02 September 20XX+1
My Dear Lucilius:
It is gone.
The how is certain. The why is unknown.
The smoke started appearing overhead on the 28th of August from the North. Originally a small wispy haze, it continued to grow over the next few days until the sky was always a hazy smudged orange – it cut down on the heat a bit, but now the days were filled with a dreary, smoky haze that seemed to penetrate everything.
Radio calls to the North of us either were unproductive or unanswered. The information we received from Little City over the hill was simply more of what we saw: much more smoke and a glow in the distance. Farther away, Epicurus related the same, except looking South in their case. From Cato, there was nothing at all.
Tonight Young Xerxes came boiling in. They finally had a message from Cato, who had been away setting backfires all week. It was only this very day that they could send someone out to get a view of what had happened.
It was a fire. A fire, it appears, that somehow swept South to consume the field of wheat
How did it happen? Who knows. A random lightning strike? Such things are not unknown at this time of year. Or maybe human set, a traveler cooking dinner? Possibly done in anger? - That makes no sense, but so little makes sense now.
As you can imagine, a fire on a field of essentially dry grass after two weeks (at least) of a very hot and dry season leaves little in its wake.
Cato is apparently fine: this has happened before in their family’s history and they had a plan. But the fire – it still burns around them and down; with nothing to stop it (other than rain or burning out – either seemingly unlikely at this point).
This is fresh from Young Xerxes and I have no more time to digest it than it took me to write this to you. I need a party – a neutral one, even if absent – to absorb this with.
Is the wheat completely gone? I have no idea. Likely Cato has far too many other things on his mind now and Euripides is too far away to assess, even if he was able. But it is safe to assume that, given the time of year we are in, any chance at this point of gathering anything is simply gone – if there is anything left to gather.
I have tried to parse this all out in my head – my calculations, for all that Pompeia Paulina has urged and suggested, are still locked away in there. What keeps coming back to me is nothing times nothing is nothing.
Other than relaying the news, the look on Young Xerxes face – the shock and bewilderment – tells me all I need to know about any plans that had been laid to this point or had been contemplated.
I look out over the burnt orange sky and this small plot of land, Lucilius, and all of a sudden all of my fears are realized. There really is nothing now except what we have here or what we can scrounge locally.
Perhaps it was fortuitous that Pompeia Paulina turned me aside to other things in advance. Even with not planning for that wheat – but oh, how sweet it would have been - I now feel even more exposed, personally and for the larger group.
The Collapse, at least, I thought I could see coming. This, there was simply no planning for.
As a coda to what has been the Summer no-one anticipated and perhaps a sign from a universe possessed of irony, it has begun to rain even as I write.
Your Obedient Servant, Seneca
Man Plans, God Laughs.
ReplyDelete"Sic transit gloria mundi" - Thus passes the glory of this world (Thomas a Becket, The Imitation of Christ)
DeleteSpare calories from before the "Fall" are pretty much gone. Now the wheat fields and their hope are also gone. I recalled how some "treats" from cleaning out the Human Locusts were quickly eaten up earlier.
ReplyDeleteHow are the school folks involved doing? They may, having been from Eastern Europe setting aside wheat from previous years beyond their seed wheat. Don't eat your seed corn scenarios being common in their history.
My neighbors little pancake patch program I urged him into had a tiny wheat patch of 1/8th of a cup generate 2 full threshed out cups of wheat berries (seed grain).
Mine did well despite my neglect, three 5 gallon pails of needing threshing. I fully expect the usual 10 gallons of wheat and very happy chickens in the threshing yard. My grinder and waffle maker will be busy this year again.
Growing in New England wheat. A low yield crop per highly fertilized roundup mid-west reports. A good rotational crop when you're trying not to grow the nightshades in the same plot two years running due to diseases and pests. Wheat cleans them out as they are so different.
I reminded him that's why Grain Production Fed Empires. That and simply keeping it cool, dry and safe from rodents kept ready for years.
