We hope and pray you are all doing well through these trying times. Today we are making bread and rolls, this gives me some time to reflect on things while the dough rises.
Pandemics have come and gone since man has walked the Earth. One of the things I seem to see when reading not only about this pandemic but also pandemics of the past is, we never seem to be prepared for them when they strike. We tend to be surprised when they come, their impact on human life can be devastating
Most pandemics in these modern times can be brought under control if they are taken seriously from the start, and people practice what we have been practicing now, quarantine and distance from others, in my opinion, staying out of the public is the best way to slow these pandemics. But our problem in these modern times is we don’t store the things we need in any abundance anymore. People have to go out and shop either every week or every couple of weeks depending on how one is paid or how we budget.
I think most of us in some way or another were (as is said.) caught with our pants down. I know we let some of our stores dwindle for one reason or another I believe those stores were used when I was going through cancer treatment and after months of no pay check we dipped into our stores. These stores were not replaced fast enough to get us through any real disaster because money was tight and we did what we could a little at a time, however, I am a staples person. When I shop I tend to go for staple items such as flour, sugar, salt and the various spices an herbs we use regularly, I admit we don’t grow allot in that area and it is something I have had on the to grow list for some time. We do purchase yeast in bulk and have enough in the freezer to go a while.
The dilemma in our State is folks weren’t following the guideline of staying home except for getting essentials, so the State shut down the hobby stores and the local garden centers as well as the sale of clothing and other things they deem non-essential in the State. This in turn put an end to the purchase of seeds here and folks are complaining they can’t buy their seeds in the stores. I have a problem with the State making that decision in regards to the garden centers, I believe we run the risk of food shortages at some point in time because of this pandemic. So why on Earth would they shut down the local purchase of garden seeds? I’ll leave that answer to the conspiracy theorists. I would like to think that decision was made well intended, but not thought out. Because common sense would say we need to purchase vegetable plants and seeds, it really is a no brainer.
This is one of the reasons I normally keep a few years’ worth of seed on hand and have for years. However, this year will find me a little shorter in that area as we are going back to planting our whole garden again this year because some of our adult children want home grown vegetables for their dinner plate. And my wife and I are happy to oblige as long as they come and help. Buy going back to planting the whole garden will take up about two years’ worth of the seed we have. This is now a lesson for us, we need to keep more of the seed we do buy and possibly save more of the seeds we save.
It is said that seeds and other things garden can be ordered on line, however I ordered the small portable greenhouse we have wanted and they said they will ship it after they have shipped Items that are deemed essential have been shipped to others. Its kind of baffling me, because having to have something to grow your own food seems to me as essential. But this is the society we live in; people no longer grow their own and make their own anything it seems except the few.
Another lesson we all need to practice if we don’t already is to can everything the garden produces, even if you have enough. Because you never know how much you will need, We should always be in a position to help the family even though they are grown and no longer home.
I suppose what I am getting at here is, we need to take this pandemic and evaluate where we are against where we should be, If we all had enough of the food and supplies we need to get us six months to a year, we could have given this pandemic a knock out punch allot sooner because we could have all hunkered down and stayed home without having to go out to purchase these things and possibly exposing ourselves to this menace. People should have been able to stay home before the government asked us to.
My challenge to everyone is to take some time while we are all home and sit down with your spouse or significant other and take an inventory or the things you have and normally use then make a list of the things you need and how much it would take to get you through another incident whether it be a pandemic, or some other disruption. This is one of the reasons we can so much of our food instead of freeze, in the event of an extended power outage. We are in a position to can any meat we have in our freezer in the event that should have to happen. What a tragic waste it would be to lose everything because we couldn’t keep all of our food frozen. That needs to be something to think about when you do your planning.
Always strive to have enough to get you by from harvest to harvest, this has always been our goal here. Some years we make it and others we don’t, but if you put up the things this year that come in abundance then you’ll be that much further ahead if that crop should fail next year. There is almost always something in your garden every year that does really well.
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” Benjamin Franklin
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