Planting the seeds: Be Ready Expo aims to increase self-sufficiency
Volunteer Heide Manley (right) prepares berry cobbler samples from a cast iron Dutch oven at the Be Ready Expo on Saturday.
Sam Fletcher/Columbia Basin Herald
Booths filled the Quincy Valley Historical Society & Museum’s Heritage Barn for Saturday’s Be Ready Expo.
An Airlift Northwest helicopter stands outside the Quincy Valley Historical Society & Museum.
A tater and some fries dance at Saturday’s Be Ready Expo in Quincy.
Terry Williams leads a discussion on gardening for storage at Saturday’s Be Ready Expo.
QUINCY — The Quincy Valley Historical Society & Museum wasn’t expecting Saturday’s overcast sky and drizzle, but, of course, it was prepared for anything.
The “Be Ready Expo” had around 50 exhibits and speakers, each demonstrating self-sufficiency in one of five tracks: personal wellness and preventative care, security and self defense, energy and alternative sources, emergency preparedness and food storage and food raising.
“We had a great committee who pulled all this together,” said Quincy Valley Historical Society & Museum Director Harriet Weber. “It’s very timely and needed I think, so there’s a lot to learn here today; and that was really our goal, to provide something for our community and for people in the area; could come to be able to educate themselves on a more self-sufficient and prepared lifestyle.”
Set up beneath tents weaving around the historic Reiman-Simmons House and the Pioneer Church on into the Heritage Barn were exhibits, speakers and demonstrations from the Quincy Community Health Center, Cloudview Eco Farms, Washington Potato Commission, Quincy Custom Firearms, Grant County Fire District 3, Quincy Police Department, Pape Machinery, FFA, Grant County PUD, Grant County Emergency Management, MedStar Health, DoTerra Oils, numerous volunteers and more.
Inside the barn, volunteer Stephanie Erickson demonstrated how to preserve meat. Canning vegetables is cheap as can be, she said, but canning meats can be just as easy and last for 10 years.
If a refrigerator goes out, everything inside is ruined, she said. Canning is a great backup. With a surplus of canned goods, too, she said, dinner can be ready in 10 minutes.
As visitors nibbled on samples of bread, cobbler and tarts made right before them in outdoor cast iron Dutch ovens, they learned how to store food and water, raise crops, take care of wounds, use tools, make bread, reconstitute powder, sew, harvest honey, make cheese, cook and have emotional resilience, just to name a few things.
An hour in, the crowd gathered around an Airlift Northwest helicopter landing on the adjacent patch of grass.
All things considered, it was a great turnout, Weber said.
“We’re just thrilled,” she said. “People came out of the woodwork to share their knowledge.”
Sam Fletcher can be reached via email at sfletcher@columbiabasinherald.com.
