Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 13

Thread: I could survive on...

  1. #1
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,169

    I could survive on...

    Farmers in our area are saying that without sufficient # of offshore labour to plant, cultivate and harvest the crops, the acres are being reduced impacting the supply and $$$ in the fall.

    I sat and thought about it examining what I really need.

    My market garden wants are simple Carrots, cabbage, home-canned tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, peppers, squash, onions, corn, mushrooms from local growers, often U-pik. I grow my own green beans for freezing and microgreens through out the winter. Strawberries and blueberries are U-pik now; pears, plums and apples could be U-pik with any spraying done with a machine. They all need manpower for weed control and pruning though. Some local orchards are using sheep to mow the grass and weeds around the trees.

    With milk, cheese and legumes, I could survive quite well. Local meat and eggs are readily available. I do need to buy flour, pasta, potatoes and rice.

    What about you?
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  2. #2
    Senior Member JaneV2.0's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    15,489
    A rotating menu of Asian-inspired meals. Or any one of a number of alternatives. I expect food supplies to be squeezed, and I'm glad to have moved to one meal a day, most days.

  3. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    SoCal
    Posts
    9,662
    on a wide variety of things but I need food to eat (well look I could lose some weight and be just fine and maybe better, but not indefinitely, as my weight is within normal now). I guess I'm glad at this point in corona collapse, that I haven't followed any restrictive diet except trying to eat mostly healthy real foods, if I've had to compromise standards a little, when I haven't found organic or whatever, so it goes.

    Beans and other packaged foods got in short supply a few weeks ago (dried and canned), no tomato products either. Fine I can survive on simple recipes made with fresh meats and produce then. Conversely if meats got in short supply, I could survive on legumes, though a bit less happily Luckily I've made maybe not the optimum number, who doesn't wish for a larger repertoire maybe (and now is not the best time to build it being what a pain grocery shopping has become), but many recipes with a wide variety of foods.
    Trees don't grow on money

  4. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2016
    Posts
    7,483
    Razz, my grandmother grew up on a farm and I remember her telling me that the only thing they bought was coffee and shoes--they grew sugar cane or I guess they would have bought that.

    That has stuck with me over the years.

  5. #5
    Senior Member razz's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Ontario, Canada
    Posts
    8,169
    Quote Originally Posted by Tybee View Post
    Razz, my grandmother grew up on a farm and I remember her telling me that the only thing they bought was coffee and shoes--they grew sugar cane or I guess they would have bought that.

    That has stuck with me over the years.
    I remember my DH saying that when he was a child, it seemed every family used to have a barrel of molasses for any sweetening needs. I had forgotten that until you posted.
    As Cicero said, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others.”

  6. #6
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,675
    When I went off and rented a place on my own for 6 weeks once I took one small suitcase, a box of work-related items, and my grains and legumes--jars of quinoa, barley, rice, and beans. My daughter told me I was weird to travel with my grains. I guess I was. But if I have good grains and rice and beans, plus fresh vegetables (or frozen) I could get by.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  7. #7
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    2,843
    We will live on what is available. It's as simple as that for each and every one of us.

    Our CSA has begun and goes through the first week of October when we'll get about 40# of squash. The share is HUGE right now. From last Wednesday we still have enough leafy greens for 6 more huge chef salads. And share comes tomorrow-another biggie.

  8. #8
    Senior Member Simplemind's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    Oregon
    Posts
    1,502
    We put in double the garden space this year. We have 17 raised beds along with veggies plugged into flower beds all over the yard. We have apples, pears, cherries and blueberries. Every year the crops get bigger. I'm glad we will have a buffer.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jun 2015
    Posts
    2,843
    Quote Originally Posted by Simplemind View Post
    We put in double the garden space this year. We have 17 raised beds along with veggies plugged into flower beds all over the yard. We have apples, pears, cherries and blueberries. Every year the crops get bigger. I'm glad we will have a buffer.
    We still have about half of last years' freezer ratatouille, salsa and blackberry jam. I had planned to rest our garden this year but ordered a bunch of plants from our CSA farm. Those will be delivered tomorrow along with our CSA share. I'll order more if needed and pick them up curbside out at the farm Saturday.

  10. #10
    Senior Member jp1's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2010
    Location
    San Francisco
    Posts
    9,827
    We buy food from four sources. Safeway, local butcher that sources local meat and seafood, small fruit and veggie store that does the same, and our former CSA farmer (because of some life events a few years ago he no longer does a season of weekly deliveries but every few weeks offers CSA-like "mystery boxes" for a flat rate of $25.) Between all four I'm not worried that we'll go hungry, just maybe won't have the variety and availability that we had in pre-covid times, and we may spend a bit more, although yesterday at Safeway the shelves appeared to be fully stocked for pretty much everything. I'll continue to buy a little bit extra every time I shop to try and limit unavailability of anything short-term from impacting us, but I'm not worried that we're going to starve. If nothing else we could eat pasta and homemade red sauce for a long time, and that's not even counting the freezer full of various meat and fish that I bought a few weeks ago which we've barely dented.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •