Farmington West Provident Living

Having fuel at the ready is an important part of preparedness.   From a simple light source, to heat, to fuel for cooking.   Following are some simple tips for obtaining and keeping fuel at the ready. Make sure you have candles and matches.   This is a great back-up to flashlights and batteries.    Keep your propane tanks filled for your BBQ or camp stove.   If you do not already keep a back-up tank, consider always having a full tank in your shed or garage.   Keep a supply of white gas or propane for your camp stove, whichever is appropriate. Also, if you have an outdoor fire pit, tuck away a supply of firewood for emergency use.   This may end up being used for more than just a S’more party. In addition to the above tips, store gasoline for your generators.   Be sure that you know the proper storage for fuels. Here is another source for proper fuel storage .    

Spring is in full swing and many gardens are planted or prepared.  If you have not planted yet, never fear, it is not too late! See the GARDENING link for tips and tricks for getting your garden started or managed.  Hopefully you will have some delicious  home grown produce within a few weeks and then canning/preserving season will be upon us before we realize. If you have children, gardening can be a great family affair and will leave them with a lifelong skill putting them on the path to their own "Provident Living". If you have limited space (or time and energy) consider planting some herbs in smaller pots.  These can be used in your summer cooking or preserved.  Most herbs are easily dried in your oven and stored in sealed bags or bottles for longer term food storage. This can save money and also contribute to that "I did it myself" satisfaction.

  Getting started on a longer term food supply for your family should be easy to do and not break the bank if you start small and gradually build it up.  Start with a 2 week & then month supply by purchasing a few extra items each week.  Work your way up to a 3 month supply and so on.  Check out this  3 Month Supply Suggestion List  . For more tips and food storage information, visit the Food Storage link from the Blog menu.  Don't forget to work in a plan to rotate your storage... oldest first and replace what you use. For longer term storage items, consider purchasing some of the bulk items from a Home Storage Center.  Many of the #10 can items have up to a 30 year shelf life.  See the   Home Storage Center  link for updated availability of products.  There are also links there to read more on purchasing online, which may be the way of the future as Home Storage Centers are phased out in certain areas.  

Much of the planning and preparation that we need to focus on, or that we have become very aware of lately is that of a food supply that we can "live off of" in the time of need.  We have been counseled by the prophets for years to obtain and store a supply of food and necessities for when needed in times of unemployment or financial crisis, extended inclement weather, earthquake, power outage or as we have been experiencing this past year, pandemic & quarantine, etc.   During these type of struggles, just having "supplies" on hand is great, however, if an event includes evacuation from our homes, we need to have added another level of preparedness to our supply.  In the case of evacuation and "no place to go", we must consider the possibility of retreating to the hills, or maybe the city will allow use of the local public parks.  We need to be prepared to bring our own equipment, food and shelter. So this week, let's look at some ideas for shelter...

Remember this time last year?  If you didn't have a back up supply, you were out of luck finding Toilet Paper in the stores for several weeks.  A great example of why we need to be prepared.  The creative "wiping" alternatives got pretty creative and did not appear all that pleasant.  No thank you Mr. Pine Cone. Next to food and water, Sanitation is pretty high on the list of needs in an emergency.  Everybody needs something (or somewhere) to go on.  Purchase or make a bucket toilet kit.  Toilet seats are available at most  camping stores , or you can fashion a seat from a foam pool noodle for a DIY portable Loo.  Include TP, hand sanitizer, heavy duty garbage bags, twist ties and a shovel.... and don't forget to include something to keep the smell to a minimum such as kitty liter. You may want to create 2 buckets.  One for solids and one for liquids.  Some people label them simply PEE and POO (or color coded 💩 💛 for the youn...

It's MID April!  For those that have pressurized irrigation water, remember it will be turned ON this week! Check & turn OFF your main valve and any spigots you may have opened to drain your sprinkling system last fall. Many households over the years have experienced flooded yards and/or basements due to an open spigot or broken sprinkler valve left undetected or damaged over the winter months. Check with your immediate neighbors and help them to be prepared as well.    Once the water is on, walk your property and check your sprinkler boxes for any leaks or breakage.

Each Ward/Neighborhood has been counseled to have an Emergency Plan in place.  In our area, we have unique threats of disaster as well as some similar to other areas of the world.  We are not likely to experience a hurricane or a tsunami, however most of you are aware of the possibility and likelihood of earthquakes, strong downslope winds, tornado, flooding, drought, fire, and events that may require evacuation from our homes.   With a neighborhood awareness and action plan in place, along with our own household preparedness plan, we will all be better able to assist and give aid to our neighbors in the event of a major event.  Stake councils, ward councils, and presidencies assist units in working together to become more temporally prepared. Members have been counseled to work together to help one another build their temporal preparedness. As members do so, their hearts can be “knit together in unity and in love one towards another” (Mosiah 18:21). More inform...

Great additions to Emergency Preparedness and Camping/Survival Supplies include communication devices.  Walkie Talkies (handheld radios) for grown-ups are awesome!  We use them when camping to touch base with each other when going different directions while hiking or when separating our group for one reason or another (some go fishing without the others...)  Each Ward in our Stake has an emergency communications plan set up.  Many radios are used to practice communicating in the event of an emergency and thus when an emergency occurs, coordinating needs of the neighborhood can be assessed & help can be arranged.   Consider having a set of hand radios and a supply of batteries on hand with your supplies.  Don't forget to rotate the batteries as needed so you always have some fresh on hand.  Another great idea is to have an emergency radio to keep you informed about weather or other natural disaster updates.  For some options of emergency r...