Almost half of all break-ins are opportunistic. An open window or garage, an accidentally unlocked door, or a dimly lit window with concealment from prying eyes is all a criminal needs to enter most homes and take what they want. Sadly, most Americans rely solely on that one flimsy door lock and no window locks for all their security needs. In some parts of the country, over twenty percent of people don’t even lock their doors, and we all can remember at least once when we forgot too.Securing your home is the most important and fundamental thing you can do. It not only keeps your things safe when you are away, but it keeps you safer when you are at home. A well-secured home can be an oasis of calm when disasters or crime is happening right outside. In this blog, we’ll take a rapid look at ten easy and incredibly inexpensive things you can deploy today to secure your home and protect your prepping supplies, valuables, yourself, and the ones you love. If you’re on a budget, you will definitely want to watch to the end, as most of the security solutions we talk about can be implemented for just a few dollars. There are small things you can implement to make a big difference now, so let’s jump in.Locks On Windows“Understanding Decisions to Burglarize From the Offender’s Perspective,” was a study conducted by the University of North Carolina. It revealed that “Most burglars reported entering open windows or doors or forcing windows or doors open.” Most studies you turn to or any burglars you speak to will tell you that windows are a fast, typically unprotected and unsecured means to rapidly enter a home.It’s hard to understand why anyone wouldn’t harden these points of entry against intruders, especially when a typical window lock from the hardware store runs about two-dollars and fifty cents. While window locks can sometimes be violently forced open and windows smashed, doing so would be loud and likely attract attention. When you think about home security, it’s important to think in terms of building layers of deterrence. If you have a lock on your window, a burglar is likely to reason that you may have other security measures in place and will pass your property for an easier target.Knowing that windows are a frequent entry point, consider thorny plants beneath vulnerable windows if that’s something you’re able to do. Keep shades and blinds drawn when you are away, and consider window sheers to prevent anyone from looking in and assessing if their extra efforts would be worth it. Door Reinforcement HardwareEntering through an unlocked door is easy, but a well-placed kick on a typical door is usually all it takes to break-in into most apartments or homes. Just like the window locks, however, this can easily be prevented with door reinforcement hardware. Another inexpensive do it yourself upgrade at under twenty dollars, typical reinforcement hardware can be added directly to the door bolt and/or latch mechanism.It makes your door hundreds of pounds of force stronger, and it will take a little more than a karate kick to break in through the door. Typical doors, especially on apartments, haven’t been upgraded in years, and this is a subtle addition landlords aren’t likely to bother with or be bothered by.Another consideration for doors is interior flip locks. These look like simple hinges and only cost a few dollars, but they are an effective way to secure yourself inside your home. Easy to install they are great for interior doors, as well. If an exterior door is breached, you can easily retreat into a bedroom, flip the lock, and buy yourself critical moments to contact the police or prepare to defend yourself.Door Stops, Door Jams, BarricadesWhile less common than burglary, forced entry while you are at home is also a threat you should be aware of. In at least twenty-two percent of cases from one study, criminals cased and surveyed the targeted home. Even scoping the location out for a long period, they may not know all the occupants and could attempt entry while someone is at home or when they think nobody is at home. In this scenario, a burglary could result in an assault or worse.Doorstops, door jams, even door barricade brackets are another inexpensive means to make your door practically impervious to forced entry. While many people don’t lock their door when they come home or don’t check that a door is locked before turning in for the night, to be at your safest, a twenty-dollar door stop, door jam, or barricade brackets can make this known weak spot a strong barrier protecting you.A final note on doors, make sure you can actually see out of your peephole, consider a wide-angle peephole or a video doorbell. A common tactic of criminals is to ring the doorbell first. If someone answers they may ask for work, to use a phone, or for someone who doesn’t live there. These questions are simply in response to the door being answered. If there is no answer, no noise inside, or no dog barking, they know that the house is a good target for breaking in.
Home Security System
While you can piecemeal a system together to provide greater security, advances in technology have made fully integrated home security systems a very affordable option to rapidly deploy twenty-four seven monitoring solutions that allow you to keep one ear open while sleeping or an eye on your property when you are away.Simplisafe is the sponsor of this blog. We’ve used them for awhile now and have found them to be an incredibly effective, reliable home security system that will make sure your home is safe. Just out-of-the-box, plug it in and customize it for your home or apartment. It is an expandable system that allows you to build out your own security system. From sensors that distinguish between heat signatures of pets versus humans, to window and door sensors, you can customize a system that will provide you alerts that will never leave you unaware. You cannot watch your home three-hundred-sixty degrees and twenty-four-seven, but you can if you leverage technology. Continual monitoring and alerts can be sent right to your smartphone. And should a natural disaster strike or a criminal flips your breaker box, Simplisafe is configured with redundant systems to continue to operate. If power or WiFi goes out, your system will still be working and can still let you know when there is an activity in your private spaces. If you’d like to check them out, please visit simplisafe.com/cityprepping Again, this is a great way to quickly integrate an entire system and provide you a real peace of mind about your security.Secure Sliding Glass DoorsThe typical sliding glass door, the low-end doors which are most commonly installed by contractors, are surprisingly easy to break into. Not only is there a method to simply wedge a prying device under them and lift them up and off their rails, but a burglar can simply jam a flathead screwdriver under the seam near the handle and flip it beside the glass and under the locking mechanism. If you don’t own the property, it isn’t likely you will be able to change your sliding glass door out for a more secure version. Even without a full change out, however, a dowel cut to fit in the track is the easiest solution to the door being opened. Bolt locks, cylinder locks, and step on locks are all under five dollars at most hardware stores. These place a difficult hurdle in a would-be burglar’s way. The more hurdles you have in place, the less likely your home will be chosen and targeted over softer targets.
Door and Window Alarms
If you are home and have the volume turned up on your favorite show, or you are sleeping soundly, you may not hear an intruder entering your home. Entry sensors on windows and doors are an affordable, quick security system. They can stand alone or be integrated into a larger WiFi or Bluetooth system. Imagine scrolling your phone while watching the game and suddenly you get an alert that a window was opened in your bedroom. Those extra seconds and minutes before an intruder has concealed himself in your house may be critical to your survival.
Lock the Garage Door & Keep the Clicker
Most garage doors have the means to lock them from the inside or holes in the tracks that allow for a padlock to be placed. When you leave on vacation, it is critical that you take this extra step to secure your property. Any additional walk-through door should be upgraded just for day-to-day living in the same way you upgrade your front door. The garage is one of the most appealing spots for a burglar. Typically, a garage has easy grabs like tools and bikes, which can be sold quickly for a few quick dollars.For even bolder burglars, garages give them a long time to gain entry to the main living area through the other interior door. Nobody can see them or hear them when they are in your garage, and they know nobody is home. We mentioned the ability to lock your overhead garage door first because if you ever come home and your door seems to be stuck–wanting to go up but stalling and shutting again, it could mean that someone has already gained entry to your garage and locked the overhead from the inside. This tactic buys time for the criminal to escape out the back while you contemplate what is wrong with your garage door.Another common tactic is for criminals to walk the streets to find open car doors. If you also keep one of your clickers for garage doors or gates in a car parked on the street, they can take that and gain entry to your home immediately. Or, more likely, they’ll take the clicker and come back later when nobody is home. Don’t make the rookie mistake of leaving your clicker out for anyone who wants it.Solar Motion LightsMotion lights around your house or even on your patio if you live in an apartment complex, are the best visual deterrent you can have. People with bad intentions don’t like to commit their crimes when they can easily be seen. Over the last several years, lights have become brighter, use less electricity, and have dropped in price. You can purchase a non-motion detecting solar light for under ten dollars to shine light near shadowy windows. LED motion-detecting solar lights are just a few dollars more. What we like about these is that they are constantly recharging themselves and are not subject to your home’s power. If the lights go off in the city, you still have light. If the power goes out for an extended period of time, you could bring one inside to have light through the night. In fact, you might just purchase an extra and put it in your prepper supplies for this reason.Solar motion lights are easy to install, independent of the power grid, and can flood shadowy, vulnerable areas with light, deterring criminals and alerting you. Be aware, though, that many motion sensors are thermally based. If you have one near the AC unit on the outside of your house, for instance, it will likely kick on when the gust of hot air from your AC blower hits it. Position them away from heat sources like dryer vents and AC units and make sure they have a good range and can’t be easily reached by would-be burglars.
Lock Your Electrical Box
One easy home security hack that almost everyone overlooks is locking the electrical box on the outside of the house. Criminals know that they can disable many alarms, motion lights, and more, simply by flipping a switch. They also know they can draw a person out of a locked house by turning off the main breaker. When you go to check on this you provide access to your home and expose yourself.Even a simple luggage lock provides some level of security, but a high-quality padlock is your best choice. This is another good location for a solar motion light as well. Should anyone approach your electrical box they will be deterred by the bright light. If you need to check on the box, you will have light at night to do so. If the solar light is illuminated and your power is off, you know someone has been around your box. If you go to check on it and no solar motion light goes on, you know that someone has tampered with it.
Home Safe
Finally, if all other systems fail and someone does gain access to your home and property, a home safe is an affordable way to secure your most precious or valuable belongings. A small safe built into your home or bolted to the concrete of your home requires a burglar to spend a lot of time and noisy energy to break it open. Most safes today are also fireproof, so you won’t have to worry about grabbing your precious belongings when those seconds are more important to your survival by getting out of a burning home alive. A very high quality safe with a fire endurance of over an hour can be purchased for right around one hundred dollars. They are heavy and hard to carry away even if they’re not bolted down. It also would look highly suspicious if some unkempt person was carrying a safe down the road. We are certain police would be checking on that.ConclusionSo, there are the ten hacks and quick fixes that will add a layer of security on your premises that you will, hopefully, never have to use. Remember, when choosing a target, criminals will gravitate to locations with the least amount of security in place, shadows, and free from prying eyes. If your home or apartment has even a few protection measures in place, you will likely get passed over for perceptively softer targets. From better locks to a fully integrated system, think of your overall home or apartment security like a spare tire for your car. You will not need it most of the time, but when you need it, you absolutely will need it at that very moment.We would love to hear about your home security measures. What do you do when you are away to make sure your home is safe? What do you do when you are home to make sure you are safe? As always, stay safe out there.
“Thousands have lived without love, not one without water” – W.H. Auden.
You can survive around three days without water, and even if you have some stored up for yourself, it is almost a guarantee that your neighbors don’t. You may not have heard that Taiwan is experiencing its worst drought in nearly sixty years. We can’t dismiss this fact because we see droughts in areas where water was copious, and we see floods in places where water has always been scarce. Leaking pipes, deforestation, and the warming Indian Ocean have all exacerbated the problem in Taiwan. Since Taiwan produces around ninety percent of the world’s microchips and it requires copious amounts of water to clean the wafers that go into tech devices, this drought has contributed to what is being termed Chipageddon. The rise in demand, COVID lockdowns, and now a significant drought has created a global chip shortage, and that will impact everything from appliances to televisions to cars to smartphones to GPS devices and more.
Droughts worldwide affect more than just our wallets and our ability to upgrade our cell phones or buy a new car. The Australian drought directly contributed to the wildfires that ravaged their country and brought several animal and plant species to the brink of extinction. The Amazon has been a stable biome for many centuries. Still, scientists believe that dryer conditions and too extensive burns could bring rapid change to the rainforest and tip it from rainforest to savanna. Increased droughts lead to cumulative deforestation leading to less evapotranspiration, less rainfall, and even more drought. At the same time, global patterns are shifting so dramatically that extreme precipitation events are being seen in traditionally dry subtropical areas. The rain isn’t falling where it should and is falling where it traditionally hasn’t.
Even if your local weather doesn’t change one bit, drought and extreme precipitation events in other countries and right here in the United States will threaten your comfortable survival.
LAND & CROP FAILURES
The most evident impact of droughts and extreme weather precipitation events are witnessed on the impacted land. When we think of droughts, we often think of the farmer and his crops drying up in the fields. In Taiwan, farmers are being paid not to grow crops so that the water may be repurposed and directed to chip manufacturing needs. Last year’s Derecho wiped out corn crops in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. Just two years ago it was droughts all across Europe that lowered yields and affected farmers. Wildfires from Sweden to California are more extreme and disrupt production, trade, and whole economies.
The climate has constantly been changing, but it is undeniably changing at a more dramatic rate. The swings to the extreme are barely contained in the historical record, as we see droughts and deluges that were barely once-in-a-lifetime events before happening year after year. Farmers cannot just switch over their crops to heartier, drought-tolerant varieties. In some cases, no such drought-tolerant variety is available, and farmers can’t keep pace when the sun scorches their fields, and water levels drop.
There is a dependence, however, on large-scale operations and a very limited range of crops. By 2050, the global population will have grown and urbanized so much that we will need to produce 87 percent more of the four primary food crops – rice, wheat, soy, and maize – than we do today. When extreme weather conditions stunt the growth of these main crops, a global hunger crisis is created. Though there are many more grains that could be brought into more extensive scale production like sorghum, Farro, Teff, or Amarnath, global pallets are too slow to shift, and farmers and manufacturers lack the experience with these other grains.
It’s not just the crops we eat, though. It’s also the feed we provide livestock, fisheries, and ranch operations. When the big crops fail, the effects are felt throughout the world. These failures are also observable in the sustained socioeconomic impacts lasting well beyond the drought or flooding event. Decreased yields lead to shortages and scarcity. Collapsing land leads to collapsing economies. This can result in mass migration events or, in the case of fires, mass evacuations. These exoduses brought about by land failure impacts all regional economies and redirect billions of dollars per year to rescue and relief efforts.
FIGHTING OVER THE LAST DROPS
You may have viewed my popular blog on Why The Rich Are Buying Water Rights, and it’s worth mentioning here. The real question is can we run out of water on a planet that is mostly water? The answer is both yes and no. You can run out, but the Earth won’t. The wealthy won’t.
Water covers 71% of Earth’s surface. There are 326 million trillion gallons of it on and in the planet. 96.5% of the water is ocean water, and just 3.5% is freshwater. Of that 3%, 69% of that water is locked up in glaciers. Another 30% of that freshwater is underground and usually requires costly extraction. That leaves 114 million billion gallons of readily accessible freshwater, not necessarily drinkable water, but water nonetheless. That sounds like enough, but it represents just 1% of the Earth’s water for every man, woman, child, and animal on the planet. That 1% of the water also has to serve every agricultural and industrial need on the earth. In most cases, it also needs to be filtered and treated before it is safely consumable. So, though there is plenty of water on the planet, not very much of it is drinkable. Not very much of it is accessible, and the distribution methods are easily manipulated, legislated, and monetized. That’s never good for the common person. Nestle Water, for instance, extracted 36 million gallons of water from a national forest in California in 2015 to sell bottled water, even as Californians were ordered to cut their water use because of a historic drought in the state.
