Self Reliance

I have been interested in self-reliance off and on for the last 3-5 years.  I believe self-reliance may be the only path to liberty in our society.  Modern society has made us dependent upon systems that we have no control over.   When something goes wrong with the systems we depend on, most people have nothing to fall back on.

Not long ago people planted gardens and raised a lot of their food not because they wanted to eat organic produce but because they needed the extra food.   Today we have lost much of that self-reliance.   Most of what is available in the grocery store comes in pretty plastic wrap with no connection to how it was grown.  We have lost the connection to where our food comes from.  My children don’t think vegetables with dirt on them are clean and good to eat.  Most of the Vegetables I grow are not pretty like the ones in the store. My wife is even somewhat reluctant to enjoy some of the fruits of the garden.  I grew Valencia tomato’s which have an orange color when ripe.  What is funny is that the tomatoes tasted great but they were orange not red.  Getting over the orange vs. red color was difficult for my family.

There are couple key systems that we are dependent upon in our daily lives.   What do you think will happen if food deliveries stopped at the local grocery store, a virus wiped out all the round-up ready crops, the electrical grid stopped working or city water was not available for just a few days?

Food

All major grocery stores in the United States use a just in time inventory management system.  This means that if deliveries are not made daily the store shelves start to look bare in just 1-2 days.  I know people that have no food in their home other than the leftovers they brought home from a restaurant.  Storing as little as 10 days of food could most of us through most disasters.  We can do this by adding a little to our weekly grocery shopping.  If most people had 10 days of food stored bare store shelves would be merely an annoyance.  Keep in mind most disasters will be relatively short in duration and some services will usually return in a week or so.

Most of the food in the local grocery store is grown using monoculture.  Monoculture is the practice of growing just one crop in a large area (think corn, wheat and soybeans).  These crops have very little genetic diversity and in recent years genetically modified versions have been introduced to increase harvest.  Plants that are genetically modified are changed by directly manipulating the genes of the plants in a very unnatural way.  Apparently the folks doing genetic modification have never watched any 1960 era horror films.  Once these genes have been introduced it may not be possible to remove them from the environment.  Since the plants are genetically identical the right virus or other disease could wipe the entire crop out.

In a recent mother earth news there was an article that explained changes in the type of pesticides used in the US.  We move away from pesticides that just coat the surface of the plant to ones that actually become part of the plant.  So there is no way to wash off these pesticides since they become part of the plant tissue. What if these pesticides are really bad for humans?  We may not know since the EPA study will not be complete until around 2013.

Electrical

In Phoenix, our electrical usage in the summer is extreme.  I don’t think we could live here comfortably in the summer without AC.  Even during the spring and fall, I have found no way to cool the house without AC.   The amount of power required to cool the entire house would be about 80 AMPs (At least a 10,000 watts generator to run three AC units, fridge, and maybe a fan or two).  The Electrical  system is vulnerable to lots of events (including but not limited to storms, solar flares, squirrels, drunk drivers, terrorists,…)  Just about anything can cause the electrical  system to fail.   Most of the time failure is short term, but there have been extended power outages all across the country after large scale disasters.  Some of the equipment in the system is very difficult to replace quickly.  In 2004 an electrical substation was damaged by fire leaving a large part of phoenix constrained on their electrical usage.   It took over one year for a new transformer to be delivered and installed.

Water

The water delivered to my home comes from the Colorado River via the CAP (Central Arizona Project).  The CAP is 200+ miles of canals, pipelines, and pumping stations to deliver the water to the phoenix area.  Any number of things could go wrong with this system.  Including the local water treatment facility failing (Like this failure a few years ago http://www.azcentral.com/12news/news/articles/0125Water25-ON-CP.html )

Modern society has made us dependent on these fragile systems.   I don’t think it would take a large scale disaster for some of these systems to stop working for several hours.   However a large scale disaster could take these systems off line for a week or more.  Being able to produce your own food and rely on stored food is critical.  Having the ability to generate some of you own electricity and store water is critical.  Having these capabilities will soften a catastrophe and make it just a mere inconvenience.

Post to Twitter Post to Facebook Post to LinkedIn Post to Delicious Post to Google Buzz Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Slashdot Post to Digg Post to Reddit Post to FriendFeed Post to Diigo Post to MySpace Post to Ping.fm Post to Squidoo Post to StumbleUpon Post to Technorati

 

Healthy Eating Principles

When it comes to your health, I think the best thing you can do is make sure you are eating right. Today there are many things called food by the food industry that really are not food. The most important thing I think about when choosing food is “Would my great grandfather have been able to obtain this and recognized it as food?”  If I answer yes to that question chances are that it is a natural and minimally processed food.

The processing of food by the food industry allows food manufacturers to break down substances into simpler forms and then put them back together in an unnatural way.  The reason food manufacturers do this is if a particular ingredient gets more expensive they can substitute another.  If you look on a bag of potato chips, you will notice that the contents could have been fried in cottonseed, corn or sunflower seed oil.  Out of the three oils, cottonseed oil is the cheapest.  The many reasons you don’t want to eat cottonseed oil.  In the US cotton is a genetically modified crop.  Cotton is not a food crop therefore there are no regulations for pesticides like other food crops.  So are those potato chips something that my great grandfather could have eaten?  No!  My great grandfather would not have access to the genetically modified cotton for the cottonseed oil and therefore could not have fried the chips.  I don’t think my great grandfather would think of cottonseed oil as a food either.

The next thing you need to ask is:  Why are you eating?  If you are eating mindlessly to numb your emotions, eating cannot be good for you.  If you are eating because you genuinely need to eat to fuel your body, eating is healthy.

