Food Storage, Obedience and an Inoperable Wheat Grinder
When we moved home from Japan, we spent a summer in the Washington D.C. area. Our friends from Japan were home for the summer too and during her time home, Sister Harrison would buy all the non-perishable food her family would need for a year and ship it back to Japan. Groceries in Japan are beyond expensive and they don't have all the American products we ex-pats are used to, so there is a lot of buying here and shipping.
I remember being so amazed that she knew how much of everything that her family would need for a year. I don't know why I've always remembered that, but I have. My life has come full circle, I guess, because if I had to buy all the food my family would eat in a year, I could do it. No problem. I'll confess...I love food storage. I'm into it.
Long Term
I've grown a lot since those early salty days. I spent the next few years figuring out what and how much we eat. Figuring out what kinds of things would store well and tricking my children into liking them. I learned to bottle fruit and make jam. I learned to shop sales and use coupons. I went to the cannery and figured out how it works. The last few years have been spent asking a lot of questions, reading a lot of books and seeking out people who have skills I want to learn.
I consciously focused on short term things. I tried to follow the council of the prophet to have a week, then two weeks than a month, etc. Last year I decided that I had a good handle on short term and I should start working on longer term storage. I was ready to tackle all the things I didn't know about, including ... wheat.
My mail lady and I have a tenuous relationship. I get a lot of packages and she is not super thrilled that she has to get out of her mail truck and hike up my driveway at least once a week. I'm sure the week 90 lbs of wheat arrived in the mail didn't do much to improve our relationship.
It didn't do much for Chad either. When he saw three big boxes from the church all labeled wheat he said something to the effect of "Please tell me that's not really wheat." My policy has always been "mock now, starve later," so Chad carried all those boxes downstairs without any further commenting. And there they sat for about 6 months. It felt good to have it and I sort of knew what to do with it, but I needed to work on some of my skills before I got brave enough to start trying it out.
And for my next trick...
I've tried before to make bread, rolls, etc, but no luck. I kill yeast. Every time, I'd never had anything rise. So I spent the better part of 2008 battling my yeast demons. I read all about yeast to figure out why I was probably killing it. I found a couple of recipes and I started practicing. I started with dinner rolls and made batch, after batch, after batch. I'm happy to say I can now whip out a batch of dinner rolls in an afternoon (by hand, no breadmaker), like it's no big whoop.
Last night with dinner in the oven I thought, I'm going to grind a little wheat and throw a loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Downstairs I went to retrieve a can of wheat and my never been opened wheat grinder. I put the grinder together and put a little wheat in and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing!
I enlisted Chad to help me and we tried everything to make it work. We finally realized that our grinder is missing a part. The part we're missing? A tiny nylon washer--a tiny piece that holds the mechanism in tight enough to actually grind the wheat. Isn't it always the little things that throw you off?
I called the company this morning and they are mailing me a replacement part. When it arrives I'll haul my stuff back out for the first of what I'm sure will be many wheat-related experiments. Based on my history, I'm expecting quite a few inedible loaves of bread before I figure it out.
So What?
The whole thing got me thinking. I'm glad I didn't wait until I had to rely on my wheat to bust out my grinder and try to figure it out. We would have starved all because of a nylon washer. The more I've worked on food storage then more important I think it is. But what I've been most amazed about is the way the Lord has been able to magnify my small steps and little efforts. After all, I stored little more than condiments for more than a year and now I'm ready to give wheat a go. That's serious progress.
I'm encouraged by the fact that you can know very little about something and for no other reasons than you have faith and put forth a little effort, they Lord can really help you figure things out. I was reading a conference talk by Elder Neil L. Anderson the other night. It was quite moving. In the talk he says "'You don't know everything, but you know enough' --enough to keep the commandments and to do what is right." I loved that. I might not know everything about food storage, but I can still do it. I might not know everything about the scriptures, but I can still read them. Obedience is much more about faith than it is about knowledge.
He talks about how even when we face challenges and even when we have doubts, our testimonies are strengthened when we act on what we know is right. He says "Through the years we take these important spiritual steps over and over again. We begin to see that “he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”Our questions and doubts are resolved or become less concerning to us. Our faith becomes simple and pure. We come to know what we already knew." I love that "we come to know what we already knew." How simple and encouraging. He uses the example of knowing the Lord loves us. We know He does, but the more faithfully we live, them more we will know it.
I don't think I've gained some great spiritual insight or understanding through food storage, its really the obedience. I think it's being asked to do something and, despite not really knowing what to do, making an honest effort. We grow when we are obedient. The Lord blesses us when we have faith and try.
With everything going on in the world, I should feel totally freaked out. But you know what? I don't. Not even a little. I trust the Lord. I feel completely at peace. If he can help me build a food storage from salt and mustard then the rest should be easy, right? :)
Mom, I started this post mostly to say if you haven't opened your wheat grinder do it and make sure you have all the parts, but apparently I'm pontificating a bit today.
I remember being so amazed that she knew how much of everything that her family would need for a year. I don't know why I've always remembered that, but I have. My life has come full circle, I guess, because if I had to buy all the food my family would eat in a year, I could do it. No problem. I'll confess...I love food storage. I'm into it.
