Youth Preparedness is Important

Youth Preparedness is Important

Why is Youth Preparedness important?  What does being prepared have to do with kids?  Why should I be prepared?  These are all great questions that I hope to answer in this post.

I am a teenager living in Washington State.  As an Amateur Radio Operator and an Eagle Scout, it’s my duty to be prepared.  In fact, the Boy Scout motto is ‘Be Prepared’, so why not be?  I have also completed the Safe Sitter course sponsored by the local fire department to become a better babysitter.

Youth Preparedness is Important - Can you pitch a tent if needed? Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan of Gluten Free Preppers
Youth Preparedness is Important – Can you pitch a tent if needed? Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan of Gluten Free Preppers

Yes, Youth Can Learn How to “Be Prepared” for Emergencies!

Being prepared can be hard and takes some effort.  I believe it is always worth it in the end.  Many organizations offer a variety of courses in preparedness topics such as First Aid and CPR, C.E.R.T. (Community Emergency Response Team), and food storage.  Some of the courses and workshops are available for youth, not just the adults!  C.E.R.T. training is available for youth and adults.  C.E.R.T. teams are formed with adults and there are youth teams, too.

Youth Preparedness Helps Me in My Family

My family recently bought a duel-fuel generator which can be used to power certain appliances and other items in our home in the likely (especially in the Puget Sound area) and sadly unfortunate event there is a power outage.  We have bug out bags for all members of our family.  We have even purchased a bath liner for each of the bath tubs.  In an emergency event, like a volcanic eruption, we would put the bath liner into the tub and fill it up with water as soon as we could from the faucet.  This would give us <insert> number of gallons of water to use (after purifying for eating or bathing purposes) before our water supply becomes contaminated.

A big concern for us is ash fall contaminating our water supply from any one of the five volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest.  This area is also prone to earthquakes and floods, the latter being more common.

Natural Disasters Affect Youth Worldwide

In many places of the world, however, there are other things that can happen besides or in addition to a power outage, i.e. droughts, famine, tornadoes, tsunamis, and hurricanes.  Clean water and food storage are the most important items to already have stored and ready to use when needed.

As a youth, I help with organizing my family’s food and water storage.  I let my parents know what we need to stock up on and what is at goal level for our pantry.  Knowing what we have (and where it is stored) helps me be a part of my family’s emergency response plan.

Thousands of children suffer from disasters every year.  So preparing for them – and with them – is extremely important.  Admittedly it is sometimes tough to enlist the teenagers and toddlers in helping count food, stack cans, or prep food for canning.

Little Children Can Help the Family Become Better Prepared

Sure you may need to stock up on diapers often or buy new clothes every three months (for babies and those teenage boys), but it helps to have an extra set of hands (if they are old enough to help) to assist you in the aftermath of a disaster.  Have your child (assuming he or she is old enough) help with storage, buying food, and extra clothes. Have a bug out bag for each child and adult in your home (as age and ability allows).  Remember to store a bigger one for all of you in each vehicle.

Dare to Prepare Now!

I feel that youth everywhere have a need for Youth Preparedness so they are ready for themselves and their families for what may come in the future.  So they are better prepared when bad things happen.  When the world around them (as they know it) collapses they will wish they had been better prepared.

Dare to prepare now!  Be rewarded when disaster strikes by knowing that you were prepared for it before it even happened.

-The Gluten Free Eagle

2015 Potato Harvest

Bowl 1 of 2015Harvest - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
Bowl 1 of 2015 Potato Harvest – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

2015 Potato Harvest

We just harvested our potato patch this evening.  My husband was not wanting to do the harvest so early.

However, when the plants turn yellow (and you can see potatoes on the surface), a harvesting we must!

My oldest son began harvesting…it took him longer than he and I both anticipated.

 

K harvesting potatoes 2015 - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
K harvesting potatoes 2015 – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

 

The harvest was a success!

Here is the first bowl….we thought this would be all of it.

Bowl 1 of 2015 Potato Harvest - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
Bowl 1 of 2015 Potato Harvest – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

We were wrong!

There of six of us in the family so a few potatoes go fast.  (I do not eat potatoes anymore due to a nightshade allergy.)  I was happy when we were able to fill up a second bowl of potatoes.

Here is the second bowl…

2015 Harvest Bowl 2 - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
2015 Potato Harvest Bowl 2 – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Think there is more?

