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Someone else raised a question about replacing lawns with gardens, in response to my post about "Surviving the Middle Class Crash." I added... It's actually been done before, during World War II. They were called "victory gardens" and were used to supplement the food supply: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_gardenI grew up watching the show "Crockett's Victory Garden" on PBS. There's a related site here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/victorygarden/And someone has cleverly made the connection between fighting a war and fighting for our planet's survival, calling for the revival of the victory garden as a means of slowing global warming: http://www.revivevictorygarden.org/Our local efforts are coming along nicely. I got a bunch of flowers and a few more herbs planted today. A couple of friends dropped by to give me some spare tomato plants. I'm going to try growing those, although I've had marginal luck with vegetables. (They require a lot of attention, and I can't work in summer heat.) I may try drying more herbs than I need personally, though, and adding those to my list of trade goods. I'm hoping we'll get a good crop of fruit in this year, too. Several other folks I know are planting gardens. We plan to do some food swapping and communal canning later in the year. Tags: community, economics, environment, food, gardening
Current Mood:  busy
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I've been fiddling with a recipe for pear-ginger ice cream. It's good ice cream, but it keeps overflowing my ice cream maker. This time I kept a close eye on it and bailed out some before it overflowed. Naturally we ate the results. And ... it was flat. Doug pointed out that I'd used ginger root that had been in the fridge for a couple weeks, so it didn't have the expected amount of fire. So, he suggested adding some cinnamon. The result is substantially different than the original pear-ginger, but good enough that I figured it was worth writing down. Plus it's a tasty way to use up a couple of very ripe pears and a chunk of stale ginger root. Don't be afraid to try new things. Even if you don't get what you expected, sometimes the results are good in a different way. Don't be afraid to discuss and brainstorm and critique. Somebody else may come up with a good idea that you would've missed by settling for "not bad." My suggestion was to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract and use the ice cream as a base for liberal amounts of bittersweet chocolate syrup. I think that would've worked, but it was easier to test the cinnamon by sprinkling it on top of the samples. That was good enough to convince me to flavor the whole batch. Cinnamon Ginger Pear Ice CreamIngredients:2 very ripe pears 1-inch piece of stale ginger root 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 cup heavy whipping cream 1 cup whole milk ½ cup sugar 1 teaspoon Saigon cinnamon Directions: Peel pears and cut into chunks. Peel and grate ginger. Combine pears, ginger, and lemon juice in a bowl; mash thoroughly. Stir in cream and milk. Stir in sugar until dissolved. Pour into ice cream maker and freeze for 25 minutes. Add cinnamon and continue to churn until thoroughly blended, about 2 minutes. Transfer ice cream into container and store in freezer. Tags: food
Current Mood: busy
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I'm not a fan of bean flavor, but beans are cheap and nutritious. My partner happens to specialize in Indian cooking, and there are several family favorites among the various dhal dishes. Here's a recent discovery that is intensely lemon-flavored. It contrasts nicely with recipes that are sweet or mild. For the record, the recipe is from What's Cooking Indian by Shehzad Husain. The attached copy isn't quite verbatim: my partner eliminated non-English terms such as "baghaar", and changed "chili powder" to "cayenne", which was evidently the original intent. Lemon Dhal(To serve 4) ½ cup masoor dhal 1 tsp finely chopped fresh ginger root 1 tsp crushed garlic 1 tsp cayenne pepper ½ tsp turmeric 2 cups water 1 tsp salt 3 Tbs lemon juice 2 fresh green chilies, finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves 2/3 cup oil 4 whole garlic cloves 6 dried red chilies 1 tsp cumin seeds 1) Rinse the masoor dhal and place in a large saucepan. 2) Add the ginger, garlic, cayenne pepper, and turmeric to the dhal. Stir in 1/14 cups of the water and bring to a boil over a medium heat with the lid left slightly ajar. Cook until the dhal is soft enough to be mashed. 3) Mash the dhal. Add the salt, lemon juice, and 2/3 cup of the water, stir, and mix well. It should be of a fairly smooth consistency. 4) Add the fresh green chilies and fresh cilantro leaves to the dhal and set aside. 5) Heat the oil in a pan. Add the garlic, red chilies, and cumin seeds and fry for about 1 minute. Turn off the heat, then when it is slightly cooler, pour the mixture over the dhal. If the dhal is too runny, cook over a medium heat with the lid off for 3 – 5 minutes. 6) Transfer to a serving dish and serve hot. Tags: food
Current Mood: busy
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This article explains how stupid economists have created a system that doesn't work. Fortunately it also suggests some ways to address the problem. But oh, the ringing condemnation! Over the last few decades, the United States, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have used their leverage to impose devastating policies on developing countries. By requiring countries to open up their agriculture market to giant multinational companies, by insisting that countries dismantle their marketing boards and by persuading them to specialize in exportable cash crops such as coffee, cocoa, cotton and even flowers, they have driven the poorest countries into a downward spiral. In the last thirty years, developing countries that used to be self-sufficient in food have turned into large food importers. Dismantling of marketing boards that kept commodities in a rolling stock to be released in event of a bad harvest, thus protecting both producers and consumers against sharp rises or drops in prices, has further worsened the situation.
