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well, ice age farmer was not a cheerful watch tonight..this is all happening so fast. At least my daughter has asked for help in starting a garden, that is a good thing.
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
Another new Ice Age Farmer podcast this afternoon.

22:13 minutes. VERY important. Panic buying, more shortages, processing plant closings.
 

TxGal

Day by day
Another new Ice Age Farmer podcast this afternoon.

22:13 minutes. VERY important. Panic buying, more shortages, processing plant closings.


Ack! Thanks, Martinhouse, I can't keep up! We're getting a deluge of rain, I still have 10 lbs more of seed potatoes to plant (along with more beans, cukes, carrots, and melons), and also about 20 lbs of potatoes to can, some to freeze, and about 10 lbs of carrots to can. I'm not complaining, just thinking perhaps I should put more up. The podcasts just get more dire every time.....

Here is the new Ice Age Farmer podcast Martinhouse mentioned:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihp7JNx_rPc


FEMA/DHS Food Shortages Timeline Leaked / China Panic Buying Food / Have Hope

Run time is 22:12

Leaked DHS/FEMA document reveals timeline for food shortages in the US -- measured in days to weeks. The Chinese have started panic buying rice and cooking oils, having lost all faith in the lies from the state.. Please share this absolutely critical broadcast and start growing food now.
 

TxGal

Day by day
ALL - Martinhouse is right, this is an urgent podcast IAF put out....seriously bad. Please plan accordingly, stock up what you can (eggs, milk, butter, cheese can be frozen, along with many things). Get a garden going - no matter how small. Get flour when you can, learn to bake if haven't yet done so. If you can get some canning jars and a pressure canner, you can do a lot...also a dehydrater.

Just wow....
 

TxGal

Day by day
More info relative to IAF's podcast:


Coronavirus may cause some food shortages, warns government task force

Alexander Nazaryan and Jana Winter
Yahoo NewsApril 3, 2020

WASHINGTON — The nation could begin to see food shortages for some products if the people working on the supply chain lack personal protective equipment, warns an internal Trump administration document obtained by Yahoo News.

Empty supermarket shelves have become one of the most jarring images of the coronavirus pandemic, which has sickened 270,000 Americans and killed 7,000. But so far, there have been no food shortages, despite 90 percent of the American population being under state-enforced lockdown orders.

And despite the difficulties people have had in obtaining certain foods, like pasta, grocery stores are generally well stocked. Government officials have argued that any temporary shortages are the result of unprecedented demand, as people have bought more than usual, rather than an actual supply-chain breakdown.

“I want to assure you that our food supply chain is sound,” Sonny Perdue, the secretary of agriculture, said on March 20.

That, however, could change if the people who make, package and deliver food lack personal protective equipment, or PPE, including face masks and gloves, according to the internal document shared with Yahoo News, which provides a daily update on various aspects of the coronavirus response, including details ranging from state-by-state infections to hospital capacity and test sites.

The document, titled “Senior Leadership Brief COVID-19” and dated April 2, 2020, bears the seals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. It contains a brief description of findings made by the Food Supply Chain Task Force on the availability of PPE.

Such equipment has been in short supply in hospitals, where doctors and nurses are routinely exposed to high amounts of coronavirus. The food industry also relies on a variety of protective equipment for food safety.

The April 2 briefing warns that the task force had completed an analysis and there could be “commodity impacts if current PPE inventory is exhausted.” There would be shortages of milk within 24 hours and of fresh fruits and vegetables “within several days.” The document estimates that “meat, poultry, seafood, and processed eggs” would become scarce within a period of two to four weeks, while “dry goods and processed foods inventories” — that is, the non-perishables that are pantry staples — could become scarce “as soon as four weeks” after face masks and gloves run out across the food supply chain.

The document is a warning, and is not descriptive of the current situation. There are no signs of a food shortage across the nation. But the coronavirus pandemic is putting strain on every aspect of the food supply chain, from the people who raise and grow what we eat to the people who deliver it to our supermarkets.
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
TxGal, thanks for posting this, both the podcast and the extra article.

I am hoping we're finally going to get some decent weather so I can get some things in the ground. As far north of you as I am, it's not too urgent yet, but it is definitely time.

Still no information back on the rabbits. Looks like I misplaced my trust once more. And I think now it's too late. Not sure what I'll be feeding my cat when I run out of cat food, and I'll sure not be getting a dog now, which is probably just as well.

Next warm day, I'll be uncovering my outdoor faucet and getting my garden hose hooked up and ready to use.

