Filed under: Eliminating Hunger | Tags: beans, Bread, frugal, growing food, leftovers, One Acre Cafe, plants, The Hungry Time, Waste reduction
If you or someone you know eats, you’re part of this conversation. Native Americans referred to this very time in our annual trip around the sun as ‘The Hungry Time’; that period between the last of the stored fall provisions and the beginnings of the new spring bounty. For all of wildlife this is that time. It is believed that many of the early Pilgrims, already sick and weak, finally starved during the Hungry Time in this strange, new land. Many beekeepers will often successfully see their hives make it through a long cold winter, only to have them succumb to starvation now since there is very little available for them to eat, and all of their stored honey from last fall has been eaten.
Gardening, canning and storing food in my pantry or root cellar increases the personal food security of my family and makes it easier for us to eat well year ’round. But for someone that tries to eat seasonally as often as I can, this can be a time of ho-hum meals made from the last of the butternuts and spaghetti squash that we enjoyed so much from November to March, the last of the beets, sweet potatoes and parsnips and the over-wintered kale and spinach that we fought to keep alive in the garden rows throughout the deep freezes! Looked at from the perspective of a hungry bird or a starving Pilgrim though, I am rich indeed. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you’re not hungry either. I’m thankful for that, as I know you are too.
But what about those that are hungry, and getting hungrier? Their growling bellies are loud, but their need is silent. The price of food and gasoline is creeping upwards while many of them are still struggling to pay those February and March heating bills that are overdue. Undeveloped areas for wild animals are being displaced by mega-malls and soccer fields, while farmers are spraying their fields to kill every living thing in them so they can plant their GMO crops of corn, soybeans and cotton yet again this summer. Is there any help or hope for the hungry ones? I know this problem up close and personal and have come up with a few ideas that might help all of us survive and thrive during ‘The Hungry Time’ and beyond.
1. Start at home: Vow to STOP, not just reduce, your food waste. It’s simple really: plan your menus before you shop (and then eat or share your leftovers). This one practice saves me more time, money and waste than any other single thing I do in my life.
2. Plant some milk weed, bee balm and sunflowers for the butterflies, birds and bees this summer. Your pretty petunias in a pot on the porch and the stale bread you throw out on the lawn don’t offer any nutrition for them. While you’re at it, put in a birdbath and feeder.
3. Plant a backyard (or a front yard!) garden, and in there, ‘Plant a Row for the Hungry‘.
4. Volunteer at One Acre Cafe, a local not-for-profit restaurant that is making big strides in our community to see that ‘everybody eats’. If you don’t live in NE TN, find a similar place where you live. A soup kitchen, a community garden, or food pantry would all welcome your help and help someone that’s hungry sleep better.
5. Consider a fast fast. That’s not a typo. This is simply done by eliminating one meal a week from our diets and instead, giving the food or money we would’ve spent on that meal to someone that’s hungry. And please know that even though Second Harvest and other pantries will lovingly accept your food donations, they have the purchasing power to feed 4.3 meals for EVERY DOLLAR YOU DONATE.
6. Give food as gifts. I suspect many people could use the food but are ashamed to make that known. In place of yet another can of car wax or tee shirt, consider restaurant or grocery store gift certificates. Cookbooks, kitchenware, cooking, canning or gardening lessons, bags of worm castings or organic compost, potted herbs or seeds would all make thoughtful gifts that can help with hunger. Such gifts also cut down on consumer waste and unwanted clutter.
Growing, planting, donating and fasting are all effective ways to reduce hunger, but of course they won’t eliminate the problem. What would? If I was Queen of the World, I’d start my reign by teaching every child how to grow some food and then cook what they grew. From scrambling an egg to cooking dried beans to grilling some veggies, if they know how to grow and cook it, it would open doors for them all their lives. Many people have never been taught, nor had the opportunity, to learn how. The unknown is scary. Those of us that are lucky enough to have these skills take it for granted that anyone can cook. Not. Make it less scary by teaching someone to do this. And did you know that folks that receive SNAP benefits can purchase food plants and seeds with SNAP? I don’t believe it’s so much a factor that they WON’T buy those things with their benefits, I believe most of them DON’T know what to do with a cabbage or tomato plant or seed once they get them home. And before I get dethroned? I’d require every school yard and park in the country to have community gardens. If they became as plentiful as grocery stores, it would become second nature. The last thing I’d do before they pried my tiara off? I’d outlaw GMO’s and Bayer’s famous neonic pesticides, making what foods we do have safer for all of life on this planet. But then again, that’s probably why I’m not the Queen. But at least my subjects wouldn’t be hungry!
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Tennesseetransitions 
I really, seriously wish you were my neighbor!
Comment by sarasinart April 9, 2014 @ 11:31 AMWell then you and McChatte need to consider moving in the empty place next door. Just sayin’…
Comment by simpleintn April 9, 2014 @ 7:51 PMOf the many stories my mother told me about her childhood in depression-era Puerto Rico, one of my favorites is how her mom would always send her down the street with some leftovers for an elderly neighbor who lived alone. My grandmother told her that she could be expected to demur out of politeness, but make sure she takes it. La Vieja always accepted the offering gratefully.
It was never anything fancy- after all, my grandma was widowed early and had three young children to support, and despite their meager existence, they were still better off than some thanks to the hard work and resourcefulness of my Uncle Hector and other family who had gone to make a better life in NY.
In that small, close-knit community, everyone made it their business to look after each other. Their very survival often depended on it.
Comment by Daniel Sandoval April 10, 2014 @ 9:41 AMThat’s a wonderful story Daniel and I’d be willing to bet that everyone of us has a neighbor that lives alone or on a very meager income that would appreciate our leftovers. Occasionally I’ll make too much soup or something and we tire of it before it’s finished-I send it next door to the hard working grad student that lives there. Maybe we should each just ‘pick’ someone and see to it that they eat regularly. By the way, I’m hungry. hahhaha
Comment by simpleintn April 10, 2014 @ 10:48 AMNice post. Very enlightening.
Comment by Ted Luoma April 11, 2014 @ 10:58 PM