when the ground doesnt provide quite what we expected

I know this has happened forever to folks all round the world,,,, also know that many of us here attempt to grow and supply ourselves with as much as we can... soooooooooo....

what do we do here when our taters all drown or our prize bessie cow ups n kicks the bucket,,, in other words when things we have nurtured grown and taken care of in order to eat are all of a sudden gone and we no longer have them,,,, or when the household numbers grow and what was once enough now is being stretched to the limits for whatever reason...

what is it that we add that is affordable etc in order to compensate for the losses,,,, since this isnt 1864 anymore and starvation isnt something we tend to opt for these days....

 

The neighbors helping neighbors is so important, I doubt if life could go on around here with out it. All my neighbors are Bush loving, gun toteing rednecks. But if I see them working on a fence I stop and help. My nearest neighbor and wife were riding a 4 wheeler, turned in front of another 4 wheeler, got hit and both had broken left legs. For a week or so I went up and fed their horses for them. If they don't see me around for a while, they'll stop by & be sure I'm ok because they know I live alone. Other that things like this, we only wave. But I've found, for me, here, that rather than having a direct even energy exchange, I try to do extra. It has helped me get along with folks that did not like an outsider, and a hippie too, moving into their area. Sort of an indirect exchange, in which I get some peace of mind.

Another thing I do is to count on some failures. I know they're going to happen and that helps me plan for them. It is a large part of why I have so many as I call them, cottage industries. There's the tomatoes & peppers, and cooking herbs, but also Shiitake mushrooms, blackberries & muscudines, bailing & selling pine straw, flavored oils and vinagars, and there were also selling cut flowers and bedding plants. Due to continued simplification of my life and the transition to "empty nest", I've stopped the last two. The plan has been to have extra of some things to make up for what doesn't preform.

Something else I do that I feel helps. I no longer try to grow everything I eat. There are some thing I seem to have a knack for and that do extra well here. In less time and effort than I can try to grow everything, I can grow extra of what works best and barter for the other things. A hand full of basil or sage can get me all the peas and beans I can eat. Some extra Shiitake, gets me lumber. A few extra tomatoes & peppers gets me all the compost material I can physically handle. It's a different exchange system, goods rather than services. But by concentrating on what my farm does best, and developing a network of contacts, I have greatly reduced running short overall. If I may add, the network of contacts is best if, as Skip said, it is of like minded people. I've found that's not always possible, certainly not in this part of Alabama. But even if it was, I'd still work on my network of non-like minded people. I guess it's all about diversity.

Another type exchange I think is important is helping anonymous others and the community as a whole. Community can mean neighbors, can be planet Earth. Examples... I donate extra herbs to local shelters for battered women. I make my deliveries by giving them to a contact in a store parking lot. Safe houses remain secret. I'm told it helps get them cooking together and with counslers and that leads to a lot of good. Another example, volunteer fire department, I'm too old to be a member, but I help with equipment purchases. I don't know who any of this helps, but I'm sure it does and makes the world a little better.

Peace,
poor_old_dad

 

Remember, there is no such thing as total self-sufficiency. If I have a garden surplus, I just give it away. People generally are pretty generous to me.

 

I would suggest reading some books on edible plants,there are many many common weeds that are very good for you, grass for one will keep you healthy,(chew the juice ,spit out the fiber) ,wild violets ,persaline,pig weed, for vitamins,the list is enormous! Acorns, cattails,
insects,worms, grubs,or anything else thats alive for that matter,for protien.

The truth is nature allways has something at the table!

 

Sorry, but I'm on a bread kick
ACORN BREAD also known as depression bread.

* 2 cups acorn flour
* 2 cups cattail or white flour
* 3 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/3 cup maple syrup or sugar
* 1 egg
* ½ cup milk
* 3 tablespoons olive oil
* Bake in pan for 30 minutes or until done at 400 degrees

I don't know about grub worm bread

 

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thanks man ,I want your cook book!

 

Is acorn flour made from acorns.
30 minutes at 400ºF = black?

 

Yeah, you make it out of acorns, but if you don't leach the tannins, you're going to have some nasty tasting stuff. Shell and boil the acorns repeatedly changing the water regularly until it's clear. Don't throw out the dark water though. It has a natural antiseptic quality and is the most awesome cure for poison ivy. You can also use it in making soap, laundry detergent and many other things that need a natural tannin. You can also tan leather with it, and it's a natural estringent, so it's great for skin creams too.

Back to the bread... When the water is clear, you can either dry it out and store it as flour, or you can blend it into a mush and start making your bread right away. Acorns from the white oak are the sweetest because they have less tannin. They don't need to be leached as much and the bread is sweeter.

As for the recommended bake time and temp. It's not a light fluffy bread, it's dense and slightly crumbly, that's why you have to add a lighter flour. The temp recommended is a little high for my oven, so I bake mine at 375. You just have to keep an eye on it and see how it works best for you.

After you leach the tannins out, you can even eat the acorns like nuts, but I really think the white oak acorns are the best for this. They're still a slightly bitter sweet nut, but they're good for you.

One more thing, when you transfer the acorns to clean water after they've been boiling, transfer them into water that's already boiling. don't transfer them into cold water and bring that to a boil, it'll only lock in the bitterness.