The Benefits Of Preparedness

Folks if you have not been watching the news, the price of wheat is skyrocketing.  Russia yesterday announced that it will not be exporting ANY wheat until further notice. The USDA is reporting serious shortages this year.   This IMHO is just a warning shot and we should be listening carefully.  If you have yet to begin to store food I would strongly suggest you start NOW.  The time is getting short and prices are exploding.

 I received a message from a FaceBook friend that flour at the Costco in his area is now $12.95 for 25 pounds. Up $3.00 from last week.  His local grocery store has 5 pound bags of flour for $5.00.  If that isn't enough to open your eyes then I am not sure just what will.  I am going to start putting back as much as I can.  Stock up now and save big money. 

 One example I can think of off the top of my head is canned tuna.  For the longest time I could find tuna at  around $0.59 a can.  Lately I have watched the price increase up to $0.89.  So that can of tuna is now effectively worth 30 cents more than it was just 3-4 months ago. Investing in food is just plain smart. It is a tangible asset that is sure to become more valuable in the near future.  And folks, we all have to eat!
Speaking of prepping and eating.....The mini garden is coming right along.  The beans are looking great and the cabbage is sprouting.  It won't be long before it can be transplanted out into Mushrooms boat!  She has taken an old boat and turned it into a raised bed.  Really cool idea and a great way to re-purpose what otherwise would have ended up in a landfill. The yellow squash is about 3 inches tall now and the beets that Mars planted for Mushroom are sprouting too.  We had ONE spaghetti squash seed left in a package from this spring. Mars planted it in the boat as well.  Looks like we are going to have some spaghetti squash after all!  After having left those plants growing at the "posers place" we are being blessed by that one little seed.  How cool is that!

When Mars was getting the beds ready for planting he pulled up a bunch of elephant garlic.  So I cleaned it all up,

sliced it thin,

 
and put it in the dehydrator.  

When it was done 

I ground it up

and now have almost a pint of mild garlic powder.  I didn't have room to do all of it since most of my dehydrator trays are still in storage. So with what garlic is left I am going to slice it up, dry it, and leave it in "chips" so we can add it to things like spaghetti.  Pretty cool, don't ya think?

I haven't done much canning this year due to circumstances beyond our control. But the years not over yet right?  Mushroom and I put up 18 pints of whole figs last week though and we still have plans to make Fig Jam.  Canning is a wonderful  way to store foods for the long term.  And I mean REALLY long term!  We had Chicken and Dumplings several days ago. It was made with canned chicken that she had put up in 1995.  Yep!  We had 15 year old chicken for dinner and it was AWESOME! 


                              ~ Hey... I'm just sayin... ~