Message from the First
Presidency
Our Heavenly Father created this beautiful
earth, with all its abundance, for our benefit and use. His purpose is to
provide for our needs as we walk in faith and obedience. He has lovingly
commanded us to "prepare every needful thing" (see D&C 109:8) so that, should adversity
come, we may care for ourselves and our neighbors and support bishops as they
care for others.
We encourage Church members worldwide to
prepare for adversity in life by having a basic supply of food and water and
some money in savings.
We ask that you be wise as you store food
and water and build your savings. Do not go to extremes; it is not prudent, for
example, to go into debt to establish your food storage all at once. With
careful planning, you can, over time, establish a home storage supply and a
financial reserve.
We realize that some of you may not have
financial resources or space for such storage. Some of you may be prohibited by
law from storing large amounts of food. We encourage you to store as much as
circumstances allow.
Build a small supply of food that is part
of your normal, daily diet. One way to do this is to purchase a few extra items
each week to build a one-week supply of food. Then you can gradually increase
your supply until it is sufficient for three months. These items should be
rotated regularly to avoid spoilage.
If water comes directly from a good,
pretreated source then no additional purification is needed; otherwise,
pretreat water before use. Store water in sturdy, leak-proof,
breakage-resistant containers. Consider using plastic bottles commonly used for
juices and soda.
Establish a financial reserve by saving a
little money each week and gradually increasing it to a reasonable amount (see Prepare
Every Needful Thing: Family Finances guide).
For longer-term needs, and where permitted,
gradually build a supply with food that will last a long time and that you can use to stay alive, such as
wheat, white rice, and beans.
These items can last 30 years or more when
properly packaged and stored in a cool, dry place. A portion of these items may
be rotated in your three-month supply.
"Organize yourselves; prepare every
needful thing, and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of
fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of
order, a house of God" (D&C 109:8).
General Instructions:
1. Watch for sales on canning supplies
before, during and after canning season.
2. Inform yourself about prices so
you’ll know a good deal when you see one.
3. Connect up with people who yard sale
and bargain shop frequently. Have them
give you a call when they see a good bargain.
(Anna in Utah- lids 68 cents)
4. Make it a ward culture of providence.
5. We need to change our thought process
from “I don’t have time.” to “that’s what I do”.
6. Yard sales thrift stores,
7. Variety stores, Craig’s list,
Ellensburg/Yakima swap meet, Penny/Nickel
saver
8. Manufacturer’s online outlets,
$299.00 to $239.00 Factory refurbish
$149.00 – 10 year warrantee - very helpful.
Quicky Lessons
·
Jars
that have been frozen will crack and break open along the bottom edge of
the jar
·
Jars
that have sustained impact will form fatal cracks from the point of impact
radiating outward
·
Check
the rims of the jars for any roughness or chinks. Chinks in the rim will not allow the jar and
lid to seal together
·
Any
jars that you have acquire 2nd hand needs to be tested prior to
use. Simply submerge jars in boiling
water. Using a water bath canner works
great. Simply submerge jars in boiling
water for 10 minutes. Any hidden damage
will be become evident by then. And the
bonus is: Your jars are all sterilized
and ready to load. J
9. Pressure canner requirements
·
Rubber
seal needs to be inspected for dryness and flexibility. If the seal is more than 2-3 years old and
used consistently, be very thorough in your assessment.
·
Improper storage will also damage the sealing
ring.
·
When
storing, rings should be oiled and stored separately. A food grade plastic bag will do.
·
Have your pressure gauge checked every year.
The Extension Services office has a tester and best of all, they’ll test
it for free. Just call ahead.
Why do we go to all the bother? All your time, effort and monetary investment
shouldn’t end up in the garbage can when the jar blows apart in during
processing or never seals because of chips in the rim.
Food stuff:
Study out
and become attuned to what “in season” means in your area
·
List
of approximate harvest dates
·
Check
with Extension service in your area to get a list of when products are
available in surrounding areas.
Now
is the time to line up your resources.
·
Wholesalers and commercial bulk products
·
Zaycon foods Zayconfoods.com is an excellent source for meat and milk
products. They offer hamburger, chicken
breast, hot dogs, breaded chicken bits, fish, ham, organic milk etc. Zaycon sponsors “Events” where products
purchase on the internet are delivered to a designated location in in your
area. My experience is that these
products are the highest quality and the service is outstanding.