I have a HUGE stack of eggs in cartons and I need to get them all scrambled and into the freezer. And I may yet experiment with dehydrating them to see if they can be rehydrated soft enough that I can sort of mash them up to be able to swallow them.

My daughter picked me up a lot more mayo and some butter this morning, so that worry is over.

So much to do all at once now that it's getting warm enough for me to be outside. Wish I could work like a fiend from Dawn to dusk like I used to. Before I turned into such a wreck, I had an awesome garden and I sure could use one again!

Again, thanks!
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
There's a short new Adapt 2030 podcast out. It runs 14:39 and is a good summary of the present situation with the virus/GSM.

He sounds like his old self on this one. Not so much of his recent sarcastic tone. A little, but not too bad.
 

TxGal

Day by day
Thanks Martinhouse! Been on the go here at home since about 0630. Running behind here, going to take a bit of a nap but wanted to get this posted first:

As Martinhouse said, ADAPT 2030 has a new podcast out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcQA-ZrfRQc


Global Food Shortages Are Almost Assured Behavioral Changes Over Food (960)

Run time is 14:39

Across the business landscape its story after story of global disruption to supply chains, but in the last week, that focus has moved to how the flow of goods, labor and facilities themselves cant keep the food moving. Ports and trucks across the planet are idle, planting and harvesting have ceased and what is picked cant make it to market. This now becomes re-training on how most of the planet will access food from this point forward. Start growing a garden now.
 

Seeker22

Has No Life - Lives on TB
More info relative to IAF's podcast:


Coronavirus may cause some food shortages, warns government task force

Alexander Nazaryan and Jana Winter
Yahoo NewsApril 3, 2020

WASHINGTON — The nation could begin to see food shortages for some products if the people working on the supply chain lack personal protective equipment, warns an internal Trump administration document obtained by Yahoo News.

Empty supermarket shelves have become one of the most jarring images of the coronavirus pandemic, which has sickened 270,000 Americans and killed 7,000. But so far, there have been no food shortages, despite 90 percent of the American population being under state-enforced lockdown orders.

And despite the difficulties people have had in obtaining certain foods, like pasta, grocery stores are generally well stocked. Government officials have argued that any temporary shortages are the result of unprecedented demand, as people have bought more than usual, rather than an actual supply-chain breakdown.

“I want to assure you that our food supply chain is sound,” Sonny Perdue, the secretary of agriculture, said on March 20.

That, however, could change if the people who make, package and deliver food lack personal protective equipment, or PPE, including face masks and gloves, according to the internal document shared with Yahoo News, which provides a daily update on various aspects of the coronavirus response, including details ranging from state-by-state infections to hospital capacity and test sites.

The document, titled “Senior Leadership Brief COVID-19” and dated April 2, 2020, bears the seals of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Health and Human Services. It contains a brief description of findings made by the Food Supply Chain Task Force on the availability of PPE.

Such equipment has been in short supply in hospitals, where doctors and nurses are routinely exposed to high amounts of coronavirus. The food industry also relies on a variety of protective equipment for food safety.

The April 2 briefing warns that the task force had completed an analysis and there could be “commodity impacts if current PPE inventory is exhausted.” There would be shortages of milk within 24 hours and of fresh fruits and vegetables “within several days.” The document estimates that “meat, poultry, seafood, and processed eggs” would become scarce within a period of two to four weeks, while “dry goods and processed foods inventories” — that is, the non-perishables that are pantry staples — could become scarce “as soon as four weeks” after face masks and gloves run out across the food supply chain.

The document is a warning, and is not descriptive of the current situation. There are no signs of a food shortage across the nation. But the coronavirus pandemic is putting strain on every aspect of the food supply chain, from the people who raise and grow what we eat to the people who deliver it to our supermarkets.

To reply to Mr. Perdue in the article- the nation's food supply would be more sound if the garden centers were allowed to stay open. I have all sorts of bitter theories as to why they are not.

Despite the weather thinking it was full on Winter again (sigh) with floods, I am canning and drying at a more furious pace. I refuse to bow and scrape when I can grow my own garden and kill my own game. Work is its own Reward. Be safe ya'll.
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
I just watched a new podcast on Ice Age Farmer's Twitter page. I suspect he'll be putting it up on You Tube pretty soon so there can be a link. It is titled "Global Food Rationing" and it runs 18:39 minutes.

There's some interesting things in it. Things we all need to know about and be watching for.
 

