Our General Store…YOU DID IT!!!!!…Yippee…Have You Heard About Florida?
Hurray! The food department of our General Store will be stocked after this week!!!!
The last item we are adding is cheese. You will add two pounds per person. If you have never waxed your own cheese this may be the time to give it a try. You can check out the instructions in the September 2009 newsletter.Cheese that you wax will last for several years at cool, not refrigerated, temperatures.
This Thursday I have a great lady, Kat, who is an expert cheese maker who will do a guest post for us with all the instructions for making your own cheese. Be sure to check that out. I am so excited to try making cheese now, just trying to find a good source for the milk.
We have a discussion going on over on the yahoo group right now about doing a home preparedness open house for neighbors and friends. If you have ever done one or attended one please add your experience to the discussion. It sounds like a great idea to me. I did one for each or my daughters and also my son at their homes and they all went well but were very poorly attended. I figure even one convert to the cause is well worth the effort.
We have talked about the lack of seeds for home gardeners this year (so get your’s now) and the dire situation which affects all of us in California, but do you know what has happened to the crops in Florida?
Florida has experienced a disastrous winter for winter food production. Florida supplies at least 40% of the produce consumed in the U.S. during the winter months. Due to freeze damage affecting many vegetable crops, many packing houses remain closed and will not reopen for several weeks. This will result in decreased supplies to consumers and increasing unemployment rolls, and the need for more assistance to farm workers.
The cold weather caused extensive damage to snap beans and squash, and limited the harvest of endive, escarole, radishes, tomatoes, and citrus. Florida had 13 days in a row with periods of freezing weather. Estimates of orange-crop damage are as high as 30 percent, in addition to what the U.S. Department of Agriculture already had already projected to be the smallest crop in three years. The price of citrus futures on the stock exchange have skyrocketed meaning higher prices in the grocery store for citrus.
The Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services says they are continuing to assess the damage caused by the record cold temperatures. Losses could be in the hundreds of millions of dollars but it is not possible to put a number on crop losses until farmers complete salvaging as much as they can. There may also be damage that is not yet apparent, such as fungal and bacterial problems, as well as root rot. These concerns could mean higher prices and smaller crops next year as well.
Again let me say that I hate fear tactics to try to motivate. I hope you will not take all of this information about seeds and smelt and crop losses in that way. I do believe that knowledge is power. Only when we are aware of the facts can we act in such a way that we are ready to deal with the consequences of the circumstances around us.
I also believe we have no right to complain if we have made no effort to change what we can, and no effort to plan for the things we cannot change. Now you have the facts. Maybe your friends and neighbors need to have them too.
Happy Presidents Day. How grateful I am today for those who crafted a nation based on faith in God and the principles of freedom, justice, mercy and the power of the individual. I believe it’s time for all of us the read the constitution and to remind ourselves and our families of the inspired document it is.
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I live in SW Florida and I can tell you from personal experience the damage to produce is colossal. I don’t think we’ll really know just how much damage was done until early summer and then the prices will already be much higher.
so timely! When you alerted us to the possible shortage of seeds due to worldwide issues-I went ahead and ordered my spring seeds-I usually buy them at higher cost locally. My seeds came today-yippee…sounds like I’m going to be very glad I have them.Thanks for your great work helping us cope in today’s world.
Now THAT’S a lot of cheese sitting on the ground there in the picture! Wonder if they would miss a small round or two?
You may or may not be aware of a recent recommendation by USU Extension that cheese waxing can be dangerous.
In a nutshell, they stated that cheese created today is intended to be refrigerated. In times past, cheese was created with such a low PH that waxing could be done safely. Now, they indicate, that waxing cheese can cause botulism and is unsafe unless the cheese meets certain conditions.
Sources:
http://extension.usu.edu/htm/news/articleID=6009
http://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/uploads/Canning/Canning%20Safety%20-%20butter,%20eggs%20or%20cheese.pdf
I know! Cheese is just one of those comfort foods that is a must have for me.
I do not generally comment on web sites but I needed to drop in and say thanks for making this, I absolutely agree with the fact and with a little luck people today can understand this argument.