Four Everyday Reasons for Food Surplus


I recently heard a quote from a famous man who played a big role in the settling and development of this beautiful mountainous area I live in. He warned that there would come a time in which if we did not grow our food, we would not want to eat it. I don’t know at this juncture whether or not he was being prophetic or if he was simply admonishing the settlers in this area to beware of that food which they may be offered by those who would harm them; still this quote has been on my mind a lot in the past week.

Like many of you I have been reading every snippet of news I can find lately on the availability of food—I mean really, once someone starts threatening my chocolate supply things are likely to get serious. What more does a girl need than sprouts and chocolate to keep herself sane?  Like some of you, perhaps even less zealous though, I actually am conscientious about the quality of food I make or consume.  So when I’ve been  reading about how we won’t be able to escape genetically modified, chemically treated, or otherwise messed around with food within the next year, I can’t help but wonder if this quote does have some application to now.

I think that the purpose of having a well stocked pantry serves more purpose than most people realize. So I wanted to share it with you all in one little snapshot.

First of all, stocking up on food dramatically stabilizes your food budget.  Squeezing an extra buck or two for an extra can of this, or an extra pound of that consistently adds up.  With the economic landscape it’s not too difficult to envision a time when a loaf of bread will cost $10 each and a box of cereal will be priced so exorbitantly very few will be able to pay the price.

 

Second, and I do mean second, once the price of goods necessarily go up, you will start seeing manufacturers scramble to do ANYTHING they can to stay in business. This is yet one more reason to have a good supply of that which your family needs. This is where the adulterated, polluted, carelessly outsourced food supply comes in.  Don’t think for a moment that GMO exists because it’s easier on Mother Earth.  There’s not a single food manufacturer that doesn’t do what they do in order to eek out another dime from the sales of their product. That’s the whole reason Monsanto and other goons like them are in business; they are very good at stretching what looks real to us simple folk by the use of what is chemically created.  Whatever self-sanctioned nincompoop tells you that people are selfish who have more than two weeks of food is nothing short of delusional.  Next time someone tells you that, ask them if that is why our very own government is one of the largest purchasers of freeze-dried food?  Even if the rational is that it’s all for the military, I defy anyone to ask the leader of an army if two weeks of rations is a comfortable margin for his soldiers? Uh—that would be a no, folks.

 

Third, and yes, this is purposeful, we’ll soon discover that having access to a solid food supply of key essentials will provide us with the much needed nutrition that is so absent from our foods today. Thus having your own supply of nutrient rich foods such as freeze-dried produce, canned meats, sprouts, sprouts, and more sprouts, wheat and other grains doesn’t just mean “meal time” it could also mean the difference between complete liver failure and a pleasant and happy life. Very soon, if you haven’t noticed yet, we’ll start finding that the food that we eat isn’t satisfying our hunger nor our health needs. It’s no wonder once we realize that the soil has long been depleted of essential minerals, and we are paying for water by the pound in that chicken instead of meat.  So the next problem that we see is a serious lack of nutrition.  Is it any wonder that heart disease, cancer, diabetes and obesity are all considered nutritionally curable in most parts of the world?  We’re seeing a 300% rise in diabetes in our nation over the last 5 years, a 140% rise in celiac disease, and triple numbers in obesity, infertility, infant deaths, and quadruple the numbers of lactose intolerance—coincidentally paralleling the mandatory pasteurization and homogenization of all of our dairy—and we wonder why our typical USDA recommended diet just isn’t cutting it anymore?  Well folks, if it’s not in the soil, it’s not in the food.

 

Along that same vein, I recently got to listen to a doctor’s lecture. He shared with the audience that the simple practice of planting Vetch Pea in one’s ground will nourish it once again with the key amounts of nitrogen and other nutrients it needs.  (Guess what I went out and bought that very same day?)  There are actually a lot of legumes that will do this as well, but Vetch Pea (aka Pea Vetch) is highly effective and not cost prohibitive.  This same doctor showed amazing pictures of a river in Brazil which stems from land so rich in vitamins and minerals that’s it nearly black. Amazingly, at one point it actually runs right into another streaming body of water that is so deficient in any nutrition that it has such a negative charge it prevents the nearly black, healthy water, from mixing with the nutritionally vacant water! It looks like there must be some kind of cement divider keeping the two from running into one another, when all it is the law of electricity in motion.