You should be putting good fuel in to your body.   Most people would not put bad gas into their car!  You should not put bad fuel in to your body!  There are five food substances that I generally avoid or consume in moderation:

  • Gluten – We were never meant to consume large quantities of this protein found in the grains of Wheat, Barley, Rye and Oats.  In our food system today huge quantities of gluten are used in prepackaged food.
  • Dairy – The protein casein and sugar lactose are what most people have trouble with in dairy products.  We are the only creature on the planet that consumes the milk of another creature.  Last time I checked I don’t have four stomachs and chew my cud.  So why would I want to consume the milk of a cow.  I do consume small amounts of butter since it is mostly the fat from the milk and contains little lactose or casein.
  • Cottonseed Oil – This stuff may be natural but so is Lead and it is not very good for you.  Try to stay away from this stuff.  Almost all cottonseed oil produced in the US is from genetically modified cotton and has been treated with large amounts of pesticides.
  • Soybean – Most cultures around the world only consume fermented soy.  Here in the US we consume a huge amount of it in the form of soybean oil.  Soybean oil may be natural but it doesn’t match the traditional use of soybean.  The tradition of fermenting soy changes it and reduces some of the known side effects.  The most significant known side effect of eating soy is its impact on the thyroid.
  • Refined Sugar – Especially High Fructose Corn Syrup.  Refined sugar goes directly into the blood stream raising the blood sugar of the person consuming it.   This causes the body to release more insulin.  Insulin allows the body’s cells to use the sugar as energy, but if the body doesn’t need the energy now the insulin tells the body to store the sugar as fat to burn later when energy is needed.  Consuming too much sugar leads to excess body fat.  The reason why a lot of kids today seem overweight; is because the amount of soda and sugary snacks consumed is significantly higher than what I consumed when growing up.  Children today are much less active so that sugar stored as body fat doesn’t get burned.

In summary, remember to ask yourself would my grandfather be able to get this same food and recognized it as food.  Remember to not eat if you are eating to numb your emotions.  Also remember to avoid Gluten, Dairy, Cottonseed Oil, Soybean, and Sugar.  For the last two years avoiding these substances has left me with more energy, better sleep, better digestion and overall better health.

Post to Twitter Post to Facebook Post to LinkedIn Post to Delicious Post to Google Buzz Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Slashdot Post to Digg Post to Reddit Post to FriendFeed Post to Diigo Post to MySpace Post to Ping.fm Post to Squidoo Post to StumbleUpon Post to Technorati

 

My Garden

My Garden

For the last 3 years I have grown a small veggie garden.  Last year I expanded my efforts significantly.  I went from one 16 sq. ft raised bed to three 16 sq ft raised beds.   Last year I had great production of lettuce, spinach, peas, gourd, basil, parsley and garlic.   We still have some basil growing in the garden from last year that is really doing well.

1st garden bed on the west side of house. Check out the Basil from last year. It is almost like a tree

The summer heat in Phoenix did not subside until around October 10 this year.  I used of shade cloth to keep the sun from damaging the new plants after I planted them in the ground.  I started some of my stuff inside and transferred them to plastic cups.  I started peppers, cucumbers, lettuce, broccoli, beets, radish, leeks, swiss chard, and cabbage inside and then transferred them outside.   I started plants inside because of the heat and to get a head start.  We have short frosts in December around Phoenix and the short days of winter make it harder to grow stuff in the normal 50-60 days on the package.

2nd garden bed on west side of house. Because of the extra shade this bed grow lettuce very well.

This year I am going to try some new plants.  Some may actually be considered weeds:

  • Miner’s lettuce
  • Lemongrass
  • Broom Corn
  • French Sorrel
  • Ground Cherry

I am really looking forward to my first salad from the garden.  Last year I went out and cut some salad every day.

Composting

I have added a new composter setup for the garden.  I created it using a plastic trash can. I unfortunately didn’t have an old trash can with a lid so I purchased a new trash can and modified it to be a composter.  I figure that are no dedicated composters out there for less than $50, I can purchase a plastic trash can for around $20.

I drilled holes in the bottom and in the sides (for air flow).  I can mix the material just by rolling the trash can around with the cover on.  Placing the can on some bricks will keep the air flowing through the holes in the bottom.

Composter made from a trash can for $20

I plan on using everything from the kitchen that can go be composted.  I have some yard waste that can be composted too.  The idea mix for compost is (20% cow manure, 40% brown material, 40% green material)

Notice the holes in the can. To mix the compost just roll it around on the ground.

Green material is:

  • Fruit and peels
  • Vegetables and peels
  • Landscape trimmings
  • Grass clippings

Brown material is:

  • Dry leaves
  • Sawdust
  • Twigs
  • Straw
  • Newspaper, Cardboard, shredded Junk mail

Think about that a perfect way to get rid of annoying junk mail.  It will be nice to see those annoying credit card offers rot before you very eyes!

I have tried composting here in Phoenix before her but found the desert tends to dry out and petrify the compost material.  Back in New Hampshire I was able to just make a pile of stuff and rotate it from time to time which worked reasonable well.   So far I have a good start on the compost and mixing it seems pretty easy. My current batch of compost is way further along than any previous attempts.

The compost after about 2 weeks

Post to Twitter Post to Facebook Post to LinkedIn Post to Delicious Post to Google Buzz Post to Yahoo Buzz Post to Slashdot Post to Digg Post to Reddit Post to FriendFeed Post to Diigo Post to MySpace Post to Ping.fm Post to Squidoo Post to StumbleUpon Post to Technorati