Brent was recently called as the EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS specialist in our ward. He is in charge of helping the ward members to be prepared in case of a disaster. This has been great motivation to work on our food storage and other emergency essentials. It is so NICE to have a house where we have room for food storage! There are several potentials for natural disasters here in the Portland area: tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, flooding due to heavy rainfall or due to global warming raising the sea level. (WE are pretty safe up on top of our bluff at about 200 ft). But our Stake Presidency (presides over the churches/wards in our city and a few neighboring cities) has specifically instructed us to prepare for a Flu Pandemic and a corresponding 3 month Quarantine. So we are readying food, supplies, personal protective devices, sanitation, etc. in case we are stuck in our house for 3 months. Oh! And here is a great link to some Pandemic preparedness information that Brent found:
BYU-Idaho Pandemic Training. "If ye are prepared, ye shall not fear..."
That brings me to the next point. CANNING! My current calling in church is the Enrichment Leader and one of the special interest groups that I have tried to organize is a canning group. We have planned and consulted and done canning demonstrations to take advantage of all the wonderful and fresh produce that we have in the Northwest (many farms even within 15 minutes!). My friend
Tara was awesome enough to invite me to can with her. We planned it while our kids were at school and we did it together to pass the time. I am so HAPPY that Tara taught me so much about canning and I am ELATED about this:
This is my half of the canning that Tara and I did this year. We did Pears, tomatoes, salsa, pickles and applesauce. We have officially re-formed "the cult of domesticity" here :-). (A club that my friends Emily, Maria and I had in high school in which one had to bake, sew and do various other domestic activities in order to join.)
9 comments:
Hey Katie! Thanks for stopping by! We SHOULD definitely be friends because you're a blogger which means you're awesome! Besides, I think I remember you being awesome anyway!
(I think the reason we didn't hang out is because I moved to California in 10th grade. I do remember you singing indigo girls at my house once though...?!?)
Anyway, good to hear from you!
--Emily
I am so jealous. I told Wes I would learn how to can next year. And making costumes. I am such a failure. You guys need to live by us. I told Wes the other day I wanted to meet you guys and he says, "invite them over" To which I said, ummm...they live in Oregon. We are planning a trip up their next summer so hopefully we can get together.
How awesome are you guys! I need to get my bum in gear. I've always wanted to be a canner but it just seems so laborious. I have this little daydream where you, Kranzie and I live on the same street and do all this stuff together. You are the woman. Way to go.
Wow! Way to go! I am envious of your canned pears (those are my favorite) and that you have so much delicious fresh produce there, and we have about none here. I had my mom teach me to can a few things last fall, knowing I was moving on and away and may not be able to do it again for a while. I think it's great! in 4 years, I'll move up there to can with you!
acte gratuit: Oh good! I am so glad we are friends now! The only thing I remember about you was you voicing that you thought long hair was "nappy". I often had long hair so I was certain that you didn't like that. But I am sure that by now we can look past our difference :-). Besides that, you live in JAPAN! That is so very cool. I will be checking on your blog often to see more of what Japan is like.
ashley: Aw! Don't be jealous! You have 3 kids (a baby!) and you also had a ROCKING garden (much better than my sorry little one). And look up, canning is really not as daunting as I thought it would be. You just chop, jar and boil. Easy as can be. We would love to hang out with you guys sometime. We'll have to get together when we come to Utah (often). WE would love to have you visit Oregon also.
rlrp: I know what you mean! I would love to learn your art, decorating and cooking skills, Kranzie's knitting skills. My friend and I are actually dreaming up a "commune" where we all have separate houses and do work like canning and gardening together. We also want chickens, goats, beehives, orchards, gardens, etc. If we all share the work it won't be so much. And we can take turns going on vacation. We can have dinner together, play together and work together. Sound good? Should I sign you and Kranzie up? :-)
REbecca: YOu can join the commune too!
Way to go cutie. See once you get into canning it isn't so bad and best of all you see your results and looking at that table how can you not have a smile on your face!