Growing Food in Times of Scarcity

I found this over at JRW's site and felt compelled to share it here. I for one am re-thinking my prepping. Joe and I talked it over and I won't be growing flowers in my hanging baskets this year. We are going to get a load of dirt this afternoon from down by the barn. I will have potato's planted by this evening. I have been pushed into a more aggressive plan by this article. And as I have said before....Hey if I'm wrong...I still have my preps.


http://stevequayle.com/News.alert/06_Prep_tips/090325.grow.food.scarcity.html

Growing Food in Times of Scarcity

Today I got a call from a very good friend and one that has contact with some pretty prominent people. He was so sad, scared and worried, didn't want to pass on bad news but felt he should let me know. One of his close friends has a good source of information plus a high security clearance informed him that over the summer you would see more and more deployment by the military, come the end of summer into the early fall there "WILL" be martial law. The food source is being dried up gradually. Food will become so scarce and expensive families will be going hungry. This will be the start of a civil uprising and the military will be called into service to quell the looting, stealing, killing and destruction of property. This is all planned. Believe it or not but at least take the time to prepare for it just in case.

I am not telling you this is the gospel but I know where the information came from and it is certainly a credible source.

People, it more than likely cannot be stopped.. WAKE UP...You can still protect your family from most of the hard times with some planning. Do you want to see your children's eyes with hunger in them? Do you want to be on your knees begging for food ? I don't and I won't.

It is the beginning of spring now. Plant every square inch of land you can find, buy pots, buy dirt, buy food and put it away now while it is still here.

Those of you that say you don't have room... MAKE ROOM.. there are so many ways to increase space for your gardens, use your imagination.

How about a wall of food? simple, use PVC pipe, hook it to a rack or your fence or your patio supports. I have done this before just to see if it worked and to dress up a area of our patio that was not that attractive. I used 6" PVC pipes 10 feet long. just packed with good dirt and wired screen over the ends to allow drainage. Drilled holes in the pipe and planted. I grew flowers but vegetables can be grown just as easily. Just think.. put the smaller plants on the top tier, larger ones below. The only drawback is watering which with smaller containers you have to do regularly or you could just install a drip system?

How about planting your potatoes, asparagus and peanuts in bags? Easy to do and so much more prolific in production. Find some of the Tyvec we used for banners and signs during the campaign, cut into 4' lengths, stitch up two sides making a sack, poke holes for drainage in the bottom and add dirt. Plant all those potato eyes in the bags, add more compost or good dirt. As the plant grows add more dirt and when they are ready to harvest just dump out the bags, there are your future dinners. One bag can produce up to 30 pounds of potatoes. Do the same for Peanuts. The bags can be lined up alongside your garage, house, any out of the way place. ( Don't try using paper bags they will of course fall apart when wet)

How about all of those hanging baskets you saved from last years flowers? Cut holes in the bottoms and use coffee filters to keep in the dirt. Plant your cukes, squash, any vining plant in these and watch them grow. Easy to harvest and prolific producers as long as you keep them moist and fertilized. Ever heard of the upside down planters? Make your own.

I spent a couple of hours yesterday starting some seeds for the garden. Easy and relaxing work. I splurged and bought some new 6 pack containers which comes with a bottom tray and a top clear plastic dome cover to protect the seedlings from being washed away by heavy rain, cold, etc.

I like to use a sterile medium, Peat Moss and Perlite, it is free of diseases and bugs and insures a good start to your little plants. Use one part Perlite with 20 parts peat and you will have a perfect medium for starting anything.

Get your hands dirty and fill your little pots with the mix, leave about a half inch on the top of each section. Put in your seeds ( usually 2 seeds per container) add more soil to cover the seeds and press it down to insure good contact with the medium... Make sure you wet your peat mixture down before filling the containers. Peat is hard to wet totally and takes some mixing by hand to insure it is wet all the way through.

Then just cover and wait for nature to take its course:

Tim brought in a truck load of ruined hay to mulch our garden with and will get that on the garden tomorrow. Then the real work begins.. planting peas, beans, okra, peppers, eggplants and all the greens I love so much.. collards, kale, mustard and broccoli. These will do well even with some cold nights left to go.

Please people stock up your pantry, have enough food for your family for at least 6 months. A year would be better but I know how much it costs. Don't listen to the experts, buy what you normally eat no need to stock up on items that are recomended but you rarely eat. Make sure you have enough salt, sugar, oil, coffee, tea, chocolate and spices of all kinds. These will be the things people forget to store up on and will become good items to barter. Flour is already becoming scarce in our area, corn meal the same, Meat will become so expensive it will be out of reach for most of us but by buying now and canning it ( freezing is ok but if your power is cut off your meat will spoil so I just can it all) I must have 10 cases of hamburger canned, beef stew, Chicken "N" dumplings, Pork Chops, vegetable soups and spagetti sauce all ready to go. Just open the jar and heat and eat. So much better than the store brands and you know exactly what is in them. Roasts can be canned also very easily. If you don't have a pressure canner yet get one by hook or crook. It will be a Godsend if things go sour and I think they will shortly.

Think about building a dehydrator, easy to build, I used one of those closet bags for hanging suits etc and replaced the plastic with screen wire. Added shelves and I can hang it outside in the fresh air with all the vegetables on it to air dry. The indians did it hundreds of years ago and it is still a good idea. Dried food lasts a long time, can be stored easily and is ready to just add water and heat and eat.

Everyone is busy buying all the expensive water purifiers.. why? Build one.. easy.. look at how a alcohol still is built, make a small one. You will be making distilled water in no time. I made one out of a old pressure cooker just take off the jiggler and attach a metal or glass tube ( The first one I made used Aquarium tubing )to run to your water bottle. fill the cooker, turn it on and just watch the water start coming out of the spout. All the impurities will remain in the cooker and only pure steam will be put out to condense back into water. Add a pinch of salt to make it have some taste and you are in business.

When you go to the flea markets, yard sales etc make sure to snap up any and all canning jars and lids, you will need to can your produce for the next winters use.

Please take heed and start today. There is no time to lose and if you wait you may be one of the ones that are just begging for help from our wonderful Government which means you have to obey. You have to comply, you have to agree to be what ever they want you to be or you could just be left to starve !

DO NOT make your plans known to your neighbors unless they are also doing the same thing. When the SHTF there will be so many people on the streets looking for food for their families you will be a target. Just remember even a honest hardworking Christian will turn to anything to feed his children. He will steal, lie, even kill to keep his children from starving. Wouldn't you?