Welcome

Welcome,

I wanted to say thank you for checking out this blog. I really consider it more of a community gathering of sorts and the blog seemed to be the best way to make it work. For some time my wife and I have felt an urgency to organize our lives especially when it comes to being prepared. We have grown a garden. We have food storage of sorts, have added to it yearly but are still not fully prepared. Also, with oil prices so high and food increasing in price we have tried to make use of our property to provide for our family as much as possible. What I began to notice is that others seemed to be thinking the same thing. I began talking to them and then the thought came to me that we need to join resources, our thoughts, and ideas to help each of us Prepare Every Needful Thing. I wasn't sure how to go about it but felt impressed that something should be done. But how do you get families together to share this information? The blog offers a way that people can come and get information when they want. With lots of peoples' input and knowledge, it will help us accomplish our goals of providing for our families. I wanted to let you know that the invitation I sent out by e-mail included a wide range of individuals. There are city dwellers, country dwellers, and everything in-between. I think each of us can add something that might help.

As a member of the LDS church, I have been taught that we should have at least a 1 year supply of food, 72 hour kits, and teach our families to be as self reliant as possible. I think we are all working toward these same goals. I have always been a little independent and don't like to ask for help but what I have found is that I can be much more successful by linking up with people that are doing something similar. It will be a forum for us to help accomplish the task of being prepared.

What do we include here? The following are some ideas. There may be some who may be interested in doing their own butchering of animals and others who would prefer anything but. There are some who are excellent shoppers and some who are not. Some have had such a passion for preparedeness that they have become experts in the field and their are those who are just beginning. Each of us have something to offer or are in need of help and I think this forum can become a great local resource. Here are some examples of things that may be offered on this blog.

1. In reference to the excellent shopper. Someone might find a tremendous deal on some food storage items that they could pass on to this blog. Then anyone who is interested could take advantage of it as well.

2. There may be some who have some great gardening tips that they learned or someone may have questions about gardening in our area that people could share and the others could offer feed back. It could include pictures of your disease riddened plant that someone might be able to identify and how to treat it.

3. Some may have found a great website that might be helpful for food storage or home prepardenss that may come in handy.

4. There maybe a city dweller that is interested in getting beef, mutton, pork, or chicken but doesn't have room to raise it. Someone in the country may have the space and that could be worked out between them.

5. There may be times when people may have surplus of fruit or vegetables that they could offer to the group.

6. We maybe able to organize things like apple cider get togethers where someone has a press and some of us could meet to make apple cider.

7. Someone may have started 429 tomato plants. After realizing that they won't need that much and just can't bear the thought of throwing them away, they may offer them to the group.

I could keep going and going as you can see. But the purpose is to be a local resource to all of us as we try to fulfill our family needs. Of course this doesn't do well unless we get particpants to the forum. So if you have a need, have some great tips, or found a great deal somewhere please post your information. Then those that are looking can scan the information and use what they need. Please tell others as well. The more people adding to the fourm the better and the more informative it will be. I would remind you to keep the information within proper bounds . There are many different opinions out there and each one is as important as the next. Be respectful and open minded.

Now, for the specifics of posting on this blog: please email me at ririefamily@ldsliving.com and I will include you as an author. You will not be able to post things otherwise.

Thanks again for reading this. This is definitely a time for us to organize our families. I am not a doomsday person but there is something urging me to do so for my family, even if it is just to be obedient. I hope this is a benefit and I hope to hear your thoughts and knowledge concerning our families preparedness. For your information this is not sponsored in any way by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I just happen to be a member and am trying to follow its teachings. Thanks again. Don