Focus Revisited

You may remember a few months ago when I was so overwhelmed with the thought of food storage I freaked out and decided to focus on medicine instead. I said I would focus on that for the first quarter of the year and I did. Mostly.

The problem with that kind of focus is, well, I still have to focus on other stuff in the interim. Like starting some plants from seeds and daydreaming about what to grow in my window boxes. I have to plan those now because, well, I'm a planner by nature. But also because some stuff has to be started sooner rather than later. Did I mention I grow tomatoes from seed?

In any case I still feel as if I did pretty well on my focused efforts.

I added to my Apocalypse Closet medicine cabinet.


Now granted, it wasn't much. Missing from these photos are my sterile pads and pad holder thingies (mesh type stuff that you cut to fit over the bandage) because my dogs ate them. No really. I don't understand it and I've already rolled my eyes over it (no sense in being more upset about it) but there you have it. I will replace those soon enough.

Do I think what I currently have is enough? Well, that depends. Enough for what? For the rest of my life if the world ended tomorrow? No. To get me through a few months of figuring out what works and doesn't work medicinally? To act as a safety net in the the "worst case"? Yes. Almost. I can always use more band aids.

My oldest child completed a CPR course and is now ready to save lives. She's Red Cross certified folks.

I also spent a lot of time and effort, more than I realized before sitting down to write this blog, on self doctor care.

You'll see in that picture my binder, The Herbal Medicine Makers Handbook, Healing Foods and the Carewise Guide. The binder contains recipes taken from my herbal cold and flu class I took in March as well as print outs of self care items I think about as I go along. I think of it as my go to, quick reference source book. I plan to gather, print and store more recipes as I go along.
On my personal library wishlist is When there is no Doctor.

My gift to you today is a link for free downloads! YAY! Seriously. I know, I know, people give away Wonderwash's and freeze dried food and I'm pointing you to something you could find on your own. Sorry folks, times are still tough around here, despite the new job.

I would recommend downloading Hesperian Foundation's Where there is no Doctor and Where there is no Dentist as well as A Book for Midwives. If you go to the main Hesperian Foundation downloads page you'll find a ton of material for your reading and downloading pleasure and I would certainly recommend looking through it all and printing it (or buying the books from them or your online book retailer if you are inclined) for your own personal Illness binder.

So there you are folks. My first quarter focus really did help me focus and feel more prepared for what life can throw at me. I'm thinking for this next quarter I'm going to focus on hygiene both personally and inside the home as well as food hygiene. Ready?