ONE-TWO PUNCH

Punch #1 STORE FOOD
Punch #2 GROW A GARDEN

Seriously, we are practically swimming in produce this year from our garden. We've had a bumper crop of lettuce, spinach, celery, sugar snap peas, strawberries, cilantro, broccoli and zucinni. With more to come due to consecutive plantings. I'm hardly buying any produce (which seems to be coming more from Mexico than the USA).


I highly recommend it! It's very satisfying and delicious and economical.


As for punch #1, that's what this whole blog is about!


I have long storing food at a discounted price that will be delivered right to your own front door! This food will not go bad! Your celery will be useful to the bottom of the can, not rubbery within days of putting it into your crisper. Same with all the THRIVE foods you can store. Average shelf life unopened is 20 years!! Hopefully within 20 years, no disasters whether global or personal will hit you but why chance it?

And to add a little gloom mixed with hope, I'm also printing a rather long post sent to me by a friend. This article appears in 'Independent Living' and written by Lee Bellinger, the publisher. Read it and comprehend it.

(You can order these foods on your own at my website and still get a discount! No party to worry and fuss about either.)


Could There Be Lessons on Food Self-Reliance from Communist Cuba?

In previous Executive Bulletins, we've briefed you on investment opportunities found in food inflation and possible food panics. Now let me talk to you about the tenuous food supply chain and why you need to be prepared to survive a food crisis.
To be sure, there are some simple steps you can take now to avoid the worst of the worst.

"Global food prices have hit 'dangerous levels' that could contribute to political instability, push millions of people into poverty, and raise the cost of groceries, according to a new report from the World Bank." – Associated Press (Feb. 15, 2011)

A common-sense solution to deal with a food panic is securing an emergency food supply beforehand.
One basic step is to stockpile some food reserves – enough to last at least a few weeks to months. Canned foods, packaged foods, and whole grains should be bought in bulk quantities, as should bottled water.
Make sure to rotate through your supply by periodically consuming or donating the foods near their expiration dates and replacing them with newer foods into your inventory. Unprocessed grains and beans are high in nutrition, and if kept cool, dry, and sealed, they can last decades!
Canned and other long-lasting packaged foods can help you stabilize your situation in an emergency, but they may not provide a wholesome nutritional solution in a longer-running food panic.
Here are other hands-on and hands-off methods YOU can use to enjoy
greater food security, higher nutrient density, and less dependence
on Big Ag and its fragile distribution system –
Ideally, you'll be able to grow your own food on your own land, in the tradition of Victory Gardens grown by millions during World War II. That's one of the most independent and self-reliant practices you can follow. (Stay with me... even if you don't think this is practical in real life or you don't have enough land to make a difference, you may be surprised...)

CUBA: "Half the produce consumed in Havana is grown inside the city; 60% of vegetables consumed in all of Cuba are grown in urban gardens..."

Politics aside, let's take a look at how common-sense preparedness and self-reliance as to food actually works to support an entire country, and therefore can work for you and your family.

Big Ag depends on "Intensive Agriculture," which is "...the extraction of food from petroleum," says Dr. John Gray in the Financial Times of London. "The more modern farming becomes, the more heavily it relies on hydrocarbons in the form of fertilizer, as well as fuel for tractors and transport." Consider this excerpt from a report by Friends of the Earth Australia:

In the early 1990s, Cuba lost the Soviet Union as its largest trading partner. Food and oil imports were suddenly cut in half. Because of the oil shortage, Cuba could not afford to follow farming practices heavily dependent on fossil fuel for transportation, machinery, chemical pesticides, and chemical fertilizers.

Desperation being the mother of invention, the country flipped its food production and distribution methods into a low-input, self-sustaining process that takes advantage of organic, locally grown, urban agriculture. "Farmers began to use manure, compost, and worm farms to regenerate the mineral depleted soil... biopesticides and natural microbes... to fight pests and replaced tractors with oxen.

"Along with the small organic farms, urban gardens also began to appear throughout Cuba... in cities all over Cuba people began to make the most of all arable land ad hoc, planting gardens on roofs, patios, footpaths, and in vacant lots. These gardens allowed families to not only produce enough food to sufficiently feed their families but also subsidize their income through selling their excess..."

Under half a century of Communist oppression, the average man and woman has had no choice but to learn to take charge of providing for themselves and their families. Even if a crisis like "that" never happens to us, it's good knowing if we take similar steps, we're better prepared if it does happen. And as a bonus, we can enjoy higher-quality, better-tasting, and nutrient-dense food...(for more of this article, email me and I will send it to you. It is lengthy)

Yours in Freedom and Prosperity,

Lee Bellinger, Publisher
Independent Living
and Money, Metals, and Mining