10 July 20XX+1
My Dear Lucilius:
I promised you last letter that I would “round out” my idea. In normal times, of course, likely this would have been a different path: long ago, we would discuss such ideas among ourselves before we would ever bring them to the light of day. Now, Young Xerxes will have to fill that role.
We all make adjustments based on circumstances.
The thought initiated in the most unlikely of places, sitting in the streambed near McAdams. Besides being alert while on watch, a man has a great deal of time to think when neither on watch nor sleeping. What tickled my mind were the things up the road from where we were.
Specifically wheat.
Food is an issue, and one that is likely not to disappear anytime soon. And it is not just a problem for myself or my relatively new small tribe, or even the small town I live in. It is a problem for the inhabitants of the entire range of the Garnet Valley, which travels up the old state highway to empty out just beyond the old county seat, where we staged for McAdams. Yes, it is easy enough to say “Fend for yourselves” – but given the recent incident we have had, “fend for yourself” is hardly the sort of thing that will lead to people rallying when the next set of Locusts come through.
The population? Fair question. The population here once upon a time tended to fluctuate with the seasons, Summer being the high point. Not during Summer? Maybe 5,000 people all told, and that maybe generous on my part: Small towns of 300 to 700 people and people living off in the backroads.
So, perhaps we do not need a proverbial mountain of food. But we need food none the less.
Which brings us back to wheat.
Just beyond where the Battle of McAdams was fought, one would find a turnoff to another state highway that, if followed, leads to the largest city in our area. It would be about 90 minutes by auto from here, once upon a time. Were one to take that turnoff, one would wind through smaller hills – and one would pass the wheat fields of Winter Wheat. It was something that I originally viewed as a novelty and scenic, not having grown up with such things.
Now, of course, I view it a great deal differently.
There are a lot of assumptions. I assume the wheat was not planted last year due to the actual impact of The Collapse. However, given the timing of a typical wheat harvest (end of July to the end of September), it is also quite possible that the wheat was not harvested from the previous year. Which in turns means there may actually be volunteer wheat that grew this year.
There are a lot of conditional statements involved in this, of course If there was no harvest. If there are volunteers. If the farmers left will be willing to deal. If the farmers are gone, that the wheat is still there and can be harvested. If people could get there and harvest it. If it could be brought back safely.
If, If, If.
It seems like a long shot to me as I continued to think it over, Lucilius. But a long shot – in this case, with some luck and a lot of planning – seems far better than any other option that we have at this point. It is not as if there is any sign food trucks will be rolling soon, and likely foods that had been set aside will be well nigh used up by the end of this season.
Beyond just the grain for food, of course, is the fact that the potential exists to grow it here. That would be the real benefit. An accessible, reliable grain crop would be wonderful and itself opens other possibilities.
And other issues, of course. The grain will have to be stripped and threshed and ground, all without the benefit (mostly) of modern technology. Which means that whole new processes need to be developed.
First things first. Young Xerxes thought the idea not completely implausible, and he in turn chatted with a couple of other individuals. In turn, he has let me know a larger group of people will be coming together to discuss it. For which, I understand, I now have to give a presentation.
I had not anticipated using old business skills again, my friend. Life has a way of continuing to surprise us.
Your Obedient Servant, Seneca
Even in a collapse some will live and how to do that? Seneca is a thinker, those are much needed.
ReplyDeleteNylon12, Seneca has actually been thinking on this for some time. I think likely because as a non-native, it stuck out to him in his memory.
DeleteThinkers can figure out things. Like how to recycle parts of old washing machines into scythes and how to thresh wheat from chaff. A rotating dryer drum with wooden blocks as not to destroy the drum springs to mind. A fan would be awesome.
ReplyDeleteMight be crude first attempt but thinkers can observe and improve.
Thinkers can figure out things like how to dry that wheat so mold doesn't destroy it, how to keep rodents and bugs out of it (HINT our forefathers would LOVE to have the dozens of screw cap bottles we toss weekly) as not to lose the high percentage often mentioned in the Dark Ages.
What an awesome treasure would be finding a copy of John Seymour's The Self Sufficient Gardner would be. Not all the details but enough to guide the thinking mind to success. Something about not reinventing the wheel.
Would be the difference between poking the ground with a stick dirt farming and small holding gardening.
Michael - I have threshed small volumes of grain with a bat and bucket. I used the wind to remove the chaff; the same could be done with a hand fan and a long drop from bucket to bucket.
DeleteI am lucky. I know these things. So does Seneca. But how many others do?
"I am lucky. I know these things. So does Seneca. But how many others do?"
DeleteIf a group as a whole lack even your understanding of basic food production, Darwin has an appointment for that group once the last cans were emptied and the wilderness proves less than a fertile grocery store.
