How Secure Is Your Food Supply? Part Three 

Storehouses

In this third instalment in our ongoing series on food security, I will share some very practical advice, born out of personal experience, particularly in regard to ideas for your storehouse. (Read Parts 1 and 2 here and here).

Giving first

Over a number of years my husband and me had lived with the scripture directing us to provide for the 'widows, orphans and foreigners' (Zechariah 7:10). 

Seven years before the storehouse project, we were led to give away everything we owned - the equivalent value of our Gloucestershire home at the time - in order to provide a home for a widowed family member. This meant that when we moved to Cumbria we were totally reliant on the Lord as we lived completely by faith. What we gave away would have bought everything needed to build the prayer house and all the infrastructure needed for the storehouse project and more.

With hindsight we understood this to be not only a demonstration of our willingness to obey God, whatever He asked, but so that what was built was done completely by Him and not our own ability to make it happen. We had no idea that within the next decade we would be given it back again!

We, and our core group at the prayer house where we were in the Eden Valley area of Cumbria, also built the House of Hope for orphan victims of the war zone in northern Uganda. Only when these two things had been done could we begin to consider a storehouse for the ‘foreigners’ around us.

Miraculous provision

In addition to the above, and as my husband turned sixty and became eligible to cash in the only pension fund he had, we used the money to buy the field adjacent to the prayer house where we lived and worked. As food-growing novices, the Lord taught us how to grow edible food – not all home-grown produce is necessarily edible!

This went on to become the source of much of the fresh produce that was preserved and laid down in our storehouse. Eventually, by 2013, we had become completely self-sufficient in our food supply and the Lord gave us the miraculous phenomenon of giant vegetables – albeit only for one season (see photos below).

We taught ourselves how to preserve the food we grew. This involved learning to use a canning machine, bottling, drying, dehydrating and freezing. I run a very basic level course on how to do these things, which is operated on demand. If you are interested in doing the course, then please contact me through the Issachar People website.

In part four of this short series we will look at the matter of preserving the crops we grow in more details.
 

End-Time Food Stores

Why store food?

There are many possible reasons, including:

• Short-term local emergencies: snow, flood, etc.
•  A national emergency: outside intervention (e.g. a war) or internal crisis (terrorism, extreme weather)
• The collapse of infrastructure (e.g. the banking system, external food supply, shortage of fuel)
• Persecution (e.g. for refusing to wear the ‘mark’ i.e. being frozen out of the world trading & banking system). There is a need to be self-sustaining within the Kingdom - the church ‘underground’.

Won’t God supply all we need?

God will not do what is our responsibility to do. Note:

• 2 Kings 4:1-7: God multiplied the widow’s existing supply of oil.
• Matthew 14:13-21: 15:29-39: Jesus multiplied the fish & bread that was to hand.
• Matthew 25:1-13: The virgins who didn’t prepare were disciplined.
• Ezekiel 4:9-17:  Essential storage of grains and water was to be rationed in a time of crisis.
• After we have done what is ours to do, we must then allow God to be God. 

Food Storage Basics

The main items that are required include:

Water Fuel Pots & utensils Seed bank Storage: a root store and/or designated dry airy store or cupboard;

It's good to consider also what our time-period might be: a week, a month, several years?


One of the four sides of my storehouse
 

Fuel

The two main questions that need to be asked are:

• How are you going to cook your food?

• Where is your fuel supply going to come from?

‘Dry’ Goods

These primarily consist of:

• Grains, pulses, rice & pasta
  • Easy to bulk buy
  • They are conveniently long dated
  • Diatomaceous earth (a naturally occurring, soft, off-white crumbly material that is a natural insecticide. As well as being an organic method of pest control for the garden, f dried goods are stored with a handful of diatomaceous earth, it protects the goods from insect contamination. It can also be used to make toothpaste!)
  • Consider acquiring a hand-powered grain mill
• Canned goods (meat, fish, vegetables, fruit & whole meals)
• Herbs, spices & salt.

‘Wet’ Goods (food with moisture)

These comprise:

• Vegetables
• Eggs
• Dairy (milk, cheese, fats)
• Meat (chicken, beef, lamb, pork, rabbit, birds)
• Fish (streams, ponds, sea, hydroponics)
• Sweeteners e.g. honey, sugar beet
• Fruit

Trade is Essential

No-one person or small group can provide all that is needed alone. God encourages community; Messiah’s Body is community – working together to love, support, encourage and provide for one another all of the time and not just on Sunday mornings.
 
Consider establishing or helping create a locally organised inter-dependent trading community that provides a system for trading (exchange or payment) or sharing of goods, seeds, expertise, tools & equipment. There will be more guidance on how to do this in a later instalment.
 

