Preparedness Pro Weekly Update–It’s About Time, Right?

Whew! Lot’s of catching up to do. I don’t think I’ve ever had a July this full in my adult life, but full and fulfilling it was. I hope you all are having a great summer too!

For starters, I wanted to bring to your attention the last couple of episodes of Preparedness Pro Radio Show. Last week I had Jim Kinnard on, the president and founder of Food For Everyone.org.  His organization teaches the Mittleider Gardening method which I came across after doing tons of research on gardening. I wish this method of gardening was taught in every high school in the U.S.! In case you don’t know, this was my very first year gardening. I know. I know.  Pitiful, right? So before I took it on I wanted to figure out how to do it correctly because plants and I don’t have a great track record—with the exception of the avocado tree that gives fruit indoors—but I think that’s a fluke. Typically I kill houseplants. *sigh* Anyway, the Mittleider Gardening method is known as “the poor man’s hydroponics” and it yields stellar amounts in small spaces, in fact the square foot gardening teachings actually originated with the Mittleider method. In researching it and communicating with others I’ve discovered that there are a lot of misconceptions of this method.  So be sure you get the facts on this method before dismissing it. Here’s the link to that show.  Mittleider Gardening

The week before that however I had Dana C. Young, PhD, one of the three most expert researchers on the subject of harvesting, blending and applying essential oils in the world. On this episode he discussed a very important aspect of the use of essential oils known as “the Trojan horse effect” which he described so clearly. It was really an eye opener as to why using a truly pure essential oil is imperative and anything less is no better than eating McDonalds cheeseburgers for your nutrition needs (translation—harmful). Here’s the link to that show if you so desire. Essential Oil Radio Blog

This week there will be the “Best Of” airing as I’m up to my armpits in alligators due to a writing project I’ve taken on for a client. While it is literally the most challenging writing I’ve ever done in my life, there’s some satisfaction in knowing that it’s a revolutionary literature offering—uh, that is so long as I don’t translate all of the precise scientific and medical information incorrectly. *ahhhh!*

Last month I shared with you about the newest release course on preserving cheese. And yes, it’s finished, in fact, Five Star Preparedness has already sent out dozens of copies to folks who took advantage of their group buy special last month. But to be forthright, I haven’t even had the time to write the description of it and post it on the Preparedness Pro site due to all of the traveling, speaking, and writing that I’ve been doing this past month. Please don’t let the looming financial collapse happen this week! I’m too busy! 🙂 Hopefully I’ll be able to put this writing project to bed by Thursday and then I can post the course. Just so you know, it’s not just about cheese waxing. It lays out the case clearly for the merits of cheese preservation without the need of refrigeration, provides detailed step-by-step instructions based on science, not opinion, and a lot of the details I’ve learned have come from artisan cheese makers.

In this course, I’ve provided video education as well as written information for you. The e-book that comes with it is over 40 pages and addresses every possible troubleshooting issue one might have in preserving cheese.  It also provides several other methods for cheese preservation, understanding the chemical makeup of cheese so you can properly assess problems and possibilities, and is intended to be an extensive resource in that regard.  Using these methods you’ll not only be able to preserve plenty of real cheese without refrigeration but you’ll actually enhance the flavors of the no-name cheese with flavors reminiscent of the $40 a pound cheeses! Yeah, now that I’ve mentioned all of this, you’re probably hollering at your computer screen to quit talking about it and just post the darn thing. I will. I will. I just need to get through this week. That reminds me, the other day someone snidely commented on my blog that there were plenty of YouTube videos that show you how to wax cheese—which are, of course, free to access. I even checked out the link that they provided, thinking it might be beneficial as well. Unfortunately, like so many that I have watched, it too was rife with some errors—ones which I’ve either made myself or have been preemptively educated against by cheese connoisseurs. For example, if your cheese is “weeping”, don’t fret. It’s OK. I’ll tell you exactly what you need to do in those situations—which in many cases is nothing—and when you need to be concerned.  One video I watched showed a woman discarding one of the most important parts of the cheese, considering it as a disposable consequence.  Let’s face it folks, there’s probably very few who love cheese as much as I do—I even DREAM about warm melted cheese fondues and steaming loaves of rye bread. I’m not going to teach you anything superfluous or contrary when it comes to the preservation of this holy grail of comfort foods *grin*

So, over the past 4 weeks I’ve learned that I’m no spring chicken any more—driving a total of 80 hours by myself over the last 3 weeks has been no picnic. However, on the very positive side of things I learned how to be that much better prepared while traveling and being away from home as a result of some of the complications and/or concerns I ran into periodically.  At one point when I was driving through Kansas I literally found myself outrunning a fierce storm with clouds that threatened to become funnel shaped.  Just as I always say, no matter how prepared one is, there’s absolutely nothing that can compensate for the spiritual preparedness necessary for every single conceivable scenario. If your lamp is empty, there simply isn’t any time or possibility to borrow or purchase oil from someone else.

That reminds me—one of the great conversations I had during my travels was with a family member who prided himself on being suitably prepared, but appreciated that there are areas which he has perhaps overlooked.  We had a nice talk about the pitfalls of putting all of your preparedness efforts in one basket such as water or fuel sources.  This man is also what I would consider to be a faithful Christian man. We got to talking about the parable of the 10 virgins.  It was actually pretty funny when he was shaking his head about those that had empty lamps with no oil in them just before his wife came in and expressed her exasperation that he still had 55 gallon water barrels that were sitting in the back yard completely empty.  Food for thought.

On another note, the fireside which I was asked to deliver in Columbus, Ohio went well, but there will always be disappointment in my heart when I see how few attend such an event vs. how many show up for a $1 sale on cream cheese. Yes, it was a decent turnout–it usually it, but “decent” and even “a tenth of a percent of what’s possible” are still far apart from each other. What’s worse is there were a LOT of folks who had RSVP’d that were in the immediate area that simply couldn’t get off their duffs to attend, and yet there were several people who drove 2-3 hours ONE WAY just to attend.  Unfortunately, this is just how it is in the world of self-reliance, and it is indicative of what it will be like when things get really tough, too.  Seeing how many are passive on this account and planning on being miserable today only makes me work harder on trying to influence more to get on the bandwagon now.  I may be good in my supplies, but I’m simply not good enough to take care of everyone who places the latest Harry Potter movies above the health and well-being of themselves and their family. By the way, if YOU are one of the folks I spoke with at the fireside who traveled from Mt. Vernon or Michigan, e-mail me. I’ve got a little something extra for you that I’d like to send you for being so stellar!

Just as a FYI, there will not be a drawing this month—I’m putting as much on the back burner this month as possible for reasons previously cited. But I’ll be planning on a great one for August. Congrats to the winner of the Cheese Waxing Kit last month. I was so excited to give it away that it got me on the stick and caused me to wax a bunch of cheese that I had been putting off.

By the way, the Augason Farms “Pioneer Day” sale is still going on through the 27th of this month for those of you who are local and want to take advantage of a few of their mainstay items on sale including some freeze-dried fruit and their famous Morning Moo’s Milk–(I LOVE the chocolate one!)