Thursday, April 21, 2011

Blessings of Bounty (In the midst of tough times)

I was excited when I heard that there was a food co-op in my area. Bountiful Baskets is a great food co-op that is available in many other states as well. http://bountifulbaskets.org/ It is available in 11 states to anyone. Arizona, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. All you have to do is go to their web site and join. Each state has multiple pickup sites. If you live in one of these states go to the website and click on the link that says locations. It will then let you select your state and then show you the pickup locations in your state. My pickup location is just 15 minutes away.

There is a one time fee of $3.oo and each basket you get is $15.oo or if you want organic it is $25.00. You may buy as many baskets as you want and you may get them each week. The produce you get is a little different each week. If you can't use one a week you can just get one every other week. There are other things available each week as well, things like bread, nuts, granola, tortillas , it varies each week.
As you can see you get quite a bit of stuff.

Here is the list of produce that was in my basket last Saturday:

1 Romain lettuce
2 - 6oz. pkg radishes
7 small apples
1 - 1lb. pkg. carrots
1 large bundle of celery
4 med yellow onions
2 bundles of broccoli
4 mangoes
5 tangelos
1 large bunch of green bananas
1 small Honeydew Mellon
1lb strawberries
9 small cucumbers

This has been a tremendous blessing to us this winter. Being in the housing construction business we are really feeling the effects of the housing slump this country is in. Also the nature of the work we do (concrete flatwork) is seasonal so typically we are out of work every winter for several months.

I have been able to get a good start on a food storage this year in spite of being out of work. We also have a freezer full of hand raised pork and grass fed beef. We really have all we need and are even able to help out family members that are in need.

I found a dairy near by that sells raw whole organic milk for $5.00 a gallon. The milk is a bit pricey but I'm able to make our own butter, buttermilk, cream and Ice cream with it. I will be trying my hand at cheese making very soon. I buy 3 gallons a week @ $15.00 add that to $15.oo a week for the Bountiful Baskets = $30.00 a week I have to spend on feeding a family of 5 with plenty to share. We did trade work for the meat in our freezer and I do a Costco run about once a month.

What a blessing! What bounty in the midst of tough times! God IS so good and He alone is faithful!!!

How has God blessed you this year? Have you been able to help someone else with what God has blessed you with? Even with your time? If there is one thing I have learned (my beautiful mother has taught) it is that God will be a debtor to no man and you can't out give God. Its like the law of gravity.

Luke 6:38
"Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure -pressed down- shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."

God, show me today who I can help, not so you will bless me but because this is your heart.

Blessings to you all

4 comments:

Alicia@ eco friendly homemaking said...

Wow what a blessing to feed your family and bless other on $60.00 a week!! That has to be GOD!! Your blog is great and I am so glad that I found it!

Paula said...

This is so wonderful, Susan! Oh how I wish I could find a local CSA or co-op like this... I saw one on our Craigslist last year but it was two counties away (about an hour and a half drive) so I forgot about it... I wish we had one close by, I'll have to check around!
I'm thankful we were able to stretch our hay out and not run out before the pasture greened up- it was a blessing to be able to cut and put up our own hay last year and not have to buy any.
So happy for you- and yes, God is SO good!

Sue said...

Loved this post Susan, I would love to find a farm or place near by that sells raw milk. We are fortunate that we grow most of our veggies. Thank you for sharing.
God truly takes care of us, His children, as we are facing tough economic times here in our country. Thanks for sharing.

Sue

A Baker's Dozen Barnhouse News said...

What a beautiful post and wonderful reminder to be prayerful about who God would have us help... especially during these tough economic times. My grandparents always shared freely from the produce in their gardens and I think they taught me the joy in doing that. My husband doesn't mind at all when I share what we grow or find at the store. We have two widows nearby and a single mom. We have a wonderful Bent and Dent store near us and it's like a treasure hunt. I like to share some of my finds from there. I do not receive a paycheck from a job, so I sort of feel like giving food to others is my way of giving thanks back to the Lord for the grocery money He has blessed me with. You are so right about us not being able to out give God. We have some friends who are a beautiful example to us...they live in a sub-division and take a nice lunch plate to their two widowed neighbors EVERY day. On Valentine's Day their sons take them a bouquet of flowers. My sons started doing that several years ago for our widowed neighbors, and I wasn't sure if our sweet little widow ladies were going to pass out or cry. I had never thought before how much it might mean to a woman who'd been married for so long and then widowed. Thank you again for such a wonderful reminder.

Blessings,

Sherry