I’m hungry.
*Ranger Man goes to the cupboard - nothing there. He goes to the pantry - nothing there. He walks to town for food only to find a looooong line of people waiting for overpriced rice. They’re rationing what they hand out, and Ranger Man can barely afford the rationed amount. “But I have kids,” Ranger Man says when it’s his turn for food. “So do I,” the man responds. “Me too,” says the woman behind him.*
Good to live in the old U.S. of A. - eh? The above scenario is presently playing out in many parts of the world. Of course, we’re not without our food issues either, but it’s not quite riot level - yet! Here’s an article - U.S. food costs rising at the fastest rate in 17 years!
Yesterday I cited an article that stated part of the reason for higher food costs is the development of biofuels. “E.F.” sent me a link to this news article. It appears that the E.U. is now defending their development of biofuels in the face of food shortages as a way to combat global warming.
Meanhwile Peter Brabeck-Letmathe, head of Nestle, the world’s biggest food and beverage company, last month argued that “to grant enormous subsidies for biofuel production is morally unacceptable and irresponsible”. “There will be nothing left to eat,” he added.
Here comes the U.S. to the rescue! (sorta) Bush is giving an additional $200 million in food aid, drawing the money down from food reserves. Kinda reminds me of the lines in Deadly Harvest where the politicians regret selling food stocks to China, because now they don’t have what they need. Of course, this isn’t the movies . . . right? And other countries are on the verge of instability thanks to food costs and shortages.
“This is the world’s big story,” said Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University’s Earth Institute. “The finance ministers were in shock, almost in panic this weekend,” he told CNN, in a reference to top economic officials who gathered in Washington. “There are riots all over the world in the poor countries … and of course our own poor are feeling it in the United States.”
Also interesting in the article:
“The contrived food vs. fuel debate has reared its ugly head once again,” the Renewable Fuels Association says on its Web site, adding that “numerous statistical analyses have demonstrated that the price of oil — not corn prices or ethanol production — has the greatest impact on consumer food prices because it is integral to virtually every phase of food production, from processing to packaging to transportation.”
But there is an answer being floated by some - the Potato!
Plant it, harvest it, EAT it.
Some are pushing for more potato production read the following from this article:
Potatoes, which are native to Peru, can be grown at almost any elevation or climate: from the barren, frigid slopes of the Andes Mountains to the tropical flatlands of Asia. They require very little water, mature in as little as 50 days, and can yield between two and four times more food per hectare than wheat or rice.
The potato has potential as an antidote to hunger caused by higher food prices, a population that is growing by one billion people each decade, climbing costs for fertilizer and diesel, and more cropland being sown for biofuel production. Though most Americans associate potatoes with the bland Idaho variety, they actually come in some 5,000 types.
Maine is well suited for the mighty potato. We produce a lot of spuds, and they test better than Idaho’s (sorry Rawles).
- Ranger Man
BTW: On the oil subject, the Saudis have made NEW oil finds. Sweet, huh? MORE oil! Not so fast, check the Saudi King’s comments: “I keep no secret from you that when there were some new finds, I told them, ‘no, leave it in the ground, with grace from god, our children need it’,” King Abdullah said in remarks made late on Saturday.
Here is the link. I’m not sure about you, but I find this statement a little worrisome. I mean, I’m glad he’s thinking about future generations and all, but look beyond the comments. WHY is he now be concerned about future generations?
Saudi Arabia has never made public how much oil they actually believe is in their oil fields. I think his comments are a sign that their reserves are dwindling rapidly at today’s consumption rate. Is demand going to slow? Ha! No. Prepare for the post-oil life now.
Lastly, Weaponcraft has opened enrollment for numerous firearms classes scheduled into July. Check the schedule here. Very reasonable rates.
11 responses so far ↓
1 noisynick // Apr 16, 2008 at 6:26 am
Potatoes are easy grown We grow several hundred pounds in the garden every year and they keep well if you keep them Dry and look thru them for rotten ones on ocassion.
for you town dwellers who have limeited space you can grow them in a half barell and as they get up six inces or so throw in more dirt when the balles full and plant dies you’ll have it full of potatoes happy Eating
2 oldman in the boonies // Apr 16, 2008 at 7:01 am
Potatoes are also big time cash crops in the beautiful scenic Peoples Socialist Republic of Wisconsin. There are 1000’s of acres planted there every year. If you plant Potatoes in your garden be prepared for Japanese Beetles. They can devistate a crop of plants in a matter of days, usually in mid to late July. You can spray with nasty chemicals (very Bad), spray with a soap solution (not so bad) Pick them off the plants yourself( very time consuming and messy) or let your chickens do the work( great!!). It is really a site to watch your birds go nuts pecking the bugs up…You will get bugs there is nothing you can do to not have them.
