Independence Days Challenge: Week 3

Once again it’s time for my weekly update on my adventures in food security. It’s a good feeling to know that if the prices of food skyrocketed next week we would be able to live on lentils, beans, rice and wheat for at least a month. It might be a boring diet, but it’s good to know that we have that backup, since food is one of the few things we truly cannot live without.

I still have a long way to go before I’m happy, including getting involved in moving my town toward food sustainability and security. Here in Michigan we are so lucky to be surrounded by the marvel of the Great Lakes that protect us and mellow our midwestern climate. We grow the widest variety of fruit in the northern United States, including strawberries, blueberries, cherries, apples, pears, peaches, and grapes all at a commercial level, not just as backyard beauties. As the Colorado river dries up, Nevada and California are putting increasing pressure on the Great Lakes states to dry up the Great Lakes too. I hope we’re up to the challenge of telling them no and preserving them.

So on to the challenge!

1. Plant something – I bought tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, sweet and hot peppers to transplant along with more radish, nasturtium, and calendula seeds. I prepped the cucumber bed today, and I’m trying out a biodegradable paper based weed suppressor. In my garden I’m focusing on vegetables for preservation and winter crops, since we’ve signed up for a CSA that should provide all our weekly vegetable needs.

2. Harvest something – Lettuce, asparagus, chives, chard

3. Preserve something – nothing this week

4. Reduce waste I almost let the rice get contaminated with honey, but it is safe in a polycarbonate bottle now. I find that the polycarbonate water bottles that are used in water dispensers work really well for storing beans and grains.

5. Preparation and Storage – I got a case full of the rather expensive organic shortening that we use from my mother in law who does a lot of food pantry work and saves that kind of thing for us, since she can’t give it away anyway.

6. Build Community Food Systems – I went with a friend to get my starts, we’re planning to share garden space, I’ve got more space for vegetables and she has pear and apricot trees so we trade.

7. Eat the Food – We put lettuce on quesidillias, and had salad. Still putting chives on everything. I’m looking forward to my CSA share starting next month.