Destiny Survival

Archive for March, 2008

            “Sally,” Diane said into the phone receiver, “do you remember mentioning a book that had something to do with gardening efficiently in small places?” asked Diane.  “Something about square foot.”

            Sally thought for a second or two.  “Oh, yes.  It’s Square Foot Gardening, by Mel Bartholomew.  It’s well known around the world nowadays.  If you follow the book’s simple instructions and advice, you can grow twice as many of those lush green veggies in the same space as conventional gardeners.  Square foot gardening is less work, too.”

            “What does the book cover?” asked Diane.

            “Let me get my copy.  Hold on a second.”  There was silence on the line, then a little rustling in the background.  Soon Sally picked up her phone again while thumbing through the book.  “Let’s see…Planning and laying out beds, seed starting, companion

planting, weed and pest control, extending the season, and transplanting..  I like the charts that show how many of each kind of seed you can plant in a square foot.  Four, nine, sixteen, or whatever, depending on the crop.  You can get more carrots in a square foot than beans, for example.  It’s really surprising.  Plus, this way you don’t waste a lot of seeds.  Does that whet your appetite, dear?”

            “Very much,” Diane said.  “How can I get my own copy?”

            “Lehman’s has it,” Sally said.  “It’s a best seller.  Just click on their logo on John’s blog page.  When the home page comes up, type Square Foot Gardening in the search box, and you’ll get to a page with the book’s picture.  Click that to go to a page where you can order the book.”

            “That’s simple enough.”

            “You know, I’m really glad you’re taking such an interest in this, Diane, but what are you doing on the phone?  Hurry up and get Square Foot Gardening so you can start using it right away for your gardening this year.””

            The both laughed.  “Good advice,” Diane said.  “Thanks, I’ll get Square Foot Gardening from Lehman’s right now.”

            Cups and drinking glasses clunked on the green formica table in front of us at the Café 23.  “And here’s your refill of ice water, hon.”

            “Thanks, tina,” I said.  I took a sip right away as Tina whisked away.  “Good water.  I’ve tasted water in some restaurants that tasted like it came from the bottom of a swimming pool.”

            Yeah, I know what you mean,” said Duane, with a cinnamon roll poised in his right hand.  “Makes you wonder what’s in it, doesn’t it?  It’s probably just chlorine or minerals or something, but that’s better than the water contaminated with Salmonella.  Did you guys hear about that outbreak in Colorado?”

            “Alamosa, Colorado,” Survival Sam said as he put down his toast.  “Over 200 people were sickened, and everyone was told not to use or drink tap water, even if they boiled it.  Officials don’t know how the water was contaminated.”

            “What are people supposed to do for water,” I asked.

            “The governor declared an emergency and sent in the National Guard to deliver bottled water to schools, and people were told to go to designated areas to get water that’s supposed to be safe.”  Sam sipped his coffee.  “It could take weeks to completely flush out the water system.”

            “That doesn’t sound like any fun at all,” said Duane.

            “Isn’t Salmonella usually associated with food poisoning?” I asked.  “That wouldn’t be any fun for sure.”

            “Right.”  Sam chewed his scrambled eggs a bit.  “Salmonella is the second most common food borne illness.  It’s a bacteria that causes diarrhea and fever within 6 to 72 hours after a person ingests contaminated food or water.  It can leave a person weak and feeling lousy for several days.  Some people die from it.”

            “Not good.  This Colorado outbreak sounds to me like a good reason to have a water purifier,” said Duane.

            Sam’s face brightened.  “Exactly, Duane.  If I were in such a situation, it would be quite liberating to have a Big Berkey water filter and not live in fear or have to be beholden to the government for my drinking water.  The thought had crossed my mind that somebody’s doing a trial run to see how people will respond under martial law or some other crisis where the water supply would be cut off.”

            “Don’t we have enough trouble with water supplies during natural disasters, like Katrina?” Duane asked.

            “Yes, but a national emergency wouldn’t be as disruptive for most of us.  A declaration of martial law would enslave people right where they are while maintaining some semblance of normality.  In any case, having water is absolutely essential, and I’d want a Berkey on hand.””

            “Oh, yeah,” I said.  “Lehman’s carries the big Berkey.  Their logo’s on my blog.”

            “The Big Berkey’s the table top filter, isn’t it?” Duane asked.

            “Yes,” said Sam.  “It’s stainless steel and operates on a simple concept.  Gravity does all the work.  Pour raw water in the top chamber and draw off clean water from the lower chamber.  It uses special ceramic elements that contain carbon media to remove bacteria and reduce chemicals, rust, sediment, and bad tastes and odors.”

            “It’s one of Lehman’s best sellers,” I said.  “It’s real easy to order one, too.  Just click on the Lehman’s logo, type Berkey in the home page’s search box, and a page comes up that shows the Big Berkey and the Berkey Light.”

            Duane reached over and clinked his butter knife against my water glass.  “Getting a Berkey sounds like good insurance in case something happens to our city’s H2O.”

            “Sally, I want to grow green beans,” said Diane, “but as you know we really don’t have much space to garden here.”

            “How about bean towers,” said Survival Sally as she lifted her tea cup for another sip.

            “What’s a bean tower?”

            “It’s a support tower made of galvanized steel wire,” Sally said.  “You can grow pole beans up it.  Our friend John uses one for supporting black-eyed peas.”

            “Mmm, now that’s something I like.”

