April has been an unusual prepping month for us. The unseasonably warm spring in Virginia has been joined by some dry weather (sad face as I drag the hoses around the yard). The gardening is a huge, HUGE learning curve. This month I did manage to buy four 55-gallon pickle barrels and twenty 5-gallon buckets for ridiculously great prices (though the smell was terrible!). Two of the barrels are already composting on a new rack in my back yard; next I’ll focus on a rain barrel. I woke up one morning and discovered long white cat hair in place of all the leaves on our tomato and pansy seedlings. So rather than starting over, we sucked it up and bought heirloom tomatoes from the nursery, not hybrids, so that we can harvest seeds when we are finished. We also discovered that something has been eating our beautiful little blueberry bush so we had to make a cage around that. Currently we have lettuce, radishes, cilantro, sunflowers, onions and chives all making their first appearance in the various garden spots and planters. We are very happy so far!
Food storage is always on my mind when I prep. We stored another two weeks of food supplies in mylar, after adding sprouting beans to our stores. Having lived in Asia, mung beans (long bean sprouts) are our favored sprout. I buy mine at the international food store where they are super cheap and there is a big selection. I cannot tell you how great sprouts are as a secondary fresh food source in a SHTF scenario, especially since they are grown indoors in just a jar. I also recently got a second vacuum sealer attachment for my food sealer (now I have both sizes). I learned two things this month about vacuum sealing jars, 1) The jar of my husband’s favorite pickles can be resealed with the attachment (an additional source of jars/lids for things that don’t have to be “canned”), and 2) You can vacuum seal lids by using the Ziplock brand handpump over the Foodsaver jar attachment (see photo). Although with non-canning type jars, because the lids are harder to release once sealed, it is best to poke a pinhole in the lid and seal it with electric tape, then simply pull up the tape when you want to release the seal. In this case I am using the jars for seed vaults since the jars still smell like pickles (I think it’s the lids). I also managed to pick up almost three cases of mason jars in assorted sizes for $10 at a yard sale. I treated the family to a “beans night” which they survived. I am trying to incorporate more beans into our diet and try more recipes since it is the ultimate survival food. Half of us like beans, half don’t and this night was no different food (we love rice though!). In this instance I made northern beans in the crock-pot, with leftover ham/bone from Easter, and then threw in spinach at the end so it was like a soup (but a completely balanced meal since I used so much spinach). Here is the recipe link.
Our last area of preparedness for April was our taxes and a house refinancing (we also amended a couple of years of returns as well which were caught by our new tax professional). Because it was our first year in the house we were able to claim a lot of expenses and will get a nice tax return, which in turn will go toward credit debt. Because finances are a tough area for us, we pay to use a tax service that comes with one of those “previous year audits” and insurance to reimburse us for any of their mistakes that result in us making payments to the IRS. We balance the expense of using a preparation service against the peace of mind that it was done properly. We also were able to refinance the house (after only one year), reducing both our interest rate and our monthly payment. This was a tough decision for us since we are not the most financially minded people on the planet, but we’re trying to learn.
How did your preps go this month?
(Monday: DIY Indoor Grow Box)