Nancy Gregg’s Y2K Series
As presented in the
Siskiyou Daily News
©N. E. Gregg 1999
Preparation for Y2K: How much food is enough food?
When I moved to the farm in 1975 I wanted to make it as self-sufficient as possible. I also wanted to do things in a very old fashioned manner. We heated with wood in the main house. In the winter I cooked most of our meals on this wood stove.
Our first garden was one made for the picture books. The children and I put in long hours weeding and tending to its needs. We flood irrigated at night working the streams of water by moonlight, sometimes well past midnight. I purchased a pressure canner from Sears. (Which came with a complete instruction book), bought my jars in mass and sat down to figure out how much a family of five would need to preserve to last a year. I had no idea how much food three teenagers would eat!
The farm provided fruits and berries, which were also figured into our menu. I put up lots of blackberry jelly! Then strawberry jam! Plums were coming in and you can only eat so much jelly, so I was looking for other items to fill out our needs. Wild plum punch base has become a family favorite. Applesauce and sliced apples for pies were added. Canned blackberries can be turned into cobbler in the cold winter months. Pears and mincemeat were canned. How much did I need?
We raised in that first garden, truckloads of tomatoes, corn, green beans, chard, three varieties of summer squash and two varieties of winter squash, pumpkins, turnips, beets, carrots, eggplant and cabbage. I put up everything but eggplant. As I sat figuring how many jars I would need I decided that I would put up five dozen (60 quarts), of everything we ate. Sixty quarts of stewed tomatoes is about one Saturday afternoon’s work. Sixty quarts of tomato juice also takes only about four hours. Sixty quarts of corn (corn should not be done in quart jars, I recommend 12 ounce jars, wide mouth tapered), took another couple of afternoons. I have since learned that a twenty five-pound bag of carrots puts up about 24 quarts of carrots. When I tell people to can carrots they all look at me in disbelief. Carrots you can get anytime. Not so. Carrots are a winter crop and now is the time for canning. If transportation is a problem then no winter carrots will reach here. They are a wonderful addition to roasts and stews.
As our farm developed we eventually raised all of our meat as well. This, too, I canned. Sometimes in chunks for stews; chicken was done whole pieces cold packed. The bony pieces were cooked with the bones and skin picked out and canned with seasonings for homemade chicken soup or chicken and dumplings. Pork was cut into 1-½ pound chunks and slid into wide mouth jars for a pork roast. The water added was seasoned with barbecue spices or Italian herbs.
The first frost brought in the green tomatoes, which were turned into hamburger relish from my mother’s 1921 cookbook, as well as using her cucumber recipe for hot dog relish. Little did I know as I labored over the filling of my pantry that my husband would be injured at work in December 1976. He would never return to work again. The temporary disability checks were not sufficient for the needs of a family of five. Gramma Leonard, who lived on the farm with us, introduced me to large quantities of dry goods. A 25 pound sack of beans was $4 (now about $8 and 50 pounds of rice ran about $10. (Local merchants will usually offer case discounts and Siskiyou distributing will sell large quantities and will assist you in acquiring storage containers.)
To my joy our needs of 60 quarts supplied everything to keep us going for three years. I made homemade spaghetti sauce using all my freshly canned tomatoes. This won’t work folks! The items you really need to buy commercially are spaghetti sauce, ketchup, enchilada sauce and tomato paste! If you have an abundance of tomatoes and you cook them down to a ration of four to one then it works. But in the summer on a wood stove, no thanks. Sauerkraut can be made right in your jars.
You need dry goods such as oatmeal, rice beans of all kinds and pastas. Canned powered potato is an excellent backup. Some crops may not be successfully grown. Some seasons are good for one crop while another crop doesn’t make it. Have a back up!
Also, potatoes crow very well in a stack of old tires. Keep adding soil and mulch as the plant grows tall and in the fall you will find all your potatoes in the tires. Acquire sugar, flour, powered milk and powered gravy mixes in large sizes. Spices in one pound cans also powered cream, powered sugar and cocoa. You also need commercial packages of Jell-O, baking powder and dry yeast. The list is really endless. Store in 55-gallon trashcans, or 5-gallon plastic buckets with airtight lids.
Whatever you store, do it properly! Canned foods should be brought to a rolling boil with a cover on and boiled for a full 20 minutes! No lifting the cover to peek. If the seal is broken or it looks or smells funny, throw it out! Remember to have a two-year supply of canning lids, salt, sugar and vinegar. These last three items are your preservatives. You will need extra!
If money is very tight, remember that beans and rice together can keep your family alive and well for a very long time. Many Third World countries sustain themselves on these items indefinitely. Dry goods can be kept bug free by adding bay leaves into the buckets before closing. Rice and flour – put a ¼ pound piece of dry ice in the bottom that will work. If you store a bucket of brown sugar you may need a chisel to get it free but you can use it for years! I’m still working on my 1978 bucket!
My family is all raised and gone. Each of them has been given a pressure canner and their own supply of jars. Each of them knows how to can and butcher. For them canning jars full and buckets of dry goods stored bring pleasant memories. If you have jars you’re not going to fill let me know. We need to fill them all now!
When it comes to food, you can’t get enough! There will be those in your immediate vicinity that will need assistance. Don’t be the problem, be prepared!
Thank you, God, for the provision you have given us by our living in Siskiyou County, and God, bless our America.
Nancy Gregg’s book, The Rebirth of OUR Republic by sending $16.00 which includes mailing and handling to The Grassroots Press, P. O. Box 516, Yreka, Ca. 96097
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