LDS Church sponsors Arlington Emergency Preparedness Fair

Arlington— Spring brings tornado season to North Texas, and with it an annual plea for residents to prepare for weather emergencies. And, although adverse weather conditions may head the emergency list in Texas, preparation can make any emergency—unemployment, fire, illness, car trouble, you name it—easier to weather.

Angie Johnson, who, along with her husband and children, built much of their Dalworthington Gardens home, makes emergency preparation creative and fun.

“My parents both came from families who learned how to make life work,” she explained. One grandmother raised chickens as a profitable business, and in both families everyone pitched in. Working became a family tradition.

Today, Johnson has a garden and she cans what she grows. “My vegetables are sitting on my shelf,” she said. Always trying something new, she added artichokes to her crops last year (she also has a thriving asparagus bed). “I’m always asking what’s the next area I can grow into,” she said, “what do I need now, what can I can, what can I cook. Something will come up and I’ll say, ‘I can try that.’ It’s like a game.”

The game includes strawberry plants as ground cover in the front flowerbeds, and a pomegranate tree as an ornamental (and tasty) shrub. This year she may try adding beekeeping to her food production activities.

“I don’t think of myself as a prepper,” she said, “just as someone who wants to do the best for my family.”

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly known as the Mormons), Johnson has always tried to follow the church leaders’ counsel to be prepared.

“The church suggested that we begin by storing the basics,” she said, “wheat, honey, salt, things you would need to just sustain life in an emergency. When I was a child, my parents were part of a pilot program to see how comfortably you could live on those basics. Well, after a few days, we were all sick. Our bodies were not prepared to eat that simply, or to process that much fiber.” So, Johnson adds variety to the basics and also uses them regularly in everyday meals.

That long-ago pilot program prompted Johnson’s most recent addition—the brick oven on her back porch. “I would buy bread and it would just sit,” she said. “Three months later there was still no mold. That can’t be good for you. So, I decided to start grinding my own wheat to bake bread, which I cook in my brick oven.”

“I’ve found that you can make it fun—you can say ‘I wonder if I can do this,’ then search Google or YouTube for instructions. Let’s do it. Let’s figure it out.”

Johnson will share her brand of fun as a speaker at an Emergency Preparedness Fair this Saturday, Feb. 21. Sponsored by the Arlington Texas Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Fair is free, open to the public and will run from 10:00 a.m. to 1:45 p.m. in the church building at 3809 Curt Dr., Arlington, 76016.

Flora Whites, president of the Arlington Stake Relief Society women’s organization, said “The Mormon Church, for many years has counseled its members to be prepared for emergencies by focusing on having a basic supply of food, water, and savings. This Fair will offer talks and classes taught by men and women with expertise on self-reliance and emergency preparedness.”

Classes at the free Fair will include: Why and How to Begin Preparing for Emergencies; 72-Hour Emergency Kits; Food and Water Storage; Alternate Forms of Energy; Growing Sprouts; Freezer Meals; Using Plants and Herbs for Medicinal Purposes; plus How To classes on making bread, jams, tortillas, soaps, detergents, and deodorant.

Fair organizers also encourage participants to help with a service project for the Life Shelter of Arlington by bringing new or gently used bed linens and towels, or cleaning products, toiletries, hygiene products, laundry detergent, and bottled water.

Contributed and written by Sherry Neaves