The LDS Cannery (Bishop’s Storehouse) www.provident living.org 6501 De Chutes, Kennewick, WA 509-783-1283
has bulk dry pack products at fair prices. Cans,( #10 @ .75) Lids, (Steel .15 plastic .10) mylar pouches (.30) and de-oxygenating packets (.10) are available at the cannery as well. Example: order sheet
Note:
Our Stake has
a dry pack canner and flanger available for use by appointment. Give me a call and we’ll schedule your
ward. Canners & pouchers may also be
available in individual wards.
Columbia
Bean Products is a wholesale warehouse where
all things bean are sold to consumers.
They also have several delicious dry soup mixes available, including 11
bean soup, 13 bean soup and 16 bean soup.
The warehouse is located in Moses Lake at Road "O" NE, Moses Lake, WA 98837 Their
website is columbiabean.com
and their phone number is Toll Free: (800) 411-2167. Ask for Jeff Strobel if you want to make
a big order, otherwise just talk to the ladies at the front desk. They can answer all your questions. We have found them to be very accommodating and easy
to work with.
Make your ward members aware of local store bargains, 12 hr.
Sales, National/local coupons that will be of benefit to them. Again, use your PL publication to keep people
updated.
Our Area is truly blessed with a vast array of
food products readily available to us:
·
Lateral A –
A road named Lateral A,
(sometimes referring to an agricultural area south and west of Yakima),
is a veritable cornucopia of various fruit orchards and vineyards. Produce can be purchase from the growers at
intervals all along that stretch of road.
Prices are often very reasonable. . . again know your prices so you’ll
know a deal when you see one.
·
Columbia Basin – There are many member farmers and
ranchers in that area. Most are open to
gleaning projects.
·
South of Yakima -
truck farms, vineyards etc.
· http://www.pickyourown.org/WAharvestcalendar.htm is an excellent site for approximate harvest
times in Washington State and a whole bunch of other great information.
HOW TO NETWORK
·
Ask
– friends, family, ward & Stake members, neighbors (farmer’s market) if
they are aware of anyone interested in selling their products to a large group
of church folks.
·
Explain
what you are doing. A simple explanation
of Provident Living will do.
·
Ask
if they are willing to sell at a discount for large orders
·
If
that person isn’t able to help ask if they know of anyone who might be
interested
·
Ask
people who work in produce warehouses for info or contacts
·
Some
farmers aren’t able to sell to wholesale packers because their product doesn’t
make grade or size requirements. Rather
than incur a major loss they are more than willing to give you a bargain.
·
Don’t
be offended if a rancher can’t sell to you.
They have contracts with wholesale processers and the terms of the
contract may prohibit them from dealing with any other entity.
·
Ask
people who are brokering produce. They
can have a unique view of which sellers might be interested.
·
It
takes time to get a network set up – be persistent & patient. You’re not going to get them all in the first
year. As we interact with one another
and share sources we’ll all do very well.
BLAST:
1. As applicable, let us (Stake PL
leaders) know about bulk purchases so we can get the word out to the rest of
the stake. It is not always possible to
share every opportunity, but when you can, please do.
2. Use your ward PL publication to promote
– encourage Provident Living.
3. Any information about nutrition,
storage methods, recipes, helpful hints are a great way to encourage ward
members to participate. Often times,
understanding the why and how of different products is enough to produce
enthusiasm among your ward members. Example:
Peaches/peach pie filling, Carrots/Brown
sugar and orange carrots, crockpot caramelized
onions, strawberry rhubarb jam, etc.
4. Publish days, dates, times, locations
and deadlines with ample lead time for everyone to be able to access the
offerings.
5. Include Sign-up information as
well. It’s a great help for those who for
whatever reason missed the Sunday sign-up sheets.
6. Always include your contact
information.
Sign-up sheets - (examples) - what’s required for complete lock down.
o
You’ll
be working with two different kinds of
sign-up sheet. The first is the survey sheet.
