Our Food Supply

     

          Just at first look at the government letter below see this and say thank goodness they are getting help.
    Now think a little harder and look at the total picture.
    Can you see what I see about how precarious our food supply is? You just think last spring was tough! Yes it takes a full growing season to get crops going again usually.
   But what if the people that produce our food is no longer there due to financial hardships like this? These people having to borrow money to stay in business no matter what the size mom and pop or large family production will almost never get caught back up on the bills. This may help for now but it is just temporary in the overall picture of things.
   Please if you can, grow as much of your own as you can. Grow extra to sell to a neighbor or at the local farmers market. Think it's to big a pain to deal with selling or you may not have enough to do it? Donate to women's shelters, local food pantry, give to the single mom in the neighborhood.
    Remember what goes around comes around. Karma will reward you for your goodness!
Love
Ranchmama

USDA Temporarily Suspends Debt Collections, Foreclosures and Other Activities on Farm Loans for Several Thousand Distressed Borrowers Due to Coronavirus

SDA Temporarily Suspends Debt Collections, Foreclosures and Other Activities on Farm Loans for Several Thousand Distressed Borrowers Due to Coronavirus

01/27/2021 02:55 PM EST

STILLWATER, OKLAHOMA, Jan. 27, 2021 – Due to the national public health emergency caused by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the U.S. Department of Agriculture today announced the temporary suspension of past-due debt collections and foreclosures for distressed borrowers under the Farm Storage Facility Loan and the Direct Farm Loan programs administered by the Farm Service Agency (FSA). USDA will temporarily suspend non-judicial foreclosures, debt offsets or wage garnishments, and referring foreclosures to the Department of Justice. USDA will work with the U.S. Attorney’s Office to stop judicial foreclosures and evictions on accounts that were previously referred to the Department of Justice. Additionally, USDA has extended deadlines for producers to respond to loan servicing actions, including loan deferral consideration for financially distressed and delinquent borrowers. In addition, for the Guaranteed Loan program, flexibilities have been made available to lenders to assist in servicing their customers

2020 Pandemic Shortages

  Here are some of the highlights. More details found at the links.
Let's hope manufacturing gets caught up and to everyone in need soon.
Some of these I knew about others I haven't heard of yet. I am sure there is much more out there. Many things they blame on panic buying of things making it hard for manufacturers to keep up with the ingredients and components to supply the demand. Other problems is the labor not being available due to social distancing or not being able to come in from other countries to work and the total shut down. 

1. World Wide Hunger
2. 19 Groceries That Have Gone Up the Most During Pandemic
3.  4 ingredients facing shortages amid the pandemic
4. Worried about more shortages, grocery stores are stockpiling goods
5. Shortages
6. Medication Shortages (this may not be up to date )
7. Coins
8. Hospitals
9. Morgues
10. Consumer goods
11. Condoms
12. Toilet paper and other paper products
13. Bike Shortage is a Tale of Changed Lives and Disrupted Supply Chains
14. Seed Shortages.
15. Sewing Machines
16.Experts Say You're Not Alone In Wanting A Smaller Thanksgiving Turkey This Year
17. Canned Corn Is Experiencing A Shortage
18 . Ammunition due to the fear of all the political craziness

1. World Wide Hunger
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/22/world/africa/coronavirus-hunger-crisis.html
This hunger crisis, experts say, is global and caused by a multitude of factors linked to the corona virus pandemic and the ensuing interruption of the economic order: the sudden loss in income for countless millions who were already living hand-to-mouth; the collapse in oil prices; widespread shortages of hard currency from tourism drying up; overseas workers not having earnings to send home; and ongoing problems like climate change, violence, population dislocations and humanitarian disasters.