TxGal

Day by day
I just watched a new podcast on Ice Age Farmer's Twitter page. I suspect he'll be putting it up on You Tube pretty soon so there can be a link. It is titled "Global Food Rationing" and it runs 18:39 minutes.

There's some interesting things in it. Things we all need to know about and be watching for.

Thanks, Martinhouse, I'll check in the morning to see if I can post it. Sounds pretty darn unnerving. I read today that a Sanderson Farms chicken processing plant near Bryan/College Station has several employees that tested positive for the virus. They're sanitizing last I read, but in time I would worry that more cases will crop up and the plant ultimately shut down for a time.
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
TxGal, you're welcome. I hope he gets it posted soon. He just had another one on Twitter from someone else talking about some states banning the sale of garden seeds.

I am okay as far as seed go, but I sure wish I could have gotten those rabbits. But once again I trusted someone else who assured me that there would be some, and now I haven't heard from here in two or three weeks and so it's too late to go to Atwood's and get the Lion's Head rabbits, which would have been better than nothing. I am going to call this woman tomorrow and hope she will answer or call back when she sees who is calling.

As of this afternoon, my county has 11 confirmed cases of CV-19. Not way am I going to go in any store at all from now on.

My eight hens gave me eight eggs again today!!!!! If I don't make time to start scrambling them for the freezer, I'm going to have to just wash them and freeze them shell and all and hope for the best. (I think I'm just kidding there, but not quite sure.)

With all the processing plants closing, I think before long there may not be much meat or dairy items in the stores for a long time.
 

TxGal

Day by day
TxGal, you're welcome. I hope he gets it posted soon. He just had another one on Twitter from someone else talking about some states banning the sale of garden seeds.

I am okay as far as seed go, but I sure wish I could have gotten those rabbits. But once again I trusted someone else who assured me that there would be some, and now I haven't heard from here in two or three weeks and so it's too late to go to Atwood's and get the Lion's Head rabbits, which would have been better than nothing. I am going to call this woman tomorrow and hope she will answer or call back when she sees who is calling.

As of this afternoon, my county has 11 confirmed cases of CV-19. Not way am I going to go in any store at all from now on.

My eight hens gave me eight eggs again today!!!!! If I don't make time to start scrambling them for the freezer, I'm going to have to just wash them and freeze them shell and all and hope for the best. (I think I'm just kidding there, but not quite sure.)

With all the processing plants closing, I think before long there may not be much meat or dairy items in the stores for a long time.

I 'think' that podcast is from December that he has up on his twitter feed.

That's a darn shame about the rabbit mess, hopefully it will work out to your advantage soon.

Hey that's great on your eggs! We're going through the same thing here. I got behind in working the eggs, have eggs stacked in bowls all over the fridge, etc. Last evening I finally got around to methodically floating them to check them, so far all are still good just older, so I've been making hard boiled eggs and freezing them for the chickens, and I'm about to start scrambling and freezing the newer ones likely today. I read they'll hold well for a year, and that'll see us through until next spring's laying bonanza. :-)

We're holding at 2 cases in our county, but numbers are higher in locations where we go to med appointments and shopping. Needless to say, I only go out when necessary...DH only to med appts. Only thing I wish we had more of was ice cream...and dang if I didn't donate our old ice cream maker a few months ago to Goodwill....
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
I'm not missing anything for myself, but I wish like crazy I could get a big bag of Roma tomatoes for my sister. And three or four pints of Miracle Whip, too.

I may find out if my daughter will be going to Walmart again. I know she shouldn't, but she doesn't seem to care. (She's had a very defeatist attitude ever since the bad stroke she had seven or eight years ago.) She is careful, though and if I can pick things up from her and sanitize them well enough, it is at least a way to get a few things more.
 

summerthyme

Administrator
_______________
From Ice Age Farmer's twitter feed, if I can get it to post.

View: https://twitter.com/IceAgeFarmer/status/1247383677123743744


View attachment 190961
I went to Lehman's website to check out their canning supplies and other things...and oh my gosh, they are out of EVERYTHING I looked at - all canners, all canning supplies, all Berkey water filters, their grain mills, etc. Just wow...
Wow! Boy, am I thankful I dug into my emergency fund and bought the case of jar lids last month! The Tattler lids do work (and I have hundreds) but they have too many seal failures to suit me, especially in times when food might be scarce.

The supply lines for almost all "self sufficiency" supplies and equipment are razor thin...the demand just isn't there in "normal" times.

Of course, I put "normal" in quotes, because I don't consider the good times when most have everything they could need or want to be normal! Blessings, yes! The status quo... not a chance.

