My friend Norma is an ant. Remember the old story about how the grasshopper played all summer while the ant labored to fill his pantry for the coming lean months?

Norma and her husband have followed our church leaders’ advice to have a year’s worth of food and other necessities on hand to be prepared for adversity. You don’t need an earthquake or storm of biblical proportion to see where it would be handy to be self-sufficient – ask anyone who’s been laid off, or tucked at home during a three-day ice storm while “grasshoppers” in panic mode strip store shelves bare.

A few years ago when Norma’s husband was starting a business and all seven of their kids were still living at home, they needed to pinch pennies like crazy. They decided to live off their food storage. For two years all they bought at grocery stores was butter and eggs. They grew a garden, visited U-pick farms, ground their own wheat for bread, worked the wheat gluten into a protein substitute, made their own yogurt and yoga cheese… you get the idea. Norma was pretty savvy to start with in order to pull it off, and shared the additional knowledge and recipes gained from the experience by self-publishing a book titled Store Food!

I hope we never have to be that … dedicated … but I’m trying to learn from Norma. I’ve recently learned there’s nothing like having a baby to make you domestic. Why, just the other night I cooked dinner. Popped the fish sticks in the oven and fluffed the couscous all by myself. I may even cook supper from scratch someday.

We’re trying especially hard to be ants this year. We’re stocking up on essentials. Sometimes in bulk if we find a good deal, sometimes just an extra jar of peanut butter or whatever while it’s on sale. Later this month we’ll can peaches (last year we didn’t have the energy but Daniel has eaten most of the previous year’s stockpile), and this fall we’ll juice the grapes that grow along our back fence, as usual. A lot of people are rediscovering the old-fashioned joys of home canning, for the frugality and so they know for sure what’s in their food.

Why is it especially important now to be frugal and prepared? For one, we have an extra mouth to feed (he’s eating real food now, not just milk). For another, we live in seriously uncertain times. This year is the first in many where the previous year’s wheat crop is completely gone before the next crop is harvested. And remember the panic about rice a few months back? I think we’re also feeling the effects of this spring’s flooding in the Midwest– much of the corn and other crops that weren’t lost to the rains are going into alternative fuels instead of grocery stores. Have you noticed how quickly food prices are rising? Don’t even get me started on skyrocketing fuel prices. According to the Wall Street Journal last week, Exxon and Shell each posted profits in excess of $11.5 billion last quarter. Un-freakin’-believeable.

And for the cherry on top, there are some scary rumblings about the flu strain we might face this winter – a really bad strain, as in 1918 pandemic bad. Some scientists are saying quarantines might be necessary to stem the spread.

All excellent reasons to be prepared. Could you survive a month at home with what’s in your pantry? I’m not panicking but I am preparing.

While you’re slaving over the steaming canner this summer, basking in the sexy, sultry look (i.e., frizzy hair and sticky, sweaty shirt) you can thank Napoleon Bonaparte and a French chef named Nicolas Appert. In 1795, Napoleon’s plans for world domination were hindered by the fact his armies outpaced their supply wagons, and the farms they passed through couldn’t provide adequate supplies of food year-round. The army needed to carry food with them that wouldn’t spoil. A reward of 12,000 francs was offered to whoever could develop a reliable method of food preservation. After 14 years of experimenting, Monsieur Appert hit on the technique of bringing food to a boil in a glass bottle before sealing it. He used a champagne bottle because its wide neck allowed for man-sized bites of meat and potatoes in stew.

So … are you an ant or grasshopper?