2. 19 Groceries That Have Gone Up the Most During the Pandemic
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/08/15/19-groceries-driving-up-your-bill-the-most-during-pandemic/42206031/
19. Flour and prepared flour mixes +4.5%
18. Shelf stable fish and seafood   +4.6%
17. Fresh sweet rolls, coffeecakes, doughnuts +4.8%
16. Carbonated drinks  +5.1%
15. Soups +5.1%
14. Frozen fruits and vegetables +5.5%
13. Bacon, breakfast sausage, and related products +5.5%
12. Frozen fish and seafood +5.6%
11. Breakfast cereal  +5.9%
10. Canned vegetables +6.4%
9. Dried beans, peas, and lentils +7.4%
8. Peanut butter +7.9%
7. Ham +8.7%
6. Potatoes  +8.7%
5. Frankfurters +8.8%
4. Chicken +9.4%
3. Citrus fruits +10.3%
2. Pork chops  +19.9%
1. Beef and veal +22.7%

3. - 4 ingredients facing shortages amid the pandemic
https://www.fooddive.com/news/4-ingredients-facing-shortages-amid-the-pandemic/579323/
Mushrooms
Garlic
The majority of garlic consumed in the U.S. is imported from China. Supply chains were interrupted, and has weakened supply and increased prices. The cost of garlic was up 29% from last year during the pandemic, while wholesale prices were up 60% from the start of this year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Globally, there is a struggle to produce enough garlic. There is a shortage of both onions and garlic in the Philippines.
Carbon Dioxide
Beer, soda and seltzer water rely on carbon dioxide to give the beverages its fizzy mouth feel, so a depleting supply of CO2 from ethanol plants is causing concern among beverage makers.
yeast
the American Bakers Association, was not prepared for the run on yeast there's usually a lull in demand for bread products and ingredients in the first quarter of the year, while the peak typically comes during the holiday season at the end of the year.

4. Worried about more shortages, grocery stores are stockpiling goods
https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/27/business/grocery-stores-stockpiling-pandemic/index.html

Stocking up on products to avoid shortages during a second wave of corona virus.
Grocery stores were focusing on stockpiling weeks of supplies for shoppers, but now food sellers are focusing on the long-term, aiming to stockpile supplies for months instead.

A massive surge in sales of Bounty paper towels in July was reported. As people began scrubbing down their homes and washing their dishes more often during the pandemic.

Clorox, shortages of its wipes and other products will continue into 2021 due to demand.The company has aggressively ramped up production, but it still won't be enough.

5. Shortages
https://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2020/07/16/coronavirus-pandemic-shortages/
Soft drink companies are focusing on their core brands because the aluminum can industry shortages. With so many people at home, the consumption of those drinks is up more than 30 percent.manufacturers are having to choose what they can

The pandemic is impacting manufacturing capabilities all over the world,” said Hillebrand. “With a global economy, parts are sourced from all over the world and manufacturing has crawled to a very slow pace and orders are nowhere near being filled.”
   Hillebrand says the items shortest supply are, “Freezers are short and on an 8- to 12-week back order. Refrigerators side by side and top-mount refrigerators are very short in supply.”
      There is also a roofing shingles,  lumber shortage slowing down construction. Not only is wood in short supply, so are the things made from it like cabinets, windows and doors

6. Medication Shortages (this may not be up to date )
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7378009/
   The list is too long to print here.
From 2015–2019, annual medication shortages have increased consistently from 5 to 31. Over the span of only 6 months, 27 new shortages were announced in 2020. Medication shortages in 2020 have reached 87% that of the shortages reported in 2019 in half of the time. When considering the effect of the second wave of COVID-19 cases it is likely that medication shortages will continue to escalate.
     In ventilation use, patients often require varying amounts of sedation and/or analgesia depending on their status. For example, fentanyl is a commonly used drug for analgesia, whereas propofol is used for sedation. In addition, midazolam can be infused if heavy sedation is required. These medications are essential not patient comfort and to minimize the risk of self extubation. Yet, all 3 of these medications are currently in shortage

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortages_related_to_the_COVID-19_pandemic#Others

7. Coins
A shortage of coins around the United States as the circulation of coins came to a halt. Normal circulation of coins through banks, business, and consumers was interrupted at every step. The lock down closed both banks and business. Consumers shied away from the use of cash when health warnings indicated the use of cash and coin could spread the virus. Therefore, coins stopped moving throughout the economy. The shortage was further exacerbated when the Treasury authorized the minting of fewer coins earlier in the year to protect workers during the pandemic.
 