Summerthyme
 

TxGal

Day by day
We have a case of Tattlers we've never used, bought several years ago, just in case. Just like vegetable seeds, I've been buying canning lids pretty much every shopping trip. They've been running low/out since the first of the year here. We do have an early planting season down here, but having them run in short supply is not the norm.

I'm really glad we have a good number set aside, and a huge number of jars. I'm about to start firing up the canners for ground beef, carrots, and potatoes.
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
TxGal, glad you posted that from IAF's Twitter page. I'll mention that he said something about the postal service, too.

If the USPS closes down, I'll have a hard time paying my few bills. I do NOT want to do automatic payments from my checking account!

After reading the things IAF finds and posts, I'm about ready to crawl into a hole and pull the cover over me. I can only hope that the power plant can keep operating. If it closes down I think things will go Mad Max pretty fast and we who live alone will not be around for long. If the phones stop working, I won't have internet or phone, but then, I won't have a phone bill either, will I?

I could be fine here if left alone, but how likely is that to happen? I wonder if I'll be sleeping in the chicken pen by summer, to guard both myself and my little flock?

I am trying VERY hard to not be depressed!
 

TxGal

Day by day
Let's see if I can bring over the IAF twitter post about the Post Offices:


No, no, no Martinhouse! Don't let yourself get depressed and worry about things that most likely won't happen, at least not in a Mad Max kind of way...I would not at all be surprised to see 1918 effects and another Great Depression. Not at all.

Sometimes we ALL have to step away from the computer and the dire news for a while and relax, watch a DVD, go mess with the garden or chickens. There are a lot of 'what ifs' being reported now, and it is enough to worry all of us. This whole thing is beyond scary. There have been many times since it began that deep inside I thought, my gosh, I'm glad we did all the planning and prepping for the unknown we did over the years, even though I figured we wouldn't see TEOTWAWKI and our relatives would inherit it all. And then, how thankful I am we have the three dehydrators, two pressure canners and one HWB canner, floor to ceiling canning jars and spare rings and lids, back ups to back ups to back ups, an enormous how-to library of books on the old ways, along with experience and knowledge, etc....gardens, fruit trees, three freezers, etc. Having said all that - Yes, I do stress myself, too.

You have a VAST amount of knowledge and experience that few have. You may have friends and relatives seeking your assistance as this presses on. I think we all might.

On the milk dumping, I am literally stunned that our Gov't isn't buying it up, having it dried, and sent out to agencies for distribution to those in need, or put in it a National Stockpile of food resources. Good grief!!
 
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Martinhouse

Deceased
TxGal, the excuse for all the plant closings seems to be the workers getting sick or sometimes that they can't maintain appropriate distances between workers.

To me it is just totally unbelievable that all this food is being wasted. All that milk being dumped could be used to keep hogs alive until processing plants could be opened back up again. Actually I suspect some of the beef could be used that way, too, with a little thought and effort.

My little bouts of depression are small ones. I bounce back up pretty well. I think I'm "catching" it from my sister. Most of my family members "pick up" feelings from other members, no matter where they are, and my sister is having a pretty hard time facing this stuff right now.

Right now I'd be fine if I'd gotten those rabbits and had been able to have a dog and a huge supply of dog food. Guess it's too late for that now.

Heh. I gave my brother in Cedar Rapids a squirrel trap for his birthday last fall. He took it home with him this last trip here and this week he finally caught a squirrel in it. When I asked him what he was going to do with it he said "dog food and oyster crackers". I have no idea what he meant, but that comment all by itself is loaded with possibilities. (: I do know that he really hates squirrels!
 

TxGal

Day by day
Get those gardens going, everyone!


'No farms, no food, no Walmart.' Idaho agriculture industry grapples with coronavirus


By Nicole Foy, The Idaho Statesman

13 hrs ago


BOISE — While the rest of the state is settling into a stay-at-home order and bracing for more impacts from coronavirus, Idaho agriculture is just ramping up.

Farmers, farmworkers and ag industry leaders have to balance the struggle to keep workers safe and healthy while meeting the demands of a food-system increasingly overburdened by coronavirus concerns — or there won’t be food refilling grocery shelves come summer.

In late March, many of the Treasure Valley’s ag-based towns were still operating like normal. In Wilder a few days before Idaho Gov. Brad Little issued a stay-at-home story order for the entire state, Cimberlie Christiansen, the pesticide compliance manager for Marsing Agricultural Labor Sponsoring Committee, which recruits and hires laborers for farmers across southwestern Idaho, was checking on the committee’s crew leaders and workers scattered across the Treasure Valley.

