Christ, true meaning of Christmas. Avoid the holiday media blitz. Revive old family traditions. Spend time serving in the community together. Consider family gifts that double as preparedness and togetherness goals, like wall or dome tents, sleeping bags, camp stove, thermal cooker, solar oven, camping supplies, guidebooks for great family camping destinations and games. Consider wrapping up necessities like coats, mittens, boots, shoes, underwear, pajamas, undershirts, socks, sheets, quilts, towels, and school supplies. These things can be purchased throughout the year during closeout sales. This is a beloved family tradition at our place that we joke about every year. One year I didn’t do it, because I thought they didn’t like it; our children were very upset.

Physical Goal: finish or start LDS Physical Fitness Award Program. “Physical fitness is important in the lives of all of us. But we sometimes neglect our physical health, only to realize how precious it is once it is gone. This activity [LDS Physical Fitness Award Program] is designed to encourage families and individuals of all ages to take part regularly in activities that promote health and physical fitness. Other benefits include increased personal discipline and positive self-image, weight control, release of unwanted stress, and family fun and communication,” Physical Fitness Award Program, Family Home Evening Resource Book, (1997), 314

Financial Goal: Refinish a thrifted piece of furniture to give as a Christmas gift. Make a list of desired purchases with the rule that it must be on the list for 30 days before buying. De-junk your house. “No man is truly free who is in financial bondage. Think what you do when you run debt, you give another power over your liberty.” Benjamin Franklin

Provident Living Goal: Learn to cook and enjoy dried beans and whole grains from your storage. Learn indoor gardening and sprouting.

Storage Goal: 40 pounds dried beans per person, Batteries, dehydrated onions, garlic, herbs, peppers, celery, and carrots to flavor beans, candles, matches, hurricane candle holders

Emergency Kit Goal: Garbage bags, Candles, Matches, Can Opener

Pantry Box Goal: Family Tent, camping stuff

November Newsletter

Spiritual Goal:  If you have not yet begun journaling as part of your daily devotional, give it a try. At the very minimum, write a journal entry each week of your spiritual and temporal happenings. "I believe that one of the main reasons families have not regularly read the scriptures together is that they have just not decided in their hearts that it was important enough to do. They have not made the decision that they would find out how to do it at all costs. If they understood the importance of this family activity, they would surely do all in their power—both husband and wife or single parent—to make sure that this family practice became a foundation stone of their family traditions. It might very well do as much as any other thing to help exalt their family," M. Russell Ballard.

Physical Goal: Sleep is an often-overlooked part of physical, emotional, and spiritual health. “…retire to thy bed early, that ye may not be weary; arise early, that your bodies and your minds may be invigorated.” Doctrine and Covenants 88:124

Financial Goal: Just say not to stuff. As a person begins to get ahead and feel comfortable, the temptation to affluent good may rear its ugly head. It’s OK and desirable to be comfortable. Excess is not. One of the wealthiest men in the world, Warren Buffet, lives in a modest 3-bedroom home, because it meets his needs. Always ask yourself if a purchase will bless your life and meet your needs. Always consider, where it will be stored in your home before it leaves the store.

Provident Living Goal: Learn to knit or crochet. Provide your children with financial tools by making them part of the family financial team: budgeting, saving, frugality, investing, and so forth.

Storage Goal: 100 grains per person, 1 #10 can apple or banana slices per person, 1 large container cinnamon, 4 bars hand soap per person, shampoo, light bulbs (To make soap last longer, unwrap and store in brown paper tied up with string. When this is done, the soap still lathers but doesn't melt as fast.)“The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat.”  Brigham Young

Emergency Kit Goal: Personal hygiene items with feminine, shaving, and infant needs in mind

Increasing Self-Sufficiency: Water is a big issue in the desert. So why let it run off our property and down the drain? The idea of harvesting rainwater and grey water especially in desert regions to water the garden and/or provide drinking water is as old as civilization. Brigham Young designed his bathtub and gutters to drain into the garden. One man in Tucson Arizona traveled to the world’s driest climates to learn about rainwater harvesting. After incorporating it into his existing suburban landscape, he wrote about his findings in Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond Volumes 1-3. Learn more about this subject and use some of the principles to keep the water God sends you.

