Showing off our home-grown pumpkins & re-organising our emergency food boxes

I know pumpkins are traditionally harvested in time for halloween but we decided ours needed a little longer, harvesting them a just few days ago. These beauties will last all winter and are destined for the soup pot.

Having never grown pumpkins before I feel quite impressed by that big one which we discovered right at the end of the season hiding under a bush ;)

I understand the small ones are actually not edible and only for decoration. They were gifted to us as baby plants so we grew them anyway. And I am glad we did now. Will post a pic when we find a decorative home for them.

Gaining food independence

Growing food is quite obviously the solution to rising prices, shortages and a world which may eventually force you to take a vaccine in order to be 'safe' enough to enter shops. Storing food on the other hand is the simplest solution, especially if you can find a decent hiding place for everything.

At the end of this season we were able to store a load of foraged & home-grown food. Any of you who followed my posts this year will already know how busy we have been learning about this subject.

We also have emergency food boxes which basically represent is all the stuff we cannot produce ourself. Or at least, cannot produce easily. And some naughty stuff like chocolate! Which is still important during an apocalypse ;)

Yesterday morning we went through everything and re-boxed it all using the best before date as the storage system. The 2020 box has been added to our regular food cupboards and will be eaten over the next few months.

I don't recall what my goal was at the beginning of this year but if the food shops were to close tomorrow I believe we would survive comfortably for a year and with my new knowledge of food which grows naturally around here, perhaps indefinitely.

Hey, I have a question for you...

We have multiple packets of sugar, salt & coconut oil which don't have a best before date. Does this mean they last forever?

Here is the film I shot on the day we bought all this food, in the wake of a growing yellow vest movement which had me feeling a small sense of concern. Dec 10th 2019

Moments such as this, having fun together as a family in a supermarket, will seem strange to us ten years from now, so I am glad I have this particular memory recorded.

Love & Light everyone 🌱