POSITIVITY & PREPAREDNESS IN UNCERTAIN TIMES
COVID-19, flu season, civil unrest, education disruption, supply and demand issues, and more!
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There are a lot of challenges, uncertainty, and fear affecting everyone right now, including homesteaders, in real, new, and unprecedented ways.
What are the things you can do now to be able to move through this season with confidence and positivity? In today's video, we're talking through some of the ways we're dealing with these obstacles and the actions you can start taking today to be more prepared.
Time Stamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:57 – Chit Chat
4:56 – Q & A: Why don't we keep bees?
6:45 – Main Topic
16:16 – Ways to Care for Yourself
19:07 – Save Money & Supplies
22:10 – Items to Consider Buying
24:38 – Schooling Options
27:36 – Have Some Fun!
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MORE ABOUT US!
WELCOME! We're so glad you're here! We are Josh and Carolyn Thomas. Together with our nine children, we are The Homesteading Family where we’re living a self-sustainable life in beautiful North Idaho. Let us welcome you and show you a bit about us here: http://bit.ly/HFWelcomeVideo
Grow, Preserve & Thrive with us!
Visit us at https://www.homesteadingfamily.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/homesteadingfamily
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– Homesteading Family's Favorite Holiday Recipes – A PDF download filled with our family’s favorite holiday recipe.
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– Save the Crumbs- Several Recipes for using bread leftovers, a less committal entry to bread than the workshop.
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– Fearless Fermenting- A PDF on basic lacto-ferments.
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#Preparedness #COVID #SelfSufficiency
I wait all week for the Pantry Chats. <3
I’m exhausted from all of this. I’ve been preparing for what’s to come and it weighs heavy on my mind at times. I had a brief moment last night where I had an emotional breakdown due to the fear of what’s coming. But I can’t dwell too much as I would become paralyzed because of it. I work in a hospital so I’m concerned with winter coming, the 2nd round of Covid, civil unrest, etc., etc…..all I can do is focus, act on what I can and be positive. Love to you both and to your family❤️
Pine Nut ????
Pine Nut no, I don’t think that. I think that with the combination of everything going on that it’s a powder keg waiting to explode.
I think that we all go through this at times. Our imagination is worse than the reality, because in our imaginations we generally leave out the promise that God will be with us and will never forsake us.
“Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” is really good to keep in mind. One of my friends said that she was always scared of the thought of bushfires. Then she went through one: she said she felt like running away in a blind panic. But the local minister was with them on their property and they prayed together and she became peaceful. The fires came very close and they got into the pool, and all survived. She is no longer afraid of bushfires, because she felt the peace of the presence of God, and that was greater than the fear without Him had been.
Another friend that same year went off to fight fires as a volunteer. The men tried to save the church, but it burnt down and the only thing that remained was a twisted iron cross. When he returned home, he found that his wife and teenage daughter had died (of asphyxiation, I think) at home, under the car where they had taken shelter. Of course, his grief was monumental. However, he now has spoken to so many different groups of volunteers, churches, rescue organisations and charities etc, because his life was changed awfully but he also came to have a closer relationship with God and he describes himself as having been an angry person who became much better after what he had been through.
My friends and I encourage each other to “bloom where we are planted” (when we get discombobulated with fear for the future of our children) and to stand firm. We send each other links to Bible verses that have encouraged us that day. We are in 23 hours per day lockdown, and that can be very wearing, especially as we aren’t able to see each other at all. One solace is that, while it is very painful, we feel that we are being “refined” and prepared to meet what lies ahead. I like to remember that the words “Do not fear/do not be afraid” occur over 365 times in the Bible – we might need to be reminded every day of the year, but we are NEVER alone in all this.
@Michelewestover God bless you and your colleagues for your selfless and courageous work, especially during these challenging times. You are preparing to the best of your ability – excellent. Grow what you can, even if it’s only some greens in a kitchen window. And then (agreeing with many others on this lovely channel), hope for the best, plan for the worst…And if it fits your beliefs, please consider praying for greater calm, love, patience, integrity etc from our “leaders” and everyone, (I also ask for this for myself) but if that’s not your way, then take some deep breaths and focus on the things for which you are grateful- both can be powerful energy shifters 🙏.
Erin P ❤️❤️❤️
End 24 hour news stations. all of them
And bring back print newspapers.
I’m glad I had cash on hand when Hurricane Laura hit recently,,, I live in North Louisiana.. the winds caused many days of power outages, gasoline shortages a couple day also.. cash only,because internet was down and could not except card payments,, fast food restaurants wrapped around constantly busy.. no one it seems, had generators, gasoline, food and ways to cook those foods,, and eye opener for many,, my household was taken care of,,..I’ve already got 2 turkeys put away for thanksgiving and Christmas and all the fixings,, we think a lot, God Bless.
Gulf Coast weather creates natural born preppers
@MacQuiston you are so right. The heat is the worse.. no root cellars etc to keep things cool.
@MacQuiston …truth for sure.
In California I keep a full tank of gas and money on hand because of the fires. Common sense. Good for you to be thinking a head
judy baugus . I realized the 6 gallons I had put up wasn’t enough, got another 5 gallon container for the gasoline snd she my car gets in half I fill it.. 8 treat the half as the empty, stay safe there,
You’re spot on regarding the fear being used against us…
I got laughed at when I started trading. I was burnt out, needed a change, also wasn’t expecting to be laughed out of the office when I mentioned my interest in investing in the stock market. Well, a few years later and $5.3 million in savings, I’m the one laughing now. Friends now want to know exactly what my i do to earn well I advise everyone to start trading in the stock market today for a better tomorrow that’s all I can say,thanks to Mr carlos @carlos_1uptrades on instagram. I’m making a living trading forex
The one good thing I see with the two days at school and 3 days at home is that I’ve noticed more children spending quite a bit of time with their grandparents. This is a good thing!
Do not send your children to school!!
Watch The Fullerton informer why schools are fenced like prisons.
And 5g dangers in schools.
“Deborah Tavares stop the crime dot net. 5g dangers in schools.
It’s like we’re (homesteaders/families) an endangered species!
No kidding
I agree 100% with today’s chat… the only thing we know for sure is the fear and fear mongering is real. I’m a veteran and a teacher and the state of our nation saddens and concerns me. I agree with pray for the best outcome but prepare for the worst. I have deleted Facebook, Twitter and no longer watch the news outlets … I read to stay informed but even that is limited at this point. I don’t live too far from Monticello, the home of President Thomas Jefferson. He was a farmer as well as a scientist / inventor. His dream for our nation was to be a self sufficient agrarian society … if we could just get more people to try to be more self sufficient and move away from this idea of being government dependent…. I think we would be a much happier and successful nation.
Medically retired military family of 6 here and we agree 100%!!!!! Goats, chickens, gardens, fruit trees, bees and skills are all things you ABSOLUTELY NEED
Trumpism is destroying America, we never saw this during the Obama years.
@Benaiah Ahmadinejad because the racial devide that obummer started wasn’t in full swing yet. Trump has done more in his short term than obummer could dream of. Including trying to clean up the absolute mess he was left with
Benaiah Ahmadinejad I hated Obama I am a die hard Republican conservative I love what Trump has done and hope and pray he has 4 more years !! #KAG2020 .. sorry but that’s how I feel … hope you have a great day
https://youtu.be/GKM_ABZrplE
Starving out Austalia👪
A lot of sensible advice and so necessary in this climate of uncertainty.
There’s a whole lot of sense in associating with people you disagree with. In the bigger picture, extremism thrives in isolation and conflict. People are tribal by nature, especially when people feel attacked and it can be a challenge to reach out regardless of beliefs, but you can’t nurture a healthy community without that diplomacy. People don’t have to agree to come together and reaching an understanding is healthy. I’ve gone to the extreme of reaching out to a neonazi, and we disagreed on literally everything regarding race and society as a whole. According to him, “you’re a genuinely nice person, even though we don’t agree on anything, and I like talking to you,” that was ultimately the key. He’s no longer part of his organization or quite so afraid, which benefits him, and I was better able to learn why people go to such extreme in the first place, which benefits me.
