Our time has come?
Posted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 3:48 pm
Hello, bonniethomas06 here, back from the dead (again).
With all of this craziness that is going on, my first thoughts after panic buying compost and seeds, was of this lovely forum. I want to stop well short of implying that this horrible crisis is a good thing in any way - it definitely isn't, but all of those years of growing my own and being 'ish (with your support) makes me feel a bit more confident about facing any food related difficulties that are coming up.
I've been thinking about the fact that in some ways, this potentially lean period of who knows how long was actually what I wanted once. All this producing my own food was very satisfying, but ultimately a bit disheartening. I'd lovingly pick slugs off carrots, keep them watered and weeded and cossetted for months, only to go to the supermarket and find they were being sold for 40p a bag.
I'd grow soft fruit, pruning it in winter, keeping it weeded, mulched, watered, netted - only to find in the budget supermarkets, you could buy an enormous bag, frozen, for a few quid. Same for potatoes, cabbages - just about everything really.
The UK food system felt so gratuitous and wasteful and I felt like my efforts were some kind of unnecessary, quaint indulgence. I used to make chutneys and pickles and preserve things, when I had no real need, since I could easily buy fresh asparagus in November or sweetcorn cobs in February at the supermarket if I really wanted. Buoyed up on the middle class bucolic orgy that is River Cottage, I had this ideal of living off the land. I kidded myself that if the 'worst happened', I'd be knee deep in my own organic food and I could smugly watch the masses scramble over the last box of potato waffles, preparing some Nigel Slater recipe whilst drinking my own organic cider.
Now after just a week or so, I can see that it is only when you have the luxury of choice that you would chose to be in that situation. In fact, when Andrew went to the shops yesterday to try and pick up some fresh fruit and veg before what looks like an inevitable shutdown, it was a biblical situation where there was literally nothing fresh or frozen to buy. We are lucky to have quite a healthy store cupboard situation at the moment, but it's frightening and I feel vulnerable. That we might run out of food, or more realistically that society will show it's ugly side when resources get scarce.
Also, I can see the irony of the whole 'Self-Sufficent' idyll. Sure, it might be useful to relieve the burden on producing for those who can't, if some of us had our own supplies of veg in the garden, but I am kidding myself if I think we are truly ever self-sufficient. If there isn't water in the taps, people to deliver animal food and bedding, compost at the garden centre, seed suppliers, electricity, rubbish collection, sewerage services - things would soon collapse. What if we have a garden full of vegetables and some desperate person or people decide to help themselves? How would we stop them?
If the most vulnerable in society are hungry, I guess we will all be. My heart goes out to all those who have empty cupboards and who can't get supplies. We donate money to a food bank every month anyway, but I really hope the government puts a scheme in place to get groceries to food banks before they hit supermarket shelves.
That said, if society manages to keep relatively 'together', a well-stocked veg patch could mean the difference between a few more nutrients and fiber and I suppose, a more enjoyable existence. I've kicked things off in the garden and I'm planning on making it my priority from now on.
Very long rambling post, sorry. Don't even know what my point is, other than thank goodness I have a distraction from the horror which also results in buckets of vegetables. Does anyone else feel like this?
With all of this craziness that is going on, my first thoughts after panic buying compost and seeds, was of this lovely forum. I want to stop well short of implying that this horrible crisis is a good thing in any way - it definitely isn't, but all of those years of growing my own and being 'ish (with your support) makes me feel a bit more confident about facing any food related difficulties that are coming up.
I've been thinking about the fact that in some ways, this potentially lean period of who knows how long was actually what I wanted once. All this producing my own food was very satisfying, but ultimately a bit disheartening. I'd lovingly pick slugs off carrots, keep them watered and weeded and cossetted for months, only to go to the supermarket and find they were being sold for 40p a bag.
I'd grow soft fruit, pruning it in winter, keeping it weeded, mulched, watered, netted - only to find in the budget supermarkets, you could buy an enormous bag, frozen, for a few quid. Same for potatoes, cabbages - just about everything really.
The UK food system felt so gratuitous and wasteful and I felt like my efforts were some kind of unnecessary, quaint indulgence. I used to make chutneys and pickles and preserve things, when I had no real need, since I could easily buy fresh asparagus in November or sweetcorn cobs in February at the supermarket if I really wanted. Buoyed up on the middle class bucolic orgy that is River Cottage, I had this ideal of living off the land. I kidded myself that if the 'worst happened', I'd be knee deep in my own organic food and I could smugly watch the masses scramble over the last box of potato waffles, preparing some Nigel Slater recipe whilst drinking my own organic cider.
Now after just a week or so, I can see that it is only when you have the luxury of choice that you would chose to be in that situation. In fact, when Andrew went to the shops yesterday to try and pick up some fresh fruit and veg before what looks like an inevitable shutdown, it was a biblical situation where there was literally nothing fresh or frozen to buy. We are lucky to have quite a healthy store cupboard situation at the moment, but it's frightening and I feel vulnerable. That we might run out of food, or more realistically that society will show it's ugly side when resources get scarce.
Also, I can see the irony of the whole 'Self-Sufficent' idyll. Sure, it might be useful to relieve the burden on producing for those who can't, if some of us had our own supplies of veg in the garden, but I am kidding myself if I think we are truly ever self-sufficient. If there isn't water in the taps, people to deliver animal food and bedding, compost at the garden centre, seed suppliers, electricity, rubbish collection, sewerage services - things would soon collapse. What if we have a garden full of vegetables and some desperate person or people decide to help themselves? How would we stop them?
If the most vulnerable in society are hungry, I guess we will all be. My heart goes out to all those who have empty cupboards and who can't get supplies. We donate money to a food bank every month anyway, but I really hope the government puts a scheme in place to get groceries to food banks before they hit supermarket shelves.
That said, if society manages to keep relatively 'together', a well-stocked veg patch could mean the difference between a few more nutrients and fiber and I suppose, a more enjoyable existence. I've kicked things off in the garden and I'm planning on making it my priority from now on.
Very long rambling post, sorry. Don't even know what my point is, other than thank goodness I have a distraction from the horror which also results in buckets of vegetables. Does anyone else feel like this?