October Newsletter

Spiritual Goal:  Establish some fun traditions around General Conference weekend. Making it a celebration atmosphere. Read ‘Conference Reverence Tent’ in 2008 Friend if you have small children.

Physical Goal: Continue good habits/Prevent cold and flu. The lowering of the body's core temperature suppresses immunity, which allows viruses to thrive; dress in warm layers. Wash hands frequently. Don’t touch your face especially your nose. Use a neti pot and eyecup. Get adequate sleep. Get fresh air, exercise, and sunshine. Be positive. Drink plenty of water. Stay away from refined and processed foods. Use a humidifier. Clean doorknobs, light switches, bathrooms, and kitchens with 50/50 vinegar/water solution. Don't share drinking glasses, utensils, toothbrushes, etc. Stay home if you are infected. 

Financial Goal: Awareness is success. Track your expenses for 30 days to find any leaks in your budget. Plug leaks and stomp out bad habits. “Some argue that some men prosper financially who do not seek the kingdom first. This is true. But the Lord is not promising us just material wealth if we seek first the kingdom. From my own experience I know this is not the case. In the words of Henrik Ibsen: ‘Money may be the husk of many things, but not the kernel. It brings you food, but not appetite; medicine, but not health; acquaintances, but not friends; servants, but not faithfulness; days of joy, but not peace or happiness.’ …Pay an honest tithing… Live on less than you earn… Learn to distinguish between needs and wants… Develop and live within a budget… Be honest in all your financial affairs.” N. Eldon Tanner, October 1979

Provident Living Goal: Consider home production in the form of a cottage business, doing work from home involving the whole family. Cottage industries bring fresh life to communities, strengthen families, establish a wonderful work ethic, teach the true value of time and money, develop confidence and cooperation, and instill a strong sense of self-worth. “Let us be wise stewards. Let us ponder the lessons of history and profit from the experiences of those who have not heeded the prophets. Gibbons, Toynbee, Durant, and other noted historians have analyzed the reasons for the fall of the mighty civilizations. The repetition is monotonous. In summarizing cause and effect…six common reasons why each civilization fell: They lost their religious convictions and flouted basic morality. They became obsessed with sex. They debased their money of its intrinsic value and let inflation run rampant. Honest work ceased to be a virtue. Respect for law disintegrated and violence became an accepted method of achieving individual and group desires. Finally, citizens were no longer willing to be soldiers and fight for the defense of their nation and their heritage.” J. Richard Clark, October 1980

Storage Goal: 50 cans soup, stew, chili per person, 10+ pounds sprouting seeds per person, Shaving supplies, Dish Soap “When people are able but unwilling to take care of themselves, we are responsible to employ the dictum of the Lord that the idler shall not eat the bread of the laborer…” Boyd K. Packer

Emergency Kit & Pantry Box Goals: Rotate over conference weekend. Since you are using your box and kit for several meals this month, it is perfectly acceptable to use your grocery funds to replenish your box and kit. Don’t put it off!!!

Increasing Self-Sufficiency: Benjamin Franklin, Nathaniel Bowditch, Abigail Adams, Steve Jobs, and many others were self-educated people that positively impacted the world. President Hinckley spoke often of the love of learning he developed in his childhood home, where he and his siblings read Harvard classics around the kitchen table. Speaking fondly of the little library room with comfortable chairs and walls lined with bookshelves crammed with hundreds of classic and technical books, magazines, atlases, scriptures, and dictionaries, he showed how his parents made it clear through action and priority that learning was desired and valued. President Hinckley urged parents to read to their children and all people to budget their time to allow a daily pattern of study in addition to scripture study. Although President Hinckley went to college, many people for one reason or another do not. However, this need not end a person’s education. Like Mr. Franklin and all the Hinckley children, anyone who can read a bit can learn anything.