8. Hospitals
Laboratory mice are being culled, and some strains are at risk of shortage due to lock downs. Then there is also all the personnel, drugs and equipment shortages also.

9. Morgues
New York morgue shortages led the city to propose temporary burial in parks.

10. Consumer goods
toilet paper, hand sanitizer, cleaning supplies and canned food.
        Various consumer items were reported in local shortage due to either supply chain disruption or unusual demand, including freezers, $100 bills (on one bank in New York City), jigsaw puzzles, Kettlebells,blood,baking yeast,dogs and cats for adoption in New York City, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch Lite,laptop and tablet computers,and small gold bars and gold coins.

11. Condoms
(Other than boredom now we see another reason for so many quarantine babies lol) Concerns about a global condom shortage arose after some manufacturers were forced to shut down or reduce their operations, in compliance with stay-at-home orders, including Malaysia-based Karex, the world's largest condom producer.This has been compounded with delays in delivery due to greater restrictions on imports and freight

12. Toilet paper and other paper products
Shortages of toilet paper were in various countries, including Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States. Shoppers reported empty shelves in both the toilet paper section as well as sections for related products such as paper towels, tissues, and diapers.
    Two different grades of toilet paper: commercial toilet paper and consumer toilet paper. Georgia-Pacific predicted a 40% increase in  consumer toilet paper as a result of people staying at home. Due to differences in roll size, packaging, and supply and distribution networks between the two grades, toilet paper manufacturers are expected to have difficulty shifting production to meet the shift in demand from commercial to home use, leading to lingering shortages even after panic buying subsides

13. Bike Shortage is a Tale of Changed Lives and Disrupted Supply Chains
https://www.marketplace.org/2020/08/20/bike-shortage-covid-19-economy-transportation/

There is a national — international, even — bike shortage. It’s been going on for months and will continue to go on for months.
“As public transit was viewed in a different light, so was the bicycle. And we saw an explosion of commuters,” Bjorling said
The next flush of entry-level bikes and parts will probably get here around September or October.

14. Seed Shortages.
 https://www.delish.com/food-news/a34316746/smaller-turkey-thanksgiving-2020/
      Major seedling / garden plant suppliers are having a difficult time getting seeds to start growing 2021 vegetable garden plants.

15. Sewing Machines At one time during the beginning of the shut down these  were nowhere to be found in some areas.

16.Experts Say You're Not Alone In Wanting A Smaller Thanksgiving Turkey This Year
Thanksgiving dinner is set to look different this year.
Basically... they think people with be having smaller Thanksgiving Celebrations so people will want smaller birds. Due to contracts from a year ago actual smaller birds may be harder to come by.

17. Canned Corn Is Experiencing A Shortage At Grocery Stores Due To Early Stockpiling During The Pandemic
https://www.delish.com/food-news/a34395581/canned-corn-shortage-covid-19/
Canned corn is the latest grocery store item seeing somewhat of a shortage. According to the Wall Street Journal, the sweet corn used for canning is only harvested once a year, and each summer, the amount that is reaped has to last for months thereafter.  The WSJ cited statistics from Nielsen that explained canned corn saw a 47% increase of sales compared to last year. 