It's human nature to seek personal advantage. History indicates, however, that when one's attempts to get rich(er) push other people to the brink of starvation, violence ensues. Let's solve the problem this time before it results in too many sacked mansions and mobs tearing victims limb from limb. Tags: economics, food
Current Mood:  tired
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The fight over food has reached America. This article warns that some American stores are starting to limit purchases of staples such as rice. Shops Ration Sales of Rice as US Buyers Panic by Andrew Clark, Rory Carroll, and Julian Borger
New York and Caracas - The global food crisis reached the United States yesterday as big retailers began to ration sales of rice in response to bulk purchases by customers alarmed by rocketing prices of staples.
Wal-Mart's cash and carry division, Sam's Club, announced it would sell a maximum of four bags of rice per person to prevent supplies from running short. Its decision followed sporadic caps placed on purchases of rice and flour by some store managers at a rival bulk chain, Costco, in parts of California. This article recommends that people hoard food as an investment: Load Up the Pantry by Brett Arends
I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food.
No, this is not a drill. You've seen the TV footage of food riots in parts of the developing world. Yes, they're a long way away from the U.S. But most foodstuffs operate in a global market. When the cost of wheat soars in Asia, it will do the same here.
Reality: Food prices are already rising here much faster than the returns you are likely to get from keeping your money in a bank or money-market fund. And there are very good reasons to believe prices on the shelves are about to start rising a lot faster. My suggestion: Don't panic and buy everything in sight. Do pay attention and make some careful decisions.
- Don't buy the thing that everyone is panicking over, unless it's something that you really really need. Instead, make sure you have a plentiful supply of other staple food ingredients, and buy a little extra of some other staples if you don't have much stored in your house now.
- Check your storage methods; storing things in the freezer is good, and so is the use of airtight glass or metal containers. Buying those containers, if you don't have enough, would be prudent.
- Check for pest competition. Can mice, rats, cats, dogs, roaches, flour beetles, ants, or any other critters get at the food in your house, the local warehouse, or area grocery stores before humans eat it all? Do what you can to control pests in your home; watch the news for stories of pest outbreaks in nearby establishments. Remember this is a historic battle: we learned to write so we could keep track of what the grainaries contained!
- If you're not starving broke, don't wait until you run out of a staple food to replace it; keep a good stock of staples on hand all the time in case you are not able to replace one immediately. Buy things that you know you'll need, when they are available, even if you aren't in critical need immediately.
- Watch the store shelves; learn when staples arrive in your local stores. If you see things running out very quickly or being limited, make a point of being there when the shipment arrives and buy what you need immediately.
- If limits mean you cannot buy as much as you need of an item, team up with someone else, either a spouse or a friend, and split the amount across multiple purchases. Seek friends who need different items than you do, so that you can trade off.
- If you can raise even some of your own food; if you can freeze, can, dry, or otherwise preserve surplus food; if you can hunt, fish, or gather some of your own food; or if you can support others doing those things in ways that will put food on your table -- do it.
- If you don't know any way of getting food other than buying it in a store -- learn how, even if you live in a city where those things are difficult or impossible. You may not always live in a city.
- Think of your current favorite political candidate. Now check their activity records with this in mind: "Will this person put beans on the table? How effective will this person be at making sure everyone can meet our basic surivival needs?"
- Think beyond the current crisis. Respond to it, but also work on addressing the root causes to prevent future upheavals.
Eat it all, use it up, wear it out. Make it do or do without.Aside from giving you a bit of a buffer against instabilities in the food market, these things will also help with disaster preparedness. Remember when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans? The government may not take care of you in case of disaster. Do what you can to take care of yourself and your people. Tags: economics, food, politics
Current Mood:  pensive
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When I was little, my mother used to cook with zucchini milk. It adds a lot of vitamins (but very few calories) to baked goods and makes them rich and moist. Obtaining zucchini:For zucchini milk, the squash can be small or large -- up to about arm size. Once the squash gets old enough to turn leathery or woody, and isn't juicy anymore, it's no good for zucchini milk. But you don't need the tenderest young ones for this. Zucchini squash are very easy to grow and they bear abundantly. This means that from about midsummer onward, it's easy to get free zucchini from people who think they have too much of it. There's no such thing as too much zucchini -- it's a wonderful secret ingredient! You can also grow your own or buy them at farmer's markets. To make zucchini milk:Peel zucchini and cut it into chunks. Place chunks in a blender or food processor and liquefy. If necessary, add a small amount of water or milk to make it blend properly. To store zucchini milk:Fresh zucchini milk will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, but is best used immediately. You can also freeze fresh zucchini milk for later use. If you use a lot of it, you can freeze it in quart containers. If you use a moderate amount, freeze it in recipe-size amounts, usually 1/2 cup or 1 cup. If you use it rarely or in variable amounts, pour zucchini milk into ice cube trays, then pop out the frozen cubes and store them in bags. Cooking with zucchini milk:Use zucchini milk to replace some or all of the cow milk in bread, cake, muffins, pancakes, or waffles. It can also be used for casseroles, cream pie filling, frozen desserts, pudding, soup, or stew. Tags: food
Current Mood: busy
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