Family Preparedness Guide

Welcome back to the Family Preparedness Guide!

I mentioned in the previous blog that I would share with you our family’s preparedness plan that we established many years ago. One of the basic rules is to set the parameters of the plan to be meaningful and challenging. That rule implies setting a goal at a level of family preparedness appropriate to our means. Our means are the family’s sum of resources: skills, talents, abilities, knowledge, financial capability, and determination to achieve its goal.

For example, this is the goal I set 10 years ago for my family (this is my goal––choose something appropriate for your family!):

I will prepare my family with the appropriate skills and resources to permit us to live our desired lifestyle in a near-normal manner, regardless of external conditions.

To accomplish this goal, we will establish the following three (3) priorities for our family:

· 1. Make our home a safe haven for the family by developing or acquiring the appropriate preparedness skills to utilize and maximize resources for ourselves, our extended family, and our community.

· 2. Create an in-home convenience store to provide our food, clothing, & shelter for an extended period of time.

· 3. Be able to camp out within the walls of our own home as long as required during emergencies.

We have spent the intervening years achieving this goal. Some of the decisions we made and then accomplished are:

• We moved further out into an ex-urban area to a much older home with some acreage.
• We eliminated our debt to a minor house payment, plus utilities.
• We added a 3,000-gal. water storage system with a centralized treatment system.
• We put the electrical system underground.
• We utilize propane gas for wall heaters in the house.
• We have a diesel generator for emergency power.
• We drive old, paid-for automobiles (I told you about the ’95 van and the ’99 mini-wagon).
• We have stored foods in several forms––dehydrated, freeze-dried, canned, bottled, and some frozen.
• We have an emergency fund.
• We have emergency packs.
• We have established alternative energy and cooking equipment.
• We have developed root-cellar space under the house.

We still need to accomplish some things, and they’ll come with the financial reality, notably:

• We need a garden,
• We need to build first some tall fencing to keep the deer and other four-legged critters out of the edibles!
• We need topsoil. However, we have been aggregating cuttings, leaves, and other compostables for years.
• We need some chickens again––we started that project before we were able to protect them from the four-legged, winged, and sliding predators.
• We need a larger cash reserve for emergencies.

You’ll note the absence of some very obvious needs all of us have: more time, energy, materials, and manpower to accomplish everything we want. But all of us make choices as to what is important, and ultimately they define who we are and what we become.

This is my story, and I’m sticking with it! If I can do it, so can you!

Start planning for your family’s preparedness today. It’s never too late to start!

Till next time…

James Talmage Stevens

P.S.: Let my friends help you define your family preparedness plan. If you don’t have guidelines for your plan, get one of the following books:

• Barbara Salisbury –– author and emergency preparedness consultant. Preview her book, Preparedness Principles, and other books about consumerism and money-saving ideas for frugal living on her website:

http://solutionsforpreparedness.com/preprinc

• LeArta Moulton –– author and food storage specialist. LeArta has 30 years of extensive research on using whole foods, herbs, home remedies, and survival techniques. Go to her website to download food storage information:

http://www.livingwithbasics.com/foodstorage.html

• Rita Bingham –– author and natural meals specialist. Preview her book The New Passport To Survival––12 Steps to Self-Sufficient Living. See her other nutrition and natural foods books available on her website:

http://www.naturalmeals.com/passportnew.html

• Vicki Tate –– author and food storage and preparedness. Call her about “The New Deluxe Edition of Cookin’ with Home Storage.” Normally $16.95, you can purchase it directly from her for $14.00! Call her at (435) 835-8283 for this great deal on her book.