stuff. Seed packs and rice and beans. I
have a little store of coconut oil. We used
to have MORE, much more. We had prepared
for Y2K but then the food does not last
so even with recycling it aged and so last
year we took 5 truck fulls of stuff to the
dump. This was sobering and discouraging.
Now, my preparation is geared more toward
seed and of course we have lots of seed
we can sprout but this year I was given
Earthboxes for my birthday and I added to
them and so this hopefully will help us
be able to grow our own food and be able
to barter, or at least, not leave it we
do not need to. We also have another garden,
and our neighbor has a good garden too.
http://www.earthbox.com/
Just this morning when I was discussing
with my neighbor how some members of the
House of Representatives were threatened
that if they did not pass the bailout bill
that Martial Law would be enacted. He had
heard of this turn of events so he also was
willing to believe more in the beauty of my
own admonitions to entertain that these
times could be challenging and that we might
need to group together and "hunker down".
We are fortunate to live in a place where
there is water and wildlife. We passed a
large pond today and I said I had a filter
which could make that water drinkable and
he immediately said, no, we'd go over to
the golf course which would be a hike but
it has a humongous lake with fish. I was
impressed he was on board in his willingness
to participate in this sort of preparation
and mostly, planning. I have already spoken
to our neighbor on the other side who raise
Emu and Angus. Its food on the hoof but I
said we might want to buy or barter down the
road if things get weird. We have a handpump
well which is hard to find but for those
who know where it is, it could be life-saving
when gas and generators which we used during
Hurricane Ike to pump water out of the ground
run dry.
Another neighbor has plenty of chickens. We
used to have chickens and I have contemplated
getting more. Our chickens produced an average
of 15-30 eggs a day and so it was difficult to
deal with eating or giving the eggs away. All
our friends and family would groan when we
offered them eggs. Of course, this was before
eggs became so expensive. Still, if you have
the time and space, laying chickens can be a
big benefit.
We have lots of grapevines around here, an
orchard and my neighbors pear trees and fig
trees are so plentiful they cannot give the
fruit away fast enough. I imagine we would
dehydrate more. I have some fermentation
crocks and so using cabbage from the garden
and salt, we would be able to get good gut
flora. We probably have about 75 pounds of
salt which is not a lot but enough. I have
enough herbal tea to offer anyone a cup who
needs one. Its a plan in progress and my
goal is not to try to achieve a certain level
of supplies as much as collect tools we can
use and to increase our self-sufficiency.
Hard to say how long our food might last.
If I was by myself I would say easily a
year or more. If people come, and they will,
it will not go as far. During the hurricane,
we shared with others and I suppose I would
rather be that way. I am assuming too we might
all have ration cards during Martial Law.
More than anything, I no longer take for
granted that the government will be there
to help, nor that stores would have the supplies
or the way to sell them if the financial
system crashes. My elders grew up on farms and
said while things were bad during the Depression,
living on a farm made it much easier.
blessings,
Zoe
-_-