A few days ago I watched Sean Penn’s 2007 movie about Chris McCandless, Into The Wild. A true story that I was already familiar with, the film is about an idealistic 24-year-old college graduate from a wealthy family who gave away his life savings and hiked alone into the Alaskan wilderness, where he starved to death after about 112 days. The film gave a shocking look at the deterioration of the human body and mind as the actor apparently lost weight, taking in his belt by cutting new notches several times. Eventually he was totally emaciated and mentally disoriented.

Other symptoms of starvation are anemia, decreased ability to digest food, swelling under the skin, and shrinking vital organs such as the heart and lungs as they lose their ability to function. Mentally it causes irritability and an inability to concentrate. It takes only two to three months of severe malnutrition to die of starvation.

I’m writing about starvation because I’ve been shocked by the specter of high food prices and lack of availability of certain staples. In Asia people have been rioting because they can’t buy rice. Here in America some large stores are restricting the amount of rice people can buy. In Mexico people rioted because they couldn’t afford the new high price of corn tortillas. And in Africa, the wheat crop is ruined by Ug99, the fungus that threatens to destroy wheat crops around the world. I wrote about that a few days ago in Ug99, the Destruction of Wheat Crops, and Prices In Our Local Supermarkets.

Scientists predict that millions will starve because of Ug99.

So, out of concern for my fellow human beings I am asking you to consider the issue of food storage. I believe most Americans are so accustomed to having our needs provided for, we’re not prepared for the fact that everything could change overnight. If gasoline becomes unavailable, which could happen, trucking companies will not be able to supply supermarkets and our food supplies will be cut off. My significant other, who is pretty good at analyzing news and predicting the future based on what he reads, believes this could happen very quickly if war is declared against Iran.

There’s a way to prepare your family. Food storage. This means buying as much food as you can afford to, and keeping your cabinets fully stocked at all times. Of course when you prepare meals you should use the oldest foods first, and rotate the supplies you store. Food, even canned food, loses some of it’s nutritive value after a while.

I’d like to explore this idea further and will prepare some lists of things that should be stored for an emergency. I don’t want to sound paranoid or fatalistic, but I truly believe this American nation is going through hard times and that things are likely to get worse before they get better. I don’t want to see people starving. I hope with passion that my words will touch someone’s heart so that they’ll get a good supply of food stored and save themselves and their babies from hunger.

All the best to all of you…

Only a few years ago, back in 1999, a fungus was discovered in Africa. This fungus, unfortunately, destroys wheat. This year 70% of the African wheat crop has been lost to Ug99 (also known as Puccinia graminis.) The effects are frightening. According to the Food and Agriculture Office of the United Nations, about 1/4 of the world’s wheat crop is affected by Ug99 this year.

Wheat isn’t the only crop in crisis. During the past year hungry people around the world have been rioting, concerned about the cost of food. In Asia the price of rice has doubled in the last two months and here in the USA, stores are preventing foreigners from buying extra large quantities of rice to send to relatives overseas.

We’re in trouble, folks. Time to think ahead. I’m serious.

A few days ago I went into my local supermarket to buy parmesan cheese, something I’ve purchased regularly for years. Suddenly the price is up from $3.50 to over $6. I took a long look at the shelf and sighed, and decided to price it at the larger markets outside our tiny remote town. For now, I’ll do without. I suspect the cost of gas will be driving up all food prices before long.

The pizza restaurant I work in is small and cozy - a comforting fixture in a town remotely located in a valley in the mountains in the center of a large forest. There, we rely on wheat to make the pizza dough, and the parmesan cheese is an essential condiment. People here would not like losing their pizza parlor, because there are few alternative restaurants locally. But I foresee that the owner may have to raise prices, perhaps drastically. He drives out of town once or twice weekly to get supplies like huge bags of white flour, parmesan cheese, and everything else we need. His gas cost has doubled in the last couple years. The price of gas locally is now $4.22. It didn’t seem quite so bad before it hit that $4.00 mark, but now I look at the pump and cringe. People expect to see gas priced at over $5.00 here this summer.

Ug99 and the wheat crop crisis comes on the heels of a corn crisis and a rice crisis. For all these formerly-abundant items we consider “staples” and “necessities”, the price is going up.

Prepare now for the future, for your families.

