Day 13 - Victory Garden
2020 March 30
Monday
11:10pm:
I spend a lot of time thinking about food. With this many mouths to feed, I suppose that isn’t unexpected, but the shutdown and shortages have me trying to work out logistics and predict what will be the next item that is hard to find. Canada is heading into its growing season and I’m deeply troubled by the potential impact of COVID-19 on our agricultural industry. I understand why there are a lot of reassurances that our supply chain is strong (because it is), but also know that what they are not saying is “for now”.
If people get complacent, if our infection rate skyrockets, if, if, if..
Every thing changes.
I can’t control the “ifs”. I can control how I prepare for the possibility.
As the primary meal maker in our home, this responsibility weighs heavily on me. My predictions could directly impact our ability to feed ourselves in a manner close to what we’re used to if things go bad. My husband has his own thoughts and plans, but he’s also less in tune with how much we consume, so this is a burden largely carried by me.
He was shocked to realize today that we went through 5kg of a 10kg bag of flour in a month. I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we also went through at least 3kg of other flours, kept in other containers. Bread is a staple here. I worry about ensuring we’ve at least 2 months of flour on hand.
And let’s not even mention the yeast..
We’re planning a “victory garden” for our back yard. We didn’t start one last year, as we had just moved and had a baby, and I wanted to get a feel for the yard before committing to establishing a garden in one spot over another. This year, it doesn’t matter if the spot is perfect or prepared. We’re just going to make do as best we can, and can or freeze for Fall and Winter. I suppose it’s time to start thinking about a chest freezer, too — I hope things relax enough by summer that we can buy one somewhere.
In the meantime, I am trying to plan out a garden — what we need, what will grow well and quickly, how to lay it out with minimal interruption to the flow of our year, because if we’re all told to keep isolating the kids will need that space for running around. I have a random assortment of seeds, so I will need to see what I still need to locate and hope that someone somewhere has them in stock.