This sheet is to assess the amount of product you need to look for. It gives you a general estimate for talking
with the farmer/marketer to establish prices, delivery dates etc.
o
Establish
availability before sending out the actual “solid commitment” sheet. Never promise something that you can’t
deliver. One or two times like that and
you lose all credibility.
o
The Second is the actual
“solid commitment” sheet. This sheet is
to be signed by the ward members indicating their commitment to purchase. It includes name, phone #, and quantity and
amount due. As well as basic
information such as the deadline for payment and the date of delivery. Example
Announcements
o
Use
RS, & Priesthood for announcements
o
See
to it that the Primary, nursery & YW get Sunday Announcements
o
Write
up hand out announcement info before meetings begin
o
Give
a copy to Primary, nursery and YW
leaders
o
Be
sure announcements, surveys or ordering sheets get to everyone on Sunday
o
Follow
up with PL web publication with the same info.
o
Your
web publications at this time of the year are absolutely vital.
o
keep it lively, colorful and something to
looks forward to.
Harvesting and Gleaning
·
RESPECT!
·
Always
use your best manners when you enter someone else’s property.
·
Be
tidy, don’t leave anything out of order.
·
Be
respectful of vines, bushes, trees, plants, rows, soil, etc. This is their
life’s work, their economic home of sorts.
·
Know
the picking methods best for that particular product. Ask the farmer/rancher to demonstrate the
best way to glean the fruit so he understands that you want to be respectful
and harvest without harming the plants or trees. Example: apples are gripped firmly but not tightly
then lifted while twisting. Cherries
must never be stripped (pulled off without stems). Spurs must be left intact.
·
Never, Never, Never leave a mess or damaged property. Children must be supervised or left home.
Children must be under the supervision of their parents at all times.
·
Before
any harvesting begins make sure that all participants know the rules of
conduct.
·
Don’t
be shy about letting people know the rules and don’t hesitate to see that they
are followed.
·
Better
to ruffle a few feathers than deal with the fallout of damaging a man’s
livelihood
a. Look at this opportunity as more than
simply gathering food. If you’re
including community members or the farmer/orchardist is not LDS, a righteous
example will go a long way as a missionary outreach.
·
Remember
you’ll want to be welcome again next year so this year’s conduct will determine
if you’ll be welcomed back.
·
It’s
always good to send a sincere thank you card.
In some cases a small kindness or gift is appropriate. Example: Buckets for cherries
·
Think
of the relationship between yourself and the farmer/orchardist/etc. as a
friendship with a business component.
Gratitude and good manners are a natural part of that kind of
relationship.
Pain Free Money Management:
1. Payment is always collected before orders are made.
2.
Have hard deadlines for
payment prior to placing an order.
If you’re a softie, set your deadline 24 – 48 hours before
ordering. That way disrespectful slow
pokes can still have what they want without having to follow the rules everyone
else has to live by. (Okay, that was
kind of snarky) The problem with being
soft on deadlines is that you set up a precedent that keeps you in turmoil with
every project. It only encourages
certain people to continue to be disrespectful of your time and considerable
effort in their behalf. There will always be those who simply
don’t have the money or won’t have it until after the deadline. In that case, have them talk to their Bishop
about making some sort of arrangement through welfare funds. In fact, be sure to remind the Bishop or RS
President to check with families in need to see if there is a desire for and willingness
to properly process and store the product offered. Then with their go-ahead, simply process the
order as usual.
3.
Use the sigh up list to record payment. That puts all necessary information in one
spot. Signature, quantity, price and payment.
4.
NEVER purchase anything without first receiving
payment from participants.
5.
NEVER act as lender or good guy – it will
come back and bite you. . .Big Time!
Sadly, even the people you think can be trusted can disappoint. You don’t want to be on the hook for
products they never pay for. One lovely
excuse, hard luck story or whiney complaint after another will create hard
feelings and potential financial problems for you that should never to exist.
6.
In the beginning there will be some resistance but
hang in there. People soon adjust and
everything runs smoothly thereafter.
Distribution: Maintaining order for a largely church group sounds like a
silly thing to worry about but there is something that brings out the crazy
when you deal with people and their food.
1. Don’t use the church parking
lot. It gets into tax/business issues
that just aren’t necessary.
2. Choose an area where multiple cars
and many people will not cause a problem for the neighbors or block streets or
roadways.
3. Designate a hard line pick-up
time. Emphasize the fact that you do not
have storage or refrigeration facilities and their produce will spoil if it is
left to the weather for very long.
Having paid in advance most people will be there as required or have
someone else pick up for them.
4. Set up and constantly man a table
with the master list and tear-off list.
