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Rhubarb Jam

at the time of writing this, I am in the middle of RHUBARB Season – first part of July

Rhubarb is my best friend in the early part of the season. And stays my long suffering, generous, faithful friend right through till the cold puts it to bed at the end of the season. I try not to pick too much at the beginning of May when its first coming on, or in September when it’s getting tired, but other than that, the bounty is profuse!

Jam is one of rhubarb’s strengths. It can stand on its own – plain rhubarb jam – and be wonderful. Or when you pair it with strawberries, raspberries, honey berries, saskatoons or plums (or other summer fruits), something magic happens. Rhubarb, that ever generous friend – moves into the background and acts as a flavour ‘enhancer’. The taste of strawberries will prevail. Or raspberries. Or whatever. So why bother using rhubarb, if you can only identify the taste of raspberries?

I hardly ever make pure raspberry jam unless I have such a bumper crop that I don’t know what else to do with them. We use them ‘fresh’ every single day. Out of hand of course, on cereal in the morning, on salads, in desserts, in smoothies, . . . . I love to make a couple beautiful raspberry pies in the summer. I fill my freezer with raspberries to use all winter long. We wait a whole year for raspberries to come on, and there’s nothing quite as wonderful as ‘garden fresh’ raspberries, but their season is only a few weeks long and then they’re done. I am highly motivated to not miss them. Rhubarb on the other hand, just keeps on giving and giving. Rhubarb extends the raspberries. It’s like that. The quiet, subtle friend who stands in the background, making you look good and getting all it’s satisfaction from doing so. How can you not love rhubarb?

The other thing I love about rhubarb jam is that it doesn’t need a lot of sugar, and it doesn’t require pectin to set up and be the beautiful consistency you want to spread on your morning toast. If you’ve made the typical pectin recipe for any kind of jam, you know there’s more sugar than fruit in it; sometimes double the amount. yikes! That kept me from loving jam, and certainly from making a lot of jam most of my adult life. In fact, the current pectin recipe for rhubarb jam calls for 3 cups chopped rhubarb with 5 cups sugar, a pouch of pectin and even a few drops of red food colouring. yikes again! That’s a LOTTA sugar! And I hate using food colouring. That’s another reason I often pair rhubarb with other fruit for jam. Rhubarb isn’t all red, and when you cook the jam, it can sometimes be a little ‘brownish’ (hence the food colouring in some recipes). Adding other fruits half way through the process adds COLOUR!

Truth is, as sour as rhubarb is – it really doesn’t need as much sugar as we usually use to sweeten it. I know that seems counter intuitive, but you can trust me. Read on, and open your mind to try something that doesn’t make sense. If you don’t agree with me, you can always add another cup of sugar if you want.

Here is my basic rhubarb jam recipe. Keep in mind that when preparing it, these amounts are my ‘suggestions’. I am not precise in my measurements, I use them as guidelines. I taste along the way to reach the level of sweetness I desire.

Rhubarb Raspberry Jam
this makes 5 pints. I usually can 4 and put the rest in the fridge to enjoy immediately, or to give away
12 cups chopped rhubarb
2 cups sugar
2-4 cups raspberries
1-2 more cups sugar (as you decide – taste test it)

