Second, I had to laugh a little when I saw the post on Facebook saying you were working on becoming more self reliant but you had your husband write a post. I knew there was more to it and it now makes perfect sense but you’ve gotta see the irony of that one . . . it made me chuckle a little.

Third, I wanted to share our experience. I started couponing and stockpiling (reasonably) a couple of years ago, before our son was really aware of what was changing (he’s almost 4 now). As a result, he thinks that all food is available in the garage in our pantry. He shops with me and knows if it isn’t on the list, it isn’t coming home with us and he realizes that we always have what we need in the house. I like knowing that too and that we’ve always got enough to coast for a couple of months if some kind of disaster hit. On a similar note, we started a garden last year and he got it in his head that we could have salad any time we wanted to so when the garden died out at the end of the summer and we didn’t plant any winter crops, he was more than a little ticked when I couldn’t always say yes to salad because I hadn’t grocery shopped and gotten more. I love that he’s growing up in an environment where he’s learning that food comes from the ground, not out of a plastic bag.

We just had a baby but we too are talking about chickens. I mention the baby just because last summer seemed like an absurd time to take on more lives but perhaps this summer or next. We’re vegetarian so it would be purely for the eggs but there’s something really wonderful about fresh eggs.

I’m eager to follow your series. Thanks for sharing your journey.