THE TRUTH ABOUT FOOD INFLATION and What that Means To You

There are anecdotal stories around about severe food inflation as well as a bevy of statistical interpretations that either fuel our fear or our state of denial.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the cost of our groceries going up, but I would encourage you not to fixate on food inflation as a motivation to grow your own vegetables.  I've attached some current info from FACTCHECK.ORG on cost of living changes  between 2010 and 2011.  Also check out food inflation articles that report only about a 2-3% increase anticipated for 2012.  http://www.ers.usda.gov/  All data can be manipulated to argue both sides of the food inflation position.

The bottom line, for me, is about access and control.  I don't like the idea of being dependent on "fill in the blank" (the grocery store, the trucking industry, the farmers, the distribution channels, the government, my neighbor, the infrastructure, others) for my family's vital survival needs such as food, water and shelter.  At the end of the day, you will have cheaper, healthier, tastier, more reliable food for you and your family.  It puts control in your hands, not others.

My goal is to garden to ensure that I am learning how to grow.  I'm supplementing vegis for my family now, but not exclusively living off my garden.  Once I figure out how to easily and reliably grow, I can expand my garden to comprise a bigger percentage of our household vegis.  The last thing I want to happen is to find myself unable to afford or to get my hands on vegis and then try to figure out how to grow!  I've already been tossed around by circumstances and I hated it.  My family hated it.  It hurt all of our relationships and broke us apart. Why would I ever let that happen again?  My family needs me to plan ahead so that we can weather outside circumstances adeptly, bolstered by preparation.  It's just common sense.

REPLANTING THE GARDEN

I put up barriers to the garden to deter the dog, and she spent about a day in doggy-detention.

 I replanted zuccini and tomatoes (even though I know tomatoes are an April plant.) It's California's "rainy" season (February), which means I generally water every 3-4 days and let the light rain handle it once a month.  I got a mean-spirited snail that was ruining my salad by eating away at my spinach and red lettuce.  I found the sucker, and killed it.  YES, I KILLED IT!  MY lettuce, sucker.  MINE.

Once I killed the one snail, the lettuce looked much better!  I have used "decolate" snails in the past, and I'm going to the nursery this weekend to order more.  These are small carniverous snails, which means they eat the usual big snails that eat my vegetables.  Once they eat up the available big snails, they die.  They don't like vegis.  They are very interesting -- they come in a little bag in a dormant state and you sort of "water" them by soaking them in water.  They come to life and you set them out in your garden. They eat the usual big snails that eat your garden and little by little those parasites are gone!  Organic gardening! I love it!  I'll let you know how it goes in a couple of days.

I'll tell you outright that I am behind in weeding.  I use the weed stick in the foreground here.  You push the end into the root of the weed and pull.  The stick loosens the root system of the weed so you can pull the weed from the root out.  It's the best way to keep your weeds down.  If you just pull the tops off the weeds, the root will just grow back in a few days.  You need to pull the entire weed out from the roots.

The verdant growth in this photo is my parsley, cilantro and red lettuce.  The dying parts are my sweet peas, which are very thick skinned and only a couple at a time which means I don't have enough to make a Chinese dish.  I need help with the sweet peas.  You'll also see the tomatoes which are out of season.  Don't let the DIY stores talk you into buying a tomato plant out of season.  The zucchini, which usually grows like wild flowers, is small and pathetic.  Either they aren't in season or I'm doing something wrong because normally they grow TOO big, TOO fast.

WHEN I FIRST STARTED MY GARDEN - WATCH DOG

I was listening to a marine who was in Iraq during the war, and he said he saw people fighting over his food scraps because the country's infrastructure completely broke down.  It struck me that I'm completely dependent upon a food delivery system over which I have no control.  After being out of control of everything when the world ended for me in 2009, I know how awful it feels to be tossed around by circumstance.  Growing my own vegetables is one piece of taking back control of my life and one way I can be an invaluable resource for my children and family.

I've never been able to keep houseplants healthy because I forget to water them.  That pretty much sums up my growing experience.  At the same time, I realize how important vegetables are in my diet, and I see how expensive they are getting at the grocery store.  It's time to learn how to grow things.  It has never really interested me, but being vulnerable to external forces feels much worse than taking time to learn to grow vegetables.

My home has a very small backyard.  It's one of those gated-community homes with basically a cement patio in back that wraps around to the trash area and a 10x10 grassy area giving the illusion of a yard.  Up against the side of the house is a small 4x6 brick planter that has been crusting over in the hot sun for years as the previous owner abandoned the house to foreclosure.

I started thinking about my garden in August 2011.  I've read a few articles in magazines, but haven't even picked up a book yet.  I probably should do that :)  My preparation was basically talking to a friend of mine who has a landscaping company and knows a little something about dirt.  For a winter garden, he told me to first cover the dirt with a black trash bag for a couple of weeks and let the August sun heat up and naturally sterilize the dirt.  He said the plastic would cause the temperature of the dirt to rise and kill off fungus and weeds before I started planting.  Well, I didn't do that, but I should have.

