Typically, my soap boxes are politically motivated. Today, we are going to do something a bit different. Thanks to my amazing cousin/friend, I have been once again, inspired. She shared a video, that put some of my thoughts into words, fortunately the lady was super sweet and southern...so, she has a lot more tact than I tend to have. Although, I agree with her with my whole heart. I will share the link to her video, since I'm not yet comfortable to get in front of a camera!
I have spent the past 11 years, learning how to live on a farm and all that entails. I didn't grow up this way, I didn't even know how to really cook when I moved to Missouri, I sure as hell didn't have a clue about how to plan or prepare home grown foods, how to cook anything from scratch, let alone how to plan a menu and shop for a months worth of food at a time. I was a town kid. We just went to the store, the shelves were always full, and bought what we needed, when we needed it. As the sweet lady in video spoke...I found myself nodding my head and actually saying out loud, "Thank GOD!! Someone else gets it! Maybe people will listen to her, as I have spent a decade trying to get people to listen to me!" Here's the thing. I don't know about all parts of America, but I know in my part of the midwest, shelves are thin to bare. Fuel prices have doubled in less than 2 years, land prices have also doubled in less than 2 years, the cost to raise and grow your own foods have nearly doubled in 2 years, and grocery prices DO rise daily! That's IF you can get products.
If you can't see this disaster happening, you have a massive problem. It's not about being doom and gloom. It's about being prepared, being knowledgeable, it's about making sure you can feed your family when those grocery shelves are bare. There is no knight in shining armour that will come save your ass. This falls on each of our shoulders. It means using our heads for more than hat racks! And for some, what is going to happen when you can't go to a food pantry or charity because they don't have food either?! These are real true issues. Instead too many are not thinking logically. They are spending frivolously and not making any effort to think beyond the current moment. However, those will be the same people crying on the news because there is no food left, there is no help.
I don't believe that everyone is cut out for the gardening, or food preservation. However, there are options. Local farmers markets, local meat producers, local dairy producers, local orchard owners, and/or learning to barter or trade again. Many of us, especially the homesteaders, have been preparing for this moment for years. We saw the writing on the wall, even through times that weren't quite so bad. We learned how to be prepared, we learned how to plan for extended periods of time between grocery runs, we learned to prepare food from scratch, we learned how to barter for needed items. Many that homestead, would be willing to sell produce, eggs, etc. right from the farm and cut out all middlemen. It saves you money and it saves us money. It allows a free flow of money within our immediate communities. Plus you are getting farm fresh items.
With the cost of fuel increasing significantly, I wonder how people will manage. I know the video discusses this too. I can only tell you the experience, right here on our little farm, is not well! The $195 diesel fuel that we operate our machinery with, is now $643. That would now mean, the cost of purchasing our bales of hay, is now going to have to increase at the very least, two-fold. The cost of the lambs, has now increased due to the cost of feed, hay, mineral, and the trucking cost to get them to the market. The egg market, mentioned in the video, is also increasing due to the increased cost of feed. Are we seeing a pattern yet?! That is just figuring in the increase in the cost of fuel. This does not figure in the cost of fertilizer, the cost of utilities, the cost of net wrap, the cost of busted tractor/baler parts, the increase in the cost of seeds, plants, or anything else. JUST THE COST INCREASE OF FUEL!
So, what do you think is going to happen to those prices at your favorite food center? Guess what? They will be going up, even more than they already have! Just think about the small change even at the dollar store...$1 items, have increased to $1.25. Oh it's just a quarter, right?! WRONG! That is a quarter on every single item you buy. Buy 40 items, that's $10. Now, let's put that to food. A few cent increase per item, just increased your grocery budget $10, or more. In my budget, it's increased my grocery budget by over $200...already! How the hell are people going to be able to survive these outlandish prices? There will be some small communities that step up to help the neighbors and friends, but cities aren't that, even bigger towns aren't that way. How is a single mother going to make ends meet with the cost of everything increasing, including her taxes, yet her income isn't? How are senior citizens, living on fixed incomes going to weather? How are these farmers going fare when they can't fertilize, they have take out yet another loan for operating, when their crops aren't able to produce without the fertilizer/chemicals to control the weeds? Where exactly do you think the prices of everything, is going?
Are you stocked up with enough food/supplies for 6 months if need be? What if this drags out another year, 2 years, or more?! I think too many have forgotten the lessons our grandparents/great grandparents taught about how they had to live through the Depression. Too many have become lazy. Can you make a pound of meat feed 10 people? Can you prepare your household for 6 months of food, to stay alive? Or is that vacation, that new car, whatever non-necessary event out there...Could you do it? If not, you are in trouble. Serious trouble! Sadly, so many of us that homestead, have learned these traits while taking criticism from those around us for decades. We are the ones that prepare. We are the ones that, while difficult, we could weather these shortages. We are the ones that know what we can do to make sure our family, our neighbors don't starve to death. Yet, we are also the ones that have listened to others belittle us, demean us, and in some cases even go toe-to-toe with us.
Being inspired 3 years ago now, to start researching crazy stories I was hearing, opened my eyes to a world I never knew existed. It opened my eyes to repeat patterns in history that weren't freaks of nature but instead by design. This national emergency, is no different. It's all by design. It's no coincidence. Whether you are ready to accept it or not, is not my care. My care has always been about the people in my life. It's always been about trying to open the eyes of others, so they didn't suffer when shit hits the fan. However, as much as I can try....I can only do so much. I've tried to teach others, I've tried to explain so much. It falls on deaf ears. I can't do anything about that, so I have let that go. Now, I will only focus on my own family, my neighbors, our loved ones, and our community.
I'm going to go one step further than this amazing video. I'm going to encourage you to find a teacher! Find someone that can teach you about growing food, preserving food, managing for extended periods of time without having to make a grocery run, learning where your local farms/homesteads are, research recipes from the great depression and WRITE THEM DOWN! Learn to barter and trade! All of these things were once common knowledge.
I need to thank Appalacia's Homestead today for her inspiring video. Once I can clear my head a little more, I will be venturing into this video area. Until then, go follow her, and so many that are like her...all of us are doing what we can to strive in times of troubled waters.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B5klAXPk0E
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