Despite empty grocery shelves in many of their hometown stores — locals in Marsing, Greenleaf and Wilder speculated Boise residents had ventured far to find food and toilet paper — life was mostly business as usual, especially in western Canyon County.

“No farms, no food; no food, no Walmart,” Christiansen said. “Ag is the heart of Idaho. If we want to feed the public, we still have to keep operating at high levels.” Idaho’s agriculture and food production industry is one of the key drivers of the state’s economy and was experiencing a rare rebound at the beginning of 2020, before the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic hit Idaho.

Like the rest of the country, practically every aspect of Idaho’s agriculture industry and food production chain is considered an essential business, exempt from statewide work-from-home orders and urged to remain operating as usual — because residents buying out grocery stores in Boise and elsewhere depend on it.

“The food system is critical infrastructure,” said Chanel Tewalt, spokeswoman for the Idaho State Department of Agriculture. “We are committed … to anything we can do to support anyone in the food system.” Although exempt from stay-at-home orders, state ag officials are trying to help state employees, producers and farmworkers accommodate social-distancing recommendations. Testing for food quality assurance or pesticides and inspecting farms and dairies must still continue, for example. But state labs employees have adjusted hours to reduce the number of people in those labs and are transitioning some training sessions to video calls.

“We have a great group of scientists that work at our agency that are committed to their jobs, making sure testing is conducted and the things we are looking at are safe for Idahoans,” said Dan Salmi, the Idaho State Department of Agriculture’s laboratory bureau chief.

Despite a desperate demand for food, Idaho agriculture industry is already taking some hits. Rick Naerebout, the CEO of the Idaho Dairymen’s Association, said many Idaho dairy products traditionally go to restaurants and exports. With restaurant closures and an unstable international market, Naerebout said dairy farmers are bracing for low milk prices and losses that would rival the 2009 downturn.

Dairy owners across the country — including some in Idaho — have already begun dumping milk down the drain as their markets dry up, the Associated Press reported this week.

“Milk prices have really looked much like the stock market in the last few weeks,” Naerebout said.

Coronavirus travel restrictions and U.S. consulate closures in countries like Mexico has also thrown the fate of a portion of Idaho’s agricultural workforce into limbo. Thousands of Mexican nationals come to Idaho every year to work on Idaho farms through the H-2A Temporary Agricultural Visa Program, which allows American companies to hire foreign nationals to fill temporary agricultural jobs.

U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, an Idaho Republican, was one of many across the country who pushed for the H-2A program to be part of the “essential critical infrastructure workforce,” allowing buses of workers to cross the U.S.-Mexican border. Many go to eastern Idaho, but Canyon County can get more than 1,000 H-2A workers a season — and usually should start arriving now.

“Idaho is an ag state, and we always have been and always will be,” Risch told the Idaho Statesman in March. “The H-2A workers are really important to the Idaho ag industry. We’re not the only state in that boat, but we are certainly near the top of the list.” But the status of the H-2A program has changed nearly every day over the last few weeks. Workers with scheduled interviews were turned away from closed American consulates in Mexico, while other visa applications were in limbo. Joel Anderson, the executive director of the Snake River Farmers Association, helps more than 630 farmers in 15 different states navigate the H-2A program and find foreign workers. He said one-third of their farmers process applications and make arrangements to hire foreign workers during March and April.

“The timing of this couldn’t have been more dire,” Anderson said. “If you had asked me if there was a perfect time to mess everything up, throw a wrench into the ag sector, this would be it.” Anderson said it wasn’t clear yet if Idaho farmers would be able to get all the H-2A workers they need during the planting and irrigating season. If they do come, farmers will have to grapple with different counties’ requirements for quarantining recent travelers.

“We are hoping that U.S. workers will turn to these ag jobs,” Anderson said.

Mike Dittenber, the director of the Caldwell Housing Authority, said staff are trying to help the workers already living at the housing authority be safe in communal areas, like the laundry room. Dittenber said one farmer called and asked to rent extra units at the rural housing complex — which houses low-income residents, farmworkers and H-2A workers — to give their H-2A workers more social-distancing space.

Meanwhile, many farmers are working to keep their domestic workers calm in the face of constantly changing state and local laws. During a 24-hour delay in the publication of the state’s list of essential jobs in Spanish, readers and Spanish-speaking Idahoans scoured social media for answers on whether they could show up to their jobs in the morning. Others were worried about getting a permit to leave their house for work. A permit to work at an essential job or leave the house is not needed.