18. Ammunition  No links here just walk into any sporting goods store and look.

Baking Shortages Practice --- Eggless Cornbread

   I just tried out this recipe tonight. It started turning cool with temps in the 40*F range at night. We had black bean chili with cornbread!
There are just not than many egg free baking recipes I have found I like that really work for me. This one did pretty good. I had to change it up a bit for my crazy alpha gal issues but it still worked. A little bit crumbly in that it was very tender and you needed to be careful so it would hold together good.  I did everything I could to keep it close to the original to get a good result. Instead of the real thing I had to use substitutes for the
butter = butter flavored Crisco
buttermilk = coconut milk with apple cider vinegar
yogurt = I skipped an just added a equal amount of the buttermilk.
bacon. = I just put that on hubby's side of the pan.
Honey = Nothing since I am allergic and it already had brown sugar in it.
    She has all kinds of things at the bottom of the recipe you can add to it and personalize to your families tastes and likes.
   I don't know what it would be like if I used oil instead. You never know how things will turn out if you change major ingredients up in a recipe.
    Now remember my husband is one of those people that will go to Baskin Robbins and order vanilla ice cream! So his major complaint was it was too sweet with the brown sugar. He said I don't know why ANYBODY would want sugar in bread! I told him I like it and a lot of other people like sweet bread also. I love those Hawaiian sweet rolls. He can't tolerate them at all.
   He also complained saying his mama would put cracklings in her cornbread. I told him that isn't going to happen with my allergies ( alpha gal .. pork rinds are a no no) . I wasn't going to make a separate pan for him so just live with bacon on top of your side of the pan!
    I told him for one I go through a dozen or two eggs soo quick between breakfast and baking. Another thing is if we get to a point where once again we are having major shortages its nice to be able to still fix decent food.
    His argument was.... I would rather have good food every day and then feed me the not so great stuff when things go upside down and then I will appreciate the good food when it gets back. LOL
    I got news, I go a little crazy when I find a decent recipe and after the first normal go round I will get in there and change it to my liking! So next time no sugar.... will see how he likes that version!

                                    BEST Eggless Cornbread
                    https://mommyshomecooking.com/best-eggless-cornbread
                           

Love
Ranchmama
( Practicing for possible shortages )

Living In / With a Pandemic

 

 

                                 Old  Keeper                                 New
1. Holiday Gatherings
2. Appliance availability.
3. Nutrition -- Vitamins
4. Canning Shortages
5. Seed Shortages
6. Eggs
7.Cooking
8.Recipes
9. Freezing Zucchini

    Is hard to do and it **** STINKS **** big time!
With fear of so many things from the actual catching something that can make you sick to worrying about bills and income IT IS JUST HARD!

