Preparing for Hard Times

National Geographic has been advertising Doomsday Preppers.  The video clips show the things people are doing in preparation for the various emergency scenarios they envision.

I look at those and remark "Looks exactly like how I grew up in Eastern Oregon.  Difference was, we called it Getting Ready for Winter." 

Pumpkin and Tomato sauce

10 months of winter and 2 months the sledding is lousy.  

In 1980, because Mt St Helens put so much dirt and soot into the atmosphere, it actually snowed 4 inches on the 4th of July.

Back in those days, EVERYBODY stored up foodstuff, firewood, and whatever was necessary to get through the winter in good shape.  People who depended on "going shopping" often and didn't store anything were considered "Living Hand to Mouth".

There was no Food Stamps.  There was church food pantries and county Welfare for people who really were down and out through no fault of their own.  Otherwise, the scriptural "He who does not work does not eat" (II Thessalonians 3:10) applied.

Now, my wife does maintain somewhat of a food storage. Since we have tons of blackberries here, the wife does pick and can quite a bit of Blackberry Jam.

Goldengate Plums and Black Cherries

I really miss having a well stocked cellar full of home canned fruit and vegetables in Mason and Kerr jars like my mom and every other mother kept.

About the only thing my family cans now is Suncrest peaches.  Two of my daughters and one of my sons still make the annual trek to the Peach Orchard in Kimberly, Oregon to hand pick several hundred pounds of them.  Generally speaking, most of the peaches get eaten fresh, but I know they are canning a bunch of them too.

But the kids always forget to bring the old Daddy a few jar-fulls when (if) they come visiting.

Right now, my mouth is watering so bad that my saliva glands are hurting for some home-canned plums or peaches.. And I can't think of a single thing on the store shelf that would substitute.

How to find a Pick-Your-Own farm