In early October, I went to Lowe's and bought some organic soil mix for vegetables and an inexpensive tool kit for about $16 all together.  For the plant selection, I just went to the seedling area and picked out the vegetables I liked to eat.  I figured those vegetables were "winter crops" because the store had them out to sell. (I discovered later than this is not really true because they had tomato plants out in December when everyone knows tomatoes are an April plant.) Anyway, I bought 1 each of red and orange bell pepper plants because I love them and they cost up to $1.50 each during the winter -- very very expensive considering on sale, when they are wilting, you can get them for .50 each.  I also bought some red leafy lettuce, cucumber, basil, parsley and cilantro.

I spent some considerable sweat equity in shoveling the hard crusty soil and did my best to break it up.  I crushed as many clods as I could and tossed out the rocks.  Eventually, I mixed in the soil mix, dug the holes twice the depth and width of the root system, planted and watered.

I babied the plants for a couple of weeks, checking on them everyday and watering them every 2 days or when the soil looked a little dry on top.  Everything was looking pretty good into week three so I added some Miracle Grow.  I was very proud of myself!

Then the dog got into the garden.

She killed about half of the plants.

Boooooo!

I tried to salvage them, but after another week it became obvious that they were dead.  What I learned was that you have to think ahead about protecting your garden.  I was thinking about pests, but because the dog didn't show any interest in the garden while I was planting it, nor did I see the dog trying to get up into the bed, ever, I assumed there was no problem.

I basically had to start my garden over, so I'll talk about what I did next in following posts.

MY BACK STORY -- WHY PLAN D?

It was 2009 when the world ended.

Well, my world, at least.  That was the year I lost everything -- first my job, then my car, eventually my home, and as a result, my kids and my health.  I went to purgatory, this limbo land, sort of like the place your computer goes when it freezes.  The screen sticks on the last webpage you viewed and then ceases to respond. My friends and family tried pushing keys, control-alt-delete, task manager, restart...nothing.  I simply crashed.  At 50 years old, I was a single unemployed mom with no plan B, and I lost everything.

I am grateful for my parents who let me move back into the spare bedroom while my kids stayed with their dad.  My parents are old, and many people my age have lost their parents by the time they are 50, so that my parents were my Plan B is a testament to how hapless I've allowed my life to become.  By the grace of God, I had 5 long months to work through the darkness under their loving wings.

First, I got right with God.  The Second task: get healthy. Check.  Third task: find a job.  Check.  Fourth task, establish a home. Check.  Fifth task, get kids back home and on a schedule. Check.

Now it's time to prepare for the future--a future I want to live.  Every day is one day away from the past and I'm not looking back.  At the same time, now in 2012, we continue to live in financially precarious times and globally -- dangerous times.  You can blow it off as crazy, but take it from someone who lost everying -- it sucks.  My head is out of the sand now, and I know that with my God-given brain and talents, I am obligated to think smart and to plan for the future.

PLAN D

That means, I have my A plan, business As usual. Life is good.
I have my B plan -- what if I hit a Bump? Which means I need to have 3-6 months worth of savings in case I lose my job so that I have time to find a new job before I lose my home.
I have my Plan C, something could Curtail my progress.  This is when I start downsizing and regrouping, modifying my living situation to accommodate a new standard.
And then there is my Plan D -- which is when you have to Dump plan ABC and hold on for a Difficult ride.  Plan D is enacted when there is a sudden shift in traditional support functions.  This could be a natural disaster such as earthquakes in my home state of California or any number of local or global catastrophic occurances from economic to political or a combination of both.

I'm not a "prepper"--yet, but I'm also not stupid anymore.  You aren't stupid either, because you are googling and reading about prepping. You are thinking about your own Plan D.  Don't worry about being called crazy, because I can tell you that being hapless about what could happen will drive you quicker to crazy than planning for reasonable events that not only could happen but have happened to others all over the world from time to time.  Just pick up a history book and read about various natural disasters and political or wartime periods.  It's crazy not to make a plan!

While I am just finally getting back on my feet, I am challenged with being a single mom with 2 teenagers -- a 15 year old daughter and a 16 year old son.  That means I'm spending more money on gas and cars and getting ready for paying for college.  It also means I have less money to prepare for stockpiling food and building reserves in my home.

That's why I'm writing this blog -- to share how I'm working through the challenges.  You have challenges too, different than mine, but we can help each other by sharing our insights.  Our collected experiences are invaluable and through community we can bolster our progress in building our plans.

You can learn from my mistakes and you can give me advice too!  We are greater than the sum of our parts, so feel free to throw in your two cents!

I'll share my path and please share yours.  Together, we can face the challenges of the future.