  1. Put a small lunch plate in the freezer. You’ll need it at the end.
  2. How finely you chop is gonna influence how much rhubarb fits into a cup right? So shoot for about half an inch size pieces. Don’t use a one cup measuring cup. Use a bigger bowl. Pictured above is an 8 cup measuring bowl. Heaping is about 12 cups.
  3. Measure your rhubarb out and put it into a large dutch oven pot. Sprinkle 2 cups sugar over top and lightly toss to incorporate it throughout. Let it sit for at least an hour to *macerate (1). I often leave it for much longer, sometimes chopping the rhubarb at night and letting it macerate all night. I mostly do this for my own convenience, not because its necessary. I’m usually trying to do several other things at the same time, and it just helps to do them in stages. In the morning, the sugar will have softened the rhubarb and have drawn a lot of liquid. Don’t discard it. This is good.
  4. Put it on medium high heat and bring it to an easy rolling boil, stirring every few minutes to prevent scorching. You don’t have to stir constantly, but don’t go leaving the room and forgetting about it on the heat. Just try to stay close at hand so you can give it good attention, stirring frequently. I generally use this time to wash the jars, get the hot water bath boiling in another pot on the stove, and other general kitchen clean up. You can expect the process to take about an hour.
  5. Continue cooking, adjusting heat as necessary. You’re looking for a good steady boil. You’ll see it begin to thicken after the first 15 minutes, continue stirring. As it thickens, the boiling will cause it to spit at you. Nothing you can do about that other than to wear an apron and be prepared to wipe up as necessary. Lowering the heat might help a little, but it will add a few minutes to your time. It’s just gonna ‘spit’. About half an hour in, add the raspberries. Stir well, taste and add another cup of sugar to sweeten. Stir while continuing to boil, and taste again, adding another 1/2 cup sugar at a time till you like the sweetness.
    You may find during the cooking process that a foam begins to form on top of the jam. With some jams or jellies it can be quite substantial. It shouldn’t be that much with this jam, so I just stir it in. But if you don’t like it, skim it off.
  6. In approximately an hour, perhaps a little less, you may think it is thickening enough. Test the consistency by turning your spoon and dropping jam back into the pot; you’ll know when you like what you see (not too liquidy). Remember, it will set up a bit more as it cools. Take your small plate from the freezer, and drop about half a teaspoon of hot jam onto the plate. Don’t worry, that amount isn’t gonna break the plate. You’re trying to cool the jam quickly with this process. When the jam has cooled, draw your finger through it. If the two sides of jam stay separated, your jam is a good consistency. Turn the heat off.
  7. Your jam is done.

If you plan to seal it for long term storage, ladle it into clean*(2,3) jars using a canning funnel. Allow plenty of head space in jar.*(4) Wipe with warm cloth to ensure the ridge is perfectly clean. Put a clean lid on, fasten it finger tight with the ring, and lower it on a slant into your boiling hot water bath.*(5) Make sure each jar is covered by at least an inch of water. You may have to add a little water. If you do, pour into the side of the pot, never directly onto the jars.
Begin timing when the water returns to a boil. 10 minutes.
When the time is up, remove from water with a jar lifter, and place on folded clean tea towel on the counter. Allow air space between your jars. Lightly cover with another clean cloth and let the jars cool. You will hear a ‘pop’ sound as the jars seal.

I made this jam three times in the last week or two. First one, I used 4 cups of sugar total. Second batch, I used 3.5 cups total. Last one, I used 3 cups. It was just enough – deliciously TART without being sour. My personal favourite.

*1. macerate means to soften – in this case, with sugar and time
*2. I recommend using pint (2 cup) sized jars, or half pint jars (1 cup)
*3. I do not sterilize my jars. I freshly wash them in hot soapy water, rinsing well, and air dry. I put the hot jam into room temperature jars and lower them into boiling water. Hot jam – Hot water. Jars do not need to be sterilized before canning IF they will be filled with food and processed in a boiling water bath canner for at least 10 minutes, or if they will be processed in a pressure canner. If you plan to process for less than 10 minutes, you should sterilize first (but what would you process for less than 10 minutes?)
*4. Headspace is the space between the contents and the top of the jar. You want to leave enough headspace so that the food can swell and move about as it’s heated without boiling up and out of the jar, but not so much that there is an unnecessarily large quantity of air which may interfere with vacuum sealing it. If jam overflows, it will affect the integrity of the seal of the jar. Fill only to the bottom of the jar neck to allow for a vacuum to be created sealing the jar.
*5. if you are using a large pot as a makeshift canner, make sure you have a rack or a folded tea towel on the bottom to keep your jars off the bottom of the pot. Failing to do this may result in jars breaking.

I hope you’ll make some Rhubarb Jam – alone, or paired with any other fruit that might be ready at the time. I use raspberries from the freezer – previous year’s bounty. As far as sugar goes, you are the boss. Dare to use less. Taste-test continually as you make your decisions. No surprises.

Let me know how you love it.

Warmly,

Cindy Suelzle

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Waste – Our Dirty Little Secret and its Solution

The average North American throws out an estimated 170-183 kilograms (375-405 pounds) of FOOD every year. Each “individual“, not family or household! That make us among the Worst Food Wasters in the world! Not something to be especially proud of is it? And then what about if you have four people living in your home? That’s a whopping estimated 1600 pounds! Of FOOD! How can we afford that?