The problem isn’t that there isn’t enough water. There’s plenty for a thirsty planet. The problem is the rapid shift of water resources and a free infrastructure to channel and distribute that water. Dry areas lack the proper infrastructure to capture the water. Often, the infrastructure that is in place is not adequate. An estimated 14% of Taiwan’s pipes are leaking. In an area known for having umbrella stands outside of stores and subways because of the usual high volume of rain, 14% is inconsequential until there’s a drought-like they are experiencing today. The Salton Sea in California was created by an infrastructure failure in 1905. As humans, we seem to barely be capable of containing the flows of water that fall from the sky. In some states, water companies have forced legislation that makes it illegal for citizens to collect their rainwater.
Desert and arid areas that have seen little historic rainfall in the past are ill-equipped to capture or even channel even light rains. The years of scorching heat have compacted the soil surface so much that the water doesn’t even absorb into the Earth. Instead, it rapidly runs off, resulting in flash flooding and mudslides. Where it does flow into a larger body of water like a lake or the ocean, phosphate levels soar, and biological blooms of deadly algae can occur. One area’s precipitation or lack of rainfall can quickly cascade into a regional, national, or global problem.
WHOSE WATER IS IT?
Beyond the exodus of populations impacting the global community, water rights, those who feel they are entitled to the water also create a host of problems. Whether it is Nestle bottling and selling water from public lands during a drought, or chip manufacturers having to scale back operations because they lack the precious resource, or its farmers being asked not to grow vital food, water is a commodity, the scarcity of which impacts us daily. In the United States, there are corporate and factory farming operations that have legislated reduced cost per gallon of vital water. In some cases, they then sell those water rights back to municipalities and refrain from growing anything. If they are guaranteed 1 million gallons at 3 cents per gallon, but they can sell the rights to that water for 17 cents a gallon, can they be blamed for profiting from the sale? And one million gallons is actually low for a farming operation. It takes one gallon of water to grow a single almond and five gallons of water for a single walnut. In a complex legislative shell game, farmers can acquire rights and then sell those rights and produce nothing. During a time of drought, their profits continue to go up though they produce and grow nothing.
In other countries around the globe, the problem of water scarcity is an even more significant one. Heavy-handed militaries or tribal warlords can seize water resources or withhold aid for victims of either drought or extreme precipitation events. This sends a hungry population far from their borders or compounds global insecurities. China, India, Indonesia, and Bangladesh are the top 4 countries growing rice. Combined, these four countries account for just shy of 70% of all the rice grown in the world. India currently faces its worst water crisis in history. Since 2015, India has been experiencing widespread drought conditions. Some 600 million people in India are presently facing high to extreme water stress. Add to this the ravaging effects of COVID, and India’s rice production is plummeting. That’s almost 25% of the world’s rice. Just ten years ago, and these tend to be cyclical events, a drought so bad in China decimated the wheat-producing regions. At the same time, what water was obtained was allocated to manufacturing over farming.
Even as floods occur in some areas and droughts in others, there will be a constant struggle over who owns the water. The rich have been buying water rights with the understanding that H20 is the newest commodity, and whoever controls that commodity can make huge profits even as others might suffer.
WHAT CAN YOU DO NOW?
The first thing you should do is understand the implications of both droughts and floods. Recognize that this will cause shortages in everything from the grain we eat to the microchips we place in every single piece of technology. When water is in scarcity, mining operations have to scale back operations. The fossil fuel industry has to scale back operations. Water is the critical element in everything we produce and consume. Industrial water is used for fabricating, processing, washing, diluting, cooling, or transporting a product. Water is also used by smelting facilities, petroleum refineries, and industries producing chemical products, food, and paper products. You can’t live for three days without water. Even if you have enough stored up for a little bit of time in the event of an emergency, I guarantee your neighbors don’t. They would be desperate and at death’s door in about 72 hours.
You need to implement your prepping plan for this vital resource. If you have the means and area to set up a rainwater collection system or rooftop precipitation collection system, now would be a good time to start making moves in that direction. If you own a piece of land and have considered drilling or repairing a well on it, now would be the time. If you have a slow, natural bubbling spring on an older property, now might be a good time to begin restoring it to its pioneer day glory. If you have always wanted to set up a hydroponic vegetable garden in your back acres or garage, now might be the time to do so. The reason being that new laws that might later restrict your ability to do so will likely have to grandfather you in to pass the legislators. Even in the suburbs, a rainwater collection system can dramatically increase your odds of survival through disasters that may stretch into weeks or months. As a side benefit, your water bill will significantly decrease if you also use that water for irrigation and gardening or even washing your car. Suppose there are no actual means for you to tap into and access the free and natural water flow in the environment. In that case, you must plan to store up water in your home and have a means to collect, filter, and treat water from wild natural resources.
Just recently, officials in Florida revealed that the water treatment plant’s facilities were hacked. The hackers increased the sodium hydroxide levels from one hundred parts per million to eleven thousand parts per million. If you’re not familiar with sodium hydroxide, it is more commonly known as lye and is the primary ingredient in drain cleaners. If the real plant operators had not been monitoring the systems and hackers also overrode the sensors and redundancy programs, an entire city could have been poisoned. Whether you are in the country or the city, you should be filtering your water for health and safety reasons. You can’t rely on your little refrigerator filter because it isn’t very effective, and it wouldn’t work in a grid down disaster anyways. Even the most natural sources can be polluted by agricultural and industrial operations miles and miles away from where you tap into it. So, the investments you make now in sound filtration systems will pay you dividends when disasters strike. I have been using a Berkey water filtration in my home for many years, so I know my family’s drinking and cooking water is safe and free from all contaminants.
Even if you are in tight living spaces and can filter and treat water, you should have some water stored. Some recommend at least seventy-two hours worth. That is about three gallons per person. I would suggest an absolute minimum of a week’s worth and optimally a month’s worth or more. That is between seven gallons per person and thirty gallons per person. Even in tight spaces, this can be achieved with ten WaterBricks filled and placed under a bed. You can also line your car’s trunk area or place several in your basement or loft spaces. If room permits, 55-gallon food-grade drums will weigh almost 500 pounds when full but can provide water through even a prolonged disaster. Whatever is suitable for you, make sure you have a supply of personal water stored for you and your family.
CONCLUSION
Droughts and floods are a timeless problem. In times past, whole societies were forced to move where the water flowed. Today, we aren’t so nimble. When the rains stop where once they flowed, or the rains start where once they rarely did, food production and manufacturing stop. People are forced from their homes. Even if this all occurs thousands of miles away from us, the impact on us locally is still felt. Water security is the cornerstone of good prepping. Even before you store food, you should make sure you have a means to collect, filter, and store water.
What do you think? What’s your water plan? Are you feeling the effects of water shortages? Tell us in the comments below. I read many of the comments and respond to many of them when I can. If you found this video informative and helpful, please click that thumbs up icon. It’s a little thing, but it helps us build our prepping community. I can notify you when other videos become available if you subscribe to this channel.
Do you feel like you missed your opportunity to establish a garden this year? Don’t panic. There’s still time. August and September are the months that punctuate the heat of Summer and end by slowly turning most of the northern hemisphere into Fall. This time is a gem of a gardening sweet spot for those in the know, which allows a gardener to plant either early harvesting vegetables or heartier plants that can withstand the dipping temperatures of early fall. The growing season is probably equal in time to the first seedling after the frost to harvest, but here you are raising to get to harvest before the first frost. You need slightly heartier plants or plants that are quick to fruit. In this video we’ll cover more than 25 different vegetable varieties generally suitable for planting in the northern hemisphere during late summer and early fall. I’ll post links to the seeds below we’ll cover in this video if you’d like to grab those now. So let’s jump in.EARLY VEGETABLES Many vegetables have been cultivated and classified as “early.” This means they are fast-growing and can be harvested between 50 to 75 days. If you were to plant these seeds on August 1st, you could be harvesting as early as September 20th and as late as October 15th, which would just beat the frost in many areas. The possibilities are everything from beans to tomatoes to Arugula. Probably my favorite, though, is pearl onions. ONIONSOnions are at the top of my list because these pearl varieties can easily be pickled or dried and powdered to provide you with excellent onion flavor through the winter months. They are also considered to be nutrient-dense food. This means that they contain a small number of calories and a large number of nutrients. They are a great source of potassium and manganese. You aren’t limited to just pearl onions. Many varieties will reach maturity with a decent-sized bulb in a short amount of time, and they can withstand a slight frost. Even when picked early, onions will have green tops and all the flavor you want. As with any plant you are evaluating, consider how many days you have from when you plant to that first frost. If you have to harvest onions early, no problem. They will just be smaller in size. It isn’t like you have to wait for onions to ripen.TOMATOESYes, there’s still time. If you want to get a last batch of tomatoes in before the first frost, consider a variety that harvests early and can withstand colder temperatures like the aptly named Sub Arctic Plenty. It’s a determinate variety that will only grow to a certain height. That makes it ideal for container gardens or any gardener with space challenges. The Red Pear is an indeterminate variety if space isn’t an issue. It will quickly give you loads of fruit, perfect for salads, pizza, or right off the vine. It’s not frost tolerant, so you will want to get it in the ground now and harvest the last of it before your first frost.ALASKA EARLY PEASThe Alaska Early Pea is a remarkable variety that offers quick yields in just 55 days. Despite its name, this versatile pea can be cultivated in Alaska, the lower 48 states, and even Hawaii. It boasts a semi-dwarf growth habit, reaching a height of 2-3 feet, and doesn’t need staking for support. This frost-tolerant bush variety is well-suited for various climates, making it a reliable choice for gardeners seeking early harvests and compact, hassle-free pea plants.BRASSICASVegetables that are all part of the Brassica family are some of your typical Fall vegetables because they grow fast and are frost-tolerant. This family includes Spinach, Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Brussel Sprouts. Growing these in cooler fall temperatures also helps to control the bugs that like to infest and eat these before you harvest. As colder temperatures come in late October and November, these plants are hardy enough to withstand them.LETTUCESPlants in the Lettuce family will not survive frost well. Some are fine in cooler temperatures. They just don’t like frost. They do, however, develop enough to eat copious amounts in a very short amount of time. Their time to harvest ranges from as little as 30 days and as high as around 85 before they will try to bolt to seed. I also like lettuce as an option because it adapts well to indoor grow systems. Whether that’s a windowsill garden of lettuce or a home-built hydroponic tower next to a sliding glass door, you can grow this indoors with minimal effort and year around. One seed packet can keep you in more leafy green salads than one person can eat.BEETS, RADISHES, TURNIPS, & CARROTSConsider one of these root vegetables when the worst of summer heat is set to subside in the next month. Beets, radishes, turnips, carrots, and parsnips have leafy greens you can steal off the top and eat as they grow. Don’t trim too much, though, or the root part of the vegetable will be stunted. When you harvest, eat the whole vegetable from leaf to root. Early Wonder Beets can be ready in as little as 50 days, so you could get two harvests out of them before the growing season ends. This was my first year growing Chioggia Beets, and I have a gallon of them pickling right now. If your gardening problem right now is what to do with all you are harvesting, you may want to check out our video, which is a crash course in pickling the natural way. It covers all the basics to preserve food and get healthier nutrition in your diet naturally.I highly recommend these large striped beets. They are low maintenance and will thrive with just a steady watering. Some people don’t like beets, so a Daikon radish might be a better option. This will be frost-tolerant, mildly sweet, and will pickle nicely, as well. Carrots and parsnips are great as they will grow in the gaps between your other vegetables. When I harvest a plant, I often will drop some carrot seeds in its place.SQUASHYou may have heard of winter squash varieties, but the name is somewhat deceptive. Winter Squash requires a long growing season of around 100 days. If you plant it in the late fall, it will not have enough time to grow. The time to get your squash seeds in the ground is right now, while the foliage and vines can thrive in the Summer sun. Their name actually comes more from their hard outer skins, which allow them to store easily through the winter months. There are well over 100 different varieties of squash. Consider some of the most versatile and hearty varieties like pumpkin, Acorn, Hubbard, Burgess Buttercup, or Waltham Butternut. Though zucchini and summer squash are thinner-skinned, you can still get these planted right now to enjoy a pre-frost harvest of the tender young fruit. Plus, these summer squashes are best when their fruit is young.GARLICFall is the prime time to plant hard-neck varieties of garlic, typically from September to November. Opting for fall planting allows the garlic to develop sturdy roots throughout the winter with minimal care. It thrives in cool weather at the beginning of its life, but mature foliage is susceptible to cold damage. You can ensure a successful garlic harvest with robust bulbs and flavorsome results by striking the right balance and providing several weeks of chilly temperatures while avoiding severe freezes. Plant your garlic a little before the first frosts of the year, but avoid planting them right before a big freeze. I just harvested about 60 bulbs of this Spanish Roja variety, and I will take 60 of the largest cloves and plant them for harvesting next Spring. Garlic takes seven to eight months to mature. Three tricks to well-formed bulbs are to clip the ramp when it comes up to allow the plant to focus its energy on the bulb; don’t harvest until you can count four dead leaves up from the base. And start by planting the biggest cloves you have.WAIT AWHILEYou will also want to get some vegetables in the ground now, even though you can’t really harvest them for a year or more. Asparagus planted now will be harvestable in the second year. Jerusalem artichokes can be planted now but won’t give you much yield before winter. With both, if you simply cut back and mulch over them for winter, they will spring to life with Spring. The same is true for artichoke plants. I didn’t know that for years and would dig mine up at the end of the season. Just a little cutback and mulch over the top through winter, and come Spring, they’ll spring back to life.As with any Fall garden plant, as you move into late August and cooler temperatures are in the future, you should favor plants that can withstand a slight frost or colder temperatures. If you recognize the importance of growing your own food to increase your food security or you just want to gain the skill of gardening to add to your repertoire, consider getting some or all of these vegetables planted right now. You will gain a skill and be rewarded with food you know isn’t treated with chemicals or pesticides unless you put those on them. Health is an important part of prepping, and much of health comes down to the nutrients you put in your body. Winter is peaking around the corner, even as we swelter through summer. Realize you have an opportunity for an abundant garden if you sow your seeds now. What do you think? What vegetables should people get in their garden right now? Let us know in the comments below.As always, stay safe out there.Early Vegetables – https://bit.ly/3psrB2GPearl Onions – https://bit.ly/432zPw4Onions – https://bit.ly/3JCkE5RSub-Arctic Plenty Tomatoes – https://bit.ly/3CQwaqzRed Pear Tomatoes – https://bit.ly/42Y4YRvAlaska Early Peas – https://bit.ly/3pjsdrrSpinach – https://bit.ly/44rjEK1Cabbage – https://bit.ly/3NyGOqKKale – https://bit.ly/3PwycUfBroccoli – https://bit.ly/3rdfS8sCauliflower – https://bit.ly/43ZDdJqBrussel Sprouts – https://bit.ly/3r5fcSIUkrainian Garlic – https://bit.ly/3CRNgo3Spanish Roja Garlic – https://bit.ly/442uPJiLettuces – https://bit.ly/3JzmBQFEarly Wonder Beets – https://bit.ly/3XwtAj4Chioggia Beets https://bit.ly/3WpVaMyRadishes – https://bit.ly/3kM5nG8Turnips – https://bit.ly/42YLYlDParsnip – https://bit.ly/3JzpqBfCarrots – https://bit.ly/3Ny9PDeSquash – https://bit.ly/443ouNBEarly Wonder Beets – https://bit.ly/3XwtAj4Chioggia Beets – https://bit.ly/3WpVaMyDaikon – https://bit.ly/3JAR3KgAll-In-One Fall Seed Pack – https://bit.ly/431N68b
Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too. – Marcus Aurelius
In the history of the world, nations and even empires have risen, then declined and were lost to time, leaving only artifacts behind for archaeologists to piece together what happened. From our vantage point, it’s easier to see what happened, the slow decline in so many areas that finally led to a collapse. Fortunately, we understand today many of the factors that have to be in place. Unfortunately, even knowing these signs of decline may not be enough to slow or stop the momentum of your nation’s collapse. In this video, we will lay out the eight signs of imminent collapse. You may recognize one or all eight in your country’s recent history. Having them all doesn’t guarantee that a collapse is inevitable, but it makes it more probable, especially if you have them all to a high degree. Here are the eight signs of imminent societal collapse.