 

Next, while others are grumbling about paying $10 for a loaf of bread, you’ll still be able to make an entire dinner for less than $4 because of your “Little Red Hen” mentality today.  Just a little bit of effort goes a long way folks.

 

Contrary to what the “sky is falling” kind of people say, having a year’s supply of food sufficient for your family isn’t just about riding out a some kind of economic collapse or freak of nature. It’s also very much about being frugal and just plain smart.  I certainly hope that more of us will take kindly to that kind of thought process.


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Comments

Kellene,

Where did you buy your seeds?

Cal Ranch

"We’re seeing a 300% rise in diabetes in our nation over the last 5 years, a 140% rise in celiac disease, and triple numbers in obesity, infertility, infant deaths, and quadruple the numbers of lactose intolerance."

Wow!!! I had no idea that we were seeing these types of problems increase at this rate. Sure makes the case for eating natural foods, doesn't it?

Thanks for your great blog? I get something every time I read it.

Chocolate is still considered natural, right? :-)

Please: Give links or citations to your claims of increasing diabetes and celiac, and also, Where can we see the effect of those two rivers in Brazil (photos)?

Thanks for your good writing and information; Keep it up!

Bob, you'll be better informed if you do the very simple research on the numbers of these diseases on the internet. It took me all of 30 minutes. Unfortunately Wordpress is not communicating with our server provider right now in allowing us to load pictures right now. Grrr... But I have the very picture to use when it's ready. They have been telling us they "are working on it" for four business days now. *sigh*

Kellene....don't know if you caught it but Senate Bill 510 "Food Safety Modernization Act" may come up for a vote TODAY. Also, where do you purchase vetch pea? at a farm/ranch supply Like C.A.L. Ranch or Intermountain Farmers?

Yes, Joann. YOu can get it at the farm/ranch supply stores.
I've already written my political "leaders" about the Bill 510.

I would like to say that in addition to stocking up on foods that you purchase or grow, that you become familiar with wild foods that are edible in your area. I live in the woods, so I have been doing that for years. Get a good field guide (Stalking the Wild Asparagus by Euell Gibbons is excellent with preparation instructions) and other good references. Go out and have fun stalking. This year was a bumper crop in acorns. I made acorn flour for acorn bread. Picked and dried rose hips for Vit. C. Froze wild day lily buds (they taste like green beans) Blanch like green beans and only use wild orange variety. The tender heart inside the stalk of cat tail is bland and similar to eating celery - good in salads, as they pick up the flavor or your dressing. Besides wild berries and tree fruits (like wild plums for jelly). There is something out there you need to familiarize yourself to know what you can eat if you ever find yourself trying to survive off the land.

Great idea, Sue! Acorn flour and bread? YOU are inspiring with a capital I!

Hi Sue! Wow - I've never heard if acorns were even ok for us to eat....but acorn flour...amazing! Did you grind the "whole" acorn, or crack open and just use the meat? Also, if you wouldn't mind sharing your recipe for acorn bread, I'd love it! Thank you soooo much!

Ok, here's what you do: You crack the acorn open and use the kernal only if it is white inside the meat of the kernal (it has a salmon color skin, though). I cut open the acorn meats to make sure it is good. Then when you get a good pile of kernals, start boiling them. Get two pans of water going because you are going to change the water as soon as it turns brown and this process lasts 2 hours. So you want clean boiling water waiting on you constantly. After two hours, drain the kernals and turn the oven on to 250 degrees and spread the kernals on a cookie sheet in a single layer (I use a large oblong cookie sheet). Roast for several hours or until they are chocolate brown, hard, and dry. Then pour the kernals into a blender and set to "grind". Grind into a powder, store in your favorite container and use or store. I store mine in the freezer. To bake into a wonderful bread, use the recipie for cornbread on the side of a Quaker corn meal box only use your acorn flour instead of cornmeal and use spelt instead of flour (you can buy in the grocery store in the health or natural foods section. Made by Red Mills. Enjoy

