I'm not going to do a menu download this week because we have some extenuating circumstances. We spent the week at my Dad's house in Wyoming for Thanksgiving so while we didn't buy any food from the grocery store or restaurants we also didn't provide our own food. We did bring food with us though. Because we drove to Wyoming from California we had to make sure that we brought enough food for the two day drive. We also brought food for Thanksgiving including ingredients for making pie and for brining the turkey. Of course things would have been different if we were having Thanksgiving at home.
Staying in Wyoming I became acutely aware of the food availability. Living in California is a blessing. Really. But it was also the mentality of those that lived there that amazed me. Veggies come in cans. Fruits do too, even though they are coated in high fructose corn syrup. We were fortunate to be staying in Cheyenne, the capital. Their grocery stores had large fresh produce departments but very little organic food. The weather isn't conducive to gardening and I'm told that it's impossible. But I don't buy that excuse. I know there are several "urban farmers" in Cheyenne who grow their own food. Also, my Grandmother grew up on a farm in the Grand Tetons and they were able to supply their large family with all of their food all year.
I do have a confession though. On the drive home we had brought a bunch of food and water with us. 75% of the trip was fine and we were making great time. We left Salt Lake City at 4:00am PST to get home. We were scheduled to make it home at 4:00pm according to our GPS (it was 3:30pm but we had to stop at the Cabela's in Boomtown). That is until we got to California. The Sierras were the thorn in my side. We got to Donner Pass at 2:30pm. Multiple times we were at a dead stop in the mountains for long lengths of time - enough where everyone was getting out of their cars and walking around. The longest period we sat for nearly 3 hours in the same spot. We didn't get home until 11:00pm. A trip that should have been 11 1/2 hours instead took us 18 1/2 hours. We weren't fully prepared for this and ended up having to buy some coffee just so we could stay awake for the ride home.
I'm glad to be home now. I'm glad to be somewhere that we can control our food and that we have healthy options available to us.
This is the problem I have here in Nebraska, Rachel. No fresh, and if its supposedly "fresh", its old, wrinkled, and very expensive.
ReplyDeleteRachel, I am in zone 5 and I have cold frames and do greens, radishes, chard, cold hardy types of things that take very cold temps, scallions, then about Dec, Jan, I have to cover everything and then just watch and then uncover the frames starting in mid to late Feb. I grow this type of food pretty much 10 months out the the 12.
People around here are afraid of what others think, if you garden in winter, you are framed a freak, hippy, whatever crosses the lips or thoughts. The seeds I purchase are from Johnny's seed company, and some I just experiment with. Some years are ok, and everything pulls through with flying colors, other years, it is cold and nothing makes it. That's farm'in.
My neighbor across the street, didn't believe the frames I had going last year, and I made him eat crow when I showed them to him. He is one of these who says you only garden in summer. I had spinach go through -30 to -40 below wind chill last Oct through Jan. and they were so sweet and awesome in late Feb.
You are truly blessed to have access to options, I can't say too much about that here.
I was watching the weather over Donner for some friends who drive over the road truck and they got cornered at Boomtown also. Glad you are home and safe.
We were trying to convince my dad that he should start growing food. He's Mormon and convinced that the country is going to implode soon and that food will no longer be available. He says he'll just start growing food when it turns to that. In my opinion (though I don't really buy the "End of the World as We Know It" scenario) if you wait until then it's too late. If you don't already know what you're doing and already have everything going, you're looking at months without food and that's if you can actually avoid crop failures.
ReplyDeleteI have gut instints that we will have "a glitch" in the system, not sure "when". And I agree with you, if you do not get ready now or have been ready, you will not be able to ride out the storm so to speak as there will be nothing to fall back on. I have always been prepared as best as I can, from years of experience being with out jobs or medical and homeless for about 7 years from cancer and a job loss and loss of medical insurance. So I am a planner. And I also am not a truster of the human race or anything the human race says that help will be there.
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