Preparedness Lessons from COVID-19

[Britesea]

Yes! I will lose an awful lot of information if computer and internet aren't available for some reason.

I've also learned I need to make sure I have room to do Tai Chi if it's too cold to do outside.

 

[wyoDreamer]

My Aunt & Uncle had both. The upright was for everyday use - it was refilled from the chest freezer when supply got low. They bought the chest freezer first, but my aunt had trouble reaching stuff in it, so my uncle bought the upright for her. He would go down stairs every Saturday morning and re-stock for her.

 

[Mini Horses]

Generally freezer burn shows as a dry, whiteish patch. Slice it off, as others said -- give to dogs/cats or trash -- rinse the meat and cook. Most often you cannot then tell any difference when cooked.

haylage -- yep, I saved instructions and it's basically removing air, then storing in dark/dry/reasonable temps. I remember that I thought, at the time, that the vacuum storage bags might be a good holding device. Maybe reuse? Store in a black bag or tarp. My chickens love fermented cheese, clabbered milks, etc. Many people use fermented grains. No, they are not ruminants but they eat grass!! In fact, in early winter I've wet straw bales, which then sprout and they attack with gusto! LOL Ruminants just eat fast, half chew, then belch it back to chew and swallow down to digest further, another stomach -- well, very simplified version of their system.

Since I live where we do not have -- NORMALLY -- extreme cold, frozen ground very deep, if I leave things like turnips, beets, carrots in ground & mulch, I can pull/dig and use them most all winter. At that point, the roots don't need the greens so much, done growing, so I or animals have those greens devoured first. LOL Many of our winter greens are very good for the animals, seeds are cheap and they grow well for some forage. Mixes like used for deer plots are great for goats. Just keep the birds off the seed! I like to toss it out, mow or drag, just as it's going to rain -- very late day and night rain is perfect. Some will sprout & I've had some just lay there & sprout early Spring. It's a crap shoot.

Pumpkins, winter squash, all get a hard skin & can store thru winter....chickens & goats love both. Sunflowers. Any cole crops that want to continue to grow (& seed?) yep, they love it. Winter wheat is good forage. Don't let horses on it once it heads, too much & bad colic....but in grass stage, ok. In head stage, it can be cut/bagged as a silage.

MAJOR issue with these fermented feeds is any mold toxins. Really bad. Sight and smell should be your first indicator. I do not use any ferments with horses. Worse than moldy hay, even.

 

[Beekissed]

I love it that you are canning, BB! It's a great skill to have and my middle son just asked me yesterday if I would "write down" how I can all this food. I had to laugh...told him I had an old Ball canning book of my mother's that I could give him, but I'd not be writing down much.

 

[Beekissed]

I've learned that those who are not prepared are the first on my doorstep mooching for eggs and/or other foods. I also had other people casually ask if I had any eggs for sale(but jokingly, which means they would rather I offer to give them away)and if I had any "cheap lambs" for sale this year. I share freely when the Lord says to share and I do not when I don't hear anything from Him on it. That's when I keep food for the immediate family's use only.

We stay stocked up and prepared for such things, so we didn't have any difference at our place. We have thousands of books on hand for reading and all other things for when the power goes out, so that's never a worry. I do need to lay in some more jars along the way as most of mine are already full and I want to put up a good bit of meat this season.

I also know that what we are not prepared for, God is and provides for us abundantly for all our needs, so I don't stress any of this....He's providing all along and has prepared us~much like LG~with things we didn't know we would need until now. Knowing that, when I see something I think I will be needing, I don't worry one iota as God is light years ahead of me and already has provision for it lined up...and I just do a lot of praising and praying for guidance in all things. That's the only true prepping I do here...my Heavenly Father does the rest.

 

[Daisy]

I spoke to my neighbour and we are going to take his ute to the city when this is over and get him a new fridge and me a new chest freezer

 

[BarredBuff]

This shut down is a couple of months of inconvenience. Essential services have continued. We have all learned from this. In a worse situation there would be no essential services, no grocery stores open, no gas stations open. No Feed stores either. We need to ponder on this and we can toss suggestions out for a much worse situation.

This is almost a test run.

 

[BarredBuff]

I have called several times today to check on our beef and pork, but it is busy.

Folks, now is the time to can everything that is not nailed down...

 

[Hinotori]

I learned that we are fairly well prepared here, as are my parents, uncles, and great aunts. Anyone in my family who grew up with having to put up food and supplies for winter still mostly does and was fine.

My brothers didn't do so well. Joe pays enough attention to the world goings on that he got neccessary items right before the rush. He's sworn he's going to keep more of a pantry now. His wife is on board so they will be fine.

Rob lets his spendthrift wife ride roughshod over him. They are lucky if they have a weeks worth of supplies. They are still trying to find things they've been out of for weeks.

I learned that having a root cellar of some sort is something I need. I don't have house room to store all the produce we need.

I need to get another freezer or can meats. I'm starting on the canning this week. I need to keep more canned veggies instead of just frozen ones.

 

[Hinotori]

Oh. I also learned I need to keep more animal feed stored. I normally keep 6-8 weeks of chicken food. Same for cats. Dogs it's normally 3 weeks but I bought extra to take them to 6 weeks right before the rush.

I'm really plotting out that shed to use for root cellar/feed storage. Just waiting for stores to open back up.