Follow the Prophet!

Todd and I have really taken the food storage/emergency preparedness thing to the next level as you have seen in our pictures and posts over the last few months. My laundry room, kitchen and garage are filling up with food storage, water and other misc. items that we may need in the event of an emergency. We are trying to be very diligent about following the counsel of our church leaders and it has been an awesome process. Raising and caring for animals is a lot of work. I spend about an hour to 2 hours each day doing "chores" which include: watering EVERYTHING, feeding, milking, collecting eggs, cleaning cages, sweeping hay out of the "barn", holding the new bunnies to socialize them for when they are sold, and plenty more. It can be very tiring and there are some mornings when I wake up and don't want to get out of bed and go outside in the cold. BUT...I'm so grateful we have chosen to do this because we are being more self-reliant, more sufficient and more grateful for the things we have. We waste less and enjoy more. We respect the animals for the purpose that they serve (even if we talked about how awfully stinky the cornish were!) and we are truly grateful for the opportunity that we have to raise our own food. This is teaching Emma the value of responsibility even at her young age. Her primary job right now where the animals are concerned is to play with the bunnies each day for about 15 minutes. That means she gets to hold them, touch them, talk to them and look at them. This helps her to be gentle and helps them to accept human touch and contact.
Yesterday we did our first butcher in our backyard. Todd "processed" 7 chickens and then brought them inside to me and grandma to finish up the cutting and wrapping. We were able to freeze enough chicken for about 12 meals and canned stock for about 5 meals worth of chicken noodle soup! What a tremendous blessing!