Financial Decay
One of the most visible outward expressions of a collapse is the bottom falling out of the financial system. From double, triple, or higher-digit inflation pricing people out of basic necessities to dramatic market declines evaporating a lifetime’s accumulated wealth instantly, economic collapse can aggravate other conditions that can domino into a full-on failure. Many market collapses actually have a long build-up. The housing bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, trade wars, and the loss of faith over time in a single fiat currency all happen slowly over the years and then reach a tipping point. In some cases, the ultra-wealthy cheer on the decline in some ways as they profit off selling short and feel that they can maintain profits by shifting their money to other assets or more stable countries. However, that doesn’t always work as assets are often frozen, withdrawal limits are established, or the currency becomes so devalued that it doesn’t retain any fluidity. Nobody wants it nor transacts in it anymore.
The financial decay is often preceded by a growing income gap, enormous corporate profits at the same time everyday consumer goods become luxury items for the masses, and wages that fail to keep pace with the nation’s prior growth. Economic inequities breed resentment in the citizens, resulting in high crime, fraud, and eventually protests, looting, rioting, and even revolutions like the French Revolution. You may recognize several of these indicators of financial decay in your nation. While it’s not a guarantee of a coming collapse, you must continue to monitor. Your insulation from it starts with recession-proofing your life. Still, it continues with increasing your skills and abilities to sustain yourself independent of the commerce system, like growing your food instead of expecting to purchase it at the grocery store after having traveled 5,000 miles from where it was grown.
Agricultural Decline
The rise of agriculture also gave rise to cities, states, and nations. Without harnessing nature in agricultural practices, thereby increasing yield and concentration of food sources, nations would have never formed out of nomadic, hunter-gatherer groups. While weather patterns may be perfect for agriculture in a particular area for several centuries, they can change. The lack of floods in the Nile contributed to a dramatic decline in food production in the 13th century. Excessive rain in 14th-century Britain caused massive crop failures that resulted in massive food shortages. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a mold caused a destructive plant disease that spread rapidly throughout Ireland. While the Egyptians, British, and Irish survived the downturn, they all suffered through what can only be described as a period of collapse.
I often point out that while some plants have thousands of varieties, societies tend to gravitate to the most prolific single cultivar. They then also open themselves up to large-scale crop failure when disease or blight strikes that monoculture. There are 1,000 different types of bananas worldwide, but we only mass-produce one variety- the Cavendish. What happens when the Cavendish succumbs to a plant fungus that the Blue Java banana has resilience against?
Sometimes agricultural decline isn’t a result of weather or blight but merely a result of economics. As the Great Depression took hold in the United States in the late 1920s, many farmers saw their milk prices drop, and by 1933, prices were less than half what they had been just three years prior. Farmers reacted with milk strikes, and the protests often turned violent. Raiding parties stopped trains laden with milk and dumped it into the ground. A cheese factory was attacked, and the angry mob poured kerosene on 600 pounds of cheese. An even more extreme impact on agriculture can be war. From scorched earth to land left fallow as wars rage to starvation of the masses and even cannibalism, a more significant societal collapse could be imminent when agricultural output is threatened or in decline.
Health Decline
The health of a nation can also be measured by the health of its people. There are obvious factors like plague, disease, wars, and pandemics, but more subtle indicators like lifestyle and environmentally induced illnesses exist. From lead pipes used in Rome to cancer-causing pesticides to industrial, even nuclear waste, there are several environmental factors that lead to medical issues that sap a nation’s resources and workforce. There are also lifestyle choices that can contribute to a more significant decline in overall health. Refined sugars, preservatives, highly processed foods, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and all those other things we now know have to be taken in moderation or not at all lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, cancer, high blood pressure, and the list goes on from there.
Increased health issues overburden the established medical care system. Diseases, famines, and wars can completely obliterate any national healthcare system. As people turn to blame the established government for their problems, they can sometimes riot against the established order and plunge their nation deeper into a spiraling decline.
Decline in Birth Rate
A decline in the birth rate indicates a nation’s decline. While environmental and social factors can impact fertility and fertilization rates, it is more indicative of a general lack of faith in the future. The future may appear too uncertain, chaotic, or rife with conflict that raising a child is just too difficult. Or, the future’s financial prospects are so dismal, and the current economic situation would only result in poverty for anyone trying to raise a family. Birth rate and fertility rate are helpful in analyzing and understanding a nation’s replacement rate. Populations that increase can put a strain on economies and infrastructure. Populations that don’t replenish themselves can experience slowed services, a decline in transactions and commerce, or even be left unable to defend themselves from foreign adversaries.
Birth rates are falling in the U.S. after experiencing a high with the Baby Boom in the mid-20th century and a low from the Baby Bust in the 1970s, birth rates were relatively stable for nearly 50 years. That all changed with the Great Recession, from 2007-2009. Birth rates have declined sharply since then. Russia’s birth rate has declined since 1994, just after the official fall of the Soviet Union. Obviously, there is a correlation between societal collapse and birthrate in Russia’s history. China reported in January that its population had fallen for the first time in 60 years. In 2022, there were just 6.77 births per 1,000 people in China. India’s General Fertility Rate has declined by 20% over the past decade. Japan’s birthrate is so dire that the Prime Minister warned, “Japan is on the verge of whether we can continue to function as a society.” With all these superpowers and super economies experiencing declining birth rates, they cannot replenish their aging populations and maintain their traditional systems. This can contribute to a more significant societal collapse.
Misinformation & Rumor As Fact
There are signs of decline that are less obvious than a financial collapse, unhealthy people, and declining birthrates. Sometimes it’s what you know, don’t know, or think you know that can destroy a population. During the First Inquisition, created by religious courts to combat heresy and witchcraft, Pope Gregory IX ordered the witch’s familial animal, the cat, especially black cats, to be burned and killed with the witch. Hundreds of thousands of cats were killed, leading to the rapid proliferation of rodents, particularly a bacterium carried by rats. That bacterium was ultimately the source of the Black Plague. From prescribing opiates for crying babies to sanitized tapeworms to lose weight, it’s often the misinformation informing medical practices that can cause death rates to go up in society.
Rumors that lack substantiating facts can also erode accepted norms that cement stability in culture. When one class or group of people labels another an enemy or dehumanizes the other, and rumors and stories, and a whole narrative spring up to support that contempt, a society loses its unified sense of forward progress and erodes from within. Misinformation and assumptions about race, ethnicity, religion, politics, caste systems, and even governing philosophies between rural and urban areas can all foment contempt among people. When people act upon or react to this misinformation, false narratives, and pseudo-facts, societies move from a desire for unity to a culture of discord.
While these society-altering flare-ups have led from the extremes of concentration camps to minor confrontations in communities, we collectively live now in a time where complete false narratives can be established and erroneously supported through word-of-mouth, the internet, doctored images and photos, deep fakes, and even Artificial Intelligence. Often, you can see governance based on misinformation or an assumed interpretation of data and information. Often you see a dismissal of data and facts because it conflicts with the more extreme narrative. Even state-sponsored propagandists, internet trolls, and sensationalist pundit entertainers profit from spreading controversial misinformation. All of it signifies a lack of cohesive unity in a society, which is a sign of a possible more significant collapse in the future.
Infighting
By extension of the misinformation and rumors, the next sign of imminent collapse is uncontrolled infighting. Scapegoats are sought for failures ranging from the response to natural or industrial disasters to inflation and financial market collapses. One group elevates itself and blames the other. Looking even casually at parliaments and congresses worldwide, you can see this play out in real time. If you look at the struggles of the oppressed or have-nots and the ruling classes and wealthy elite, history is littered with examples of infighting. That fierce infighting, inflamed rhetoric, and scapegoating often translate to the neighborhood level. Eventually, people don’t trust their own neighbors, family, or friends. Distrust is the first stage of infighting.
Typically, both parties claim and play the role of victim and aggressor. There is a rise in conflicts and expressive exchanges. The opposing side is seen as the enemy. Often dehumanization labels are ascribed to the opposition. Eventually, neither the government nor neighbors can work together for the greater good of society. With no forward progress or planning and absent the feeling that we are all in this together, society erodes from within and is one step closer to collapse.
Enemies Foreign & Domestic
Even as the enemies within are formed anew, the enemies of other nations continue. Right now, there is a rising and outward expression of disdain for heavy-handed Western diplomacy. Europe and America are seen as imperialistic forces that have for too long reigned over and dictated the policies of other countries. Russia, China, Iran, and many others condemn the tactics of the US even as they deploy autocratic, harsh, and heavy-handed tactics of their own, dominate and invade smaller nations, and commit human rights violations. In the big picture, neither side is right. They simply try to bend the world to support them while profiting from the resources. These differing philosophies label each other enemies. They seek to dismantle and deconstruct the other. Wars are fought from nation to nation, and civil wars are fought within nations.
This gives rise to proxy wars, wars, invasions, cyberattacks, state-sponsored terrorism, sabotage, and conflicts that range from the battlefield to the boardroom. When a country erodes from the other warning signs mentioned, it is more vulnerable to foreign and domestic enemies. Russia and its predecessor culture by geography have been involved in 185 wars and armed conflicts that range from the Mongol Invasion to the War in Ukraine. America has been engaged in conflicts ranging from the Bay of Pigs to the Contras to World Wars, a Civil War, and even a Revolutionary War that created the country. Every society and nation has a history of armed conflict fighting enemies from within and without. For each overt and extreme conflict we can see, there are thousands of more minor and unnoticed wars being waged. All combined, they erode the structure and peaceful state of a unified society, and as they pick up momentum and intensity, they may also indicate an imminent future collapse.
This final push of foreign and domestic enemies facilitates all collapses. Foreign influences have always been there, but in a global market with instantaneous communications, enemies can attack from computer screens thousands of miles away from computer screens. Domestic vigilantes and those emboldened by a “cause” or purpose-driven philosophy, dogma, or idealogy like accelerationism or anarchy actually seek to hasten the downfall of order by attacking others or infrastructure. Foreign and domestic enemies come in many forms and are always lurking in the wings to give that final push into societal collapse.
Resource Depletion
One of the most significant indicators of an imminent collapse is resource depletion. When a river changes course or runs dry, when wells and aquifers are depleted, and when energy can’t be produced to control the extremes of hot and cold weather, life in some areas becomes untenable. Forced migrations, immigration, and emigration create imbalances and competition for resources that may not have existed before.
We collectively live in an agrarian society like we are still nomads, often using the last of every bit of local resources without considering replenishing those resources. When we run out, instead of moving on like our nomadic ancestors, we take from some other region where we care even less about replenishment or conservation, or reduced consumption. Any resource imbalances from water to food to raw materials can only be compensated for for just so long. Eventually, society is so far removed from something like growing its own food that when the delivery system fails for long enough, the people starve, and society fails. Watch for signs of resource depletion from drought restrictions to poisoned water from crop failures to fossil fuel prices rising. All of these are indicators of resource mismanagement, if not also a sign of a future possible collapse.
You likely see one or all of those signs of an imminent collapse in the country you live in right now. That doesn’t mean collapse will happen overnight. Based upon the intensity and frequency of these eight signs, you may just see a gradual decline from your nation’s pinnacle of perceived greatness. Societies change, and the past is often longed for as “the good old days,” though it was a different time with different thinking, problems, solutions, and resources. There is still a city called Rome, though the Roman Empire has long ago receded to the pages of history books. It could be that your nation has seen its pinnacles, and the eight signs of imminent collapse are picking up overwhelming speed. You can still weather that coming storm.
When you endeavor to prep, learn skills, grow your food, source food and water locally, learn to become more self-sufficient, and lessen your dependence upon national and global supply chains and governance, you take back control of your world. Be sure to check out our playlist on gardening and water harvesting which I’ll post at the end of the video. Don’t look to others for help or to assign blame when you control how much you will feel the rise or fall of your society. That’s not to say these conflicts won’t appear at your doorstep. They might. Your ability to survive them, however, is greatly enhanced. When you lessen your dependence on external systems that are genuinely beyond your control and focus on the things you can control in your own environment and life, the rise and fall of nations are less impactful on your day-to-day. You will still feel the effects but will be better equipped to survive them.
If you are like most of the world, you are familiar with and eat just a few grains. Many cultures have adapted to specific grains, though there are many more. Corn, rice, and wheat are staple grains on which people depend heavily, with corn accounting for 19.5% of global caloric intake, rice for 16.5%, and wheat for 15%. If corn, rice, or wheat fails, will people be able to pivot to Amaranth, Sorghum, Fonio, or Teff? It’s likely that where you live, you haven’t even heard of all of those. In the coming years, we may see simultaneous grain crop failures of our staple choices, even as other grains could have thrived. Here I will provide you with 21 grains and pseudo-grains you should know. Incorporating even a few of these into your diet and storage will provide you with greater flexibility and a more comprehensive range of nutrients. A few of these, you may even want to grow yourself. A couple of things to note in this video: when I list typical shelf-life, I mean if you simply put it in a container and put it in your pantry. I explain this in more depth and how to stretch that shelf-stable life out even further at the end of this video, and I’ll also tell you where you can get recipes for each of these. These grains are listed from the longest to the shortest shelf-life.
—
Wild Rice (Zizania several species) Typical Shelf-life: 4-5 years
Wild rice is not technically rice but the seed of aquatic grasses. It has a nutty flavor and is commonly found in North America, particularly in regions with freshwater marshes and lakes. It is often consumed in dishes like salads, soups, and as a side dish. If foraging, wild rice grows best in gently flowing waters with a muddy or organic bottom. It prefers a water depth between six inches and three feet. Wild rice is harvested in the fall when the flower heads have ripened and turned a rich purple. Cooked wild rice has about 30% fewer calories than brown rice and 40% more protein. It gets the top spot here because of its massive typical shelf life of up to 5 years.
