Sep 07 2005
Jammin’
Our family has been working through a monumental shift in perspective, initiated by Robert’s investigation into the problem of peak oil. When he first broached the subject with me, I was tremendously resistant to the whole idea.
Oh, come on, Robert. Surely, if it’s that big of a deal, we’d be hearing about it all the time in the news…surely, the government will step in and protect us…blah blah blah…
A few months passed and we did start hearing more and more in the news about the price of oil. Then, Katrina demolished the Gulf Coast and the government failed in a spectacular way to render needed aid to so many suffering people. I started thinking that maybe there was something to what Robert was saying and that I couldn’t rely on the government or anyone else to make sure my family and friends would be ok in the face of danger. I owe it to them to foist off the sense of security I had created for myself, since it is likely illusory, and to investigate what’s really going on in the world.
Without going into too much detail about our reasoning (although, if you’re curious, I encourage you to start off by reading Life After the Oil Crash), we believe we need to be more self-sufficient. Our first priority is to learn how to grow our own food and to preserve it.
Yes, we’re worried about the future. Yes, we realize many people will think we’re Chicken Little squawking about the sky falling on our heads. Even if our predictions turn out to be false, though, there’s nothing wrong with learning how to be more self-sufficient and trying to engage in more sustainable activities. We both feel revitalized working on some of these projects, which has been an essential way for us to deal with the tragic news we hear daily.
I think you’d be surprised to see how much we’ve done already. I’m just going to start out by sharing some photos of one of my first completed projects: making blackberry jam and pie!
I purchased the blackberries from a local farmer’s market. They were the largest, juiciest, most wonderful blackberries I have ever eaten. Robert agreed.
I haven’t canned anything for years. I used to help my mother out, after we picked buckets full of huckleberries; however, whatever I learned under her tutelage completely slipped my mind. I bought a book called Blue Ribbon Preserves: Secrets to Award-Winning Jams, Jellies, Marmalades and More, which is chock-full of wonderful recipes and good information about the canning process. A friend also recommended the following book to me: Putting Food By. It’s supposed to help you truly understand how to preserve foods using various techniques. It leans more toward the technical side of things, rather than providing lots of recipes. I think I may order a copy soon.
Next weekend, I’ll be canning homemade applesauce!
