Food storage. Garden tomatoes. Thanks, Mom.

Four 4'x8' garden boxes are finished and planting will begin this weekend. Which means the next week will be devoted to building shelving in our garage to accommodate storage. I am determined to use our food storage to cut our food bill and see how sufficient I can be in my domestic job.

I found a site called Simply Living Smart that I plan to use to full advantage. I am also updating our long term storage and 72 hour kits. I need to update the clothing in the kits to proper sizes for my kids as well as check inspiration dates on the food items. I also plan on checking the dollar store for travel/card games. I have a lantern with a good supply of batteries, a camp stove, sleeping bags, and tents. I still need a radio, more flashlights, id bracelets for the kids.

Isn't the news of the earthquakes, tornadoes, and other natural disasters compelling anyone else to come up with a family emergency plan?

Am I worried? No. But I feel a need to be prepared. I used to have it all together. We lost more than half of our long term food storage when we moved (actually that is just when we discovered that kids had taken screwdrivers and poked holes in all of the bags). We're replacing it all with cans. I still need to find water storage containers.

I know some of my friends are going to be shaking their heads at this post. It's okay. But I'll feel better if I can lower the food bill since food prices are going up. I'm looking for a bike with either a trailer or a basket big enough for DD and grocery bags (that should really cut down the cost of gas for my car and be healthy for me). Add our garden and the bottling that will go on this fall, I can accomplish my goals.

Mom and Grandma - thanks for teaching me how to garden and bottle the produce. I know I didn't appreciate it when you asked me to pick the potato bugs off the potato plants, horn worms off the tomatoes, and I really didn't like it when we husked corn and I found a corn grub here and there. But I really did appreciate it the first time I tasted commercially-canned peach after years of eating bottled peaches. I was spoiled all my growing up years with garden tomatoes (best eaten with your bare feet in the dirt in the middle of the garden). And absolutely nothing compares with Grandma's raspberry jam.

Raspberries will have to go on next year's agenda. My hands are a bit full of the gardening I've planned for this week. Pole beans, sugar snap peas, melons, zukes and cukes, squashes, and Japanese eggplant. Basil, thyme, oregano, cilantro, mint, sage, and tarragon. Peppers mild and peppers hot. Ginger, green onions, and garlic. Lettuces and radishes (when it gets cooler).

Don't forget the tomatoes. Lots of tomatoes.