Rice (Oryza sativa) Typical Shelf-life: 1-5 years
Rice is a vital staple food for billions, especially in Asia, providing essential nutrients and sustaining large impoverished populations. Its adaptability and contribution to global food security make it one of the most crucial and widely consumed grains worldwide. You can boil or steam it, flake it, use it as flour, or even blend it into a beverage. Wild rice that topped our list is shelf stable for up to 5 years, white rice no longer than five years unless careful attention is paid to preservation and storage methods, and brown rice has the shortest shelf life compared to white rice due to its higher oil content. Brown rice contains the bran layer and germ, which are rich in natural oils and nutrients but will go rancid with oxidation and exposure to air.
Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) – Pseudo-cereal grain Typical Shelf-life: 2-3 years
Pseudocereals are not actual cereal grains or grasses, but they produce edible seeds or fruits that are used and consumed like grains, often mistaken for conventional cereals, and are high in protein, gluten-free, and cooked similarly to grains. Quinoa is a nutrient-rich grain that originates from South America, is a complete protein source, and is naturally gluten-free. The outer shell is hard enough to allow a person to pop this like popcorn with just the heat and no oil. That will impart a nutty flavor and crunch and can liven up bland meals. That hard outer shell also provides it a 2-3 year shelf life.
Chia (Salvia hispanica) – Pseudo-cereal grain Typical Shelf-life: 2-4 years
You may have heard about Chia seeds from those Chia pets or smoothies, which are fun to grow, but it’s now known that chia seeds are a type of superfood. The nice thing about chia seeds is they will absorb the liquid they are put in, so you can drink them easily, use them as a thickener in cooking, or sprinkle them over food for a little crunch. They contain antioxidants, minerals, fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients play a role in supporting multiple body functions and systems. In addition to a typical shelf-life of up to 4 years, it’s easy to sprout and grow. This grain would serve you well if you were forced to grow your food.
Fonio (Digitaria exilis and Digitaria iburua) – Pseudo-cereal grain Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
When I started researching for this video, I knew there would be grains and pseudo-cereal grains I had never heard of. Fonio is one of them. It’s a type of grass that hails mainly from West Africa. Sometimes called a superfood, fonio is nutrient-rich, gluten-free, and has a low-glycemic index making it easy to digest. It has a great nutritional value and is high in calcium, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin B. Fonio flour can be used as a substitute for other flours in many recipes. It has a nutty flavor and is used in various dishes, including porridge, salads, and side dishes.
Teff (Eragrostis tef) – Pseudo-cereal grain Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
Teff is one of the earliest known plants domesticated. It is the seed of an annual grass grown primarily in the Ethiopian region of Africa, where it is mainly ground into flour and used to make bread. It can also be cooked into a porridge or stew. Teff was by far the smallest grain, along with Fonio. Teff grains contain 11% protein and are an excellent source of amino acids, especially lysine, the amino acid often missing in other grains. Lysine is essential for producing proteins, hormones, enzymes, collagen, and elastin.
Wheat Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
Freekeh (Triticum durum)
Einkorn (Triticum monococcum)
Emmer (Triticum dicoccum)
Farro (Triticum dicoccum and Triticum spelta)
Khorasan/Kamut (Triticum turanicum)
Spelt (Triticum spelta)
There are 20 or more wheat varieties, and about seven are cultivated extensively worldwide. I list just 6, as these are often considered closest to their unadulterated ancient forms. New wheat varieties, resulting from modern breeding efforts, typically have more rows of seeds on the wheat spike (hexaploid) due to controlled hybridization. In contrast, ancient wheat varieties, cultivated for centuries, tend to have fewer rows (tetraploid or diploid) and retain more genetic diversity. Wheat is eaten worldwide in various forms, including bread, pasta, noodles, couscous, tortillas, chapatis, porridge, and pastries. You may want to try a more ancient variety if you usually don’t process wheat well in your body. I have heard that the gluten structures are different in the ancient types, and they are typically pesticide free because they are specially grown as organic. Because of this, they may be healthier for you.
Wheat can generally be stored longer in its whole berry form compared to compacted flour when also stored in an airtight container. If you store it in berry form, you can eat them as porridge by soaking and cooking them, or you will need a mill or mortar and pestle to pound and pulverize them into flour for baking.
Freekeh is a cereal grain made from green durum wheat that is harvested young, fire-roasted, and rubbed to remove the skins, with its name derived from the Arabic word meaning “rubbed.” Einkorn wheat, known as “man’s first wheat,” is the oldest wheat variety with 14 chromosomes (compared to modern wheat’s 42 chromosomes), and evidence of its domestication dates back to around 10,000 years ago in southern Turkey. In the same family of ancient grains are Emmer and Farro. Kamut or Khorasan is another ancient variety that has an Egyptian name but is also called Oriental wheat. It is not widely grown, with only an estimated 16,000 acres cultivated worldwide, and does not contribute heavily to the world food supply. The grain is twice the size of modern-day wheat and has a rich, nutty flavor. And finally, Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat with a nutty flavor that has been cultivated for thousands of years. It is a good source of protein, fiber, and various nutrients.
Job’s Tears (Coix lacryma-jobi) Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
This is another grain I hadn’t heard of before, but I had to give it a try. These tear-shaped grains are native to Southeast Asia but have spread to other regions, including parts of Africa and the Americas. Job’s tears are often processed and used in soups, stews, porridges, and sweet desserts. They are also sometimes ground into flour for baking or used to make beverages like tea or barley-like drinks.
Barley (Hordeum vulgare) Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
Barley is an ancient and adaptable cereal grain widely used worldwide for thousands of years. Its diverse applications range from animal feed and malt production for brewing to human consumption in soups, stews, salads, and baked goods. With its rich fiber content, vitamins, and minerals, barley remains a nutritious and versatile grain choice across different cultures and cuisines. If you plan on brewing after the grid goes down, you will want Barley on hand.
Amaranth (Amaranthus several species) – Pseudo-cereal grain Typical Shelf-life: 1-2 years
Last year was my first year growing and harvesting Amaranth, and this year it popped right up again in my garden. I consider this a necessary pseudo-cereal grain in your storage because it is so easy to grow and harvest. Also, the entire plant is edible, so I often cut up some leaves for my salads. If foraging, it’s important to note that there are
thousands of species within the Amaranthus genus, and some Amaranth species may have non-edible or even toxic parts. That’s another reason to grow your own. It can also be used as a gluten-free alternative flour. Amaranth is considered a complete protein. A complete protein contains all nine essential amino acids that the human body cannot produce independently and must obtain from the diet. While many plant-based proteins lack one or more essential amino acids, amaranth stands out as an exception. I have featured amaranth in other videos on this channel because it has both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects and is high in protein. We also have a more extensive breakout video on Amaranth in the works. The fact that it popped up in my garden the following year without me doing anything tells me it’s a great food to plant if you are ever forced to grow your own food.
Millet (Pennisetum glaucum) Typical Shelf-life: 6 months to 1 year
Millet is a small-seeded ancient cereal grain widely cultivated worldwide for thousands of years. It comes in various varieties, such as pearl and finger millet, and is highly nutritious, gluten-free, and easy to digest. Millet is used in diverse culinary applications, from porridges, as flour, flatbreads, and couscous-like dishes to soups and as livestock feed.
Corn (Maize) (Zea mays) Typical Shelf-life: 6 to 12 months
Corn is a versatile cereal grain widely cultivated for culinary and industrial uses. I find corn challenging to grow without a small plot of land because it must be planted in rows and must air pollinate. Numerous varieties exist. It comes in hundreds of different types, such as sweet, dent, flint, flour, popcorn, and waxy corn, each with distinct flavors and uses. Corn is a significant source of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, and it is commonly used in foods like cornbread, tortillas, and cereals and as an ingredient in many processed products. You might want to check out our most recent recipe for fried corn mush.
Oats (Avena sativa) Typical Shelf-life: 6 to 12 months
Oats are another ancient grain. In its unflaked form, it is called a groat. They come in various forms, including oat groats, rolled oats, and steel-cut oats, each offering different textures and cooking times. Oats are known for their high fiber content, protein, and essential nutrients, making them popular for breakfast cereals, porridge, baked goods, and various savory and sweet dishes. Oats are not very high-yielding for a small plot, but it’s easy to grow.
Sorghum/Jowar (Sorghum bicolor) Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
Sorghum is a resilient and versatile cereal grain cherished for its drought tolerance and abundant nutritional benefits. With distinct varieties like white, red, and black sorghum, this gluten-free grain serves as a staple food, a source of livestock and bird feed, and a raw material for crafting sorghum syrup and traditional alcoholic beverages. Packed with fiber, antioxidants, and essential nutrients, sorghum is a nourishing and adaptable choice, lending its unique touch to diverse cuisines and dietary preferences.
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) – Pseudo-cereal grain Typical Shelf-life: 1 year
Buckwheat is a hearty and nutritious pseudo-cereal grain with a distinctive nutty flavor. Despite its name, buckwheat is not related to wheat and is gluten-free. It is commonly used in various culinary creations, from traditional dishes like buckwheat pancakes and soba noodles to gluten-free baking and as a wholesome addition to salads and porridges. Buckwheat is rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, making it a valuable and versatile grain alternative in diverse cuisines and healthy diets.
TYPICAL SHELF-LIFE
With each of these grains or pseudo-grains, I have provided you with what I call the “typical shelf-life.” Grains can become stale, rancid, or develop off-flavors once they go beyond their typical shelf-life. In some cases, grains may also be more prone to infestation by insects or mold growth as they get older. Grains that have passed their shelf life are generally still edible and safe to eat, but their quality may have deteriorated in quality, texture, nutrition, and flavor over time.
It’s essential to store grains in a cool, dry place in airtight containers to prolong their shelf life. When grains are correctly stored, they can still be safe to eat even after their shelf life has expired, but they may lose some nutritional value and quality over time. Proper storage in cool, dry, airtight containers with oxygen absorbers can help prolong the edibility of grains years beyond their expiration date. Beyond the environmental controls of your storage, grains will last longer when they have a harder, uncracked exterior and a low internal moisture and fat content. If grains appear in good condition and show no signs of spoilage, infestation, off-odors, or mold, they may still be suitable for consumption, although they may not taste as fresh as they were within their shelf life.
If you’re unsure about the quality or safety of grains that have passed their shelf life, it’s best to err on the side of caution and discard them to avoid any potential health risks. When in doubt, purchasing fresh grains and following proper storage guidelines to ensure their quality and safety is better. You can take this a step further and extend shelf-life by storing it in an airtight, vacuum-sealed, temperature-stable, oxygen, moisture, and light-free environment. You can consult our food storage videos on how to do that.
—
Every one of the grains I have detailed here can be ground into flour, steamed, cooked into stews, soaked, and served on salads. Many benefit from a short cooking process to render the grain softer and break down heavy starches. I hope you will get some of these in your diet, storage, or growing in your garden. Food insecurity is often a result of no longer having options. These powerful, nutritionally-dense, ancient grains and pseudo-grains can provide you with a higher level of preparedness.
This is damage caused by leaf miner. This insect gets between the layers of the leaf and eats its way along. You cannot spray for it. It is protected inside the leaf. The best thing to do is cut away the damage. I literally take scissors and cut it out of the leaf. If the leaf has a lot of damage, just take the whole thing off. Put these leaves right in the garbage (or feed them to your chickens).
Lettuce cycle
Eventually your lettuce is going to “bolt.” It starts to stretch up like this. It’s part of the growing cycle, and is hurried along by the heat. Then, the plants will put out flowers and at that point, the leaves will be bitter. It’s just time to pull them out and replant.
Baby Plants about 2 weeks old.
These are still young and not quite ready to be pulling leaves off.
Mature lettuce. I come out once or twice a week and pull off the large leaves from around the edges. Also, check for aphids or any other damage.
Finally, keep everything shaded–especially in this heat. I’ve moved my plants to the side of the house where they are totally shaded by about 4:00.
At any given time I have all stages going on, this way I always have lettuce.
Rice was “This Week’s Purchase” in April, but in light of these recent events, the cost of rice is expected to double. This would be a great time to stock up. You can get #10 cans of rice at a Home Storage Center near you. Find a Home Storage Center. These centers are open to the public. Of course, you can always order through the internet at places like https://www.beprepared.com/
At the home storage center rice is $8.12 for a 5.4 pound can. For this same price, you should be able to get at least 10 pounds of rice at the store. Just remember, you’ll need to repackage that if you want to protect it from insects. If you have questions about that, just ask me, or check the internet for ways to repackage food.
MISC. PURCHASE:
This is a great time to consider alternate cooking. What if the power goes out–a fairly common occurrence in some places. Here are some options:
BBQ – even a little hibachi will cook a meal. You’ll just need to get a bag or two of some charcoal briquettes. You can keep them in a large trash bag in a corner of the yard (just don’t throw them away!)
Sun Oven – I have one and was very pleased with how it cooked for me last summer. It doesn’t have to be hot outside for the sun oven to work, but the sun DOES have to be shining. Once you’ve purchased the oven, nothing else is needed.
You’ll need a small burner (propane or kerosene). Use the burner to get the food boiling hot, then load it into the thermal cooker and it will continue cooking for hours with no electricity.
Open Fire – who hasn’t roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over a fire??? You can also make foil dinners and cook them right in the coals. All you need is two bricks, sticks, and a dirt area cleared of debris. Build the fire between the bricks and use a grill to put your pots on.
This week consider an alternate cooking method and then stock up on what you’ll need: charcoal, propane, or kerosene.
And don’t forget the matches — lots and lots and lots of them.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
If you’re only eating unseasoned white rice, you’re missing out on a whole world of options. Try swapping brown rice, or wild rice. Add ingredients like chicken or tuna. Add veggies.
The recipe below for “Stick Of Butter Rice” calls for parboiled rice. Parboiled rice is partially precooked in its husk. As a result, it retains some nutrients otherwise lost during refining. It is healthier than regular white rice, but not as healthy as brown rice.
Parboiled rice is found under the Uncle Ben’s brand. You can substitute white rice with no change in the recipe.
Here we will make four quick breads that require minimal ingredients and can be cooked on a stovetop. These breads have historical significance as staple foods that kept many of our ancestors alive through the worst of times. You might recognize one or two of them, or you may still make them; but once you have the experience cooking them and understand the methods and their taste, you can add them to your prepping recipes and implement hundreds of variations on them. This will keep you in hearty food with minimal resources through even the worst of times.