North Americans are among the Worst Food Wasters in the world.

I don’t even know what 1600 pounds of food-waste looks like, but to simplify, it works out to about 25 – 40% of the average grocery budget. I have a pretty good idea what THAT looks like. Yikes! If you’ve got a couple of teens in your house, you’re likely spending well over $1000 a month on groceries. If we took the most conservative estimate (1/4), then we’re still talking about $250 a month IN THE GARBAGE! That’s $3000 a year! What could you do with an extra $3000 a year? I don’t know about you, but I can think of a lotta things I’d rather do with $3000 a year!

If you’re like me, you’re probably saying “No way. Not me”. I prided myself on being quite resourceful and while I did not doubt the stats, I was pretty certain they didn’t apply to me. I figured that someone else must be wasting a lot of food to make up for me not wasting so much. So I began to seriously pay attention to everything I threw into my kitchen garbage. And it didn’t take me long before I had to reluctantly concede … “well, maybe, that might be me“.

What are we wasting?

Well in my case, it was mostly produce. I was full of good intentions when I brought fresh fruits and vegetable home. And perhaps if I would have personally washed and cut the fruit, and maybe peeled it for my family, and then FED it to them, they would have eaten more of it. But I didn’t have time for that nonsense, and they sure didn’t always take advantage of what I was providing them “fresh”. Conscientious mom that I was, I had to make sure I continued providing it. I was stuck in the routine of:
– buy fresh fruit and vegetables from the store
– a week later throw much of it into the garbage
– back to the store to buy more “fresh” fruits and vegetables.
– one week later throw most of it out.
Repeat. – often – like doing that somehow made me a better mom.

Composting kitchen waste may be better throwing it into the trash, but I still didn’t purchase it just to throw most of it into the compost.

Round and around we went. More and more money into the compost. Did you know that ‘healthy eaters’ generate the most food waste? Doesn’t seem fair does it? Well, you could say I was “ripe for the picking” when I realized that there was absolutely ZERO waste involved in the new way I had begun to buy groceries. I admit I was first attracted to THRIVE LIFE freeze dried food because of its long shelf life, and I was astounded to learn of the exceptionally high nutritional value of it. But I was even more impressed when I began using it in my everyday meal plan, and noticed that I was no longer throwing out as much food. That was a bonus I hadn’t counted on (duh). The nutritional value might have been the selling feature and the convenience of it sealed the deal, but in a very short amount of time, when I realized that I was in fact saving money, that was the clincher! When you are no longer throwing out a quarter of your monthly groceries, you start seeing your dollar go a LOT further! And that was a happy realization for me.

On a bigger scale, while it pains me to admit it, I read a recent report that says the evidence points to Canada as being among the worst on the globe for wasting food. The report released by the Commission for Environmental Cooperation — “an environmental agency set up under the North American Free Trade Agreement — found when including all stages of the food supply chain, 396 kilograms of food per capita is wasted in Canada every year. That’s compared with 415 kilograms in the United States and 249 kilograms in Mexico.” I’m not sure how excited we can get about being ‘better’ than someone else, especially when that ‘someone else’ produces more produce than we do. So much for my wholesome Canadian pride. Sheesh!

So, I don’t pretend to have the answer to global problems, and I don’t have the energy to even worry about them. But I have always been of the mind that if we each take care of our own front porch, the world will be a much nicer place, so I am gonna focus my attention on what is in my control. What exactly IS in my control? The waste in my own kitchen. I control that. And where I choose to spend my hard earned dollar – I control that too.
That is where I started. At home.

Did you know that when you buy a can of THRIVE LIFE freeze dried Spinach, that 0% (yup, a big fat ZERO) goes into the garbage? Every piece of spinach you buy gets eaten. By you. Or me.
Compare that to the spinach I used to buy in the cellophane bag from the produce department in my grocery store. I threw some of that into my compost almost every time I bought it. Add to that injury, is the insult of discovering that spinach loses ALL of its Vitamin C within 4 days after harvest? I can promise you that the spinach on my grocery store shelves was not picked within the last 96 hours. And did you know that THRIVE LIFE Spinach is picked at the peak of perfection and flash frozen within 6 hours of harvest? And that it contains up to 6 times more Vitamin A than the so called ‘fresh’ spinach we buy from our local grocery store? Yup. Yup. And Yup. So add those facts to the fact that much of the so called ‘fresh’ spinach I was buying ended up in my compost pail, because really how much time do you have before that spinach starts to go slimy on the bottom of the bag? Lets just say the romance of fresh spinach began to lose some of its appeal.

