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A couple created their preparedness journey without any extra money, by selling wheat
Prepper Outreach Contest Submission
Being a young couple with four small children in 1973, we knew we should be building a food storage for our family but there was NO extra monies to do that. There just had to be a way.
Out of curiosity we contacted a farmer who was selling 50 lb. bags of hard red wheat for $6.00. He wouldn’t sell just a small part of the wheat harvest to us–we had to buy a minimum of 20,000 lbs–cash in advance of delivery! Knowing that there were many people in our area (Boise, Idaho) that wanted/needed wheat also, we decided to buy and resell the wheat ourselves for a bit more than the farmer’s asking price of $6.00. We contacted everyone we knew and the word spread that we were selling wheat for $7.00 for 50 lbs. Within two weeks, we had pre-paid orders for all the wheat!
Another idea popped into our heads–with the profit from the wheat sales, we bought a pickup load of metal cans which would hold a 50 lb. bag of wheat. So, when our friends came to pick up their wheat order, we offered them rodent-proof cans in which to store their wheat. We marked up the cost of the cans just enough to pay for the cost of our own cans too.
Another idea popped into our heads–with the profit from the wheat sales, we bought a pickup load of metal cans which would hold a 50 lb. bag of wheat. So, when our friends came to pick up their wheat order, we offered them rodent-proof cans in which to store their wheat. We marked up the cost of the cans just enough to pay for the cost of our own cans too.
From the profit of the wheat sales, we were able to “earn” our own 2000 lb. supply of wheat with enough left over to buy a wheat grinder! This was the start of our journey of being more prepared using none of our own money to do so!
Living in a small home in a subdivision made it hard for us to grow enough food for our growing family of now six children so we removed the grass sod from two thirds of our backyard and grew a large garden. I taught myself to can and freeze. I even canned my own fruit cocktail using a friend’s unwanted peaches and pears. I even added fresh green grapes before canning (sorry kids, no maraschino cherries—too expensive). We enjoyed filling our cupboards and feeding our family from our own hard work.
Years later, we moved to the country into a home that had 1.25 acres surrounding it. We were thrilled to be able to grow and harvest even more food! Since we needed a large rototiller to take care of our bigger garden, my husband charged (don’t criticize, please) a 7 h.p. big red tiller and rototilled other people’s gardens to pay for it. The money he earned completely paid for the tiller in the first growing season! (so we paid no interest!)In fact, we had enough fresh veggies to begin selling them at a new, local farmers’ market in 1989. The public was so eager for fresh, locally grown produce that we continued selling each season for the next 22 years!
Gardening is a family project and so was selling at the farmers’ market. Our kids learned how to get up early, work hard, deal with customers and the lost art of counting money back to people . Our market stand allowed us to earn extra money for us to buy other things to help us become more self-sufficient, as well as.
We have been able to become more prepared for whatever life/fate may have in store for us. There is such a feeling of peace which comes from knowing you can take care of yourself and your family, and maybe help others, if the need arises.
Our hard work and ingenuity has allowed us to become better prepared using almost none of our own money.
What can you do to help yourself using your talents and time?
G & J S. ID
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