‘There’s Fear in the Air’ Series

The food pantry was very full of all the 300 homemade canned goods that I had prepared for my young family. It was good to have good quality food to feed my family. We would have a good amount of farm raised beef in the freezer. I really did not relish eating home grown chickens, even though we had them. But we always had plenty of food to make me feel rich and well provided for. Fear of not having food was not an issue to me.

Even though we had to work hard, it gave me a chance to pass on this skill to my children. My mom taught me canning and preserving, baking bread and growing a garden. I enjoyed this time teaching my children and they did too.

As time went on, I stopped preserving food. That did not settle well with me. I had a very uncomfortable feeling that I may not have good food, or enough food, for the first time in my life. It is difficult to get back to preserving food now that I am out of the routine. With working and with my children grown and gone, I do not have the motivation to keep up with it.

I want to stock up again on good food. I have health issues, and I want to retire. So, I want to make sure I can make it through my retirement without relying on my children to support me.

A Plan for Stocking Up

• Buy a little extra of necessities for long term storage each shopping day.
• Preserve extra food each year and store away a small amount for retirement years.
• Give some canning away each year in anticipation of being replaced when needed later.
• Work on my crafts for sale now or in the future.
• Plan projects for use of the items later in the retirement season.
• Cultivate family relationships so life transitions will go smoothly.
• Plan for housing and future financial care by saving money.
• Know where to live during retirement and make sure it is ready for you.
• Stock up in bulk food. A single person, or couple will not need family size amounts.
• Store whole grains, beans, water, dry goods that will last.
• Plan on storing extra food in case it is needed for disaster survival.
• Store in a cool dry place for best nutritive value.
• Store cooking ingredients in large containers.
• It is like survival planning, but not as extensive.

Skills to Learn

The most important thing to remember is that you need to have good quality food and have the means to procure it yourself.

• Learn how to garden.
• Get skills in preserving food.
• Give food away as much as you want.
• Save some food so that you can go a year without preserving.
• Plant cover crops to replenish the garden soil.
• Learn how to garden to get the most quality produce.
• Cultivate herbs to make natural remedies.
• Know the many natural plants that can be made into very nutritious food.

My Dad taught me a very valuable lesson. He told me that when he needed something important and even urgent, the resources to meet that need always came just when he needed them. If you do not feel you are ready (for retirement, for example) know that when you do need it, you will have the resources to get it. I hope this makes sense to you; it was a life-changing lesson for me to learn.

*Note: This series began on September 3, 2019, months prior to the current Covid19 crisis.