Posts Tagged food
Food supply chains
During outbreaks of the plague in Europe, there was one major problem that faced the rich and poor alike – and that was the availability of food.
The more moving parts a machine has, the more likely it is to break. The supply lines that feed the world are fragile. Before the crops are ever planted, there is fertilizer that has to be made, seeds harvested from the previous year and both of those sent to the farmers. The farmers then spread the fertilizer, plant the seeds, apply water and hope for the best.
In some parts of the world, crops are only grown because modern technology allows them to. Examples of this are water pipelines and irrigation systems that span hundreds of miles. It is only with water that crops can be grown.
Before the first sprout ever breaks through the soil, there are already several “moving parts” or factors. Some of these factors include:
Seed supplies
Manufacturing of fertilizer – either organic or commercial.
Transportation of seeds and fertilizer to the farmer.
Water – either through rain or irrigation.
Pesticides and / or herbicides
Harvesting the crops.
Transporting the crops to either market or to a commercial processing plant.
Processing of food into canned goods.
Transportation from manufacturing to warehouses.
Transportation from warehouses to stores or other outlets.
2009 food prices
An article posted on MSN should be great concern to everyone that eats some kind of food.
Nothing but worse for Texas drought
According to that article, 97% of Texas is in a drought. Some people might be saying “so what?” Well, there is a lot to be worried about. Texas is the 2nd largest agricultural state in the nation. Everything from beef to zucchini is grown in Texas. That means, if Texas has a bad drought, and crops fail, the price of food goes up nation wide – maybe even on a global scale.
With so many people out of work, high food prices is the one thing we do not need right now.
The concern should not only on on Texas, but other states and nations. If the crops from one state fails, the markets will have some degree of flexibility. But, if crops fail in several states, or, if the crops fail in several nations fail across the world, things could get bad.
This is the kind of stuff that can cause panic buying. Whether there is actually a food shortage or not, really does not really matter. There will be people out there that go into a buying frenzy at the slightest mention of “shortage”. The panic buying, coupled with a slight food shortage can equal a moderate to large major food shortage.
If your concerned about the future price of food, consider planting a home garden.
On a personal note, I am not too worried about the food supply, I am more worried about the panic buying like what happened in the summer of 2008. Some large discount stores had to limit the amount of beans and rice that people could buy. Mainly because of people buying 100 – 200 pounds of rice at a time. There was a small shortage that turned into a moderate shortage and nation wide panic – partially due to crop failure and partially due to panic buying on a massive scale.
While driving around East Texas, it looks like more fields are being plowed this year, as compared to 2008. Hopefully more families will be planting a garden this year.
How to feed a family
These days people are not only worried about this house note, or their electric bill, they are also worried about something much more basic – and that is food. There is hardly anything that grieves a mothers heart more, then to open a kitchen cabinet, and it be empty.
An economic report from February 2009 said that around 700,000 – 800,000 people lost their jobs in that one month. Less people have jobs, so less bills get paid. But the one thing that must be bought is food. But what if someone told you that you do not have to buy food? That you can grow your own.
Its true. Regardless of what people have been told for the past 30, 40 or 50 years, food does not come from a grocery store – it comes from the ground. At first I did not believe it. I honestly thought that the grocery stores used some kind of magic to make the food appear out of thin air.
We have been enslaved to the grocery store for decades. People have paid others to do their work for them. Its time to break those chains.
Are you going to plant a spring garden?
In these uncertain times, growing your own food makes good financial sense. There was a news report today that around 7% of the US population is now out of work. With money having to go to pay the house bill, electric bill, insurance and other expenses, having a home garden could free up some money to go to other expenses.
At a few minutes to drop by the gardening section of the survival forum and read what other people have to say about this topic.
Identify this fruit tree
One of the purposes of this site is to not only inform, but to provoke thought. One of the ways this is done is to ask a question. In the question, there lies the information. Now then, let us begin.
This shrub or tree grows to be about 20 feet tall, but rarely gets over 10 feet tall. To keep the tree at a reasonable height, it can be trimmed. The cuttings from the trimmings can be transplanted to sprout new trees.
This tree produces a fruit that is edible, and can be used to make jelly, jam and preserves. Just a few of these trees can produce a large amount of food. This might be the reason why these trees were popular with early settlers in the USA.
How to grow Zucchini
Zucchini is a small summer squash and a member of the melon / gourd family. It has an outer skin that can harden if left on the plant for too long – kinda like a watermelon or pumpkin. The immature fruit are best when picked at about 6 inches in length. Zucchini can be yellow, green or light green. It can be compared to a cucumber is shape, with the Zucchini being a little slimmer then an average cucumber when ready to harvest.
When getting ready to plant the seeds, soak the seeds between two wet towels about about 3 – 5 days. The seeds that sprout should be planted, the seeds that have not sprouted can be discarded.
While the seeds are soaking, the ground should be worked and prepared for the seeds. Zucchini requires a balanced fertilizer such as 13-13-13. Try not to use straight nitrogen such as 21-0-0, as you might get a large plant that produces little food. For prolonged production, add some organic fertilizer to the mix, such as mulch, pot ash, compost or manure. A quick release fertilizer might be good to get the plant growing, but those types of fertilizer will do little for future production. Zucchini can be a high production plant, but it must have the fertilizer to grow.
The Survivalist Garden and Cucumbers
While planning a garden that will be used during a prolonged disaster, cucumbers should be an important consideration. During disease outbreaks such a plague or the bird flu, food shipments will be disrupted. It is at this time that the home gardener most feed their family.
During outbreaks of the Bubonic Plague (The Black Death) during the middle 1300′s, starvation might have killed as many people as the disease. As farmers and merchants died off from The Black Death, those that were still alive were left to a slow death of starvation. It was recorded in the journals of the witnesses to The Black Death – the starving masses even turned to cannibalism.