            “So does Sam.  He likes anything that’s easy to grow and can take heat and drought.  He and I agree that beans are a great survival food, which everybody should grow.  You know what’s funny though?  Sam told me about a company in California that actually killed off some white tepary beans they were trying out because they watered them too much.  Those beans must really like dry conditions.  Wouldn’t it be great not to have to worry about watering your plants very much?”

            “Sure would,” Diane said.  “Now, tell me more about this bean tower.”

            “It’s a little over six feet tall once you’ve got it in the ground, but you can grow an awfully lot of beans in a one and a half square foot space.  In fact, Gardener’s supply says the bean tower in their test garden yielded 2,400 beans between mid-July and late September.”

            “They must have hired a real bean counter to figure that out,” Diane said.  They both laughed.

            “Well, it is a neat thing to have,” Sally said, tossing back her blonde curls.  “It’s easy to put together, and it folds up if you want to take it down when you’re done in the fall.”

            “You said I can get bean towers from Gardener’s Supply?”

            “That’s right,” Sally said.  “On John’s blog page all you have to do is click on the Gardener’s Supply logo.  Type Bean Tower in the home page search box.  A page with a picture of the bean tower will come up.  Click on the picture for the description and order from there.  If you really want to have a lot of beans, get two or three towers.” 

            “Thank you very much for the flower pot, but what are those green things sticking up out of the dirt,” Jenny asked.  “Is this more Egyptian onions?”

            “No, honey,” laughed Survival Sally.  “Those are Indian hyacinths.  Later you’ll have pretty blue flowers to look at.  Won’t that be nice?”

            “Yes,” answered Jenny.

            “If I know you and Survival Sam,” Diane said, “there’s more to these hyacinths than pretty blue flowers.”  She stepped onto the porch where her daughter Jenny and Sally were examining the container of soil and sprouting hyacinths.

            “You’re right,” Sally said, looking up from where she and Jenny were squatting together.  “They’re called Camassia or Indian hyacinths because native American Indians in the West used to bake the bulbs and eat them.”

            “Really?” Jenny perked up.  Her brown eyes were wide now.  “Have you had any to eat?”       

            “I haven’t tasted any myself,” Sally said, “but I’ve heard them described as tasting like sweet potatoes, but maybe a little more bland.”

            “My brother Bryce would have to put whipped cream on them before he’d eat any,” smiled Jenny.

            “If you’re going through really tough times, you’d eat anything you could,” Sally said, “and I’ll bet even Bryce wouldn’t care if they had whipped cream on them.  Meanwhile, everybody thinks you’ve just got lovely flowers, and you don’t have to tell them you’ve got food underneath them.”

            “I think you should remind your readers one more time to buy long term storage food,” Survival Sam said to me.

            “Why is that?” I asked.

            “There are a number of factors that come into play here,” Sam said.  “First, we’re experiencing rampant inflation, whether the government will admit it or not.  That’s partly because the dollar is going down in value all over the world.  Closely related to that is the high price of oil.  That in turn has a detrimental affect on the cost of shipping goods to their various destinations, including our local supermarkets.  It simply costs more to do business, including the production and distribution of our food.”

            “Do you have some sort of strategy in mind?  You usually do.”

            “Yes, I do,” Sam said.  “Let’s say you were to buy a year’s supply of food right now.  You’d lock in your storage food at a given price and not have to worry about whether you could afford it later in the face of rising prices.  Many people are shifting to commodities for their investments these days.  Can you think of a better commodity to have than your own food supply?”  I nodded.  “All right then.  You may not want to dip into it right away, but then again you might.  It could supplement what you usually buy at the grocery store.  In either case, it’s there when you’re ready for it.”

            “What about gardening and growing our own food?”

            “By all means, do so,” he said.  “It takes a while before you harvest your lettuce, green beans, or whatever else you’re growing.  Grow all you can manage, and eat those garden goodies whenever they’re ready.  If it gets difficult to obtain certain foods at the grocery stores in coming months for any reason, you’ve got your storage food in reserve.  Nobody wants to go hungry or see their children crying because they’re hungry.  I know that may seem dramatic, but big changes are happening quickly these days.  I wouldn’t want to see anybody fall short because they didn’t take the opportunity to get storage food now.”

            “Sounds like a simple enough strategy.  I’ll make sure to post Nitro-Pak’s banner for the Ultimate Pak.  It’s top quality Mountain House freeze dried food.  It’s easy to click on the logo to get more info and start the order process to get that essential survival food supply.”

            The other day I asked Survival Sam why he thought I should direct my readers to so many products and resources related to gardening.  Here are the three main things he told me.

1.  Gardening is a declaration of independence.  It’s a way to take control of our own food supply—or at least a part of it.  Whatever we grow doesn’t have to be subjected to the questionable tactics of those who continue to consolidate control of our food supply.  What we grow won’t go through genetic modification, irradiation, harmful pesticides and chemicals, unsanitary bacterial contamination, or long distance shipping.  All of those things affect the quality of what we eat.  With gardening, the quality of what we grow is in our hands.

2.  Gardening is a means of survival.  Everything we can grow ourselves is that much less we have to get from a supermarket or restaurant.  The more self reliant we are, the less we have to depend on “the system,” which isn’t in great shape right now.  What if trucks for some reason can’t bring in that crisp lettuce from California for our salad?  Plus, growing our own food doesn’t have to cost a lot and can actually save money.

            When I told Sam that those two reasons were closely related, he came up with the third reason for survival gardening.

3.  It’s spring!  It’s simply time to garden.  It’s what millions and millions of people are doing now.

            Who could argue with that?  In fact, I need to cut this short and go do a little soil preparation.