You are right!

Here is the third (and final) bowl…

2015 Harvest Bowl 3 - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
2015 Potato Harvest Bowl 3 – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

 

It is nice to know we have a good amount of harvest for our potatoes this summer.  After all, these potatoes help stretch our food budget by reducing how many we purchase at the store.

So the harvest is done…now what?

There are a few potato plants left which are still green and thriving.  We’ll harvest these once the plants turn yellow.

2015 Harvest - Just a few plants left - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
2015 Potato Harvest – Just a few plants left – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Our plans for 2016

We know this spot is great for potatoes.  They grow well and the soil stays well drained.

For this last growing season, we used potatoes from our pantry which had started to sprout.

It is recommended to purchase seed potatoes for growing potatoes at home.

Did you plant potatoes this year?  How was your harvest?  What is your favorite variety?

Let me know!

~Adrienne

Note:  This post contains my affiliate link for Amazon.com.  Please see my Disclaimers for more information.

2015 Tomato and Pepper Harvest

2015 Tomato and Pepper Harvest - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
2015 Tomato and Pepper Harvest – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

 

2015 Tomato and Pepper Harvest

My husband and I love growing tomatoes and peppers in our garden.  This year was no different!

We decided to use the two Topsy Turvy Tomato Trees we had in the garage for our tomatoes and peppers this year.

We planted three tomato plants in each tree.  We planted Roma, Beefsteak, Cherry, and Grape varieties.  We planted three peppers in the one tree which had room – bell pepper and two chili peppers.  (Two of the chili peppers are included in first photo above.)

Tomato Tree - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
2015 Tomato and Pepper Harvest Tomato Tree – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Bell Pepper almost ready to eat

The bell peppers pictured here are not included in the first photo above.  The tomatoes have been eaten straight off the vine since the first ones got ripe.  My boys love walking outside and grabbing tomatoes to eat.

Bell Pepper - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
Bell Pepper 2015 Tomato and Pepper Harvest – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Our 2016 Garden Plans

We have really enjoyed the ease of harvesting with these two tomato trees.  We have not had problems with slugs this year eating the plants and fruit.  (Slugs are a big deal for gardeners in the Pacific Northwest.)

How do you grow your tomatoes and peppers?

~Adrienne

Gluten Free Flours using The Country Living Grain Mill

The Country Living Grain Mill with Amaranth - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Gluten Free Flours using The Country Living Grain Mill

For our family of six, we used to buy a lot of Gluten-Free flour. I mean a lot. I bake often and have gone through phases where I was baking daily.

Purchasing Gluten-Free flours can be expensive.

The cost of purchasing these flours began adding up especially as food prices increased. We decided it was time to look at grinding our own flours.

Not all Grain Mills are alike.  Which one do we purchase?

I researched for months and asked friends who milled their own for mill recommendations. One friend, Jeni, swore by the Country Living Mill she was borrowing. As she and her family live without gluten, she was milling the grains I would be once I had a mill. I had seen their website so went back and read it some more. The detailed explanations of their mill and why they designed it intrigued me.

I had previously shown the mill website to Jonathan. He asked me to keep researching.

The Country Living Grain Mill with milled Amaranth - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
The Country Living Grain Mill with milled Amaranth – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Flour mill is high on our priority list.

After our fourth baby was born, we were deciding what on our “wish list” would be purchased with our tax refund. A mill was high on the list for me. I wanted to save money on Gluten-Free flours.

The Country Living Grain Mill is our mill of choice.

We finally decided to call the company one day. We spoke with Joel, one of the owners of The Country Living Grain Mill, who answered our questions. He said it would be no problem to test the mill with rice instead of wheat (as this option is mentioned on their website). He asked if we were local to him. We were about two hours south. He said he was happy to ship it to us or we could go pick it up and test the mill ourselves.

We drove up right then and there. We tested our mill with rice. We chatted about Gluten-Free grains and how the mill handles them.

We set it up when we got home. We have not looked back or regretted it.

The Country Living Grain Mill with Amaranth Flour 2 - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
The Country Living Grain Mill with Amaranth Flour 2 – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

Gluten Free Flours using The Country Living Grain Mill at Home

When specific flours gets low in my Tupperware™ Modular Mates, I grind some more. Usually, I add the grain and Jonathan makes sure it gets milled. He is great about turning on the mill first thing in the morning. The mill is as quiet as one would expect from a mill grinding grain. It is now white noise for me most of the time.