I went through a lot of scenarios when considering putting by for a hard winter and that impulse to buy a ton of wheat, for example, had to be tempered by – what will we really eat? what would we really need to get by? Our move has been to go rather pioneer thinking – with a small wood stove and dutch oven, what can we make that’s filling and will do? The simpler our future could look, the more refined our shopping list became. The pantry and home supplies is based on a plan. What would we need if power went out for a time? What would we really eat if grocery supplies were interrupted? This gave us answers we’re responding to by getting what we actually need, such as a small wood stove, a good axe, and wood, a few rain barrels, seeds. We looked at a small cookstove and realized we really only needed a small heating wood stove because we can still cook on top of that and save $800. A good plan is worth more than anything we’ll buy or do to prepare for hard times.
You make a good point. Thanks for your perspective.
“Pioneer thinking” love the term.☺
Allison Malacaria we often lose power where we are .. either due to storms or here recently unknown reasons.. just add that to list of crazy happenings of 2020 I guess .. anyway… we live in a rural area so we aren’t high on the list for power restoration during major storms … between my army experience and living out here we’ve learned through trial and error what we need to stock up on and what we can live without .. as well as what essentials we need to survive without power for extended periods of time … we have back ups for back ups and alternate plans in case both of those fail 🤣😂🤣… experience has been our best teacher .. good luck and God bless
@Shannon Weber We’re in a small town, semi-rural, and I think I’m mostly concerned about supply chain – for both food and non-food but also grid (water, electricity). We don’t get outages too often and not for long but if something happens to the power in winter, our gas heat now goes off because of some electrical “safety” switch. We figured best to have as much off-grid access to self-sufficiency as possible. It’s just me and my husband so we don’t need much in place, but we’d like to be okay if anything goes wrong. That way we’re also not a burden on our community and can help others, too. Also, if our house was too cold to stay in, leaving it unoccupied in hard times would leave it open to opportunistic burglaries which we’d like to prevent.
Guys, I don’t have parents that I can ask advice and show me how to navigate this crazy time. I appreciate you guys and these talks so much! I am turning my suburban home into a micro homestead by myself (not really my husbands jam) and I have 7 kids to care for (plus my niece and nephew who I’m home schooling all week as well) life is crazy, but your channel gives me life! Thank you!
@amber Mullen, do you have any channels you watch for micro homesteading? I’m trying to slowly work my home into the same if I can.
Elissa Croft not really, I watch the bigger ones usually and just fit it to my situation. I do like homestead and chill, but she’s more on Instagram than on YouTube.
Amber Mullen Nothing but kiddos for you! Hang in there!
And that was supposed to be kudos!
Well done young momma!!!
Bingo! Agree whole heartedly….we haven’t had a tv in 10…11 years…don’t miss that smutbox at all. People need to turn their tvs off…then what would the media do..lol.
Beulah Land Homestead Farm sadly, there is still Twitter. This is what has spread vileness and deceit for the last four years.
TV is useless. I don’t have one either.
On the internet, one can follow communities of like minded people and just poke around occasionally to keep eyes and ears open for possible dangers.
I’m so tickled! You’re in North Idaho too. We just moved here and I noticed all the homestead channels I watch are in North Idaho. We have a wonderful area up here:)
It’s a good place to homestead. It’s less likely to be overrun when people start migrating, it’s a good place to grow, and the law is relatively accommodating. My only issue is the lack of tree diversity, I adore oaks, walnuts, hickory, maple, and all that, but all I saw there were pines.
We’ve started homeschooling this year. I was so nervous about it but it has been a great blessing. So much more stable and less stressful! We’ve also been doing some of the other suggestions y’all made. Thank you for sharing this with us
We’ve been putting our cucumbers in a blender put in ice trays freeze them popping them out putting them up for this winter smoothies
Fantastic chat! Thank you!! May I add, getting involved in your local policy making. Life today has become 1% covid, 9% media fear porn, & 90% gov overreaction & overreach. We The People need to take the reins back, where they belong. If nothing else but hold them accountable for the devastating effects of their decision making. This is America & We are the Bosses.