You have to get MORE Calories than you Expend getting them, otherwise human nature about watching their children slowly starve rises up. Even a meek Grandmother will kill someone for their thin soup to give to her grandkids.
I'd like to think that those who have some previous skills in basic food production will somehow manage not to get killed off by the starving mobs eager to eat even his "Seed Corn".
You KNOW, I'm HUNGRY NOW crowd...
You can make do with a lot of replacements and salvage but frankly seed potatoes means somebody didn't EAT them, cherished them over the winter and planted them. Followed up by guarding them from rodents both 4 legged and 2. Kept them watered well and weeded.
Same with seeds. Any found wheat should start with a securing of "Seed" for next time and the rest for food.
"Saving seeds" isn't likely to be appreciated by the "I'm HUNGRY NOW" crowd.
As many plants are Biannual seed producers like carrots, cabbages and such those need special cherishing over the winter for the seeds for the next year.
Leadership will be critical as well as finding those often-older folks who still remember a bit of useful knowledge about making do.
Long term thinking in such situations would, I imagine, be critical.
DeleteI have many memories of cleaning wheat seed from the harvest for planting in the fall. We had a seed cleaner on a hayrack run by a small engine of some sort. It was set up so the wagon with the recently harvested wheat would dump into a small auger that would carry it up and dump it into the top of the machine. Another small auger carried away the chaff to a wagon on the other side. My job was to monitor things were going correctly and then when a five gallon bucket of clean seed had been filled up, replace it with an empty and dump the clean seed into a third wagon parked on one end of the wagon. It was quite the contraption to set up and get running.
ReplyDeleteWow Ed. I had much smaller yields. It definitely sounds like an adventure to set up and monitor.
DeleteIf a Collapse happened, I would think farming would be a subsistence sort of farming where everybody grows for their own needs first and only sells or trades surpluses.
ReplyDeleteI'd hate to think that the world would collapse and I'd have to go to a meeting to discuss and come up with a consensus about what I should or could do to avoid starvation.
If I had to give a presentation about the subject it would be pretty short, "There might still be some wheat over there, it will take about 400 lbs. of wheat for each individual to avoid starvation which is a lot more than you might think it is, and if you don't want to starve you better get to work."
Rich, in this case the event would require a trip of something like 30 miles round trip to a (as yet) unknown potential. If it pans out, it would require transport and then processing. People will have to be away. I imagine that there should be some sort of plan in place.
DeleteWheat is a good basis for a survival diet however:
ReplyDeleteSNIP So, approximately 240,000 calories are in 400 pounds of wheat. divided by 365 = 657 calories per day.
SNIP So In 1 pound of hard white wheat, there are approximately 51.3 grams of protein.
For 400 pounds, the total protein would be:400pounds×51.3grams/pound=20520grams divided by 365 days = 56 grams of protein per day.
SNIP So Daily protein intake for women
For a 50-year-old woman who weighs 140 pounds woman and who is sedentary (doesn't exercise), that translates into 53 grams of protein a day.
Men growing children, Pregeant females all need more. Working people need more as not to lose muscle mass.
The LDS minimum recommendations for their members:
The following suggested amounts are for one adult.
QUANTITY FOR ONE MONTH RECOMMENDED PRODUCTS LONG-TERM STORAGE LIFE
11.5 kg./ 25 lbs Wheat, white rice, corn, and other grains 30+ years
2.5 kg. / 5 lbs Dry beans 30+ years
You may also want to add other items to your longer-term storage such as sugar, nonfat dry milk, salt, baking soda, and cooking oil. To meet nutritional needs, also store foods containing vitamin C and other essential nutrients.
So quick math 25 x 12 = 300 pounds grains
AND 5 X 12 = 60 pounds of Dry Beans.
SNIP So, approximately 46,294 calories are present in 60 pounds of dry beans. Protein 60 pounds dry beans cooked Protein in 6,262.08 grams.
This is rapidly growing into an article so I will stop here.
Survival food for a year is worth really studying. Even the LDS minimums with cooking oil a HIGH Calore bonus is pretty well starvation level.
Interesting Michael. Thanks for the additional information.
DeleteDon't forget winnowing! That's the most time consuming part, in my experience. Especially without electricity. :)
ReplyDeleteGrowing wheat is an excellent community activity. Good choice to start with.
Chuckling you reminded me of last summer's pancake patch harvesting, Leigh. The Chickens were everywhere fighting over the abundance of chaff and wheat bits.
DeleteAnd boy do you need a shower afterwards, itchy.
Winnowing! Darn it, that is the word I was struggling for. Thanks Leigh!
DeleteMichael - I can only imagine the frivolity of chickens and wheat bits.
Chicken TV far better than cable's offerings.
DeleteJust toss a nice snack into the flock for extra fun chase scenes. LOL.