Potato & Parsnip Farl
Potato Farl is a staple potato skillet scone-type bread traditionally eaten in Scotland and Ireland for breakfast or as a snack. It’s similar to a potato pancake made with mashed potatoes. You can use just potatoes or part potatoes and parsnips, sweet potato, yams, beets, turnips, jicama, cassava, or another starchy vegetable. That’s what I like about this recipe. The variations can mix up the flavors and textures, keeping it from being ordinary, while the all-potato version provides a precise flavor baseline. Because I have parsnips in my garden right now, I will use potatoes and parsnips and include a few of the leafy parsnip greens to flavor it up a bit. If you don’t have parsnips, just use the equivalent amount of potato to make the traditional form.
Farl, originating from the Gaelic term for quarters, embodies the traditional practice of compressing the blend into a circular shape, dividing it into quarters, and subsequently pan-frying the segments in a modest amount of butter. These are essentially a harmonious combination of mashed potatoes, flour, and butter seamlessly blended together.
What you will need:
10 ounces potato
(You could use the equivalent substitution of powdered and dehydrated potato)
6 ounces of other starchy vegetable
(I’m using parsnips. Again, your variations are not limited here. If you don’t have any additions, simply use 6 more ounces of potato for a total of 16 ounces or 1 pound of potato)
Peel and cube potatoes and parsnips. Boil until fork tender. When mashable, remove from heat drain, and add 1 ounce of butter. That will be equivalent to two tablespoons. Mash the vegetables together. There are many ways to do this, from a ricer, a masher, a pestle, or placing it in a bowl and simply mashing it through a fork. It doesn’t need to be a smooth puree, and a few small chunks are fine. Let it cool down for about 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the flour and baking powder and mix the ingredients together. I will here add a few of the chopped parsnip leaves to give my batch a little fresher taste. You could use parsley or some other herb if you like, or omit the greens altogether. Add water or flour by the tablespoon if needed to obtain a dough consistency that isn’t too sticky. Transfer the mixture onto a floured surface, flatten it into an approximately ⅓ inch (or 1 centimeter) thick circle, and proceed to pizza cut and divide it into four equal portions. Heat the remaining butter in a skillet or frying pan. Cook the sections on medium to medium-low heat for 3-5 minutes until golden on each side. Serve warm. This was one of the best tasting of all the breads I made here.
This whole recipe will have approximately 54 grams of carbs, 20 grams of fat, and 7 grams of protein, which make it a great breakfast to start your day.
Soda Farl
Now that you know how to make the potato Farl, you should know the soda bread version of the same thing. Soda bread usually employs baking powder as a leavening agent, which eliminates the requirement for an acidic ingredient, unlike traditional recipes that rely on a combination of baking soda and an acidic component like buttermilk or yogurt to generate carbon dioxide gas for rising. I will not use baking powder in favor of a more traditional recipe where you have access to baking soda but not baking powder. Because of this, we will add milk I soured slightly by adding one tablespoon of vinegar (the acid) and setting it aside for 10 minutes.
The skillet imparts a combination of a crispy crust and a tender, dense, and moist interior to the bread. When preparing these skillet breads, it is crucial to avoid rapid browning of the exterior. In contrast to the faster cooking time of potato-based versions, these breads should be cooked for approximately 15 minutes per side, ensuring that the heat evenly reaches the center of these dense loaves for thorough cooking. To achieve this, cook them on medium-low heat.
What you will need:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vinegar
Pour vinegar into measured milk and set aside for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with baking soda and salt. Pour in the milk and mix until a sticky dough forms. Add water or flour by the tablespoon if necessary to obtain a dough consistency that isn’t too sticky. Flour the countertop, then transfer the dough onto the floured surface. Knead it until it forms a soft ball, adding more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Transfer the mixture onto a floured surface, flatten it into an approximately ⅓ inch (or 1 centimeter) thick circle, and proceed to pizza cut and divide it into four equal portions.
Carefully place the wedges onto the preheated skillet. Cook the farl for 15 minutes on the first side until it turns a deep golden color. Flip the farl and cook for an additional 15 minutes on the second side. Monitor the bottom of the bread to avoid burning. Adjust the heat slightly if necessary. The bread should take 15 minutes on each side to achieve a golden crust and a moist but cooked interior.
This whole recipe will have approximately 43 grams of carbs, 3 grams of fat, and 10 grams of protein. I’ll be honest. These are pretty bland and definitely should be used as a base or carrier for something more flavorful. These would make great biscuits to sandwich eggs and bacon together or to serve with butter or jam.
Native American Fry Bread
Fry bread has a complex history intertwined with the Native American experience. It emerged during the mid-19th century due to forced relocations and the displacement of Indigenous peoples in the United States. Native Americans were given government-issued commodities, including flour, which became a staple ingredient in their cuisine. Fry bread was born out of necessity, utilizing this commodity to create a simple and versatile food source that could be easily prepared by frying the dough in oil, tallow, or lard. This recipe has some more modern convenience additions like baking powder.
What you will need:
Enough oil or shortening for approximately 1-inch depth of frying
(Traditionally, lard is used, but you can use any oil with a high smoke point.)
1 pan for frying
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently mix ingredients together, then add milk. You will want the consistency of a dough ball you can gently knead. Only knead it a little to make sure the ingredients are well incorporated. Over-kneading will result in tougher bread. Add milk or flour by the tablespoon if needed to obtain a dough consistency that isn’t too sticky. Heat oil to 350 degrees. You can check this by dropping a dime size dollop into the oil, and it should begin bubbling immediately. Divide the large dough ball into four uniform pieces for a batch this size. Press flat to 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thickness. I like to let them rest for a few minutes at this point to let the dough relax a bit. Gently place them in the oil. Don’t overcrowd your pan when frying. Do one or two at a time if you are working with a smaller pan. Overcrowding will result in uneven cooking. Fry for 1 to 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Eat fresh or place on a cooling rack to allow excess oil to drip off. This bread is best when freshly fried and doesn’t keep well. It’s like savory and unsweetened doughnuts or beignets.
This whole recipe will have approximately 26 grams of carbs, 19 grams of fat, and 4 grams of protein. That will keep you going and easily ward off hunger pangs.
Fried Corn Mush
Technically, this isn’t bread, but I think it fits here because of the method of cooking and the cereal grain used. Fried mush is a dish made from cooked cornmeal or a similar grain that is then cooled, sliced, and fried in butter or oil until golden and crispy on the outside. It is more commonly associated with porridge or breakfast cereal-like consistency rather than being categorized as bread. This is a traditional food from the Midwest and South. It’s similar to polenta, but fried mush is firmer and not served as porridge. Making fried mush is a three-step process, as you want the corn meal to be cooked and set up first and be firm enough for cooking.
What you will need:
3 cups water
1 cup yellow cornmeal
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt to taste
3-4 tablespoons butter for frying
In a large saucepan, bring water to a boil. Combine the cornmeal, cornstarch, milk, and salt in a separate bowl. If you don’t have cornstarch, you can omit it. The cornmeal has enough starch to accomplish the minimal firmness required, but I add a teaspoon of cornstarch because it will firm up the final product even more. Pour the cornmeal mixture into the boiling water, stir constantly to avoid clumping, and combine all the ingredients thoroughly. Bring the mixture to a boil again while gently and continually stirring. Allow to bubble for 15 minutes, allowing the starches to pull the ingredients into a solid form. It will blow air out in little steam geysers. As they say in the South, “blowing kisses.” Adjust your heat down if it also shoots out tiny bits of mush.
Pour the mixture into a lightly greased 9-inch flat pan and allow it to cool to room temperature. A larger pan will give you a thinner square that will be trickier to cook but crispier. Once the cornmeal has cooled, cover it with plastic wrap and place the pan in the refrigerator overnight or until the mixture has become firm. This may take a full 8 hours. Do not put the pan in the fridge until it is completely cooled, and do not cover it until it is completely cooled. You want to avoid condensation, which will complicate the firming process. Once it firms up, carefully remove the cornmeal from the pan and slice it into uniform pieces as you might a brownie.
In a skillet over medium heat, melt the butter. When the pan is hot, carefully add the slices and fry them until they become golden brown and heated through. Adjust the heat down to prevent burning, but you want them to be a nice golden brown. After the first side has turned golden brown, flip the slices and continue frying until the other side achieves the same golden hue. They will taste best when they are similar in color to crispy hashbrowns, as the golden hue indicates a richer and toastier flavor. If the cornmeal sticks, add butter to the skillet as required.
These are best served warmly with honey, maple syrup, gravy, salsa, melted cheese, or taco meat. This whole recipe will have approximately 30 grams of carbs, 5 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein.
—
Whether you’re looking to enrich your prepping recipes or simply indulge in comforting and nourishing food, these quick breads will remind you of the resilience and adaptability of traditional cuisines across generations. These four quick bread recipes showcase the rich historical significance of staple foods that sustained our ancestors through challenging times. Check out the City Prepping, Cooking playlist for more easy-to-make meals from your stored food. By preparing these breads with minimal ingredients and cooking them on a stovetop, we embrace their traditional roots and discover their versatility through countless variations. Each recipe offers a unique and hearty experience, ensuring that even in the most challenging circumstances, we can enjoy delicious and filling meals with limited resources.
What can you do? If you live on a large piece of property, make sure there is space around your home – between you and the dried vegetation that would burn quickly in a fire.
EVERYONE should take their phone, walk through their house, and snap pictures of everything they have for insurance purposes.
EVERYONE should have an Evacuation Plan–not only for getting yourselves out, but for taking those things you most want. You can get lots of fancy charts to help you with this.
My list has three columns: downstairs, upstairs, garage
It has 3 rows: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 30 minutes
Then I filled in the boxes with items like cell phone chargers, reading glasses, family photos, laptop computer, wheat grinder, etc.
Finally, let this sink in:
Keep your bedroom doors closed.
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
Powdery Mildew raises its ugly head!!! I went out early to check on the garden and saw this:
Those white spots are powdery mildew. Not enough air flow? Not enough sun? Who knows. I cut off both of these leaves. If the squash leaves are UNDER the fruit, go ahead and cut away. But this one:
only has a few spots. My go-to spray for mildew is Neem Oil. Be sure you spray on top of AND under the leaves. In fact, the bottom of the leaves are often worse than the top. This particular zucchini gets afternoon shade. In my mind, I’m thinking that it doesn’t need shade cloth because it’s shaded by the tree in the heat of the day. But….maybe it’s not enough sun??? Ugh. Once the mildew starts, I’ll probably be fighting this battle all summer.
Oh, and don’t spray in the heat of the day. I did that one year to my zucchini, and it literally “roasted” the plant and killed the entire thing. Cool mornings are best – or early evening when the temps are lower.
THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: dried beans 20 lbs.
One pound of dried beans = 6-7 cups of cooked beans. Each can of beans = about 1 1/2 c. beans. So, 1 pound of dried beans = about 4 cans of beans. If you are one of those people who cannot remember to soak beans the night before you need them, then prepare beans on a day you DO remember to soak them. Cook, drain, and put 1 1/2 c. cooked beans into a quart freezer bag, and stack them in the freezer. Each bag will cost less than 1/2 what a can will cost.
MISC PURCHASE: Sprouting seeds
EVERYONE should learn how to sprout. If the stores have no food, and you have no garden, sprouts will give you vitamins and live enzymes and other great nutrition to supplement your stored food.
You do NOT need a lot of fancy equipment. You need a jar and a piece of netting–something that will let the water drain but keep the seeds in the jar. I went to JoAnns and bought some netting like you would use in a little girl’s tutu. I think I bought 1/4 yard and it was under $1. Then I cut it in squares that were big enough to cover the mouth of the jar with leftover edges so the lid would hold it on. 6 X 6 or larger.
Basically, you want to soak them 8-10 hours (or overnight)
Then rinse and drain morning and again at night.
The lentil sprouts will start to grow in 24 hours. I like my sprouts to be small (only about 1/4 inch long). As soon as they are as long as you want them, put the jar in the refrigerator. (574) How to sprout seeds No fancy sprouting materials needed. Just a jar, a ring, and netting or cheesecloth.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
Raspberry Muffins
I made these a couple of weeks ago and a number of things went wrong.
First, I didn’t have any raspberries. BUT, I had blackberries, so I thought I would use them. They were good (we ate them all), but the berries turned the batter purple and that took some getting past. Second, I melted the butter as instructed and totally forgot to add it in. Third, I do NOT know where my muffin pan went. But, I have two mini-muffin pans, so I used those. It actually worked well, as each muffin was only a bite or two. A few days ago, I bought some blueberries at the store for pancakes, and I decided to use the rest to make these muffins again…. but I didn’t save the recipe and couldn’t remember where I’d seen it.
SO, after searching through my YouTube video history for 20 minutes, I found it!!! Here you go, courtesy ofpreppykitchen.com
PS- they are really good (even without the butter), and worth the search
Muffins:
Preheat oven to 400. Butter or spray a 12-cup muffin pan or use paper liners (who doesn’t use liners???)
2 c. flour
1 c. sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
Mix together
In a separate bowl whisk together:
3/4 c. milk
2 large eggs
5 TB vegetable oil
3 TB melted butter
2 tsp vanilla
zest of one lemon
Fold the egg mix into the flour mix, stirring until just combined.
1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries (I’m using blueberries today). If you use frozen raspberries, you do not need to thaw them.
Fold in the fruit.
Divide the batter in the muffin cups. Sprinkle with streusel on the top.
Streusel:
1/4 c. flour
1/4 c. sugar
pinch salt
Combine
2 TB cold butter – use your fingers or a fork to cut in. Should be very crumbly.
Bake 18-20 min or until golden brown on top and toothpick comes out clean.
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
Here is another one from preppy kitchen.
1/3 c. unsalted butter – put in a large Dutch oven. When the butter has melted, add
1 medium yellow onion diced
3 medium carrots peeled and chopped
3 celery stalks thinly sliced
Cook and stir until vegetables are tender
5 garlic cloves peeled and minced
1/3 c. all purpose flour
Add garlic and flour, stirring for 2 min.
6 c. chicken stock
Slowly add the chicken stock.
1 pound Yukon gold potatoes peeled and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tsp fresh thyme or 1/2 tsp dried thyme2 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
Add and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender and soup begins to thicken, about 15-20 min.
4 c. cooked shredded chicken (about 1 rotisserie chicken)
1 c. frozen peas – or canned or fresh
1 c. frozen corn – or canned or fresh
1/2 c. milk
1/2 c. heavy cream
Stir in and bring back to a boil. Simmer for 5-10 min more.
1/4 c. chopped parsley – stir in just before serving
Pasta and Vegetable Salad
My cherry tomatoes have always been prolific! Mostly I just eat them off the vine like candy. But they produce so much that I am always looking for recipes where I can use them.
Here’s one. No quantities are given (I know, weird huh?) But this way you can make as much or as little as you want.
Riverside County is required every 5 years to create a list of the most probable natural disasters. Most counties have a department for Emergency Management. Check online for information relative to your county.