“We have lived to see the second death of ancient learning. In our time something which was once the possession of all educated men has shrunk to being the technical accomplishment of a few specialists…If one were looking for a man who could not read Virgil though his father could, he might be found more easily in the twentieth century than in the fifth,” C. S. Lewis, Selected Literary Essays, ed. Walter Hooper (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1979), 4.

“…to produce the good man and the good citizen, though it must be remembered that we are not here using the word ‘good’ in any narrowly ethical sense. The ‘good’ man’ here remains the man of good taste and good feeling, the interesting and interested man, and almost the happy man…Vocational training, on the other hand prepares the pupil not for leisure, but for work; it aims at making not a good man but a good banker, a good electrician, a good scavenger, or a good surgeon,” C.S. Lewis, Rehabilitations and Other Essays (London, UK: Oxford University Press, 1939), 81-5.

Why not begin a program of self-education in the same place President Hinckley began by reading Fifteen Minutes a Day with The Harvard Classics? http://www.mensetmanus.net/inspiration/fifteen_minutes_a_day/

Helmets are Cooler Than Coffins

The time between July 18 and September 11 is quite difficult for me each year. I've relived the last months of my daughter's life for the past several years. Although the sadness has lessened somewhat, I miss her. Even though I know she is with God and that families are forever, I miss her dreadfully.

Katie turned 9 on July 18, 1997. Budding into young womanhood, she began to cross her long legs and fix her long brown hair. She was growing out her bangs. I began to feel that this girl needed extra time with mom, so we went shopping or driving, just the two of us. It was delightful. Ever since her birth, she seemed to be a gift from God directly to me (Of course, I love all my children, but each is unique as is my relationship with each one.) To see her stomp her little foot and say, "Leave my mommy alone," when the big girls were back-talking, would make anyone smile. It melted my heart.

No, she wasn't perfect, but to me she was my little punkin. A math genius, voracious reader, poet, artist, budding piano prodigy and a bubbly, smiley, happy girl, she left our home too soon, leaving an unfilled void. On one of our shopping trips, we bought her a new bike helmet with a pony tail port. She loved to braid her long hair in one braid hanging down her back, making helmet wearing difficult. The ponytail port was a great answer. Where we lived in the Pacific NW, helmets were required by law for every rider. If our children wanted to own a bike, they were required to wear helmets. They complied, but what I didn't know is that they didn't buckle the things, rendering them useless.

That terrible morning September 5, 1997, my friend rang the doorbell at 8:30 in the morning. She looked really funny. I quickly found out why. She had witnessed a terrible tragedy. Our Katie was lying in the street after being bumped by a truck. It didn't hit her but glanced her rear tire. She slid into the curb, hitting her temple. On impact her unbuckled helmet flew off her head.

Airlifted to the closest trauma center, she underwent brain surgery to stop the hemorrhage in her brain. They shaved off her beautiful hair, leaving a huge C-shaped incision. Her sweet little brain swelled and swelled. Little by little daily MRIs showed her brain dying. She never woke-up. She lived 6 days in the ICU, before we removed her off life support.

 Her coffin was sweetly lined with white satin. She was dressed in white with a white veil covering her huge, bald head. Delicate white roses draped the coffin. The funeral was lovely, but these things should have been for her wedding. When rain clouds burst just as we left the cemetery, I knew that Katie, my gift from God, cried for our family.

 In this ward most remember a dear young man, who had a similar accident on a skateboard. He lived, but struggled mightily for a very long time. The week of his accident a group of young men from our ward including his little brother came to ask my son to join them for nightgames. Not one of them was wearing a helmet. When I inquired why, they told me that it was safe around our neighborhood. They didn't need helmets. Yet my the young man in our ward was only a couple blocks from home in our neighborhood, when he suffered his injury. My little Katie was in view of our front door. The fact is that 75 percent of deaths among children could be prevented with a bicycle helmet.