1. Here it is in the middle of October! We are just weeks away from Thanksgiving and Christmas. Other than the recipes I need to get figured out and trying to stay ahead of this pandemic issue the holidays will be in front of us soon. I don't know how we are going to do that yet with this virus thing. Daughter in ark is a teaching professor and exposed to it daily. Her husband is working on equipment so not around many people if any. Her youngest son is doing school at home and is a home body so no exposure there. Her middle son is collage age and working so there is that one to worry about. Her Oldest works on a ranch and I believe goes to school but probably wouldn't come any way. I know I will be invited to a couple of gatherings but I think I will just make a dessert and drop it off with a mask on for those.
    As we go along we figure out a few things. I am going to write this assuming that your funds are in decent shape and money may not be rolling in hand over fist but it is there.
2.   My daughter in Arkansas has been telling me appliances are hard to get. You order something and it either doesn't come in or it takes months and months if your lucky. Some of this is due to the factories either closing down or not working as much. Some may be the whole thing is coming from a foreign country like China. (I'm mad at them and I would rather not buy anything from there if I can help it) I talked to the local hardware man and he said he is having a terrible time getting appliance in. My oven went out on me and my repair man said he has been really busy since January (isn't that when all this lock down started?) He said some parts he can get and some are back ordered. I was lucky and he could get the heating coil in the back of my oven for my convection oven. My daughter said isn't that a pretty new oven when we were talking on the phone. My husband yelled so she could hear on the speaker..... " It still goes out when you use the hell out of it!" The woes of a addicted baker ! LOL I am for sure addicted. I was not a happy camper for a few days. $150.00 for the bill on that. No we are not the fix it type on this kind of thing. Besides that we would have a hard time crawling around on the floor to fix the thing. Ouch that would hurt with arthritis!
    All of our appliances are about 25 years old. Next thing we know we have 2 freezers in the garage. One started making a odd noise. Husband panics and we start looking online to see about prices and availability. I do uprights. It takes up less room and I can get to things so much easier. I know people say the chest freezer is cheaper and you get more in it but picture this. I have had chest freezers. I am about 5'5" tall and probably just as wide LOL Anyway I swear there were times I am digging around trying to get something and I needed to call for help to pull me out. Can you imagine walking in to the room and seeing someones kester and legs in the air and someone yelling for a wrecker to haul them out? That would be me. No thank you. I wanted a commercial freezer on wheels. Lots more money and not easy to get on a normal day out here to the country. Hubby was in a big hurry thinking this one is going to go out any minute and we can't find any. I found one at the local hardware store that is 21 CF upright that just came in. Cost was $1084.80 ? They delivered for free. So we had a old freezer to move over and clean out under and behind. Don't you just love that when a appliance has to be moved? Always nasty dirty but this had a extra layer of nasty because out in the garage you get the occasional mouse. We moved the good freezer over to have room for the new one. I had a dust dirty wall to wipe down and hubby had a nasty floor to clean. While we could get to it we also vacuumed behind the drier and whatever else we could get to. ( I swear the drier was a fire hazard) We moved the new freezer into the nice clean spot. I transferred everything from the freezer next to the new one. Now this freezer is a beautiful freezer! Even has a light in it. Shelving looks like a fancy fridge. That is the problem ! This freezer is harder to stuff things into it without the little ridge on the shelf edge of my older freezers. Oh well, I have a new one that should last a long while now. I still swear I will not have another appliance without wheels you can't clean easier and see under it so critters and dirt can't hide. I told hubby expect a big bill on the refrigerator! It will be a commercial one if I have anything to do with it! The other old freezer we were replacing we moved out and once again went through the cleaning up yuck stuff. We moved the freezer we were keeping into place after I went over it from head to toe on the outside cleaning it. It looks like new again. We emptied the freezer we were giving away into the keeper freezer. I am going to try and keep the expensive meats in the new freezer and the older freezer will hold my baking stuff like 50# bags of flour and cornmeal and containers of oatmeal and frozen fruits etc.
    It is amazing what a production it can be buying new stuff and rearranging things can be! I had a bright idea.... I put all the new freezer info and warranty stuff including expiration dates in a huge envelope on the back of the freezer and marked on the outside what was in it and the serial numbers and all that. Seems like you can never find that when you need it. We were sore a few days with older muscles saying we were crazy pulling and tugging and lifting all that stuff around. LOL We are such wimps anymore I swear! We gave the older 18cf Upright to Nikki's husband to use down in the shop. He is the fix it type of person so if it goes out maybe he can repair it.
