WEEK FOUR

It is strawberry season. I hope everyone got to enjoy the strawberries in your areas. I made jam with mine and the girls had so much fun helping. I like to make cooked jam but a lot of people enjoy freezer jam. It is not a hard thing to make just a lot of stirring! That is why letting the kids help really made it easier. I have always used the recipe that comes with the pectin. So no secret there. It is one of the things I actually enjoy making. There are a lot of different opportunities for us to get fruit. I am looking forward to peaches coming in August. A little side note - why you keep an inventory of your storage - I thought I had lots of sugar from the cannery so did not purchase any. It turns out that I was going by the label color instead of reading and what I had was white flour. I did find 2 cans of sugar but had to stop the process and go back again to the store and purchase more sugar. Good advice: make sure you have everything on hand before you start.

News: Water storage. It is recommended that we should store 1 gallon per person per day for 2 weeks, and another 1/2 gallon per person per day for other limited uses such as hand washing, teeth brushing and dishwashing. (This is a total of 21 gallons per person for 2 weeks.) That is a lot of water when you have a large family. I look at my few gallons and realize that I do not have near enough. We have purchased large plastic drums that are for storing water. Stored water must be clean water. Use the best quality available for water storage. Water must be from a system with a Division of Drinking Water "Approved" rating. Water stored in thoroughly clean plastic or glass containers can be chemically disinfected for long term treating each gallon with 4 to 5 drops of liquid chlorine bleach (Clorox containing 4% to 6% sodium hypochlorite.) One teaspoon of bleach disinfects 5 gallons of water. Allow 20 to 30 minutes before drinking. The level of treatment will prevent growth of microorganisms during storage. Most municipal water storages are already disinfected so no additional treatment is necessary. Fill clean food grade container with tap water and screw on lids. It is not recommended using milk containers. They are generally manufactured with non-durable plastic that promotes biodegradability and is undesirable for long term water storage. The water may become toxic over time from breakdown products from the plastic container. I have been purchasing a couple of gallons of water every week. They will store in those containers for 1 year. My plan is to start to rotate the drinking water and then I don't have to worry about contamination. But water can be disinfected:

1. Boiling

2. Liquid Bleach

3. Iodine Tablets

4. Halazone Tablets

Boiling is the safest. It is preferred over any method of chemical disinfection because most disease causing microorganisms cannot survive the heat of the sterilizing boil. Bring to a boil and hold at a vigorous rolling boil for 5 minutes minimum. Let the water cool before drinking. Pouring the water back in forth between containers will improve the taste because you are putting oxygen back into it.

I bet this is more than you wanted to know about water. Happy storing:)

WEEK FOUR: 1 bottle of multiple vitamins