Please, while you're buying school binders, paper, pencils, markers, and books or new Christmas bicycles and skates, buy helmets as well. Parents, require your children to wear a helmet every time he or she rides a bike, skateboard, scooter or skates! Whenever they "wheel" around, they should be safe. Tell your children the story of our beautiful Katie. When they talk about helmets being sweaty or stupid, remind them that helmets are cooler than coffins.

September Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Increase Temple Attendance-“Those who understand the eternal blessings which come from the temple know that no sacrifice is too great, no price too heavy, no struggle too difficult in order to receive those blessings. There are never too many miles to travel, too many obstacles to overcome, or too much discomfort to endure. They understand that the saving ordinances received in the temple that permit us to someday return to our Heavenly Father in an eternal family relationship and to be endowed with blessings and power from on high are worth every sacrifice and every effort,” Thomas S Monson, April, 2011.

Physical Goal: Continue good habits. Make a concerted effort to attain and maintain a healthy weight. Drinking lots of water helps with weight loss.  “To a great extent we are physically what we eat. Most of us are acquainted with some of the prohibitions [of the word of Wisdom]...What need additional emphasis are the positive aspects--the need for vegetables, fruits, and grains, particularly wheat. In most cases, the closer these can be, when eaten, to their natural state-- without over-refinement and processing--the healthier we will be. To a significant degree, we are an overfed and undernourished nation digging an early grave with our teeth, and lacking the energy that could be ours because we overindulge in junk foods…We need a generation of young people who, as Daniel, eat in a more healthy manner than to fare on the "king's meat"--and whose countenances show it,” Ezra Taft Benson, March 1979.

Financial Goal:  Retirement savings and insurance-“God gave a natural instinct to the animals he created to preserve their surplus against a time of need. But man has developed the tendency to squander all that he harvests and to leave to chance or to others his satisfaction of future needs. This is contrary to divine law. Frugality is a principle of righteousness. Consumption should never exceed our production. Economic freedom comes from the surpluses we create…insure against our greatest potential loss…our ability to earn is our greatest asset. When the provider insures his life, he is insuring his future income for his family. As husbands, let us not force our wives into the marketplace to be both the provider and homemaker should our lives be cut short by premature adequate health insurance. Medical costs are soaring, and trying to self-insure from personal savings is very risky. During inflation, medical costs increase faster than our savings accumulate,” J. Richard Clark, October 1980

Provident Living Goal: Learn to re-upholster a simple piece of furniture. Review or get a will.

Storage Goal: 25 pounds canned or dried potatoes per person, 50 quarts tomatoes per person Read Root Cellaring by Bubel-“Home storage should consist of a year’s supply of basic food, clothing, and, where possible, fuel. After this goal is reached, emergency and expanded storage is desirable. In all of our storage, quality products, proper containers and storage facilities, proper storage temperature, and regular rotation are important considerations…there is a need for diversification in places of storage and in types of containers. Perhaps not all storage should be concentrated in one area of the house, not all should be stored in tin or plastic containers, not all in glass containers.” Barbara B. Smith, October 1976

Emergency Kit Goal: pup tents, space blanket, mini-back pack stove/fuel, personal hygiene and first aide kit for each kit

Pantry Box Goal: plastic dishpan, towel, rag, soap

Master Soup Recipe

“Learn to eat lentils and you will never have to be subservient to the king.” Diogenes

Although it is fun to try out recipes, they are actually simple guides to be twisted and tweaked by the chef. This master soup recipe will be helpful to anyone seeking to incorporate stored foods, avoid unhealthy ingredients, or elude subservience to the king. Soup is the ultimate peasant king cuisine and certainly shouldn't be reserved for winter. Simply cook it outdoors in a slow-cooker or sun oven in summer. This can be made in any amount.

