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The closure of the Straight of Hormuz is raising prices of everything. More than that, we are facing possible fuel shortages and a lack of commercial fertiliser. The farmers will likely be hit hard, and it’s looking like they may try to restrict our freedoms again through lockdown 2.0. Which is, of course, exactly where they want us. No travel, no choice, no freedom. So what are we gonna do? I don’t have the answers in terms of resistance, although personally, I choose love and joy, not battling a war, but a level of resilience in the garden is where it’s at right now. Here’s what we would do, and are doing, to keep our family and animals fed.
Resiliance Moves To Make Right Now
Don’t panic buy, we don’t want the crazy scenes of hoarding we saw in 2020. That’s nuts. Surely we’ve learned from that? I learned to keep a stock of the important things, and to make just about everything “from scratch.”
Things I keep a good stock of are flour, salt, sugar, olive oil, butter, etc. If I have flour, I can make pasta or bread, but we have pumpkins and sweet potatoes in the garden. Carbs are covered. I think it’s smart to have pulses in the cupboard, lentils, beans, etc. We don’t normally eat them, and we do grow some lentils (pigeon peas), but they’re very seasonal and labour-intensive. It’s easier and maybe cheaper, to buy them.
Get Chickens
We got chickens in 2020, and it was very difficult and expensive. Nobody had point of lay hens, nobody had chicken coops. Get a few hens now. Build or make a simple coop.
You will need to check local regulations. In our old suburban, backyard chicken-keeping days, we were allowed 4 hens, no roosters. That’s easy, and you will get 4 eggs per day fairly reliably.
Chickens do stop laying at times; this depends on the climate where you live, diet, hours of daylight, sickness, and their moult cycle. For us, it’s a few weeks in February/March, and not all of them stop. Commercial layer breeds lay more reliably.
Don’t overthink it. Get whatever chickens you can. Not silkies, they’re pets, not meat or egg birds.
We have a lot of chickens, and at peak laying times, we give eggs away and preserve a few jars of raw eggs in a type of lime (sodium hydroxide). We didn’t buy a single egg during this year’s egg shortage, just past.
You need to be able to feed them without reliance on bought grain. This will give you healthier birds and healthier eggs. Grow feed, give them kitchen scraps, etc. Chickens are omnivores; yes, they can have meat and fish scraps. We grow more fruit than we could ever eat. Right now, our chickens are feasting on fallen guavas.
Of course, you can also eat chickens. If you are in the fortunate position of being “allowed” to have a rooster, chickens become self-sustaining, for meat and eggs. You don’t need any fancy equipment, just a co-operative hen to incubate a batch. Unlike Justin Rhodes, we don’t buy meat bird chicks in the mail.
Get Seeds
In the 2020 lockdown, seeds were sold out. Get seeds now and learn how to save seeds or allow staples to self-seed. Perennials are a much easier food source than annuals, with far less messing about. Think staples and perennials above luxury crops.
If you’d rather, you can grow a lot of food plants from store-bought vegetables and fruits. Plant tomato or pumpkin seeds, use cut-off bits of sweet potato, and more.
Most people want to grow tomatoes; we used to grow a lot, but in our current (new) garden, they’re very difficult to grow. A fresh tomato is a luxury for us, not a staple.
Grow perennial herbs and think of them more as a green veg rather than a flavouring. Flat leaf parsley grows well for us, plus garlic chives and mother of herbs (Cuban oregano). We don’t need to dry or preserve, they grow year-round. If you need to dry herbs, you can air dry in your kitchen or use your oven, you don’t need fancy dehydrators. I have one, I barely use it.
Get Plants
Talk to your neighbours who garden. Ask what plants they grow easily in your climate. Ask for cuttings or starts. I will happily give anyone anything to start a garden of their own. I don’t need money or barter; I’m thrilled if people want to grow food and I can help them. Just ask.
Get Local
No one person can grow or make everything. We have a guy who produces honey just up the road, for instance. I don’t need to keep bees or buy all that expensive equipment myself. Know where you can get stuff locally, use your farmers’ markets, stay out of supermarkets and cooperate with your neighbours.
Get Fertilisers
Plants grow best in the ground, generally, but even then, they love some extra fertiliser. If you are growing in pots or raised beds, fertiliser is essential. It’s best if you can make your own.
We make compost from grass clippings, leaves, and scraps. We farm worms, and we can access manure. I remember my dad telling me how they would rush out onto the street to collect manure from any passing horse during the war years. Maybe that will come back.
You can make ash to go on the garden from fallen bits of tree, that’s easy to do. Ash is also great for your chickens’ dust baths. It helps build soil.
Chop and drop is a great way to build soil, too. Anything overgrown can be chopped and used as mulch/fertiliser. Mulch breaks down, eventually feeding the soil. I was cutting back lemon grass yesterday, it all went around our fruit trees as mulch and future fertiliser. Mulch feeds the soil and holds in moisture while protecting it from wind, sun, and rain.
Here’s a tip, use your mower to shred plant materials to use as mulch or to speed up composting. We do this to chop palm fronds.
If you have weeds, you can soak them in water to make a liquid feed; you can even use dilute urine for nitrogen. There are many ways to make soil more fertile, without the chemical fertilisers that they want to sell you.
I would buy Epsom Salts and a big bag of blood and bone, both of which are great cheap things to have on hand in addition to your homemade fertilisers. Don’t buy highly processed “junk” fertilisers like the big brand names.
Get Backup
Do you have a stocked pantry? Do you have a water plan? Have you thought about generators, firewood, or gas? Can you throw together a loaf of bread without having to look for a recipe online? I write my most-used recipes in a notebook. I will share my very simple bread recipe soon, sign up.
Do you have a stock of essential cleaning products, toothpaste and soaps? Is your home medical kit stocked? Do you have any tools you may need, particularly in a situation where there is no mains power? For instance, if you normally cook in a microwave (we don’t even own one), do you have a gas stove or wood-fired barbecue as backup?
If you haven’t already, start thinking about these things.
I was listening to a vlogger yesterday talking about how she’d keep her young child cool in the fierce heat of Las Vegas, she bought a small generator and AC unit. If you’re in a freezing location, how will you stay warm? Just think about essential needs in your location. We’re lucky here, winter is coming, our need for air conditioning won’t be too severe in the coming months.
Get Connected
Learn from, help, and support your neighbours. Connect with some of the awesome free knowledge on blogs and on YouTube, but beware fakes and AI, there is sadly a lot of that today. We’re real, we’re human. Stay connected here, I plan to create far more content here in coming weeks. Above all else, don’t worry. I’m not even slightly worried, everything will work out just fine and for the better. Stay positive, enjoy the ride.