Spinach is one of my favourite Thrive Life freeze dried vegetables.
Certainly its one that I use the most.

Continuing on with the example of Spinach: a family sized can of Thrive Life freeze dried spinach is priced (at time of my writing this – July 2022) at $33.82 USD when purchased in a Delivery (best pricing). For my Canadian friends, converted at a 1.3 exchange rate, that works out to about $44 Cdn.
(*hint: you get FREE shipping when your complete order tops $99)
That same family sized can contains the equivalent of 11.5 bags of spinach! The size of bag that in my local grocery store cost $4.35 (10 ounces) each. To buy the equivalent amount would cost me $50 Cdn (I live in Canada). I asked myself: “why would I want to pay more for ‘not-so-fresh’ spinach, when I know that the nutritional value of ‘fresher-than-fresh‘ spinach from Thrive Life, is considerably more?” It didn’t make any sense to me. And that doesn’t even factor in the typical waste from that store bought ‘not-so-fresh’ spinach.

Even into Canada folks, that is a huge savings. And I am a sale shopper so I’m always looking for a bargain. When I buy Thrive Life Spinach on sale, I save even more.
And you know how much of that goes into my compost pail? ZERO!
That is 100% Food! In my pantry. Ready to use when I want it. With a 25 year shelf life. Even after the can has been opened, the shelf life is at least a year.

reducing food waste will save you a ton of money

This story just keeps getting better, and better. I guess you could say “Spinach to Win-it”. But remember, Spinach is just an example. We can repeat this scenario with every
single food item that THRIVE LIFE has. Of course details will change, but the waste factor and the nutrition factor remain solid.

My way of reducing waste in this country is by reducing waste in my own home.
Since doing so, saves me a lot of money, its a win/win situation. And that’s how I like things.
Happy all round.


Cindy Suelzle
Independent THRIVE LIFE Consultant and Leader

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Thanksgiving – food and memories

I don’t know when I started loving fall and Thanksgiving. The colours, the smells, the foods, the geese flying south, the warmth of the sun on still autumn days, the crunch of leaves while walking in the river valley, sitting around the fire on crisp evenings, . . . . . Not sure if I always have loved it, or if it started with autumn memories that included Dan. We started dating in Edmonton during the late summer, and I moved away within weeks to Cold Lake.  I was a teenager just starting high school. He came up to see me a time or two and we wrote for a while, but long distance romances when you’re that young are difficult at best.

Two years later I was passing through Edmonton again in the late summer and we reconnected for a short while. A couple of dates and I was back in Cold Lake in September to begin my final year of high school. I had grown up a little, he had grown up a little more.  The following weekend, he drove to Cold Lake to visit me and I prepared us a picnic lunch.  There are plenty of beautiful places to go for picnics around Cold Lake, and we had a lovely time.  This became the beginning of many weekend pilgrimages from Edmonton to Cold Lake, throughout the fall and winter.  It wasn’t long before we became engaged.  He got an insider look at my family in all our glory: good, bad, and yes, even the occasional ugly.  He came to church with me on Sundays and met many of my friends.   Conversations lasting many hours helped us get to know each other, and eventually winter turned to spring.  He wanted to get married in the spring, but for me, it had to be fall.   I needed a little bit of time between high school and the commitment of marriage. And fall had become a significant time in our story anyway.  We were married the following October.  Thanksgiving weekend.  My apologies to everyone who had to give up their Thanksgiving weekend that year to travel to our wedding. That meant you didn’t get your usual traditional Thanksgiving Dinner – which I never considered at the time.   Sorry ’bout that.

Thanksgiving includes DINNER to me – one that involves planning and preparation.   In the beginning, we were always at one of our parents’ homes on the Thanksgiving weekend. There were some constants between our homes of course: roast turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes with gravy,  cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie. And there were some variables: brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, broccoli salad, perogies, cabbage rolls, variations on pies and pumpkin, and my Gramma Harrison’s marshmallow fruit salad – depending on where we were.  But it was always with family. That was the critical component.

