The Year of Gardens

The price and availability of food are issues we have to deal with. I don’t think food will be unavailable. Good food at a good price might be. A lot of my friends have decided to go all in with gardens this year. They aren’t new to gardening. This is the year those gardens are going to be bigger and more intensely managed. 

Unfortunately, my gardening space is fairly limited and already maxed out. What I do have is access to good fishing and wild foods. If you’ve noticed the price of good quality fresh fish lately you many have gone into shock. I’ve heard that the price of lobster is expected to be in the $100 - $125 a pound range. That’s insane. Fresh lobster rolls from the coast of Maine will be off my menu. What will be on the menu is crayfish from the lake outside my door. 

Our household already eats beans and rice dishes on a regular basis. Fresh herbs and veggies thrown into the mix makes a big difference. Make sure you are well stocked on spices and know how to use them. It might be a good time to expand your palate. I grew up with the New England spice rack: salt and pepper. By learning to use spices the same basic ingredients can be a variety of dishes: Asian, Mexican, Indian, and others. Heck, even a good hot sauce can make the same basic foods a lot more interesting. 

If you can’t garden this year, maybe pick up some heirloom seeds anyway and you’ll have them for next year.

-Sixbears

Supply Disruptions

There’s a lot of chatter out there about supply disruptions. There are broken links in the chain reaching from the factory to your house. Remember when they couldn’t find enough truck drivers? Well now they can’t even keep the trucks on the road due to the unavailability of spare parts.

Previously I mentioned the food supply issues and how knowing to make something tasty with whatever is available is a needed skill. Pro tip: stock up on spices while you still can and don’t be afraid to use them. The same basic ingredients, with the proper spices, can be anything from Mexican, to Asian, to Indian meals. It’s a quick way to get variety when you don’t really have many ingredients.

Being able and willing to fix things will make all the difference. Going down to the store for a replacement is no longer a guaranteed option. Fortunately, I’ve always had a tight budget and learned how to make do. One of my cars had a bad temperature switch for cooling fan. It was fine at highway speed what would overheat if stuck in traffic. The replacement part was expensive and difficult to find. Tapping a manual switch directly into the fan did the job for a couple bucks.

Another thing I’m glad I never got into was the whole decluttering thing. That “unsightly clutter” is where I get the parts and materials to keep my stuff running.

Given enough tools and junk you can make just about anything out of almost nothing.

-Sixbears