Here is this year’s list for MY county:
Earthquake (What is interesting about this is you can Google the top disasters in Riverside County for the past 10 years. Of the 100 disasters listed, only about 3-4 were earthquakes, most were fires. BUT, Riverside County still lists EARTHQUAKE as the most important to prepare for.)
Fire
Infectious Diseases
Pandemic
Flood
Electric failure
Extreme weather
Drought
Hazardous Materials Leak
Cyber Attack
Terrorist Attack
Communication Failure
Dam Failure
Landslide
Insect Infestation
Transportation Failure
Civil Disorder
Aqueduct Failure
Jail Failure
Pipeline Disruption
Tornado
Nuclear Accident
Radiological Accident
How can you possibly prepare for EVERYTHING? Well…. you can’t. BUT you CAN prepare for most things with:
72 hour kits
food (3 months for a start)
medications and first aid kits
communications plan
evacuation plan
backup cooking
backup power
What does YOUR family need to work on???
Google Ham Radio Classes and see if there is anything near you. These classes are often free, or there is a nominal charge for materials. They will help you prepare to take the exam. There is a small fee for the exam as well. I think it’s about $15.
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
Time to feed the garden.
Got ready to can some tomatoes, and when I cut them open, I found this:
I reached out to a gardening group online. Their answers include:
This is normal for heirloom tomatoes
It’s from extremely hot weather
It’s from stink bugs
So?? Not sure what the answer is.
Got all my shade cloths up over the garden.
I know it seems fancy, but try and get your plants covered.
THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: cereal, hot or cold
When you go shopping this week, just pick up 2 large cereal boxes of something you eat all the time. I’m going to get Rice Krispies and Honey Nut Cheerios. (Confession….I RARELY eat cold cereal, but my husband has a bowl almost every day and this is what he likes). When you bring it home, put the date on it, and then ROTATE!!!! From experience I know that cold cereal is good for about a year. After that, all bets are off.
Think about a month of breakfasts. What would you like:
Pancakes? Cold cereal? Hot cereal? Hash browns and scrambled eggs? Something sweet like a Cinnamon Crumb Cake or Cinnamon Rolls? Some breakfast cookies (see recipes below)? French Toast (have to be able to make bread for this one)? Cold canned peaches with toast? Whatever you would like to eat, start planning and set a goal to get 3 months worth of breakfast food. It’s not that hard. A large package of Krusteaz, 2 containers of oatmeal, a couple boxes of cold cereal……. Figure out what you need and get it. THEN…..ROTATE!!!!!
MISC. PURCHASE: trash bags
Pretty much any of the above disasters are going to require trash bags–either for clean up, or for sanitation, or for whatever. Just get an extra box of either 13 gallon kitchen trash bags, or a bag of large black trash bags (or both!) this week.
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
Healthy Breakfast Cookies:
LEMON BLUEBERRY:
2 1/2 c. old fashioned oats
3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. coconut sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c. + 1 TB non-dairy milk (like almond)
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 c. dried blueberries (or fresh)
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Add all ingredients. Use a 1/4 c. scoop and scoop the batter onto the parchment paper. Pat the tops down a little and bake cookies for 15-17 minutes until firm and cooked through. Cool before eating.
CARROT CAKE COOKIES
2 1/2 c. oats
3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. coconut sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c. + 1 TB non-dairy milk (like almond)
1/4 c. maple syrup
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 c. grated carrot
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Add all ingredients. Use a 1/4 c. scoop and scoop the batter onto the parchment paper. Pat the tops down a little and bake cookies for 15-17 minutes until firm and cooked through. Cool before eating.
CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER
2 1/2 c. oats
3/4 c. flour
1/4 c. + 1 TB coconut sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c. + 1 TB non-dairy milk (like almond)
1/4 c. + 1 TB maple syrup
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
Preheat oven to 350˚. Line a large baking sheet with parchment. Add all ingredients. Use a 1/4 c. scoop and scoop the batter onto the parchment paper. Pat the tops down a little and bake cookies for 15-17 minutes until firm and cooked through. Cool before eating.
Chicken Alfredo Bake
This makes a 13 X 9 size pan which is WAAAY too much for two people. I’m going to cut it in half when I make it.
1 lb. cooked chopped chicken (about 3 breasts) OR
1 jar canned chicken
5 c. short pasta, cooked to al dente
1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
2 TB Parmesan cheese
Place chicken and pasta in the baking dish. Set cheese aside for topping
Alfredo Sauce
1/4 c. butter – melt
1 tsp minced garlic
Add to the melted butter and cook 1 minute
3 TB flour – stir in the butter til absorbed, cook 1-2 min.
1 1/2 c. milk – Add and stir till smooth
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 c. shredded Parmesan cheese
Add to the sauce mix. Whisk until thickened and smooth
Pour over pasta and chicken in a baking dish and top with mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.
Cover with foil and bake 375 for 20-30 min until hot and bubbly.
Almost one month into the summer and I have YET to cook in my dutch oven. I’m just getting up the courage. LOL
Do you have solar patio lights?
This 12-pack is $28 on Amazon. Here’s the thing: the solar panels on top collect energy during the day and store it in small batteries. Then, at night, the batteries create the light. BUT, did you know, you should replace the batteries every year? Craig is really good about doing this in the Spring, so the lights will work all summer.
The reason you WANT to have some of these, is that if we lose power for any length of time, you can simply bring them indoors and have light!!!
Have you filled up your propane tanks for your BBQ? Did you know you can get a simple connection that will allow you to connect your BIG propane tank to your small camp stove? They have them at Walmart.
GARDEN HAPPENINGS:
I got my first bean harvest of the year. This is how I keep my beans fresh in the refrigerator while I’m waiting to harvest enough for a meal. how to keep green beans fresh in fridge. I did three containers of succession planting on the beans, so they won’t ALL produce at the same time for a few more weeks.
Last year was my first year to try pumpkins. This year, I actually have a few green pumpkins.
Just as I was getting excited, one of them started turning orange, and not in a good way.
Any pumpkin growers out there with advice?
This is ALSO my first year growing Roma and San Marzano tomatoes. They are just starting to turn red. But here’s the thing: They are TINY!!! Most are about 3 fingers big:
and some are only two fingers long:
Ugh. This seems like a lot of work for such small tomatoes. Had I known, I would have grown a different variety.
Now, my indeterminate tomatoes are MUCH larger and have not started to turn yet.
I WANTED to be able to can some of these tomatoes, but not sure if I’ll have enough at this rate.
I looked at the forecast. Looks like we’ll be in the 90’s soon enough. As SOON as it hits 90, my shade cloth goes on!
THIS WEEK’S PURCHASE: fruit
Recommended 50 pounds per person (which is only 1 pound per week, so not much!)
Berries are in season. I’ve been using my berries to make fruit leather. AND…..I actually made some jam! Fruit can include cans of peaches, pears, or any other type of fruit, fruit roll-ups, banana chips,dried fruit, freeze-dried fruit, jam, and jelly.
Have you ever found cans of fruit in your pantry that seem REALLY old? No worries. Use it to make a fruit smoothie.
I have very fond memories of my grandfather having a bowl of ice cream for dessert topped with peaches, strawberries, or other seasonal fruit.
Unless you are an apartment dweller, you should be able to grow at least one fruit tree. Here in So. Cal, we have mostly citrus trees and berry bushes. Some friends not far from me live at a slightly higher altitude and have apple trees. There ARE certain varieties of peach trees that grow here, but most peaches, pears, and apples require a certain number of cold hours. They grow better in climates with winters that dip below freezing more than ours does.
Farmer’s Markets are a good place to check out the fresh produce. Unfortunately, I’ve found that the produce there is not much cheaper (if at all) than the local supermarket. Gone are the days for me when I could buy lugs of fruit offered for sale in someone’s front yard.
MISC. PURCHASE: toilet paper
Time to stock up on another month of toilet paper. Try to work up to at least 6 months’ supply! And that’s for the whole family!!!!
FOOD STORAGE RECIPES:
Breakfast In a Glass
From “There’s a Cow in the Kitchen” by Virginia D. Nelson
1 c. cold water
1/4 c. non-instant milk powder (1/2 c. instant)
1 egg
1/2 c. fresh fruit or 3 oz. frozen orange juice concentrate
Combine in a blender, with a whisk, or an electric beater. For best flavor, chill before serving, or use ice in place of part of the water.
English Muffins
This is one of our favorite snacks. It’s the perfect thing for mid-afternoon. Today, as I was eating my English muffin with some of my homemade blackberry jam, I was thinking that I should practice making them. Why not??? I went to this website: Recipes – Preppy Kitchen and found a good one for English Muffins along with a host of other yummy recipes!
Mix all together. Fry in a hot skillet with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and/or butter.
Fry on both sides.
You can serve them with sour cream, which I thought sounded good, but Mr. Shelley is not a fan. Frankly, they were good just as is. We had them in place of hash browns. AND…..I used up the potatoes. Yay!
Marti Shelley
Report
There was a problem reporting this post.
Block Member?
Please confirm you want to block this member.
You will no longer be able to:
See blocked member's posts
Mention this member in posts
Invite this member to groups
Message this member
Add this member as a connection
Please note:
This action will also remove this member from your connections and send a report to the site admin.
Please allow a few minutes for this process to complete.
The most evident impact of droughts and extreme weather precipitation events are witnessed on the impacted land. When we think of droughts, we often think of the farmer and his crops drying up in the fields. In Taiwan, farmers are being paid not to grow crops so that the water may be repurposed and directed to chip manufacturing needs. Last year’s Derecho wiped out corn crops in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. Just two years ago it was droughts all across Europe that lowered yields and affected farmers. Wildfires from Sweden to California are more extreme and disrupt production, trade, and whole economies. 
You may have viewed my popular blog on Why The Rich Are Buying Water Rights, and it’s worth mentioning here. The real question is can we run out of water on a planet that is mostly water? The answer is both yes and no. You can run out, but the Earth won’t. The wealthy won’t. 
Beyond the exodus of populations impacting the global community, water rights, those who feel they are entitled to the water also create a host of problems. Whether it is Nestle bottling and selling water from public lands during a drought, or chip manufacturers having to scale back operations because they lack the precious resource, or its farmers being asked not to grow vital food, water is a commodity, the scarcity of which impacts us daily. In the United States, there are corporate and factory farming operations that have legislated reduced cost per gallon of vital water. In some cases, they then sell those water rights back to municipalities and refrain from growing anything. If they are guaranteed 1 million gallons at 3 cents per gallon, but they can sell the rights to that water for 17 cents a gallon, can they be blamed for profiting from the sale? And one million gallons is actually low for a farming operation. It takes one gallon of water to grow a single almond and five gallons of water for a single walnut. In a complex legislative shell game, farmers can acquire rights and then sell those rights and produce nothing. During a time of drought, their profits continue to go up though they produce and grow nothing.
Onions are at the top of my list because these pearl varieties can easily be pickled or dried and powdered to provide you with excellent onion flavor through the winter months. They are also considered to be nutrient-dense food. This means that they contain a small number of calories and a large number of nutrients. They are a great source of potassium and manganese. You aren’t limited to just pearl onions. Many varieties will reach maturity with a decent-sized bulb in a short amount of time, and they can withstand a slight frost. Even when picked early, onions will have green tops and all the flavor you want. As with any plant you are evaluating, consider how many days you have from when you plant to that first frost. If you have to harvest onions early, no problem. They will just be smaller in size. It isn’t like you have to wait for onions to ripen.
TOMATOES
Yes, there’s still time. If you want to get a last batch of tomatoes in before the first frost, consider a variety that harvests early and can withstand colder temperatures like the aptly named Sub Arctic Plenty. It’s a determinate variety that will only grow to a certain height. That makes it ideal for container gardens or any gardener with space challenges. The Red Pear is an indeterminate variety if space isn’t an issue. It will quickly give you loads of fruit, perfect for salads, pizza, or right off the vine. It’s not frost tolerant, so you will want to get it in the ground now and harvest the last of it before your first frost.
ALASKA EARLY PEAS
The Alaska Early Pea is a remarkable variety that offers quick yields in just 55 days. Despite its name, this versatile pea can be cultivated in Alaska, the lower 48 states, and even Hawaii. It boasts a semi-dwarf growth habit, reaching a height of 2-3 feet, and doesn’t need staking for support. This frost-tolerant bush variety is well-suited for various climates, making it a reliable choice for gardeners seeking early harvests and compact, hassle-free pea plants.
BRASSICAS
Plants in the Lettuce family will not survive frost well. Some are fine in cooler temperatures. They just don’t like frost. They do, however, develop enough to eat copious amounts in a very short amount of time. Their time to harvest ranges from as little as 30 days and as high as around 85 before they will try to bolt to seed. I also like lettuce as an option because it adapts well to indoor grow systems. Whether that’s a windowsill garden of lettuce or a home-built hydroponic tower next to a sliding glass door, you can grow this indoors with minimal effort and year around. One seed packet can keep you in more leafy green salads than one person can eat.
BEETS, RADISHES, TURNIPS, & CARROTS
You may have heard of winter squash varieties, but the name is somewhat deceptive. Winter Squash requires a long growing season of around 100 days. If you plant it in the late fall, it will not have enough time to grow. The time to get your squash seeds in the ground is right now, while the foliage and vines can thrive in the Summer sun. Their name actually comes more from their hard outer skins, which allow them to store easily through the winter months. There are well over 100 different varieties of squash. Consider some of the most versatile and hearty varieties like pumpkin, Acorn, Hubbard, Burgess Buttercup, or Waltham Butternut. Though zucchini and summer squash are thinner-skinned, you can still get these planted right now to enjoy a pre-frost harvest of the tender young fruit. Plus, these summer squashes are best when their fruit is young.
GARLIC
Fall is the prime time to plant hard-neck varieties of garlic, typically from September to November. Opting for fall planting allows the garlic to develop sturdy roots throughout the winter with minimal care. It thrives in cool weather at the beginning of its life, but mature foliage is susceptible to cold damage. You can ensure a successful garlic harvest with robust bulbs and flavorsome results by striking the right balance and providing several weeks of chilly temperatures while avoiding severe freezes. Plant your garlic a little before the first frosts of the year, but avoid planting them right before a big freeze. I just harvested about 60 bulbs of this Spanish Roja variety, and I will take 60 of the largest cloves and plant them for harvesting next Spring. Garlic takes seven to eight months to mature. Three tricks to well-formed bulbs are to clip the ramp when it comes up to allow the plant to focus its energy on the bulb; don’t harvest until you can count four dead leaves up from the base. And start by planting the biggest cloves you have.
WAIT AWHILE
You will also want to get some vegetables in the ground now, even though you can’t really harvest them for a year or more. Asparagus planted now will be harvestable in the second year. Jerusalem artichokes can be planted now but won’t give you much yield before winter. With both, if you simply cut back and mulch over them for winter, they will spring to life with Spring. The same is true for artichoke plants. I didn’t know that for years and would dig mine up at the end of the season. Just a little cutback and mulch over the top through winter, and come Spring, they’ll spring back to life.