Some people either forget or want to forget what they ordered. The master list has their signature, ordered
amount and payment recorded. That way if there is any question about quantities
or dollars you can quickly show them the master list.
5. Prepare a tear-off list for purchasers to hand to those helping with
distribution. Any pertinent info should
be included to keep things easy for you to keep things flowing. example
6. Have everyone check in at the table
to receive their individual slip so distributors will know how much to
dispense. example
7. Don’t be intimidated by lines, crowds
or snarky folks. Don’t let people rush
you. Stick to your orderly plan and ask
people to hang in there with you.
8. Our experience is that 99.999% of the people
are more than willing to follow the rules.
They love to socialize and chatter back and forth and help one another
with loading or lifting things back to their cars. It’s like a party of good friends getting
together. But there is that tiny segment
of folks who don’t want to follow the rules.
Just smile sweetly and show them yet again how things are done. Act as if you didn’t hear them when they
complained. Example: (“Eeeeoooo, they’re dirrrty” (surprise! Potatoes and carrots grow underground J) – “I don’t know why we should have
to pay for these. This is for the church
for cryin’ out loud! “ (You need to take
that up with the farmer who was so incredibly generous to sell them to us for
this price.) J – “There’s too many
people here, this is not the way I would do it”) Alright-y then. Just as soon as they give you this calling
you get to change it up anyway you like.
J
Classes
1. For best results, pass around a
survey sheet to determine the level of interest for classes you plan on
offering.
2.
The fun part of our job is that not only women can sign-up for classes,
but men as well.
3. Don’t be discouraged if you only have
a few people express interest. It is
equally as important to meet the needs of a few as the entire ward.
4. The number of people should NEVER
determine the quality of the materials presented.
Mentoring:
1. Some of the best outcomes have been
one on one mentoring sessions. (Apple
sauce – dry pack lead to many other things including lasting friendships) Mentoring is also a great way to help new
move ins that were not present to take the class when it was offered or for
those who were unable to attend. You can
do the mentoring or ask someone who took the class to help the new person.
2. Keep your teaching materials from
your classes. You may be called on to
repeat the class at a later date. Having
those materials at hand will save a lot of time and hassle.
3. The types of classes best suited to
this time of year are those that prepare ward members for the upcoming fruits
and vegetables to be harvested. Example:
water bath canning, pressure canning, jams & Jellies, drying,
freezing, pickling, fermenting, dry pack canning (canner, pouch) and fresh
storage of root vegetables.
Study, learn and then teach
1. D&C 11:21 sets the example for any who seek to
teach in Father’s kingdom. Here Hyrum
was told to first obtain the word. In
other words, study. Gain a solid
knowledge and understanding of the things you are about to teach. Seek out the best sources for learning then
with a prayer in your heart and confidence in the Lord’s promise of assistance,
you will have success in you endeavor.
There are a plethora of places to gain information, not the least of
which is the internet. Try to stick
closely to Extension Service websites from similar temperate zones. The information will not only be highly
reliable, but cover subjects of concern for your zone.
2. Feel free to call upon someone in
your ward or general area that is qualified to teach the information and
use them.
3. Be wise in your selection. Simply having done something for the past 30
or whatever years is not enough. Interview
the person to see if they follow current standards for health and safety. When
it comes to food preservation, new “super bugs”, safety considerations, up to
date information and equipment is a must.
Safety is paramount when it comes to the food we feed our
families. Example: Neighbor who lost
all 5 of her children to botulism poisoning from improperly canned green beans.
4. WSU Extension Services has a Master
Canner class – I strongly encourage you to take it. It’s a little pricy but you will receive a
mass of fabulous materials not only for your own personal reference but teaching
as well. It a great class full of interesting
information, labs, and just plain fun.
By using these
methods, we have been able to garner literally tons of food at remarkable
savings through the networking process.
We’ve successfully shepherded projects, managed orderly distribution,
taught classes, mentored individuals and generally promoted Provident Living as
an everyday lifestyle. These things we
have taught you today are entirely workable and adaptable to your particular
ward or branch. So go forth and conquer!
Remember:
Always begin, follow through and end your labors with
prayer. This is Father’s work. He has commanded his people to “prepare every
needful thing” and our job is to facilitate that process. As we do our part He stands ready to bless,
inspire, and prosper our best efforts.
