Not So Subtle Reminders...

Part of my never ending to do list includes things that fall into the category of preparedness. Its an area we've made improvements on, but still needs attention (can you ever be too prepared?).
I had a big wake up call late last summer/early fall when a series of wildfires nearly forced us to evacuate our little homestead (and many of our local friends faced evacuation as well during this very stressful 2 week period).

As is often the case when a "crisis" arises here on the homefront, my husband was working (nearly an hour away) & our closest family live an hour away as well. This meant I had to remain calm & clear headed while I nervously watched the smoke & flames advance & began to make arrangements for our animals, then prioritize what was most important to pack into the RV, all while trying to turn it all into some sort of adventure for my young children. I must say that we are fortunate to live in an amazing community (and we have amazing firefighters) that really pull together in time of need. That experience pushed us to build a cage for the back of our truck to transport our goats in. Prior to that we would borrow one as needed, but having a way to safely transport & evacuate your animals is a must for any homestead.
Another more recent development made me thankful for the efforts I've put into slowly building up our freezer & pantry stock. Recent changes in my husband's job, specifically a pay cut, forced us to really clamp down on the budget & cut expenses. Thanks to our food stores (of food we actually eat on a regular basis) we were able to save a lot of money in the food category the past couple months simply by using what we had. Its made me even more grateful for the fresh eggs provided by our chickens and milk (and the cheese & yogurt I make from it) from our goats as well.
While these events can be scary when your dealing with them, I do appreciate the not so subtle reminders they bring for placing more priority into preparedness.

Preparedness, don't forget the animals

On the subject of preparedness, a lot of fellow bloggers have really got me thinking lately about how to make being prepared (to take care of not just my immediate family in an emergency, but also potentially extended family, friends, & neighbors, & lets not forget our animals) a way of life. Natural disasters are nothing new and will continue to happen anywhere with little to no notice (our weather may continue to cause issues as well since I've heard the Japan earthquake shifted the earth's tilt on its axis). We live in earthquake country and also in a small community in the mountains which means that relief supplies may not be able to get to us as quickly (& we may not be high on the priority list due to our small population and frankly looking at response time for hurricane Katrina I think we all learned we can't assume that our government will be prepared to offer assistance quickly).
So, for this week's preparedness challenge, I thought about the animals on our little homestead. We have a couple dogs that offer protection (and companionship of course). We have chickens that provide us with eggs (and soon, meat). Soon we'll have goats supplying us with milk (and possibly meat). In an emergency, fresh organic eggs & raw milk will be more valuable to us than they already are (as will fresh meat if our electricity should fail & spoil our freezer stores) in supplementing our dry food stores. Animals producing fresh food would also very likely be at risk of theft by those not prepared in an emergency, which is where the dogs come in as a deterent (ok, and also a gun or two). This week I realized that I must not forget about preparing food & water stores for our animals while I work on our own stores. So, I decided that at a minimum, I would strive to have at least a month's worth of extra food for our animals. In addition, I'm in the process of sorting through the recycling, pulling out gallon sized juice jugs which I will work on washing & filling with water for the animals. Its a bit of a blow to the budget though to buy double the amount of feed in one month, so this month I focused on the chickens & ordered extra feed in our co-op order, though given the fact that we've doubled the size of our flock this month, what I ordered probably doesn't quite amount to an extra month's worth.
Next trip to Costco, I'll add an extra bag of dog food. And I plan to work on an animal first aid kit. And, despite the ever rising gasoline prices these days, I'm going to try to make it a habit to keep our vehicles' tanks not less than half full. The reality is that my to-do list grows each week, and while that could easily start to feel overwhelming, I'm determined to feel good about the progress we've made, while staying focused on what still needs to be done.
This week, for the human members of our family, I also added extra pasta & legumes to my co-op order and picked up a dozen gallon sized jugs of water, extra juice, & canned goods at Costco.


Visit Homestead Revival for more tips on preparedness.