Thanksgiving however, is more than dinner. It’s memories. It’s harvesting the garden. It’s late summer tomatoes. It’s apples, and apple juice, purple grapes and high bush cranberries. It’s the humidity of the canner, the hum of the dehydrator. It’s crisp outside, warm inside. It’s family. It’s the time of year (not just the day, but all the weeks leading up to it) that the bounty of the season causes one to pause and reflect on those things we’re most grateful for. And more than that, its a good time to vocally express our appreciation to others and to Heavenly Father.

Over Dan and my years together, Thanksgiving evolved from us going to our parents homes, to us hosting our parents and others.  That was when the metal of tradition was put to the test.  Which of our family’s established traditions would we incorporate into our lives? and which new traditions would we create with and for our children?  For those traditionalists like me, we like certain things done the same way, every time.  We like revisiting celebrations the same way.  For me, Thanksgiving must include turkey with all that means to me. Christmas Eve much include bread and cheese.  Easter must include coloured eggs.   All the above must include PEOPLE. But in these difficult Covid times that are messing with our usual way of doing things we can still find ways to celebrate and enjoy important ‘traditions’.   In fact there has probably never been a time when we were in more need of the cohesiveness of traditions.

apples, apple juice, apple sauce, apple leather, apple crisp, and of course . . . apple pie

I am a gardener, so harvest has particular meaning to me, and a definite connection to our Thanksgiving menu.  In addition to the must-have turkey with fixings, dinner must include things I’ve harvested.  Things like Cranberry juice from our own high bush cranberry. Made into a sparkling drink.  Homemade Cranberry sauce – made from fresh or frozen cranberries, or even better – freeze dried cranberries. Dressing made with homemade bread, onions, garlic and other herbs from the garden. Vegetables of course, from this year’s harvest. Apples: apple pie, apple juice, apple sauce, apples in salad. Pumpkin: maybe pie, maybe tarts, maybe cheese cake, maybe cookies, maybe dip for gingersnap cookies. Grape: pie from our own grapes.  Bread – homemade rolls. And of course, FAMILY – the greatest harvest of all.  This year, by stupid covid necessity our numbers will be fewer.  One son’s family will be with their other grandparents.   One son’s family will be with another son’s family.  My mother will be with my niece.   Our daughter’s and another son’s families will be with us.  Friends – another great harvest, will be not be around our table this year.  But we will gather as we can, and enjoy the food and companionship of each other.  

Don’t ever discount the importance of food in celebrations, traditions and memories.  Most of us have very strong food-memories, for good or bad. That is why food is so important in how we celebrate special days, and in how we associate with certain people. A strong (and good) food memory for me is “chicken noodles”; many years of family gatherings and happy times are associated with this family favourite. And it is the natural suffix of Thanksgiving turkey. Ukrainian Cabbage Rolls are another strong food-memory for me. No one could make cabbage rolls like Dan’s step-mom Margaret, and no family dinner that she put on would be complete without them. Its been a loss for many years. University of Massachusetts Professor of Psychology Susan Krauss Whitbourne teaches us that “Food memories involve very basic, nonverbal areas of the brain and can bypass your conscious awareness.   This is why you can have strong emotional reactions when you eat a food that arouses deep unconscious memories. . . . The memory goes beyond the food itself to the associations you have to that long ago memory.”   For many of us, those food memories are already well established, but our children’s food-memories are still forming, and we have a tremendous influence on their creation and evolution.   Wouldn’t it be nice if most of those associations were good ones?

Happy Thanksgiving dear ones.


Warmly,
Cindy Suelzle

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Provident Living and Self Reliance

November 18 of this year was a Sunday.  We woke up to an unusually cold house.  It didn’t take a rocket scientist to confirm that our stupid furnace wasn’t working.  In fact, we suspected it stopped working the day before. In November in Edmonton, you don’t get along for too long without a furnace!

You may have experienced something similar.  If a furnace is gonna quit, its gonna do it in the winter time when its working steady. I know lots of others have had this very thing happen.  It may not be common, but it is not rare.  It was SO not in our plan for that cold November Sunday. The problem is, these kinds of things never ARE in the plan.  Who schedules the furnace quitting into your weekly calendar?  But planning for these kinds of possibilities makes all the difference in how you get through them. 

