Food Insecurity
Was this even a thing 6 months ago?
How have we Americans, in the land of plenty, come to experience, food insecurity?
Even those of us lucky enough to have plenty of finances have faced food shortages over the past couple of months.
And while the grocery stores are running out of eggs, milk, and meat; eggs are being tossed, milk is being discarded, and hogs have been euthanized.
It is unsettling, to say the least.
I have been so blown away about many of the things I am seeing in the news lately regarding farming.
If you have been considering taking charge of some of your food production, this is a great time to do it.
4 things you can do right now, no matter where you live to be more responsible and have more food security.
#1 RAISE SMALL LIVESTOCK
No matter where you live, you may be able to easily keep a couple of rabbits.
Rabbits are quiet, can be kept in a small space, and are inexpensive to feed (they eat grass).
Here’s the thing about rabbits. With one buck and one doe, you can easily raise enough meat to feed an entire family.
Rabbits typically have litters of 6-10 about 6-7 times a year. Given a 50% mortality rate, a breeding pair of rabbits can easily grow to 50 in just one year. Repeat that for just 2 years and you have over 30,000 rabbits provided there is food and shelter to support them.
Additionally, the gestation period for rabbits is just 28-31 days, so unlike beef, you won’t wait for years to eat.
If you aren’t quite ready to begin raising (and harvesting) your own meat, consider finding local sources. Many small farmers depend on local families to purchase their livestock.
- Pastured meats are more nutritious for consumption.
- Pasture animals are healthier (and happier).
- Farms with pastured animals are healthier for farmers and the environment.
#2 START A BACKYARD GARDEN
Perhaps the easiest and most impactful way to increase your food security is to grow a small garden.
Gardening doesn’t take much space, can provide bushels of fresh produce, and is a pleasant hobby.
Using raised beds can allow you to grow the most food in the available space. Raised beds allow you to amend the soil with nutrient-dense compost. It allows the roots of plants to grow deep instead of wide (allowing plants to be spaced closer).
You can also use trellises to grow plants upward, increasing the number of plants, as well as the amount of fruit harvested.
Where and How your food is raised affects more than the availability-
- Buying local supports agriculture in your community
- Locally grown fruits and vegetables are generally healthier to eat (especially if they are organic)
- Regional produce is always fresher
Growing or sourcing food from local producers will have an immediate impact on your life.
Choosing healthier grown food will instantly improve the number of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients in your diet. You will eat more fiber and antioxidants.
#3 LEARN HOW TO CAN (OR STORE FOOD)
The third way you can be more food-secure is to learn how to can.
Canning is easy. If you have a bumper crop of tomatoes, make spaghetti sauce. If the cucumbers are dripping off the vines, make pickles. If a friend invited you over to pick berries or peaches, make jelly!
Whether you grow the food or purchase it from a local provider, you can ‘put up’ the excess.
Just about any vegetable can be canned to enjoy year-round. The Ball Blue Book is a great place to start.
If canning is not your style, freeze produce to enjoy during winter.
#4 SCRATCH COOKING
Cooking from scratch is another easy way you can get off the grid and be more responsible for your own basic needs.
Home cooks are a dying breed and busy people everywhere are turning to takeout, boxed meals, and pre-made dinners.
Scratch-cooking is a great life-skill to cultivate and it will do more than make you more food secure –
- Home-cooked meals are healthier
- Home-cooked meals are cheaper
- Home-cooked meals taste better
- Home-cooked meals have less sodium
- Home-cooked meals will have your family back around the dinner table smiling
- Home-cooking passes the skill to the next generation
It’s not hard to cook from scratch, it doesn’t take that long, and it’s WAY cheaper than take-out.
Where to Begin?
Even if you live in an apartment you can be more food secure today.
There was a time when I lived in a neighborhood and couldn’t have a garden (dang HOA). I still found ways to take responsibility for my food production. It began with cooking from scratch and homemade breadmaking.
I learned to mill my own wheat and make bread. More on breadmaking HERE.
Once I moved to our farm I began taking more control of our food with a garden, raising livestock, and preservation.
If you want to take control of part of your food production, start living a different life, I may be able to help.
There is a glorious membership community inside this site. Members get breadmaking videos (a 9-video course), free ebooks, homesteading tutorials, how-tos, and a 3-season, video-driven organic, gardening class. There are hundreds of real-food recipes, menu plans, and tons of Premium content.
To learn more about the memberships go here.
XO,
Candi