Naerebout said Idaho dairies are doing their best to reassure workers and practice safe social-distancing. The Idaho Dairymen’s Association is distributing information to workers in Spanish, as well as urging dairies to provide letters for each of their employees documenting their essential status.

“How do I keep them healthy and safe and also reassure them they can come to work?” Naerebout said dairy owners are asking. “Without them, we aren’t able to refill those grocery store shelves.”

On March 30, the United Farm Workers union based in California issued an open letter to the nation’s agriculture industry, urging them to assist farmworkers beyond “gestures and guidelines.”

UFW President Teresa Romero wrote, “Don’t you think that farmworkers — who are also designated as essential employees and are required to put themselves at risk by going to work — should receive the same hazard pay as their counterparts who are health care and retail food workers and first responders?”
 

Seeker22

Has No Life - Lives on TB
We have a case of Tattlers we've never used, bought several years ago, just in case. Just like vegetable seeds, I've been buying canning lids pretty much every shopping trip. They've been running low/out since the first of the year here. We do have an early planting season down here, but having them run in short supply is not the norm.

I'm really glad we have a good number set aside, and a huge number of jars. I'm about to start firing up the canners for ground beef, carrots, and potatoes.

What is your seal ratio on the Tattler lids, TxGal? I haven't bought any as yet, but depending on your reply, I might. Does Tattler make a reusable plastic ring? I have a hard time cleaning the black gunk off the metal rings I use in the canner. I put a little white vinegar in the water to knock back the limestone scale on the jars, but it leaves a black layer on my rings. I have a dedicated set for use in the canner and all the rest are unused and shiny.

I looked on Ebay and they have a reusable lid from the 1970s Morris brand. Could I use that?

Anyone with canners or dehydrators should consider getting replacement trays/liners for their dryers and replacement rockers, gaskets, and even handles for the canners according to the model number. One is none. I had limestone scale in my rocker so bad that the canner wouldn't come to pressure last Monday. I left the rocker in some toilet bowl cleaner (The Works) for a bit to clean that off, rinsed with clear water, and it worked fine. I never thought bowl cleaner would be in my canning preps, but it is now. Hard water is a different learning curve.
 
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TxGal

Day by day
Oh my gosh, I just popped onto Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds' website to see how they were holding up. This is where we usually get our seeds, and we've had great luck with them. This is what is showing now:


logo-rareseeds.png



errphoto-rareseeds.png



Thank you for your patience!


Due to an unprecedented increase in order volume our website and farm are temporarily closed to restock inventory and disinfect our workspace. We have scaled back our operations and staffing to ensure the health and well-being of our employees, our customers, and the community at large. We understand that during these trying times food security is more valuable than ever. Our remaining crew here on our Mansfield, Mo. farm is diligently working to deliver your orders and restock the shelves. We will be back online as soon as possible! If you have questions about your order email us at seeds@rareseeds.com.

Thank you for your patience with us, and for the belief you share with us that gardening makes us all more human and more whole.

We will Be back online Monday 4/13/2020 at 4:00pm CST.


 

Martinhouse

Deceased
TxGal, that is downright scary!

Thankfully the last seeds I ordered are already on the way. I should get one of them today and hope for the last package by tomorrow.
 

TxGal

Day by day
TxGal, that is downright scary!

Thankfully the last seeds I ordered are already on the way. I should get one of them today and hope for the last package by tomorrow.

Truly!! I ordered early and got our seeds some months back, a true relief! Still planting some of most everything. Tomatoes are in, seed potatoes are in and growing nicely, carrots and beans popping up. And darned if we don't have a chance of severe storms here later this afternoon with - oh my gosh - egg-sized hail if the storms ramp up. Sure won't be good for the garden, roof, car windows, etc...they're thinking that's a remote chance. Lord help us, we sure don't need a spring like last year's with tornadoes and straight line winds all around us.
 

TxGal

Day by day
What is your seal ratio on the Tattler lids, TxGal? I haven't bought any as yet, but depending on your reply, I might. Does Tattler make a reusable plastic ring? I have a hard time cleaning the black gunk off the metal rings I use in the canner. I put a little white vinegar in the water to knock back the limestone scale on the jars, but it leaves a black layer on my rings. I have a dedicated set for use in the canner and all the rest are unused and shiny.

I looked on Ebay and they have a reusable lid from the 1970s Morris brand. Could I use that?

