There is an Old Testament verse that is often overlooked as to its significance. In Joshua chapter 5, the Israelites have just crossed the Jordan river into Canaan and they are making preparations to conquer the city of Jericho. They and ate some "old corn" and unleavened cakes (probably something like corn tortillas) for the passover feast that week. The reason this is significant is that the next day, the manna from Heaven that had fed them in the wilderness for 40 years stopped. Verse 12 says that "they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year."
The food in the garden still is only a compliment to the dried stored foods but a welcome treat. Later in the season, the scale will tip the other way, the fresh food will be supplemented by dried goods.
Observations on the garden- When planting seeds, you plant them closer than you need and then thin them out at some point after they sprout. Not all seeds germinate AND some require the presence of other seeds nearby to germinate in any case. Plus, it's hard to do anything other than just sprinkle them out gently when they are such tiny seeds. For the bigger seeds like the peas, the placement is very deliberate.
The thinning should occur before the roots become intertwined and each plant would have to compete with the others nearby for dirt, water, sunlight etc. and you get a bunch of sickly plants that don't produce much of anything. Thinning them exposes more leaf area to sunlight. At this stage, they are just a single root protruding downward. The butterhead lettuce plants are still seedlings and have not begun forming heads. They did need to be thinned out and since the leaves are edible they went into the salad rather than getting tossed out. SO- a plate full of butterhead lettuce leaves, a couple of sprigs of cilantro leaves with the stems (as cilantro matures and gets thicker, the stems get a kinda bitter, but they are sweet/pungent now), a couple of sprigs of green onions, and some re-hydrated carrots and celery from storage with a couple of tablespoons of canned diced tomatoes. I have red vinegar and olive oil in storage with other dried herbs like pepper, garlic, parsley, oregano etc. I made a most excellent dressing.
As people learn of my adventures recently, it seems more and more fantastical to them but more and more comfortable, reasonable, DO-able and ordinary to me. The stored food has become a bridge that spanned the time needed to plant seeds and begin a harvest, or make other arrangements to obtain food in a crisis. Seeds would seem to be the obvious choice because one is not at the mercy of others or of the crisis itself, one is SELF-reliant! It's right there in the title- SELF-reliance. You take care of yourself and don't leave it to others to take care of the things you should have planned for.
Inventory: Down to 2 lbs of butter. Made a rice/coconut/almond/canned chicken dish that used another 1/4lb of butter. Won't last for 30 more days, but it's ok. 11 kosher franks left. Some frozen chicken, 1 lb of shrimp, 2 Cornish game hens, frozen broccoli, frozen corn, some sausage. 3 boxes of cold cereal.There is PLENTY of canned fruits, vegetables and meats and dozens of #10 cans of wheat, rice, beans, sugar, salt, dried milk, potato flakes etc. All of those have been the backbone of many of the meals of late. The Santa Fe tomatoes are gone. There are a few Santa Fe apples left but they are going south- starting to decompose. Maybe a couple more days of apples and cinnamon and oatmeal.
Finished off the peanuts on a hike on Peralta trail to Weavers Needle in the Superstition mountains last weekend. It's a medium to strenuous 6 mile round trip on a well used and maintained trail. It felt better without candy or fitness supplements that are generally loaded with chemicals and other kinds of fillers. Water and peanuts provided plenty of energy. Peanut packaging is biodegradable. Took Camelback back-pack with reusable water bladder. Still have lots of sunflower seeds, pistachios, and almonds to eat with meals.A few menu items this week: Chicken/pineapple/tomato (from a can) skewers with teriyaki sauce cooked on tabletop hibachi grill using Sterno fuel. Pancakes and sausage. Crescent rolls with kosher frank baked inside. Franks and beans. Chicken and pasta- with tomato basil sauce and Parmesan cheese or with Alfredo sauce and broccoli. Ritz crackers and peanut butter. Cinammon rolls with frosting.
Had a DJ friend from Orange County California staying here for 3 days. We did a big event together last weekend. He hadn't seen me since I did a gig in Santa Monica CA 2 months ago-- He said I looked very healthy. I have lost 5 lbs in my mid-section. I had been at the very high end of the proper weight window for my height. I could lose 8 to 10 more and be at the low end. I don't anticipate that happening but it would be a good by-product of this adventure.
The end of this experiment is in sight. My life has become so much more simple. I have begun to formulate a plan to live this way more fully. Food stored for someday and never rotated is subject to spoilage thus wasting the money intended to be saved AND rendering it useless in a crisis anyway. Wheat, beans and rice stored properly should last 30 years or so, but they should be a part of the regular diet. I'll go for a major restocking of foodstuffs in bulk once per quarter and then maybe go for eggs, milk and cheese, once every 14 to 21 days. When I think about that, I may actually dump or at least massively reduce the consumption of those dairy products from my regular diet and increase the fresh produce to the degree that I can grow it here at home- it's far superior to anything found in the local grocery stores anyway. But if I can't grow it myself, I'll buy whatever can be grown locally.
Talk to ya in about a week.
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