Provident Living
We could spend hours talking about the different facets of it. But cutting to the quick, being “provident” means having foresight and providing carefully for the future.  Its about taking care of yourself today AND tomorrow, and being prepared for the unexpected.  And it IS God’s temporal plan for His children.

Many years ago, Dan’s uncle was selling his motorhome. It was a nice one and he had taken exceptionally good care of it, and Dan really thought we should have it. He spent considerable time trying to talk me into it, and finally convinced me. Sort of. Mostly, I just gave in.  Then one day he came home from a session of General Conference and said “We’re not buying Uncle Ernie’s motorhome.” 
I was just starting to warm up to the idea. LOL

It was October 1998. President Gordon B. Hinckley had just told those attending a general session for the men of the church to GET OUT OF DEBT.  “I am suggesting” he said ” that the time has come to get our houses in order …  Self-reliance cannot obtain when there is serious debt hanging over a household. One has neither independence nor freedom from bondage when he is obligated to others.” He went on to say “I urge you brethren, to look to the condition of your finances. I urge you to be modest in your expenditures; discipline yourselves in your purchase to avoid debt to the extent possible.  Pay off debt as quickly as you can, and free yourselves from bondage. This is part of the temporal gospel in which we believe.”  He concluded his remarks with this “If you have paid your debts, if you have a reserve, even though it be small, then should storms howl about your head, you will have shelter for your wives and children and peace in your hearts.” 1

It wasn’t that we hadn’t heard the counsel to stay out of debt before. In fact, we felt strongly about it, and even tried to live it.  But that particular talk became one of those defining teaching events in our lives. It spoke to Dan’s heart and when we discussed it, it spoke to my heart.  It changed things for us. We recommitted ourselves and began working with intent toward becoming completely free of debt. 

Three years later, Dan lost his job. A job we had every expectation that he would retire from.  “Downsized” was a relatively new word at the time, but people were getting used to it.  One day he went to work as usual, and a few hours later he was home.  And that was that.  The truth is, nothing ever went back to ‘normal’ after that day. We owe a LOT to our strict obedience – finally – to the emphatic admonishment President Hinckley gave that evening three years before.  When a prophet speaks that forthrightly, that emphatically, and that urgently – it is a good idea to pay attention. I am so glad we did.

When we had a family meeting a few days later, to tell our kids that Dad no longer had a job, there was silence for a long time.  Jacob was just home from his mission, and he asked the questions everyone wondered. “What does this mean? How is this going to affect us in the day to day?”  Of course these were questions we had talked about ourselves before we met with the kids. We could tell them this: “Because we listened to, and obeyed the prophet’s counsel to get out of debt, we believe we will ride this out without too much pain. Our most important goal is to keep this house. It is the only thing we owe money on, and every energy must  be spent on making sure this house is never in danger.”

Things didn’t work out the way we hoped they would.  Dan never re-entered his field. After months of looking, he re-entered the workforce taking a job paying $12 an hour.  We had plenty of opportunity to reinforce our testimony to our kids of some very important principles. Like TITHING, FOOD STORAGE, and living within our means – which means avoiding DEBT. 

I could not even begin to count the number of times I shook my head and said to myself, or to Dan, or to whatever kid happened to be standing nearby “Wow. Can you imagine?  If we had had credit card debt, we would have lost this house by now!  Who knew this would go on as long as it has?” 

Provident living and being self reliant are not just Latter-day Saint ideals.  It is a very popular concept among all sorts of people who focus on independence.  However, there are a few things that I think are important to keep in mind when talking about Provident Living in a Latter-day Saint context.  And as with all important things, we get our most reliable tutoring from the scriptures.

So where in the scriptures does it tell us to prepare for the furnace to quit, or to get a food storage in, or to stay out of debt, or put some money aside in case the unexpected happens?

