Local food sustainability group

[Alasgun]

I originally posted this over on the Easy garden site and thought some of you might be interested as well.

In our every changing world, food sustainability has come into focus as people have concerns about shortages etc. Locally a group was recently formed, comprised of concerned citizens from all sectors with a desire to learn, share and or provide what they can to a common cause. Pretty cool actually!
I’ve been asked to share at todays meeting, a privilege i will enjoy. Going into a group of 40 some souls i do not know is somewhat intimidating especially when you realize they cover the full gamut, master gardeners down to complete novices.
My goal (and prayer for today) is to give each of them a take away, something they can build on and hopefully something they can pass along to others.

Un certain times are a great opportunity to pay it forward, if you have an opportunity to become involved in something like this I’d encourage you to do so. Or if you are already involved and have any advice for “stupid here”, im all ears!

We meet weekly and i’ll stay with this post a bit, reporting back for any that are interested.

 

[thistlebloom]

Staying tuned.

 

[B&B Happy goats]

Me too

 

[Alasgun]

The meeting went well yesterday. I’m amazed at how far they’ve come in the few month’s they’ve been active.
currently they have a legislative arm, a communications arm, a transportation/ construction arm and the food sustainability group. Each separate entity meets weekly and the bigger group monthly!

My interest wont go beyond the food group but im excited to see what a group of concerned citizens can pull off.
Our members run the gamut and include farmer descendants of the pioneers who settled Alaska at statehood, folks with large scale meat and vegetable processing capability, numerous master gardeners etc.
Then there’s a bunch who just want to learn gardening, canning, butchering skills, root cellaring And to pass that on to the younger generation.

Alaska only produces 2% of our food, the rest coming thru the port in Seattle, which raised some concern last spring when they considered shutting our port down out of covid concerns! This groups main function is to heighten awareness of where that leaves us, promote community gardens, larger home gardens etc. And to implement a network of capable storage facilities, processing plants and the means to deliver these locally produced good to where they’re most needed.

My allotted time was directed at seed starting. Covering the necessary supplies, soil formulas, lighting, timing etc. Later today i’ll be working with a reputable seed source to gain “commercial grower” status, hoping to gain better access to that all important element, Seed’s!

I find them to be a refreshing mix of folks who are not shy to Pray to open and close meetings And yesterday after one lady pointed out the flags in the meeting hall, we all stood and recited The Pledge of Allegiance to our Flag. Couldn’t get any better than that!

 

[thistlebloom]

Thanks for sharing these encouraging happenings. 😍

 

[Baymule]

This is beyond wonderful! I like it! I need to see if there is a group like that in our town/county.

Is this so people become more responsible for their own food production? In WW2 the government promoted Victory Gardens. Now the government promotes hand outs. How far we have fallen.

I get frustrated with all the LAND that people have at their disposal and do nothing with it. Apathetic? Lazy? Don’t know? Don’t care? Too busy wrapped up in their own lives? I don’t know, people need to wake up. If the seed companies selling out is any indication, a movement has started. We all need to get behind this.

Thanks for posting this!

 

[Alasgun]

Yes @Baymule, a modern Victory garden approach And more. Educating folks and attempting to regain lost local knowledge. Finally something social media may be good for🤔, introducing young folks to community gardening, teaching canning, dehydrating, vacuum sealing / freezing etc.

How far would any of this carry us in a dire strait’s situation ? Probably not a long ways but certainly a better option than a bunch of hand wringing or pounding on some politicians door looking for the government to fix the problem!

Alaska has it’s share of “preppers” and a very strong veteran population both of which seem better equipt to “take care of they’re own”, sort of a country boy will survive mentality!

Down, America folks make lots of road kill jokes, they even got some songs about the dead skunks in the middle of the road an such!😉

up here we aint got no skunks but we scoop up those road killed moose and haul them off to get processed and distributed into the population. Personally, im not much on sompin that wer not kilt proper like, you know; bled an all BUT there’s litterly a ton of meat there for them that’s so inclined.
besides, can you imaging the image tourist would get driving along and smelling a full grown Angus bull laying dead on the road, in a high state of ferment? We gotta keep our image up you know.

 

[Baymule]

I have been known to process road kill deer. Why let all that meat go to waste?

 

[Alaskan]

Alasgun, Sounds like a great group.

But I think in general... like you said... Alaska has a bigger proportion of "be fully prepared " types (peppers too and all that).

And it REALLY helps it sink in when on a semi-regular basis.. you are at the grocery store... and just.. no cheese.

Or... Oops, zero animal feed. Or no whatever.

And that is before covid too.

And one year we had a flood that took out every bridge between us and the Anchorage... (well, at least 3) so it was WEEKS without stuff coming in.

They brought in WIC food on airplanes... but that was pretty much it.

I remember getting the last salad in town.
I found it pretty funny, going to the store.. there was the WIC food (so milk, cheese, baby formula) very little produce, and the canned food isle gave me the giggles. Really showed what things people hate to eat.

But no one went hungry... we just ate out of the freezer.. Salmon, halibut, salmon, halibut, and SALMON.

 

[Baymule]

I myself know for a FACT that I have squirrel DNA. We could probably live for a year on what I have stashed.