3 Rain // Apr 16, 2008 at 8:18 am
Anyone out there guerrilla gardening potatoes? I would love to hear about anything else people have successfully grown in crappy parking lot or vacant lot soil with minimal watering/tending. I’ve read books, but practical knowledge beats that every time.
Don’t know if pigeons will eat Japanese beetles — they eat cigarette wrappers and rocks, so maybe? People will notice a flock of free range chickens. Maybe I can convince my citified neighbors they’re “Hummer pigeons”.
Just discovered the neglected landscaping here includes a line of bayberry bushes(woo hoo, foraged candle wax!). We’ve found purselane, dandelions, and pyracantha, which makes fine jelly and qualifies as bird habitat.
Eco stuff is big right now. You can do guerrilla gardening in full view of the neighbors if you call it assisting wildlife. See
http://www.nwf.org/backyard/certify.cfm
for how to certify a yard/lot/space. You get a cool yard sign, too.
We didn’t discuss it with anyone, just certified our address at the last complex we lived in, and the manager thought it was great! She just neglected to mention it to the corporate office. We quietly improved a few rock and beer can filled parking lot dividers, and she pretended not to see cause it was improvements “for the bird habitat thing”. The maintenance guy even cleaned up a scuzzy old fountain and got it going again so there would be a water source. See, it’s PC to be odd about wildlife, just not about saving your own life.
If you aren’t eating all the stuff yet, the birds and butterflies do benefit. And it’s great for morale to do something about the “post nuclear wasteland” look of a lot of low income apartment complexes.
4 Guy // Apr 16, 2008 at 8:03 pm
The Saudi’s may be the first to announce holding back reserves, but they aren’t going to be the last. As more and more exporters cut back on exports to conserve oil for “future generations” TSWHTF. The US currently consume 21 Mbpd of Oil, but domestic production is around 5 Mbpd. I doubt the US can sustain its economy and feed its 300 million citizens (not counting the illegals) on a mere 5 Mbpd. Plus the 5 Mbpd is declining.
5 Arminius // Apr 16, 2008 at 9:28 pm
My grandmother used to store potatoes in a wooden box in the cellar. A bed of sand was laid down in the box, then spuds were placed on it so they did not touch one another and had at least two inches of space between them. They were then gently covered with more sand and the process was repeated. I don’t think I left anything out, and it seems like they kept for a really long time that way. If anyone knows anything more about this method please speak up if I forgot something.
6 Selous Scout // Apr 16, 2008 at 10:35 pm
Most root crops will store the same way as you describe. I hear that you must store apple away from other vegetable as they give of a gas that will cause the other veggies to spoil. Has anyone else heard this? Here is a good source of info on root cellars on Walton Feed’s website. http://waltonfeed.com/old/cellars.html and they have lot’s of good info on their Old Timer Page. http://waltonfeed.com/old/index.html
7 irishdutchuncle // Apr 17, 2008 at 2:48 am
rangerman , didn’t a potato crop failure get a bunch of us into this mess in the first place? how do we prevent another one?
8 Gregg // Apr 17, 2008 at 3:16 am
Well IDF, the ole lumpers that our ancestors ate in Eirinn was, if I recall correctly, highly susceptible to blight.
However, don’t ever lock yourself into one food source. Not only is it less than healthy, it is asking for Murphy to step in.
9 Michael Hawkins // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:36 am
The Irish were more than decimated by the potato harvest failing yes, but a lot of people fail to mention that there was still plenty of food on the Irish island. They had grain and fish and livestock, but the potato farmers were just too poor to buy food, having their only source of income gone down the drain.
So they allowed themselves to be driven into “workhouses” and do heavy manual labor for the citty dwellers in exchange for some cornflour.
The Irish famine, or rather, the hardship associated with it, is man-made!
That grain shortage that’s on the rise? Guess who’s making that happen?
10 oldman in the boonies // Apr 17, 2008 at 7:20 am
Storing Potatoes can be done in salvaged clothes dryer tubs. Put the tub in a cool dry place up off the floor/ground. The holes in the tub provide natural ventilation. I have Potatoes from last year in mine now..
11 Gregg // Apr 17, 2008 at 11:51 pm
Michael,
You are correct that there was grain, livestock etc… vailable on the Isle. In fact much of that was exported to England. 3 Guesses as to who owned the land, the livestock and the grain. Oh, and the first 2 don’t count.
The farmers were not potato farmers, they farmed everything, the potatoes were what they were allowed to grow to feed themselves. Please recall that Irish Catholics could not own anything at that time.
Leave a Comment