Covid may not be everything the media claims, but it is real. I’m a registered nurse. I have lost 17 patients to it. I got it and was home from work for 3 weeks. I gave it to my husband and children, who Thank God had mild cases. I have no underlying health conditions and I was really sick. I don’t think we need to be too scared to leave home, and I think we should be cautious of the government over stepping their boundaries. But it breaks my heart when people say it’s a hoax because I’ve seen it tear families apart. Thank you for your continued voice of reason in this time of insanity!
Yes. Thanking you for stating the facts. It is real. We need to be cautious.
@Pine Nut in a normal year I lose an average of 3 patients to the flu over the whole winter season. I’ve never lost 17 in a six week period. I don’t agree with a population wide quarantine at all, but that doesn’t make the virus any less real or deadly for many people.
@Sherri Jackson Agreed. My background is medical biotechnology, and I have friends in a variety of scientific occupations and settings. I think one factor that may well be exacerbating infections and deaths is actually the continual fear-mongering. People’s immune systems don’t function well with heightened and prolonged periods of cortisol in the system.
Sympathetic dominance (the fright/flight/freeze response) that is not treated has a series of “knock on” effects, including hormonal issues (PCOS, hormone imbalances), infertility, susceptibility to infections, thyroid problems, adrenal fatigue, chronic fatigue. Indeed, chronic conditions that lead to surgical removal of organs is not uncommon.
Quarantining the healthy is a political control mechanism rather than a valid health promotion measure.
Both you and Pine Nut may enjoy the Co-Immunity channel, featuring some excellent short videos by epidemiologists and other scientists. John Ioannidis, Michael Mina, etc are highly respected, widely published and cited, and cover issues such as PCR, lockdowns, masks, herd immunity thresholds, from evidence-based perspectives.
This vid is less than 2.5 minutes, “millions of people are being quarantined and contact traced for no reason: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-noluNNBEc
All the best to you both 🙂
@Sherri Jackson unfortunately you can’t reason with some people they just want an excuse to be “right”. Makes me sad. Anyone with a right head on their shoulders knows how epidemiological science works. and knows the kinds of devastation these types of diseases can cause not just in deaths but also long term health problems. Similar with climate change.
I lost a friend and former Co worker to covid in May. He was only 43.
Here is the answer :
Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
I agree with EVERYTHING you talked about in this session. I have stopped watching the news altogether for the last two weeks. Even FB, Twitter, & IG can sometimes get overwhelmed with fear mongering, so I take a break & read my Bible or faith based books.
You’re such a well rounded and sensible couple!
Here in the UK people laugh at preppers as a general rule, and I’ve had people laugh at me because though not a prepper as such, I keep a good stock in at all times. I have four freezers and two fridges which makes people here think I’m weird, not mention cupboards full of foodstuffs of one sort or another.
Covid 19 wiped the smiles off their faces though, as they freaked out because shops were empty, and they couldn’t get supplies. Even with my supplies, I had one or two scary moments, because obviously, things need to be replenished, but they still lasted well.
Whilst deliveries are difficult to get, they’re still good enough to refill shelves, and I’ve been building a bigger stock for the second wave of Covid 19 which many people still tried to deny would happen.
We haven’t had it as bad here as you’re getting it, though we have had protests and rioting.
I can’t save money, it’s partly because of my Autism (fully functioning) and partly because I’m on disability benefits, but what spare cash I do have, I invest in equipment and supplies.
You mentioned your concerns about money being printed irresponsibly, so you’re saving for when that becomes a problem, and it made me wonder, have you considered what the problem is, with them constantly printing money? The biggest problem of all will be inflation! Every dollar you put in your money box, will lose value; every $100 will become worth only $90, $80, or even $50 depending how bad the inflation gets. Perhaps investment is a better way to go; glass jars will break, equipment does break down etc….
Thanks for all your videos though, I enjoy them, and I’ve learnt so much from you.