Soup Base:
1-2 onions or 1-4 leeks (white and a little green parts) pureed
1-4 carrots, chopped or pureed
1-4 celery stocks, chopped or pureed

1-2 c. sliced mushrooms (optional)
1-4 garlic cloves, pressed (optional)
1 green bell pepper, chopped or pureed (optional)

The first three will become your stock. The others are optional and will take your soup in different directions.  Put them in your soup pot over the lowest possible heat and cook until the water is evaporated and the onions begin to turn golden. Or just put them in the bottom of your slow cooker. You will find it is not necessary to buy little bullion cubes, which are really balls of fat, artificial flavorings, and salt. Neither is it necessary to buy canned stocks or broths. Good results can be achieved with these nutritious and inexpensive ingredients. Onions, garlic, peppers, carrots, and celery can be grown in your own backyard for root cellaring or dehydrating. Mushrooms can be grown in the basement.

Body Vegetables:
1. Chopped root vegetables
2. Chopped winter squash
3. Tomatoes, fennel, cabbage
4. Cauliflower, broccoli

Pick one or two of the above categories. Chop several cups of these vegetables into spoon sized pieces. Your choice here will determine the theme or ethnic direction of your soup. If you choose the tomato route, you will probably also choose garlic and peppers. Now add several cups of the cleanest water you have available, distilled when possible. If you have only two people obviously the amounts of vegetables and water will be different than if you are feeding a family of eight.

Flavorings:
Here the palette is wide open. Any and all spices and herbs are available. Thyme, parsley, sage, rosemary, curry powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, chili powder, nutritional yeast, etc. Miso can be added just before serving. Start with a small amount, adding more to gain your perfect taste. Good health advice recommends low-sodium usage. If they are heavy-handed salters, slowly wean them from the habit with citrus zest, spices, and herbs. Have fun playing with this. 

Body:
Here we add soaked lentils, cooked beans and/or cooked grains to give the soup stick to your ribs potential. Precook beans and grains once a week for the fridge or freezer to add to soups and main dishes all week long. The kitchen cupboard can have dozens of varieties of beans and grains. Any amount is fine but start with 1/2 c. beans and 1/4 c. grains per person. Note: lentils go in at the beginning with the body vegetables, while cooked beans and grains are added at the end with greens. If using tomatoes, add them after the lentils are soft. Legumes will not soften properly, when cooked with salt or acid.

Greens:
At the end of cooking, add 2-3 cups finely chopped kale, bok choi, zucchini, green beans, asparagus, parsley, basil, collards, chard, napa cabbage, etc. When adding basil, use ¼-½ c. mixed with one or two of the others. 

Texture:
Some soups are pureed before or after the addition of the greens. A large pot of soup can be eaten intact for one or two meals. As interest wanes, puree it for a different presentation. 

Toppers:
This is where avocados, nuts, and seeds of all kinds come in. Use them as garnishes for added flavor and nutrition but not generally as main ingredients. Nutritional yeast tastes a bit like Parmesan cheese but is a much healthier choice for a 'cheesy' topper. Also colorful spices, minced fresh herbs, sprouts, and micro-greens look fantastic and inviting on soup.

Well there you go. Have a great time testing, twisting and tweaking with your favorite, frugal ingredients for the most satisfying, tasty bowl of soup you can imagine. Set the table nicely and nobody will ever know you are cooking for health and frugality.

Think About A Sun Oven For Preparedness

I love my Sun Oven and use it often. It is so fun to cook without paying for fuel. It's sort of like getting away with something even though it's not.

August Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Designate one night a week as No-TV, Game/Reading Night-President Gordon B. Hinckley challenged us to create balance in life by attending to four obligations: "one's vocation, one's family, the Church, and to one's self." Speaking of the topic one's self, he advised, "I decry the great waste of time that people put into watching inane television...I believe their lives would be enriched if, instead of sitting on the sofa and watching a game that will be forgotten tomorrow, they would read and think and ponder...You need time to meditate and ponder, to think, to wonder at the great plan of happiness that the Lord has outlined for His children. You need time to read. You need to read the scriptures. You need to read good literature. You need to partake of the great culture, which is available to all of us." Hinckley, Gordon B., Resolve to Keep Balance in Your Lives, address delivered at Logan, Utah, 21 October 1997, Church News, 1 November 1997

Physical Goal: Day hike (or drive if infirm)/picnic weekly this until cold weather hits. "She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms." Proverbs 31:17

Financial Goal: Commit to daily, healthy, family meals. "...save money by attaining the best health of which [you] are capable. Relief Society should provide training to promote physical well-being as the least expensive medical treatment. It doesn’t even cost you the price of aspirin. The illness you avoid costs nothing. Good health habits save money. To promote good health, women need to plan nutritious meals. Most of us could have smaller portions of food and still be healthy, but all of us should eat regular, well-balanced meals each day. Relief Society instruction should be designed to help sisters understand and practice the fundamentals of good nutrition [according to the Word of Wisdom]. We should learn to prepare economical food that will be both nourishing and appealing." Barbara Smith, April 1981

Provident Living Goal: Continue succession planting and canning. Learn to dehydrate excess fruits and veggies. “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.” Gordon B. Hinckley, Ensign, November 2002

Storage Goal: 100 quarts fruits/veggies per person, OR 30 lbs. dehydrated fruits and 40 lbs. vegetables per person, Feminine supplies, camping toilet, School supplies + extras for the home. “For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity, but it shall not ever be thus.  Great trial lie ahead… and we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually…” Bruce R. McConkie

Emergency Kit Goal: 5 packets instant soup, dehydrated refried beans and instant rice per person in 5 separate quart sized, heavy duty, zip lock bags, 5 salsa packets, 5 plastic spoons (add hot water to the bag and it becomes the serving dish)

Pantry Box Goal: 1 pot and 1 sauce pan, wooden spoon, 1 bowl per person, 1 spoon per person

Increasing Self-Sufficiency: Using open-pollinated, heirloom seeds, the gardener can save seeds from year to year, a a rewarding and cost saving practice. However, hybrids are sterile or do not reproduce true to the parent plant, making hybrid seed saving a poor idea. Saving seeds from diseased plants is also folly. Successful seed saving comes from vigorous, flavorful, disease-free plants. Consider size, harvest time and other characteristics. In areas with short growing seasons, choose seeds from the plant whose fruits are the first to appear. Don't pick any fruit from this plant, but tie a piece of red yarn to its stem and cover with bird netting.

After bean, pea, onion, carrot, lettuce and other greens, corn, and herb seeds mature (pod dries out and gets brown/tan), collect the seed. Sometimes the drying process must be completed by spreading pods on a screen in a single layer in a well-ventilated dry location. Tomatoes, melons, squash, and cucumber seeds are saved by scooping the seeds out of the fruit and putting them in a small amount of warm water in a jar. After sitting for two to four days, the seeds ferment, killing viruses and separating seed from pulp. Viable seeds sink to the bottom of the jar, allowing the pulp and undeveloped seed float to the top. Compost the pulp, water, bad seed and mold. Allow good seed to dry. 

Store dried seeds in labeled envelopes in glass jars. After freezing for two days, store in the refrigerator. Although seeds may be stored for up to three years, try to plant a garden with your seeds yearly. Save out a few in case of crop failure. 

July Newsletter

Spiritual Goal: Seek out a family history specialist and learn how to use New Family Search. Spend a little or a lot of time in this pursuit depending on your time of life, but do pursue it a little bit each week.

Physical Goal: Continue...Are you getting 8 hours of sleep, drinking plenty of water, eating vegetables, counting your blessings, and adopting an optimistic attitude? All these things affect physical health and stamina. Study the Word of Wisdom and align your lifestyle to it. Make a goal to eat healthier: less sweets, more fresh fruits and veggies, less meat and animal products, more fiber, less soft drinks and juice, more water, less processed food, more home cooked meals.

