[Arktwo] Not about seeds.

[Bruce Beach]

Laurie said:

 Home canning and other food preservation should be included next!

Okay, but before we get to that -
I want to mention that
we not only store seed -
we store fertilizer.
I have a shed with many bags of fertilizer.

You also need to have a supply
of hand tools.
Shovels, hoes, rakes, wheelbarrow, etc.
We have all that of course -
along with plans for powered equipment using biodiesel, etc.
AND -
I won't tell you about our plans for oxen.

Again, regarding storage,
we have a whole storage shed filled with carpet.
Now - you may not think that important -
but we have this carpet all cut in strips -
and ready to lay down between the rows -
to suppress the weeds.
My wife and two of our local members
have now used the system -
in their gardens.
Purists will tell you
that the carpets contain chemicals
and that this offends their organic philosophy -
but we do what we can do.

Mary said regarding food -
store what you use and use what you store,,, ROTATE, ROTATE!!!!!!!!!

Certainly good advice -
but unfortunately -
not good for us
since we are trying to prepare
for hundreds of people -
and can't eat up that storage each year.

If we were very wealthy -
we could donate
to the Food Bank each year -
and buy new for storage.
Unfortunately -
we can't do that.

So at what point do we
give it to them?
Well, we don't -
because we keep it
until it is so old
that they wouldn't want it.
But still we keep it even longer.

My wife tested some
ten year old V-8 juice
on me this year.
The bottles have gone
totally black.
But over time -
I drank the whole bottle.
Didn't taste like fresh V-8.
But I am here to tell about it.

Last summer
my grandson and I
moved a bunch of jars
of Jean's canning.
She puts the date on them.
(Not a 'good until' date -
but the date that she cans it.)
Some of the stuff
we were putting on the shelf
is older than my teenage grandson.)

If a can is bulging
or leaking -
or a jar has an obvious mould inside -
then we toss it.
We were doing a major sorting -
and I had to take several barrel full
to the dump.
Sad -
when there are hungry people in the world.

But -
it will be sadder to me -
if I see people starving around me -
and I haven't made as much preparation
as I can
to feed them.

One of the main things to do -
with really old food -
is to use a lot of spice -
and we do stock a LOT of spice.

This way old cans of green and yellow beans
may end up in a soup.
None of this will meet present day culinary standards -
but we are talking about a different situation.

I suppose we will have to cook up stuff
and test it out on a few people.
If a few hours later -
they haven't gotten sick -
then we can use it to feed others.

There are people hungry today -
but no one here is starving to death.
Many years I have asked
the local farmers for their
potato culls.
Nothing wrong with these.
It is just that in North America
there are such high standards -
that we throw away a lot
of edible food.

Sometimes the potatoes are just
too large.
Other times there may be a bump on them.
Sometimes they may be a bit small.
Whatever.
In grading and packaging today -
they have to all fall
within a narrow spectrum.

So the farmers would give them to me
or sell them to me at a very low price.
Then off to the city I would go.
Until I got the bigger truck -
I would take my pickup -
and the front wheels would hardly touch the ground.
Not safe.
But we made it.

I tried to even park alongside the curb -
and offer people bags
to pick their own for free.
Some were appreciative -
and we would give some away -
but it took too long.
AND - you wouldn't believe
some of the remarks
I overheard people making -
about the stupid farmer come to town.

City Harvest and all would give me addresses
to drive around to -
but that took too long also -
for the time that we could stay
down in the city.

Sad thing is -
we sometimes couldn't give them all away -
and I would have to bring back some
and dump them.

Same thing with Jean's squash
and zucchini.
Too much for us to use -
or give away locally -
so when going down to the city
she would have me load up the back of the car.
I would open the trunk -
hold them up -
and shout -
"Free Zucchinis!"

Some people would take them -
and others would give me a strange look.
I can tell you -
those looks wouldn't happen in a country
where people are starving -
and I think it may eventually be different here.
Anyway -
I did manage to give away
all the Zucchinis.

Fellow wrote to me
a couple of days ago
asking if I would like to get
truckloads of surplus food -
at a very low cost.

We don't have a budget
to do that for the shelter of course -
but we were thinking about what
we could do for a lot of people
who are on low budgets.

What he said was:

We get salvage excess stock groceries and they are cheap, very good
and last long too. 1248 boxes (a full truckload can be had for $12.00 a box
plus freight from New Jersey.

