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Sunday, July 25, 2010

Hubby pulls the plug :(

Just got back from the most amazing vacation EVER! We drove our 6 kids all the way across the country to visit Nauvoo, Illinois. Not a big draw unless you are LDS, but for those out there that share my faith, it's one of the most amazing places I have ever been.

All I can say after having been there is that we truly stand on the shoulders of giants. Even now, looking back, I can barely comprehend the things that I saw, and felt, and learned. If you have the chance, you must go. And if you don't have the chance, then make the chance. It's worth the sacrifice.

Now on to much sadder news. My husband pulled the plug on my little one year experiment. To be fair, I never did get him to agree to a full year. He would only commit to 6 months so I took that and then hoped I would be able to convince him later to keep going. Well, our 6 months ended the end of June and no amount of pleading, coercion, or bribery (you know what I'm talking about ladies) :) would convince him to go on any further.

It's not that it's been so awful, we are actually pretty used to it by now, it's just that he is tired of the inconvenience and eating the same type of food all the time.

I do, of course, have plans to continue in my own way with rotating my food storage, learning to make cheese, and I bought a dutch oven that I am going to cook in once a week until I can use it proficiently with food storage. But, as for the day to day of food storage living, that era will sadly come to a close for me. For now. :)

I will continue to update my blog with the new things that I learn on the side and bits of advice but I feel that I must leave my witness of the extreme importance of preparedness and self sufficiency. These are not just concepts for nutty Mormons, or crazy conspiracy theorists. They are sound principles for us all to live by.

How different would our country be today if all had lived by the rule of self sufficiency and preparedness? What if we all had food put away? All had money in our savings like we know we should? None had bought beyond their means and sold their future security away on credit?

Better yet - What if we all start now?

Preparedness is contagious. We can all do something to get more self sufficient.

People ask me all the time why I took on such an insane project as living off my food storage. I ask them, "Why are you storing food?" and they usually answer, "In case I need it."
"Do you know how to use it?"
"Uh. No."
"So how insane is it to be storing food you think you might have to use, but admit you don't know how to use?"

Did I take it to the extreme? Probably. Those of you that know me wouldn't be surprised by that though. :) But I have the security I was seeking. I know what to store for my family and how much. More importantly, I know how to use it.

I have created several documents over the last 6 months, of the things that I have learned, and things people should know when storing and using food storage. I'm teaching a class in a few weeks where I'm going to pull all those together so that they are useful to people and then I will post them here as well.

Thanks for all of your support so far. My biggest regret in not continuing on 100% eating food storage is that I have let down the people that have been following my blog. Hopefully we will continue to learn from each other and you will find what I have learned somewhat useful to you.

Be back soon!

13 comments:

  1. I am so glad you loved Nauvoo! I think it is the best place ever! I so wished to have met you. It was a long drive home for me and my kiddos. Maybe we can chat online! Face book? My name on face book is savings queen. I enjoyed reading your blog. Food storage is a part of who I am! Enjoy your journey!


    Melissa

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  2. My hubby's kinda fed up with the limited menu (more like, limited meat!) around here, so I can understand your situation. I've been really impressed with all you've done. If nothing else, you know how to do it if you HAVE to. That's my attitude for most things in the kitchen - maybe I won't always make my own tortillas / crackers / whatever, but I want to know how in case I have no choice.

    I'm glad you had a great trip! Stay in touch!

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  3. Even though your Hubs pulled the plug, KUDOS to you and your family for even doing the food storage eating for as long as you did ! I work our storage into my daily and weekly eating but if I had to live on nothing but what I stored, there would be a mutiny here too, unless there was nothing else available to eat...then they'd all be grateful to have it.

    You should be proud of what you have accomplished...not many of us are so adventurous, persevering or brave...Fabulous job !!!

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  4. You're still my hero! I'm so thankful for the research and work you put into this. We're working on making our food storage more complete and rounded out and I have loved all of your tips and advice. Thanks for letting me learn from your experience!
    By the way, we love dutch oven cooking! We use them every time we go camping. Good luck with that one! ps - here's our favorite dutch oven web site. he's a scouter who uses dutch ovens, and there are tons of good tips and advice as well as great recipes: http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/. Lots of great info there!

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  5. Thanks all! I'm still sad but trying to make the best of it. I'm making my husband make me a cheese press this week in retaliation :)

    Melissa - I'm sorry I missed you too! I just friended you on Facebook.

    Christie - Thanks for the link. I bought a couple of books but that site looks GREAT!

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  6. I don't think you've let anyone down. You've done something great, learned a lot in the process and helped others on their food storage journey. Good job!

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  7. Sherida, you're amazing. You did a great job, and even though I know I could never do this experiment, I know who to call if I ever need to make wheat meat! :) I'm so glad I got to know you - and I'm still checking in on your blog! Love, Stefani

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  8. Thank you for sharing all your knowledge and expertise. And please don't feel like you have let us down in any way by only going 6 months. It's way more than I have done and probably sufficient to have learned what you needed to. By the way - we all LOVE the cornbread recipe and because of you I am using my wheat grinder way more than I used to. THANKS and I look forward to your future posts with all you have learned.

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  9. Awww, you guys are making me feel so much better! Thank you :)

    I look forward to continuing on my toned down quest. :)

    Stef - Call me about wheat meat anytime! LOL Oh and BTW Shannara is so excited she still gets to babysit for you sometimes :)

    Cherish - I feel exactly the same way. At least I know how to make all that stuff from scratch, even if I'm not doing it everyday. There is a lot of security for me in that. I still wish I had a cow though........... :)

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  10. Thanks for all you have done to promote and further food storage. You are an amazingly inspiring woman and my thanks go out to you. I will miss your blog in the sense that you were really "living the dream" but I hope you continue to blog about anything new you discover. Thanks again!

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  11. You are truly a voice in the wilderness. Thank you for all you do, and I hope to see you Thursay the 12th in our usual meeting! hugs!!!

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  12. Well I feel I have been slandered somewhat by my well meaning wife. And although I may have been firm in my decision to "pull the plug" as my wife puts it, the use of "bribery (you know what I'm talking about ladies)" was never forthcoming. I did extend an "offer" to keep going, however that was refused. So although I may be painted the big, bad guy here I will admit I was ready to be done with our experiment and the kids too for that matter. Good luck ladies with your future endeavors and despite our complaining, whining and whatever other adjectives you may want to inject, "us" husbands appreciate the efforts you go through.....LOVE YOU DEAR!

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  13. Thanks for FINALLY visiting my blog honey :)

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