Has anyone any ideas for garnering solid support for the storage group buys?
I gave up a long time ago on collaborative efforts with other people because of the exact same difficulty you describe. People with the best intentions are enthusiastic at first until it comes time to put up some time or money. Then, not so much.
At this point I'm not evangelizing. I (gently) put my intentions out among our social circle and if anybody decides to join in, great. They mostly are not although of late some folks have been coming around (PM purchases and now LTFS).
I don't have a group that I'd rely upon by any means nor will I probably ever. But as Sag. said, if you gently put it out there then hold whomever by the hand through the process you'll probably have much more success. But I sure wouldn't want to have to rely on others jumping on board because it may never happen and you'll never get your stuff done.
Tycer, can you explain how/what/when/who you're going to do with 5000#'s of wheat? In all honesty, I've never ground whole wheat into anything nor whole beans or whole anything really. Is 5000#'s alot? How long will that last? Same with other poundage of products. I personally have about 100#'s each of red wheat, white wheat, barley, rice, etc.....in 5 gallon buckets that I bought already put together from Emergency Essentials but if that's not even CLOSE to what I may need, I'm going to have to get some bags such as you're doing, and get to work!
Thanks in advance!
We split the order up among several families and like DIAP and Dr. M between wheat, pintos, oat and rice. I'll end up with around 400# from this order. IIRC, one bucket each - wheat, rice, beans, oats is three months supply for one adult.
Wheat can be made into cream-of-wheat with a medium fine grind, flour with a fine grind, and is nice added in soups kind of chunky. Oats can be used similarly. Rice can be used like rice or run through a food mill/ricer for use as a thickener or rice pudding.
Oil, sugar, salt, spices and leavening are/will all be part of my storage. Oil does not keep, so I bought a Piteba Expeller and have sunflower seeds for the birds and will begin growing my own next year. We also have a dozen or so black walnut trees in the woods behind our house.
I started using bulk grains after the Y2K thing using the book Making The Best Of Basics. It takes a little forethought because grains should soak over night to release the nutrients, but we try to use something bulk wheat a couple of times a month as I read that it takes your body a bit to get used to wheat. We grind the oats for breakfast the night before and soak often during the winters. It's so much better than Quaker oats. We don't eat rice and beans that much and I'm not sure why, I really like them. Maybe having grown up with it, I've had my share for a while.
Tycer , thank you , THANK YOU . I ordered this book . OH My WOW this guy is inspiring ! Best part for me was to not be driven by fear . Loved the video . It really helps me to know there are Christians who are preparing for any situations and to be content . I am sure the book will be as good . Yeah we can make it even though we do not have loads of money to buy stuff .
FM
At this point I'm not evangelizing. I (gently) put my intentions out among our social circle and if anybody decides to join in, great. They mostly are not although of late some folks have been coming around (PM purchases and now LTFS).
One of my closest friends some time ago declared he didn't want to hear anything more about gold or peak oil or the economy. He had a financial advisor in whom he placed all his faith. (I have talked to the advisor, he's pretty clueless) I visited my friend yesterday to find he has taken a sudden interest in gold and has bought his first (ever) firearm. Some people come around slowly as they become more sensitized to the world around them.
Doug
Thanks Tycer! I think I need to get a bit more put together.
Tycer, thanks for the links. Have you used the oil press yet? How much did it cost with shipping, etc.?
$124 with the Euro at such a nice low.
It took about 10 days to arrive from Amsterdam. I have not used it yet, but I'm very impressed with the quality of the build. I'm a geek when it comes to mechanical tools and I like it very much.
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SagerXX mentioned in DIAP's "Successful Food Storage" thread how hard it is to get people to commit their hard earned cash.
I organized a group buy among friends and family but had a fretful time getting it all to come together. Folks that said they would commit did not. We're there now, I found a store a couple of hours away that sells the Wheat Montana grains I wanted to use. They had enough need at their store to be able to fill out my 5000# minimum order for Wheat Montana. I'll just have to drive five hours round trip to get it. It's still worth it to get the price and quality of Wheat Montana's products. Check out Wheat Montana's Wholesale Price List
Has anyone any ideas for garnering solid support for the storage group buys?