Small Revolutions: Voluntary Simplicity in Devon

Food, Biofuel and Peak Oil: No-one gets left behind.

This is about the coming food shortages.

Well, I say coming. What I actually mean is that it is already happening for some.

There were the Mexico Corn riots where hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets because the price of corn had gone up 400%.

Because the price of oil is so high, it is more profitable for farmers to produce and sell corn for the biofuel market where it fetches higher prices.

That's land not being used to feed people.

The rush to produce corn has caused the world price of fertiliser to double in 2007 meaning that the poor farmers in sub saharan Africa who really need the fertiliser to grow stuff, may well not be able to afford it - producing less food in that region.

The price of wheat has rocketed too. Kazakhstan, Argentina and Russia have all put export restrictions on wheat. Source: BBC

The World Food Programme has outlined stark choice of getting more money, or rationing and feeding fewer people (this isn't luxury stuff, we're talking about the basics to simply stay alive and maintain a basic level of health to escape disease and malnutrition). Source: BBC

According to Independent Bangladesh, wheat is up more than 180%, soybeans are up 82% and rice has doubled in the past year. In America, 16% of land formerly planted with wheat and soybeans is now growing corn, most of it going into biofuel.

The price of rice doubling means that a 2kg bag of rice now costs half a day's wages. This is about the margin of survival, not luxuries. (Independent Bangladesh)

We're beginning to see a convergence in food and energy prices. Right now, it's not just because of biofuel, but at heart I believe, we are seeing the beginning effects of peak oil with oil at $100 plus per barrel being the main trigger for all of this.

There are other reasons of course which I will briefly spell out here:

• Inundations in some parts of the world, drought in others (shifting weather patterns are a feature of global warming
• Meat production - growing affluent markets such as China are increasing the demand for beef and more grain is needed to feed the beef animals

If, as I suspect (and I am not an educated commentator, I surf and find things out in my spare time) that peak oil has in fact hit and this is the frontier of what is to come, then it shows a haunting overture to what is to come.

And here’s the central point:

I really absolutely believe that we can all get through it. I really do.

But it's going to be much bigger than a battle for food. It's going to be a showdown between the twin forces selfishness and fear (in all its manifestations, including denial) on the one hand, and love and compassion on the other.

There is a classic line in the kids cartoon movie Lilo & Stitch: "no-one gets left behind" and that's the policy we have to take.

No-one gets left behind. Whatever happens we’ve got to make sure everybody is fed.

How do we do that, and how does it relate to our individual actions, how does it relate to what I can do every day to be part of that change right here?

That’s what I am going to explore in my blog over the next few weeks.

Blatant plagiarist that I am, I am going to call it Digging for Victory.
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Microwaved

Because using a microwave is more efficient than using an oven of a hob, we've finally decided to invest in one for reheating food. It  feels weird (just two dials and a button to open the door) so it should last us for many years to come.

Woohoo! Ginger Beer Plant!!

This week I've received a wonderful present through the post from Mel at beansprouts - a genuine ginger beer plant.

It's settled in nicely, and is living in an old golden syrup jar.

What I've read about the culture is really amazing. It's really a symbiotic mixture of organisms such as Saccharomyces florentinus and Lactobacillus hilgardii. They form globules of jelly, looking a bit like candied ginger or something but a lot softer.

So within a week or so I should be ready to start brewing my own ginger beer.

One thing left, I have to give it (them?) a name. What about Simba, as in symbiant?
 

New Chickens

Well, after having let my account expire and not being able to retrieve my content until I re-subscribed (bugger) I've now pulled together the readies to get back into my blog and subscribe for another year. Had I thought about it earlier, I would have migrated to Wordpress which is free. Never mind...

I spent today cleaning out the hen house for the arrival of 100 new chickens.

The old chickens had been laying for two years, weren't very nice to each other (peck, peck, peck all the time).

So they're in retirement over the hill.

I'll be glad to get the new chickens because it's been a bit embarrassing going out to the field twice a day and bringing back 3 eggs a time.

Hopefully now there should be enough for all the orders and some left over for me to take home. Our organic eggs are cheaper than the supermarket and taste a lot better (must be all the foraging they do).

Fresh Mackerel

I was pleased to find out that on the Devon coast you can actually fish for mackerel from the shore. If any seasoned anglers are reading this, I would forgive them for shaking their heads.

But that's actually the extent that most people in the UK are disconnected from their food today.

I've never shown the slightest interest in fishing, but now it looks like there's a possibility of catching food, my ears have pricked up. The promise of free food, the chase betwixt hunter and hunted, man against the elements - all that stuff.

So when we get down there, I'm going to start fishing to catch food. I have no idea how to do it, but I've found a great guide that's helping me no end called Torbay Fishing.

Does anyone know of anything else I can catch from the shore?

Rob's Super Nutritious Wheatgerm Flapjack

I wanted to find a recipe for a flapjack style bar which could use the wheatgerm in my cupboard. Nothing I found from my searchs exactly matched the sheer quantity I wanted to use.

So I adapted this from Duramecho.com a random site I found while searching for a regular flapjack recipe.

Inregdients:

• 150g Wheatgerm
• 150g Oatmeal
• 150g Margarine / Butter
• 100g Rolled Oats
• 75g Golden Syrup
• 75g Sugar
• A small handful of assorted seeds (linseed, sunflower, pumpkin etc.)

Destructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 Degrees Centigrade.
2. Combine the golden syrup, margarine and sugar in a large pan and stir and melt together over a low heat.
3. Stir in all of the other ingredients thoroughly.
4. Pack densely into a greaseproof paper lined flat dish so the flapjack is about 1-1.5 inches high.
5. Bake for 25 minutes.
6. Leave in dish and cut into slices.
7. Leave to set hard

The result is a crumbly, dense, almost cake-like flapjack.

