According to Wikipedia:
Chipmunks have an omnivorous diet consisting of grain, nuts, fruit, berries, birds' eggs, small frogs, fungi, worms, insects and on occasions small mammals like young mice.[7][8] At the beginning of autumn, many species of chipmunk begin to stockpile these goods in their burrows, for winter. Other species make multiple small caches of food. These two kinds of behavior are called larder hoarding and scatter hoarding. Larder hoarders usually live in their nests until spring. Cheek pouches allow chipmunks to carry multiple food items to their burrows for either storage or consumption.[9]
So unlike the above cute little chipmunk - I actually look more like this!!!
Why you ask? Well, based on the habits of these furry little creatures - I am like them. I stockpile. Now, I'm sure its a funny concept to some and a completely advisable concept to others. To me, its about logical conclusions of our income stream.
We work seasonally. That does not mean we are giant slackers in the winter, but it does mean we need to save up and be wise through the winter. One of the ways that I have found extremely beneficial to our family is to buy extra food when the summer money is flowing! This not only makes total sense because we are buying things we would already use - but it also gives me a warm fuzzy "no matter what I can feed my family" feeling. That is a peaceful feeling indeed.
I thought I would share what this months journey has produced. Some years ago, my awesome husband built me this great outside pantry shelving unit! It's huge, deep, sturdy and SO useful. It has kept all sorts of things on it, but never has it been as full as it is now.
This was pretty much empty at the beginning of the summer. We had some random things out there. It was great "extra" space. But really, this thing loaded up like this is much cooler than the random things on it before. Though, I am not done stockpiling yet for the winter - I will wrap that up this week probably, and I need to figure out what to do with my BIG pots on the bottom shelf. 2 water bath canners, a pressure canner, 2 crockpots and an extra toaster.
But wait, THERE IS MORE! Not only do I have that lovely shelf - I have a nice stash of 5 gal buckets I'm trying to build up! Last years I learned very quickly - I did not have enough flour, sugar, or oatmeal buckets. I do however have plenty of lentils, black beans, red beans and pintos. This year, I focused on adding flour. It is my most versitle food. We make bread, pancakes, cookies, pie crusts, quiche crusts, bread, bread and more bread. Then oatmeal comes in a short second - we eat a lot of oatmeal. Served normally in the morning, but also oatmeal muffins, oatmeal pancakes and we use a small amount in our bread too!
My bucket stash is not quite finished - but it's getting there!!
And well, of course today while at Costco, I had to pick up chocolate chips that temporarily are sitting on more buckets and bags of sugar waiting for me to buy some buckets for them!
And can I add just how much I love Costco and WinCo for having easy access to bulk foods!!
Ahhh..............
Thank you dear life for calming my security gland!
No comments:
Post a Comment