Well, we know that when the Lord speaks thru his prophets, that is scripture to us. Almost 60 years before President Hinckley gave that talk, (in 1941) President Heber J Grant spoke from the pulpit “If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family,” he said “it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.” 2

In the Doctrine & Covenants we read “… verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal; neither any man, nor the children of men; neither Adam your father, whom I created.
Behold I gave unto him that he should be an agent unto himself; and I gave unto him commandment, but no temporal commandment gave I unto him, for my commandments are spiritual; they are not natural nor temporal …” (DC 29: 34,35)

For the 72 hours we were without a furnace last November, we were surprisingly comfortable. We were sure glad it wasn’t 37 below, but there were other things that made that easier for us.  Being prepared for possibilities can take a near tragedy and make it nothing more than an inconvenience.  And not being prepared can take an inconvenience and turn it into a tragedy. We had always worried about what we would do if we lost heat in the winter.  That was the worst case scenario in our stay-at-home emergency plan. So over time, as we could afford it, we worked toward some solutions.

  • many years ago we spent considerable energy re-insulating our attic. We’ve noticed that it has made a big difference in our house retaining heat in the winter, and cool in the summer.
  • we have a gas fireplace which we turned on immediately.
  • we have a woodstove downstairs with a flat top for cooking if necessary
  • we have a few cords of wood stacked up outside, some of it by the back door, and some of it downstairs beside the wood stove
  • we’ve had some bad experiences learning to light that stupid stove when it was 30 below. We’ve smoked out the whole house that not only set off the smoke alarm, but took weeks to get rid of.
  • we had some money set aside for emergencies that we were able to use to fix the furnace

All these things we used on that Sunday and Monday.  By Tuesday morning, it was as if nothing had ever happened, except that our house smelled slightly of wood smoke.

We were so grateful for planning ahead for a possibility we hoped would never happen. And who knows? That might have just been a test run. I hope not.  

Provident Living and being Self Reliant means that we learn skills that will help our family should the unexpected rear its ugly head.  Knowing those skills takes the fear out of the unexpected.  Years ago – before I made my first long distance road trip without Dan, he thought it prudent to teach me how to change a tire. I admit, it wasn’t my finest moment. To say I was resistant would be giving me too much credit. I had absolutely no desire, but he insisted.  He made me come out and watch him as he patiently explained each step while he removed a tire, and put it back on. I stood behind him watching and noticed how dirty his hands were getting and I thought “You canNOT be serious! I am not touching that. And what if I break a nail? That’s a risk I’m not willing to take.”  I didn’t vocalize any of those thoughts and wisely Dan didn’t insist I actually demonstrate all I learned. 

I have since learned to change a tire. I use a CELL PHONE. The way I look at it – I have five sons and a husband. And I didn’t put up with all those boys for 40 years for nothing! Problem is, I got a flat tire in Montana, when I was far from any of those boys. And far from AMA, and in a dead zone for cell coverage. My very pregnant, but smarter niece was with me. Guess who changed the tire? Another one of my un-finer moments.

  • If you drive, the likelihood of you having a flat tire is extremely high. In fact, I’d venture to say its inevitable. Just a matter of time.  Its part of driving. 
  • If you live in Canada, the likelihood of you having a furnace issue one day is real. Even high.
  • You may have some unexpected and unusually high bills one day – that knock the wind out of you.
  • One day you may find yourself unemployed.

None of these things have to destroy you. Every one of them can be dealt with better and more smoothly with a little bit of foresight and providence.

Sit as a family and review some possibilities. And then talk out possible solutions.

  • What would we do if we lost heat in the middle of winter? How would we get thru the first few hours? What if it went on for a few days?  
  • What would we do if Dad suddenly couldn’t go to work? What is our plan to get thru the first few weeks? What if it went on for six months? What if he never worked again?
  • What skills should we learn to make our life more comfortable if things suddenly changed?
  • What if we had to cut our grocery budget in half?
  • What if we had a few bad months when we had zero money after the bills to buy groceries at all?  

During some very lean years, it never occurred to me for a minute to say “Wow, wasn’t that lucky that we happened to have a food storage downstairs?”  

When Dan lost his job, it never occurred to me for one minute to think “Wow, wasn’t that lucky that we decided several years ago to get out of, and then forever after avoid debt?”

Luck had no part in any of that. They were both results of obedience to the counsel a loving Heavenly Father – given for our comfort and peace of mind.

