Posted on 03/10/2008 9:24:06 PM PDT by fishhound
Global stocks of wheat are plummeting and people are starting to worry about the price of staples like bread. But can you beat the commodity market by growing your own?
Look out your back window. How's the grass?
If you've got a garden at all, it might be that the grass is an unloved scrub as sparse as Elton John's hair used to be. Or it could be a lush strip of glorious verdure. Either way, the odds are you're not getting much use out of it. Wouldn't it be great if you could improve your health, help the environment and at the same time do your part to fight inflation?
The world is running dangerously low on wheat, one of civilisation's original staple foods. Drought in Australia and China and a switch to meat in the newly prosperous parts of the world are putting the squeeze on wheat. Prices are at a record high.
Baker and organic food campaigner Andrew Whitley believes the answer lies in your back garden and that it's time, as he puts it, to "bake your lawn". He is launching the Real Bread Campaign.
"If wheat makes bread why not grow bread just like you grow vegetables. We think of it as being a massive prairie-style enterprise but it is just a plant like anything else. It's like grass.
"There are few things that give greater satisfaction than being able to grow something and harvest it and share it with friends and family."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.bbc.co.uk ...
I work at it slowly.
I know an old timer who says “If I have to, I can shut my door for three months”...no one ever said that to me before.
I do find it difficult to go through stuff and revolve it out and I miss dates and have to sometimes throw stuff out.
I’m in Fort Worth and basic white sandwich bread is still under a dollar at Kroger and Wal-Mart.
I hadn’t heard that.
But it wouldn’t raise much revenue anyway on my dry side of the state.
I tend to think that alot of the expiration dates on food (except for like dairy) are grossly underexaggerated.
I mean a bean is a bean is a bean. Heck, they’ve planted beans and lentils and stuff they found buried with the Pharaohs.
And alot of them grew fine.
I can vouch for flour freezing well. For years I have bought large bags of flour when on sale and kept it in the freezer. I find if you plan to make bread with it, you need to let the flour come to room temp for best results. Yeast can also be frozen for quite a while, and also needs to be warmed to use of course- I have kept both for well over a year. Yeast is a bargain at warehouse stores in large bags.
We live pretty remote and always keep large quantity of staples around in case of bad weather or what ever. Things like beans and rice I will repackage in using portions into the food saver vacuum bags- you can also stash a lot of food in garbage cans and if space is a problem cut a plywood round for the top of the garbage can and cover with a nice cloth- presto decorator table w/storage. The real key to bulk food storage is to rotate food constantly keeping track of how it is doing- some of the vacuum bags seals will fail and if you are keeping track you can just use those items pretty soon. I also keep seeds stored, like corn and other veggies. We usually eat frozen or fresh veggies, but I do stock up on canned when they are really on sale- just in case.
I am so happy to be back in WA where they remember how
to bake real bread - Columbia Bakery!
On the other hand, the supposedly Seattle’s best BarBQ
place Stans in Issaquah is an abomination. What I wouldn’t give for a chance to get to a Spring Creek, or to Clarks,
or the Shady Oak...
Something else I am doing; dehydrating fresh produce.
It is amazing how much you can store in baggies, after dehydration.
I have mushrooms, celery, onions, green pepper, fresh herbs, bananas, apples, and potatoes.
And, that vacuum sealer, Tammy, is the best invention since the electric hair curler. LOL! I love mine!
Do you use a dehydrator or the sun? I tried a dehydrator years ago and thought it was a pain- I suppose they are better now. If you use one what kind do you like? Is it real time consuming- tell me more...
We really like to make jerky, and that is what I wanted the dehydrator for- but it seemed easier to do using the sun than the dehydrator. I truly haven’t done fruit and veggies in the dehydrator but should.
living in a northern state is fantastic but you do have less leeway in your garden...
however, onions, tomatoes, cukes, beans, peppers and jalopenos, garlic, etc grow well..garlic is particularly easy to grow (put it in the ground!)
I bought a 25# of rice the other day at Costco, and I buy the large cans of plain tomatoe sauce at $1.89/can and keep several on hand....buy the large cans of tuna..good savings....I’ve been buying canned corn in the #10 cans as well....anything that will keep, I try to buy....including soaps, plastic wrap, etc.
I use electric dehydrators. They are all pretty good, now. But, be sure to get one with several trays. Some only have three trays that hold a minimal amount of food.
Mine have at least five to eight trays, each.
I have made jerkey - but think it is better in the oven - not the dehydrator. The problem is, that food closer to the heater, dehydrates quicker, and it is important to rotate the trays.
I have never found it to be time consuming. I love to get a ten pound bag of potatoes on sale and then dehydrate them for future use. (Makes great scalloped potates! Re-hydrated, makes for good home fries for breakfast.)
You can also can meat in mason jars. I have never done it (but am sure tempted, now). The internet is full of instructions for it all.
If you want more information, do a google on ‘food dehydrators’. You will get over 300,000 links.
Hope this helped a little. ;-)
Alot of people don’t think about soap.
Who knows how to make soap anymore?
You can buy like a cubic foot of soap for ten dollars. And from what I’ve seen of the pioneer series where folks go out and try to live like pioneers, soap and perfumes and toiletries are valued way more than even food.
Lucky you. Mine, if I had any and could see them, are under 2 feet of snow. lol
Pray for GloBull warming.
Ya need a pressure canner though.
Now that the price of corn has gone up causing meat and milk to go out of sight, they are working on making gasoline from sugar cane.
Thanks, it really does help. I have been thinking about trying them again, and it does help to find someone likes them.
My mother did all sorts of canning, it is not too bad- just make sure you really understand and follow directions to the letter on things like meat especially. Though my mother canned she had a healthy fear of making us sick and was very careful. She made me so paranoid that I don’t can, but I should.
I still can soups and chili. It’s great to go to the cupboard and have homemade soup there.
Hmm.
How many times has mass starvation been predicted? How many times has it happened?
well, they have my respect. I have tried to grow things, sometimes yes, sometimes no.
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