On a similar note, do you realize how dependent we are on the trucking industry for the diversity of foods offered in our stores? My significant other is an ex-trucker, so we think about this often. He expects the flow of food availability to halt sometime within the coming years. It is up to each of us to help our families by preparing with food storage. Another way we should prepare is to develop our gardening capabilities. Raise as much of the food you use yourself and you won’t be devastated when your favorite items disappear from the supermarket shelves, or get priced beyond your ability to pay.

A few years ago I fasted for ten days using the lemonade diet - a wonderful cleansing ritual that is amazingly healthy. The essential ingredients are lemons and maple syrup (the real stuff, not imitation). How was I to know that the next year lemons would be priced so high I’d cringe at the thought of buying them. I still want so much to do another lemonade cleansing diet, but every time I see that locally lemons cost 79 cents each, I realize it just isn’t a possibility for me right now.

Ug99 isn’t in the USA yet; that doesn’t mean it won’t be. We live in a global civilization and we need to be aware that what affects one person affects us all. Scientists are saying the fungus could spread as spores on the wind to reach other locations throughout the world including the United States.

Source: Wheat Crop Failures Could be Total, Experts Warn published on April 24, 2008 on MoneyNews.Com.

See also: Crisis In Food Prices Threatens Worldwide Starvation - Is it Genocide? by Richard C. Cook, published April 24, 2008 on Rense.Com.

Video: Food Rationing at Costco and Sam’s

It’s that day again. I’m putting on my hat and heading out the door to see what another blogger is up to. Today I’m dropping in on The Pioneer Woman Cooks - another country-style cook, albeit not a vegetarian like I am. That doesn’t mean we can’t learn something from her blog.

The first thing I noticed is that she’s got way too many photographs on the main page - and there’s no way I’ll get them all to load because I’m on dial-up. So I chose a single recipe page and . . . I’m still waiting . . . It is at times like this when I think I may someday break down and get DSL, which is the other option out here in the boonies, for those who can afford it. I hear our prices on DSL are higher than elsewhere.

Still loading.

The second thing I noticed was that The Pioneer Woman’s blog is friendly, personable, and has character. She says her name is Ree. She is the main character, and her side-kick, The Marlboro Man, is apparently her husband. In any case, we get to know who’s there and to put a face to it she has some retro-type graphics showing what she wants us to believe she looks like. In any case, it is cute and entertaining. Almost enough for me to want to do a blog makeover and hire a quality graphic artist to make a cool header for my blog too!

I’m looking at this page: Orange Mini-Muffins with Brown Sugar Glaze.

The Pioneer Woman has a popular blog - not just because she’s a strong, interesting personality - but because she illustrates her cooking experience with step-by-step photos, and that’s just what some people need to have the confidence to try out the recipes she features. And she doesn’t use recipes that are too difficult or confusing for common people. Not only that, she uses ingredients most people have at hand. She says, “I’m a desperate housewife. I live in the country. I love to cook delicious, abundant, satisfying food using the simplest of ingredients. Welcome to my kitchen!” Right away we feel like we know her, identify with her, and want to cook like her.

Still loading.

Well, this site is probably great for people with better internet connections than I have, and is a superb example of what a successful cooking blog can be. You can see she loves cooking and is dedicated to sharing that love and knowledge with people everywhere. I highly recommend a look at her site, to any food bloggers out there. The Pioneer Woman is an expert cook who exudes enthusiasm for her work.

The Pioneer Woman’s blog is insanely popular. The recipe I’m looking at was posted late in June, and has 63 comments on it already. Her fans love her home country cooking, and the detailed instructions. One of the comments suggests some changes to the recipe to make it perfect for vegans. Another says, “I love that you do the printable recipe, now! That helps alot!!” I tried the printable recipe link - it opened a doc file in my Open Office word processing program. Very cool!

There are 35 step-by-step photographs for this one recipe alone. Many of them are still loading into my browser, even though I’ve written all this. When I was a web designer, I tried to keep images to a six-per-page limit for quick loading. But these days with the fast connections, the image-heavy pages are acceptable to most. And for young cooks needing help and inspiration, The Pioneer Woman’s style is ideal.

As I finish this article, I see all the photos are displayed in my browser now, but the page is still loading. ::sigh:: Sometimes I feel so behind the times. Seriously, my town is known for being a throw-back to an earlier time here in California. We’re as remote as you can get in this state. People come here and feel like they’ve stepped back twenty years. Only recently we’ve gotten better cell phone reception and suddenly I see people carrying them around town more frequently. Before this, it was common to see tourists standing on Highway 96 looking desperate as they tried to get their cell phones to work!