Bornfamous

Yeah, I know. I’ve been neglecting poor Bornfamous. Sorry. It’s just that I’ve been reading and learning so much that I needed time to process it all. And I haven’t been able to decide what to share–and certainly haven’t felt competent enough to set myself up as an expert, which is how I feared I’d come across.

I’m not an expert. Just worried. I’m sure you are too, with food and gas prices soaring and our economy plummeting. A couple of years ago, I started reading blogs about climate change, peak oil, and the end of civilization as we know it, but I learned to keep it to myself. Nobody wanted to hear it; it was just too alarming. Besides, who needs more gloom and doom? What about solutions? I couldn’t think of any.

All I could think about was, what can I do to protect my family? And the answer was obvious: food. As oil prices go up, food becomes very expensive. I remembered the energy crises of the 70s and how they affected food prices; it wasn’t pretty. [Now I'm hearing about wheat and corn shortages. There have even been food riots in other countries. Alarmed much?] Even on my little apartment balcony, I could grow some food, so I became a fan of the new urban homesteading movement. I started a small herb garden, pathetic as that sounds–and in a long moment of inattention, let it die. What can I say? I’m lazy. Well, not exactly–I hate using chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia as an excuse. Either way, gardening is not a pursuit for the horizontally inclined.

But I’m not giving up, no! I have a pathetic NEW herb garden [photos forthcoming] and ambitious plans to plant salad greens and a few veggies. I just need to get me some compost, and I’ll be ready to plant. I even found a free, weekly source of worm castings and compost tea!

[However, as Gilda Radner pointed out, "It's always something!" My car is officially out of commission until I can save up to fix it. So it's back on the bus after four years of glorious motoring. I have plenty of experience, pre-Volvo, getting around San Diego by bus and trolley, so I know that getting to the free compost will mean a two-and-a-half hour round trip instead of the thirty minutes it would take by car. Plus, fares since my transit days have gone up to a whopping $6.50 EACH WAY for this particular trip. Now riders have to pay full fare for each transfer. WTF? I don't understand how they expect people to give up their cars for mass transit when driving is actually the CHEAPER option for many San Diegans--even with higher gas prices. Luckily, I'm over 60 and qualify for a senior discount. I'll pick up a monthly pass and save even more, but there's no way around that nearly three-hour trip.]

But I digress. What I really want to talk about is food storage. Because obviously, a balcony garden can only provide so much nutrition. To get through an emergency, whether brought on by man or Mother Nature, having a plentiful supply of food and water on hand is essential.

Sharon Astyk writes persuasively about food security. She has a book coming out and is working on another one called A Nation of Farmers, which proposes that the only way out of this mess is for all of us to start growing our own food in any way we can. Sharon is also promoting food storage, the way our grandparents and great-grandparents did it before supermarkets and processed food took over. We need to get back to these basics, fast.

I was lucky to be able to take Sharon’s online food storage class last month and was overwhelmed by the wealth of information. How to apply it all to my particular situation? That’s what I plan to blog about for the next month or so. Stay tuned…