Anyone with canners or dehydrators should consider getting replacement trays/liners for their dryers and replacement rockers, gaskets, and even handles for the canners according to the model number. One is none. I had limestone scale in my rocker so bad that the canner wouldn't come to pressure last Monday. I left the rocker in some toilet bowl cleaner (The Works) for a bit to clean that off, rinsed with clear water, and it worked fine. I never thought bowl cleaner would be in my canning preps, but it is now. Hard water is a different learning curve.

I haven't actually used mine yet, they're still in the original case just in case of major problems. Every year I still buy the regular metal replacement lids....sorry!

I have heard that they do tend to fail more often than the metal lids. I'm sure others will read your post and chime in.
 

BenIan

Veteran Member
Try ordering specific seeds from ebay. I just ordered some unique seeds (winged yam) from an ebay seller and got them in 3 days.
 

Martinhouse

Deceased
The Ice Age Farmer podcast just now was another important one.

Food Shutdown rt 15:26 min.

I'm starting to hear resignation in his voice and I hope I'm hearing it wrong. I'm starting to feel resigned, myself, and I really don't want that to happen!
 

TxGal

Day by day
The Ice Age Farmer podcast just now was another important one.

Food Shutdown rt 15:26 min.

I'm starting to hear resignation in his voice and I hope I'm hearing it wrong. I'm starting to feel resigned, myself, and I really don't want that to happen!

Martinhouse, thank you so much! I'm clicking from website to website as fast as I can, and the news is just rushing in. Ugh!

Here's the Ice Age Farmer podcast...yep, I'm getting resigned to it, also...this year is going to be a rough one for everyone.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4jr0wkt7HY


FOOD SHUTDOWN: Farmers Told to "QUIT FARMING"

Run time is 15:45

Crops rotting in fields. Dairy farmers incentivized to quit for good. Beef/pork processors shutting down. All by design. Spread the word and make sure everyone starts growing food, no matter how small scale -- every bit helps.
 

Seeker22

Has No Life - Lives on TB
I haven't actually used mine yet, they're still in the original case just in case of major problems. Every year I still buy the regular metal replacement lids....sorry!

I have heard that they do tend to fail more often than the metal lids. I'm sure others will read your post and chime in.

That's what I read too and Summerthyme says so. I think I will keep using metal. I also need to move my seed stash somewhere cooler.
 

TxGal

Day by day
I just ordered lids from these guys

Wholesale Canning Supplies| Fillmore Container

They have way too many things to list, but I ordered the flat lids specifically labeled "canning"

Gold Wide Mouth Canning Lids - Bulk 86mm

Gold Bulk Canning Lids - Regular Mouth

Had to pay shipping, but they had them in stock.

Thanks for posting that info, mudlogger! I've bookmarked the site and looking at it now. Having another source of supplies is becoming critical right now, and this is really helpful. Honestly, I think you were smart to order what you needed. I don't think they'll have much left going forward. We all seem to be about one jump ahead of the rising tide. Thank heavens for that.....
 

TxGal

Day by day
That's what I read too and Summerthyme says so. I think I will keep using metal. I also need to move my seed stash somewhere cooler.

Good planning :-)

I'm going through nursery websites, both online like Stark Bros and the local ones, checking what berry bushes/plants are still in stock. It's getting a little late here for that, but I'm finding some and as long as we plant them in pots (empty protein tubs) and keep them on the cooler east side of the house, they'll be okay until we can permanently plant them in the fall.

We weren't going to add anymore this year, but I'd like more blueberry plants. I'm thinking I'll let most of the wild dewberry plants grow on the fence lines/wilder areas in the pastures this year. They're good for wildlife anyhow, and the berries (while somewhat tart) are still great for people eating, too and the chickens love them...and they usually do really well. They freeze just fine, too and make a great cobbler/jelly/syrup.

I'm getting increasingly uneasy about what's being reported more and more about the food situation in the US. I'm really glad we have a lot of vegetable seeds, but I'm not taking a darn thing for granted going forward.
 

mudlogger

Veteran Member
I ordered from Nourse for the first time...they came in last week.

Elderberries with buds, ready to go.
Caddo blackberries, leafed out and ready.

These 2 had 1.5 inch square root plugs...I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting something thumb-sized.

Bare-root asparagus, and Joan raspberries, not unpacked yet.

Blueberries, same root configuration, but the stalks are 10 - 12 inches high, look great.

I'm about to order more blackberries and strawberries.

Hey, it's the end of the world and why not? Husband is a bigger fruit eater than I am, and some of these will produce this year, supposedly.

