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Tuesday, August 24, 2021

A Call to Common Sense ~ Proverbs 31 Preparedness Series

“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” 
~ John F. Kennedy, State of the Union Address January 11, 1962


One thing about the Proverbs 31 woman that always inspired me was she did not fear for the future. The Good Book writes that “God does not give the spirit of fear”.

However, He does give wisdom. 

He gives the example of the ants that work hard and put away in due season. He gives the example of Noah to put aside provisions for a coming flood. He gives the story of Joseph to store food for a future famine.


And so, it is with a prudent spirit that I’m spending a little extra care this summer in building up our pantry and/or larder this year. I will be preserving with a purpose.

Common sense dictates that if half the world closes up commerce for over a year’s worth of time, there must be repercussions (right or am I crazy?!?!). 

I already notice little things missing on the shelves. And I’m honestly not sure what to expect. But I’m leaning on the Biblical side of preparedness and am slowly putting aside in a Proverbs 31 fashion.

I am making a real effort to dry any excess produce we grow and be extra mindful about waste! Any small bit of produce (Did someone say zucchini?) will be diced and dried and added to my "winter soup, sauce & stew" pantry. 

If there is a bumper crop of tomatoes, I’ll be diligent to preserve as much as possible.

If there is a good discount on oats (or anything else that is useful and stores long term), I’ll be purchasing two bags (instead of one). I will make certain to have an abundance of the three main preservation ingredients on hand; vinegar, sugar and salt (all of which don't technically expire).

If there’s a desire to buy something bright and shiny, I’ll hold off and make do with what I have. 


Another way I am "doing" this is collecting frugal and resourceful recipes and keeping them in my "Proverbs 31 Preparedness" Notebook. This doesn't cost any money and is a great little homemaking guide for hard times. I will include the pantry recipes I shared HERE (perhaps I will do a printable of these in the future) and any other concepts that allow you to make do with what you have. Of course, it will include all the crazy cake recipes which only uses pantry staples as well as:


You get the idea!


I'm also learning how to preserve everything that surrounds me in my environment. It is a little hobby I created for myself. It's called the pretend game... "pretend I have only what is grown on my property and my pantry as a resource for food". What can I make and serve as food for my family? So I look around my yard and find everything that is edible. I learn about my landscape. Dandelions in the spring! These are free and can be made into jelly, fried up into fritters and brewed into tea (they also boast many health properties). I also look at my beautiful roses and see food there! The hips can be dried for vitamin C-rich teas. The petals can be brewed for a relaxing tea and you can make "rose jelly" (which can be served with biscuits made from pantry ingredients). All the culinary herbs can be dried for food but can also be made into jelly. They can top a pizza (all the crust ingredients are pantry staples) to make it more nutritious. I think you get the point. Be aware of your surroundings, what can feed you and how to prepare the various foods. This is just a side little hobby I have been doing and it is quite fun to add this useful information to my "Proverbs 31 Preparedness" Notebook as well.


Here are a few recipes to make "floral and herb" jelly with anything edible in your yard. All that is required is sugar (pantry staple) and a supply of pectin (I bought mine in bulk - -affiliate link) as it is less expensive that way plus it enables me a nice supply for any spontaneous project). HERE is another recipe which uses the basics of herbs, water and sugar.  I have made rose jelly and dandelion jelly and they were both quite delicious.


In conclusion, this is no different from what our pioneering ancestors did to survive each season as they never knew what the weather would bring. I foresee a bit of a storm coming so I’m quietly continuing in the old ways of canning, drying, pickling, fermenting, repurposing, thrifting and saving. However, not out of a rushed panic or fear, but slowly, gently, calmly and with a “sound mind”.

(And if I'm wrong, I will have an amazingly stocked pantry and I will have acquired more forage and food preservation knowledge (always a good thing). With all the savings, I can purchase that apothecary cabinet that I've been eyeing! πŸ˜‰ )


"The wise store up choice food and olive oil..."
~ Proverbs 21:20a

"The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and pay the penalty."
~ Proverbs 22:3

“It is not often that a man can make opportunities for himself. But he can put himself in such shape that when or if the opportunities come he is ready.”
~ Theodore Roosevelt

"Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come."
~ Proverbs 31:25

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”
~ 2 Timothy 1:7

To begin your own Proverbs 31 Preparedness Binder, here is a printable cover page.  I've be placing much of my information in this binder for any "time to come" and can pass this down to my daughter one day as a beautiful resource. In the meantime, here are the preparedness articles we have shared thus far to get you inspired to continue adding to your Proverbs 31 Preparedness notebook: 

πŸ… 🧺 ♥️

What are your thoughts on this? I’m so curious! There are many "ordinary" homemakers like ourselves who feel this importance and are sharing their ideas and experiences that you may also appreciate such as Annabel at The Bluebirds are Nesting and Patsy at A Working Pantry. I also glean much from The Prudent Homemaker and the Preparedness Mama (though her blog is solely preparedness tips).

