One of the root causes of the upheaval we are seeing around the world is the rising cost of food. Here in the United States the average middle class family spends about 10% of its income on food. In Egypt it is about 50%. Could you imagine if most of us in the US had to spend 50% of our income on food?
This is one reason why people need to band together in their communities – to offer each other mutual support and sharing the skills necessary to help each other survive the coming inflation in food prices. Coming, I say…it is already starting and it will get worse. Share the Bounty is not only about sharing recipes and stories. Share the Bounty is an idea that many others around the country and the world are embracing. And before you say I’m a communist…no, I’m not. Those that settled this land before us knew what Share the Bounty was about…it is about sharing skills and ideas to help each other live in lean times and to help each other thrive in good times.
The world is a scary place today. There are food riots going on in almost every corner of the world. It can happen here. The world is crying out for more food exports from the US. It is going to be more important than ever to have a family food supply on hand, be able to grow your own produce and raise some hens in a backyard coop. There are a couple of folks who are teaching these skills at the Santa Rosa Community College and I can’t believe that they had to cancel their first class! Not enough people wanted to learn the skills they were teaching on how to build and successfully plant raised vegetable beds. Their website is at www.myurbanfarm.net. Their next class is on Backyard Chickens and they have two more classes after that.
If you are interested Juan and I can show you how to build a walk in cooler for aging meats and/or storing your produce. We can also show you how to butcher pigs, deer, and other meat animals. Food inflation, shortages, and possibly even food riots are coming. Make no mistake. You will be better off if you have the skills, knowledge and network of friends, family, and neighbors before it happens. We’ll be posting about our journey towards what we believe will be a new economy and hope that this site will help make the transition to that economy less painful for all. That is what Share the Bounty is about.
We’ll soon be adding posts demonstrating some of the skills we believe will be essential in the coming years but in the meantime encourage all of you to take the steps to prepare yourselves for disaster today. We found these two resources for building an emergency food supply; www.patriotfood.com and www.disastersupplydepot.com which have pretty comprehensive dehydrated food packages for a decent price. Get a pre-packaged kit or make your own but don’t be left unprepared!
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1 comment
Juan says:
February 1, 2011 at 12:50 pm (UTC -7)
While I agree that food shortages lead to civil unrest, the opposite is more often the case. Take Katrina and the latest developments in Egypt for example. The potential is real and whether it’s natural disaster like a huricane or human events that cause disruption to supply, either way, we owe it to our families to make an effort to prepare ourselves. Talk with your neighbors today and find out what skills and supplies you have. There are great websites to help you get that converstation going. Locally in Santa Rosa we have this: http://ci.santa-rosa.ca.us/departments/adminservices/emergencyprep/Pages/default.aspx
And a great national resource can be found here: http://www.ready.gov/