Financial Goal: Make a goal to have 6 months expenses in savings for emergencies. Write out a realistic, long-term plan to make it happen.

Provident Living Goal: Your garden should be producing full tilt until first frost, where cover and winter crops will continue until next April. Continue succession planting until just before frost. Begin canning/dehydrating excess. “Ye Latter-day Saints, learn to sustain yourselves, produce everything you need to eat, drink or wear…” President Brigham Young

Storage Goal: 2 lbs. honey and/or maple syrup per person,10- #10 cans dehydrated vegetables per person, 2 toothbrushes, floss, and paste per person, Infant supplies “[They] reserved for themselves provisions, and horses and cattle, and flocks of every kind, that they might subsist for the space of seven years, in the which time they did hope to destroy the robbers from off the face of the land …” 3 Nephi 4:4. Even the Nephites were commanded to have home storage, but they were to store a 7-year supply.

Emergency Kit Goal:: Paper and pencils, Mosquito repellent, $25 cash, Sleeping bags moved to easily accessible place, miniature entertainment: travel games, dolls and balls, books, cards, coloring books, crayons, butane fuel

Pantry Box Goal: indoor/outdoor butane stove

Improve Self-Sufficiency: On the southern Japanese island of Shikoku, Masanobu Fukuoka began his career as an agricultural Customs Official with degrees in microbiology and plant pathology. Because he didn’t like what he saw, he left government employment and bought a farm to raise rice, winter grain, and citrus crops, using the sustainable mulch practices. He experimented and failed and experimented again until he found success. While his yields consistently surpassed those of his neighbors for over 50 years without tilling, other labor-intensive practices, or chemical-dependent methods, Fukuoka’s system completely contradicted modern agricultural techniques, negated scientific ‘knowledge,’ and opposed traditional farming know-how.

A deep mulch system without several large shade trees takes some ingenuity. In fall traveling up and down the streets in search of bags of leaves is sort of a pain. Buying hay and straw at the feed store is pricey. Growing mulch to grow the soil, as did Masanobu Fukuoka, is the answer. Between the beginning of August and mid September in zone 6, plant hull-less oats, alfalfa, and Austrian winter peas. Since these things are planted to feed the soil and not the humans, it is good that they winter-kill in a cold climate. They leave nice mulch to rake back and plant ala Ruth Stout. Decomposing all summer, deep mulch placed last fall or spring is mostly compost. Pull back what is left of the mulch; spread seeds thickly around plants and directly on top of bare soil. Replace mulch lightly on top, fluffing it up a bit. When garden plants are spent, cut down and chop into pieces or leave them standing where they are. If you have lots of trees, mow up the leaves and spread them in between the now tallish hull-less oats, alfalfa, and Austrian winter peas. The leaves are not essential but are a nice addition. In the spring, all the now dead plants make a great mulch. Mow or cut and begin spring planting.

Another bonus of the deep mulch system is the elimination of the compost pile, with all its backbreaking work. When working in the kitchen, put scraps in a bucket under the sink. After meals add all vegetable matter to the bucket. When the day is over, head out to the garden. Move the mulch aside and put it directly on the soil. Choose a new location each day. Recover the spot with mulch. Composting right in the garden is superior to any other method. Of course, when snow and ice prohibit this, the two garbage can method is preferred. Just outside the kitchen door, place a plastic garbage can. Inside this, put an identical one drilled all over with ½ inch holes. The holes provide drainage and air circulation to eliminate anaerobic (aka smelly) decomposition. Dump your kitchen bucket in this and cover with a lid to hold in moisture. Most things from the kitchen are nitrogen rich or green layers. Since carbon or brown is important too, add shredded brown paper, dried shredded leaves, or sawdust occasionally. Yes, it is still a good idea to collect bags and bags of the neighbor’s leaves. Don’t worry about turning the layers in your two-can system. As things freeze and thaw and freeze and thaw all winter, the scraps will break down. By spring it will be pretty nice compost to use as needed.

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.