A Salty Start
In the back of my mind I've always known food storage was something I ought to be thinking about, but it seemed very overwhelming, so I put it off for a long time. I was at the store one day about 6 years ago and salt was on sale. So I bought 4 containers for salt for .32 a piece and something in me caught fire. For the first couple of years of my endeavor I had a food storage that wouldn't exactly keep you alive. Salt, mustard, A-1 sauce, ketchup ... We would have had to barter with our more prepared neighbors, I figured. Their sustenance for our tastiness, but whatever. I had started with things I knew how to use - I have a solid conceptual understanding of salt and mustard, apparently. I bought things I knew I could use up in a year, things I knew would store. I started with very little, but after a few months I had food storage and was really proud of myself.
Long Term
I've grown a lot since those early salty days. I spent the next few years figuring out what and how much we eat. Figuring out what kinds of things would store well and tricking my children into liking them. I learned to bottle fruit and make jam. I learned to shop sales and use coupons. I went to the cannery and figured out how it works. The last few years have been spent asking a lot of questions, reading a lot of books and seeking out people who have skills I want to learn.
I consciously focused on short term things. I tried to follow the council of the prophet to have a week, then two weeks than a month, etc. Last year I decided that I had a good handle on short term and I should start working on longer term storage. I was ready to tackle all the things I didn't know about, including ... wheat.
My mail lady and I have a tenuous relationship. I get a lot of packages and she is not super thrilled that she has to get out of her mail truck and hike up my driveway at least once a week. I'm sure the week 90 lbs of wheat arrived in the mail didn't do much to improve our relationship.
It didn't do much for Chad either. When he saw three big boxes from the church all labeled wheat he said something to the effect of "Please tell me that's not really wheat." My policy has always been "mock now, starve later," so Chad carried all those boxes downstairs without any further commenting. And there they sat for about 6 months. It felt good to have it and I sort of knew what to do with it, but I needed to work on some of my skills before I got brave enough to start trying it out.
And for my next trick...
I've tried before to make bread, rolls, etc, but no luck. I kill yeast. Every time, I'd never had anything rise. So I spent the better part of 2008 battling my yeast demons. I read all about yeast to figure out why I was probably killing it. I found a couple of recipes and I started practicing. I started with dinner rolls and made batch, after batch, after batch. I'm happy to say I can now whip out a batch of dinner rolls in an afternoon (by hand, no breadmaker), like it's no big whoop.
Last night with dinner in the oven I thought, I'm going to grind a little wheat and throw a loaf of bread in the breadmaker. Downstairs I went to retrieve a can of wheat and my never been opened wheat grinder. I put the grinder together and put a little wheat in and guess what happened? Absolutely nothing!
I enlisted Chad to help me and we tried everything to make it work. We finally realized that our grinder is missing a part. The part we're missing? A tiny nylon washer--a tiny piece that holds the mechanism in tight enough to actually grind the wheat. Isn't it always the little things that throw you off?
I called the company this morning and they are mailing me a replacement part. When it arrives I'll haul my stuff back out for the first of what I'm sure will be many wheat-related experiments. Based on my history, I'm expecting quite a few inedible loaves of bread before I figure it out.
So What?
The whole thing got me thinking. I'm glad I didn't wait until I had to rely on my wheat to bust out my grinder and try to figure it out. We would have starved all because of a nylon washer. The more I've worked on food storage then more important I think it is. But what I've been most amazed about is the way the Lord has been able to magnify my small steps and little efforts. After all, I stored little more than condiments for more than a year and now I'm ready to give wheat a go. That's serious progress.
I'm encouraged by the fact that you can know very little about something and for no other reasons than you have faith and put forth a little effort, they Lord can really help you figure things out. I was reading a conference talk by Elder Neil L. Anderson the other night. It was quite moving. In the talk he says "'You don't know everything, but you know enough' --enough to keep the commandments and to do what is right." I loved that. I might not know everything about food storage, but I can still do it. I might not know everything about the scriptures, but I can still read them. Obedience is much more about faith than it is about knowledge.
He talks about how even when we face challenges and even when we have doubts, our testimonies are strengthened when we act on what we know is right. He says "Through the years we take these important spiritual steps over and over again. We begin to see that “he that receiveth light, and continueth in God, receiveth more light; and that light groweth brighter and brighter until the perfect day.”Our questions and doubts are resolved or become less concerning to us. Our faith becomes simple and pure. We come to know what we already knew." I love that "we come to know what we already knew." How simple and encouraging. He uses the example of knowing the Lord loves us. We know He does, but the more faithfully we live, them more we will know it.
I don't think I've gained some great spiritual insight or understanding through food storage, its really the obedience. I think it's being asked to do something and, despite not really knowing what to do, making an honest effort. We grow when we are obedient. The Lord blesses us when we have faith and try.
With everything going on in the world, I should feel totally freaked out. But you know what? I don't. Not even a little. I trust the Lord. I feel completely at peace. If he can help me build a food storage from salt and mustard then the rest should be easy, right? :)
Mom, I started this post mostly to say if you haven't opened your wheat grinder do it and make sure you have all the parts, but apparently I'm pontificating a bit today.
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