As with any Fall garden plant, as you move into late August and cooler temperatures are in the future, you should favor plants that can withstand a slight frost or colder temperatures. If you recognize the importance of growing your own food to increase your food security or you just want to gain the skill of gardening to add to your repertoire, consider getting some or all of these vegetables planted right now. You will gain a skill and be rewarded with food you know isn’t treated with chemicals or pesticides unless you put those on them. Health is an important part of prepping, and much of health comes down to the nutrients you put in your body. Winter is peaking around the corner, even as we swelter through summer. Realize you have an opportunity for an abundant garden if you sow your seeds now. What do you think? What vegetables should people get in their garden right now? Let us know in the comments below.
As always, stay safe out there.
Early Vegetables – https://bit.ly/3psrB2G
Pearl Onions – https://bit.ly/432zPw4
Onions – https://bit.ly/3JCkE5R
Sub-Arctic Plenty Tomatoes – https://bit.ly/3CQwaqz
Red Pear Tomatoes – https://bit.ly/42Y4YRv
Alaska Early Peas – https://bit.ly/3pjsdrr
Spinach – https://bit.ly/44rjEK1
Cabbage – https://bit.ly/3NyGOqK
Kale – https://bit.ly/3PwycUf
Broccoli – https://bit.ly/3rdfS8s
Cauliflower – https://bit.ly/43ZDdJq
Brussel Sprouts – https://bit.ly/3r5fcSI
Ukrainian Garlic – https://bit.ly/3CRNgo3
Spanish Roja Garlic – https://bit.ly/442uPJi
Lettuces – https://bit.ly/3JzmBQF
Early Wonder Beets – https://bit.ly/3XwtAj4
Chioggia Beets https://bit.ly/3WpVaMy
Radishes – https://bit.ly/3kM5nG8
Turnips – https://bit.ly/42YLYlD
Parsnip – https://bit.ly/3JzpqBf
Carrots – https://bit.ly/3Ny9PDe
Squash – https://bit.ly/443ouNB
Early Wonder Beets – https://bit.ly/3XwtAj4
Chioggia Beets – https://bit.ly/3WpVaMy
Daikon – https://bit.ly/3JAR3Kg
All-In-One Fall Seed Pack – https://bit.ly/431N68b
One of the most visible outward expressions of a collapse is the bottom falling out of the financial system. From double, triple, or higher-digit inflation pricing people out of basic necessities to dramatic market declines evaporating a lifetime’s accumulated wealth instantly, economic collapse can aggravate other conditions that can domino into a full-on failure. Many market collapses actually have a long build-up. The housing bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, trade wars, and the loss of faith over time in a single fiat currency all happen slowly over the years and then reach a tipping point. In some cases, the ultra-wealthy cheer on the decline in some ways as they profit off selling short and feel that they can maintain profits by shifting their money to other assets or more stable countries. However, that doesn’t always work as assets are often frozen, withdrawal limits are established, or the currency becomes so devalued that it doesn’t retain any fluidity. Nobody wants it nor transacts in it anymore.
The rise of agriculture also gave rise to cities, states, and nations. Without harnessing nature in agricultural practices, thereby increasing yield and concentration of food sources, nations would have never formed out of nomadic, hunter-gatherer groups. While weather patterns may be perfect for agriculture in a particular area for several centuries, they can change. The lack of floods in the Nile contributed to a dramatic decline in food production in the 13th century. Excessive rain in 14th-century Britain caused massive crop failures that resulted in massive food shortages. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a mold caused a destructive plant disease that spread rapidly throughout Ireland. While the Egyptians, British, and Irish survived the downturn, they all suffered through what can only be described as a period of collapse.
The health of a nation can also be measured by the health of its people. There are obvious factors like plague, disease, wars, and pandemics, but more subtle indicators like lifestyle and environmentally induced illnesses exist. From lead pipes used in Rome to cancer-causing pesticides to industrial, even nuclear waste, there are several environmental factors that lead to medical issues that sap a nation’s resources and workforce. There are also lifestyle choices that can contribute to a more significant decline in overall health. Refined sugars, preservatives, highly processed foods, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and all those other things we now know have to be taken in moderation or not at all lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, cancer, high blood pressure, and the list goes on from there.
A decline in the birth rate indicates a nation’s decline. While environmental and social factors can impact fertility and fertilization rates, it is more indicative of a general lack of faith in the future. The future may appear too uncertain, chaotic, or rife with conflict that raising a child is just too difficult. Or, the future’s financial prospects are so dismal, and the current economic situation would only result in poverty for anyone trying to raise a family. Birth rate and fertility rate are helpful in analyzing and understanding a nation’s replacement rate. Populations that increase can put a strain on economies and infrastructure. Populations that don’t replenish themselves can experience slowed services, a decline in transactions and commerce, or even be left unable to defend themselves from foreign adversaries.
There are signs of decline that are less obvious than a financial collapse, unhealthy people, and declining birthrates. Sometimes it’s what you know, don’t know, or think you know that can destroy a population. During the First Inquisition, created by religious courts to combat heresy and witchcraft, Pope Gregory IX ordered the witch’s familial animal, the cat, especially black cats, to be burned and killed with the witch. Hundreds of thousands of cats were killed, leading to the rapid proliferation of rodents, particularly a bacterium carried by rats. That bacterium was ultimately the source of the Black Plague. From prescribing opiates for crying babies to sanitized tapeworms to lose weight, it’s often the misinformation informing medical practices that can cause death rates to go up in society. 
By extension of the misinformation and rumors, the next sign of imminent collapse is uncontrolled infighting. Scapegoats are sought for failures ranging from the response to natural or industrial disasters to inflation and financial market collapses. One group elevates itself and blames the other. Looking even casually at parliaments and congresses worldwide, you can see this play out in real time. If you look at the struggles of the oppressed or have-nots and the ruling classes and wealthy elite, history is littered with examples of infighting. That fierce infighting, inflamed rhetoric, and scapegoating often translate to the neighborhood level. Eventually, people don’t trust their own neighbors, family, or friends. Distrust is the first stage of infighting.
Even as the enemies within are formed anew, the enemies of other nations continue. Right now, there is a rising and outward expression of disdain for heavy-handed Western diplomacy. Europe and America are seen as imperialistic forces that have for too long reigned over and dictated the policies of other countries. Russia, China, Iran, and many others condemn the tactics of the US even as they deploy autocratic, harsh, and heavy-handed tactics of their own, dominate and invade smaller nations, and commit human rights violations. In the big picture, neither side is right. They simply try to bend the world to support them while profiting from the resources. These differing philosophies label each other enemies. They seek to dismantle and deconstruct the other. Wars are fought from nation to nation, and civil wars are fought within nations.
One of the most significant indicators of an imminent collapse is resource depletion. When a river changes course or runs dry, when wells and aquifers are depleted, and when energy can’t be produced to control the extremes of hot and cold weather, life in some areas becomes untenable. Forced migrations, immigration, and emigration create imbalances and competition for resources that may not have existed before. 
Potato Farl is a staple potato skillet scone-type bread traditionally eaten in Scotland and Ireland for breakfast or as a snack. It’s similar to a potato pancake made with mashed potatoes. You can use just potatoes or part potatoes and parsnips, sweet potato, yams, beets, turnips, jicama, cassava, or another starchy vegetable. That’s what I like about this recipe. The variations can mix up the flavors and textures, keeping it from being ordinary, while the all-potato version provides a precise flavor baseline. Because I have parsnips in my garden right now, I will use potatoes and parsnips and include a few of the leafy parsnip greens to flavor it up a bit. If you don’t have parsnips, just use the equivalent amount of potato to make the traditional form.
preparing these skillet breads, it is crucial to avoid rapid browning of the exterior. In contrast to the faster cooking time of potato-based versions, these breads should be cooked for approximately 15 minutes per side, ensuring that the heat evenly reaches the center of these dense loaves for thorough cooking. To achieve this, cook them on medium-low heat.
Technically, this isn’t bread, but I think it fits here because of the method of cooking and the cereal grain used. Fried mush is a dish made from cooked cornmeal or a similar grain that is then cooled, sliced, and fried in butter or oil until golden and crispy on the outside. It is more commonly associated with porridge or breakfast cereal-like consistency rather than being categorized as bread. This is a traditional food from the Midwest and South. It’s similar to polenta, but fried mush is firmer and not served as porridge. Making fried mush is a three-step process, as you want the corn meal to be cooked and set up first and be firm enough for cooking.
The most evident impact of droughts and extreme weather precipitation events are witnessed on the impacted land. When we think of droughts, we often think of the farmer and his crops drying up in the fields. In Taiwan, farmers are being paid not to grow crops so that the water may be repurposed and directed to chip manufacturing needs. Last year’s Derecho wiped out corn crops in Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana. Just two years ago it was droughts all across Europe that lowered yields and affected farmers. Wildfires from Sweden to California are more extreme and disrupt production, trade, and whole economies. 
You may have viewed my popular blog on Why The Rich Are Buying Water Rights, and it’s worth mentioning here. 
Beyond the exodus of populations impacting the global community, water rights, those who feel they are entitled to the water also create a host of problems. Whether it is Nestle bottling and selling water from public lands during a drought, or chip manufacturers having to scale back operations because they lack the precious resource, or its farmers being asked not to grow vital food, water is a commodity, the scarcity of which impacts us daily. In the United States, there are corporate and factory farming operations that have legislated reduced cost per gallon of vital water. In some cases, they then sell those water rights back to municipalities and refrain from growing anything. If they are guaranteed 1 million gallons at 3 cents per gallon, but they can sell the rights to that water for 17 cents a gallon, can they be blamed for profiting from the sale? And one million gallons is actually low for a farming operation. It takes one gallon of water to grow a single almond and five gallons of water for a single walnut. In a complex legislative shell game, farmers can acquire rights and then sell those rights and produce nothing. During a time of drought, their profits continue to go up though they produce and grow nothing.
Onions are at the top of my list because these pearl varieties can easily be pickled or dried and powdered to provide you with excellent onion flavor through the winter months. They are also considered to be nutrient-dense food. This means that they contain a small number of calories and a large number of nutrients. They are a great source of potassium and manganese. You aren’t limited to just pearl onions. Many varieties will reach maturity with a decent-sized bulb in a short amount of time, and they can withstand a slight frost. Even when picked early, onions will have green tops and all the flavor you want. As with any plant you are evaluating, consider how many days you have from when you plant to that first frost. If you have to harvest onions early, no problem. They will just be smaller in size. It isn’t like you have to wait for onions to ripen.
Yes, there’s still time. If you want to get a last batch of tomatoes in before the first frost, consider a variety that harvests early and can withstand colder temperatures like the aptly named Sub Arctic Plenty. It’s a determinate variety that will only grow to a certain height. That makes it ideal for container gardens or any gardener with space challenges. The Red Pear is an indeterminate variety if space isn’t an issue. It will quickly give you loads of fruit, perfect for salads, pizza, or right off the vine. It’s not frost tolerant, so you will want to get it in the ground now and harvest the last of it before your first frost.
The Alaska Early Pea is a remarkable variety that offers quick yields in just 55 days. Despite its name, this versatile pea can be cultivated in Alaska, the lower 48 states, and even Hawaii. It boasts a semi-dwarf growth habit, reaching a height of 2-3 feet, and doesn’t need staking for support. This frost-tolerant bush variety is well-suited for various climates, making it a reliable choice for gardeners seeking early harvests and compact, hassle-free pea plants.
Vegetables that are all part of the Brassica family are some of your typical Fall vegetables because they grow fast and are frost-tolerant. This family includes Spinach, Cabbage, Kale, Broccoli, Cauliflower, and Brussel Sprouts. Growing these in cooler fall temperatures also helps to control the bugs that like to infest and eat these before you harvest. As colder temperatures come in late October and November, these plants are hardy enough to withstand them.
Plants in the Lettuce family will not survive frost well. Some are fine in cooler temperatures. They just don’t like frost. They do, however, develop enough to eat copious amounts in a very short amount of time. Their time to harvest ranges from as little as 30 days and as high as around 85 before they will try to bolt to seed. I also like lettuce as an option because it adapts well to indoor grow systems. Whether that’s a windowsill garden of lettuce or a home-built hydroponic tower next to a sliding glass door, you can grow this indoors with minimal effort and year around. One seed packet can keep you in more leafy green salads than one person can eat.
Consider one of these root vegetables when the worst of summer heat is set to subside in the next month. Beets, radishes, turnips, carrots, and parsnips have leafy greens you can steal off the top and eat as they grow. Don’t trim too much, though, or the root part of the vegetable will be stunted. When you harvest, eat the whole vegetable from leaf to root. Early Wonder Beets can be ready in as little as 50 days, so you could get two harvests out of them before the growing season ends. This was my first year growing Chioggia Beets, and I have a gallon of them pickling right now. 
You may have heard of winter squash varieties, but the name is somewhat deceptive. Winter Squash requires a long growing season of around 100 days. If you plant it in the late fall, it will not have enough time to grow. The time to get your squash seeds in the ground is right now, while the foliage and vines can thrive in the Summer sun. Their name actually comes more from their hard outer skins, which allow them to store easily through the winter months. There are well over 100 different varieties of squash. Consider some of the most versatile and hearty varieties like pumpkin, Acorn, Hubbard, Burgess Buttercup, or Waltham Butternut. Though zucchini and summer squash are thinner-skinned, you can still get these planted right now to enjoy a pre-frost harvest of the tender young fruit. Plus, these summer squashes are best when their fruit is young.
Fall is the prime time to plant hard-neck varieties of garlic, typically from September to November. Opting for fall planting allows the garlic to develop sturdy roots throughout the winter with minimal care. It thrives in cool weather at the beginning of its life, but mature foliage is susceptible to cold damage. You can ensure a successful garlic harvest with robust bulbs and flavorsome results by striking the right balance and providing several weeks of chilly temperatures while avoiding severe freezes. Plant your garlic a little before the first frosts of the year, but avoid planting them right before a big freeze. I just harvested about 60 bulbs of this Spanish Roja variety, and I will take 60 of the largest cloves and plant them for harvesting next Spring. Garlic takes seven to eight months to mature. Three tricks to well-formed bulbs are to clip the ramp when it comes up to allow the plant to focus its energy on the bulb; don’t harvest until you can count four dead leaves up from the base. And start by planting the biggest cloves you have.
One of the most visible outward expressions of a collapse is the bottom falling out of the financial system. From double, triple, or higher-digit inflation pricing people out of basic necessities to dramatic market declines evaporating a lifetime’s accumulated wealth instantly, economic collapse can aggravate other conditions that can domino into a full-on failure. Many market collapses actually have a long build-up. The housing bubble, the commercial real estate bubble, trade wars, and the loss of faith over time in a single fiat currency all happen slowly over the years and then reach a tipping point. In some cases, the ultra-wealthy cheer on the decline in some ways as they profit off selling short and feel that they can maintain profits by shifting their money to other assets or more stable countries. However, that doesn’t always work as assets are often frozen, withdrawal limits are established, or the currency becomes so devalued that it doesn’t retain any fluidity. Nobody wants it nor transacts in it anymore.