According to one article I have found (but activate your pop-up blocker before you visit!) says that wheatgerm contains more nutrients per ounce than almost any other food. Now, don't get me wrong, this is not a health food. But it manages to pack a big dose of wheatgerm in a manageable and treat-like way.

Enjoy!

When life hands you curds and whey, make yoghurt cheese

I tried making my own yoghurt yesterday by scalding a pint of milk, letting it cool down to about body temperature then adding a live culture from yoghurt we already had. 2 hours later (it should be 3 1/2 hours but I was impatient) I had a look and it had set, mostly.

Being a little separated, and my early intervention proving a little premature, I hoiked it all into a sieve lined with material from an old shirt (you don't need cheesecloth - any cloth will do as long as the material is fine enough). Taking the corners up to make a bag I twisted it to gradually put pressure on the yoghurt inside and drain out the liquid.

Once it got to cream cheese consistency, I scraped it into a bowl, added a little sugar to dumb down the sour taste of the yoghurt, and added chopped chives, herbs and garlic. Add a little salt to taste and voila - you have a cream cheese that actually tastes better than the commercial alternatives on the high street and for half the price.

Granted, it takes time. But in this instance, simplicity was not about making it easy.

It's an experiment to gain the skill of making something, using nouse when the yoghurt didn't set, exercising a little creativity and intuition, a little self-reliance, then the satisfaction (and surprise) at having created something pretty tasty.

And that's what they don't sell in little plastic packages...

Caring for My Farmers

Like many people nowadays, we get an organic veg box.

The fruit and vegetables are sourced as locally as possible, often within 50 miles, and the produce is seasonal. Our supplier also never flies in produce - if they source anything from abroad it comes in by ship. And the farmers get fair prices.

But what I really love about getting a veg box, is that I don't have to visit the supermarket so often.

In supermarkets we are targeted left, right and centre with offers, temptations, frippery.

Last week I saw a woman rattle and shove about a box of kiwi fruits, delivered from over 2000 miles away, like it was rubbish. She simply wanted to choose a different punnet from the cardboard box below. It was her careless attitude about the food which rattled me.

Why? In Not On The Label, I read about farmers being driven about of business to push food prices lower and lower.

Affordable food is a great thing, but it shouldn't be at the expense of the farmers with the supermarkets taking all the profit.

The big supermarkets, like mafia (my words), twist the arms of these producers until they buckle - making them fund special offers, subjecting them to the silliest of quality controls which simply amounts to how the vegetable or fruit looks, and nothing to do with its nutritional content, or the chemicals put on it.

When I get my veg box, I know my farmers have been paid well. And that's the way I think of them: my farmers.

Because if I don't help look after them, why should they care about looking after my food?

Fair trade applies at home as well as abroad.

Cookery and Caring

It's late and I can't sleep.

In a good way.

Earlier on this evening something happened. I went into the kitchen of our shared house and started scrubbing and I did that (Saturday evening no less) for a couple of hours.

I started off deciding to clear one or two things and then it snowballed. I actually enjoyed myself. What I found under the clutter and sticky mess was a beautiful kitchen which had been neglected.

Sometimes the act of caring for something and taking one or two steps forward is enough to make a tangible change.

So I couldn't sleep and I wanted to enjoy the kitchen.

So I snuck down with my copy of Laurel's Kitchen (heartily recommended, I've linked to Abe Books so you can search for a yellowed secondhand copy) made a cup of tea and slathered toasted home made wholemeal bread with peanut butter and organic honey.

When you pick up Laurel's Kitchen, it's like a balm. There really is something spiritually calming and homely and warm about the book.

And I came across a quote I wanted to share with you.

"For we still can change our direction. We can, if we choose, reverse the trend away from healthful living, if we just start with ourselves and patiently begin to undo the long years of conditioning to which we have been subjected. Then changes in one's way of eating can become, most delightfully, just the beginning of a transformation of one's entire life." - Carol Flinders, Berkeley 1976, Preface to Laurel's Kitchen.

It's a rich message and it can apply to a lot more than food.

But food is a good place to start.

[picture borrowed from Culiblog archives]

Making Bread: Tips

I had insomnia the other night and ended up baking bread. I thought I would try and share a little of what I have learned from my experience and a hard road with a high flop to success rate that has dwindled over time due to sheer dint of effort.

 

Tip #1 - use fresh yeast if possible
I used the last of the fresh yeast from Columbia Road market.
It definitely works better I think. Easier to wake it up.

Tip #2 - give dried yeast time to 'wake up'
If you're using active yeast, make sure you give the 'yeasties' (as Laurel's Kitchen calls them) some time to wake up and make a foam on the surface of the liquid. Also make sure it has plenty of sugar to go ballistic.

Tip #3 - if at first you don't succeed, rise and rise again
As for rising, I am now going with a system of letting it rise a few times. This I think is the best way of making sure that it gets enough air bubbles in it. This is really important for wholemeal or a 50/50 blend as the heavier nature of wholemeal bread flour will otherwise give quite a dumpy, heavy bread.

Punch it down, let it rise.
Punch it down, let is rise.

Tip #4 - spice it up
Use half a bag of dried fruit and candied peel, with a teaspoon of mixed spice and knead this into your loaf before the final rise. Bake in the oven and as soon as it comes out, paint with a glaze of brown sugar and mixed spice dissolved in a little boiling water.

This make for a perfect fruit loaf, ideal for dessert, or a quick snack - and still with the wholemeal element, so not altogether unhealthy.

ps - send me your baking tips and successes, I would love to hear from you.