While many individuals are telling people to plant vast gardens right now, my advice goes a bit against the grain. We are living in times where you see inflation, mysterious manufacturing fires, train derailments, shipping delays, and threats of war with various countries. What if what we are living through isn’t the time prior to an apocalypse but simply the reality that we are already in it? No, I’m not crazy. I’m just making a suggestion that all of these things happening at once does not happen in a natural cyclical way. Though, I admit the more religious folk do have a point that strange biblical things are happening such as plagues of locusts, rivers and waterways turning red, weather anomalies, viruses killing off large numbers of species and even individuals resorting to cannibalism. Again, I’m not saying 100% that I know what’s going on but rather my radar is up and I’m watching things around me.
If you save up a crisp hundred dollar bill from your paycheck, it doesn’t make sense to keep it in some lock box somewhere nor would I recommend you spend it on garden supplies. While it may sound crazy for someone who took a permaculture course that now teaches self-sufficiency to guide you away from planting a garden, but I assure you there is some logic involved. If you take your $100 dollar bill and purchase an Anna Apple, a Golden Dorsett Apple and a Arbequina Olive tree, it will take many years before you are able to see any real fruit growth. But if I don’t start it now, won’t it take even longer?
Yes. The best time to have started perennial fruit trees would have been five or ten years ago, but for whatever reason you weren’t able to get them in the ground then. Now is not the time to add further stress and worry into your life, but rather sitting down and taking a more financially strategic look at where you spend every penny you have. It’s important to realize that those pulling the strings from high above want you to become more stressed and more fearful because your footing in life becomes weaker.
So, if we aren’t spending our money on perennials right now, where do we spend it? My recommendation is taking any extra money and creating three envelopes to put it into. Mark the first envelope to say, ‘food supplies’, the second would say ‘medicines’ and the third would be ‘basic first aid’. You could put $33.33 in each envelope, yet we are not going to spend it yet. Leave it there because you need to do some assessments first.
Go through your house and pull out any current food supplies you have, see if any are expired and do with them as needed. Take into account the number of individuals in your home, approximately how much they eat and start making a food supply shopping list. The shopping list will not be like your normal list but rather you are going to concentrate on canned meats, vegetables, dried goods, jarred items and shelf stable milks. These items will need to have an extremely long shelf life so your money is even better spent.
Once you have established your own personal list of what foods your family will be able to consume, then you need to decide where in your home you will be able to store all your foods supplies. I’d advise against an attic or garage, due to the extreme summer heat causing food to explode or go rancid. You need a cool location to place your food such as in a spare bedroom, in a walk in closet of under beds in storage bins. You can begin purchasing small portions on any regular grocery trips you make and tucking it away.
The next envelope will be for medicines and that if strictly for any medications any member of your family takes. This is not for OTC items but those medications that your doctor has prescribed you that you have to take with enough frequency that you cannot stop taking. One of the ways you can get extra medicines is by talking to your doctor about getting larger prescriptions and simply tucking away any extra pills in an older pill bottle. Some individuals have resorted to purchasing medications from Canada as a way to save additional money but that will be a decision for you, your doctor and your family member to make. What if no one in your family takes any prescriptions?
You can change the title of the envelope to ‘preparedness supplies’ and this envelope would cover for your bug out bags, emergency car supplies, and really anything that doesn’t fall into the other categories. Just like before, don’t get go shopping until you work your way through your home and assess what your current supply situation is. Once you’ve done that you can create your shopping list and begin to purchase items for your family’s needs.
Finally, the last envelope will be for your extra first aid supplies and that list will be quite extensive especially if you have a rather large family. Make sure you always keep a basic first aid kit on hand for your current ailments and a separate stockpile of your back up emergency supplies. These items can range from supplies needed for your bug out bags, car emergency supplies or main household stockpile. You can find a list on my website or many others out there to give you ideas on what actually needs to be purchased.
I will be working on a part two to this article but for now this should give you a rough draft to start with.
Blessings and happy homesteading!
Suburban & Rural Homesteading Today 