 

28 comments:

  1. Great idea for a series--I look forward to more!

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    1. Thank you 😊 Actually, the series began long ago... this post was more of a continuation (aka wake up call)...

      Thank you for taking the time to comment my friend ♥️

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  2. Thank you so much Jes! Well commonsense just isn't common any more. No, it is not possible everything is financially wonderful when whole countries have been closed down basically and over and over. In Australia over half the population has been in lockdowns. Hundreds of thousands of businesses have not been able to operate. But the economy is just fine apparently. So now this makes no sense. When stuff makes no sense then there is something else at play. Logic tells us this is all not good and being watchful I am sure means to be spiritually watchful and also in a practical sense. So I see the writing on the wall that even if it is only due to supply chain issues there are going to be more gaps on the shelves... and that is the best case scenario. Your photos are beautiful showing produce and industry! There are some links for me to follow now which I will enjoy this evening! xxx

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    1. I couldn't have said it better Annabel. And it feels like it's just "business as usual". There has never been anything like this before (worldwide shutdowns) and it would be impossible for there to be zero repercussions... but the news has people in a frenzy about other issues instead of the reality of what is pending.

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  3. I can see that I am going to be doing a lot of reading!

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    1. Yes ♥️

      "Through WISDOM a house is built,
      And by understanding it is established;
      By knowledge the rooms are filled
      With all precious and pleasant riches."
      ~ Proverbs 24:3-4

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  4. Hi Jes!
    I have been following along Annabel's 30 Days to Better Preparedness series as well as continuing to go through your Proverbs 31 Preparedness Series (I have all of your posts for that printed out and in a binder for easy access).
    At the beginning of this month I found a source for organic tomatoes and bought a box and my girls and I canned them as tomato sauce. Then later this month an old customer of my husband's remembered him and offered us two large boxes of tomatoes from his garden, which we canned as sauce again, plus watermelon, which we've eaten some of and also used to flavor our kombucha, plus squash and peppers. I felt blessed by that and thank the Lord for this provision. Also, your nudge has definitely inspired me to be more prudent in this area. So thank you SO much!!πŸ’

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    1. Those are all perfect examples of being prudent and not wasting any opportunities during this harvest season of plenty ♥️

      "The ants are a people not strong, Yet they prepare their food in the summer..."
      ~ Proverbs 30:25

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  5. Jes, I always look forward to your new posts. This is certainly timely and thank you for the reminder that as Christians, we don't panic, but wisely prepare. We are blessed to live in Ohio Amish Country so inexpensive produce is abundant this time of year. While I have my own small garden, I have no excuse for not preserving lots of harvest and sharing our hard earned money with local farmers. Blessings to you and your family.

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    1. I like the way you put that~ you will be supporting your family as well as the local economy ♥️

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  6. I love the title of your post, JES. I was just talking about these things with a friend a couple days ago, and I think it's something a lot of us (hopefully) have had on our minds, as we can see the storm brewing! What a blessing that we can provide for our homes in this way, trusting God as sovereign above all things, but also accepting the responsibility he has given us to build up our homes.
    We will be planting our fall garden soon, so I am keeping preservation in mind when it comes to how much/what to plant. Colton and I are also keeping an eye on the edible, native brush in our area, waiting to harvest ripe fruit for jelly making. We have prickly pear and persimmons and agarita berries!
    I'm also in the market for a gas stove (as opposed to my electric flat top that was here when we moved in) so that I can easily pressure can in the house. I'm looking at our home and thinking of how I might rearrange things to allow for more food storage space. We must take every little opportunity.
    One thing I am wondering about, and you mentioned it when you said resisting the temptation of the bright and shiny and saving instead. Normally, as you know I am very frugal. But lately I have had this feeling of "get it while you still can", not in a frenzied or frivolous way, but there may come a time when what we need or want is not available (as we have seen already) , or at least the prices of things will keep going up. So I am trying to work out a balance here and prioritize purchases while keeping a budget. Any thoughts on this topic? I do appreciate your wisdom and experience. ❤

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    1. This all sounds excellent Kelsey! I guess I should have been more specific because you are right, some things will not be available the moment we want them (as we already saw). I am speaking more on the line of frivolous things and not needful things. For instance, we just purchased another freezer. Obviously this can be a major blessing (but I wouldn't be replacing my couches right now for something prettier --for example). Utilitarian items verses the frivolous. A dehydrator would be an excellent use of money but I wouldn't bother with a fancy espresso machine right now. I think you get the idea... The gas stove is a great idea (we had gotten one at Costco many moons ago that I used in our sunroom for all our preserving needs. It kept the house cool and the mess outside). It sounds like you have lots of interesting foods to forage -- that is exciting in itself! ♥️