To prevent this type of situation from befalling family members and loved ones, every survivalist should have a stock of seeds for a home garden.
The cucumber belongs to the same plant family as watermelon, zucchini and pumpkin. Sometimes this is called the “Gourd” or “melon” family. This is because the plants can grow a hard outer shell. The benefit of this hard outer shell, most insects can not penetrate it to eat the softer inner flesh. This makes the cucumber somewhat pest resistant, as compared to other garden plants – such as the tomato.
Modern man has grown the cucumber for at least 3,000 years in Western Asia. Estimates are that the cucumber was introduced to parts of Europe by the Romans. The exact year of European introduction in unknown. Written records dating back to the Roman empire exist noting how much the cucumber was eaten in ancient times. As an example, the Roman Emperor Tiberius (November 16, 42 BC – March 16, AD 37) ate cucumbers on an almost daily basis. To ensure that cucumbers were on the dinner plate during the winter months, the plants were grown in carts. The carts were wheeled into the sunlight during the day, and brought inside during the night.
Spinach information for a home garden
History: The origin of Spinach (Spinacia oleracea) is in some debate. Some researchers put the origin of Spinach around current day Iraq. While other researchers claim that Nepal is where the plant was first domesticated.
Planting: Spinach has to be replanted every year. This is also known as an annual plant. Even though Spinach may need to be replanted every year, it might survive over winter in temperate regions. Spinach germinates best if the seeds are soaked in water, or between wet rags for at least 24 hours before planting. Best results for germination may occur if the seeds are soaked for 3 – 5 days, or until the seed starts to sprout.
Soaking of the seeds can be done two ways: 1. Place the seeds into a bowl and fill the bowl with water until the seeds are covered. The next day remove any seeds that might be floating. Seeds that are floating are less likely to sprout. Drain the water from the bowl. It helps if a strainer is used to separate the water and the seeds. Once the spinach seeds have been removed from the water, take them outside and plant them. 2. Use a cookie sheet, or a pizza sheet – place a small cloth towel in the bottom of the sheet then spread the Spinach seeds on the top of the towel. Space the seeds at least 1/4 – 1/2 inch apart. Pour enough water over the towel to make it wet. Cover the seeds with a second towel. Then pour enough water over the second towel to make it wet. Over the next few days keep the towels moist.
Preparedness planning and baby food considerations
This article is designed for the mothers and parents for what ever reason decided, or could not breast feed their children. Breast milk and breast feeding should always be the first choice of parents. As there are certain health benefits received from breast milk that artificial food can not duplicate.
If there is one aspect of disaster planning that is often over looked, that is baby food and baby formula. While on a recent 3 day trip to the camp, one of the first supplies to run out was my grandsons baby formula. My stepdaughter did not pack enough of the dry powdered formula to get through the 3 day stay. This was no big deal. We just drove back to town, which was about a 20 minute drive.
But, what would things had been like if we had been in a disaster area? After regional or localized disasters, such as earthquakes or hurricanes – the government says to be prepared for at least 72 hours, which is 3 days. During this time do not expect any help or relief services.
With the power outages that may follow a disaster, dry baby formula might have the advantage over milk or other liquid formulas because it does not require refrigeration. With the dry formula mix, as long as there is a supply of safe drinking water, the formula can be mixed to make the babies food.
If a mother is breastfeeding there is no need to keep the milk cool and the parents do not have to worry about if the watter used to make the formula is safe. The mother just needs to make sure the water and food she eats and drinks is free from contamination.
It is the responsibility of the parent to make sure that infants will have enough food after a disaster. For those people that might be trying to plan, figure for at least a week (7 days) that you will have to rely on yourself. This means that you will need to make sure that infants have enough food, diapers and other basic needs for that time period.
If the disaster is know of before it happens, such as a hurricane, expect the local grocery stores to be cleaned out as panic buying erupts. Its very important that parents not wait until the last minutes to try and get supplies. By then, it will be to late.
Planning for a long term disaster
While in the chat room dirtyharriett asked about my plans on food. My reply was along the lines of “one day rice and the next day beans.” In reality its a little more complex then that.
My plans are like a flow chart, with a bunch of “ifs” on it. If power, no power, if long term, if short term, if food runs out before life returns back to normal, when will the local community have support from the outside world, is the disaster local, nation wide or world wide. There are 4 major plans – A, B, C, & D.
Food Plan A:
Right now I have about 7 – 9 cases of MRE‘s. Each person in the group should get a single case. This case is to be used for snacks and treats by that person. If we have more then 7 or 9 people, then the MRE’s will be divided up equally. The family unit is going to have to have group meals. No one should be allowed to cook their own meals or eat their meals on their own schedule. We eat at breakfast, dinner and supper. The MRE’s will fill in between those meals. Such as snacks or when the “munchies” set in.
The main course for the first week or so will be meat and anything else in the freezers. The time line for this depends on the generator. If the power goes out, gas = food. For every day we can keep the food in the freezer frozen, or cold, that is an extra day we get to eat out of it. One of my investments has been a 100 quart 5 day cooler. Storing some frozen good in these high quality ice chest could extend their freshness by 5 – days This is the deep freezer. It is full of deer meat, sausage, hamburger and ribs. Each package of ribs has 3 slabs in it. The white packages are full of deer mixed with beef hamburger. Notice the tub in the top right hand corner, we will discuss that in a little bit.
This is the stand up freezer refrigerator, this picture is just of the freezer. Notice the rice, it is in the freezer to kill any weevils in it. The pack of sausage on the bottom is 10 pounds of sausage. The second shelf up from the bottom has another 3 pack of ribs on it.