 Drawback is a full truckload must be ordered but they can be split between
2 locations and between those who want to order.

I've been in the business for 5 years and it has blessed thousands
nationwide. We should be able to get loads into Canada as well.

The idea is families can order a truckload, split with other families or
neighbours or neighbourhoods. Much cheaper than the grocery store and I have
articles galore about the benefits of this type of groceries.

Imagine a can of baked beans for .25 cents to 40 cents or less. Pasta 1 lb
for under $.25 cents a box.

The food companies have rules we must adhere to but they are fair. So a full
truckload of 1248 boxes, brought in by one of our tractor trailers on a
backhaul would be about $1.40 a mile to $2.00 a mile for delivery. So for
example a delivery of 1000 miles would cost $1400-$2000 US Funds plus the
full truckload of food on 26 pallets would add another $14,976.00

There are other details
about how many stops
the truck can make and all -
but I don't see any way
to organize this.

People who really need the food -
don't have the couple of hundred dollars
to layout for next months food budget.
They are waiting for a check
at the end of the month -
so they can run down and get it right then.

A can may cost them 50 cents
instead of a quarter -
but at least if they find $2
they can run down and get 4 cans
to feed the kids.

I am telling you about it -
in case anyone has an idea -
of how to do this.

------------
Another idea / offer
came this week also.

The attached Excel spreadsheet calculates food needs for a family based on a
storage program similar to what the "Mormons" recommend.  It is adapted from
the  MS-DOS program the LDS church distributed in the late 1980's.  Feel
free to make it available to all in this network.  Also attached is an
explanatory Word file.

The Word file is quite good -
and there may be a number of people
who would like to use this program.

The problem is -
I just don't have the time
to forward it upon request -
and I don't know any other way.
Hmmm -
maybe I could send it out
to the State TEAM Leaders
and they could pass it on -
but I would have to get their agreement.
That would be time consuming also.

I suggested that I just give his name
in this Newsletter
and that you could request it
from him -
if you are interested.
But - I didn't get a reply
to that suggestion.

---------
We did finally get all of Jean's
SOL replies off today.

I still haven't heard back
from all the pollsters.
Particularly waiting for California -
but we are some hours ahead of there -
so maybe yet this evening.

--------
Have to make some time consuming trips -
the next couple of days.
I have a window -
tomorrow afternoon -
when I could be working on the survey.
Hope that happens.
---------

I am still not getting anything said
about canning and food storage.

We need one of those wonderful LDS canneries around us -
but don't have one -
or really anything to put through it anyway.

Home canning is something my wife used to do LOTS.
She can barely stand now -
so I don't think we will be doing
any more of that.
It is probably a pretty much lost skill
with the younger generation.

We used to have lots of 'Mason' jars.
The problem is that one needs
lids and rings.
I have heard of people getting great deals
on E-Bay -
but I don't know anything about doing that.

Freezing is lots easier today -
for lots of folks -
but of course -
when we lose the power -
we will lose the food.

There are lots of old time
storage methods
that people don't know about today.

Pickling used to be a big thing.
People pickled eggs for instance.
Most people today
have never even eaten a pickled egg.

Root cellars were another big thing.
And just burying some crops
in protected pits.
Varmints can be a BIG problem -
but there are going to be lots of problems.
Starving will be one of them.

One of the biggest things -
besides food preservation
is food preparation -
when you don't have all the modern conveniences.

Solar ovens are one solution.
Lots of good sources on the Internet
for building simple solar ovens.

Sprouting is another.
I have saved a bunch of old
Dr. Pepper Bottles.
The big 2 litre kind.

What you do is take
two bottles
and cut the top off one -
and the bottom off the other.

You then jam them together
so that you have one large bottle.
Drop in some wheat seeds
(or others that will sprout)
and some water -
put them in some sunlight.

Occasionally add some water
and give them a shake.
In a few days - sprouts.
Cooking with the sprouts
is another subject.

Incidentally, for drying foods -
my wife says one of the best ways
is to put seeds or food on trays
and put the trays in the back seat of the car.
The sun does the job and they are protected.

There may be lots of cars available
for that purpose.

Sorry that I am not really being any more help
on food preservation.
I am sure that we are going to be needing
lots of these skills that we don't have.

Peace and love,
Bruce
DawnSayer@webpal.org