Nourse Farms - The Best Berry Plants since 1932
 

TxGal

Day by day
Adapt 2030 has a new podcast out:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyavCfWW130


Fertilizer Shortages and False Hope in Trucking Delivery (961)

Run time is 10:03

With global disruptions in shipping and finance, its interesting that fertilizer producers claim that they are unaffected by this and everything is fine. I'm not sure if its to reassure the populace that food is coming as usual this year but it is unusual the teflon stance they are taking as an industry. Massive 10X increase in non-mortgage payments so I wonder how many vendors are affected that wont deliver, but again fertilizer manufactures magically unaffected, whats' going on?
 

TxGal

Day by day
Ice Age Farmer's twitter feed has some good articles linked (we sure don't need any more bad news in the country). Here's one:


Meteorologist warns of winter-like weather coming in April

April 8, 2020 By Larry Lee Filed Under: Ag Weather, Crops, News, USDA, weather
BRNGeneral2400x400-2.jpg


USDA’s Chief Meteorologist is warning farmers about a series of upcoming cold waves. Brad Rippey says when weather like this hit the U.S. in 2007 and 2017, it caused over a billion dollars in damage each year. “There’s certainly a concern for any early-planted row crops that get hit with sub-freezing temperatures, (and) for winter wheat which has begun to advance to the join stage or beyond.”

Rippey says three separate cold waves are forming that will bring winter-like temperatures back to parts of the U.S. impacting more than early-planted row crops. “We have seen early development of fruit crops across the south, some of that even extending into the Midwest now.”

Along with existing wet conditions in much of the country, Rippey expects some areas to have planting delays over the next two to three weeks because of hard freezes.
 

TheSearcher

Are you sure about that?
Martinhouse, thank you so much! I'm clicking from website to website as fast as I can, and the news is just rushing in. Ugh!

Here's the Ice Age Farmer podcast...yep, I'm getting resigned to it, also...this year is going to be a rough one for everyone.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4jr0wkt7HY


FOOD SHUTDOWN: Farmers Told to "QUIT FARMING"

Run time is 15:45

Crops rotting in fields. Dairy farmers incentivized to quit for good. Beef/pork processors shutting down. All by design. Spread the word and make sure everyone starts growing food, no matter how small scale -- every bit helps.

I planted container taters. I figured I'd start simply.
 

Blazen

Contributing Member
First off, I am a doomer, all about the doom,
and nothing better than to see this planet,
deal with the out of control human race,
which it has many times.

That gigantic ball of gas up in the sky controls our weather,
not dumbarse humans, creating too much CO2
which is what the plants breathe.

Now due to the brainwashing by liberals,
they have everyone believing the global warming BS,
when all the data is indicating the exact opposite.

All the global warming people, need to be beaten with a stick.
Its all about taxing the 1st world nations, especially the FUSA,
and sending the tax money to Africa. That is all that it ever was,
taking from the economically producing countries,
and giving to the ecomonically non-producing countries.

They lost when President Trump, pulled the FUSA out of the
Paris Climate BS.

I remember when I was in college in the late 1970's
it was all the talk about a coming ice age,
which no doubt is coming.

Then in the late 1990's, I bought two books,
Not By Fire But By Ice, by Robert Felix,
and The Coming Global Super Storm,
by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber.
Everything in those two books, made perfect sense.

There are some good youtube channels out now,
where finally some scientists are starting to speak out,
trying to alert peoples about the farce that is global warming.

Search on youtube for mini ice age, and global solar minimum,
and you will have a lot of good youtubes, about what is coming,

A lot of peoples are going to freeze their tails off,
and perhaps it will be the global warming morons,
that will freeze the most.

Currently, there is a very small sunspot, about center the solar disk,
and there have been 7 spotless days for 2018.

Bundle up peoples, bundle up.

Please be safe everyone, and please arm up.

Regards to all deplorables.

Nowski
But then you have Bill Nye actually complaining to Tucker Carlson that we missed an ICE Age because of Global Warming. Being a Scientist, How the hell does he think an average rise in average World temperature by 1*c is worst than a than a 20*c temperature decline?

Carlson asked Nye to what degree human activity has accelerated climate change. Nye at first appears not to understand the question and then tries to deflect it. Then when pressed he says that human activity is 100% responsible for the alleged catastrophic acceleration of climate change. Nye makes the claim that human activity has changed things so much that we “almost certainly” avoided another ice age. When asked when that ice age would otherwise have occurred, he says that that isn’t relevant.
 
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