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    2. Yes, 100% JES! But is an espresso maker not essential? Just kidding, of course. πŸ˜‰ I was researching stoves and one that I liked wouldn't get here until December! So I won't be getting that one. But I have seen it difficult to come by other appliances, and parts too, with all of these supply issues. Who would have thought we would even be talking about this? I meant to mention that I like your "play pretend" game and I find myself playing sometimes too.

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    3. πŸ˜‚ you may be right... perhaps we can find one at a thrift store, then it's okay to buy ♥️ Yes, my husband was just telling me how his tow truck guy has 6 of his 7 trucks not operating because he can't get parts! This further hinders the economy also. It is a domino effect. I've lived in places where things weren't readily available at the whim so we did always buy it when we saw it. Praying for wisdom is our biggest ally. And isn't the pretend game fun? It reminds me of the resourcefulness of our ancestors and the curiosity found in childhood books (improvising like the Boxcar Children, Swiss Family Robinson and so forth if that makes sense...)

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    4. Yes, a friend of ours is in the car business and they are not getting new vehicles in at the dealership because they're just not making them. He has customers wanting vehicles and he doesn't have any to sell them! For a while the used vehicle market was up and he told us we could sell ours for more than we paid for it, but we didn't because then what would we buy? I know I went off on a tangent there...πŸ˜‚

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    5. Not a tangent πŸ˜‚ it’s real information… real news πŸ“° ♥️

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    6. Our son is an engineer for Honda and they used to have 60 days inventory on the lots and now it is 7-8 days.

      Whew! I am glad we had our fancy expresso maker before all this hit! Seriously though it was a thrift store find and 1/4 the original price. We recently replaced our ancient Jenn Air with one from Facebook Marketplace. It needed a control board and we decided that if we could not get the part we would just resell it for parts since we only paid $40 for it. We saved 80% over buying new. Many listings say there is nothing wrong with the appliance but they just wanted a new one.

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    7. Good information Lana, thank you!

      Also, I love your thrift store purchases! That is how we like to shop also ♥️

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  7. A wonderful wealth of information! We live in the woods and my nephew once said we could survive for weeks on only what we have on our property. I think I am going to talk to him about that. Thanks for the reminder. I am going shopping today and began praying for wisdom yesterday. I want to be wise in what I stock and my heavenly Father knows more than I do.

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    1. That sounds excellent Lana! It sounds like you have many natural resources surrounding you ♥️ and your plan of prayer sounds perfect...

      "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him." ~ James 1:5

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  8. I'm not sure my comment got posted. I clicked on PREVIEW and it disappeared. I had explained that I just bought a used copy of MAMMY JANE by Sybil Jarvis Pischke, a wealth of 'old time wisdom'. She described preserving kale by squeezing it into balls and putting it into brine....

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    1. How interesting Barb! Thanks for sharing ♥️

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  9. Extraordinary post! Thank you. What a huge amount of resources and information, I will be very busy this week looking everything up ;). In the fall of 2019, some of the frugality blogs I respect suggested stocking up and I did. Now many are suggesting the same thing as you are, and once again, I am stocking up. Thank you for the time and effort you spend to share this information with us.

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    1. Thank you for taking the time to share here today! I appreciate your kindness ♥️

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  10. Thank you for the reminder and inspiration! Posts like this is why you're on my favorites tab! I can't begin to thank you for sharing all of your hard work and research. This blog is pretty much my go-to source for homemaking. You have inspired to me to be ever diligent and frugal. Just this morning I picked a bunch of cayenne peppers and have researched how to use them, as I have never grown them before. I'm in for a bumper crop and am determined to waste not, want not, so I'm going to make pepper sauce and try them in my jalepeno pepper jelly. Inspired by your bed sheet makeover, I bought some old ticking at a yard sale and I'm repurposing it into new cabinet curtains. My daughter bought a cheap, used copy of a Martha Stewarts good things book, and I also plan on reorganizing my cabinets for optimal function and ease. I love being a homemaker!

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    1. This makes my day!!! I love everything you are doing and the joy in which you share it all. Thank you so much for taking the time to comment ♥️

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  11. Do you know how to keep pinto beans from getting rock hard after they get old?

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    1. No I don't Barb, but I do believe that soaking them before cooking will help. Also, they are still edible at that stage, you will just need to cook them longer ♥️♥️♥️

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