More Food Storage and Learning From History

It's been several years since I read The Fourth Turning, by Strauss and Howe. It was a bit of a long slog through and quite repetitive at times.  What they posited based on their review of history and focusing on America from the time the first settlers arrived, is that history always repeats and does so with predictable regularity.  The easiest part of the cycle to recognize is what they call winter, when the established status quo collapses.  Almost always, there is a substantial amount of war and bloodshed involved.  I've never been into studying generals and leaders and battles that much; I'm far more fascinated with what measures the common people took to survive.  I guess what I find so intriguing is that when the same situation arises throughout different periods of history, the people in general always react in the same way.  No matter what the problem is, the solution is the same whether it's 1776, 1861, or 1940.  

So I’m always surprised, and often more than a little disturbed, when I hear folks say that they’ll just go hunting or they’ll trade for the food they need when the collapse occurs. Such attitudes display a dismal lack of familiarity with history and what really happens in a collapse. By learning about what happened in previous generations, and knowing that history repeats, we can prepare better and avoid making the same mistakes before TEOTWAWKI begins. 

Throughout history.  Invading armies always looked for the easy food.  They wouldn't often dig up root crops like potatoes and carrots.  Presumably the same would go for people today--local thugs and bandits aren't likely to take the time to work.  They called it peasant food for a reason. 

The Forty-Niners.  The real 49ers had a huge mortality rate--20% died within six months of arriving in the gold fields of California.  It was because they were not clean and they were not eating well.  They had left their wives and families behind.  Many men wrote home to their wives, apologizing for not recognizing the work they did in preparing food, and begging them to teach them how to cook rice and make biscuits.  Some of the few respectable women who did come to Gold Country made their own fortunes in cooking.  Know how to cook the food you have stored and know how to do laundry properly to kill vermin.

World War One.  One intelligent person recognized the need to store some food for the post-war era.  The Federal government passed a law making storing food at home illegal.  The man and his wife were in the process of returning food to the store when they were arrested. I do have to wonder why they only had 375 pounds of flour, but over 3300 pounds of sugar. 

The article says it all.

The Great Depression.  So many people say they'll just hunt when food gets scarce.  In reality, the wildlife will get disappear very quickly.  Game in the East and South became almost extinct during the Depression.  I had an acquaintance whose friend during the Depression raised chickens.  He once traded three chickens for a motorcycle (no fuel to run it).  He built a substantial amount of wealth for his family during the Depression making trades like this. 


World War Two.   During WWII our government got quite creative in controlling the food.  After all, rationing was necessary so that soldiers could have the food they needed.  Whether rationing was essential in this situation is not the issue; the fact that it occurred and that ration books were used to control the foods people were able to obtain is.

• In the US, ration books were used during WWII.  The move toward a cashless society where everything is recorded on cards will make controlling the food much easier.
• Fruit trees counted as sugar--the family's sugar ration was reduced accordingly.  
• The government promoted victory gardens.  Basically, they were saying "you're on your own."  Make sure you've got garden seeds.   
• In Germany, farmers did very well.  One man traded a watch valued at $7,000 at the time for a sack of beans.
• Valuables and weapons were stored in beehives.  The soldiers weren't interested in disturbing the bees.
• Oil and honey were incredibly valuable.  A quart of oil could be traded for 300 pounds of potatoes.  
• The "uneducated" will be fooled easily.  One very well-educated, very successful man and his wife traded valuables to obtain a goat to provide milk for their children.  Unfortunately, they were sorely lacking in basic life skills.  They got a billy goat in their trade, and to make matters worse, they had to give the butcher half of the goat as payment for butchering. 
• One starving German woman sacrificed an orange she had been given by a relief agency after the close of hostilities to obtain a needle and a spool of thread to repair her clothes. 

Learn from history.  It will repeat.  Learn the principles of food storage--how and what to store, where to store it, how to cook it, how much you need.  Pay with cash—no store rewards cards, no Costco or Sam’s cards, and certainly don’t shop where you are known.  At least, don't do your prepping shopping where you are known.   

Links to related posts:
Food Storage and Learning from History