Going to be a grim hungry season coming, unless some stored wheat shows up. Almost half the calories of well fed pre-Walmart frozen pizza folks came from their "Daily Bread" like the prayers.
Michael - The School Folks (Epicurus) have at least communicated that they are alright, although what that really means is likely subject to debate - at least "alright from the fire"; I suspect given Epicurus and Themista's background, they had far more planted close to home than relying on a field some miles away.
DeleteI have brought grain seeds with me here to New Home 2.0 in hopes of growing some in a planter to at least keep the seed base active; if I can get those and Garlic in I will consider it a win for the year - never in all my years has garlic failed me.
Warm, fresh baked bread has always been a direct path to my heart. I would have been devastated.
ReplyDeleteEd, the best bread in the world is fresh, warm bread. When I make it at home (I use a bread maker) I am right there when it comes out and cut off the first slice - hot and steaming - and slather it with butter. There are few things more delightful in life.
DeleteSeneca is will likely be devastated on a number of levels - certainly practically but equally intellectually, as all of this initially started with his plan and (I suspect) he will feel somehow responsible for raising expectations only to see them crushed.
Jim Dakin (may he rest in peace) of Bison Blog fame was always big on everyone having at least one year's supply of wheat in storage just in case this sort of event occurred (crop failure, wildfire, theft) to buffer a person through to the next year's growing season. He advocated feed store wheat dusted with food-grade diatomaceous earth (to kill any weevils) in plastic buckets. Considering that a year's supply of feed store wheat (1 pound per day) placed in free, surplus restaurant buckets was around $100, it seemed very cheap insurance to me.
ReplyDeleteAnon - Thanks for the comment. Wheat is a surprisingly versatile food, at least to my mind: you can grind it for flour and make a number of products out of it (bread, pasta) and eat it straight as wheat berries.
DeleteI will check my local bulk food store, but bulgur wheat was $1.39 a pound when I bought some last weekend.
You may wish to see if you can find a nearby feed and ranch store that caters to the ag community. The feed store that I passed on the way to and from work (before I retired) has 50 pound sacks of pesticide-free hard red winter wheat kernels for $12.99. You'll often find a few corn seeds and husks in with the wheat but those are easily removed.
DeleteThe bakery department in my local Kroger still gives away their empty 4 gallon frosting buckets with lids to anyone who asks for them. It's a convenient size since each holds 25 pounds (1/2 sack) of wheat, so two buckets per 50 pound sack.
Amazon sells 4-5 pound bags of food grade diatomaceous earth (DE) for less than $20. At 1/2 cup of DE to dust each 25 pound bucket of wheat kernels a bag goes a long way.
Also, a Corona grain grinder (get one made in Latin America or South America, not China - much sturdier construction) allows you to grind your wheat into relatively fine flour (not like store-bought, however) can be had for about $50. Pan bread made from this flour is nutritious, albeit rather bland. But in a shortage situation it is a cheap and convenient source of bulk calories needed to keep you alive.
DeleteAnd one can sprout the wheat kernels in a glass jar for the necessary enzymes and vitamins found in fresh greens. Not as tasty as a fresh salad, but if you're hungry enough...
I actually have reason to go to a Ranch and Feed store this weekend so I will definitely check!
DeleteYou make a great point about the grinder too (I obviously just assumed one would have that for flour). I do have one that I need to get out here with me - with that and a bag of wheat, I could make endless amounts of bread and noodles.
Sprouts are also good - This is something that, given my new living situation, I need to try.
"Expect the unexpected." Not that one can actually do this very well, but it usually comes to mind after the fact. It's easier to swallow, though, when one has a store to fall back on.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, I cannot fully decide how this plot point happened. It is not directly related, but between the experience of the fire near my parent's place two years ago and some local fires here, it is something that can literally happen at any time - and unlike today, there would be no fire fighting group to manage the situation. It would have to burn itself out.
Delete