The dichotmy is insane in DC. Grow your own food, buy organic/local. Then introduce a bill that outlaws all local food and makes saving your own seed illegal, growing a garden or bunnies or chickens is illegal. I didn't dump raw sewage on the White house lawn or my own. If the 1st lady is holding up produce from her own garden sans "raw sewage" and is safe to eat. Shouldn't I be able to do the same, in my backyard?
Prepare but don't hoard, huh? Who decides? If I buy enough grains that will keep my family alive for 7 years. Am I hoarding? You can still buy products. Heck stores can restock. If butter or any other product has a great price point and I buy and can or store via freezing. I'm not stopping anyone doing the same. I pay with my own money, not "EBT or food stamps". I don't think I'm being unfair. You can go to the same shopping places and get a raincheck on sales.
I looked up Idaho law about hoarding and it does not exist. I looked up Hawaii and and anything over 1 week food is hoarding and punishable by law.
SB510 is a nasty rascal. Read through it, It looks like a bill written by Monsanto. We have to support our congress critters against the big money and let them know we will hold them accountable on votes. Lobbyist may have lots of money to throw at a campaign. They don't have the votes.

Kiddo, if you feel nervous about being accused of hoarding, then don't store a lot in your home, but cache everywhere!!! Cache was literally invented by American natives. I found a stack of plastic buckets with tight fitting lids at the local flea market for a $1.00 each. Pack them with a variety of foods and if you can afford it, vacuum pack first in case the lid leaks, but you can keep out water if you go the extra effort and calk under the lid after snapping the lid on. Bury when no one is looking. (Might have to do it at night with a flashlight) and make a map of your cache sites.

Kellene raw chocolate is super nutritious! I did some research trying to increase my iron intake and it has huge amounts of bioavailable nutrients. We use it in smoothy type drinks and in other ways, it has the taste of chocolate but much warmer and more satisfying. It stores well too :)
Thanks for all the great info!

I was so happy to see the comments by Sue. I have recently ordered Linda Runyun's Wild Food Package so I can learn more about foraging. She has helped so many people in the world from starving she even teaches various branches of the armed forces about survival food that is right under our feet. All the old books by Grace Firth (Stillroom Cookery, Natural Year, etc.)teach about how people used to eat how they preserved meat,foraged spring catail sprouts, all the common knowledge of our grandparents that we never learned. A couple of months ago I signed up for herb classes on HerbMentor by Learning Herbs.com. It is wonderful. All these medicines growing in our yards and lawns and we just poison them or pull them up. May I ask everyone to please buy heirloom seeds if you can find them and save as many as possible. They are trying to outlaw saving seeds so everyone is forced into using GMO sterile seeds. Plant the heirloom seeds and save the seeds from your harvest (that's what they used to do, seeds where handed down throughout families). GMO seeds cannot be saved they are sterile and will not grow a true plant. Another wonderful book I'd just like to mention is Root Cellaring by Mike and Nancy Bubel. Thank you Kellene that was a great article as usual.

Is Pea Vetch something a small gardener needs to plant? I googled it and didn't come up with anything helpful.

Small or large gardeners will benefit. I found tons when I looked up "vetch pea"

Well thank goodness Idaho has no hoarding law ( Yes I looked it up) Hawaii does, anything over a week's supplies is hoarding. I can buy and store all I want. I am not concerned about being polite I just want to be leagal. I'm not so sure about that now. Look up S 510 and see if you beleive in the Republic?

I don't understand how or when to use the pea vetch. I want a good growing garden as I have multiple mouths here. Thanks.. can you email me?

All you need to do is grow the pea vetch in your ground in order to nourish it. You should do this every other year in different areas of your garden. This is not intended to be done at the same time as you're growing your other goods. Rotate portions of your garden. One area to grow your produce and one area to nourish by growing the pea vetch.

Christopher Nyerges has also written some great guides to wild foods. He's from California, so he tends to focus a bit more on western wild foods, but his books have excellent survival tips that anyone can use.

I have found a good cheap supply of plastic buckets with lids. The BYU Creamery in Provo sells their big buckets that had ice cream in for under $1. I think it was 50 cents....might have been less.

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