Pantries and Preparedness. A teachable heart.

This year we have focused on several main things,  getting ahead with our pantries and preparedness, leaning new skills and building up our homes.  The year has gone too fast for me.  It is still going too fast!   But I can report we made a lot of progress with general preparedness.   My pantry is in good shape.  We added a better generator and a rain water tank.  But most of all I learned new skills.

Whatever you store away will only last so long.  After that we depend on our skills.  And our health and fitness!  I have been thinking a lot about that.

This year I learned how to make sourdough and became pretty good at breads, scrolls, buns, raisin bread and I think I got a lot of people started too!

 

Suddenly making dough became a routine thing and I never have to buy yeast!  This all is a big family feeder.  It also gives me gifts to give.  A tray of sticky buns pretty much makes you welcome anywhere! 

 

I learned to make yoghurt and I churn that out and use it in cooking, in place of sour cream and buttermilk and it is really healthy and a big money saver as well.
I learned to really menu plan and build up an inventory of meals.  This was a huge thing!
I started to shop a far wider variety of shops and much further afield. (With amazing results)
I got the hang of Aldi and I love it!

Some small things were making all my soup and spice mixes.  These are a big saving and there is nothing artificial in them.

So I no longer need to buy packet mixes for Butter Chicken or soup mixes etc.

I learned how to make enchiladas. I made so many trays of these as they are a hit with the family!

Vicky taught me how to make my own Enchilada sauce and it is so good!  

Also I have been studying the relationship between pain and inflammation and what we eat.  I have a lot to learn here but I have pretty much completely changed my way of eating and almost all of my aches and pains are gone!  I have more energy and can exercise and even want to! It is a big change to eat in a completely different way.
My Doctor told me years ago that given a choice of dying or changing your diet most people will choose dying.  We are very attached to our favourite foods, traditions and ways of cooking.   But still this shocked me.  And it is odd to radically change I have to say!  

I know the next weeks will be busy with getting ready for Christmas,  it becomes pretty warm here and watering and the garden becomes busy too.  But I have started thinking about the year and what do I want to learn next year?  The last few years I have learned a lot and so much that it has been quite exciting!   I want to keep going!

It is funny how we learn. I notice if I don't want to learn something I can't even listen. It is beyond boring and I absorb nothing. The more it is explained the less I understand it!
But if I want to learn something I can concentrate and absorb and ask questions and try and try!  Then I can learn!    So I think that is the key. We have to want to learn.  We need a teachable heart.

People say they are bad at something, like they are bad at embroidery, and it will turn out they only tried once or twice.  No one is instantly good at any of these things!  It all takes practice practice practice.  Patsy wanted to learn crochet.  She got started and went on a challenge to crochet everyday. You should see her work now!  I bet someone will say to her "you are so lucky you can crochet so beautifully"  No she is not lucky she worked and worked at it that is why she can crochet this way!  Truly, very few of us are overnight experts!  We have to work at it!

So we need a teachable heart and be willing to commit to putting in the effort.  It is ok to fail too.  I remember when Jane first started with her sour dough.  Her first bread she forgot the step of making the "sponge".  Tons of people would have just said it is too hard. But she got it right the next time and has gone on to produce the most amazing bread and scrolls etc.    She is the most fabulous cook!

I am not sure what next year will hold but I can think of many many skills I would like to learn and lots of things I would like to be doing.  I would like to be dehydrating food.   I ideally would like to plant an orchard, have a lot more chickens,  have a huge veggie garden and plant pumpkins.   Some of my dreams would require living in the country I notice!
I want to learn much more about essential oils and natural remedies.

With Christmas coming it can be a good time to think of next years projects.  Maybe put in a request for a dehydrator or something that will be both fun and a good investment for the household!

What did you achieve so far this year toward your pantry and household preparedness goals?
What new skills did you learn or improve?  How has this helped?

Recently I asked what new skills would you like to learn next year.  I got some great suggestions for some tutorials.   As I get on with Christmas and end of year plans I am thinking on all of this.

Next week we have a post by Laine.  She has improved her health so much with her diet and she started with a very painful chronic illness.  From what she has written I have already implemented a few new things so it has already been very helpful to me.   This will be useful to anyone suffering with pain.  Sometimes we have to be in a pretty bad place before we are willing to try new things! haha that was me!

Have a great new week.  See you on Wednesday!xxx