You can taste the difference between freshly milled flours and ones which have sat in a bag on a shelf for months.

Oh, one of the best parts of getting my Gluten Free Flours using The Country Living Grain Mill is I have total control over how fine or how coarse of a grind.  I can have coarse cornmeal and then (after cleaning out the mill) can do super fine brown rice flour.  (Super fine does take longer to grind due to the finer grind.)

Now, when gluten-eating people mention “I don’t taste any gritty flour – are you sure you used rice flour?”

I just smile and say, “Yes, I did using my Country Living Grain Mill.”

Amaranth Flour from The Country Living Grain Mill - Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
Amaranth Flour from The Country Living Grain Mill – Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan

I would love to hear what grain mill you use to grind your own Gluten-Free flours.  If you do not have a grain mill, have you considered it?

~Adrienne

Pantry Inventory 101

Pantry Inventory 101 using a Metal Shelf for Organization and Accessibility Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
Pantry Inventory 101 using a Metal Shelf for Organization and Accessibility

Pantry Inventory 101:  Do you know what is in your pantry?

Over the years we have done a “pantry inventory” to see what we have and items that we need to purchase.  We used to do this about every six months as a family project.  It used to take a good part of the day (especially when our boys were younger).  Now, we can usually do it in a couple of hours if we all stay focused.

How to track the inventory

The problem has been keeping track of what we still have and what has been used in between the full pantry recount of the inventory.  This has been a struggle for us and not just about tracking the food.  We have had discussions about how to track it, if we need to track it, and where to keep the tracking information.

For a while, we were diligent about marking off each item used from the pantry.  We did well.  Then we made a big meal and kept grabbing more cans off of the shelf.  We forgot to mark off the items with the excuse of “we will do it later.”  Right.  Later came and went without the tracking sheet being brought current.

I have read multiple blog posts by others on this topic.  Each person and family has their own way of doing it.  Whatever works for them is what they need to use.  As long as, in the end, you know how much food you have and what you need to continue adding, it is all good.  I will write more about these different ways in another post.

Counting the food

Normally, when we do our full pantry inventory, the older boys take everything off of the shelves.  The little boys help in the process as much as they can for their age.

Once the shelves are cleared, Jonathan will stack the items as the boys take him cans, boxes, and bags.  Jonathan organizes by expiration date so that the oldest is in front.

First In, First Out (F.I.F.O.)

Why does he organize the food by expiration date?  Food storage food needs to be used according to the F.I.F.O. principle of “First In, First Out.”  It can get a little crazy with lots of cans that have a wide range of expiration dates.

There is a benefit to purchasing the boxed cases of canned fruit or vegetables like the ones sold at Costco.  The box can be opened and placed on the shelf.  No stacking of cans and all cans inside have the same expiration date.

As each item is taken back to Jonathan from our living room floor, I write down the numbers.  Sometimes I write down the items and then the quantities.  Other times, I remember to print out my list so that I can just write down how much we have of each item.

What to store in the pantry for daily eating and emergencies

So what do we store in our food storage?  We store food.  We store a variety of beans, rice, pastas, grains, flours, sugars, baking supplies, fruits, vegetables, and more.  We also store items needed for emergencies like candles, mess kits, flashlights, batteries, and other non-food items.

Once we have counted it all and reorganized the shelves, I am able to determine what we need to purchase to add back what we have used.  Also, it helps us build to our desired amount of each item that we have previously determined.

Pantry Inventory 101 featuring freshly milled flours and baking supplies Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan
Pantry Inventory 101 featuring freshly milled flours and baking supplies

“Eat what you store and store what you eat.”

If you have done any emergency preparedness planning at all, I am sure you have heard this quote often.  It bears remembering as it is the best way to make sure you buy what you eat, eat what you buy, and use it before it goes bad.
By doing a Pantry Inventory, it will help you see how much food you really do (or do not) have in the house.  Sometimes it is surprising how much food we really do have in the home.  This allows me to better use what we have for the next month’s menu.

How do you track your pantry inventory?

What system do you use to keep track of your pantry’s inventory?  I would love to hear how you manage it for your family.

~Adrienne

Note:  This was originally posted on my writing site at Adrienne Z. Milligan.  This post now has its home here on Gluten Free Preppers.