The Garden

Everyone can grow something. Just do it! The sooner you start, the sooner you start learning. Important points to consider:

Get a gardening ‘Bible’ Test the soil & improve it Swap seeds or seed-share Grow easy vegetables: lettuce, carrots, beans, beetroot, onions, courgettes Keep a diary Learn from your mistakes

 My Polytunnel

 

Small-holdings

Even for those with a smallholding of just five acres or more, self-sufficiency is almost possible. Possibilities include:

Vegetables grown to a different scale: More beds, poly-tunnel etc. Meat: Chickens, pigs, sheep, goats & store cattle. Home slaughter for home use. Animal hides for other uses.

Dairy: House cow or goats. Milk, cheese & yoghurt. Eggs for home use and trade. Bees: honey, wax & medicinal use. Orchard: fruit & nuts. Woodland: coppicing for fire, wood for hurdles, tool handles etc.

Some Questions to Think Over:

1.         Do I need a storehouse?
2.         How long am I storing for?
3.         Who am I storing for?
4.         What do I put in it?
5.         How can I make the best use of what I have?
6.         How can I work together locally with others to fill the gaps?
 

Storehouse for a Small Household

The following table offers a few ideas for items that might be useful in a storehouse for a small household. Not everyone will feel to store the same things, especially if you are working together with others in a local co-operative where some people might major in one item and store it for everyone. The table shows where I found the best and cheapest places to buy each item, though most are available more widely. 
 

GARDEN HERBS	Mint, sage, oregano, thyme, rosemary, chives, parsley, lemon balm.	Grow your own. Mint is best grown in pots to prevent spread.
PACKET SPICES	Cumin seed, cumin powder, turmeric, coriander seed, coriander powder, curry powder [various strengths), chili flakes.	Tesco or Indian supermarket.
	Salt, black pepper. ginger, mixed spice.	Aldi.
HOMEMADE	Jams, chutneys, canned garden fruits, wild blackberries and pickled beetroot.
	Blackberry vinegar, elderberry syrup, elderflower cordial
	Chilli jam, mint jelly, apple & sage jelly. Crab apple jelly for pectin.
FOOD FLAVOURINGS	Tubes garlic puree, tomato puree, minced ginger.	Aldi or Indian supermarket.
	Stock cubes, beef, veg. chicken & fish. Coconut cream	Aldi.
DRIED FRUITS	Apricots, figs, dates, prunes, cranberries, raisins, sultanas.	Aldi.
DRIED PULSES	Red lentils, split peas, yellow lentils, peas, chick peas, butter beans, black-eyed beans, cannellini beans, broad beans, barley, kidney beans. Long grain rice, quinoa, couscous. Dried mushroom. Dried onions. Rice with dried veg. Pasta. Packets of nuts, brazil, walnut, cashew	Tesco.         Costco, Sainsbury, Weigh your own.
BAKING PRODUCTS	Oats, SR flour, plain flour, cornflour, rice flour, gram flour. Maize ,SR gluten free flour Baking powder, individual pks. yeast	Aldi, Tesco, Sainsbury.
TINNED FOOD	Corned beef, tuna. Tomato. Cooked onions. Sardines, salmon, crab. Condensed soup, mushroom, chicken, celery, asparagus.	Aldi.   Sainsbury, Heron.
DRIED PRODUCTS	Potato powder. Soya mince. Soup mixes. Milk powder.	Costco, Macro or Cash & carry.
DRINKS	Tea, coffee, cocoa, fruit teas, herbal teas, rooibos.	Aldi, Tesco.
	Honey, suqar, sweeteners.
JARS	Beetroot, roasted peppers, fruit, pesto	Aldi.
OIL	Olive
TOILETRIES	Toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap bars. Combs, flannels, shampoo.	Tesco.
LAUNDRY	Powder. Washing liquid. Bleach. Cleaning products. Soda crystals.	Pound-shops
MEDICAL	Paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin. Elasticated bandages, gauze, micropore tape, aqueous cream, antiseptic spray. Vick, moisture cream. Cotton wool.	Pound-shops
	Blood pressure monitor.	Lloyds pharmacy
	Gloves.	Pound-shops.
	Toilet roll.	Supermarket.
	Soda water. Bottled water.
	Book on use of herbs as medicines.
BEDDING	Sufficient to sleep four or more.
ANCILIARY LIGHTING	Storm lamp, t-lights, candles, lighters, battery lamp.

You can download a pdf of this list by clicking here.

In the next instalment of this series we will look in further detail into the different approaches we can take to preserving the crops that we grow.