"Y2K" was on everybody’s lips as the evening began. There are many who are convinced that the world as we know it will cease to exist as computer systems start to fail, or as people who fear the systems will fail make a run on grocery stores and banks. I have to admit that with all the doom saying that is going on we are in a position of creating some scary self fulfilling prophecies. That said let me tell you about some of the things we talked about in our neighborhood meeting and some of the things that I believe we can do to help our families "Be Prepared".

The gentlemen leading the discussion asked us to take sixty seconds and make list of any consumable item that we had used in the last two weeks. We actually spent about five minutes at the task and then we all took turns reading our list out loud. It was interesting to see what people had listed and it was also interesting to see what we and others had not listed. The reason that he started this way was so that we would have an idea of the things that we have grown accustomed to having available to us and to shift our paradigm slightly in some cases or a great deal in others. He indicated that being prepared can mean having the basics to sustain life or can mean attempting to stockpile all those nice things that we have become accustomed to having around. He suggested that we consider a balanced approach for this reason: when the time comes that we would need this "food storage" it will undoubtedly be a stressful time and if having a stash of Snickers Bars will help reduce that stress then we should consider putting some away.

We discussed the fact that a severe change in diet, to say whole wheat mush with powdered milk for every meal, could theoretically provide you with the nourishment you need to stay alive, it can also, especially when combined with stress, bring on dysentery, which can cost you your life. This means a couple of things; we must either store food that will not be a change in diet or we must change the way we eat now sot that we eat what is practical to store now. He spoke of storing sprouting seeds to provide us with greens and other important vitamins and nutrients. He spoke of storing Hard White Wheat rather then the less expensive Hart Red Wheat. He spoke about storing heirloom seeds for planting a garden, and how much better we would be if those seeds were renewed each year as we harvested them from our own vegetable gardens that we practiced at every year.

His message was not one of doom or gloom, it was one of hope that this is something that we can do for our families, in a practical and affordable way. It is something that we can do to prepare for many unfortunate possibilities not just Y2K. This possibilities could include getting laid off, getting in a car accident that would prevent you from being able to provide for you family, a tornado or hurricane or a blizzard that would block not only your path to the grocery store, but the grocery suppliers path there as well. Food storage is not about fear, it is about being prepared and in so being, having a feeling of security that will allow us to confidently pursue the mission that we have for ourselves and out families.