Whispers of Empty Supermarket Shelves
I am greeted daily with empty shelves in supermarkets around the city. They whisper to me as I walk by. And I wonder. Is this a sign of things to come? Is this feedback for a society that is presently struggling to stay open? What is the message that these empty shelves are offering us right now?
For as long as I can remember, I have been dependent on supermarkets to feed me. Without a second thought, I always assume that I can simply pop up to the local Coles or Woolies and grab whatever I need when I need it. Over the past two years, with each new lockdown, people panic bought meat, baked goods, pastas, toilet paper and frozen meals. But even in those empty shelf moments, there was still plenty of healthy organic gluten free goods to buy. So at no time over the past two years, was there a possibility that we would starve.
In 2022 however, it seems a little different and I wonder if it isn’t about time that we approached the provisioning of our households from a more self-sustaining direction?
How many of us are truly connected to the source of our consumption? How many of us run an efficient pantry? How many of us could survive for the next three to six months out of what is in our pantries now?
What if the answers to our future were to be found in our past?
In the 1800s, 90% of the Australian population were farming. By 1900, it was 14%. By 1920, that number increased to 30%. By 2018 that number has decreased to 2%. So in two hundred years, we have devolved from being self sufficient to being 100% dependent on external sources to keep us fed.
Over the past few years, my dear Aunty Hazel has been working with me on a book about her mother, my grandmother, Millie. As I translate her diaries, Hazel provides the detail to give them context. I have been fascinated with how efficient a steward, Mille was, pre, during and post the war and throughout the continued challenging economic times that her generation faced.
Hers was a tough life. Through necessity, generations, such as hers, seemed to have a far greater capacity to self-resource in times of great challenge. Millie herself grew up on the land. Her family was one of British Aristocratic wealthy landed gentry, however after a spectacular fall from grace, her father quickly learned to farm himself. Her mother, Eva, once a reknown musician, managed to master the art of husbandry out of a sheer need to survive.
Her husband, Roy, was a farmer. A terrible farmer. A failed farmer. But a farmer nonetheless, who was trained by his father and grandfather before him in the skills of living off the land. He could grow food, had an uncanny instinct for climate and weather patterns however he was simply not cut out to manage the business.
Millie and Roy had eight mouths to feed. They had no choice but to find ways to survive and feed their family.
Together they curated an ecosystem that fed the family and partnered with local community. They had to factor in a consideration for climatic, biotic, socio-economic, government, edaphic, environmental and pure economic in every decision that they made. What do we plant in which season? What climatic patterns (droughts/floods) do we need to consider? What is the terrain like? Hows the ph balance of the soil? What pest control do I need? Do I have access to a natural population of pollinators? What government policies could impact what I can or cannot do? What topographical qualities could influence what and where I farm?
Imagine if we had to factor in all these considerations just to feed ourselves? It truly is amazing that they farmed as they did when you look at the enormity of the task at hand.
For my aunt and her siblings, life on the farm in childhood was happy. They were well fed and never went without.
So I asked her to detail how they sourced their food.
Every six months, Roy would purchase one animal from a nearby farm, to kill and provide meat for the family. The butcher would arrive and carve the animal up to be stored, dried and preserved for consumption. Millie had an ice box to keep the meat at the right temperature, however she employed many different strategies to preserve meat by either burying in the earth or in a sealed tin in the dam that lay at the rear of the farmhouse.
They kept their own chickens and could supply their own eggs and meat.
The chicken poo served as fertilizer for the vegetable garden that was essential for survival. Herbs, greens, nightshades, root vegetables especially potatoes, gourds like chokos, fruits like berries and fruit trees like apples, lemons, mangoes, mulberries even nut trees like macadamias.
Being on a dairy farm, milk was plentiful. They made their own butter, cream and cheese.
Sunday was roast day and the fat drippings from the roast were kept and reused for cooking during the week.
Using the flour purchased in their monthly grocery order, they baked their own bread. Millie always had a desert cooking on the wood stove, and she baked cakes and biscuits daily to keep the men well fed after a long hard day working on the farm.
Nothing went to waste. The fruit and vegetables from the garden were preserved into jams, pickles, sauces and canned goods as future proofing their food supply.
They kept their own bees for source of honey. Sugar was in shortage across the globe, so honey was a great substitute.
Millie’s most quoted saying was “Waste not want not.” Nothing was wasted. Everything fed into everything else. Roy ran the farm. Millie ran the garden and the house, including the all-important kitchen. She had to manage the Sourcing, Storage, Storage Scheduling, Requisition, Inventory, Seed Collection, Propagation, Pest Control, Seasonal Planting, Harvesting, Preparation, Medicinal and one insane Resource Management process. She also milked cows at 5am and 3pm while raising six children.
Now, in 2022, with food shortages beginning and a less than certain future emerges ahead of us, perhaps it is time to keep a pantry like Millie. Few of us have enough space to keep chickens, dairy cows and animals to kill for meat. But we can grow our own vegetables and fruits even in small spaces. Even in pots on a balcony in an apartment.
We are lucky to have access to canned goods in supermarkets right now. Perhaps it is time to put together a twelve-week supply of things like cans of salmon, tuna, sardines, anchovies, smoked oysters, kidney beans, cannellini, black beans, baked beans and chickpeas. These are sources of protein that do not require refrigeration. Add a can of protein with some herbs and condiemtns to the greens in your garden and you can have a nice meal. Keep decent stocks of flours, rice, oils, long life milks, nuts, seeds and condiments and you can live comfortably for a few months if you have to.
Set yourself up with a compost heap and a worm farm to feed your garden.
Make friends with your neighbors. One person may have space for chickens or bees but no resource or skills. One person may know someone who runs a farm who needs to sell animals or produce. One person may be able to preserve. One person may be able to bake. One person may have a great influence in their network and be able to negotiate and coordinate. Every community has a need. Every community has resource and skill. Reorganize. Trade.
Like Roy and Millie, I have to find a way to survive. When I see those empty shelves in the supermarkets, I can almost them whispering.
I think its time to listen.
Nichola Burton is the CEO for The Pushworth Group, the Creative Director for The Manick Label, the Systems Designer for Aquarius™ The Integrated Solution For The Music Industry, Music Business Coach for Music Means Business. And most importantly, a budding Gardener, failing more than succeeding but determined to keep going until I do. :-)
