Red State Green

On one of the email groups I belong to, someone asked what our plans were for eating local over the winter. Now, if you live in a warm agricultural state, this isn’t going to be an issue. But for those of you where the winter actually gets cold, it’s something to consider.

I’ve been thinking of this for a few weeks, because on another blog (I can’t for the life of me remember whose now, if it’s yours tell me so I can link you) the question was raised, “if you had to live the winter on what you had in your home now, could you?”

Good question.

A lot of people, when faced with a question of economic depression, or any other hard time, but off in the future, will say something like, “well, when the time comes, we’ll just buy stuff, or plant a garden, or something”.

Really.

I used to think like that. For years I had my garden in southern CA, with my four grapevines and my six fruit trees. I grew things like scallions and snow peas, beans and corn, potatoes and lettuce in the winter. I had been growing things there for years, and I knew how. I had jars of preserves, and a freezer full of vegetables year round. Three years ago, if you had asked me that question, I would have said much the same thing.

Then I moved to OK, which has a totally different climate and soil. The first year I tried to grow anything, I got nothing.

This is, in a way, the problem with doing anything new. There’s a learning curve. You don’t always succeed the first time. One woman said it took her five years to figure out when the right time was to plant corn in her particular area.

So if your first time grinding wheat, or insulating your attic, or setting up a water harvesting system, is when you have to … is that what you want? Because there’s a fair chance you might not get it right the first time.

Winter’s coming, folks.

If you don’t believe it, check out some of the links on my sidebar. Watch some internet news other than Fox or CNN. Yes, some of them are liberal, but there’s no news these days that’s ‘fair and balanced’, not when there’s corporate advertising involved. We’ll always be told what the advertisers want us to hear.

I’ve come to the conclusion that they don’t want us to hear about peak oil and how it’s going to affect American society. If we don’t know there’s a high likelihood of economic trouble coming, we won’t build homes or take out loans or buy their overpriced stuff.

The thing is, there’s still time to do something about it. Look at your energy, food, and water expenditures, and start conserving. The more we conserve as a nation, the less we’ll have to import from countries who, frankly, don’t like us.

If you work in an energy industry, find out what your company is doing to promote alternatives to oil. Support your local economy, and talk to your mayor and other representatives about your city’s infrastructure, public transportation, food supply, water supply, and emergency readiness. Learn to grow, harvest, preserve, store, and prepare your food.

Sound like a lot to learn and do. It is. Pick one thing and start. Find others doing the same thing. Learn from them.

But remember the learning curve. The worst thing to do is nothing. Get started now, and who knows what you might be able to do next year!