abby « Robin Writes

Okay, perhaps I’m jumping the gun a bit here, but in the next couple days it’s supposed to hit 50 degrees, and then—up to 60! CanNOT wait!

My garage is a mess—time to clean up and reorganize my supplies. And get rid of “stuff.”

My inside cabinets need to be checked against my list; I know for sure that I’ve used a few things over the last month or so. Yes, even since my last list!

And the woodlot? Yikes. Still have stuff to chip, not to mention chop.

The gardens are a wreck, but it’s almost time to fertilize and till. At least, whenever this damn snow finally melts which, according to the forecast (bwhahahahaha!) will be in just a few days. Right now, the only things poking out of the ground/snow are those little yellow flags for the water company while they work on the main here on our street.

I guess it’s SOME color . . .

And, too, we’re having to re-do the inside of the house, because we’re moving a lot of stuff back in from the bookstore. Sigh. It’s always something.

But I’m getting excited! It’ll be great to be doing something productive, instead of staring outside and the flippin’ snow. Like everyone else, I’m SO OVER winter!

Here’s some er, food for thought:

What do you stock up on for SHTF? Of course, we’re all familiar with the food groups – however many the US Gov has now decided upon – and we know we need a variety. For example, you might look in my freezer and see bags upon bags of green beans (apparently, it was a bumper year) and think I’d lost my mind.

Perhaps, but that’s not the point.

My garden can be rather sporadic, huge crops of one thing, virtually nothing of another, but it might not have just been me: my co-op group had scads of green beans this year. The point is that it’s a good thing my family likes green beans – lima beans, for instance, and at least two out of three of us would be suffering for lack of vegetables. No, I don’t have any lima beans socked away, or cauliflower. Same issue, different vegie.

On the other hand, at least they’ve gotten used to fresh or frozen green beans, and not those disgusting commercially canned . . . things. Ick.

From all this, we can definitively state that whatever foods you choose to stock should be something your family will actually eat.

Now, of course, if/when things really get bad, I doubt anyone will be picky. Heck, I might even make an exception for chicken or some other bird. It could happen. Maybe. At this writing – no freakin’ way! Regardless, I digress . . .

You can’t cave in to the picky eaters, but there’s no point in stocking foods no one likes. Initially when SHTF, you’re going to need all the positives you can muster, and decent food is certainly one of them, along with physical comfort, i.e., warm clothing and dry shelter. Being well-fed and fairly comfortable will go a long way toward helping you and your family cope.

But in the meantime, introduce more variety, particularly of native foods. And don’t forget to plan for your garden, now and after SHTF – you will certainly need to replenish over the months or years; prepping and stocking are, after all, only meant to get you through the initial period of unrest.

However long it lasts.