Some things to put on your list:

  • FOOD STORAGE: Get one!  If you’ve got one, keep it up. I have heard too many older people say something like “Now that the kids are gone, there’s not much point. I don’t bother with it anymore.” Are you kidding me? Did you suddenly stop eating? Who’s supposed to feed you?
  • DEBT:  Get OUT! Out Out Out. Avoid it like it is the plague it is. If you cannot pay for it by the end of this month, you cannot afford it.
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Wait for it. Save for it. But do NOT “buy it on time”! There are very few necessary exceptions. Obviously we have to borrow for a house. Sometimes one has to borrow for a reliable vehicle. (be reasonable. Affordability is still key here.) Sometimes one has to borrow for an education. But make paying those debts off a priority, starting with the smallest one first.

You can say “We cannot afford this.” Try it. Its not as hard as you might think it is. Just form the words: “We. Can’t. Afford. It.” See? not that bad. Use that sentence more. If you cannot pay it off by the end of this month – you CAN. NOT. AFFORD. IT! Stop feeling ‘less than‘ because you don’t have all that someone else has. Perhaps they can’t afford it either, but they’ve unwisely chosen debt to make it look like they can. Come ON. Those are mind games we play with ourselves, and ultimately we’re the losers. Stop feeling that you deserve this or that. I’ll tell you what you deserve. You deserve peace of mind. And you’re never gonna have it, no matter how nice your truck is – as long as you owe money.

I do not speak against nice vehicles. I don’t speak against nice vacations. Or leather furniture. If you can afford it, do whatever your little heart desires. But remember – if you can’t pay for it by the end of the month – you cannot afford it. Live with that. And man up to it. Live within your means and be grateful for all you DO have, instead of counting all the things you don’t.

EMERGENCY SAVINGS:    If you can only put $5 a week away, then put $5 a week away.  But do something. The Lord blesses us when we obey. We don’t have to do great things. Small things count in His eyes, and the Lord blesses us for them.

When referring to the story of Nephi finding ore to build tools necessary to build a ship, L. Tom Perry said “I have sometimes wondered what would have happened if Nephi had asked the Lord for tools instead of a place to find the ore to make tools. I doubt the Lord would have honored Nephi’s request. You see, the Lord knew that Nephi could make the tools, and it is seldom the Lord will do something for us that we can do for ourselves. The Lord does help when we go to Him in times of need, especially when we are committed to His work and respond to His will. But the Lord only helps those who are willing to help themselves. He expects His children to be self-reliant to the degree they can be.”

Elder Perry went on to say “Independence and self-reliance are critical to our spiritual and temporal growth. . . . . If we increase our dependence on anything or anyone except the Lord, we will find an immediate decrease in our freedom to act.”  3 (GC October 1991) 

We all could go on and on and on – giving examples and bearing testimony of how living the principles of Providence and Self Reliance has helped us and how they put us in a position of being able to be more charitable. And we could be uplifted and edified by it all.  And I think we should have those discussions.  In this article, we could only skim over the basics of such an all encompassing gospel lifestyle. And make no mistake, that is exactly what it is. A lifestyle. Learning skills that will help us be self reliant is a life long focus. It is a lifestyle. And it yields gratitude and peace of mind.

I encourage us all to look again at our our situations – no matter where we are on the spectrum, and find a way to do better. Make it your goal this year to become more self reliant and work toward that goal every single day.

The Lord will help us, but remember what Elder Perry said, He will “help those who are willing to help themselves. He EXPECTS [us] to be self reliant to the degree that [we] can be.”

Two more scriptures to leave you with.  I find them very motivating when I recommit myself to follow counsel from the Brethren “Why call me Lord, Lord and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46)

“I the Lord am bound when ye do what I say, but when you do not what I say, ye have no promise.” (DC 82:10) I cannot think of anyone I would rather have bound to me, than Him.  And He promises. He says “I the Lord am BOUND when ye do what I say.” It is my prayer that we will all willingly “Bind” Him to us as we strive to live what He says. As we strive to live providently, and to know the peace and freedom of a self reliant life.

Warmly,


Cindy Suelzle

footnotes:

  1. General Conference October 1998, Priesthood Session – To the Boys and to the Men. https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1998/10/to-the-boys-and-to-the-men?lang=eng
  2. Heber J. Grant, Relief Society Magazine May 1932, https://www.lds.org/ensign/2001/10/latter-day-prophets-speak-strengthening-the-home?lang=eng
  3. L. Tom Perry, October General Conference 1991 https://www.lds.org/general-conference/1991/10/becoming-self-reliant?lang=eng