      Next will be dishwasher. This one I have been worried about because it has some rust in the bottom from years of use on a well system. Then the refrigerator. That is going to be a major issue. The fridge hole ( I will never have one of those holes again!) is made for a 18 cf side by side. The fridge is too small for me now days and they don't really make many if any that fit in the hole. So I am going to have to rearrange the kitchen once again and figure out what to do with that hole. Commercial fridge we have a spot waiting for you in my kitchen... Somewhere I hope.
    I am going to have to look at our funds and just see where and if it is all available to be able to do all this hubby wants done.
3.    Like everyone else that is able to I like to have things available in house instead of having to go shopping.I am trying to keep the nutrition in hand. As we age it is even more important. Our bodies just don't supply the things we need as much or at all. So I am trying to keep up with vitamins and supplements in general for us. I would like to keep a year supply of things but it's really expensive on some stuff. But as this pandemic goes on things are either going to be not available or just cost more money. That's the way it works. Just the basic vitamin C, vitamin D, Zinc recommendations are not terribly expensive but if your buying for 2 or more people for even 6 months it's a wowser. Being older folks now days taking doctor meds we have other nutritional needs to keep up with. You just can't get everything from the food we eat. For one I have a picky hubby and me.... well I am extremely challenged with the alpha gal (anything from a mammal ) allergy. Some of our meds deplete some major nutrients we have to replace from somewhere also. I will try and post a basic list of things to take care of soon.
4.   I have also found that canning jars and lids are in short supply. People all over are canning and preserving more food trying to keep their food stores stocked up. If you can find jars with lids they are at stupid prices or even several weeks out to get shipped in. You may be able to find commercial one piece lids that fit your jars. They are never cheap in small quantities. You may want to learn how to dehydrate some foods you can use any commercial jar then to store these in most don't worry about keeping air out for temporary use under 1 year. Otherwise you need to use oxygen absorbers.
5.   I had heard that some seeds were in short supply in the spring. If you are a gardener or planning on learning. Please try to purchase non hybrid heritage seeds. These seeds you can save at the end of the season for next year. You will need to learn how to store and in some cases like tomatoes learn how to actually harvest the seeds to get ready to store.
6. Eggs.... are good protein we all need. If you have or wanting to have chickens that is a good thing. Chickens have their own set of rules and challenges. So you better get with it now. I am sure baby chickens are hard to find also during the season. You may want to find someone locally selling chickens. Just be sure to check them out if you go to their place. Know what a healthy chicken looks like and observe the sanitation at their place to try to increase your odds of healthy stock.  The next best thing is to try to find really good recipes that do not use eggs. I have had a difficult time finding baking recipes that turn out like I like them using alternative egg sources. I'm still trying though!
7. Cooking..... many are eating at home now. I bet your learning all kind of new tricks! LOL Now that your eating at home your seeing how much food you actually go through as a individual or family. WOW ! It is amazing isn't it! I better your finding your kitchen is also too small. Time to perfect those recipes! All that stuff your bringing in to eat. Boxes, bottles, cans and mixes. You really need to start reading the ingredient label to help keep your immune system in the best shape. Not only do you need some really good nutrition ABC's you need to avoid a lot of the preservatives if you can. I will try to post about that another day. Those HFCS and MSG's and a few other things can make a person feel bad and you not know what is doing it.
8.    If you are a person that keeps your recipes online or count on Ree Drummond or Paula Deen or whoever to go look it up online when you need it you need to think about this. What would you do it you can't afford internet access or the world goes upside down and the internet isn't available? WRITE THEM DOWN !  Copy and print is easy enough if you have that at home. If not start your own recipe file or note books. I will try to post about that also soon.

    Every now and then I will try to post something useful. I can't believe how busy I am. It doesn't help when I am moving slower either. I need to get into the kitchen and clean up my perpetual mess. I made chocolate zucchini bread and Lemon Blueberry zucchini bread recipes to try out. I still have a Chai Tea zucchini recipe for bread I want to try. Both of the ones I tried were really nice. Of course hubby said don't bake any for him after he tried the lemon. I knew better to try the chocolate. Soft crumb almost cake like. The Chocolate was REALLY CHOCOLATE! can't imagine what chai tea will taste like. I need to learn how to bake in the small foil loaf pans for sharing.
 9.   Freezing Zucchini --- I read on the net you can freeze zucchini shredded. I am putting 1 cup in a plastic baggie and freezing it. I hope when I get ready to do it again it is as good as these fresh baked ones are in the breads. I have 2 more huge zucchini's to shred and freeze.

Ok back to the kitchen and fixing some lunch.

Love
Ranchmama 

P.S. I have to wonder what it would be like to use the attached garage as the new kitchen? Not like we actually put a car in there now days. Crew cab trucks don't fit into the garage in this era of house in 1972? it just isn't long enough.