September Preparedness Challange

 September is one of those very busy months when it comes to preparing for the months to come. It is harvest time and the time we work hard to get things put up for the winter.

Here are some of the things we have been doing around here to be prepared:

Concerning Food Storage:

The picture above is from one of our great weeks of putting up food. There were a few crazy days when I really wished for a kitchen at least twice the size that we have. We were canning applesauce and green beans and freezing bunches of corn. It seems like we will probably have enough of all of those things to keep us supplied for the whole year. Lord willing we won't need to buy any of them this year. That means we have nearly a meals worth per week and with green beans quite a bit more than that. We also put up quite a bit of broccoli. Most of the stuff I put up came from my parents garden and I am very grateful. I did also can some salsa and tomatoes from our garden.







We had fun picking apples both at my parents and at another friends house (along with the one apple at our house!). We have been super blessed with apples this year.

 So far we have made applesauce, apple pie filling, dried apples (I have been thankful for my dehydrator this year) and apple baked goods.

We even enjoyed apple pie (made by Mara) for breakfast one day. Yummy!

Some of our dried apples.

 I also placed another order from Vitacost and purchased some more coconut oil as well as Spike (they have the best price I have found for it) and some raw vinegar for Mara to used to hopefully help her eczema. I was able to get a great deal on it since various people had bought things through my referral and each time someone does that they I earn $10. If you chose to buy something through the link above and if it is your first order from them then you will get a free $10 worth of stuff and I also will get $10 to use.

 This month has been honey harvesting time too. We have been blessed with another good year. I still have quite a bit to harvest and then this year I am going to try keeping the bees through the winter. I will pray for that to go well!

  Today we went and gleaned a truck full of potatoes. I had some pictures from that but somehow tonight I plugged the camera up to the computer but then unplugged it again because I had actually imported the pictures and then I deleted them. I was pretty disgusted with myself as not only had a taken several pictures but it is also Mara's birthday so the birthday pictures were gone! Anyway, back on topic, we are so blessed to be able to get all the potatoes. How nice it is to have them available all winter long. It does take some time and gas to drive there but it is also a fun outing for us and pretty much always at a peak time for fall leaves and so our drive is very beautiful!

Emergency Preparedness:

 Probably our biggest step toward being prepared for emergencies this month was for Mara, Jonathan and I to take a CPR and first aid class. One of the other mom's from our homeschool group was able to set up a class through the Red Cross. I was very happy for the opportunity! Everything was review of things that we had read about in a book last year but having some hands on practice was much better than just reading!

 

Sustainable Living:

 I finally checked out all the apple cider vinegar that I had been "brewing" in my pantry. We threw some out but some is working out great. I have been using it in some things. I have also started some more since I am working with apples again.

  We have been working at adding more manure to our garden soil. I am trying to make it a higher priority to work to improve our soil.

I am linking this to the Prepardness Challange at Homestead Revival.