The rise of agriculture also gave rise to cities, states, and nations. Without harnessing nature in agricultural practices, thereby increasing yield and concentration of food sources, nations would have never formed out of nomadic, hunter-gatherer groups. While weather patterns may be perfect for agriculture in a particular area for several centuries, they can change. The lack of floods in the Nile contributed to a dramatic decline in food production in the 13th century. Excessive rain in 14th-century Britain caused massive crop failures that resulted in massive food shortages. The Irish Potato Famine, also known as the Great Hunger, began in 1845 when a mold caused a destructive plant disease that spread rapidly throughout Ireland. While the Egyptians, British, and Irish survived the downturn, they all suffered through what can only be described as a period of collapse.
The health of a nation can also be measured by the health of its people. There are obvious factors like plague, disease, wars, and pandemics, but more subtle indicators like lifestyle and environmentally induced illnesses exist. From lead pipes used in Rome to cancer-causing pesticides to industrial, even nuclear waste, there are several environmental factors that lead to medical issues that sap a nation’s resources and workforce. There are also lifestyle choices that can contribute to a more significant decline in overall health. Refined sugars, preservatives, highly processed foods, smoking, excessive alcohol consumption, and all those other things we now know have to be taken in moderation or not at all lead to health issues like obesity, diabetes, fatty liver, cancer, high blood pressure, and the list goes on from there.
A decline in the birth rate indicates a nation’s decline. While environmental and social factors can impact fertility and fertilization rates, it is more indicative of a general lack of faith in the future. The future may appear too uncertain, chaotic, or rife with conflict that raising a child is just too difficult. Or, the future’s financial prospects are so dismal, and the current economic situation would only result in poverty for anyone trying to raise a family. Birth rate and fertility rate are helpful in analyzing and understanding a nation’s replacement rate. Populations that increase can put a strain on economies and infrastructure. Populations that don’t replenish themselves can experience slowed services, a decline in transactions and commerce, or even be left unable to defend themselves from foreign adversaries.
There are signs of decline that are less obvious than a financial collapse, unhealthy people, and declining birthrates. Sometimes it’s what you know, don’t know, or think you know that can destroy a population. During the First Inquisition, created by religious courts to combat heresy and witchcraft, Pope Gregory IX ordered the witch’s familial animal, the cat, especially black cats, to be burned and killed with the witch. Hundreds of thousands of cats were killed, leading to the rapid proliferation of rodents, particularly a bacterium carried by rats. That bacterium was ultimately the source of the Black Plague. From prescribing opiates for crying babies to sanitized tapeworms to lose weight, it’s often the misinformation informing medical practices that can cause death rates to go up in society. 
By extension of the misinformation and rumors, the next sign of imminent collapse is uncontrolled infighting. Scapegoats are sought for failures ranging from the response to natural or industrial disasters to inflation and financial market collapses. One group elevates itself and blames the other. Looking even casually at parliaments and congresses worldwide, you can see this play out in real time. If you look at the struggles of the oppressed or have-nots and the ruling classes and wealthy elite, history is littered with examples of infighting. That fierce infighting, inflamed rhetoric, and scapegoating often translate to the neighborhood level. Eventually, people don’t trust their own neighbors, family, or friends. Distrust is the first stage of infighting.
Even as the enemies within are formed anew, the enemies of other nations continue. Right now, there is a rising and outward expression of disdain for heavy-handed Western diplomacy. Europe and America are seen as imperialistic forces that have for too long reigned over and dictated the policies of other countries. Russia, China, Iran, and many others condemn the tactics of the US even as they deploy autocratic, harsh, and heavy-handed tactics of their own, dominate and invade smaller nations, and commit human rights violations. In the big picture, neither side is right. They simply try to bend the world to support them while profiting from the resources. These differing philosophies label each other enemies. They seek to dismantle and deconstruct the other. Wars are fought from nation to nation, and civil wars are fought within nations.
One of the most significant indicators of an imminent collapse is resource depletion. When a river changes course or runs dry, when wells and aquifers are depleted, and when energy can’t be produced to control the extremes of hot and cold weather, life in some areas becomes untenable. Forced migrations, immigration, and emigration create imbalances and competition for resources that may not have existed before. 
impoverished populations. Its adaptability and contribution to global food security make it one of the most crucial and widely consumed grains worldwide. You can boil or steam it, flake it, use it as flour, or even blend it into a beverage. Wild rice that topped our list is shelf stable for up to 5 years, white rice no longer than five years unless careful attention is paid to preservation and storage methods, and brown rice has the shortest shelf life compared to white rice due to its higher oil content. Brown rice contains the bran layer and germ, which are rich in natural oils and nutrients but will go rancid with oxidation and exposure to air. 
Pseudocereals are not actual cereal grains or grasses, but they produce edible seeds or fruits that are used and consumed like grains, often mistaken for conventional cereals, and are high in protein, gluten-free, and cooked similarly to grains. Quinoa is a nutrient-rich grain that originates from South America, is a complete protein source, and is naturally gluten-free. The outer shell is hard enough to allow a person to pop this like popcorn with just the heat and no oil. That will impart a nutty flavor and crunch and can liven up bland meals. That hard outer shell also provides it a 2-3 year shelf life. 
known that chia seeds are a type of superfood. The nice thing about chia seeds is they will absorb the liquid they are put in, so you can drink them easily, use them as a thickener in cooking, or sprinkle them over food for a little crunch. They contain antioxidants, minerals, fiber, and omega-3 fatty acids. These nutrients play a role in supporting multiple body functions and systems. In addition to a typical shelf-life of up to 4 years, it’s easy to sprout and grow. This grain would serve you well if you were forced to grow your food.
When I started researching for this video, I knew there would be grains and pseudo-cereal grains I had never heard of. Fonio is one of them. It’s a type of grass that hails mainly from West Africa. Sometimes called a superfood, fonio is nutrient-rich, gluten-free, and has a low-glycemic index making it easy to digest. It has a great nutritional value and is high in calcium, magnesium, zinc, and vitamin B. Fonio flour can be used as a substitute for other flours in many recipes. It has a nutty flavor and is used in various dishes, including porridge, salads, and side dishes.
Ethiopian region of Africa, where it is mainly ground into flour and used to make bread. It can also be cooked into a porridge or stew. Teff was by far the smallest grain, along with Fonio. Teff grains contain 11% protein and are an excellent source of amino acids, especially lysine, the amino acid often missing in other grains. Lysine is essential for producing proteins, hormones, enzymes, collagen, and elastin. 
There are 20 or more wheat varieties, and about seven are cultivated extensively worldwide. I list just 6, as these are often considered closest to their unadulterated ancient forms. New wheat varieties, resulting from modern breeding efforts, typically have more rows of seeds on the wheat spike (hexaploid) due to controlled hybridization. In contrast, ancient wheat varieties, cultivated for centuries, tend to have fewer rows (tetraploid or diploid) and retain more genetic diversity. Wheat is eaten worldwide in various forms, including bread, pasta, noodles, couscous, tortillas, chapatis, porridge, and pastries. You may want to try a more ancient variety if you usually don’t process wheat well in your body. I have heard that the gluten structures are different in the ancient types, and they are typically pesticide free because they are specially grown as organic. Because of this, they may be healthier for you.
remove the skins, with its name derived from the Arabic word meaning “rubbed.” Einkorn wheat, known as “man’s first wheat,” is the oldest wheat variety with 14 chromosomes (compared to modern wheat’s 42 chromosomes), and evidence of its domestication dates back to around 10,000 years ago in southern Turkey. In the same family of ancient grains are Emmer and Farro. Kamut or Khorasan is another ancient variety that has an Egyptian name but is also called Oriental wheat. It is not widely grown, with only an estimated 16,000 acres cultivated worldwide, and does not contribute heavily to the world food supply. The grain is twice the size of modern-day wheat and has a rich, nutty flavor. And finally, Spelt is an ancient variety of wheat with a nutty flavor that has been cultivated for thousands of years. It is a good source of protein, fiber, and various nutrients.
This is another grain I hadn’t heard of before, but I had to give it a try. These tear-shaped grains are native to Southeast Asia but have spread to other regions, including parts of Africa and the Americas. Job’s tears are often processed and used in soups, stews, porridges, and sweet desserts. They are also sometimes ground into flour for baking or used to make beverages like tea or barley-like drinks.
applications range from animal feed and malt production for brewing to human consumption in soups, stews, salads, and baked goods. With its rich fiber content, vitamins, and minerals, barley remains a nutritious and versatile grain choice across different cultures and cuisines. If you plan on brewing after the grid goes down, you will want Barley on hand.
varieties, such as pearl and finger millet, and is highly nutritious, gluten-free, and easy to digest. Millet is used in diverse culinary applications, from porridges, as flour, flatbreads, and couscous-like dishes to soups and as livestock feed.
land because it must be planted in rows and must air pollinate. Numerous varieties exist. It comes in hundreds of different types, such as sweet, dent, flint, flour, popcorn, and waxy corn, each with distinct flavors and uses. Corn is a significant source of carbohydrates, vitamins, and minerals, and it is commonly used in foods like cornbread, tortillas, and cereals and as an ingredient in many processed products. You might want to check out our most recent recipe for fried corn mush.
groats, rolled oats, and steel-cut oats, each offering different textures and cooking times. Oats are known for their high fiber content, protein, and essential nutrients, making them popular for breakfast cereals, porridge, baked goods, and various savory and sweet dishes. Oats are not very high-yielding for a small plot, but it’s easy to grow.
Sorghum is a resilient and versatile cereal grain cherished for its drought tolerance and abundant nutritional benefits. With distinct varieties like white, red, and black sorghum, this gluten-free grain serves as a staple food, a source of livestock and bird feed, and a raw material for crafting sorghum syrup and traditional alcoholic beverages. Packed with fiber, antioxidants, and essential nutrients, sorghum is a nourishing and adaptable choice, lending its unique touch to diverse cuisines and dietary preferences.
buckwheat is not related to wheat and is gluten-free. It is commonly used in various culinary creations, from traditional dishes like buckwheat pancakes and soba noodles to gluten-free baking and as a wholesome addition to salads and porridges. Buckwheat is rich in protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, making it a valuable and versatile grain alternative in diverse cuisines and healthy diets.
It’s essential to store grains in a cool, dry place in airtight containers to prolong their shelf life. When grains are correctly stored, they can still be safe to eat even after their shelf life has expired, but they may lose some nutritional value and quality over time. Proper storage in cool, dry, airtight containers with oxygen absorbers can help prolong the edibility of grains years beyond their expiration date. Beyond the environmental controls of your storage, grains will last longer when they have a harder, uncracked exterior and a low internal moisture and fat content. If grains appear in good condition and show no signs of spoilage, infestation, off-odors, or mold, they may still be suitable for consumption, although they may not taste as fresh as they were within their shelf life.
Potato Farl is a staple potato skillet scone-type bread traditionally eaten in Scotland and Ireland for breakfast or as a snack. It’s similar to a potato pancake made with mashed potatoes. You can use just potatoes or part potatoes and parsnips, sweet potato, yams, beets, turnips, jicama, cassava, or another starchy vegetable. That’s what I like about this recipe. The variations can mix up the flavors and textures, keeping it from being ordinary, while the all-potato version provides a precise flavor baseline. Because I have parsnips in my garden right now, I will use potatoes and parsnips and include a few of the leafy parsnip greens to flavor it up a bit. If you don’t have parsnips, just use the equivalent amount of potato to make the traditional form.
a circular shape, dividing it into quarters, and subsequently pan-frying the segments in a modest amount of butter. These are essentially a harmonious combination of mashed potatoes, flour, and butter seamlessly blended together.
Now that you know how to make the potato Farl, you should know the soda bread version of the same thing. Soda bread usually employs baking powder as a leavening agent, which eliminates the requirement for an acidic ingredient, unlike traditional recipes that rely on a combination of baking soda and an acidic component like buttermilk or yogurt to generate carbon dioxide gas for rising. I will not use baking powder in favor of a more traditional recipe where you have access to baking soda but not baking powder. Because of this, we will add milk I soured slightly by adding one tablespoon of vinegar (the acid) and setting it aside for 10 minutes.
preparing these skillet breads, it is crucial to avoid rapid browning of the exterior. In contrast to the faster cooking time of potato-based versions, these breads should be cooked for approximately 15 minutes per side, ensuring that the heat evenly reaches the center of these dense loaves for thorough cooking. To achieve this, cook them on medium-low heat.
mixture onto a floured surface, flatten it into an approximately ⅓ inch (or 1 centimeter) thick circle, and proceed to pizza cut and divide it into four equal portions.
Fry bread has a complex history intertwined with the Native American experience. It emerged during the mid-19th century due to forced relocations and the displacement of Indigenous peoples in the United States. Native Americans were given government-issued commodities, including flour, which became a staple ingredient in their cuisine. Fry bread was born out of necessity, utilizing this commodity to create a simple and versatile food source that could be easily prepared by frying the dough in oil, tallow, or lard. This recipe has some more modern convenience additions like baking powder.
dollop into the oil, and it should begin bubbling immediately. Divide the large dough ball into four uniform pieces for a batch this size. Press flat to 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch thickness. I like to let them rest for a few minutes at this point to let the dough relax a bit. Gently place them in the oil. Don’t overcrowd your pan when frying. Do one or two at a time if you are working with a smaller pan. Overcrowding will result in uneven cooking. Fry for 1 to 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Eat fresh or place on a cooling rack to allow excess oil to drip off. This bread is best when freshly fried and doesn’t keep well. It’s like savory and unsweetened doughnuts or beignets.
Technically, this isn’t bread, but I think it fits here because of the method of cooking and the cereal grain used. Fried mush is a dish made from cooked cornmeal or a similar grain that is then cooled, sliced, and fried in butter or oil until golden and crispy on the outside. It is more commonly associated with porridge or breakfast cereal-like consistency rather than being categorized as bread. This is a traditional food from the Midwest and South. It’s similar to polenta, but fried mush is firmer and not served as porridge. Making fried mush is a three-step process, as you want the corn meal to be cooked and set up first and be firm enough for cooking.
you don’t have cornstarch, you can omit it. The cornmeal has enough starch to accomplish the minimal firmness required, but I add a teaspoon of cornstarch because it will firm up the final product even more. Pour the cornmeal mixture into the boiling water, stir constantly to avoid clumping, and combine all the ingredients thoroughly. Bring the mixture to a boil again while gently and continually stirring. Allow to bubble for 15 minutes, allowing the starches to pull the ingredients into a solid form. It will blow air out in little steam geysers. As they say in the South, “blowing kisses.” Adjust your heat down if it also shoots out tiny bits of mush. 
